Davie Police Officer Takes Stand In Own Defense At Molestation Trial
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) - A suspended Davie Police officer charged with an awful crime took the stand in his own defense Wednesday in a Broward County courtroom.
Stephen Olenchak is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting his teenage step-daughter in 2009
Olenchak denies the allegations and under oath, with his parents sitting in the courtroom, tried to explain what happened to a jury.
He testified that he, his wife Angela and the teenager were in bed watching the cable TV show "Big Love" the night the incident happened.
Olenchak claims his step-daughter, who was 19 at the time, placed his hands on her while he was sleeping.
"I didn't know what to do or what to say. I didn't want to embarrass her. I didn't know what to think," he told the jury. "I was hoping it would go away like a bad dream and whatever happened, would never happen again."
But the young woman claims she was drugged an assaulted.
Prosecutors played a taped conversation between the two that investigators had arranged.
In it, Olenchak apologized to the girl and offers to go into therapy.
"I'll make it better," he tells her during the phone call.
"How can I not hate you?" the girl asked.
"One day at a time," Olenchak responded. "I'll go into therapy. I'll do it right away."
The girl's mother and Olenchak's wife was re-called to the stand late Wednesday. Angela Olenchak railed against her husband over what she believes was assault.
If convicted of all charges Olenchak faces a maximum 30 years in prison.
