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Monroe County Child Rape Trial Continues

A juvenile witness took the stand in the trial of John J. Peterson Jr. on Tuesday and testified she had witnessed him abusing other children.

Peterson has been held in the Monroe County Jail since April 2015 awaiting his trial, which began Monday at the Monroe County Courthouse. Peterson was indicted on 14 total counts, including charges of rape, attempted rape, gross sexual imposition and child endangerment.

On Tuesday, a neighbor of Peterson’s testified first. The child lived next to Peterson for seven years. She was a frequent visitor in the Peterson home and told the sheriff’s investigator in February 2015 that she had seen two other children being physically abused. The neighbor testified that she had seen Peterson choke a boy and a girl “until they turned red” and that he made them stand facing the wall or on the stairs for long periods of time. She also testified that the two children were treated differently than four other children in the home — that they would be given less food and would have to sneak food in the middle of the night.

Monroe County sheriff’s deputies had come to the home because of an incident between two of the children in which the older had duct taped the younger on the mouth and around the hands and feet. The younger child escaped and ran to a neighbor’s house.

Jessica Leonard, the second witness called, a Monroe County Department of Job and Family Services caseworker, was called to the scene as well.

“The child had to run to the neighbor’s house, and she had no shoes, no jacket. She had to be transported to the hospital,” Leonard said.

Leonard said both children were filthy and had a “sticky substance” on their ankles that wouldn’t come off, and that they both had lice.

Robert Scott Steele, a forensic interviewer with Harmony House Children’s Advocacy Center, testified that he interviewed both children after they were placed in CPS custody. He said the girl said she was only comfortable talking to a woman and that she “could only talk about that stuff with other girls.” He interviewed the boy, who disclosed he had been physically abused in the same manner that the neighbor had testified. He also claimed to have received beatings on the buttocks through his clothing that left “marks and a knot.”

Monroe County sheriff’s Deputy Tyler Michael Russell told the court about his involvement in the case. He became involved after a child interviewed by a counselor disclosed they had been sexually abused.

The jury was shown the first recorded interview with Russell and Peterson, in which Peterson denies all allegations of sexual abuse. Russell testified that the second interview “may have been recorded over” and could not be found or retrieved. He said in that interview Peterson confessed to touching a child inappropriately.

Gail Hornor, a pediatric nurse practitioner with Nationwide Children’s Hospital who specializes in physical exams of children who may have been abused, also was called to testify. She conducted a physical exam of one of the children who claimed to have been sexually abused. She testified there was no sign of trauma to the child, and all tests for sexually transmitted diseases came back negative — however, only 10 percent of children who have been confirmed as sexually abused showed any sign of physical trauma.

The trial continues today at the Monroe County Courthouse.

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