The executive director of a shelter for teenagers and her son were arrested last week after a child was allegedly molested in their care, a crime that leaders at the facility are accused of covering up, according to police.
Clayton County Police officials said they launched an investigation after the department’s human trafficking unit received an anonymous tip March 15 about possible sexual misconduct at the Rainbow House Inc. in Jonesboro. Police have charged a Rainbow House employee, Caleb Randolph, 25, with engaging in inappropriate sexual conduct with at least one child who had been placed at the facility. Randolph is the son of the facility’s executive director, Mia Chanel Kimber, 55.
Kimber and Monica Jones, 53, the program director at Rainbow House, both failed to report Randolph’s alleged misconduct, and instead tried to cover up the incident, police say. This resulted in the victim being removed from Rainbow House based on false allegations.
The allegations about Rainbow House, a place that is supposed to be a safe haven for at-risk children, shocked leaders in Georgia’s welfare community this week. The organization is a shelter for abused, neglected, and abandoned children, and is licensed through the state’s Department of Human Resources. It also acts as a “child advocacy center,” meaning it is an independent organization that responds to child maltreatment and aids victims of abuse.
“This is an egregious violation of child protection within the child protection system,” said Melissa Carter, a former ombudsman for the state’s child welfare system. “I think the failure of all the [child welfare] infrastructure, all of the policy, is part of what’s shocking,” said Carter, now executive director of the Barton Child Law and Policy Center at Emory.
Last summer, the Rainbow House executive director told WABE that the 30-year-old shelter was short on staff, and the shelter was entirely full. In total, they were housing 20 teens at the time. A spokesperson with the Department of Human Resources said on Wednesday that they could not answer questions about the case — including how many kids were housed there or if their license was being revoked — because the state is bound by state and federal law to protect the privacy of the people they serve.
“We are unable to comment on the specifics of any reported abuse or neglect cases,” Kylie Winton, a spokesperson for DHS, said in a statement. “We take seriously every report that might be made to the Department and work with law enforcement when appropriate to ensure the safety of Georgia’s children.
In 2022, Clayton District Attorney Tasha M. Mosley was appointed board chair of the Rainbow House Inc., according to a county press release. The state Attorney General’s office confirmed on Wednesday that Mosley has recused herself from the case and that it will be handled instead by state Attorney General Chris Carr. The Clayton district attorney’s office didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.
Many details involving the alleged crimes are still unknown. The Clayton Police Department has said it will hold a press conference on Friday. Police officials also say because the investigation is still underway, it’s possible that more arrests could be made.
For example, it’s unclear when the sexual assault took place, but police indicated some time had passed between the alleged assault and arrests. Randolph was initially fired as a result of the alleged incident, according to police, and then quickly re-hired and allowed to interact again with teenagers at the shelter.
Police arrested Randolph on March 16 on charges of child molestation, statutory rape and other charges. Mia Kimber, his mother and the executive director, was arrested March 18 and Monica Jones on March 20, both charged with being a party to a crime and failure to report a crime.
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