(The Center Square) – State Sen. Janae Shamp, R-Surprise, wants tougher laws to protect children from sexual predators.
Shamp’s demands come after Phoenix police and court documents said 25-year-old Abel Gblah followed a student into Orangewood Elementary School and sexually assaulted her in an empty classroom. Authorities add Gblah told the student he was a doctor.
Gblah is already a Level 2 sex offender on lifetime probation. He was released from custody only days before authorities say the assault at Orangewood occurred.
Shamp said she was “absolutely disgusted and mortified that this guy with his history was even allowed to be on the streets” at the time of the Orangewood Elementary case.
“He was arrested in 2019 for human smuggling on our southern border, and as a Liberian immigrant, he would have been deported had they not plead the charges down,” Shamp told The Center Square Wednesday. “Then in 2021, he sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl who is autistic and also suffered from cerebral palsy.”
As a result, Shamp said the system failed not only the child at Orangewood Elementary, but society itself.
“This man had violated his probation,” said Shamp. “He’d left the state. He was arrested in Miami-Dade County allegedly for stealing a car. He had a smartphone. He had not shown up for his therapy classes 22 times.”
In recent legislative sessions, Shamp was successful in getting several major child-protection bills signed into law. These include Senate Bills 1232, 1236 and 1404.
SB 1232 classifies sexual conduct with a minor 12 or younger resulting in serious physical injury as a Class 1 felony, punishable by natural life imprisonment.
SB 1236 requires additional Level 1 sex offenders convicted of dangerous crimes against children be listed publicly on the state sex offender website.
SB 1404 requires schools to be notified when a parent at that school is a registered sex offender convicted of DCAC.
Because of the allegations over the Orangewood Elementary School situation in Phoenix, Shamp plans to push new, tougher measures in the 2026 legislative session. Reform proposals from Shamp include strengthening mandatory consequences for repeated prohibition violations and increasing oversight of probation and treatment providers. Shamp will also explore a requirement for immediate intervention for high-risk assessments, in addition to improvements for notification systems used for schools and parents.
“I like to fix things,” said Shamp, who held a related press conference on Monday. “I am a nurse, and I don’t like to see children hurt.”
Shamp recommended communities also be on the lookout and find ways to help children. One recent example used by Shamp involves a Buckeye daycare worker taking in a 12-year-old girl to protect her from a registered sex offender that police say was harassing the girl while she waited for the bus.
“Everyone needs to be looking at this from the standpoint of ‘that could be my kid,’ ” said Shamp. “The community is going to need to make sure that we’re paying attention, because these deviants are walking among us unfortunately right at the moment.”
