Rape suspect says he made up confession

PELL CITY — A man accused of raping a mentally retarded girl in his care said a taped confession played for jurors Tuesday was fabricated.

“The things I said on the video did not happen,” said Dan Charley, 60, of Pell City, who is accused of raping a 17-year-old autistic girl at the now defunct Charlie Angels Ministry Group Home.

Charley took the witness stand Wednesday afternoon to defend himself against a first-degree rape charge brought against him by the state.

“I didn’t do it,” Charley told jurors.

Charley, who founded Charlie Angels Ministry Group Home and was chief executive officer for the ministry, said he only confessed to authorities because he was angry, tired and wanted closure to something he was accused of doing.

The defendant said he was certain DNA would clear him of the rape, but instead DNA may send him to prison.

Jacquelyn Bowling, with the Alabama Department of Forensic Science in Birmingham, testified Wednesday morning DNA from semen found inside the victim matched Charley’s DNA.

On the stand, Charley implied someone, somehow planted his DNA in samples collected from the victim. A lab in Birmingham collected the sample from the victim, and the evidence was sealed by that lab.

Pell City Police Department Detective Vincent Warrington testified he collected a swab sample from Charley at the police station and put the sample in a separate sealed envelope. Warrington, along with Detective Roy Davis, picked up the rape kit from the Birmingham lab and delivered both sealed packages to the Alabama Department of Forensic Science in Hoover.

When Assistant District Attorney Lamar Williamson asked Charley how his DNA could make its way into semen found and collected from the victim, the defendant responded, “I have my ideas about that.”

“Oh, conspiracy theory,” Williamson said.

“Those are your words, not mine,” Charley snapped back.

Charley implied on the stand Wednesday that a tuberculosis test given to him at the St. Clair County Jail could somehow be related to the positive DNA test result from the rape kit supplied to the Department of Forensic Science in Birmingham.

On a videotape recorded by the Pell City Police Department in a small interrogation room on June 7, 2006, Charley initially told Warrington he was in the victim’s room on the night of June 6, 2006, to make sure the victim’s caregiver was doing her job properly, responding to a noise he intentionally made inside the girl’s closet.

It was not until after Warrington told Charley during the taped interview that semen was found in a swab sample taken from the victim that the suspect admitted to having sexual contact with the girl.

Charley, however, testified Wednesday he was informed by Warrington of the presence of semen in samples collected from the victim before the videotape recording and outside the police station.

‘“We found semen, and we got the goods on you,’” Charley testified that Warrington told him. “I was trying to process it all.”

Williamson asked Charley why his confession of the rape was so detailed if he hadn’t actually raped the girl.

Charley said he wanted to fabricate a believable story.

The defendant also provided a written confession to authorities, which was also recorded on the videotape.

E’Yvonne Charley, Dan Charley’s wife, testified Wednesday afternoon that her husband confessed to her during a brief telephone conversation, while he was in custody.

‘“I did it,”’ she said her husband told her before he was booked into the county jail.

‘“Now everything is going to be all right. Go on home,’” she said her husband told her in their brief June 7, 2006, phone conversation.

Witnesses testified the rape victim cannot take care of herself and has the mentality of a 10-month-old. She cannot talk, dress or feed herself.

“So if someone had sex with her, it was rape, right?” Williamson asked Charley on the stand.

“Right,” Charley said.

Attorneys are expected to give their closing arguments this morning before the jurors decide Charley’s guilt or innocence.

If the jury finds Charley guilty of first-degree rape, he could face 10 years to life in prison.

The trial is expected to resume at 9 a.m. today in Circuit Court Judge Charles Robinson’s courtroom at the county courthouse in Pell City.