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Last updated on Friday, July 25, 2014
(BEDFORD) - A jury found 38-year-old Charles D. Strunk of Heltonville guilty of two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor in Lawrence Superior Court II, Thursday night.
During the trial Struck adamantly denied the allegations.
At about 2:45 p.m., Prosecutor Michelle Woodward and Defense Attorney David Smith finished closing remarks, rested their cases and the judge issued jury instructions. The 12 jurors deliberated for about 5 hours returning with a verdict just before 8 p.m.
The now 16-year-old female victim was the first to testify against Strunk, claiming he sexually assaulted her at knifepoint in the woods behind a Lawrence County Home.
The girl, who was friends with Strunk's daughter in elementary school, visited each other often. A few years later the teenager's family moved elsewhere in the county. The friendship continued, but the contact was less frequent. But on May 8, 2013 the girl had messaged Strunk on Facebook asking him to take her mushroom hunting. He did, but when they went into the woods the girl alleged that Strunk pulled out a green piece of paper and a knife.
The girl testified that Strunk read aloud what was on the paper, but told the jury she couldn't remember what he said. He then told her to remove her clothes. The girl then claimed that Strunk took a permanent marker and drew symbols on her body. He then performed oral sex on her and forced her to do the same on him. The girl estimated they were in the woods for about 30 to 45 minutes.
According to the girl's testimony, Strunk spent the next several hours at the house, because he suffered several seizures. The teenager said she had seen him have seizures before, but not as many in as short a time as he suffered that night. She testified that she and her sister attempted to assist Strunk until their mother arrived. Strunk left the house around midnight, and that is when the girl told her mother what happened.
The mother called Strunk's wife and then the police.
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