Oxford Teacher Accused of Molesting Daughter, 14

Oakland Press May 9, 2007

By STEPHEN FRYE
Of The Oakland Press

NOVI - The father of a 14-year-old girl who ran away from home with a Texas man she met on the Internet was jailed Tuesday in lieu of a $4 million bond after being charged with sexually abusing his adopted daughter.

 
The father, Gerard Robert Wilson, a 48-year-old Commerce Township resident who is an Oxford teacher, had expressed outrage last week when a 27-year-old Texas man his daughter met on the Internet was charged with criminal sexual conduct against her.

Richard Carrasco of Midland, Texas, was jailed on a $1.65 million bond after the daughter ran away with him. They were found at the Highlander Motel in Waterford Township, after an Amber Alert had been issued for the girl.

"Just when you think we snatched her from a bad situation, we find out she was in a bad situation beforehand," said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard. "It is very, very sad and disturbing." On Tuesday, Oakland County Sheriff 's Detective Russell Sherman detailed the girl's allegations against her father. The arrest warrant was signed by 52nd-1st District Court Judge Brian MacKenzie.

According to Sherman, over the course of the past year, Wilson became aroused while watching a sexually explicit video with the girl, squeezed her upper thighs while driving her to school, smacked her bottom and brushed against her breasts.

Additional allegations include making her show him her breasts and commenting on them, as well as rubbing against her, said Chief Deputy Prosecutor Deborah Carley.

"It explains a lot about the text messaging on the Internet," Carley said. "She was just looking for someone."

Wilson, who is a teacher of computers and audiovisual technology at Oxford Middle School, is charged with four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony that carries a potential 15-year prison sentence.

The charges also support what Carrasco's mother told The Oakland Press - that the teenage girl alleged she lived in an abusive environment.

Juanita Carrasco of Midland, Texas, said the girl had been in contact with Richard Carrasco and his family via instant messaging for about a year. The mother said the girl complained of inappropriate comments about her physical development, as well as being rubbed against.

While she said she considered the age 14 to "be a baby" and said her son "should have known better," Juanita Carrasco also said, "Let the truth come out."

As the allegations against the girl's father were read in court Tuesday, he once shook his head but remained quiet. That was a change from his last appearance in the Novi district court, when on Friday he was vocally angry about Carrasco's alleged sexual contact with his daughter.

Before that arraignment, an angry Wilson said he wanted to see the Texas' man's face and to let Carrasco see his face. At one point, Judge Dennis Powers told Wilson he needed to sit down in court.

On Tuesday, Wilson wore an orange shirt and khaki pants. He told MacKenzie that his family had financial troubles that would affect his ability to post a bond.

MacKenzie did not seem concerned, issuing a $1 million bond - with no 10 percent provision - for each count. After the first bond was announced, Wilson turned and stared in shock at the two detectives and then looked wide-mouthed and disbelieving at his wife.

After the arraignment, Wilson's wife declined to comment, saying only "goodbye." MacKenzie said he would appoint an attorney for Wilson.

The $4 million bond is more than double the bond issued for Carrasco, who is due back in court today for a pre-exam conference.

The girl is in protective custody at Children's Village.

Bouchard said he had "nothing but disgust" for Carrasco for exploiting an opportunity and then said what Wilson is accused of "is even worse."

"A father should do everything in his power to protect a child and to get them the best opportunity at a quality life," Bouchard said. "To take that position of authority and that opportunity to be a huge positive in someone's life and make it into a huge negative is very sad."

According to police and prosecutors, the allegations against the father were disclosed first to a nurse during an examination and then to a forensic interviewer at Care House in Pontiac.

Carley said these newly surfacing allegations would not clear or justify Carrasco's alleged sexual contact with the girl - first after sneaking into her home on April 29 and April 30 and then at the Highlander Motel in Waterford Township after she ran away - because the law on the age of consent is very clear.

"Even if you lie about your age, that's no defense," Carley said. "The age of consent is 16."

Sex with anyone younger is illegal, she said.

But Carley and investigators said that Carrasco knew her age to be 14, even though she initially said she was 18 and he initially said he was 19. A friend of the girl's notified Carrasco that she was 14.

Carrasco is charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony carrying a potential 15-year prison sentence, as well as fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, accosting a minor, and possession of cocaine. Police found a loaded handgun in his motel room along with numerous cell phones, two computers and a digital scale with cocaine residue on it.

Carley said victims of sexual abuse often become enticing victims for others.

"They are preying on people like this," Carley said. "They are looking for just this kind of girl. She thinks he cares about her. It's a pathetic thing to do to another person, both by the father and this other stranger.

"They've lost their self-esteem. They are desperate for someone to love them normally."