The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
A man who was applying for a job at a Florida police force made a shock confession mid-interview that he had sexually abused a child several years prior.
Stephen Bodley, 24, was found guilty by a jury of sexual battery on a child less than 12 by a person less than 18 after a three-day trial in May.
Mr Bodley found himself on trial when, just under three years back, on 16 June 2021, he was being interviewed at the Apopka Police Department in Orange County, Florida, when he announced something rather disturbing to the interviewer, the Office of the State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit in Florida said in a press release.
Mr Bodley was going after a position that he applied for as a sworn police officer and. as part of the interview, he underwent a “voice stress examination”.
Voice stress examinations are done to determine if the person is being deceitful in their answers, and while used in criminal investigations, they are also occasionally used by police departments to vet their recruits, according to the NITV Federal Services.
During the examination, the examiner asked Mr Bodley if he could expand on some pre-test questionnaire answers he gave that sparked some concern.
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 sexually assaulting a younger child when he was 12 to 13 years old, saying the incidents occurred around 10 years ago in his home, according to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by The Independent.
“I can’t remember but um, but what do you call it, yes, um, I used to um, play these little sexual games, like oral with my little [redacted] and I known she, she didn’t know fully what was going on, and I used to watch porn a lot, so I had like a little addiction when I was younger,” Mr Bodley told a detective, according to the affidavit.
When the detective asked Mr Bodley to further elaborate on what he meant by “sex games”, the defendant said he pulled his penis out, but then switched to explaining the first time the incident happened, referring to it as an “accident”, the affidavit wrote.
“He explained that he was going to his room naked, and she was laughing, and then she put her mouth on it (referring to his penis),” the affidavit said. “Defendant Bodley stated that it gave him an idea to ‘play this game’ and he would play the game with her ‘all the time.’”
Mr Bodley further stated, according to the affidavit, “Me knowing what it was, she probably didn’t know what was going on, and so that’s why I put it there.”
Bodley also told detectives that he believed the child was around age nine or 10 at the time and that the incidents occurred “probably” three times, according to the court document.
After this shocking confession, the Apopka Police Department started a criminal investigation that included Mr Bodley giving detectives further details about the victim’s identity, the press release said.
Police then met with the victim and the victim’s mother to tell them what Mr Bodley claimed to have done.
When speaking to the victim’s mother, she told detectives that she had known Mr Bodley since he was a baby and had not suspected anything occuring between him and her daughter, the affidavit wrote.
At first, when being interviewed, the victim became visibly emotional and said she could not “remember anything” about the sexual abuse. However, in a later interview, after she was given time to process the information, she recalled the assaults.
“She stated she ended up in the Defendant’s room and did not process it at the time because she did not know due to her age, but the Defendant started kissing her on her body,” the affidavit wrote. “Then he took his penis out and stuck it in her mouth, and after that she ‘blacked out’.”
“Each time it happened, she recalled the Defendant putting his penis in her mouth, the affidavit states. “The victim stated the Defendant thought his actions were funny because he was laughing.”
She recalled the encounters making her feel “uncomfortable”.
Further investigation in cross-examining the victim’s age with how old Mr Bodely is revealed that Mr Bodley was allegedly between the ages of 14 and 15 at the time, the affidavit said.
The affidavit added that “this behavior continued throughout his teenage years into adulthood”.
“Defendant Bodley openly admitted he made the sexual battery a ‘game’ to minimize his actions,” the affidavit alleges. “Additionally, Defendant Bodley minimized his age, the victim’s age, and the age disparity between the two in a manner to justify his actions and behavior.”
Detectives called Mr Bodley back to the police department after the investigation, where he was arrested, the state attorney said.
However, during the trial, he denied sexually abusing the victim despite his previous admission to the crime on three separate occasions, the press release wrote.
After he was found guilty, the judge ordered a pre-sentence investigation to determine an appropriate sentence. Mr Bodley is due to be sentenced on 24 June.
If you are a child and you need help because something has happened to you, you can call the NSPCC free of charge on 0800 1111. You can also call the NSPCC if you are an adult and you are worried about a child, on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adults on 0808 801 0331
Source: independent.co.uk
