May 19, 2006
Woman drops
1976 rape case against stepmom
Father, now dead, also accused
By John Dignam TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
jdignam@telegram.com
SOUTHBRIDGE— A case in which a woman accused her father and
stepmother with rape and indecent assault 26 years after the
incident has been dismissed at the woman’s request.
A trial had been scheduled to begin Tuesday in Western Worcester
District Court in East Brookfield.
A spokesman for Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte said the
woman did not want to go forward and the case was dismissed.
“I’m grateful that the district attorney took it this far, but the
system just takes too long,” said Sheila Benzer of Provincetown, who
brought the charges in December 2003 against Lawrence D. Dillard,
her father, and Cheryle T. Dillard, his wife, of Lafayette, Colo.
The couple were arraigned on May 14, 2004, on charges of rape of a
child and indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older.
Mr. Dillard died Jan. 5, 2005.
Ms. Benzer said yesterday there had been at least four postponements
over the past two years.
“It’s been four years. I can’t tell you how prepared I was all those
other times. But it’s hard to get mentally prepared, then have it
continued. And there were many continuances. I just couldn’t do it
this time, muster the strength to put it (court testimony) all
together,” Ms. Benzer said.
She said she did not feel that she was supported by the district
attorney’s office and that she had been told she would not win her
case.
“But I am grateful that they took it as far as they did,” she said.
Ms. Dillard said in a 2004 telephone interview that she and her
husband were innocent and that he had suffered a stroke upon
learning of the charges. She later referred all comment to their
lawyer, Peter L. Ettenberg of Worcester.
“She feels justice was served by the dismissal,” Mr. Ettenberg
yesterday of his client’s reaction. “This has been hanging over her
head for a long time. There was no evidence that she had done
anything. This was the right thing to do.”
The assault allegedly occurred in October 1976 when Ms. Benzer was
15, according to the complaint filed by police. Ms. Benzer said she
was on a weekend visit to her father, who was divorced from her
mother. At the time, Mr. Dillard was living at 5 Cathy Lane. He and
Cheryle Dillard later moved to Texas, then Colorado.
Police said the 15-year statute of limitations on rape of a child
did not run out because the couple moved out of state in 1978.
Ms. Benzer said she waited 26 years before seeking a complaint
because she didn’t have the courage or confidence when she was
younger to come forward. She said she first brought the complaint to
the attention of state police in Yarmouth and the Middlesex district
attorney’s office in 2002. The investigation report was forwarded to
the Worcester district attorney and to Southbridge police.
In a 2003 interview, retired Southbridge Detective Robert G. Berry
said he investigated the allegations, found them credible and filed
an application for complaint in October 2003. The court in December
2003 issued charges and summoned the couple for arraignment.
Two arraignments were postponed because Mr. Dillard was ill. At
their May 14, 2004, arraignment, Mr. Dillard appeared in a
wheelchair, which was pushed by Ms. Dillard. Not guilty pleas were
entered on their behalf and each was released on $5,000 personal
recognizance.
Ms. Benzer said she made her name public because “the only healing I
can receive now is to educate and help others” about sexual abuse of
children.
Child rape case from 1976 dismissed
By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
A 30-year-old child rape case against a Lafayette woman was dismissed Tuesday when the victim, now an adult, decided not to go forward.
Cheryle Dillard, 51, was to have gone on trial Tuesday at Dudley District Court, in Southbridge, Mass., on charges of rape of a child and indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older, stemming from incidents dating back to 1976.
The policy of the Rocky Mountain News in most cases is to not print the names of sexual assault victims unless they waive their anonymity. But the alleged victim in Dillard's case, 45-year-old Sheila Benzer, of Provincetown, Mass., broke her silence in the case in January 2005, when her father, Lawrence Dillard - facing the same charges in the same case - died at age 77.
Karen Foley, an administrator in the office of John Conte, district attorney for the Middle District of Massachusetts, said Benzer "did not come to court today, and she had expressed that she did not want to proceed."
Cheryle Dillard, prior to Lawrence Dillard's death, said in a 2004 interview that the accusations against the couple were without foundation and that they were innocent.
Benzer had claimed her father sexually abused her regularly from the age of 3. But the acts for which he and Cheryle Dillard, his second wife, were charged allegedly occurred in 1976, when Sheila Benzer was about 15 and the family lived in Southbridge.
The statute of limitations in Massachusetts at the time of the Dillards' alleged crimes was six years. However, because Benzer's father and stepmother moved from that state in about 1978, that froze the statute-of-limitations clock at the two-year mark.
The Dillards moved to Colorado several years after leaving Massachusetts. The charges against them were filed in October 2003.
When Benzer's father died before the case reached a courtroom, Benzer, an artist and political activist, expressed frustration.
"I had the chance of a lifetime. I tried to do it the right way," Benzer said then. "Now, the rest of my life, I have to sit with this. I'm angry beyond words."
On Tuesday, she attributed her decision to a range of factors, including a sense that the district attorney's office did not truly support her and that serious health issues suffered by the lead detective on the case could limit his ability to testify effectively.
"Another reason," Benzer said, "is that because I started this four years ago, I'm so tired of getting all geared up and all prepared for what the defense attorney throws at me and then having it be continued.
"Keeping this so raw, for so long, I just couldn't muster it, this time."
January 14, 2005
Man accused of raping daughter dies
John Dignam
, Worcester
Telegram & Gazette (MA)
SOUTHBRIDGE - A former Southbridge man accused in 2003 by his daughter
of raping her 27 years before has died.
Lawrence T. Dillard, 78, of Lafayette, Colo., died Jan. 5, according
to his daughter, Sheila Benzer.
Mr. Dillard and
his wife, Cheryle T. Dillard, 51, Ms. Benzer's stepmother, were each
arraigned May 14 on charges of rape of a child and indecent assault
and battery on a person 14 or older.
Two earlier arraignments had been postponed because Mr. Dillard was
in a rehabilitation center. Mrs. Dillard said in November 2003 that
she and her husband were not guilty and that Mr. Dillard had
"suffered a stroke over this."
They were scheduled for a probable cause hearing Feb. 10 in Dudley
District Court. A spokesman for Worcester District Attorney John J.
Conte said this week that he was aware that Mr. Dillard had died and
that the probable cause hearing for Mrs. Dillard still is scheduled
for Feb. 10.
"It's frustrating. He died without ever having to face me, face a
judge, face the court system," Ms. Benzer said. "It took so much for
me to come forward.
"But he can't hurt anybody now," she said, and added, "The greatest
tormentor of the human soul is a guilty conscience."
Ms. Benzer said this week she was making her name public because "I
feel now that the only healing I can receive now is to educate and
help others. Anyone's child can be a victim. The more that perps are
not brought to justice and the issue is kept quiet, the more this
will continue."
Ms. Benzer, an artist and activist, lives in Provincetown.
"I'm angry that they received continuances and delays. I feel as
though he was coddled, unlike my family and myself. It would have
been more than healing to have him face me with a jury and a judge
and to answer for his crimes," she said. "If we can't use the court
system, where does that leave the victims?" she said.
Ms. Benzer brought her allegations to Detective Robert G. Berry in
2003. Detective Berry, the Police Department's sexual assault
investigator, said he found the allegations credible and filed an
application of complaint with Dudley District Court on Oct. 16,
2003.
The alleged assault took place while Ms. Benzer was on a weekend
visit in 1976 to her father, who was divorced from her mother and
living as 50 Cathy Lane. At that time, Ms. Benzer was 15 and living
in Newton with her mother.
Mr. Dillard lived here from about 1976 to 1978, and moved to Texas
soon after the assault, according to police.
Police said the 15-year statute of limitations on rape of a child
did not run out because the couple moved out of state.
Ms. Benzer alleged that her sister also was abused. She died in 2002
at the age of 49.
She said the third anniversary of her sister's death was Saturday,
three days after her father's death.
May 15, 2004
Pair arraigned on rape charges
John Dignam, Worcester
Telegram & Gazette (MA)
SOUTHBRIDGE -- A
husband and wife charged with raping the man's daughter 27 years ago
were arraigned in Dudley District Court yesterday and granted
continuances to Sept. 2 for a pretrial conference.
Lawrence D. Dillard, 77, and his wife, Cheryle T. Dillard, 50, both
of Lafayette, Colo., were each arraigned on charges of rape of a
child and indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older.
Judge Neil G.
Snider entered not-guilty pleas on their behalf and approved a
request by the couple's lawyer, Peter L. Ettenberg, that they be
excused from attending the Sept. 2 conference.
Each was released on $5,000 personal recognizance.
Police Detective Robert G. Berry, the Southbridge department's
sexual assault investigator, filed the complaints in Dudley District
Court in October after an investigation. Mr. Dillard had lived at 50
Cathy Lane, Southbridge, from about 1976 to 1978, and moved to Texas
soon after the assault, according to police. Police said the 15-year
statute of limitations on rape of a child did not run out because
the couple moved out of state. According to the complaints, Mr.
Dillard ``indecently touched his biological daughter and had sexual
intercourse with her,'' and Cheryle Dillard ``indecently touched and
raped'' the daughter, then 15, in October 1976.
The woman said the alleged assault took place while she was on a
weekend visit to her father, who was divorced from her mother. At
that time, she was living in Newton with her mother. The arraignment
had been postponed twice because of Mr. Dillard's illness. Mr.
Ettenberg asked the court Dec. 2 to postpone the arraignment to
March 2 because Mr. Dillard was in a rehabilitation center
recovering from a stroke.
A second postponement was granted because Mr. Dillard was still in
the care of a rehabilitation center. According to a document
provided to the court dated Feb. 13, Mr. Dillard was a patient at
Broomfield Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Broomfield,
Colo., for a number of medical problems ``and is not able to travel
at this time.'' Mrs. Dillard in December denied the allegations and
said her husband had suffered a stroke upon learning of them.
Mr. Dillard appeared in court yesterday in a wheelchair, which his
wife pushed. He stood in front of the wheelchair, leaning on its
armrest, as Judge Snider asked the couple if they were certain they
wanted one lawyer representing both of them.
Judge Snider cautioned the Dillards about ``the possibility of a
conflict may arise'' when one lawyer represents two defendants.
However, the couple said they had discussed the matter with each
other and with Mr. Ettenberg and that he would represent both of
them.
The woman, 42, said in an interview last month that her father was
an engineer employed by American Optical Co. when he lived in
Southbridge. She said her decision to file the charges last year was
the culmination of a number of events, including the scandal
involving Catholic priests' abusing boys, the deaths of her sister
and mother, and the death of a close friend who also was a survivor
of incest.
April 4, 2004
Rape alleged 27
years later -
Woman, 43, says father assaulted her as a teenager
John Dignam,
Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)
SOUTHBRIDGE -- A
woman who is charging that her father and his then girlfriend raped
her 27 years ago when she was 15 years old said she is bringing the
charges now because she has developed the courage and confidence to
do so.
For years, she said, ``I did not have the guts, the courage, the
inner strength, the wherewithal to come forward, although I
desperately wanted to.'' The woman, a 43-year-old Provincetown
artist, spoke on the condition that her name not be used.
She said the
assault came after years of sexual abuse by her father.
The decision to file the charges last year, she said, was the
culmination of a number of events, including the scandal involving
Catholic priests abusing boys, the deaths of her sister and mother
and the death of a close friend who also was a survivor of incest.
``I'm just so grateful to them for coming forward,'' she said of the
men, whom she referred to as the ``Shanley boys.''
``They have educated people (about sexual abuse of children), and
given me courage to find justice,'' she said.
The woman, who grew up in Newton, said she attended school with some
of the men who have accused the Rev. Paul Shanley of sexual abuse.
She said she had thought of filing the charges many times but was
``afraid of not being believed, afraid of being rejected, afraid of
being revictimized.'' The complaints were filed in Dudley District
Court last October following an investigation by Detective Robert G.
Berry, sexual assault investigator for Southbridge police, against
the woman's father, Lawrence D. Dillard, 77, and his wife, Cheryle
Parshley Dillard, 50, both of Lafayette, Colo.
From 1976 to 1978 Mr. Dillard, at the time an engineer for American
Optical Co., lived at 50 Cathy Lane here. He moved to Texas soon
after the time of the alleged assault, according to police. Police
said the 15-year statute of limitations on rape of a child did not
run out because the couple moved out of state.
The couple are charged with rape of a child and indecent assault and
battery on a person 14 or over.
According to the complaints, Mr. Dillard ``indecently touched his
biological daughter and had sexual intercourse with her,'' and
Cheryle Dillard ``indecently touched and raped'' the 15-year-old
girl in October 1976.
The woman said the alleged assault took place while she was on a
weekend visit to her father, who was divorced from her mother. At
that time, she was living in Newton with her mother.
The arraignment of the Dillards in Dudley District Court has been
postponed twice because of illness. Peter L. Ettenberg of Worcester,
the Dillards' lawyer, asked the court Dec. 2 to postpone the
arraignment to March 2 because Mr. Dillard was in a rehabilitation
center recovering from a stroke.
A second postponement, to May 14, was granted after Mr. Ettenberg
said Mr. Dillard was still in the care of a rehabilitation center
and that travel to Massachusetts by Mrs. Dillard was
``impracticable.''
Mrs. Dillard last December denied the allegations and said that her
husband suffered a stroke upon learning of them.
Contacted last week, Mrs. Dillard declined further comment and
referred all questions to Mr. Ettenberg. When contacted, Mr.
Ettenberg declined comment.
Priscilla Adams, director of the Cape Cod Rape Crisis Center in
Hyannis, said she was not surprised that it might take 27 years to
seek criminal charges on sexual assault.
She said many incest victims who spoke out when they were children
``were told to be quiet, not to say anything. Families closed the
door on them. A lot of people didn't want to hear them.
``It takes a lot to get the strength to do that (speak out),'' she
said.
Ms. Adams said it is especially difficult for incest victims to deal
with abuse.
``There's tremendous confusion of feelings. Children love their
parents and want to be loved and accepted. So they both hate and
love their parents'' when they are abused, she said.
``When you talk about children and incest, children don't have any
power. These (parents) are the people who are supposed to love and
take care of them. So children think there is something wrong with
them,'' Ms. Adams said.
``And they are afraid that if they tell, their world will be turned
upside town. And it will,'' Ms. Adams said.
The woman said she confronted her father in a telephone call when
she was 25 years old. ``He said I was an adult, 14 or 15, that I
deserved it, and that I could make choices at that age.''
When she made the decision a year ago to file the charges, she said,
she contacted the state police in Yarmouth, who referred her to the
Middlesex District Attorney's office, because she had grown up in
Newton.
She said Newton police and the Middlesex District Attorney's office
interviewed her concerning her allegations of abuse, but said too
much time had expired. However, the investigation report was
forwarded to District Attorney John J. Conte, she said, because the
statute of limitations had not expired on the alleged rape, which
occurred in Southbridge. Those allegations then were sent to
Southbridge police.
``I want to have him directly held accountable and to face me in
court. And he should pay with some kind of jail time,'' the woman
said of her father in an interview last week.
``The pain he has caused my family and myself ... there aren't
really words to describe it. The only word I can use is `holocaust.'
''
As the result of a suicide attempt at age 22, the woman said, she
entered Alcoholics Anonymous and began therapy.
But she said the best support and most progress she has made has
been through incest survivor support groups.
``When you are living in insanity, you don't know it's insanity
until you see the same pain in somebody else. You blame yourself.
You feel constant shame. It's a daily struggle. Survivors have a
hard time their whole lives expressing their pain.''
Despite what she described as self-destructive behavior, she
graduated from high school and received a full scholarship to the
Massachusetts School of Art.
She was married in her early 20s and divorced after a couple of
years. She has lived and painted on Cape Cod for more than 20 years
and is engaged to a man who is an artist and an environmentalist.
She said she blames her father for what she called the ``early
deaths'' of both her mother and sister.
``I witnessed physical and emotional abuse to both my mother and my
poor sister. They were terrified of him,'' she said.
She said she believed her sister also had been raped by her father.
Her mother died at age 57 in the mid-1980s of a heart attack, having
long been disabled by a stroke.
Her sister, whom she described as an accomplished writer,
photographer and equestrian, died in January 2002 at age 49 of
pneumonia, infection and liver failure. She said it was shortly
after her sister's death that she called the state police.
She said her sister had visited their father in Colorado about five
years before her death, attempting to establish contact. She said
the visit so disturbed her sister that she began drinking and no
longer took care of her health, failing to seek medical aid when she
got pneumonia.
She said her sister had never acknowledged the abuse until she lay
dying.
``I really believe she would want me to come forward,'' she said.
She said she lost her best friend, a 34-year-old woman with whom she
had become good friends in an incest survivors group, to suicide.
Her friend died four months before her sister died.
``Victims of sexual abuse feel that no one is listening,'' she said.
``They carry around shame all the time and don't know how to have a
voice. That's why some suicide.''
She said there were females from their mid-teens to their 60s in an
incest support group she joined in Hyannis.
``Some would sit and cry the whole time,'' she said. ``Some never
spoke.''
``Sometimes it seems like a whole lifetime ago,'' she said.
``Sometimes I can't escape it, especially in the morning. I have
nightmares and I can't sleep well.''
She said she at times regrets bringing the charges against her
father and his wife because it has been a painful experience, ``but
the more this is public, the more it can help other children, incest
survivors who are suffering, by educating the public, the court
system and the victims themselves. There's just still so much
ignorance.
``I feel like I'm in limbo. I'd like to move on, but I know this
will go on for a couple years,'' she said. ``Other people spend
their lives building a career, family, home. But I spend my life
working on myself, trying to heal from the trauma of abuse and the
losses.
``I wish time healed,'' she said. ``All you can do is live with the
pain.''
December 1, 2003
1976 rape charge filed -
Arraignment set for couple
Jean Laquidara Hill, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)
SOUTHBRIDGE --
When a local couple left town in 1978, police contend that the clock
on the statute of limitations on a rape allegedly committed in 1976
stopped ticking. Now it is ticking again.
Acting on information provided by the alleged victim, charges have
been issued against Lawrence Dillard, of 948 Clover Circle,
Lafayette, Colo., and his wife, Cheryle Dillard, 50. Both are former
residents of Southbridge. Police said that Mr. Dillard is 76,
although his wife said in a telephone interview that he is 77.
They have been
charged in Dudley District Court with rape of a child younger than
16 and indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older.
Arraignment is scheduled for tomorrow in Dudley District Court.
``We are innocent,'' Mrs. Dillard said from Colorado last night,
acknowledging that she and her husband have been summonsed to face
the charges.
The alleged victim, now 42, brought the complaint to Detective
Robert G. Berry this year. Detective Berry said he investigated the
allegations, found them credible, and filed an application of
complaint with Dudley District Court on Oct. 16. He said he
determined where the suspects were living based in part on
information from the complainant.
The court issued the charges and has summonsed the couple for
arraignment.
Detective Berry said yesterday a warrant would be issued if they
don't appear (for arraignment), ``but I don't have any reason to
believe they won't appear.''
He acknowledged that the complainant is related to the suspects, but
said she does not want her identity disclosed.
In the interview, Mrs. Dillard said her husband was ill, but she did
not say whether she or her husband would come to the arraignment.
``My husband had a stroke over this; there's no real way he can come
for this,'' Mrs. Dillard said yesterday. ``He's 77 years old. This
is a 30-year-old charge. How can somebody come back 30 years. I
don't even know what it is about.''
She said her husband is in a rehabilitation hospital recovering from
the stroke. ``He can't even sit up and we're supposed to face
charges from 30 years ago.''
The statute of limitations for rape of a child is 15 years from the
time the victim is 16 years old or from the date the crime is
reported to authorities, according to Detective Berry, who is a
sexual assault investigator. If suspects flee to avoid prosecution,
however, the clock stops ticking.
Detective Berry said the Dillards lived briefly in Southbridge,
probably from 1976 to 1978, and that he believed Mr. Dillard was
originally from the Lawrence area.
He declined to disclose any details of the allegations and
investigation, including how he determined the allegations were
valid, saying he did not want to compromise the case.
He said he could not say why the complainant waited 27 years before
going to police, but described such decisions as torturous. ``It's
never easy for a victim to come up with this and disclose this. It
had to be bothering her for a long time.''
Mrs. Dillard said she and her husband left Southbridge in 1978 so
Mr. Dillard could take a job in Texas to pay child support for his
son and daughter from a previous marriage.