Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Jurors in the trial of a Mentone man accused of child molestation learned he was allegedly sexually abused as a boy in open court Wednesday.
After the break for lunch, a videotaped interview conducted by Warsaw Police Department Detectives Tony Faucett and Joe Stanley was shown to the jury in the trial of Anthony DeMarco, who is accused of molesting a child under 14 years old, a Class A felony.
"When I was younger, I had been abused," DeMarco said. He said he was abused by a friend's uncle when he was a young teen.
"Long story short, I know how that made me feel," he said. "... That made me want to be a protector. If I can protect a kid, I will."
DeMarco also told Faucett he had sexual relations with a boy "when I was that age myself, with a cousin in a barn or something like that."
DeMarco said he questioned his own sexuality. "I suppose with all factors considered, I guess I could be (gay or bisexual). ... It's always in the back of my mind."
Then he added that if he publicly admitted he was gay or bisexual it "could look bad with the work I do."
As the interview went on, Faucett continued to ask DeMarco if he had any sexual contact with the alleged victim, and DeMarco said no.
Later Demarco asked, "What are the legal ramifications (of the allegations)? ... My worry is that if this goes through, I lose everything I have worked for. ... If I do have a side of the story, what's gonna happen?"
Faucett and Stanley told DeMarco that they could not talk about penalties.
After the interview in the video, the detectives left the room and returned a few minutes later with a warrant for DeMarco's arrest.
Later in the afternoon, Stanley took the witness stand and told the jury that his initial interview with the alleged victim was videotaped. The tape, which was about 45 minute long, showed the alleged victim telling Stanley about his encounters with DeMarco. The boy described alleged sexual encounters with DeMarco similar to the boy's testimony in the courtroom Tuesday.
After the video was shown, DeMarco's attorney Michael Lambert asked Stanley about the alleged victim's credibility as a witness given the inconsistencies in some part of the testimony, especially regarding the dates of the alleged sex acts.
"There are discrepancies, but given (the victim's) age," Stanley said the time differences was understandable. Stanley said younger people did not have the same mental capacities as adults.
When Lambert asked if Stanley believed the alleged victim, he responded, "I absolutely believe he is telling the truth. ... His story is logical and easy to believe and supported by other facts."
Before lunch, jurors heard testimony from five witnesses, including the victim's stepmother and father.
Both the victim's parents confirmed that DeMarco lived at their house for nearly two years and stayed in the same room with the boy for a period of time. They said DeMarco got along well with all the kids in the house and that they trusted DeMarco at the time they allowed him to move into their house.
The alleged victim's stepmother identified an e-mail message from DeMarco that said he had been sexually abused as a child. She said, "I kept his secret" because he confided in her. Eventually she told a few people, including her husband, asking them to pray for DeMarco.
Both she and the boy's father said they had no idea DeMarco allegedly was molesting the boy.
"This has been hard on the whole family," the woman said. "I can't believe someone we allowed in our home and trusted would do this to us. It's unbelievable."
In other testimony, the jury heard two teens, the alleged victim's former best friend and a boy the victim knew from a YMCA camp, said DeMarco tried to get them to engage in sex acts by telling them the alleged victim did it.
One boy said DeMarco asked him, "What if I gave oral sex to (the victim) or we did it to each other?"
The boy said he told DeMarco, "I think it would be weird."
The other teen said once while camping DeMarco tried to rub his leg and touch him inappropriately, but the teen did not tell anyone because he didn't want anyone else to know about it. He said DeMarco told him, "(the alleged victim) liked it, and I would too."
In other testimony, Kevin Brown, a therapist from the Bowen Center, testified that he was has been counseling the alleged victim since June 2005. He said the boy identified DeMarco's physical abnormality by drawing it on a figure on a piece of paper.
"He drew one testicle instead of two," said Brown.
Later in the day, Warsaw Police Department Lt. Steve Adang told the jury he served a search warrant on DeMarco's mother's house in Mentone. Adang and Faucett searched DeMarco's room in the residence, finding "numerous photos" of the alleged victim in stacks throughout the room as well as in drawers and a locked box. Adang also identified letters about the alleged victim and notes from the alleged victim discovered in the search.
Testimony in the trial resumed today at 9:30 a.m. The prosecution rested and the defense began calling witnesses.
