Dekalb cop arrested on child molestation charge

On behalf of Raymond Giudice P.C.  posted in Criminal Defense on Friday, October 25, 2013.

A DeKalb County officer was arrested Wednesday and charged with child molestation, police said.

Manuel Williams, 49, admitted to the charges and offered his resignation, DeKalb County Police Chief Cedric Alexander said Wednesday.

Williams is accused of inappropriately touching a 13-year-old girl at his home in September 2012.

The girl did not report the incident to her father until recently, Alexander told reporters.

“The father of the 13-year-old victim reported it to police on Oct. 12,” he said.  “Its very disheartening for all of us here at DeKalb police.”

Williams’ attorney, Gerald Griggs, said his client was innocent and questioned the girl’s story.

“We believe the victim has credibility issues,” Griggs said.  “She waited quite a long time to report this.  At all times his daughter was present, so there’s no way any sexual contact occurred.”

Griggs also challenged the assertion that Williams made any confession to the charges.

“My client did resign and he did give a statement,” he said.  “At no time did he say, ‘I molested her,’ or ‘I touched her,’ or did anything that could be considered a criminal act.”

Williams was with the department for 18 years and most recently worked out of the south precinct, police said.

“Records indicate that he’s always carried himself as a stellar officer,” Alexander said.  “This comes as a surprise for us.  But we’re going to do what is right by the public and by the police department.

Williams is being held at the DeKalb County jail.  He is scheduled to make his first court appearance Thursday, Channel 2 Action News said

SOURCE:  www.ajc.com  “DeKalb cop arrested on child molestation charges,”  Marcus K. Garner, October 23, 2013.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.