RAPE TRIAL Boy testifies about assault

The boy said he never told the defendant to stop.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A 13-year-old Youngstown boy testified that he was too embarrassed and scared to initially tell his parents or police that his next-door neighbor sexually assaulted him.
Charged with rape and gross sexual imposition is Richard Clark, 52, of Sheridan Road. The boy was 12 at the time of the assault alleged to have occurred during a sleepover Nov. 10, 2002.
The boy was the first person to testify Wednesday during the trial in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Opening arguments were Tuesday.
The boy said he never told Clark to stop the sex act or resisted because he was afraid Clark would hurt him. The boy testified that there were other people in the living room when the assault occurred, but they were asleep.
He told his parents that he was sexually harassed and that Clark had touched his penis. The boy said he repeated those statements to a female police officer and a woman who works at the county's Children Services agency.
The boy said he first mentioned the oral sex allegation to a male police officer.
What defense said
Ted Macejko Jr., Clark's attorney, said his client is innocent, and the situation is more of a fabrication than the truth. Before the trial resumed Wednesday, Macejko told Judge R. Scott Krichbaum that the boy has a "vivid sexual imagination."
The boy was at Clark's home for a birthday party for one of the Youngstown man's children. He asked to spend the night after the party ended.
Clark showed up in court Wednesday in a motorized wheelchair. The boy had said there is no wheelchair ramp at Clark's home and he had never seen the Youngstown man in a wheelchair before Wednesday.
If convicted, Clark could be sentenced to life in prison.
skolnick@vindy.com