Rancho Bernardo man accused of molestation, child porn

UPDATE: On Friday afternoon, Abdullah Sediqi pleaded not guilty to 13 charges, including a sex crime with a child 10 years old or younger. He was ordered held on $3 million bail. He faces life in prison if convicted. A readiness conference is scheduled for June 29 and a preliminary hearing for July 2.

A 64-year-old Rancho Bernardo man has been arrested on multiple counts of child molestation and child pornography involving several small girls who were being cared for at his ex-wife’s home day care on Matinal Road.

Abdullah Sediqi is being held without bail at the Vista jail and is facing charges that would keep him behind bars the rest of his life if convicted, Escondido Police Chief Craig Carter said during a news conference Thursday morning.

Sediqi came to the attention of Escondido police Saturday afternoon when a woman shopping at Valley Thrift Store on East Valley Parkway said she saw him crouched down behind her with a cellphone in his hand. She moved away but watched as he appeared to crouch down again and take a photo of another woman beneath her clothing.

The woman called police and kept watching Sediqi who was quickly detained by officers.

The initial investigation confirmed that photographs of numerous women, including two juveniles, had been taken with the cellphone, Carter said. Sediqi was arrested on a disorderly conduct violation commonly referred to as “up skirting.”

Booked into jail on Saturday, Sediqi was later released after posting bail.

Meanwhile, further examination of the cellphone showed there to be more than 6,000 images saved of which 23 contained pornographic images of children.

The photos were “very graphic and disturbing,” Carter said. Most showed girls between the ages of 3 and 5.

New charges were immediately issued and with the help of the U.S. Marshal’s San Diego Fugitive Task Force. Sediqi was arrested again at a home of one of his four children.

On Monday a search warrant on Sediqi’s home on Matinal Road, where he lived with his ex-wife, was served. The house doubles as Kid’s Castle Day Care Center, also known as the Sediqi Family Child Care Center.

Seized during the search were all records of current clients of the day care as well as additional phones, computers and external hard drives.

The devices are still being examined.

“This is a case we think will get bigger,” Carter said. “This is devastating. This is a very sick individual,” Carter said.

Most of the girls depicted in the photographs have been identified and were clients of the day care. Their parents — who Carter described as “shocked” — have been notified, but police are trying to locate other children who have been cared for at the day care since it opened in 2013.

Escondido police are working with state authorities to try to shut down the day care. On Thursday, no one answered the door at the house and a sign yard sign identifying it as a day-care center had been removed.

Carter said authorities feel it is important to let potential victims know what is going on as authorities work to revoke the center’s license.

Police ask anyone who is a current or former client of the Kid’s Castle Day Care, and who is concerned about the possibility that their child may have been victimized by Sediqi, to call Detective Michelle Mayfield at (760) 839-4926.

Sediqi will be arraigned in Vista Court on Friday.

Carter said while the Rancho Bernardo home was being searched, detectives seized 13.88 grams of cocaine which they later connected to Roin Mohammad Sediqi, 26, the adult son of Abdullah Sediqi.

Roin Sediqi was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and possession for sale and booked into jail.