Boy testifies that he was told to strip

Deepa Bharath

An 8-year-old boy told jurors on Tuesday that a former Newport Beach

recreation coordinator made him take off his clothes and touched him

inappropriately at a city after-school program.

The boy, whom the prosecution presented as a key witness in the

trial of Trenton Veches, said the 32-year-old former city employee

also took off the boy’s shoes and licked his feet several times.

“He hugged and kissed me,” the boy said. “He told me he loved me.”

Prosecutors have accused Veches of sucking several boys’ toes and

taking pictures of the children’s feet. But this boy was their only

witness who said that Veches made him undress and touched him.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Sheila Hanson showed jurors graphic pictures of

the boy taken by Veches, including one that showed a rear view of the

boy bending over with his pants down. Some of the jurors shook their

heads as they viewed the photographs.

The boy told the prosecutor that sometimes Veches would remove the

boy’s clothes.

“Sometimes, I’d take off my clothes because [Veches] told me to,”

he said.

During cross-examination, the boy admitted to defense attorney

John Dolan that he did “moon people sometimes.” Dolan has argued that

Veches sucked the boys’ toes, but that he didn’t do it for sexual

gratification.

He also told Hanson that he did not initially tell anyone that

Veches had touched him because he was embarrassed about it. When

Hanson asked him if it was hard for him to talk about “this stuff,”

the boy sighed into the microphone, nodding his head and saying

“Yes.”

Two women, who were hired by Veches and worked with him in the

city’s after-school programs, also testified for the prosecution on

Tuesday. Veches was arrested in April 2002 on suspicion of lewd

conduct with minors after the two women complained to city officials

that he was behaving inappropriately with the boys.

Melissa Grimland, who is still a recreation leader with the city,

told Hanson that Veches was “almost too touchy feely” with the boys.

“He did not respond to girls,” she said. “He’d do special favors

for the boys. They’d sit on his lap and be all over him.”

Grimland said the select group of boys would spend time alone with

Veches and run to the parking lot when they heard Veches’ car pull

in.

“He’d give them candy and let them break all the rules,” she said.

Grimland said she once told Veches to bring in enough candy and

“stuff” for all the kids, but he continued with his special treatment

of the small group of boys.

Erica Kilgore, a former senior recreation leader with the city,

said Veches would take a small group of boys aside and play with

them. Kilgore supervised the after-school program in Mariners Park

and West Newport Community Center.

“They’d be rolling in the grass with him with their shoes off,”

she said. “We didn’t let them take their shoes off [at Mariners] for

safety reasons.”

Both women said they had never seen Veches actually sucking the

boys’ feet or toes or taking pictures of their feet in particular.

Veches faces 28 felony counts of lewd contact with minors and one

misdemeanor count of possessing child pornography. He pleaded guilty

to the misdemeanor and not guilty on the felonies. Veches quit his

job after the allegations. If convicted, he faces life in prison

without the possibility of parole for at least 25 years.

The prosecution is expected to rest its case today.

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at [email protected].