Homeschooled seventh-grader caught sexually abusing boy who won’t speak

A home-schooled seventh-grader in Clermont was arrested when the great-grandmother of a boy who could not speak videotaped his sexual abuse.

According to a police report from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, officers received a call Saturday from a complainant referring to the sexual assault of her disabled great-grandson by a 12-year-old boy. His name is withheld here because he is a minor.

When officers arrived, the complainant reported that the teenager had been living with her and the victim over the summer. Her grandson, the victim, suffers from severe autism, cannot speak and has limited mental capacity, the report states.

The victim and the juvenile were playing in the victim’s room while the plaintiff was in her living room. She heard grunting coming from the room and went there. When she entered, she saw that the victim was not wearing any underwear and asked the juvenile what happened, the report states.

The juvenile responded that the victim had ripped them off. However, since they were not soiled, the plaintiff found this explanation odd and decided to check a video camera she had placed in the bedroom. She found on the recording that the juvenile pulled down his own pants and then the victim’s underwear for oral and penetrative sex, the report said.

A detective was then contacted, informed of the incident and asked to come to the scene to investigate. He was advised that the youth was currently inside the house and was waiting with officers, so he and another detective arrived at the scene to speak with the complainant and the victim.

The investigator then reviewed camera footage of the 18-minute incident from the plaintiff’s DVR system. The footage began with the victim and the juvenile entering the bedroom and beginning to play. The juvenile then pulled down his shorts and the victim’s underwear for oral and penetrative sex, the report states.

The victim resisted and appeared to tell the teen he didn’t want to do anything, but the teen punched him in the face several times. Throughout the sex act, the teen appeared to pause and play with the victim before continuing to sexually assault her. He also peeked through the open bedroom door to see if anyone was coming, the report states.

The victim attempted several times to break free from the juvenile’s grasp and push toward the bedroom exit, but the juvenile continued to force him by pulling on his body. The victim attempted to hit and push the juvenile at one point. At the end of the assault, the plaintiff walked into the bedroom, the report states.

The DVR was seized as evidence and officers attempted to reach the teen’s mother by phone several times. The detective interviewed the teen, who had no diagnoses, was not taking any medications, could read and write English and was homeschooled at a seventh-grade level, the report said.

The alleged attacker admitted to the sexual harassment. He did not want to talk about the details of his crime. The teenager stated that this was the first and only time he had done something like that and that he was completely crazy when he did it, the report says.

The victim was eventually taken to the Children’s Advocacy Center for evaluation. The juvenile was taken to the Lake County Jail without incident. Once there, he told the detective that he thought it was possible that he had penetrated the victim. He demonstrated that he knew the difference between truth and lies and promised that all of his statements were true, the report states.

The youth was charged with sexual assault (victim under certain circumstances 12 years or younger – domestic violence), simple assault (domestic violence) and false imprisonment (domestic violence). He was then handed over to the juvenile court.