Crime & Safety

Alleged Child Victims in Gardner Sexual Assault Case Testify in Court

Case to go before grand jury on July 21.

The three young girls who accused Michael A. Gardner of touching them in a sexual manner had their day in court Tuesday, testifying for at least two hours.

Judge Esther Wiggins said the case will now go before a grand jury on July 21 at 9:30 a.m. in Arlington.

Wiggins also said Gardner, who is charged with two counts of aggravated sexual battery and a single count of object sexual penetration, still cannot see his children that he hasn’t seen since he was charged in June. Wiggins said she has concerns about Gardner being around his 10-year-old fraternal twins — a boy and a girl.

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Wiggins made that decision after hearing one of the girls describe an incident that took place while his daughter was in the same room. The girl said the incident happened on June 16.

The girls, who are 9 and 10 years old, gave accounts of how they were allegedly touched inappropriately by Gardner in his home while they visited his 10-year-old daughter.

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The first girl to speak, a 9-year-old, said she was one of many girls at the Gardner’s home on June 18 for a sleepover to celebrate their friend’s birthday.

The girls said as she lay in her sleeping bag in the basement with others, she woke up to “somebody over me,” and later identified that person as Gardner. She said the sound of her sleeping bag being unzipped is what woke her up. She graphically described how Gardner touched her.

Peter Greenspun, Gardner’s attorney, asked the soft-spoken girl how she knew what Gardner did to her?

“I could feel it,” she said as her parents sat just feet from the girl, her mother using a tissue to wipe away tears.

One by one, the girls endured several minutes each of questioning from Greenspun and Loudoun County Deputy Commonwealth Attorney Nicole Wittman, who is prosecuting the case.

As the attorneys prodded the girls for information, Robin Gardner sat alone on a bench inside the courtroom behind her husband. Gardner and Greenspun entered and left court together. Robin was only seen inside court.

The courtroom inside City Hall in the City of Falls Church was limited to bailiffs and the families of the victims and Gardner as well attorneys. The courtroom was closed for the first 30 minutes of the case before the public was allowed back in.

Gardner and Greenspun stormed out of City Hall at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and rushed to an awaiting car, deflecting questions from reporters.

Gardner, who served as chairman of the Falls Church City Democratic Committee from 2006 to 2007, was charged with sexual assault against two juvenile females, according to records from Arlington Circuit Court after an alleged sleepover at his home on June 18. A third girl was allegedly sexually assaulted at the Gardner home on June 16. Arlington County Sheriff Chief Deputy Paul Larson said Gardner was released from the Arlington County Detention Center after he posted a $50,000 bond.


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