Adult babysitter accused of sexually assaulting young child

ROSS TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A 26-year-old man is accused of sexually assaulting a 5-year-old boy he was hired to babysit.

According to the Ross Police Department, Dylan McKinney repeatedly raped the young boy he was hired to babysit in a bathroom at the family’s home.

The boy’s family reportedly hired McKinney through an online service six months ago while they were living in Hampton Township. The family recently moved to Ross Township.

"It's a scary thing to entrust the care of your child to somebody else out there and have your worst fears come true," said Det. Brian Kohlhepp of the Ross Township Police Department.

The online service the family used to find the babysitter was Sittercity, an online platform that provides users with “local in-home care.”

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A spokesperson from Sittercity issued a statement in response to the allegations made against McKinney, saying the platform immediately removed him from their site after being notified of the incident, along with notifying “all families with whom he had ever been in contact” and reaching out to Ross Township police.

“Caregivers are subject to rigorous screening,” the spokesperson said in the statement given to Channel 11.

But the company's own website says that background checks are not automatically performed.

Channel 11 followed up and was told Sittercity only verifies the identities of caregivers who register with the site by cross referencing the name with a sex offender screening company and updating that screening weekly.

Caregivers who fail are immediately removed from the platform.

But the onus is on families who use the service to request and pay for a full background check, although Sittercity says many caregivers get one done on their own.

Sittercity told Channel 11 that McKinney passed his background check, but didn't say if the victim's family requested it or if he did.

A full written statement from Sittercity is below:

At Sittercity, trust and safety are paramount, and our hearts go out to the family. As soon as we were notified of this incident by the media, we immediately removed Mr. McKinney from the platform, notified all families with whom he had ever been in contact, and reached out to the Ross Township Police Department to offer any assistance in their investigation. Because we have not been in contact with the family or the police, we do not have any details about this incident. Please know that although Sittercity does not employ the caregivers on the Sittercity platform, caregivers are subject to rigorous screening, and any caregivers who do not pass, are immediately removed from the platform. Screening includes identity verification upon registration and weekly, comprehensive sex offender screening through Family Watchdog, the nation's leading sex offender registry screening service. In addition, we offer families and caregivers background screening services and encourage background checks to be updated regularly. These processes and recommended safety practices for parents can be found in the Trust & Safety Center on Sittercity.com.

The boy told investigators the sexual assaults began in the old home and that he and McKinney made a deal that what was happening would stay a secret between them.

McKinney was kept on as a babysitter when the family moved to Ross, and according to the victim the sexual assaults continued until mid-May when he told his mother because it was “so bad.”

Police said they do not believe that this is an isolated incident. McKinney is cooperating with police and told officers that he has watched a number of children throughout the region and in other states.

"We have information to believe that he has molested children throughout his life before he was an adult up through to the current day," Kohlhepp said.

Anyone who used McKinney as a babysitter is asked to contact their local police department.

McKinney was arraigned Thursday and his bond was set at $100,000.

Cox Media Group