Former Beaverton, Ore., police Officer Christopher R. Warren took the stand Wednesday in Clark County Superior Court to deny allegations that he raped a 5-year-old girl with a pencil last year inside his central Vancouver home.
Warren, 34, said he believes the allegations stemmed from his ex-wife, Dina Sanchez, and were an attempt at revenge against him because of their divorce and his second marriage.
“We all watched (the alleged victim) make the allegations, isn’t that correct?” asked Senior Deputy Prosecutor Camara Banfield during cross-examination.
“We watched what she said, yes,” Warren replied.
The girl, now 6, testified Tuesday that Warren penetrated her private parts with a pencil and that it felt “kind of weird” and “hurt for second.”
Under law, rape isn’t limited to intercourse and can include penetration with an object.
Warren is charged with first-degree child rape. He was the first of several witnesses presented by his defense attorneys, Ernest Warren and Louis Byrd Jr.
Ernest Warren, who is a relative of Christopher Warren’s, 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 gain legal custody of the children and obtain child support payments, Ernest Warren said.
Sanchez said she had equal parenting time with their children even though Warren had legal custody.
Banfield said the girl’s story has remained consistent throughout the investigation, including when investigators interviewed her in May at the Clark County Children’s Justice Center and when she met with her doctor.
Dr. Kimberly Copeland of Legacy Health system testified Tuesday that during a physical exam, the girl showed Copeland where she said 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 potty one time,” according to an audio recording played in court.
Testimony from the prosecutor’s witnesses began early Tuesday and concluded early Wednesday.
Christopher Warren is no longer employed by 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.
The jury heard testimony Wednesday about his welfare fraud convictions.
The trial continues Thursday in Judge Barbara Johnson’s courtroom.
