POWHATAN COUNTY, Va. — The trial for a former Powhatan sports facility director accused of sexually abusing six girls continued Wednesday, with additional testimony from the alleged victims and witness accounts from former coaches at the academy.
Joseph Edward Parker, owner of Fast Feet Sports Academy in Powhatan County, faces 18 charges, including multiple counts of aggravated sexual battery and taking indecent liberties with a child in his custody.
The charges involve six girls between the ages of 9 and 13 who attended the academy, which Parker founded in 2017.
The Trial Begins
After jury selection took up the morning on Tuesday, the prosecution and defense presented their opening arguments.
Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Timothy Dustan said the girls would testify how someone who was important to them, someone they called "Coach Joe," abused them.
He said at the end of the testimony he would ask jurors to find Parker "guilty."
Parker's defense attorney, Ed Riley, said Parker's academy was a busy, active place that saw regular contact between students and coaches.
Riley said Parker was not denying that he hugged, poked, or tickled some students, but added there was no ill intent and that the prosecution could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it rose to the level of the criminal actions of which he is accused.
Day One: Three Alleged Victims Take the Stand
A total of eight witnesses were called for the prosecution on Tuesday, including three of the alleged victims, all of whom testified via video conference call from another room in the courthouse. The remaining five witnesses were parents of the girls.
The first alleged victim said Parker would put his hand on her backside, over her clothes, multiple times a day.
She said this made her feel "uncomfortable" and that no other coach touched her that way. She said she did not tell anyone, but avoided going to Fast Feet on some days to avoid encountering Parker.
Her mother testified that her daughter experienced increased anxiety and stress during her time at Fast Feet, which subsided after Parker's arrest.
Her father testified that on one occasion he arrived to pick up his kids and saw Parker "straddling" his daughter in what appeared to be tickling, something he described as furious-making.
He said he reported it to a front desk worker and later confronted Parker directly, who promised it would not happen again.
The second alleged victim described how Parker would "force" students to sit on his lap at the front desk.
She said Parker touched her under her clothes, over her underwear, on her chest and "down below my stomach."
When asked by Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Alice Sheridan if that was an appropriate place for someone to touch, the girl replied, "No, ma'am."
During cross-examination, Riley noted the girl had told a forensic interviewer that Parker had not touched her chest, something she now testified did happen.
The girl said she did not remember being asked those questions.
The third alleged victim gave a similar account, saying Parker had her sit on his lap and placed his hand under her clothes on her chest and "between her legs."
She said it happened twice and made her feel "scared," and that she witnessed it happen to two other girls.
During cross-examination, Riley noted the girl had discipline issues at the academy and had previously been in trouble for lying.
He also pointed out that in her first forensic interview she told interviewers nothing had happened, something the girl said she did not remember.
Day Two: More Victims and Former Coaches Testify
The trial's second day featured testimony from the final three alleged victims, bringing the total to all six girls named in the charges.
The girls described situations where Parker allegedly hugged them from behind, touched their chests, or made them sit on his lap while putting his hands up their shirts or down their pants.
During cross-examination of the additional victims, Riley again pointed to inconsistencies between their trial testimony and earlier statements to investigators, and raised instances where some of the girls had been in trouble for lying in the past.
The forensic interviewer who conducted the girls' CAC interviews also took the stand, explaining that it is not uncommon for children to initially deny that something bad happened to them.
Several former coaches at the academy testified as well, including the coach who first reported the allegations to detectives after some of the girls came to her with their accounts.
Multiple coaches said Parker at times did not follow his own rules regarding appropriate contact with children, and recalled interactions and comments he made about certain students that, in hindsight, they found concerning.
Other former coaches said they did not recall witnessing anything inappropriate.
One former coach testified that after Parker learned he was under investigation, he speculated the allegations stemmed from one of the alleged victims and her family, citing disciplinary issues the girl had at the academy and a dispute over unpaid fees.
What's Next
The trial was scheduled to conclude Wednesday before going to the jury, though prosecutors indicated a third day in Powhatan County may be necessary.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
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