Kids cared for by felon

April 8, 2005

KATE GOLDEN/Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - A felon convicted of kidnapping has been running an unlicensed day-care facility in the Mat-Su, according to a release from a Wasilla police officer who serves on Mat-Su's child abuse investigation unit.

The officer, Ruthan Josten, did not name the day-care facility's operator in her press release because no charges have been filed against him.

Public records, however, yielded the name: Patrick H. Goecke, 37, the current co-owner with Heather L. Goecke of Westwood Wee Ones, a business licensed at 4040 Preston Ave. in Wasilla since October 2001 - and a felon who was convicted of kidnapping a 4-month-old North Kenai child, Katie Colleen Foley, in August 1989.

Goecke, armed and camouflaged, reportedly entered the house of Tom and Kim Foley, tied up the baby sitter, took the baby and left a ransom note, according to Anchorage Daily News archives. An hour later the baby reappeared, abandoned in a pickup truck at a Nikiski mall.

In May 1990, Goecke pleaded no contest to kidnapping and third-degree assault. Charges of first-degree burglary, evidence tampering and another kidnapping count were dismissed.

Heather Goecke has worked for Southcentral Foundation in the Valley, screening children for eligibility for state health insurance, according to Frontiersman archives.

An anonymous person wrote a letter to the Alaska Child Care Program in Anchorage, the state licensing agency, alleging Goecke neglected at least one child and subjected others to physical and mental abuse. The letter-writer also alleged that the provider had been convicted of a felony.

The letter, Josten said, "made it obvious that the person had first-hand knowledge of the facility and the children, and had been engaging in conversations with the child-care provider."

Josten visited the Goeckes' facility. She found no evidence of neglect.

She did, however, find too many children for it to be unlicensed. And she said that not all the parents knew of the care provider's felony history.

"That's something that should have been put right up front," she said.

Josten advised Goecke that he could reduce the number of clients to stay within the law.

And she wrote a press release to warn parents that a business license, which requires no criminal background checks, is no guarantee of or substitute for a child-care provider license.

Such licenses are required in the state of Alaska for anyone baby-sitting more than four unrelated children. The child-care licensing agency could not be reached for comment by press time. The agency's specialists visit child-care facilities unannounced to make sure children are cared for safely and well. They also do background checks on care-providers.

Josten said the agency informed the person that while it is possible for someone with a felony conviction to get a license, it likely would be an uphill battle.

"A person most likely could not get a license for a child-care facility with such a conviction," Josten said.

Efforts to contact the Goeckes on Thursday were unsuccessful.

Contact Kate Golden at 352-2284 or kate.golden@frontiersman.com.