Teens testify against pool hall owner

February 8 , 2007

Adapted from the Evening Sun

A former billiards hall owner accused of molesting two teenage girls in the back room of the pool hall nearly a year ago will face related charges in court.

At a preliminary hearing, 55-year-old man stared ahead, occasionally scribbling down notes as the two 16-year-olds testified against him.

Police allege the man performed sexual acts on and solicited sexual acts from the girls as a trade for alcohol money.

The girls claim the acts occurred in a back room at the man's business.

Several months ago, the business was evicted from a strip mall after about five years there.

The man has maintained his innocence.

"I've taken this like a man. I know I'm not guilty of anything," he has said.

The girls, who were both 15 at the time of the alleged incident, testified they had been at the mall with some friends before walking to the billiards hall between 7:30 and 8 p.m.

Once they arrived, they said, they tried to get money to buy alcohol.

One girl said they went to the snack bar where the man was working and asked him for money.

"He asked us if we wanted to do anything," she said.

She said she assumed he was talking about sex because "I've heard stuff in the past about him."

She said she and her friend agreed they weren't having sex with anyone.

"We told him what we were thinking about doing and went in the bathroom and discussed it further," the other girl testified in a soft-spoken voice.

The girls testified the man directed them to walk around the building to meet him in the back room of the pool hall, where they first smoked marijuana with him and another man they said was there at the time.

One girl testified the back room had two sofas, dim lights and a fish tank.

According to the testimony, the girls began kissing each other and the man asked them to take their clothes off and sit on the couch with him.

The girls said the man touched them and performed a sexual act on one of them. He then watched as that girl performed the same sexual act on her friend.

One of the girls said he gave them $60 before they left the back room, while the other girl said the man gave them the money after they re-entered the pool hall.

"I asked him if he could buy us alcohol and he said he would buy us alcohol if we gave him (oral sex)," one girl said. "I agreed to it."

The girls testified they again left the business and walked around the building and re-entered the back room where one of the girls performed the sexual act on the man for about a minute.

The girl's friend said she was in the room when it happened but that she had her back turned. She testified at one point she purposely pushed a button on her cell phone to make it ring.

"I told her my mom was calling and we had to go," she said.

She said she took a $50 bill from her pocket from the $60 the man gave them and she gave it to back to the man to buy them alcohol, according to the testimony.

The girls said he told them he would send someone to buy alcohol, which would be placed outside the back door where they could pick it up.

The girls said a case of a malt beverage was sitting outside the door for them.

During cross-examination, the same girl told police it was her idea to go to the police the next day and tell them what happened.

She said she gave her statement to police and told them the other girl was also involved.

The girl who performed oral sex on the man testified that she had gone back to the pool hall with friends about three other occasions after the alleged incident. She said she had spoken to him but never asked why he did the things he allegedly did.

The other girl testified she had been kicked out of the billiards hall twice previously in 2005, once for getting into a fight and again when she was caught drinking under age.

The man also faces three counts of indecent assault and two counts each of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor and furnishing alcohol to minors.

He will be arraigned next month in county court.

"We're not surprised by the decision today," said the man's attorney.

He said the statements made during the testimony were difficult to hear, but that the man has passed a polygraph test and maintains his innocence.

"We are confident my client will be found not guilty by a jury," the attorney said.