VENTURA : Teacher on Trial in Molestation Case

A Camarillo church teacher befriended a fatherless Catholic schoolgirl and then used that friendship to lure the 12-year-old into a sexual relationship, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

In her opening statement to a Ventura County Superior Court jury, Deputy Dist. Atty. Saundra T. Brewer said Robert C. Rose abused his position of trust with the girl, who is now 14.

Defense attorney James M. Farley declined to offer an opening statement to the jury.

Rose, 49, who taught religious education classes at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Camarillo, faces 10 counts of child molestation. He is accused of engaging in sexual acts with the girl between January and April of last year, including at least once inside the church hall.

The advances, Brewer said, began with fatherly hugs but escalated over the next few months to deep kisses and touching.

On one occasion, the prosecutor told jurors, Rose took the girl to his Port Hueneme office and undressed her before undressing himself and pressing up against her.

“At that moment, for the first time ever, (she) got scared,” Brewer said.

The victim first told a friend that Rose had kissed and fondled her, then informed her mother, Brewer said. The girl, her mother and grandmother told officials at St. Mary Magdalen, who later alerted authorities.

Brewer also told jurors that another victim, a 22-year-old woman, will testify that she was molested by Rose when she was a child. No charges have been filed in that case because the statute of limitations has expired, Brewer said.

The trial is scheduled to resume this morning.