STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) – FedEx Corp., famous for fast deliveries to millions of homes, failed to properly conduct a criminal background check before hiring a sexual predator who allegedly molested another boy, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Paul Sykes, who worked in a FedEx Kinko’s print shop in Fairfield, solicited customers there for a computer repair business he ran called “Facts and Fantasy,” according to the lawsuit. He allegedly molested an 8-year-old boy during a visit to repair a computer.

Neal Rogan, the boy’s attorney, said the incident raises troubling questions about a company with widespread contact with the public.

“Federal Express, they’re in our homes, they have our telephone numbers,” Rogan said. “I think when you’re a for-profit corporation and your only business is delivering services through people, you absolutely have a duty to do proper criminal background checks.”

Sandra Munoz, a FedEx spokeswoman, said the company conducts criminal background checks on all job candidates. A check of Sykes, who has been fired, did not reveal a criminal history, she said.

“We’re absolutely horrified by the allegations involving the former employee,” Munoz said. “However, we disagree with the allegations against FedEx.”

Sykes was charged with molesting the boy Sept. 27 in the boy’s Fairfield home. Sykes, 36, has multiple convictions for molesting children dating back to 1988 in Maine, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in Bridgeport Superior Court.

FedEx, formerly called Federal Express, reported revenue of $24.7 billion last year, while a criminal background check costs $25 and takes about an hour, the lawsuit states. Rogan noted that a company spokeswoman was quoted in a local newspaper in October saying the company did a criminal background check on Sykes before he was hired but no record was found.

“That person is either lying or Federal Express is wildly incompetent in how they do the background checks,” Rogan said.

Munoz noted that the company has more than 250,000 employees.

“Obviously the background checks we do have been very thorough,” she said.

The boy was traumatized and is in therapy, Rogan said.

The victim’s mother became suspicious when she caught Sykes swimming nude in their pool with her son, police said.

The lawsuit contends the company knew or should have known that Sykes was using its business facility to solicit customers for his own business. The copy chain Kinko’s is a subsidiary of the company.