Jul 22, 2015

"I was totally creeped out. I thought this was a SWAT team."

John Kufner, the 62 year old man, charged with "recurring sexual abuse" of his own minor foster child finished his testimony on July 17. This post is his direct questioning by his own attorney Mr. Casey Russo. Shortly, I will post on the cross examination by Deputy District Attorney, Mr. Zach Curtis.

"At times when they were bathing/showering, they would call me in," said Kufner. Regarding the bedwetting and rash issues, "I instructed her the best I could to clean herself, got her ointment."

He said he check Jane Doe #1's diaper to see if "it was wet"; Kufner said he did not "do it all the time."

"I slid my finger inside the top of the diaper, same as I checked my son." Kufner said he checked Jane Doe #1's diaper "because it was worsening her condition to sleep in a wet diaper all night long."

He brought up the fear of the bathroom and said she either asked him or her little sister to stand outside the bathroom. Jane Doe denied she asked him to stand outside the bathroom.

From the post on her testimony, this is the exact quote: "I am not scared to go to the bathroom; I just didn't want to go near his room without someone there."

Asked about his concerns about Jane Doe's mother, he stated that once when Jane Doe #1 was visiting her mother at a women's clean and sober house, she did not want to take a bath but "her mom made her take a bath, anyway." Another concern of his was that Jane Doe's mother spanked her once while they were in the park.

Jane Doe's mother in her testimony stated that part of the problem between her and her daughters were that Kufner had a party atmosphere while she was the one that enforced the rules, taking away their cell phones, as an example.

When asked if the girls expressed any distress about being reunited with their mother, Kufner's response was to tear up on the stand and say, "The girls were as close as I would get to having daughters."

Mr. Russo asked Kufner how he was feeling when he got the pretext call from Jane Doe's mother. He responded, "I was lost, I had no idea what to say, what to do. I don;t know why Jane Doe #1 would say that."

Kufner said he wasn't given notice that law enforcement was coming over to his home. He said the "lady detective came over and got me while I was helping a friend. There were a couple of patrol cars and a van. I'm pretty sure there were at least 4 (officers) there. I was totally creeped out. I thought this was a SWAT team. Kufner said Sgt. Sam Williams and Det. Cheryl Franco asked him, "Do you want to talk here or at the McKinleyville station. They put me in the backseat and proceeded to interrogate me."

"Did you feel like you had a choice but to talk to law enforcement?" asked Mr. Russo.

"No, I felt surrounded," said Kufner.

Mr. Russo asked him how he felt when he was being "intergogated."

"I felt like I was drowning. I was terrified . I felt humiliated."

In response to being asked what medications he took, he said Oxycodone and anti-inflammatory medicine. He repeated what he said during the law enforcement interview, that he "took a glass of beer/wine before sleeping along with his meds."

He denied ever going to sleep and waking up in the girls' bed but said he did fall asleep "laying next to the girls" and that he would "lay in bed at the request of the girls."

Mr. Russo asked him about the "one time he woke up with an erection" and was laying next to Jane Doe #1. Kufner said he would atleast be wearing longjohns and "maybe his pajama bottoms. I jumped up and got outta there. I was embarrassed as hell. It was wrong. I felt humiliated. It was not a proper response laying next to a young child. " Mr. Russo asked and Kufner said it was not intentional.

"Why didn't you say he was a liar?" asked Mr. Russo.

"I believe as much as I cared about her and she cared about me; I couldn't believe she would lie about something. I kept thinking what I could have done for her to misconstrue."

"Is she telling the truth?" asked Mr. Russo.

"No, she was not telling the truth,"said Kufner.

Kufner said there was no inappropriate touching, he said sisters swapped for the top bunk, that Jane Doe # 1 did sleep with her pupp.

Mr. Russo asked why he paused in between his answers to law enforcement.

"I could not believe it was happening," said Kufner. "I tuned them out. Hearing the tape here, I heard things I don;t remember saying."

"They were using language I haven't heard since the high school locker room," said Kufner. He then turned and looked at the jury.

Mr. Russo asked him when he was arrested. The law enforcement interview was in February, Kufner said he was arrested on October 17, "the day after his birthday."

"Did you touch Jane Doe # in a sexually inappropriate manner? asked Mr. Russo.

"No," said Kufner.


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