The leader of a Palo Alto-based teen volunteer group has been arrested for allegedly having sex with three female group members over the past two years, police said Tuesday.
Antonio Scott Graham, 28, who goes by Tony, helped start up the Palo Alto Fire Department Explorers group while a student at Gunn High School in 1995. He ran the program as a volunteer from 1999 until 2002, then returned to the position four months ago, police said.
On Friday, Palo Alto police arrested Graham and searched his Los Altos Hills cottage. Detectives learned of his alleged crimes when one of the victims approached them early last week, said Police Chief Lynne Johnson.
The Explorers program is run by the Pacific Skyline Council of the Boy Scouts of America and has about 40 members ages 14 to 21, including boys and girls, said John Richers, the council's chief operating officer. The group trains members in emergency response and first-aid skills.
Though affiliated with the Palo Alto Fire Department, the group has members from both Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, said Assistant City Manager Emily Harrison.
Police were not releasing the ages of the alleged victims because the case is still under investigation, Johnson said, but all three are juveniles. Detectives are still working on determining the length of time Graham had relations with each girl, she said.
Graham, who is out on bail and could not be reached for comment Tuesday, was booked Friday on charges of having unlawful sexual intercourse and recording sexual acts by a minor in photo or digital form. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance Aug. 19.
Graham works as an emergency medical technician for American Medical Response ambulances. AMR officials could not be reached for comment.
In 1994, the American Red Cross heralded Graham and two friends as heroes for rushing to the aid of fellow Gunn students who had been burned when a makeshift bomb exploded on the school's quad.
For some who knew Graham, the arrest seemed out of character.
Nik Kaestner, who graduated from Gunn a year before Graham and was in band with him, said Graham was passionate about his work in the EMT club in high school. Kaestner, the former student activities director at Gunn, said Graham did a good job of engaging students in a presentation on drunken driving when he returned to campus about a year ago.
''He was very proactive in wanting to help students and that continued after high school, all on his own time,'' Kaestner said. ''That's why it's so surprising.''
Raanan Peleg, who lives next to the cottage Graham has been renting for about six months, said he has been meaning to invite Graham for dinner.
''He's a good neighbor, a good person, a good friend,'' said Peleg. ''The guy is just very decent.''
News of Graham's arrest has made some in city government concerned about whether it's appropriate for Palo Alto to be affiliated with a group that extends so far beyond city borders, Harrison said. The group does not receive any financial support from Palo Alto.
''We don't have any oversight,'' she said. ''We've always been supportive of groups that give young people an opportunity. But having something so devastating happen makes us wonder.''
Palo Alto Fire Department officials referred questions to Harrison.
Parents of all members of the group will be notified, said Richers, of the Boy Scouts.
''The youth are utmost in our minds at this point,'' he said.
Distributed by the Associated Press
