Oct 6, 2006

Menlo Park molestation case may go to trial

Bay City News

A 28-year-old man who formerly worked for a Menlo Park recreation center and is charged with multiple counts of child molestation will appear in San Mateo County Superior Court this morning for a hearing on whether he will stand trial.

Tyrone Williams, who at one time was employed by the Onetta Harris Community Center in Menlo Park, is charged with 55 counts of child molestation in connection with the alleged sexual assaults of three young girls in Menlo Park over several years, according to San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

Following his stay in Menlo Park, Williams moved back to Kentucky, Wagstaffe said.

Williams was arrested by police in Kentucky on Sept. 14 and returned to San Mateo County, where he remains in custody in lieu of $1 million bail.

According to Wagstaffe, Williams allegedly molested the three girls over a period beginning in the mid-1990s and continuing until 2003: one girl, from 1997 to 2000, beginning when she was 9 years old; her sister, from late 1997 to 2003, beginning when she was 14; and a third victim, from the ages of 6 to 12, beginning in the mid-1990s.

Williams will appear for his preliminary hearing today at 9 a.m.