“I know his heart. It’s impossible,” said Mark Howell, a childhood friend of Eduardo Letelier whose daughter is the defendant’s godchild. “It’s not something he’s capable of doing.”
Howell said he and Letelier were both single fathers for a time, and he had no qualms about leaving his young daughter alone in Letelier’s care. Should he have grandchildren one day, “I would hope they have an opportunity to spend time with him.”
Letelier, 44, is accused of molesting a 4-year-old girl at the day-care center he and his wife have operated out of their Braddock Court home since 2001.
The girl, now 5, reported to her family and testified in court earlier this week that Letelier put his penis in her mouth last July while brushing her teeth in the bathroom. He has denied the allegation.
His arrest came as a shock to the character witnesses who testified in court Thursday, some of whom have known Letelier for decades. Several longtime friends said they consider him family.
Sarah Weikel, the mother of Letelier’s adult daughter, told defense attorney Michael Chastaine that Letelier raised their child to adulthood at her request after the couple separated and she came down with a chronic illness.
“I wanted him to be raising her to have the childhood I never had,” said Weikel, who over the years has stayed in the Leteliers’ home for weeks at a time while visiting her daughter. “I had complete faith in him.”
Several parents from the Leteliers’ day-care facility, the license for which was suspended because of the allegations, noted that the couple maintained an open-door policy where parents could come and go as they pleased, unannounced.
“If they opened the day care tomorrow, my daughter would go back,” Bogdan Popescu testified.
The witnesses all agreed they had never seen Letelier behave inappropriately around children, nor did they harbor any concerns about his interactions with their kids.
But they also acknowledged under cross-examination by prosecuting attorney Melinda Aiello that child molestation typically does not occur in the presence of others, and molesters aren’t readily identifiable out in the general public.
Most also said there was nothing Aiello could do to convince them of Letelier’s guilt, though a couple indicated they could keep an open mind — provided there was proof of the allegation.
“If it’s something that you have evidence (for), I would definitely like to see that,” parent Ana Cali said. Should the jury convict Letelier, “I will trust them.”
Attorneys were expected to call their final witnesses in the two-week-long trial Friday, with closing arguments slated for Monday before the case goes to the eight-man, four-woman jury for deliberations.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene
