In court, San Jose girl tells of sex with adult she met online:
Right now, 24-year-old Anthony Uckele of Saratoga, California is facing 36 counts of lewd conduct that could put him behind bars for 78 years.
He was arrested back in October 2005 for having sex with a 12-year-old girl that he met on MySpace. They’re trying the ‘she said she was 16’ defense, but his actions betray him.
The girl with the blue stuffed animal – a cloth-covered cat that she hugged closely to her chest – said she called Uckele after reading his first message and agreed to meet him at a Starbucks near her home in Willow Glen. From there, he took her to a video arcade and a park, a pattern they would repeat several times over a period of a few weeks.
As early as their second meeting – and a few weeks before they had sexual intercourse – the girl said she told Uckele she was 12 and he said he was 22.
When he drove her home, Uckele dropped her off a block from her house because they knew her father wouldn’t approve of their age difference, the girl testified. Uckele also warned the girl not to tell any of her friends about him, “because he was too old.”
Eventually, she said, Uckele persuaded her to sneak out of her father’s house at night and meet him a block away. The girl testified that Uckele drove her to his mother’s home in Saratoga, where he persuaded her to undress in his bedroom and have intercourse.
“I was scared. It was something I wasn’t used to,” she testified in a low voice. “He said, ‘It’s going to be OK. Nothing bad is going to happen.’ “
After more encounters over the next several months, the girl read about sexual abuse in a library book and decided to tell someone who notified police, Shore said. But before authorities arrested Uckele, they arranged to record a telephone conversation between the pair.
On the recording, which Shore played in court, the girl said several times that she felt it was wrong for them to have had sex.
“OK. I didn’t force you to do anything,” Uckele replied. “If you tell someone, I’m going away to prison for 10 years. You’ll ruin my life.”
And let’s not forget that the age of consent in California is 18, not 16. D’oh. Not only that, but now Uckele is facing a lot more than 10 years. And your life should be ruined, since you ruined that little girl’s life.
