Chesterfield man charged with giving teens alcohol, sexually abusing them

Jan 12, 2013 (Richmond Times-Dispatch - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A Chesterfield County man accused by police of using Facebook and text messages to invite teens to his house to party and drink alcohol has been charged with sexually abusing several girls after they became drunk from the cocktails he provided.

Robert J. Dodd, 48, of the 10000 block of Wycliff Road was arrested Tuesday on three counts of aggravated sexual battery and four counts of purchasing alcohol for an underage person in offenses that occurred between 2006 and 2012.

In a set of unrelated offenses, Dodd was charged with four counts each of taking indecent liberties with a child while in a custodial role, three counts of aggravated sexual battery and three counts of forcible sodomy in offenses that occurred between 1990 and 1999.

Dodd was denied bond during a hearing Friday in Chesterfield Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court. He was being held at Riverside Regional Jail.

According to an affidavit to obtain a search warrant for his home, Dodd's house became a gathering spot in recent years for high school teens who visited because he provided them alcohol.

Multiple witnesses interviewed by police told investigators that Dodd would often post pictures of his parties and gatherings on his social networks and websites such as Facebook. Several of the posts included pictures of "underage individuals consuming alcoholic beverages at his parties," Detective A.M. Weisz wrote in the affidavit.

Witnesses also told police that Dodd would text them about the parties and offer to pick them up. In addition to providing alcohol, police received several complaints about Dodd "for sexual assaults and sexual abuse," Weisz wrote.

One 17-year-old girl told police that she attended a party at Dodd's house on Dec. 12 and that he encouraged her to drink multiple "Alabama Slammers." After consuming the drinks, the girl became ill and began to vomit. She said Dodd brought her to his bedroom, where she eventually passed out.

"During the course of the interview, (the girl) said she had spoken to several other individuals who had experienced similar encounters with Robert Dodd," Weisz wrote.

Another girl, now 19, told police that Dodd prepared multiple drinks for her -- called "99 Apples" -- while she attended a gathering at his house in February 2010. She said Dodd took her to one of the bedrooms in his home after she became ill and felt weak from the liquor. She was 16 at the time.

A third girl, 18, told police that she attended a "celebration party" at Dodd's house and she passed out after drinking several alcoholic beverages he prepared for her. The girl said she didn't remember passing out "but that she awoke in Robert Dodd's bed," Weisz wrote in the affidavit.

During a search of Dodd's home this week, investigators recovered two laptop computers, four cameras, an iPod, a video camera, three videogame systems, 13 DVDs, four VHS tapes and receipts from ABC and Total Wine stores, among other items.

mbowes@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6450 ___ (c)2013 the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, Va.) Visit the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, Va.) at www.timesdispatch.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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