Man admits to sexually abusing nine-year-old girl during interview as police officer

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A man applying for a police job in Florida made a shocking mid-interview confession that he had sexually abused a child several years ago.

Stephen Bodley, 24, was found guilty by a jury of sexual assault of a child under 12 by a person under 18 following a three-day trial in May.

Mr. Bodley was in court being questioned nearly three years ago, on June 16, 2021, at the Apopka Police Department in Orange County, Florida, when he revealed something quite disturbing to the interrogator, the prosecutor for the Ninth Judicial District in Florida says a press release.

Mr Bodley was seeking a position as a sworn police officer, for which he had applied. As part of the interview, he underwent a “vocal stress examination”.

Voice strain tests are conducted to determine whether the person is deceptive in their answers, and while they are used in criminal investigations, they are also occasionally used by police departments to screen their recruits, according to NITV Federal Services.

During the examination, the examiner asked Mr Bodley if he could elaborate on some of the pre-test questionnaire answers he had given which raised concerns.

In the questionnaire, he described sexually abusing a child several years ago and then openly admitted the same thing again when the examiner asked him to explain further, the press release said.

Mr. Bodley described in his questionnaire the sexual assault of a younger child, aged 12 to 13, and stated that the incidents occurred at his home about 10 years ago, according to an affidavit from The Independent.

“I can’t remember, but um, but what do you call it, yeah, um, I was playing these little sexual games, like oral, with my little one (redacted) and I knew her, she didn’t know exactly what was going on , and I used to watch porn a lot, so I had a little addiction as a kid,” Mr. Bodley told a detective, according to the affidavit.

When the detective asked Mr Bodley to elaborate on what he meant by “sex play”, the defendant said he had pulled out his penis but then proceeded to explain the initial point in time of the incident, describing it as an “accident”. affidavit written.

“He explained that he was going to his room naked and she laughed and then she put her mouth on it (referring to his penis),” the affidavit states. “Defendant Bodley stated that it gave him the idea to ‘play this game’ and that he would play the game with her ‘all the time’.”

Mr Bodley further stated in the affidavit: “As I knew what it was, she probably didn’t know what was going on and that’s why I put it there.”

Bodley also told investigators that he believed the child was about nine or 10 years old at the time and that the incidents “probably” occurred three times, according to court documents.

Following this shocking confession, Apopka police initiated a criminal investigation, during which Mr. Bodley provided investigators with additional details regarding the victim’s identity, the release said.

Police then met with the victim and the victim’s mother to tell them what Mr Bodley had allegedly done.

When she spoke with the victim’s mother, she told investigators that she had known Mr. Bodley since he was a child and had no idea what had happened between him and her daughter, the affidavit said.

When questioned, the victim initially became visibly emotional and said she could remember “nothing” about the sexual abuse. But in a later interview, after she was given time to process the information, she recalled the assaults.

“She stated that she ended up in the defendant’s room and didn’t process it at the time because she didn’t know it due to her age, but the defendant began kissing her on her body,” the affidavit states Explanation. “Then he took out his penis and put it in her mouth and after that she ‘passed out’.”

“Each time it happened, she remembered the defendant putting his penis in her mouth,” the affidavit states. “The victim stated that the defendant found his actions funny because he was laughing.”

She recalled encounters that made her feel “uncomfortable.”

Further investigation through cross-examination into the victim’s age and Mr. Bodely’s age revealed that Mr. Bodley was allegedly between 14 and 15 years old at the time, the affidavit states.

The affidavit goes on to say that “this behavior continued throughout his teenage years and into adulthood.”

“Defendant Bodley openly admitted that he turned the sexual violence into a ‘game’ to downplay his actions,” the affidavit states. “Furthermore, defendant Bodley downplayed his age, the victim’s age and the age difference between the two in order to justify his actions and behavior.”

Investigators called Mr. Bodley back to police after the investigation, where he was arrested, the prosecutor said.

However, during the trial he denied sexually abusing the victim, even though he had already admitted to the crime three times, the press release said.

After he was found guilty, the judge ordered a pre-sentence inquiry to determine an appropriate sentence. Mr Bodley is due to be sentenced on June 24.

If you are a child and need help because something has happened to you, you can call the NSPCC free on 0800 1111. If you are an adult and are concerned about a child, you can also call the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adults on 0808 801 0331