Tough lesson to learn: NEVER leave a handyman unsupervised.
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FREEHOLD — A Monmouth County jury on Tuesday heard from the father of a young girl allegedly sexually assaulted by an Ocean Township handyman charged with videotaping the acts over more than a four-year period beginning when the girl was just 2.
The father testified he hired Clement "Clem" Bilski Jr., 45, of Ocean Township to do various projects around the house beginning in 1996, after friends in the community vouched for Bilski's work. Bilski renovated portions of the basement, a den, a dining room and completed a major renovation of an upstairs bathroom.
Some of the sexual assaults Bilski is accused of committing took place in those renovated rooms, according to investigators' testimony.
"He always seemed a little quirky," said the victim's father, whose name is being withheld to protect the identity of his daughter. "But he was always careful about his work. . . . His work was generally good."
Prosecutor Peter J. Boser focused his questions on how Bilski was able to gain access into the victim's home and eventually win access to the young girl.
"He (Bilski) pretty much had the run of the house — although there was almost always someone there," the father said. "We trusted him."
"You trusted him?" Boser asked.
"In general, I live in an area where it's not that hard to create that," the father answered.
The man told the jury about the day in April 2006 when investigators first approached him about Bilski, when he and his wife came to learn that their youngest daughter had fallen victim to the handyman.
At times during his testimony, the father fixed his gaze at Bilski. Asked to identify the man believed to have sexually assaulted his daughter, he pointed his finger at Bilski, saying, "That's him."
He then continued to stare straight at Bilski, as Boser said, "No further questions, your honor."
Bilski's attorney, John O. Goins, had no questions for the witness. The father continued to stare down Bilski until he was excused from the witness stand.
As he left the courtroom, the witness gently grabbed Boser by the arm and whispered, "Thank you."
150 of 429 counts
Bilski is on trial on 150 counts charging him with aggravated sexual assault, criminal restraint, child pornography and other crimes he allegedly committed against the young girl between July 1998 and February 2003. The charges are part of a 429-count indictment also alleging offenses against several other children.
Three detectives took the witness stand Tuesday morning to identify and describe evidence found in Bilski's Maple Street home after a team of investigators showed up armed with a search warrant on April 21, 2006.
Inside, investigators found dozens of VHS and 8mm videotapes and DVDs showing Bilski engaging in sexual acts with the little girl.
New Jersey State Police Detective Cy Bleistine of the NJSP Digital Technology Investigations Unit identified a series of photographs as part of his testimony. He also told the jury that he was present when investigators started to view the DVDs found in Bilski's home.
"How long did it take before someone commented, "This guy is sick'?" Goins asked.
"Not very long," Bleistine said.
A priority was placed on identifying the victim seen in the videos.
"At the time, we had no idea who the victim was," testified Detective Robert Angelini of the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office Computer Crimes Unit.
Angelini was asked to identify a large bulk of evidence in the case, including a computer, video recording devices, video players, dozens of DVDs, videotapes and a 3-foot-tall doll of a child found in a drawer under Bilski's bed. The hard plastic doll had been modified with electronic and sexual devices.
A DVD multidisc player found in Bilski's home was filled with DVDs depicting him engaging in sex acts with a young girl, according to Angelini.
License plate was a clue
Another DVD found in the player showed Bilski and the girl outdoors, engaged in a sex act. In the background was a vehicle, and its license plate was the information investigators needed to find the victim.
Investigator Jeffrey Wilbert of the prosecutor's Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit testified that he was part of the team trying to determine the victim's identity in the early stages of the investigation. During his initial interview with the victim's parents, he said he knew they had found the victim when he asked the parents the name of their youngest daughter. He recognized their answer right away.
"There were a number of DVDs, VHS tapes and other things that had that victim's name on it," Wilbert said.
During a search of the victim's house, he recognized locations in the videos: the upstairs bathroom, beds in a basement bedroom and the girls' bedroom.
Wilbert testified that he later returned to the victim's home, concerned there might still be hidden cameras there. He found a video camera hidden in the light vent that Bilski had installed in the second-floor bathroom where he last worked in the house. There was a video camera found in an HVAC vent in the little girl's bedroom, and there was another video camera hidden in the basement bedroom, Wilbert said.
Wilbert also explained to the jury what was found on the various videotapes and DVDs recovered from Bilski's house.
Some videos had music added, others were edited to loop a sex act over and over and over again, he said, while still other sex acts were put into slow motion.
Bilski's attorney started his opening statements by admitting that the 5 1/2 hours of video prosecutors said they would play showing Bilski engaged in various sexual acts were "horrific."
"The videos you'll see are real," Goins said. "The videos you will see depict Mr. Bilski with a child. We will make no argument that it's not real. . . . The act was done, but what the State has to prove is the mental state of Mr. Bilski."
He "gained their trust"
Bilski was in and out of the home of his alleged victim over a nearly 10-year period, as he completed various projects for her parents.
"In the process he (Bilski) gained their trust, and then he corrupted that trust in the most corruptible way," Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Clark explained to the jury in his opening remarks. "You would think "what a safe place,' and ordinarily you would, but Mr. Bilski was there."
Clark told the jury, Bilski sexually assaulted the girl on occasions between July 1998 and February 2003. He went on to say Bilski took the time to "train her for his sexual pleasure."
The victim will not be testifying in the case, Clark told the jury, saying the video evidence will speak for itself.
Before the trial began Tuesday morning, the jury lost one member who was dismissed for an unknown reason by Superior Court Judge Paul F. Chaiet. The final jury of 12 people will be randomly picked prior to deliberations from the remaining jury pool of 11 women and four men.
Read the APP article HERE
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