A carnival owner is behind bars for allegedly touching a little a girl at the annual Whiskey Flat celebration in Kernville this year. Officials say this is not James Crook's first time. 46 year old Crook may have done the same thing to another little girl seven years ago. But that's not it -- he's also a registered sex offender.

Crook is from Clovis. He owns a business called "Carnival Bounce and Ponies," which is a small kiddie carnival with games, pony rides and bounce houses. Internet searches show that Crook has been a vendor at carnival in Madera and Gilroy and he's been operating as a vendor at the whiskey flats days for at least the past seven years.

Crook was arrested in February of this year at Kernville's annual Whiskey Flat Days after an eleven year old girl claimed he touched her inappropriately. It turns out Crook is a registered sex offender out of Fresno County. And that's not all. After a preliminary hearing, a judge has ruled that Crook will now face charges in Kern County, on not one, but two counts on suspicion of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 years old. The second report of alleged touching -- from an incident back at a Whiskey Flat celebration in 2001.

The lead investigator on the case, Sr. Deputy James Stratton, says after Crook's arrest made the news earlier this year, the Sheriff's Department was contacted by someone else who claimed the incident sounded remarkably similar to what happened to a ten year old girl seven years ago.

According to Stratton, what happened in 2001 could not be more thoroughly investigated because the little girl was too traumatized to talk to authorities.

Eyewitness news obtained the police records on this case and we uncovered that the two incidents involve victims around a similar age, similar physical description and similar reports of inappropriate touching.

Crook's arrest also raises other questions. How could something like this happen? How could the Kernville Chamber of Commerce let a registered sex offender work Whiskey Flat? Well, they didn't know. Crook was convicted of oral copulation with a child under 16 in 2006. When we asked the Kernville Chamber of Commerce how many years Crook had been a vendor at Whiskey Flat, a representative told us she didn't know because the computer system only goes back a couple of years. The Chamber of Commerce has refused to comment on Crook's arrest but say they do run all the vendors names through the Megan's Law website and Crook was nowhere to be found. It's true. According to Megan's Law, "some registered sex offenders are not subject to public disclosure, so they are not included on this site." About 25% of registered sex offenders are excluded from public disclosure by law.

We called the California Department of Justice who told us disclosure on Megan's Law depends on the sex crime. And Crook's conviction for oral copulation, according to the DOJ, is a no post offense. However, all registered sex offenders granted exclusion from the website must still register with law enforcement where they live.

So, did the Chamber of Commerce do all they could by checking its vendors against Megan's Law? Hindsight may be foresight, but the board now promises to beef up its application process. But it is still perhaps little consolation to the families who believe that crook victimized their children. And considering the seven year gap between the two allegations, this may not be the last we've heard of Crook.

We asked Stratton if he believed there may be other victims out there.

"With this kind of situation, my instincts and experience, there are probably others out there," answered Stratton.

The Kernville Chamber of Commerce says it will draw up a new set of guidelines for workers, contractors, and vendors for the Whiskey Flat Days when the board meets later this fall.

Stratton says he has suggested the chamber ask people more specific background information, like perhaps getting a driver's license number, or asking whether they've been convicted of a crime before.

Crook's next court date is scheduled for next week.

See the court documents that pertain to this story by clicking here.