Siblings give testimony in Bend child sex abuse trial

Published 5:00 am Friday, October 9, 2009

Two children took the stand in Deschutes County Circuit Court on Thursday to testify about sexual abuse they say happened multiple times while they were in the care of a Bend businessman in 2005 and 2006.

The brother and sister, now ages 10 and 12, respectively, said John Albert Sines, 55, raped and sodomized them in the master bedroom and bathroom of his southeast Bend home.

It is The Bulletin’s policy not to identify victims of alleged sexual abuse.

Sines is charged with nine counts of first-degree sex abuse, two counts of sodomy and one count of rape. The indictment against him alleges that some of the abuse took place while he was running for a seat on the Bend-La Pine School Board in 2005, a race he lost.

His attorneys have described him as a family man, married to the same woman for 35 years with whom he has a teenage son. Sines, his lawyers have said, also is a successful businessman who owns a music editing company that specializes in workout and exercise music.

During her testimony Thursday, the sixth-grade girl was barely audible and held her head down as she described the incidents — which allegedly began when she was 6 years old — as “gross” and “disgusting.”

“I felt really sick all the time pretty much,” she said about the time period when the alleged abuse happened. “I felt sick to my stomach.”

The girl said she told no one because she was “scared that he might hurt me.”

When questioned by Sines’ defense attorney, Lisa Maxfield, the 12-year-old repeatedly said she did not remember specifics about the abuse or whether she had told others about it.

Maxfield asked the girl about inconsistent statements she made to her schoolmates, social workers and her mother on topics ranging from her upbringing to the alleged abuse.

The girl denied making most of the statements and answered many of Maxfield’s questions with, “I don’t remember.”

Maxfield also questioned the girl about denying the sexual abuse to child welfare investigators and hospital workers shortly after Sines’ arrest.

Short video clips of the girl in an interview at the Kids Intervention and Diagnostic Services (KIDS) Center were shown in court Thursday. They depicted the girl one week after Sines’ arrest and show the then 9-year-old saying “nobody” had touched her “privates.” The video also showed the girl saying she would tell if someone had touched her inappropriately.

The girl started talking about being sexually abused after she was in counseling, according to prosecutors.

Her younger brother testified that he was forced to touch Sines in a sexual way and that Sines sodomized him in the bedroom and bathroom of Sines’ home.

The boy said the abuse made him feel “gross” and “sick.”

Under questioning by Maxfield, the boy admitted telling his mother that, if the case went to court, he planned to say that his sister had lied about being abused.

The fourth-grader also said he did not tell anyone about the abuse but, in response to Maxfield’s questions, said he could not remember whether he told his mother, or anyone else, that Sines sexually abused him.

Sines was arrested in March 2006 after a female housekeeper who worked for him found a pair of the girl’s underwear at his house and took them to police.

Investigators have since analyzed pieces of the girl’s clothing and found parts of human sperm matching Sines’ DNA, according to prosecutors.

Sines’ defense lawyers say he did not abuse the children and that the amount of sperm found was not consistent with sexual abuse, according to current scientific standards.

His criminal trial began last week and is expected to last six weeks.

The trial is scheduled to continue Tuesday.