The list of witnesses began with a Lacey police officer, a social worker and an administrator at a South Sound day care center. The list included several witnesses typically associated with the prosecution's side in a sexual assault case.
DeGroff, 34, is charged with six counts of first-degree child molestation and 10 counts of possessing child pornography. The prosecution rested its case after a week of testimony in Thurston County Superior Court.
DeGroff has a business that provides activities and entertainment to South Sound day care centers and schools. He is accused of molesting four girls, ages 5 and 6, on separate occasions while entertaining at day care centers and during a Christmas party in 2000.
DeGroff was arrested in June 2002 after a woman told police her 6-year-old daughter came home from day care and said DeGroff had put his hands in her panties and had made her put her hands down his pants.
The girl was distressed when telling what happened, according to her mother's testimony.
Wednesday, Cohen introduced testimony countering the allegations.
The state Department of Social and Health Services, which licenses day care centers, previously had investigated allegations against DeGroff. Cohen brought in Ron Effland, an investigative social worker, who interviewed one of the victims two years ago but closed the case when the girl recanted her story.
Effland interviewed a 5-year-old who in 2000 blurted out to her parents that DeGroff had "touched her where her panties are" while at the former Tutor Time Day Care Center in West Olympia.
The girl's mother testified this week that she'd become worried enough by the comment to visit the day care and observe DeGroff interacting with children. She testified that she saw DeGroff put her daughter in his lap and repeatedly stroke her daughter's thigh.
Cohen asked the social worker about his findings.
"Could you tell us whether or not you asked if 'Mr. James' had touched her anywhere else besides under her arms?" Cohen asked Effland.
"Yeah, she said, 'No,' " he replied.
"Did she say she felt safe with Mr. James?" Cohen asked.
"She said, 'Yes,' " Effland answered, referring to his report.
Earlier, Cohen elicited testimony trying to show that his client had no time alone with the 6-year-old, who had made another disclosure about DeGroff a year and a half later.
Cohen questioned Lacey police Officer Jeremy Knight, who took an initial report from the girl's distraught mother. It was her phone call that triggered the investigation leading to DeGroff's arrest.
The victim's mother said her daughter had been molested while "alone in the village" with DeGroff, according to Knight. The village is a collection of storefront facades that looks like a miniature town inside the day care center.
Court documents contend the girl was molested beneath a parachute DeGroff brought as part of the activities he provided for children.
Cohen called on Teresa Winslow, assistant director at Lacey's Tutor Time, as a rebuttal witness.
Winslow had testified Monday as part of the prosecution's case.
Wednesday, Winslow testified that she went beneath the parachute twice during the session and saw DeGroff doing nothing inappropriate. She also testified that other children were in the room -- a statement that proves DeGroff couldn't have been alone with the girl, Cohen said.
On the Web
Thurston County Superior Court: www.co.thurston.wa.us/superior
Thurston County Sheriff's Office: www.thurstonsheriff.org
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