Occupational therapist faces sex charges

A Clovis occupational therapist was arrested Tuesday and charged with sex crimes against “more than three” children during in-home therapy treatments, court records show.

Jared Cordum, 28, was in the Curry County Adult Detention Center on Tuesday morning without bond.

He’s charged with one count of criminal sexual penetration of a child under 13, and multiple counts of criminal solicitation to commit criminal sexual contact of a minor and practicing medicine without a license.

Attempts to contact his employer, Outside the Box Therapy, were not immediately successful. The pediatric practice reports on its website its office is mobile and has no permanent address.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Cordum has an attorney.

A news release from the New Mexico Department of Justice states Cordum was arrested at his residence in Clovis.

It states NMDOJ became involved in the case on May 3 after Clovis police received reports of alleged sexual abuse from parents and guardians of “several children who had been patients” of Cordum.

“These allegations included reports from a school therapist at a local elementary school,” the release states.

The school therapist was concerned after hearing a child’s foster parent “explained that the child had an occupational therapist come to the home and ‘insert something into his rectum.’ Further reports from other parents and guardians illustrated similar behavior by Cordum and cited the home visits as being “odd” and “uncomfortable.”  

Referrals to Cordum were made by local pediatricians and day care centers.

“(O)ne local pediatrician stated that they never received Cordum’s many evaluations and that they didn’t believe Cordum should be conducting ultrasounds and electrode analysis as he is an occupational therapist,” the release states.

“Further, a forensic expert deemed Cordum’s practices in violation with the American Occupational Therapy Association and that Cordum ‘violated the standard of care for occupational therapy’ when he directed children to remove their swim trunks during bathing/showering routines, administered enemas and suppositories to his patients and when he utilized imaging modalities to diagnose bowel issues.  

Records show police first received concerns about Cordum’s actions on Feb. 22 from a school therapist. That investigation revealed Cordum gave the child an enema, records show.

That child later told an investigator he “ran naked in the kitchen one time with Jared,” alleging “Jared told me to.”

The child stopped talking to the investigator soon after that, records show.

The mother of a second child told a Department of Justice agent that Cordum gave her “weird energy” and made her 4-year-old feel “very uncomfortable” during an examination in which the child was nude. The mother said Cordum did not wear gloves during the examination. After the home visit, the mother said she called her child’s pediatrician who “mentioned Mr. Cordum is under investigation for questionable practices. The pediatrician then recommended the child see a child psychologist, according to the arrest affidavit.

Another mother told officials that she suspected Cordum used his cell phone to record her nude son, who was 7.

The arrest affidavit also alleges Cordum touched the genitals of minors “bare handed outside of the scope of his role as an occupational therapist.”

Matt Chandler, an attorney with Payne, Powell, Truitt and Chandler representing four of the families, issued the following statement on their behalf:

"Our focus now is ensuring justice for these children and their families, while advocating for the children's physical and emotional recovery from this horrific abuse and malpractice."