< http://www.insidevc.com/vcs/county_news/article/0,1375,VCS_226_819823,00.html
Woman pleads guilty to molesting girl in early '80s
OXNARD CASE: Former teacher's aide could be sentenced to up to 180 days in jail.
By Andrea Cavanaugh, Staff writer
A former Oxnard teacher's aide pleaded guilty Friday to molesting a 14-year-old girl more than 20 years ago.
Catherine Bell, 52, pleaded guilty to one felony count of oral copulation on a child under 16 and three misdemeanor counts of child molestation.
Bell faces a maximum sentence of 180 days in jail. Her sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 5.
The former teacher's aide at Mar Vista Elementary School conceded to authorities that she began molesting Debra Rude, now 34, in the early 1980s.
"I'm glad she admitted it," Rude said outside the courtroom Friday. "She's harmed me in ways that can't be explained."
Rude reported the case to police nearly 20 years after the alleged incidents, saying she was concerned that there might be other victims.
"One of the reasons I didn't come forward when it was happening was because I was afraid no one would believe me," she said. "She was so popular."
Bell has been married for 27 years and has three children. She is now an office employee with the Ocean View School District but is currently on administrative leave.
Rude was a student in a Mar Vista fifth-grade class where Bell was a teacher's aide. A few years later, when she was 14, Rude was experiencing family problems and moved in with Bell.
The molestations began a few months later, Rude said. From January 1981 to December 1982, the two performed sexual acts in Bell's home, at a local beach park and in Bell's car. The acts continued until she was 20 years old, Rude said.
Bell used religion to justify the molestations, saying God understood their relationship, Rude said.
"Ms. Bell told me we weren't gay; we just loved God and God loved us," Rude said.
Rude works as an insurance agent in San Antonio, Texas, and has traveled here numerous times for various court hearings, including Friday's.
Bell's attorney, John Phillips, tried unsuccessfully to get the charges dropped because of the statute of limitations. But under a 1994 state law, prosecutors can file charges long after an alleged serious crime occurs, as long as they do it within a year of when it's reported and the victim was under 18 at the time of the incident.
-- Andrea Cavanaugh's e-mail address is [email protected].
September 8, 2001
Religion is used to justify EVERYTHING.
sKally
(if this link isn't working properly, will someone please correct it for me...thx)
