Jury Heard From Victim in Clapsaddle Trial Today

Testimony in the Dustin Clapsaddle rape trial was provided by the victim herself today.

She recalls that in January of 2019, after a high school basketball game when she was a teenager, the then 17 year old went to her car where she found a note on her windshield, presumably from Clapsaddle.

The note told her to meet him at a church near his house because he had a present for her.

After going to the church, she said Clapsaddle met her there and they drove in his car to his nearby house on Summit Street.

She said that he led her to his bedroom where she said he blocked her from leaving. According to her, he forced her onto the bed and had sex with her. The victim said she was sobbing and repeatedly told him she wanted to leave.

The date of the encounter has been said to be January 18, 2019, just a few days after her 17th birthday.

On cross, the defense attorney asked her why on January 19th of 2019 she had sent a text to her mom telling her the worst pain that she has been dealing with is the recent breakup with her boyfriend and not the alleged assault.

The victim stated that her mom would have been the last one she wanted to know about the incident.

The defense attorney asked about a text sent a day after the incident telling her mom that everything that everything was okay and she was just watching a Justin Bieber movie.

The victim answered that the date of January 18, 2019, is not the exact date the incident happened. She stated that it was through the course of an investigation that they came up with that date.

She said any inconsistencies had been due to her young age at the time and her inability to process everything.

She noted that she came forward in the fall of 2022 because as an adult, she didn’t think it was fair he was still a teacher and she stated she wanted to prevent anyone from going through what she has.

The trial is scheduled to conclude on Thursday in Hardin County Common Pleas Court.