Wednesday, February 23, 2000
Attorney asks dismissal of sex-abuse case
BY DAVID ECK
Enquirer Contributor
LEBANON — A judge will decide if the Warren County grand jury waited too long to indict a former foster-care worker on charges that he sexually abused three boys at Midwestern Children's Home in 1993.
Roy Puckelwartz, 44, faces 10 charges, including rape, gross sexual imposition and attempted rape involving boys at the Harlan Township center for troubled youth.
He was jailed in December on two counts of rape involving a 13-year-old boy in his care in 1993. In February, he was indicted on eight more charges involving two other boys.
Mr. Puckelwartz is being held in the Warren County jail on $100,000 bond. He was arrested in St. Petersburg, Fla., in December.
On Tuesday his lawyer, Donald Oda, argued that the six-year delay in indicting Mr. Puckelwartz hurts his client's case because some witnesses can't be found, records have been destroyed and it would be difficult to clearly recall events because too much time has passed.
Mr. Oda asked Warren County Common Pleas Judge P. Daniel Fedders to dismiss the indictment because of the delay and because it doesn't fall within the six-year statute of limitations. The judge indicated he would not rule on the request before Friday.
Mr. Puckelwartz and his wife, Bonnie, worked as live-in supervisors in a group home at Midwestern for about six months in 1993.
Midwestern officials fired Mr. Puckelwartz in late 1993 after members of his former church in Michigan alleged that he had made sexual overtures to a 16-year-old boy there.
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