Judge to decide on Texas testimony in molestation trial

Bill Gang

Tuesday, Nov. 30, 1999 | 10:15 a.m.

Before jury selection begins today for Larry Wisenbaker on charges he molested 16 boys at St. Jude's Ranch in Boulder City, a district judge must decide whether the jury can hear stories that he committed similar acts with eight boys in Texas.

To determine if the Texas evidence is legally admissible, District Judge Kathy Hardcastle heard the boys' versions of events Monday in a hearing that she closed to the public.

Such hearings are traditionally open but the judge said she was exercising her "judicial discretion" in partially granting a defense motion to keep the press and public from hearing the stories from the mouths of the children.

There also had been requests to conduct portions of the trial behind closed doors, but Hardcastle rejected those moves.

Hardcastle already had indicated she was leaning toward allowing the testimony of "prior bad acts" from the Texas boys and others associated with those cases.

Deputy District Attorney Gerald Gardner wants the jury deciding Wisenbaker's fate in the Boulder City case to hear from the youngsters who say they were victimized by the defendant between January 1997 and January 1998.

Wisenbaker worked during that time at the three children's homes or ranches where the eight had lived.

Gardner said the ages of the 24 victims in two states ranged from 9 to 16.

The stories of the boys all told of a person in authority who used his power, position and size to brazenly fondle or sexually assault them, even if they protested.

Of the 16 St. Jude's Ranch victims, 12 were residents there and four were Boulder City boys who were visiting their friends.

Wisenbaker contends the boys have banded together and fabricated the allegations to get him fired because he was too strict with them.

But Gardner alleged in court documents that Wisenbaker is "a serial child molester who has been preying upon vulnerable boys in a strikingly similar manner for years."

Testimony from the Texas boys, the prosecutor said, "will reveal an overwhelming consistent pattern of sexual abuse between the incidents in Texas and the Nevada offenses."

Gardner said the Texas victims include:

He was the oldest of the 24 victims in two states. The youngest was 9 years old.

Gardner portrayed Wisenbaker, who is 6-foot-4-inches tall and weighs over 300 pounds, as a calculating predator with "an insidious modus operandi" who escaped detection for years.

"Wisenbaker engaged in a long term and consistent effort to molest and sexually assault young males," the prosecutor stated in his motion. "He obtained employment in youth facilities and camps which put him in close, private and unrestricted contact with young, vulnerable boys."