Lewd case gets new plea

By Barry Porterfield
Staff Writer

April 29, 2008 06:00 pm

— A deal has been struck in the 2006 case of a Bethany man accused of committing lewd acts against three young girls, including his own granddaughter from the Elmore City area.
The plea of no contest came for 67-year-old Robert Wallace, who has continued to claim he had no recollection of doing anything wrong.
When Wallace was formally charged with the three counts in December 2006 he was accused of inappropriately touching three different girls on three separate occasions dating back two to three years earlier.
With the plea agreement in place Wallace was handed a five-year suspended sentence.
He will initially be supervised while on probation by state officials. He will also have to comply with the rules of registration for convicted sex offenders, which could include sex offender counseling as directed by his probation officer.
Garvin County deputies initially investigating the allegations reported Wallace claimed to not recall anything because his short-term memory was effected by a stroke suffered several years before the alleged incidents.
As a result the suspect reportedly didn’t deny or confess to the allegations.
All of the alleged acts were reported to have occurred at near a rural Elmore City residence.
The oldest dates back to 2003 or 2004 when Wallace was accused of touching his then 10-year-old granddaughter while the two and others were sleeping in a barn equipped with living quarters. The girl told authorities she stopped the act and left the area. The other girls involved in the alleged acts were family friends.
Another came in November 2005 when the girl, then 9 years old, claimed to be touched in the upper chest area. Reports show the act was quickly stopped.
A similar allegation against Wallace, this time involving a 10-year-old girl, came in February 2006.