Local company will screen North Pole workers more carefully

So here's something a little disturbing: Sepia Photo, a Cypress-based operator of mall Santa photo booths, is planning to improve its Santa-screening process after discovering a sex offender working in one of its Santa booths at a Denver-area mall.

Westminster, Colo., police got a tip Tuesday that Jonathan Yeoman, a 40-year-old guy acting as photo elf, had been convicted of child molestation in Indiana in 1992. Though officials said they don't think Yeoman violated Colorado sex-offender laws and there were no reports of him acting inappropriately, Westminster Mall officials immediately shut down their North Pole when they learned what was going on. Apparently, the problem was that Sepia Photo's employees background checks somehow didn't find employees', uh, prior experience with kids.

Sepia, which runs Santa booths at malls in more than 15 states, said it will turn over a list of employees for police so they can do their own background checks.