Renée Harpe has given up.
The mother of two daughters has shut down the Village Kidz Daycare she ran in the basement of her family home for nine years, she's sold the house on 32nd Avenue West, and Renée and her husband, John Harpe, are moving away from a neighborhood she's lived in since she was 4 years old.
The reason? Five women from prominent Magnolia families spread what turned out to be false rumors that John was a pedophile who had sexually abused a 3-year-old boy at her daycare last March, according to Renée, who cries easily these days.
Village Kidz was a licensed daycare where a maximum of 12 children could stay on any given day, and Renée said she had about 30 families as clients who dropped their kids off from time to time.
It was one of those clients who called her about abuse rumors the last week in August, said Renée, who has a degree in early childhood education and had an unblemished record as a daycare operator.
The caller said she'd heard that Renée's boyfriend had done something inappropriate to a child, Renée said. John's status was unclear because he and Renée had gotten married secretly last summer, added Renée, whose last name used to be Munn.
"She didn't have any details about the kid or what had happened," Renée said of the woman who called her about the abuse rumors. But the allegation had spread by then-including to one of Renée's clients, who e-mailed the Magnolia News in September asking if the paper had heard anything about the allegations.
The paper confirmed that Child Protective Services (CPS) had begun an investigation of Village Kidz, but the organization couldn't provide any details yet, said CPS spokeswoman Kathy Spears. "I can tell you there has been no history of abuse or neglect at the daycare," she added.
Renée figured out after the disturbing first call who the 3-year-old's mother was: She's a fellow parishioner at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church. "And she never said anything to me [about the allegation]," she said.
Renée confronted the woman about the rumor. "She's like, 'I can't believe you heard that,'" Renée remembers. The mother said she'd only told two people: a friend visiting from out of town and her best friend, a woman who promised not to say anything.
She did, however, and the rumor mill shifted into high gear. "It caught on like wildfire after that," said Renée's husband.
John added that the 3-year-old's mother had not called the authorities about the abuse allegation. "We took it upon ourselves to call Child Protective Services," he said.
That led to a mandatory 45-day investigation period, and CPS even pulled Renée's two daughters out of class at the Fatima school and questioned them, she said.
The investigation also put restrictions on John, a Sequim firefighter and EMT who works rotating shifts-24 hours on and 24 hours off. "Basically, it required that I be out of the house during business hours," he said of a 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. schedule on Mondays through Fridays.
Renée said she was also confronted and allegedly assaulted in a neighborhood grocery store by one of the five women primarily responsible for spreading the rumors about abuse.
The woman accused Renée's husband of being a pedophile, insisting that she knew what she was talking about because she watches CSI, Renée said.
The Harpes were cleared of any wrongdoing this fall, said Spears from CPS. "There's nothing there," she said. "There was no finding of abuse or neglect."
It was too late by then.
Renée's daycare business had already taken a heavy hit, dropping by more than half, she said. That's not the only fallout from the rumors. "I have just been on an emotionally depressed rollercoaster," Renée lamented.
"I don't volunteer anymore," she added. "I don't feel comfortable going out in my neighborhood." Neither does her husband, she said, which doesn't seem fair. "This is a man who loves children," Renée said.
"This is my family home; I was going to stay here forever," said Renée, who said she would have eventually sold the house to her daughters the way her parents did for her.
"I mean, I had a plan. This is just not what was supposed to happen," the longtime Magnolian said of being driven away from her home and neighborhood.
"This is a pretty sorrowful turn of events for us," agreed John, who said the family plans to move after Renée's daughters get out of school at the end of the year.
John is remarkably forgiving. "I hold no grudges towards anyone," he said. John added that he totally understands that parents are concerned about the safety of their children, and that reports of abuse need to be investigated.
John is also optimistic about the future for his family. "We'll be OK," he said.
Staff reporter Russ Zabel can be reached at rzabel@nwlink.com or 461-1309.[[In-content Ad]]
