FARMINGTON — A girl testified Monday that former Farmington resident Ross Adams had sexual contact with her several times in 2014, but she did not confront him because she feared his anger.
The trial of Adams, 52, of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, opened Monday in Franklin County Superior Court before a 12-member jury.
Adams was indicted by a Franklin County grand jury in January 2015 on a charge of unlawful sexual contact with a child under age 12.
He was arrested in December 2014 in Massachusetts on a warrant from the Farmington Police Department. The charge stems from incidents between July 4, 2014, and Oct. 10, 2014, in Farmington, according to the indictment.
If convicted, Adams faces up to 30 years in prison.
In opening statements Monday, Deputy District Attorney James Andrews and defense attorney John Webb told jurors they must base their decision on witness testimony and evidence.
In a videotaped interview in 2014 and on the witness stand Monday, the girl said Adams put his hand on her private parts more than once, which upset her but she didn’t say anything to him because she didn’t want him to be mad at her.
The girl said she told her mother, who asked Adams about the sexual contact and he admitted it.
However, the girl’s mother testified Monday that when she asked Adams about what her daughter had told her, his response was “absolutely not.”
Questioned by the deputy district attorney, the mother, who was subpoenaed by the state to testify, said she did not know what to do about her daughter’s allegations. She did not call police, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services or family members, she said.
The mother said her daughter went to live with her father in Florida in October 2014 and has remained there since.
The girl’s father also testified Monday, saying his daughter told him a few days after she arrived in Florida that Adams had sexual contact with her. That information prompted him to contact an attorney and Florida authorities, the father said.
dperry@sunmediagroup.net
Ross Adams
(Franklin County Detention Center)
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