Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 3, 1994 TAG: 9404030142
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX LENGTH: Medium
The photos, made from videotapes, show a man fondling the girls in a Luskins electronics store showroom. Officers ask the parents whether any of the girls is their daughter.
"I'm a very calm, very serious-type person - always very much in control," said Faith Moor, 35. "I went in there and said, `Please, God, not my child.' "
Moor was relieved when she did not find her daughters in the photographs.
"They're definitely apprehensive," Lt. Lee Monroe said of the parents. "You can see the relief on their faces when they know their child is not involved."
Police have asked that parents who took their daughters ages 2 to 7 to the store on Lee Highway between April and September of 1993 to call immediately.
More than 125 parents contacted the Police Department last week, and 18 sets of parents have seen the photographs.
Three sets of parents have walked away stunned. They saw pictures of their daughters being sexually abused at the store while they shopped nearby for appliances.
A former salesman at the store, Thomas A. Dietrich, is charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual battery and three counts of producing child pornography. Dietrich, 31, of Alexandria, is being held in jail on $50,000 bond.
Police arrested Dietrich after his wife, Lucia, found videotapes under Dietrich's bureau and called authorities.
Dietrich was convicted six years ago in Rockville, Md., in a similar case.
While working at the Sears Automotive Center at Montgomery Mall, Dietrich approached a 6-year-old girl, who was sitting alone in a lounge area watching television as her parents shopped nearby.
Another employee walked by and saw the girl standing next to Dietrich, who had his hand under her dress, according to court records. The employee called out to Dietrich but got no response.
"Dietrich was `hypnotized' by what he was doing and seemed not to hear the admonition," the statement of charges said.
The employee yelled again, and Dietrich stopped. He pleaded guilty to a battery charge. He was given a 12-month jail sentence, which was suspended, and placed on 24 months of supervised probation. He was ordered to continue therapy. He later violated the terms of his probation, records said.
by CNB