Instructor’s past raises issue of criminal checks

By Joe Guillen

Plain Dealer

Columbus

Dozens of jobs and professional licenses, from driving a school bus to selling mortgages, require a criminal background check in Ohio.

But the law does not cover others who work for private companies or volunteer their services.

The recent discovery that a Beachwood dance instructor has a criminal past of sex charges involving minors has raised questions about whether the state should more broadly require criminal background checks.

State Sen. Michael Skindell, a Lakewood Democrat, said lawmakers must consider an applicant’s job responsibilities while allowing certain employers to hire workers as they see fit.

“When you’re placed in a position of trust or fiduciary responsibility, those are the types of positions the state should look at,” Skindell said.

The Ohio attorney general’s office oversees the state’s background check program. State law lists several job types that require a background check of applicants. The list includes workers at schools, child day care centers, hospice care centers and those who work with mentally and developmentally disabled people.

Criminal background checks also are required of applicants for various state licenses, including licenses with the Dental Board, Pharmacy Board, Lottery Commission and Chiropractic Board.

Although the list of jobs and licenses that require a criminal background check is rather long, many others are excluded, including — as The Plain Dealer reported Sunday — dance instructors at private studios.

Ronald Saldivar, who is involved in organizing a local “Dancing With the Stars” fundraiser, has a criminal past of sex charges involving minors and was once registered as a sex offender in Iowa.

Saldivar, 49, teaches at La Danse Cleveland in Beachwood using the name “Johnny Salvador.” The studio’s owner, Esther Rehm-Cohen, said there were discussions with Saldivar and his attorneys before hiring him in February.

Saldivar told the newspaper he is no longer required to be on a sexual offender registration list anywhere. “It’s something obviously you have to pay for the rest of your life,” he said. “But I’m in town here, I’m law-abiding and legitimate.”

Christine Link, executive director of the ACLU of Ohio, said it appears the dance studio conducted the proper due diligence before hiring Saldivar. Link questioned whether the studio should be criticized or commended for giving Saldivar a second chance.

Link lamented the difficulty those with a criminal history continually encounter when they try to re-enter society.

“We’re not opposed to all background checks. However, we think they have to be narrowly tailored and specific to the crime,” Link said. “In many situations, these background checks have become far too widespread and extensive.”

The Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation within the attorney general’s office is the state’s hub for criminal background checks.

There are about 2,500 centers for fingerprinting job applicants throughout the state. Those fingerprints are cross-checked with criminal records databases and the potential employer or licensing organization is notified of an applicant’s criminal history.

Attorney General Mike DeWine, a Republican, said the list of jobs and licenses that require a background check should be under constant review.

“This is always a continuing discussion we should have about who should be on this list,” DeWine said through a spokeswoman.