Dunbar High School officials did not request a background check on an aide who was charged last week with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy and had a prior conviction for fondling a teen-ager, a school system spokesman said yesterday.
The spokesman, Nat Harrington, was unable to say whether Dunbar officials conducted any independent checks on Edward D. "Zeke" Mazyck when they hired him in March 1992.
But Mr. Mazyck's criminal history apparently was not unknown to the school system. Baltimore Circuit Court records show an elementary school principal was told in 1990 of the man's conviction for a fourth-degree sexual offense.
Mr. Mazyck, 28, has been working with children since he was 14, coaching youth baseball, basketball and soccer, according to court records. In March 1992, he was hired at Dunbar as a staff aide who helped out in the cafeteria and school hallways, most recently working as an aide in the athletic department, Mr. Harrington said.
"There is a system in place to check the background of our employees hired through our central office," Mr. Harrington said. "Apparently, this individual was hired at the school level. There is no indication right now that a background check was requested by the school on him."
Mr. Harrington said Mr. Mazyck has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the most recent case in which he has been charged by police with twice sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy after offering him a ride home.
Police said the boy does not attend Dunbar but that one of the alleged attacks took place at the East Baltimore school. Mr. Mazyck was arrested Thursday and charged with two counts each of sodomy, kidnapping, perverted sex practice and battery, police said.
The charges stem from the boy's claim that Mr. Mazyck offered him a ride home on May 20, said Agent Doug Price, a police spokesman. The boy, who said he had known Mr. Mazyck for about two months, claimed he was not driven home but instead was taken "to a secluded spot near some railroad tracks," Mr. Price said.
Police said the victim reported that he was sexually assaulted at the location. The boy claimed that Mr. Mazyck then drove him to Dunbar, took him inside and sexually assaulted him again, Mr. Price said.
