ACCUSERS DETAIL ALLEGED SEX ABUSE
Both testify that defendant, a Northeast Center employee at the time, told them to keep quiet
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Two accusers in the sexual abuse case against a former employee of the Northeast Center for Rehabilitation and Brain Injury testified Wednesday that he performed oral sex on them and then warned them not to tell anyone.
The state Attorney General’s Office says the two men were among six residents of the Lake Katrine facility who Jacky Stanley sexually abused there between July 2014 and February 2015. The Attorney General’s Office is prosecuting the case.
Stanley, 50, of Kingston, in on trial in Ulster County Court for 33 counts of predatory sexual assault, multiple counts of criminal sexual act and multiple counts of sexual abuse, all felonies, and related other charges. Defense attorney Thomas Melanson has called the allegations false and said Stanley has been wrongly accused.
The two men who took the stand Wednesday, both of whom suffered traumatic brain injuries, said they didn’t tell anyone about the alleged abuse until they discovered a third accuser had come forward because they were
embarrassed and also afraid Stanley could delay their release or have them placed in a locked ward.
One former resident, who the Freeman is identifying only as Mr. A because it does not publish the names of alleged sexual abuse victims, testified for the prosecution that the first time he was molested by Stanley was the day he was admitted to the center, when he met with Stanley to go over the rules of the facility.
Stanley was a counselor at the Northeast Center and was responsible for helping new residents acclimate to the facility. His duties included managing the social environment and ensuring residents participated in their required programs.
During that initial meeting, Mr. A said, Stanley told him about a “locked ward” where people with behavioral problems were housed, and told him getting sent there would “lessen his ability to go home.”
Mr. A said Stanley then told him to undress and asked if he could massage him.
“It was kind of odd,” Mr. A said. “I told him, ‘I’m not gay.’”
He said Stanley then rubbed his back and reached over and touched his penis. A week later, Mr. A said, he woke up to find his boxer shorts down and Stanley performing oral sex on. On a third occasion, Mr. A said,
Stanley put his hand up his shorts and touched his penis.
Under cross-examination by Melanson, Mr. A said that although he had daily contact with numerous staff members at the center, he didn’t tell anyone about the alleged abuse until six months later, when a third person reported he had been molested by Stanley. He also admitted that it wasn’t until after repeated pressure from police that he finally said Stanley had performed oral sex on him.
Mr. A also admitted that, while at the center, he was caught “huffing” from an aerosol container.
A second accuser, Mr. B, testified for the prosecution Wednesday that within two weeks of arriving at the center, Stanley brought him into the bathroom, lifted him from his wheelchair and performed oral sex on him.
Asked if he did anything to stop Stanley, Mr. B said, “I had no backbone. I was a wimp.”
Mr. B said he eventually was moved to another unit and told another resident about the abuse.
During cross-examination by Melanson, Mr. B at times seemed defensive, accusing Stanley’s attorney of trying to confuse him and denying he told police he consented the to sexual encounter or telling police he avoided Stanley after the encounter “like he avoided the first girl he lost his virginity to.”
He also testified that before being admitted to the Northeast Center, he accused his mother’s boyfriend of molesting him but later
recanted that accusation. He said he recanted because he didn’t want to hurt his mother, but Melanson read a text message, purportedly sent by Mr. B, in which he apologized, saying, “I’m sorry I made that false allegation. I’m going crazy being in here 24/7.”
Also taking the stand Wednesday was Northeast Center employee Jared Whiteford, who testified that Mr. A approached him in the center’s cafe in March 2015 and told him the “same thing” that happened to another resident happened to him, referring to the alleged sexual abuse. Whiteford testified, however, that Mr. A told him Stanely never touched him.
Whiteford said he immediately reported the conversation to his superiors at the facility.
Whiteford testified under cross-examination that at
the time of the alleged incidents, Mr. A and Mr. B were in a unit that required residents be checked every 15 minutes. Additionally, he said, the residents would have been seen throughout the day by a number of other staff, including nurses, teachers, nursing assistant and janitors.
Testimony in the trial is to resume at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. The Freeman will live tweet the proceedings at www.dailyfreeman.com.