MOBILE, Alabama Jan 16 2013– A mentor in a nationally recognized program aimed at helping troubled teens used his position to coerce a teenage girl into having sex and tried to get her and another girl to participate in a threesome, a prosecutor said today.
Sherman Fitzgerald Tate, 36, stands charged with second-degree rape and two counts of second-degree sodomy. Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Nicki Patterson said in her opening statement that the defendant met the victims through the Mobile Youth Advocate Program, where he was a paid mentor.
Patterson said Tate had contact with the girls in 2010 even though both were assigned to a different mentor.
“Primarily, the evidence you will hear will come from … two 15-year-old girls who were assigned to a program that was supposed to turn them into good citizens,” she said.
Defense attorney Jeff Deen said his client did not do the things he is accused of and suggested that the girls are lying to help their mentor, who was involved in a disagreement with Tate.
“We don’t have any DNA. We don’t have any fingerprints. All we have is the word of these two girls,” he said. “It’s outrageous that he’s been charged with this.”
Mobile County juvenile court officials contracted with the Mobile Youth Advocate Program, a branch of a national initiative, to work with troubled teenagers. During the six-month program, advocates try to improve the youths' behavior and keep them from committing more crimes through an intense mentoring relationship.
After one of the teens in this case ran away from home, Patterson said, Tate found her and agreed to take her home. He also promised to help keep her out of the Strickland Youth Center if she would have sex with him, Patterson said.
The girl agreed and the two had sex in a vehicle that the victim described as a “gospel van,” Patterson said. She said Tate then bought her a Checkers burger and dropped her off at home, the prosecutor said.
Patterson said Tate began calling a second program member out of class at P.O.I.N.T Academy, an alternative school, for counseling sessions. Those sessions, however, consisted of his vulgar sexual suggestions, the prosecutor told jurors.
Tate followed up with phone calls and text messages and went by the girl’s house, Patterson said.
At one point, Patterson said, Tate got both girls out of class together and had them brought to a conference room at P.O.I.N.T Academy, where he asked them to perform sexual acts on one another. He also tried to get them to perform oral sex on him, the prosecutor said; instead, the girls kissed his private area, Patterson said.
Deen disputed Patterson’s account. He said he would fill in when his colleague was not available to work with the girls. The director of the program asked Tate to find the girl who had run away, Deen said.
“He was asked to talk to these kids,” he said.
The trial will continue Tuesday before Mobile County Circuit Judge John Lockett.
Source:AL.com
Sherman Fitzgerald Tate, 36, stands charged with second-degree rape and two counts of second-degree sodomy. Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Nicki Patterson said in her opening statement that the defendant met the victims through the Mobile Youth Advocate Program, where he was a paid mentor.
Patterson said Tate had contact with the girls in 2010 even though both were assigned to a different mentor.
“Primarily, the evidence you will hear will come from … two 15-year-old girls who were assigned to a program that was supposed to turn them into good citizens,” she said.
Defense attorney Jeff Deen said his client did not do the things he is accused of and suggested that the girls are lying to help their mentor, who was involved in a disagreement with Tate.
“We don’t have any DNA. We don’t have any fingerprints. All we have is the word of these two girls,” he said. “It’s outrageous that he’s been charged with this.”
Mobile County juvenile court officials contracted with the Mobile Youth Advocate Program, a branch of a national initiative, to work with troubled teenagers. During the six-month program, advocates try to improve the youths' behavior and keep them from committing more crimes through an intense mentoring relationship.
After one of the teens in this case ran away from home, Patterson said, Tate found her and agreed to take her home. He also promised to help keep her out of the Strickland Youth Center if she would have sex with him, Patterson said.
The girl agreed and the two had sex in a vehicle that the victim described as a “gospel van,” Patterson said. She said Tate then bought her a Checkers burger and dropped her off at home, the prosecutor said.
Patterson said Tate began calling a second program member out of class at P.O.I.N.T Academy, an alternative school, for counseling sessions. Those sessions, however, consisted of his vulgar sexual suggestions, the prosecutor told jurors.
Tate followed up with phone calls and text messages and went by the girl’s house, Patterson said.
At one point, Patterson said, Tate got both girls out of class together and had them brought to a conference room at P.O.I.N.T Academy, where he asked them to perform sexual acts on one another. He also tried to get them to perform oral sex on him, the prosecutor said; instead, the girls kissed his private area, Patterson said.
Deen disputed Patterson’s account. He said he would fill in when his colleague was not available to work with the girls. The director of the program asked Tate to find the girl who had run away, Deen said.
“He was asked to talk to these kids,” he said.
The trial will continue Tuesday before Mobile County Circuit Judge John Lockett.
Source:AL.com