Post by KC on Jun 30, 2006 20:14:51 GMT -5
Officer John Wayne Leseberg
June 30, 2006 - FRENCH VALLEY ---- Details of how a former Riverside County sheriff's corporal allegedly assaulted two women sexually while on duty were outlined for a judge Thursday.
John Wayne Leseberg, 42, faces nearly 18 years in prison should he be convicted as charged.
Sheriff's detectives testified Thursday that a 43-year-old Meadowbrook woman told them she was assaulted in October, when Leseberg and another deputy came to her home on a domestic violence call.
Another woman, who was homeless and stayed in the Lake Elsinore area, said she was assaulted in November 2004 inside a dilapidated, abandoned apartment after Leseberg drove her there following her arrest, detectives said.
During interviews with detectives, Leseberg denied the sexual assault on the Meadowbrook woman. He admitted to a one-time sexual encounter with the second woman, but said it was consensual and he never touched her, according to testimony Thursday.
Leseberg shook his head slowly during some of the testimony at his preliminary hearing at Southwest Justice Center in French Valley. The hearing will resume Monday morning with testimony about a third alleged victim, an elderly woman who prosecutors say was assaulted at her Wildomar home in September.
At the hearing's conclusion, Judge Judith Clark will announce whether she believes there is enough evidence for Leseberg to go to trial as charged.
Leseberg was assigned to the Lake Elsinore Sheriff's Station at the time of the crimes he is charged with committing. He was first arrested in April and resigned from the department on May 24, officials said.
Sheriff's Detective John Whiting testified Thursday that he and another detective interviewed the Meadowbrook woman at her home on Nov. 2.
She said she called the Sheriff's Department on Oct. 31 because her husband was "sticking her with a knife," Whiting said. Two deputies arrived, separated the woman and her husband, with a deputy later identified as Leseberg interviewing the woman inside the house, the detective said.
The woman said Leseberg sexually assaulted her as she was bent over in loose-fitting shorts when he searched her in the bedroom of the home, Whiting said.
Leseberg then asked to use the bathroom and he stood in a way that she could see him standing there, masturbating, the woman told Whiting. After he was finished, he wiped himself with toilet paper, which he tossed into the trash, Whiting said, citing the woman's statement.
The woman later retrieved the toilet paper and gave it to investigators, Whiting said.
During questioning by Leseberg's attorney, Joseph Cavallo, Whiting told the judge that the toilet paper was tested and no bodily fluids, including semen, were found.
Cavallo asked Whiting about any conclusion he made regarding the investigation. The detective said there were some inconsistencies in the woman's statements, leading him to initially conclude her claims were unfounded.
Cavallo questioned the detective about his interview of the second deputy who went to the house with Leseberg. The deputy said he went in and out of the house, never announcing to Leseberg he was coming inside, Whiting said.
The deputy told him he saw Leseberg and the woman in the living room and looking at a damaged bedroom door, the detective testified. The deputy also said he believed the woman was "very intoxicated" while they were conducting their investigation, Whiting said.
Deputy District Attorney Sean Lafferty also called sheriff's Detective Darin Gray to the witness stand.
Gray testified Thursday primarily about charges against Leseberg relating to a homeless woman whom Gray interviewed in January. She sometimes worked as an informant for another deputy, the detective said.
The woman said she and a friend were drunk and panhandling near the Circle K store on Main Street when they were detained by deputies, one of whom she knew then as John.
They were taken to a holding cell at the Lake Elsinore station, where the deputy later identified as Leseberg searched her, she told Gray.
Leseberg placed his hands inside her bra and "rubbed her breasts," Gray said, then pulled her pants away from her body and "rubbed" above her pubic area.
Leseberg's attorney later questioned Gray about his use of the word "rubbed," which Gray confirmed wasn't written in her report, but that's what he recalls the woman saying.
Much of Cavallo's cross-examination consisted of he and Gray going back and forth about what was and wasn't in his police reports. The dialogue became somewhat heated at times, leading the judge to step in.
Gray said he doesn't put every word into his report, saying that's why he records his interviews.
The detective testified Leseberg agreed to give the woman a ride home from the station. The woman said she was concerned about that, but felt it would be OK because he was a police officer, Gray said.
Once at the abandoned apartment where she was staying, Leseberg came inside and searched a room, finding prescription pills that the woman said were hers, but didn't have her name on the bottle, Gray said.
Leseberg told her possessing those pills was a felony, she told Gray. Leseberg then told her to "come here" and lay down, which she did, Gray said.
She didn't want to, Gray said, but because she feared she would be arrested because of the pills, felt "she had no choice."
Leseberg then pulled down her pants, touched her sexually and masturbated above her, she told Gray. Some of his ejaculate fell onto a carpet she was laying on and Leseberg rubbed it into the carpet with the toe of his boot, Gray said the woman told him.
Later, some friends cut up that part of the carpet and the woman was going to save it as evidence, Gray said.
During his questioning of Gray, Cavallo asked whether the woman was keeping the carpet from November 2004 "to use it as a get out of jail card" should she get into trouble. Gray said she never told him that.
The carpet was lost and never found, Gray said.
www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/06/30/news/californian/22_05_126_29_06.txt