Teenage boys charged as adults in child molestation case

Two teenage boys, one 14 years old and the other 15, are being tried as adults after they allegedly performed sexual acts in front of an 11-year-old boy, according to Columbus police.

Both teens, represented by defense attorneys Stacey Jackson and William Kendrick, pleaded not guilty in Recorder's Court to child molestation. The 14-year-old defendant also pleaded not guilty to enticing a child for indecent purposes.

Police said the case was originally presented in Juvenile Court, but it was moved to adult court after a request from the District Attorney's Office.

The 15-year-old suspect was given a $25,000 bond, and the younger suspect was issued bonds totaling $50,000.

The case was bound over to Superior Court.

According to Columbus Police Detective Richard Campbell, the victim told his mother in June that he felt a burning sensation when he urinated. Police said his parents went to get him tested and learned that he had gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted bacterial infection.

Initially the boy told his mother that he contracted the STD from a young girl. Later, he sent his mother a text stating that he got it from a 15-year-old boy, the detective testified.

Campbell said the teen who allegedly gave the victim gonorrhea was charged, but didn’t name the charges or say whether he had appeared in court. The second 15-year-old wasn't one of the teens who appeared today in Recorder's Court, police added.

The mother informed the Columbus Police Department about the incident immediately after she learned about it, Campbell testified.

Police then conducted a forensic interview with the victim, and said the 11-year-old boy stayed with a sitter while his mother was at work. He eventually developed a close relationship with the sitter's son, the 14-year-old suspect, authorities said.

The two went to the 15-year-old defendant's home knowing that other minors were there "engaging in homosexual activity," police said.

"While over there, he was trying to influence my victim," Campbell said. "He was trying to talk to him (about) how to have sex and what you need to do."

At the residence, Campbell said, the 15-year-old defendant talked the 11-year-old into performing a sex act on him using his hand. Then the two defendants allegedly had oral sex in a shed behind the home as the victim watched, police testified.

Campbell said the 15-year-old suspect not in court today gave the victim gonorrhea through oral sex when he visited the defendant's home later that afternoon. The two also had sex, police said, but the 15-year-old defendant's mother came home during the incident.

All four boys allegedly fled the home and went to an abandoned house nearby. Police said the two 15-year-old boys also had oral sex there while in the victim's presence, police said.

---Sarah is a crime and safety reporter at The Ledger-Enquirer. You can contact her on Twitter at @SarahR_92.

This story was originally published August 26, 2015 at 8:06 PM with the headline "Teenage boys charged as adults in child molestation case ."