This week, a childcare worker from the elite Miss Selma’s School daycare in Little Rock was arrested on criminal charges of child sexual exploitation.
According to information released by the FBI, a 21-year-old male daycare worker named Augustus “Gus” Shenker has been criminally charged with several different crimes of child sexual exploitation, including producing images of child sexual abuse (“child pornography”). Information released by law enforcement indicates that police have uncovered several sexual videos of young girls where the videos were short on the same street where Miss Selma’s School is located. Police are working to identify victims who appear in the videos.
Shenker has reportedly been working at Miss Selma’s since 2017. Located in midtown Little Rock, Miss Selma’s has been a prestigious Little Rock institution since 1956. Today, it serves the children of many well-known professionals and leaders. Miss Selma’s School serves children as young as 18-months old.
Well known attorney for abuse victims, Josh Gillispie (of Green & Gillispie in Little Rock) — a law firm advocating for victims of child sexual abuse — has been retained by some parents of children from Miss Selma’s to begin investigating on behalf of victims. We will be conducting our own extensive investigation into this situation — separate from any investigation by the school or law enforcement. Our goal will be to ensure that the full truth is revealed about what, if anything, the leadership at Miss Selma’s knew about possible danger posed by Shenker and, if information was known to the school, when that information was learned and what actions were taken in response.
“We want to find out exactly what happened and why it was allowed to happen. The parents have a right to know. The public has a right to know. It’s only through this process that future such tragedies can be avoided.” – Josh Gillispie
For the past decade, attorneys at Green & Gillispie have advocated victims of childhood sexual abuse within large institutions – including the schools, the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts of America, the Southern Baptist Church, and other schools and youth serving organizations. Most recently, the efforts of Josh Gillispie to push for statute of limitations reform – which resulted in the successful passage of SB676 (the “Justice for Vulnerable Victims of Sexual Abuse Act”) has garnered significant media attention. Read the recent Arkansas Times article showcasing Josh Gillispie’s work. For more information, visit: https://justiceforarkansasvictims.com/
Our investigation on behalf of abuse victims related to Miss Selma’s School is ongoing. If you have any information about Gus Shenker or child sexual abuse at Miss Selma’s School, please call us confidentially at (501) 510-5858 or confidentially send us a message through our contact page.
We are hopeful that our investigation will help in the process of uncovering the whole truth — painful as it may be — and allow for justice and healing for the victims and the entire community of families from Miss Selma’s School.