Man convicted of sexual assault

CHARLESTON, W.VA. -- A Kanawha County jury has decided a Charleston man is guilty of sexual assault of a former girlfriend, but stopped short of finding him guilty of kidnapping in the incident last March.

Jurors heard from the victim, who told how Robert Lee Lewis, 40, came to her home despite a domestic protective order she had filed against him.

The woman was physically ill on the stand, prompting Judge Jennifer Bailey to call a recess and defense attorney John Sullivan to ask for a mistrial. The judge denied that request.

The jury, instructed not to let the victim's illness on the stand sway their opinion, deliberated the case over two days and returned their verdict just before 3 p.m. Thursday.

Lewis was convicted of abduction with intent to defile - a lesser charge than kidnapping - one count of burglary and one count of sexual assault. The jury found him not guilty of kidnapping and not guilty of a second count of sexual assault.

Bailey is scheduled to sentence Lewis Jan. 6.

Assistant prosecutors Ben Freeman and Erica Lord tried the case against Lewis for the state.

The victim testified that she had known Lewis about six months and had let him move into her Russell Street apartment. When their relationship went bad, she said, she asked him to leave and filed the protective order against him.

On March 26, he knocked at her door, saying he was someone else, she said.

"When I saw it was Mr. Lewis I shut it, but he slammed right through the door," the woman testified.

Right after the incident, the victim told police Lewis took her from her apartment to a vacant house on Grant Street, fought with her and raped her.

She said she escaped, ran back to her home and called police. She said she refused to have a rape examination at the hospital because she had been there for hours, was exhausted and just wanted to go home.

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Man Arraigned On Sex Crimes

FAIRMONT -- A Marion County man accused of several sex related crimes was arraigned in Fairmont, Friday afternoon.
Andrew Chicarelli, 20, has pleaded not guilty to 15 counts of sexual assault and abuse by a parent, guardian, or custodian and one count of conspiracy to commit a felony.

Chicarelli's parents, Lawrence and Lisa Chicarelli, face similar charges.

They were arraigned last week.

Andrew Chicarelli's trial is set for the week of Nov. 18.

Chicarelli is still being held in the North Central Regional Jail.

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6 Arraigned in Barbour County

Barbour County Circuit Judge Alan D. Moats arraigned the six individuals Wednesday who were indicted by a Barbour County Grand Jury earlier in the week.

Justin E. Mayle, 22, of 601 Maple Ave., Philippi, appeared with Howard Ferris and pleaded innocent to one count of second-degree sexual assault, a felony. Moats continued Mayle's current bond under the condition he participate in the community correction program.

According to the indictment, Mayle is accused of unlawfully engaging in sexual intercourse with a male victim while the victim was physically helpless on Dec. 21, 2008.

Bryant M. Cummings, 20, of Route 53, Box 223, Coalton, and Shawn M. Lindsay, 21, of Beverly, appeared together and both pleaded innocent to one count each of breaking and entering and conspiracy.

Attorney Leckta Poling represented Cummings and attorney Lisa Weese Ferguson represented Lindsay. Moats ordered both men could remain on bond under the condition they participate in the community corrections program.

According to the indictments, the men are accused of breaking into a building owned by Max Chevalier on Jan. 28.

Garrett J. Summerfield, 18, of Route 1, Box 218-2, Philippi, appeared with Ferguson and pleaded innocent to one count of breaking and entering, a felony. Moats continued Summerfield's bond under the condition he participate in the community corrections program.

According to the indictment, Summerfield is accused of breaking into a building owned by McVickers Salvage on May 4.

Richard W. Koehlerschmidt, of Route 3, Box 192-A, Philippi, appeared with Ferris and pleaded innocent to two counts of failure to register change of sex offender information, a felony. Moats did not set bond because Koehlerschmidt is currently incarcerated at the Tygart Valley Regional Jail on separate charges.

According to the indictment, Koehlerschmidt failed to provide a change in information according to the Sex Offender Registration Act on May 22 and Aug. 30.

Dianna L. Zajic, of 403 Maple Ave., Philippi, appeared with attorney Karen Hill Johnson and pleaded innocent to one count of embezzlement, a felony. Moats set bond at $5,000 and ordered Zajic have no contact with the victim.

According to the indictment, Zajic is accused of stealing money from a joint account with Norma L. McCoy that was supposed to be used solely for the purpose of paying McCoy's bills.

Barbour County Prosecuting Attorney E. Lynn Phillips presented the state's cases

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Man charged with Sexual Assault and Incest

Melvin Craig Mullins, 39, of Tioga, was charged with first-degree sexual assault and incest after three female juveniles told Nicholas County sheriff's deputies they had been repeatedly abused while in Mullins' care, according to a press release issued by the Nicholas County Sheriff's Department.

Additional charges may be filed. Mullins is in the Central Regional Jail in lieu of $900,000 bond.

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Judge increases bond for fugitive wanted in WV

A district judge in Colorado this past week increased the bond of fugitive Howard Dotson, 60, who is wanted in West Virginia on suspicion of 96 counts of sexual assault.

The bond was increased to $1 million from $260,000.

Dotson was indicted on 96 counts of sexual assault for 10 years of alleged abuse of his four stepdaughters.

Court documents say Dotson fathered a child with one of the victims.

Dotson’s trial had been postponed four times, from March 11, 1997, to July 15, 1997, then Dec. 2, 1997. Finally, when Dotson failed to appear at the March 31, 2008 trial date, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

It is uncertain how long Dotson has lived and worked in Colorado. Records on file at the Boone County Courthouse list Dotson’s last known residence in the state of Indiana.

According to authorities, Dotson has a home and family in Colorado and is reportedly fighting extradition back to West Virginia.

Dotson’s bond was reported increased not only because of his outstanding warrant, but also because of suspicious circumstances surrounding his arrest on Sept. 27 in Colorado.

On that day, the Colorado State Patrol arrested Dotson after a traffic accident on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, cruelty toward a child, a traffic offense, and fraudulent impersonation, according to the online booking record at the Mesa County Sheriff's Office.

Reportedly, Dotson and a girl, 10, suffered minor injuries when a Dodge Caravan flipped over onto its top.

“(EMT) told me that when he asked the girl what they were doing out in Whitewater, she told him she didn’t want to talk about it,” the affidavit reportedly states.

“We’re just waiting for the charges against Dotson in Colorado to be finished up,” a source in the Prosecutor’s Office said. Dotson is scheduled to return to court in Colorado on the charges he faces there, as well as his extradition to Boone County in November.

Authorities in Boone County say Dotson can waive extradition, and they are prepared to get a governor’s warrant and present it to the court in Colorado.

“One way or another, now that he’s caught, we will get him into a West Virginia court," arresting officer Spangler has stated.

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Police nab man for 'sexting'

WAR — A man who attempted to solicit sex from a minor through multiple cell phone text messages is now facing several charges in McDowell County.

Jimmy Lester, 26, of Caretta, is charged with attempted sexual assault third degree, sexual abuse in the third degree and endangering public safety, which is a computer crime-related charge, sheriff’s department Chief Deputy Mark Shelton said.

Shelton said a week-long investigation began on Monday after a male subject driving in a vehicle threw a piece of paper out of the vehicle at a 14-year old male juvenile who was walking on the road. Shelton said the paper asked for “sexual favors” from the juvenile, and included the man’s cell number.

“I took [the cell number] and texted the individual, and acted like I was a 14-year-old male,” Shelton said. “Over the course of the week, he made arrangements that he wanted to meet in an area at which time we did surveillance, and when he showed up we arrested him.”

Shelton said he communicated with the man via text messaging approximately 120 times throughout the course of the week.

Shelton said Lester was arraigned late Thursday in front of Magistrate Martin West who set bond in the case at $50,000. Shelton said Lester was still being held Friday in lieu of the $50,000 bond.

The McDowell County Sheriff’s Department was assisted by the War Police Department in the investigation.

Shelton said the incident was one of the first texting cases to be worked by the sheriff’s office.

Shelton said parents should always check their children’s text messages from time to time to monitor who they are talking with.

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Jackson fugitive found in Tennessee

RIPLEY - A fugitive from justice in Jackson County was apprehended in Tennessee and returned.

Telly Sylvester Larry, 29, in custody at the South Central Regional Jail, South Charleston, had been wanted since he was indicted by a Jackson County grand jury in November 2008 and failed to appear for his arraignment.

Larry was indicted on three counts of first-degree sexual assault, one count of first-degree sexual abuse and four courts of sexual abuse by a person in a position of trust.

According to court records, the crimes allegedly took place between June and December 2007 and the victim was a 7-year-old girl. Jackson County sheriff's Sgt. Jim Bare was the investigating officer.

Larry was placed on the National Crime Information Center database and was being sought with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Larry was recently arrested in Nashville, Tenn., on an unrelated charge and a routine check of the NCIC alerted officers to the charges in Jackson County. He was extradited from Tennessee and returned to West Virginia Oct. 15 by a transport company and was lodged in the South Central Regional Jail to await arraignment.

A charge of failure to appear will be added to the charges against Larry, said Jackson County Chief Deputy B.W. Dewees.

An arraignment is set for 9 a.m. Oct. 28 in circuit court before Judge Thomas C. Evans.

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Megan Williams Defendant Says Williams Was Tortured

Frankie Brewster is doing 10-to-25 years in prison for her guilty plea to sexual assault in the Megan Williams case. Williams, a black woman, reported she was kidnapped, tortured and raped by 7 white men and women in Logan County in 2007. Brewster and the other defendants plead guilty.

On Wednesday, an attorney for Williams held a news conference to say Williams was recanting the whole story, but even Brewster who could benefit from that claim doesn`t believe her now. While Brewster says she might take her chances at trial if she had it to do over again, she says that Megan Williams is not telling the truth now-- that the crimes did happen. Brewster says: " It did happen." "All of us participated." "There was a crime committed or a multitude of crimes committed."

Brewster claims it wasn`t race or Williams` boyfriend-girlfriend relationship breakup with her son, Bobby Brewster, another defendant, the started the trouble. She says Karen Burton told others Williams took some money and a food stamp card. Brewster says she was not the ringleader. "I wasn`t, Karen initiated everything." She was cautious about her own part saying: "I don`t want to say no and I don`t want to say yes." But she admitted improper contact with the victim.

Brian Abraham, former Logan County prosecutor says: " These people are entitled to a fair review of their case, but I have no doubt it will remain as it is." Brewster says not all the crime happened at her trailer. She says " I just want the truth out and for people take responsibility for what they did." Bob Aaron, Eyewitness News, Mason County.

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Torture Victim Recants Story, but Cops Believe It's Still True

Prosecutors are used to doubting convicted felons who recant their confessions, but it's rare for them to ignore the victim of a crime who says she made up the entire story that sent six people to prison.



Brian Abraham, the former Logan County prosecutor who oversaw those cases, dismissed the news conference as a publicity stunt.



Authorities say, despite Megan Williams' new denial, there is overwhelming evidence that she was indeed held captive in the rural West Virginia shed where she originally said she was raped and tortured over the course of several days.

Williams' story made national headlines in 2007, when investigators said the young woman had been beaten, stabbed in the legs, raped and forced to drink urine and eat animal feces. Williams is black; all of her alleged attackers were white.

Seven people, including Williams' then-boyfriend, Bobby Brewster, all confessed to their crimes and pleaded guilty. All but one was sentenced to jail.

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Megan Williams Decides Not to Speak at her Press Conference

Megan William`s press conference got off to a rocky start.

Instead of addressing the press alongside her attorney Byron Potts she stayed hidden in a back room.
At first Potts told Eyewitness News Wlliams didn`t want to confront the cameras and had left through a back exit. We`re told she then came back, but quickly changed her mind once again, leaving Potts to tell her story for her.

Megan Williams story of torture was one that caused the nation to empathize with her, to cry with her and to march along side her.
She was seen as a victim of a hate crime.
Now Williams is seen in a different light.
She is recanting her week of unspeakable torture and instead is offering a new story.
One of a vengeful girlfriend who sought out to hurt her boyfriend, while her late adoptive mother fed her a gruesome tale of racism.

Williams told Eyewitness News she was held against her will in a trailer in Logan County in 2007 and forced to eat rat and dog feces, and subjected to rape and other forms of sexual abuse, by six people who are now all behind bars.
She had claimed she was stabbed multiple times while her attackers yelled ethnic slurs.
All of these claims now something she says was made up.

Potts says Williams will now undergo a series of mental evaluations to determine how competent she actually is. As far as when she will address the public herself, there`s no time frame.

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