San Diego

The attorney for a former probation officer at Juvenile Hall who is accused of molesting eight girls there told jurors Monday that the accusations came from rumors spread by one girl with emotional problems.

Opening statements were given by attorneys in the trial of Robert Denny, 49, of San Diego, charged with 24 sex counts. Denny’s lawyer, Bill Youmans, told jurors in San Diego Superior Court that the girls’ stories about being molested are not credible.

Youmans said one teen-age girl, who had visual and auditory hallucinations, spread rumors “like wildfire” all over Juvenile Hall that Denny was “a sex pervert.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Caryn Rosen told the jury that the girls were “not your typical teen-agers,” and that some did have emotional problems.

But “all have one thing in common. . . . They were molested by this man, Robert Denny, who was a probation officer at Juvenile Hall,” said the prosecutor.

In one instance, Denny molested a girl who was isolated partly because she was a suicide risk, and expected a sexual favor after bringing her a magazine and water, said Rosen.

The prosecutor told the jury that many of the alleged victims in Juvenile Hall did not know each other. The girls were from 14 to 17 when the alleged offenses occurred in May, 1989.

Denny remains free on $10,000 bail.