By Genesis Guzman
SACRAMENTO, CA – After hearing officer testimony at a preliminary hearing detailing the experiences of alleged child molestation against multiple young victims, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Delbert W. Oros Tuesday found defendant Nehemiah Watson should stand trial.
Watson is being charged with 12 counts of child molestation.
Deputy District Attorney Dinah Mielke called Detective Allison Cunningham from the Sacramento Police Department. She conducted the interviews for all three victims.
The detective reported that the first victim described four separate instances where the defendant touched her inappropriately. The victim was between six and nine years old when the alleged touching occurred, and identified Watson as a friend of her father’s.
After the interview, Cunningham showed a picture of Watson to the victim and she identified him as the person she was referring to during the interview.
Cunningham also stated that he had talked to the defendant and he admitted that he touched the victim and that he felt bad about it and he wanted to write her an apology letter.
Mielke then moved on to the second victim’s interview that occurred on August 20, 2020, where she described her encounter with the defendant that occurred when she was 12.
Watson was her mother’s boyfriend/husband at the time, and one evening he came home and sat next to the victim while she was sleeping on the couch and molested her. The victim repeatedly moved his hand away and told him to stop but Watson just laughed and kept rubbing her with his hand.
Then in December 2020 Detective Cunningham talked to the second victim again and she reported that Watson had “done something worse.” She hadn’t reported it before because she was afraid of him.
Watson had threatened to throw her baby sister out the window if she said anything, and she was so afraid she continually had nightmares about it.
The detective stated she had observed the interview of the third victim on Dec. 21, 2020. The victim described on how on two separate occasions when she was five years old the defendant had kissed her “as if they were boyfriend and girlfriend.” She had identified the defendant as a family friend.
The defendant’s counsel, David Brooks, cross-examined Det. Cunningham, and the detective said that the second victim reported to her mother what had happened through a letter in 2018. And the third victim had disclosed to the first victim that the same thing had happened to her with Watson, but that is all she told her.
Judge Oros found there to be sufficient cause to believe that the defendant is guilty, and is therefore held to answer to all counts and proceed to trial.
Watson pleaded not guilty to all counts and denied all allegations.
The jury trial date was set for Sept. 20.
