A day care owner charged this week with sexually abusing two young children had passed a 2016 background check qualifying him for state funding, but a 2017 strangulation charge didn’t suspend him from the program.

Andrew Joseph Conaway, 32, remained lodged Friday in the Jackson County Jail on $1 million bail on several felony charges involving two victims younger than 6 years old.

Conaway had been registered with the state’s Office of Child Care from May 2016 until Wednesday, when Medford police arrested him, according to an emergency order filed by the Oregon Department of Education’s Office of Child Care.

The operation he ran with his wife, Family Friendly Daycare, was not required to be licensed by the state because it cared for fewer than three children.

But qualifying for a listing in the state’s Central Background Registry had allowed Conaway to receive subsidies from the Department of Human Services that supplement employee child care, according to Lisa Morawski with the Oregon Department of Education.

Conaway had been enrolled with the Central Background Registry from May 9, 2016, until his suspension Feb. 21, the order shows. Between those dates, however, Conaway was arrested, on Feb. 11, 2017, and charged with fourth-degree assault, harassment and strangulation, as well as interfering with a Medford police officer.

Court records don’t list an age for the alleged assault victim in the case, although it identified the person as male.

In October, Conaway pleaded guilty to the police interference charge as part of an agreement in which the other charges were dropped.

Under state law, programs regulated by the Office of Child Care require enrollees to renew in the Central Background Registry every two years. Morawski said the state performs a quarterly check on the enrollees through the law enforcement database system.

“If there is criminal activity, there would be a flag in the system, which prompts the state to gather additional information,” Morawski wrote in an email to the Mail Tribune.

“In this particular case, the state did not suspend the CBR in 2017 based on the information available at the time.”

Effective in September, a new federal regulation will provide a list of crimes that will automatically merit a suspension, Morawski said. Interfering with police, however, isn’t among crimes on the list, she said.

Family Friendly Daycare, at 3087 Tahitian Ave., was otherwise exempt from state oversight.

Because the center never had more than three children under its care at any given time, it was exempt from being licensed by the Office of Child Care.

Conaway is not listed as an owner of the house where the day care operated, Jackson County property records show.

Small child care operators aren’t required to have a business license, the city of Medford says.

Neither Conaway nor Family Friendly Daycare were listed in the Oregon Secretary of State’s business directory.

Zoning ordinances and business licenses apply only to day care centers caring for 16 or more children at one time, statutes show.

Conaway is being held on three counts of first-degree sexual abuse, three counts of first-degree unlawful sexual penetration and two counts of first-degree sodomy. Prosecutors dropped an earlier misdemeanor private indecency charge.

For Medford police investigators piecing together the abuse case involving the two young girls, whether Conaway was in compliance with state regulations is beside the point.

“Obviously, he had access to kids,” Medford Lt. Justin Ivens said. “It’s just an unfortunate deal.”

When asked whether the day care was operational, Ivens said he didn’t know, but detectives have found no signs Conaway’s wife was involved in the abuse.

“He’s out of the picture now,” Ivens said of Conaway. “He’s in custody.”

Ivens said the agency publicized the case through press releases and its Facebook page because more victims is “always a possibility” in child abuse investigations. He said anyone with information about the case should call the Medford police Criminal Investigation Division at 541-774-2230.

“If there are more victims out there, we encourage them to call us,” Ivens said.