Sex offender caught volunteering at Catholic school festival

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- A registered sex offender was caught volunteering at a South Bay Catholic school. It is illegal for a sex offender to be on school grounds, but in this case, he had permission from the church.

San Jose church allowed a convicted child molester to volunteer at a children's festival. A lot of the parents picking up their kids on Wednesday night knew nothing about this incident. There were no emails or information released from the school.

Mark Christopher Gurries, 51, worked as a volunteer at the St. Frances Cabrini Catholic School festival last month according to our media partner the San Jose Mercury News. They say someone recognized Gurries as a sex offender and notified a Santa Clara County deputy on site.

However, Gurries wasn't arrested because he had a letter with written permission from a church official to be there. He is a registered sex offender who had reached a plea deal with the district attorney for molesting a young relative more than a decade ago.

Gurries was at the school festival working the sound system with little to no supervision with hundreds of kindergarten through 8th grade students in attendance, according to the Mercury News.

The pastor at St. Frances and the Diocese of San Jose, told the newspaper they had no information on the source of the letter granting Gurries permission to be on school property. That begs the question, is the letter even valid and who, if anyone, in the church or the diocese wrote that letter? Those are things the sheriff's department is investigating.

Get more South Bay News »

san jose, sex offender, south bay news

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•