Thursday, September 6, 2012

Prosecutors say a 23-year-old daycare worker in Idaho has confessed to sexually abusing 23 children.

Joshua Ritchie is charged with lewd conduct with a child and is being held on $2.5 million bond.

Ritchie was arrested Aug. 21 after a 5-year-old boy reportedly told his parents that he was sexually abused.

Ritchie worked at Cornerstone Childcare in Nampa about 20 miles outside of Boise and was also a kitchen staff substitute for the Nampa School District and at the Idaho Arts Charter School.

Prosecutors told Judge Brian Lee during a hearing Wednesday that Ritchie told investigators he's sexually abused 23 kids between the ages of 5 and 12.

Ritchie's attorney, public defender Bill Schwartz, did not immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press.