A 6-year-old girl testified in Clark County Superior Court on Tuesday that former Beaverton police Officer Christopher R. Warren raped her with a pencil last year inside Warren’s central Vancouver home.
The girl, who was 5 at the time of the alleged rape, said the pencil felt “kind of weird, and it hurt for a second.”
Under law, rape isn’t limited to intercourse and can include penetration with an object.
Warren cried during a portion of the girl’s testimony.
Warren, 34, is charged with first-degree child rape. Testimony in his trial began Tuesday morning with Vancouver police Officer Richard Rich, who received an initial report from Warren’s ex-wife about her suspicions that Warren may have molested the girl. Jury selection and opening statements were Monday.
The girl’s testimony contradicted an opening statement by Warren’s defense attorney, Ernest Warren. The attorney, who also is the defendant’s relative, said that Christopher Warren’s current wife, Meliah Colon, was in the same room with the girl at the time the girl claimed Christopher Warren raped her.
The girl said Tuesday that no one else was in the room with her and Christopher Warren when the alleged rape occurred.
Ernest Warren said Christopher Warren’s ex-wife, Dina Sanchez, made up the abuse allegations in order to seek revenge on her former husband.
He said Sanchez was disgruntled because a court had given Christopher Warren custody of their three children. She devised the child rape allegations so that she could regain custody of the children and obtain child support payments, Ernest Warren said.
However, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Camara Banfield said the girl’s story has remained consistent throughout the investigation, including when investigators interviewed her in May at Clark County Children’s Justice Center and when she met with her doctor. Banfield played a video of the girl’s forensic interview at the Children’s Justice Center.
Dr. Kimberly Copeland of Legacy Health hospital system testified today that during a physical exam, the girl showed Copeland where Christopher Warren had abused her. The girl indicated that Christopher Warren had stuck the pointy end of a pencil inside her genital area and had applied “medicine” on the exterior part, Copeland said.
The doctor said she examined the girl about four to six weeks after the alleged sexual abuse. There was no evidence of an injury, she said. However, the girl told the doctor that “it hurt when I went poddy one time,” according to an audio recording played in court.
“What was the medicine like?” the doctor asked.
“It was kind of like Play-Doh, and it was white,” the girl replied.
Warren was arrested in May 2013 on suspicion of the crime.
Christopher Warren is no longer employed with the Beaverton Police Department, said Beaverton police spokesman Officer Mike Rowe.
He was twice terminated from the Beaverton force.
He was initially fired in 2011 after an internal investigation found that he had lied during a 2009 criminal investigation into allegations that he sexually abused a minor when he was 17, according to The Oregonian. Investigators concluded that there was probable cause to believe Warren committed the offenses, but he was not prosecuted because the alleged victim declined to cooperate, according to the newspaper.
He was later reinstated to his job but was terminated again in August 2013 after he was indicted on charges of welfare fraud in Washington County, Ore., The Oregonian reported.
He was found guilty in February of unlawfully obtaining food stamps and first-degree theft for seeking and accepting Oregon welfare benefits while he was a resident of Washington, and was sentenced to 10 days in jail, two years of probation, 100 hours of community service and $3,000 in restitution.
