Kindgo
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Dog alerts father to intruder trying to sexually assault his 9 year old daughter
Dog, girl's father foil assault attempt
Intruder found under daughter's bed
By Amy Herdy
Denver Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 21, 2002 - The dog's growling woke them first. In the master bedroom of the home, Duchess, a 4-year-old Labrador mix, refused to be placated, and soon her rumbles pitched to desperate snarls.
As the father awoke, a sudden crash sounded down the hall, leading him to a horrifying discovery: The long, bare legs of a man, hanging over the edge of the bed where his 9-year-old daughter slept.
"I grabbed him by the throat with one arm, and grabbed my daughter and shoved her toward my wife" in the hall, who ran with her to another room and called 911, said the father, as he recalled the early Sunday morning incident. The Denver Post is not naming him in order to protect his daughter's identity.
The suspect, wearing only a T-shirt, began to struggle, and the two men grappled. The father, a former Marine, was able to subdue the man until sheriff's deputies arrived.
"I grabbed him by the throat and suffocated him until he stopped fighting," he said Tuesday.
Arapahoe County sheriff's deputies have charged the intruder, identified as 22-year-old Erik Scott O'Connell of Conifer, with first-degree burglary, two counts of criminal intent of sexual assault on a child, theft and assault in the incident, which happened about 2 a.m. Sunday at a Centennial home near Arapahoe High School.
Sheriff Grayson Robinson said O'Connell, who had been at a party across the street from the home Saturday night, had been drinking. O'Connell climbed into an unlocked window in the downstairs den, Robinson said, and stole the wife's billfold from the kitchen counter before climbing the stairs and entering the girl's bedroom, where he took off his clothes and attempted to assault the child.
The girl, who was taken to a hospital after the incident, was not injured.
O'Connell has refused to cooperate with investigators, Robinson said. He never spoke during Sunday morning's incident, the father said, and "trying to figure out why it happened" still torments him.
"I could never imagine anything like this could happen to my home, my family, my children," he said.
State records show O'Connell, who is being held on $50,000 bond, pleaded guilty to felony theft charges in August 2001, and was sentenced to two years probation and community service.
The sheriff's office plans to ask for a higher bond on Wednesday, Robinson said, and may also upgrade the assault charge, which stemmed from O'Connell's battle with the father.
Meanwhile, the family has changed the locks on their home and is contemplating moving. The father said his daughter is "doing remarkably well." He and his wife, he said, are not.
"You can imagine it being worse ...," he said, then grimaced and walked away.
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0...E810022,00.html
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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