A SWAT unit was sent Wednesday afternoon to a Deerfield Township home.
Warren County dispatchers said police were called to a domestic violence call on Auburn Place. The incident was determined to be a false alarm and SWAT is no longer on the scene, dispatchers say.
The incident remains under investigation.
MasonBuzz will update this story.
A judge declared a mistrial Friday after a Warren County jury reported being hopelessly deadlocked on whether a Mason man sexually assaulted and raped his girlfriend’s 9-year-old daughter.
Jorge Velasquez, 33, had been charged with one count of rape of a child and a lesser charge of gross sexual imposition. He pleaded not guilty to both charges.
The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for just over five hours Friday before reporting to Warren County Common Pleas Court Judge James L. Flannery that they could not reach a verdict.
The jury split 6-4 in favor of acquittal with two jurors undecided, according to defense attorney Justin Bartlett, who spoke with jurors after the proceedings.
Prosecutors will retry the case, said Assistant Warren County Prosecutor Theresa Hiett.
Velasquez took the stand Friday in his own defense to counter allegations made by the now 14-year-old girl, who says he fondled and digitally penetrated her when she was 9.
The girl testified Thursday that she regarded Velasquez as a father figure. Velasquez and the girl’s mother have two other children together.
The alleged abuse began when her mother began working the night shift in late summer of 2006, leaving her and a toddler brother home alone with Velasquez, the girl said.
The abuse stopped several months later when her mother stopped working the night shift, she said.
“He told me not to tell my mom or else,” she told jurors. “I was scared because I thought if I told someone he would hurt me or anyone in my family.”
Both Velasquez and the girl’s mother testified that the girl fabricated the accusations to retaliate against Velasquez for preventing her from seeing an adult boyfriend.
“Nothing ever happened,” Velasquez told the jury. “[The victim] just said it now because [she] wants me in jail out of the way. She wants me to leave her alone so she can be with him.”
The boyfriend, Nehemias Cristobel, testified Friday that the victim confided in him last year about the alleged abuse and that he encouraged her to report it.
Under cross examination, Cristobel, now 22, admitted his relationship with the girl began when he was 20 and she was 12, but insisted that her mother and Velasquez approved of it on the condition their dates were chaperoned.
“Everyone tells lies in this world but I don’t think she would tell a lie this big,” he said.
The girl’s mother and the defendant’s brother, Guillermo Velasquez, both testified that the abuse could not have happened because the girl stayed overnight with relatives on days her mother worked the night shift.
The girl’s mother painted a portrait of an unruly and out-of-control teenager who made the accusations five years after the alleged incidents in response to efforts by her and Velasquez to prevent her from seeing Cristobel. When she tried to take away the girl’s cell phone, a gift from Cristobel, the girl struck and pushed her, she told jurors.
The mother said she did not report the incident to police because she is an undocumented immigrant and feared deportation.
Defense attorney Justin Bartlett attacked the girl’s credibility, pointing out inconsistencies in her story and arguing that she has a history of lying.
“Our position is that they’re acting as reasonable parents. They’re trying to prevent their daughter from engaging into a relationship with an adult,” he said. “She’s upset because her parents are trying to reel her in, control her.”
Hiett questioned the financial motives of the mother in protecting Velasquez, the family’s breadwinner, and asked the jury to consider why a teenage girl would fabricate such “detailed and imaginative” abuse allegations.
“It would have been a lot easier for her to turn around and say this never happened. There were alternatives for her and yelling rape was not the first one,” said Hiett.
“It’s always the child’s word against the perpetrator’s word. When is a child’s word enough?”
Bartlett said he was not surprised that the trial ended with a hung jury and said the case hinged on the accuser’s credibility.
“There was the credibility of one person versus three witnesses that came forward to testify consistently,” he said. “I thought it could have been a mistrial; obviously we were hoping for an acquittal.”
If convicted, Velasquez faces a prison term of up to life on the rape charge and 36 months on the charge of gross sexual imposition. He remains in the Warren County Jail on a $500,000 bond.
No new trial date has yet been set.
Is Jorge Velasquez a concerned stepfather or is he a sexual abuser and child rapist?
That’s the question before jurors in Warren County Common Pleas Court as they decide the fate of the accused Mason man.
Testimony wrapped up in the second day of trial for Velasquez, 33, who’s charged with one count of rape of a child. Velasquez has entered a plea of not guilty to the charge, which carries a penalty of up to life in prison.
Prosecutors added a lesser charge of gross sexual imposition for jurors to consider. The charge, a third-degree felony, carries a prison term of up to 36 months.
The case went to the jury of eight women and four men shortly before 1 p.m.
Velasquez took the stand today in his own defense to counter allegations made by the teenage daughter of his girlfriend, who says he fondled and digitally penetrated her when she was 9.
The girl, now 14, testified Thursday that the alleged abuse began when her mother began working the night shift in late summer of 2006, leaving her and a toddler brother home alone with Velasquez.
The victim testified that the abuse began with the defendant fondling her in bed and then escalated to digital penetration. The abuse stopped several months later when her mother stopped working the night shift, she said.
“He told me not to tell my mom or else,” she told jurors. “I was scared because I thought if I told someone he would hurt me or anyone in my family.”
Although Velasquez and the girl’s mother are unmarried, the girl testified she regarded him as a father figure. Velasquez and the girl’s mother have two other children together.
Velasquez vehemently denied the allegations. Both he and the girl’s mother testified that she fabricated the accusations to retaliate against him for preventing her from seeing an adult boyfriend.
“Nothing ever happened,” he told the jury. ”[The victim] just said it now because [she] wants me in jail out of the way. She wants me to leave her alone so she can be with him.”
The boyfriend, Nehemias Cristobel, testified today that the victim confided in him last year about the alleged abuse and that he encouraged her to tell her mother or a teacher.
Under cross examination, Cristobel, now 22, admitted that his relationship with the girl began when he was 20 and she was 12, but insisted that her mother and Velasquez approved of it as long as their dates were chaperoned.
He told the jury that an adult man dating a minor child was more socially and culturally acceptable in his native Guatemala, where both the victim and defendant also immigrated from.
“Everyone tells lies in this world but I don’t think she would tell a lie this big,” he said.
Velasquez said the abuse could not have happened because the girl stayed with Velasquez’s brother and sister-in-law overnight on days her mother worked the night shift.
Guillermo Velasquez took the stand Friday and told jurors that his brother, the defendant, was never permitted to be left alone with the girl. The girl’s mother testified Thursday that she did not trust Velasquez to be left alone with her daughter.
In her closing argument, Assistant Warren County Prosecutor Theresa Hiett questioned why Guillermo Velasquez and the girl’s mother did not notify police about the defendant’s alleged lack of access to the girl.
“Would any of us allow a family member to sit (in jail) when you know you have the ace card in hand?” she asked.
Hiett suggested the girl’s mother might be protecting Velasquez for fear of the financial instability that could result should he be convicted and sent to prison. Velasquez testified that he is the family’s primary breadwinner, although “not by much.”
She asked the jury to consider why a teenage girl would fabricate such detailed allegations of abuse.
“It would have been a lot easier for her to turn around and say this never happened. There were alternatives for her and yelling rape was not the first one,” said Hiett.
“It’s always the child’s word against the perpetrator’s word. When is a child’s word enough?”
Defense attorney Justin Bartlett attacked the girl’s credibility, pointing out inconsistencies in her story and arguing that she has a history of lying.
“Our position is that they’re acting as reasonable parents. They’re trying to prevent their daughter from engaging into a relationship with an adult,” he said. “She’s upset because her parents are trying to reel her in, control her.”
MasonBuzz will update this story.
The Enquirer reports:
Already sent to federal prison for her role in a multimillion dollar mortgage fraud scam, Jolie Neal now faces charges she stole from an amateur basketball team.
On Wednesday, a Hamilton County grand jury indicted Neal, 48, of Mason, for felony theft.
She is accused of stealing $28,000 from Cincinnati’s Finest Basketball Club, her son’s team where she was a parent volunteer.
Neal pleaded guilty last summer to fraud in federal court. Her boyfriend, former University of Cincinnati basketball player and TV commentator, Anthony Buford, also pleaded guilty in the scheme.
They were convicted of defrauding several lending institutions out of $2.8 million by obtaining nine loans on three Mason properties and spending the money on personal items instead of paying off the existing mortgages.
Neal and Buford each were sent to prison for 41 months last week in that scheme.
Jury selection is underway in Warren County Common Pleas Court in the case of a Mason man accused of raping a child.
Jorge Velasquez, 33, is charged with one count of rape for allegedly engaging in sexual conduct with a child who was “living separate and apart” from him and who was less than 13 years of age. Court documents list the age of the child as 9.
Velasquez has entered a plea of not guilty to the charges. A jury trial is scheduled to start Thursday and last two days.
Prosecutors say Velasquez, the longtime boyfriend of the girl’s mother, digitally penetrated the girl’s vagina. The alleged crimes happened in Mason between August 2006 and December 2006, according to prosecutors.
The charge, a first-degree felony, carries a penalty of up to life in prison.
Velasquez has been held at the Warren County Jail on a $500,000 bond since his Nov. 29 arrest.
Jorge Velasquez: Warren County Jail
A Mason man accused of raping a child will appear in Warren County Common Pleas Court today.
A pretrial hearing is set for 2 p.m. for Jorge Velasquez,who’s charged with one count of rape for allegedly engaging in sexual conduct with a child who was “living separate and apart” from him and who was less than 13 years of age. Court documents list the age of the child as 9.
Velasquez, 33, has entered a plea of not guilty to the charges. A two-day jury trial is set to begin Feb. 16 in Warren County Common Pleas Court.
The alleged crimes happened in Mason between August 2006 and December 2006, according to prosecutors. The charge, a first-degree felony, carries a penalty of up to life in prison.
Velasquez is being held at the Warren County Jail on a $500,000 surety bond. He is ordered not to have contact with minors under the age of 18 should he post bail.
10:37 a.m. Update: The sentencing for Andrew Keith has been re-scheduled to a later unknown date. MasonBuzz will update this story when details are available.
A Mason man who pleaded guilty to molesting boys at his mother’s West Chester in-home day care will be sentenced this morning in federal court.
Andrew F. Keith faces at least 30 years in prison, but federal prosecutors are pushing for a maximum 80 year prison sentence for the 27-year-old Keith, who pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in May.
“Andrew Keith has spent his entire adult life sexually exploiting children,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Muncy wrote in her sentencing memorandum to the judge. ”He used his mother’s in-home daycare as a personal hunting ground for victims.”
Keith admitted in May that he abused and photographed at least three young boys from 2002 to 2003, traded those images with others and collected 600 photos of child pornography on his computer.
Prosecutors say he obtained many of those images by bartering with other pedophiles over the internet, swapping his images of abused children for theirs “as if they were baseball cards.”
Keith’s mother, Teresa Bailey, was convicted in November of one count of endangering children and one count attempted endangering children. She was sentenced to 12 months in prison on each of the charges, to be served concurrently.
An evaluation of Keith found that he had been abused as a child, but prosecutors say that does not minimize the harm he has done or the danger he poses.
“There is significant need to protect the public from further crimes of the defendant,” Muncy wrote.
MasonBuzz will update this story
Dan Horn contributed to this story.
Jorge Velasquez: Warren County Jail
A trial date has been set in the case of a Mason man accused of raping a child.
Jorge Velasquez, 33, has entered a plea of not guilty to one count of rape for allegedly engaging in sexual conduct with a child who was “living separate and apart” from him and who was less than 13 years of age. Court documents list the age of the child as 9.
A two-day jury trial is set to begin Feb. 16 in Warren County Common Pleas Court.
The alleged crimes happened in Mason between August 2006 and December 2006, according to prosecutors. The charge, a first-degree felony, carries a penalty of up to life in prison.
A pretrial hearing is set for 2 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27 before Warren County Common Pleas Judge James L. Flannery.
Velasquez is being held at the Warren County Jail on a $500,000 surety bond. He is ordered not to have contact with minors under the age of 18 should he post bail.
Janice Morse reports:
If you’ve received a letter seeking contributions to “The United States Deputy Sheriff’s Association,” be forewarned: The group no longer exists, authorities say.
Someone is fraudulently using the name of that now-defunct police group to solicit donations, the Warren County Sheriff’s Office says.
In a news release alerting the public to the scam, Sheriff Larry Sims said people are receiving letters purporting to come from that group, which was once-legitimate but no longer exists.
“The letter requests donations to support under funded Sheriff’s Offices throughout the country,” the news release said.
The address listed on the letters is a UPS mail drop box in Virginia, Sims said, and authorities in that state have launched a criminal investigation.
None of the letters had been reported received in Warren County but sheriffs in other Ohio counties have learned about citizens receiving such letters, Sims said.
Sims requests anyone who has received such a letter to contact his office at 513-695-1280.
“It is a shame these scam artists prey upon the well-meaning citizens who support law enforcement,” Sims said. “As with any charitable solicitation, I urge the public to investigate the charity before giving.”
Jorge Velasquez Photo: Warren County Jail
The Warren County Grand Jury indicted a Mason man this week on charges of rape of a child.
Jorge Velasquez, 33, was indicted Tuesday on one count of rape for allegedly engaging in sexual conduct with a child who was “living separate and apart” from him and who was less than 13 years of age. Court documents list the age of the child as 9.
The alleged crimes happened in Mason between August 2006 and December 2006, according to the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office.
The charge, a first-degree felony, carries a penalty of up to life in prison.
Velasquez is being held without bond until his arraignment on Jan. 20 in Warren County Common Pleas Court.
