Indiana girl’s dad vows to clear name

Kim Smith

Monday, May 14, 2001 | 10:29 a.m.

The father of an 11-year-old kidnapping and sexual assault victim left for his Indiana home Saturday vowing that his name will be cleared of allegations that the girl also had been abused by family members.

"He assures everyone his name will be vindicated from all of the allegations," Anthony Bryant, a family friend, said. "When they left Saturday afternoon, they were hopeful and prayerful that they will come through this whole ordeal OK."

The ordeal began May 1.

According to police, the girl was kidnapped in Gary, Ind., by her former principal, William A. Beith, 28, and taken on a cross-country trip that ended in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

Police believe that Beith and the girl engaged in sexual activities along the way. Beith is facing federal and Nevada charges.

However, in interviews with police, the girl, in addition to describing abuse by Beith on the trip, said she had been molested by family members.

Bryant said Sunday that the girl's father had read the 50-page statement she gave police and is convinced Beith coerced her into lodging the allegations against her father.

The girl traveled home with Indiana Child Protective Services workers Friday night after Clark County District Judge Gerald Hardcastle ruled that was in her best interest.

Her parents, who had flown in for the hearing, returned home Saturday afternoon.

Bryant said the parents wanted to extend their appreciation to Hardcastle, the social workers and to the Metro police officers who found the girl and later protected them from the media upon their arrival at McCarran International Airport.

The parents hope to meet with Indiana officials today to try to get their daughter back, Bryant said. In the meantime, she likely will remain in foster care or in a group home.

Clark County prosecutors and federal prosecutors in Indiana and Las Vegas are scheduled to discuss the case against Beith during a telephone conference Tuesday.

The prosecutors must decide whether they can try Beith under an umbrella of state and federal charges or if Beith should be tried on federal charges and in each individual state in which sex acts are alleged to have occurred.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Doug Herndon has said he believes Beith should first be tried in Nevada, because the charges here carry the most severe punishments and because Metro has the most solid evidence against him.

Beith, who is being held without bail in the Clark County Detention Center, faces kidnapping, sexual assault and lewdness charges, all of which carry a potential life sentence.

Beith will appear in Las Vegas Justice Court again May 18 to confirm that Las Vegas attorney Michael Cristalli will take his case. Cristalli met with Beith briefly in court Friday.