Former court security faces prostitution charges
CONCORD, N.H. --A former court security officer persuaded a couple to have sex while he watched by telling them they would be testing bed sheets and condoms for an insurance company, the couple told jurors Monday.
Robert Theriault, 49, of Ossipee, faces six counts of prostitution. New Hampshire's prostitution laws prohibit people from offering to pay for sex whether it involves themselves or other people.
Theriault, a former officer at Franklin District Court, is accused of offering to pay the couple to test the success rate of the condoms and whether the sheets increased sperm count. They testified that they were skeptical at first but trusted Theriault because he worked for the court.
According to the couple, Theriault approached them in October 2005 when they were in court on the man's unpaid speeding fine. They said they were desperate for money because neither were working and willingly gave Theriault their phone number when he told them he had a job that paid $20 an hour.
"At first I thought it was a joke," the man testified in Merrimack County Superior Court. "But every time I asked a question about it, he was right there with a response. So I began to think he was telling the truth."
Theriault also offered to take care of the man's community service obligation with the court, the man said. He said he considered it a "great deal" that Theriault would say he did his community service even if he hadn't.
"If he were not a court security officer, I would not have believed him," the man testified.
A few days later, the man said he and his girlfriend reluctantly had sex so Theriault could see them practice before he ordered the sheets and condoms for the test. Afterward, they said, Theriault told them when he returned for the survey, they needed to have fewer clothes on and had to shed the blankets.
When Theriault returned the next morning, the couple told him they were sick and sent him away, they said.
Theriault's public defender, Donna Brown, indicated she will argue that Theriault has been wrongly accused. The couple has credibility problems, Brown said: the man has a criminal record that includes theft and burglary, and the woman does not have custody of her two children, ages 8 and 9. And they don't remember their interactions with Theriault quite the same.
"This case will come down to (the alleged victims') testimony," Brown said. "Is it reliable and believable? You have your own common sense, and you can apply that."
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Information from: Concord Monitor, http://www.cmonitor.com
