Post by KC on Mar 20, 2006 0:22:08 GMT -5
03/18/2006 - A former reserve officer admitted Friday in Allen Superior Court to inappropriately touching a 9-year-old girl in December 2004 under a plea agreement calling for probation.
Officer Matthew Govan, 46, entered a guilty plea to a newly filed charge of sexual battery. The original charges -- three counts of child molesting, one of which was punishable by 20 to 50 years in prison -- will be dismissed at sentencing if a judge accepts the plea agreement.
The charge of battery alleges Govan touched the girl when she was “so mentally disabled or deficient she could not give consent” between Dec. 1 and 31, 2004. The molesting charges alleged Govan had sex with and fondled the girl.
Govan testified quietly and often paused before answering the questions asked of him by Judge Fran Gull. Afterward, he declined to comment as did his attorney, Robert W. Gevers II.
He will return to court April 13 for sentencing. The agreement recommends he receive a two-year suspended prison term with two years on probation and requires him to complete counseling for sexual perpetrators and to follow special rules of probation geared toward sex offenders.
In a November trial on the original charges, a jury couldn’t reach a verdict and a judge declared a mistrial. Govan’s new trial had been scheduled for next month. During the trial, the girl, her mother and several other witnesses testified.
The girl testified the molesting started a few years ago. Govan would lie on top of her while both were clothed. The molesting, she testified, escalated to his removing her clothes and eventually having sex with her.
Govan testified that he never participated in any sexual acts with her and that he didn’t spend much time alone with her. He also testified he was becoming more of a fatherlike figure to her.
Govan’s attorneys, Gevers and Patrick Arata, argued the girl made up the allegations to eliminate Govan from her life and restore her relationship with her father, whom she didn’t get to see often during that time.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Michael McAlexander said the plea agreement was offered with the support of the victim and her mother. After the first trial ended in a mistrial, Mc- Alexander said prosecutors re-evaluated the case, evidence and considered the effect testifying again would have on the victim.
Govan was a security officer at Glenbrook Square for more than 20 years and was a reserve officer for the county sheriff’s department.
Officer Matthew Govan, 46, entered a guilty plea to a newly filed charge of sexual battery. The original charges -- three counts of child molesting, one of which was punishable by 20 to 50 years in prison -- will be dismissed at sentencing if a judge accepts the plea agreement.
The charge of battery alleges Govan touched the girl when she was “so mentally disabled or deficient she could not give consent” between Dec. 1 and 31, 2004. The molesting charges alleged Govan had sex with and fondled the girl.
Govan testified quietly and often paused before answering the questions asked of him by Judge Fran Gull. Afterward, he declined to comment as did his attorney, Robert W. Gevers II.
He will return to court April 13 for sentencing. The agreement recommends he receive a two-year suspended prison term with two years on probation and requires him to complete counseling for sexual perpetrators and to follow special rules of probation geared toward sex offenders.
In a November trial on the original charges, a jury couldn’t reach a verdict and a judge declared a mistrial. Govan’s new trial had been scheduled for next month. During the trial, the girl, her mother and several other witnesses testified.
The girl testified the molesting started a few years ago. Govan would lie on top of her while both were clothed. The molesting, she testified, escalated to his removing her clothes and eventually having sex with her.
Govan testified that he never participated in any sexual acts with her and that he didn’t spend much time alone with her. He also testified he was becoming more of a fatherlike figure to her.
Govan’s attorneys, Gevers and Patrick Arata, argued the girl made up the allegations to eliminate Govan from her life and restore her relationship with her father, whom she didn’t get to see often during that time.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Michael McAlexander said the plea agreement was offered with the support of the victim and her mother. After the first trial ended in a mistrial, Mc- Alexander said prosecutors re-evaluated the case, evidence and considered the effect testifying again would have on the victim.
Govan was a security officer at Glenbrook Square for more than 20 years and was a reserve officer for the county sheriff’s department.