On May 30, Bend resident Jack Bergeron was arrested for distributing child sexual abuse material. The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office, which initiated the arrest and was working on the investigation, announced the next day that the location in which 61-year-old Bergeron resided, and where the distribution of the material was occurring, operated as a licensed child care facility called God's Kids.
The Charges
In March, the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office found out about an IP address that was actively distributing "child sex abuse material" through peer-to-peer networks in Deschutes County.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Investigations agency in Eugene connected directly to the computer that was actively distributing the material and shared the information with the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office Internet Crimes Against Children unit, according to a press release. Detectives with ICAC initiated an investigation, obtaining a large amount of evidence over the following two months.
Detectives determined that the IP address that was distributing the child sexual abuse material was operated by Bergeron, also discovering that the location served as a licensed, in-home day care.
Given Bergeron's alleged crimes and the significantly increased risk of Bergeron's access to children, detectives served a search warrant at Bergeron's residence, immediately seizing several digital devices from the house.
The DCSO stated in a press release that detectives will seek further search warrants for the analysis of the seized digital devices, which may result in more charges being filed.
Bergeron was placed under arrest and transported to the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office Adult Jail. He was charged with 10 counts of encouraging child sexual abuse in the first degree, 10 counts of encouraging child sexual abuse in the second degree and one count of encouraging sexual abuse of an animal.
The crime of encouraging child sexual abuse in the first degree is a class B Felony. In Oregon, class B felonies are punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both. In the second degree, it's a class C Felony. At this time, detectives have no evidence that show that the children of the day care were victims of the charges.
God's Kids
Situated on the 500 block of NE Burnside Avenue in east Bend sits the Bergeron residence and child care facility. God's Kids first got its child care license in 2009. The main provider listed on all available documents and compliance forms associated with God's Kids is Jean Bergeron, Jack's wife.
The Bergerons have a Registered Family Child Care license, which allows them to take care of up to 10 children.
According to Kate Gonsalves with the Oregon Department of Early Learning and Care, God's Kids is still currently registered as licensed with the state.
"DELC licensing staff have followed appropriate protocol and issued an emergency order of suspension on the individual in question, which means he is prohibited from being in the home during child care hours or provide child care," she said.
DELC refused to comment further regarding the child care facility and the alleged incident and did not indicate whether the license will be revoked at this time. "Child safety is a top priority for the Department of Early Learning and Care," Gonsalves wrote in an email. "The Oregon Department of Human Services investigates and reports on allegations of abuse and neglect in child care settings and stays in close communication with DELC."
“DELC licensing staff have followed appropriate protocol and issued an emergency order of suspension on the individual in question, which means he is prohibited from being in the home during childcare hours or provide childcare.” – Kate Gonsalves
The Source Weekly did not receive confirmation on whether there are still children in the child care facility. However, a post from Jean Bergeron's public Facebook profile indicates that she has listed several of her child care items for sale, including toys, diapers, clothes and books.
According to Alicia Gardiner, the child care licensing division director at DELC, there are several ways that any child care facility can get its license revoked, but the process is quite lengthy and complex.
A child care program is to remain active until the Child Care Licensing Division takes action on that license. CCLD can make a motion to deny, revoke or suspend a license. However, denials, revocations and suspensions allow a licensed owner the right to contest in front of a judge.
During the process, if a child care owner decides to contest the action, CCLD would present the evidence of why it proposed to suspend, revoke or deny the license and the judge would then make a ruling.
There are three different types of child care licenses, said Gardiner. The first is called Registered Family License, the one that God's Kids has, which is for home-based care. There is also a Certified Family License, which is for home-based care and can care for up to 16 children. Finally, there is a Certified Center License, which is for commercial settings. All three of these licenses have different rules, requirements and steps to obtaining them, with some commonalities.
With the license that the Bergerons have, they receive at least one unannounced visit a year from a licensing specialist with CCLD. During these visits, the licensing specialist may arrive any time during the hours in which the facility has children in care.
According to compliance records, the God's Kids' most recent report details an unannounced visit in October 2023 at 10am. The compliance report, which named Jean Bergeron as the person in charge, reported six children in the Bergerons' care at the time.
The report suggested that the facility was in compliance with nearly every item on the checklist. All of the available compliance reports and health and safety inspections, which only dated back to 2019, showed continued compliance.
Since 2019, the facility received two complaint allegations through DELC. The first complaint took place in November 2019, when Jean Bergeron self-disclosed an incident where a substitute tapped a child's bottom. The other complaint, in 2021, alleged that a provider raised their voice at a child in their care.
The challenges in finding child care
Child care in Central Oregon, and across the country, is increasingly hard to come by. Theresa, a local parent who chose to keep her last name anonymous for this story, has given up altogether for several reasons.
A few months ago, Theresa was searching for child care options in Bend for her daughter. Theresa told the Source Weekly that she toured God's Kids in the beginning of May. She was looking for local care and was referred to the facility through a group with other moms.
One morning, she took a tour of God's Kids. Her initial thoughts from the outside were good. When she went inside, however, her mood shifted a bit, she said.
The inside of the home, she said, was crammed and crowded. She noted that the napping room was also extremely small. "There were tons of items...that was alarming to me. It was just extremely cluttered, things were stacked up," said Theresa.
She said there were about five kids in the Bergerons' care at the time she toured. Theresa met both Jean and Jack Bergeron during her visit. She met with Jean, who she spoke fondly of. Jack, she said, was quiet and kept to himself.
Theresa said something felt off and didn't feel like the facility was the right atmosphere for her child to be in. Having previously worked in an in-home day care and a licensed facility in Vancouver, Washington, she felt the licensing regulations must be stricter there.
"It was very strange to me that they got approved to even be an in-home day care," she said.
Previously, she had always been drawn to in-home facilities because of the limits on how many kids could be there. Now, her concerns have grown, and she suspects others' have, too.
“I’m not sure if they are more lenient on providers, but I think [in-home care] might draw people away. You really don’t know what’s going on in an in-home. There’s also less referrals because there are less children.” – Theresa
"I'm not sure if they are more lenient on providers, but I think [in-home care] might draw people away. You really don't know what's going on in an in-home. There's also less referrals because there are less children," she said.
She noted, however, that you never really know what's going to happen at a commercial center, either. While one of the requirements to go through the child care licensing program is for all individuals residing in the home to go through a background check, Theresa is still wary. "They may have just never been caught," she said.
Currently, Theresa is homeschooling her daughter, until she can make other arrangements.
"I, myself, have been drawn away from both because of all of the incidents, not only happening in Bend, but just everywhere," said Theresa. "You just never know, you really don't."
She believes that there should be more regulations in place to make parents feel more at ease.
According to Gardiner with DELC, it's a quite rigorous process to receive a childcare license, and some programs have even had an increase in monitoring over the years. While certain commonalities in the licensing system stay the same, due to federal funding, Gardiner said licensing regulations and qualifications vary from state to state.
The Bergerons
As of June 18, Jack Bergeron is in custody. There will be a plea hearing, an opportunity for a prosecutor and a defense attorney to come to an agreement that would allow the defendant to avoid a trail, on June 28.
The Source Weekly reached out to Jack's wife, Jean Bergeron, who was not named in any of the charges. She declined to comment at this time.
A fundraiser on GoFundMe, "Join Hands to Uplift Jean," was created on June 11 by a friend of Jean Bergeron's to support her during this time.
"Due to circumstances out of her control, Jean has found herself in a situation where she has lost more than we can imagine. Her reality has been turned upside down, and she is struggling to get back on her feet. We want to show her the same love and kindness that she has always shown to others," reads the fundraising page.
The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office requests that if parents of children who attend the child care facility have questions or concerns to contact Deschutes County Dispatch Non-Emergency to be placed in contact with the ICAC unit.
