CLEARFIELD – A 41-year-old Clearfield man, Franklin William Wilson, will stand trial on 1,211 charges for alleged child sexual abuse that occurred as far back as 2001.
A preliminary hearing was held before Magisterial District Judge James Hawkins on Wednesday. District Attorney William A. Shaw Jr. presented the case for the commonwealth. Wilson was represented by defense attorney William Robert Bickerton, Esq. of Pittsburgh.
A victim, now 20 years old, testified first for the commonwealth and alleged Wilson started touching her inappropriately when she was 6 years old. She said he told her not to tell anyone because he would kill her family, which made her very scared.
Between the ages of 6 and 13 years, she alleged Wilson inappropriately touched her two to three times a week. She alleged that the sexual abuse worsened after that and Wilson raped her almost daily, and it didn’t stop until she was 16 years old.
“It was not something I wanted to do,” the victim testified. “…I told him ‘stop,’ ‘no.” Under cross-examination, the victim testified again that she didn’t tell anyone because over the years Wilson had allegedly continued to threaten that he would harm her family if she did.
The victim also alleged that when she had friends over Wilson would force them to watch pornography and sexually abuse them, as well. Four, other alleged victims took the stand and gave similar testimony; one victim also alleged that Wilson forced her to inappropriately touch one of the other victims.
A sixth victim, a 10-year-old girl, was also called to the stand, and the hearing room was cleared for her testimony. Only the necessary personnel were permitted in the hearing room at the jail.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, during a forensic interview at the Child Advocacy Center, the victim allegedly detailed child sexual abuse incidents that occurred between Dec. 30, 2014 and Feb. 13.
The victim said that on three, different mornings, she went downstairs and sat next to Wilson in the living area of his residence. She alleged that Wilson would watch pornography on his cellular phone and made her watch it, as well.
While Wilson was watching pornography, the victim alleged that he inappropriately touched her. She said she felt afraid but was too afraid to yell for help. The victim also alleged that Wilson inappropriately touched himself in front of her. When she asked him to stop, he did not; when he did she said he told her not to tell anyone.
Officer Zachary Cowan testified last, saying he had received a report about an alleged sexual assault involving a child from Clearfield County Children & Youth Services.
He also observed a forensic interview with the 10-year-old victim, and she alleged Wilson inappropriately touched her and forced her to watch pornographic videos on his cell phone.
According to his testimony, a search warrant was requested and obtained for Wilson’s cellular phone. It was executed by township police. Then, a search warrant was requested and obtained for any and all data contained within the phone.
Cowan said that all warrants and Wilson’s cell phone were turned over to Detective John W. Aston of the State College Police Department. Aston was requested to conduct a cell phone analysis and data extraction.
Upon his review of the data extraction report, he allegedly found Wilson’s cell phone had accessed pornographic Web sites. He also provided the name of one specific site that was reported to him by the alleged 10-year-old victim.
While progressing through the investigation, Cowan said he received another report from CYS. He said it was related to another victim, now 20 years old, who Wilson had allegedly sexually abused from the age of 6 years old until she was 16 years old. Cowan said this victim also told him about the other victims in the case.
During this closing, Bickerton argued that the 10-year-old victim didn’t testify to being inappropriately touched by Wilson. Shaw said he wouldn’t object to the four counts related to that being dismissed as a result. Hawkins then bound over 1,211 of the 1,215 charges to the Court of Common Pleas.