Girl, 8, tells interviewer relative ‘hurt’ her
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A Pendorff man who is confined to a wheelchair is in jail after being accused of inappropriately touching a young family member.
Claude Creel, 55, is charged with sexual battery after an 8-year-old girl told authorities that he touched her “butt and private parts,” Judge Billie Graham said, reading from an affidavit in Jones County Justice Court on Tuesday.
That allegation got family members to contact the Jones County Sheriff’s Department on June 28, and Capt. Tonya Madison referred her to a child specialist.
“She got more in-depth with the person doing the forensic interview,” Madison said.
The girl revealed that the man “put his hand in her pants,” but Graham said the rest of the affidavit was too graphic to read, concluding with, “She said it hurt.”
As he was being wheeled back to jail from court, Creel shook his head and said he did not do what he’s accused of. He did not elaborate.
Creel told the judge that he has three sons and one daughter, but he lives alone on Burnt Bridge Road. He said he’s been suffering from COPD and congestive heart failure for nine years and gets a monthly Social Security check. He is in a wheelchair and has an oxygen tank to assist with his breathing.
Creel has no criminal history, Madison said. Graham set his bond at $5,000 and ordered that he not be around any children.
“If you violate that condition of your bond, you will go back to jail,” Graham said.