Bernard F. Baran Jr. (May 25, 1965 – September 1, 2014) was an American day care employee wrongfully convicted in the day-care sex-abuse hysteria of the 1980s and 1990s that was spawned by the McMartin preschool trial.
In 2009, the Massachusetts Appeals Court vacated the convictions, deeming the case "notorious,"[6] and citing the behavior of the original prosecutor as "troubling.
Shortly before his employment, social workers placed a four-year-old boy at ECDC due to the child's home environment.
In September 1984, accusations of sexual abuse at the Fells Acres Day School in Malden, Massachusetts, made news across the state and beyond.
Shortly thereafter, the parents of the boy complained to the board of directors of ECDC that they "didn't want no homo" working with their child.
[8] The Board of Directors held a meeting on September 12, 1984, to specifically discuss Baran's homosexuality,[9] and the possibility of terminating his employment because of it.
[10] On October 1, 1984, the parents of the boy in question removed him from ECDC in protest of Baran's continued employment.
[13] Baran's case went from arrest to trial in 105 days, convening in court on January 23, 1985, receiving significant local media attention.