FARMINGTON – The trial of an Industry man accused of molesting a boy over a span of several years began in Franklin County Superior Court Tuesday, with the state laying out much of its case.
Paul Tracy, 46, of Industry, was indicted by a grand jury on charges of gross sexual assault and unlawful sexual conduct after a Maine State Police investigation. Tracy is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a boy, now 18, from 1997 until he was 13 or 14 years old.
Assistant District Attorney Andrew Robinson and Walter McKee, Tracy’s attorney, both gave their opening statements to the jury Tuesday, in what is anticipated to be a multi-day trial. The state’s case is relatively simple; that the alleged victim informed members of his family of Tracy’s conduct on Oct. 14, 2008, prompting an investigation and eventual indictment. Tracy’s defense, presented by McKee, is that the alleged abuse never occurred and that the boy made the allegations in response to Tracy not letting him spend more time with his girlfriend.
According to witnesses for the state, on Oct. 14, 2008, the alleged victim told his mother that Tracy had been molesting him for “as long as I can remember,” as he told the jury Tuesday. Tracy, three family members testified, had been at a friend’s house at the time. The mother called her pastor who recommended she contact the police.
At this point, according to the testimony, Tracy returned home which prompted a confrontation between him and the boy’s mother. Tracy, all three family members told the jury, became extremely upset and made suicidal statements, saying that he should have “stepped in front of that bullet” while serving overseas as a national guardsman. Eventually, he hugged the boy and, according to other family members’ testimony, apologized.
“He told [the alleged victim] he was sorry he hurt him,” the boy’s mother said, “and sorry that he was such an ‘effing animal.'”
Eventually, the state says, an argument ensued which resulted in the alleged victim yelling “shut up” and Tracy responding with an obscenity. He then left, going to his mother’s home. Trooper Scott Dalton, who told the jury Tuesday that he only had received a brief overview of the alleged victim’s statement and was primarily concerned at that point with Tracy’s mental well-being following the suicidal statements, later located him at his mother’s house and arranged transport for him to Franklin Memorial Hospital.
The sexual abuse described by the boy involved primarily mutual masturbation and oral sex. None of the other family members, according to their own testimony, suspected anything out of the ordinary. The alleged victim said he still liked Tracy, following a question from Robinson in regards to why he never told anyone about the abuse.
“… I respected him,” the alleged victim said.
The state has also produced what it says is evidence of the alleged victim’s claims; a large collection of objects recovered by the boy’s mother and MSP Detective Brian Jacques several days after the confrontation. These include soiled underwear and children’s clothing as well as sex toys and pornography.
The defense has not begun to present its case yet, but McKee’s opening statement indicated that the boy may have fabricated the story. McKee pointed out, through his cross-examination of witnesses, that despite years of reported abuse, no one ever detected or suspected any inappropriate relationship. McKee also said that the alleged victim’s story became more specific and detailed through successive interviews with Jacques and others over time, and that the alleged victim made the claims due to stricter discipline being implemented by Tracy upon his return from being stationed in Qatar.
