this is old, but interesting...
A former North Little Rock woman who police say claimed to be an angel when she molested two former students was ordered not to leave the country Thursday.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza told Heather Raye Keller, 35, she would have to surrender her passport and sign an extradition waiver before she could be released from the county jail on $75,000 bail. Her public defender, Gregory E. Bryant, said Keller, who didn’t speak during an eight-minute hearing, would agree to the terms so she could return to her California home. He told the judge that Keller didn’t have a passport.
Keller, of Northridge, Calif., near Los Angeles, is accused of rape and first-degree violation of a minor involving two women who say she molested them between 1995 and 2000. She has pleaded innocent to the charges. She was extradited from California more than a week ago.
At her bond hearing Thursday, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Terry Raney told Piazza that she is reviewing the complaints of a third woman, but said the statute of limitations might have run out on those allegations. Rape cases can be filed until the accuser turns 24, with some exceptions, while violation cases can be filed until the accuser turns 21.
She also told the judge that prosecutors are considering adding a misdemeanor charge of providing alcohol to a minor.
In the rape count, Keller, who once operated the Sherwood day-care center Kid N’ Kaboodle on East Kiehl Avenue, is accused of having sex with a girl in 1995 and 1997 when the girl was between the ages of 10 and 11. Rape, a Class Y felony, carries a maximum punishment of life in prison.
The violation charge stems from allegations Keller engaged in sex acts with a girl who was enrolled in an acting program for children called Stage Kids, which Keller operated out of a storage unit on McClanahan Drive in North Little Rock. Violation of a minor is a Class B felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
According to police reports, the first accuser to come forward, now 20, told authorities in March that Keller had sex with her over two years, beginning in 1998 when the girl was 13. She was able to provide investigators with an address for Keller in California.
At a hearing last week, North Little Rock Police detective Julie Rose testified that both accusers said Keller questioned them about their belief in angels over a couple of weeks before the abuse began. Keller asked them if they would recognize an angel if they saw one, the investigator said, and told the girls she could make an angel enter her body.
Rose said the women claim Keller molested them while claiming to be possessed by an angel she sometimes called Ricky.
Keller, whose last known address in Arkansas was on John F. Kennedy Boulevard in North Little Rock, appears to have moved to California several years ago, Raney said.
The prosecutor also asked the judge to order Keller not to have any contact with children.
"We're not talking about at the grocery," she said. "But if she's working at a day care, I don't think that's appropriate."
Piazza said he couldn't enforce such a broad ban, but did order Keller not to have any contact with her accusers.
Also Thursday, Keller’s attorney submitted a letter from clinical psychologist Paul Deyoub who examined the woman during a four-hour meeting in jail on Monday. Deyoub reported that Keller was not mentally ill at the time when police say she molested the girls.
"It was clear that she is competent to proceed and she has the capacity to understand the proceedings against her and the capacity to assist effectively in her own defense," he wrote. "There is no chance that any other forensic examiner will find Heather Keller to be anything but competent and responsible."
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza told Heather Raye Keller, 35, she would have to surrender her passport and sign an extradition waiver before she could be released from the county jail on $75,000 bail. Her public defender, Gregory E. Bryant, said Keller, who didn’t speak during an eight-minute hearing, would agree to the terms so she could return to her California home. He told the judge that Keller didn’t have a passport.
Keller, of Northridge, Calif., near Los Angeles, is accused of rape and first-degree violation of a minor involving two women who say she molested them between 1995 and 2000. She has pleaded innocent to the charges. She was extradited from California more than a week ago.
At her bond hearing Thursday, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Terry Raney told Piazza that she is reviewing the complaints of a third woman, but said the statute of limitations might have run out on those allegations. Rape cases can be filed until the accuser turns 24, with some exceptions, while violation cases can be filed until the accuser turns 21.
She also told the judge that prosecutors are considering adding a misdemeanor charge of providing alcohol to a minor.
In the rape count, Keller, who once operated the Sherwood day-care center Kid N’ Kaboodle on East Kiehl Avenue, is accused of having sex with a girl in 1995 and 1997 when the girl was between the ages of 10 and 11. Rape, a Class Y felony, carries a maximum punishment of life in prison.
The violation charge stems from allegations Keller engaged in sex acts with a girl who was enrolled in an acting program for children called Stage Kids, which Keller operated out of a storage unit on McClanahan Drive in North Little Rock. Violation of a minor is a Class B felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
According to police reports, the first accuser to come forward, now 20, told authorities in March that Keller had sex with her over two years, beginning in 1998 when the girl was 13. She was able to provide investigators with an address for Keller in California.
At a hearing last week, North Little Rock Police detective Julie Rose testified that both accusers said Keller questioned them about their belief in angels over a couple of weeks before the abuse began. Keller asked them if they would recognize an angel if they saw one, the investigator said, and told the girls she could make an angel enter her body.
Rose said the women claim Keller molested them while claiming to be possessed by an angel she sometimes called Ricky.
Keller, whose last known address in Arkansas was on John F. Kennedy Boulevard in North Little Rock, appears to have moved to California several years ago, Raney said.
The prosecutor also asked the judge to order Keller not to have any contact with children.
"We're not talking about at the grocery," she said. "But if she's working at a day care, I don't think that's appropriate."
Piazza said he couldn't enforce such a broad ban, but did order Keller not to have any contact with her accusers.
Also Thursday, Keller’s attorney submitted a letter from clinical psychologist Paul Deyoub who examined the woman during a four-hour meeting in jail on Monday. Deyoub reported that Keller was not mentally ill at the time when police say she molested the girls.
"It was clear that she is competent to proceed and she has the capacity to understand the proceedings against her and the capacity to assist effectively in her own defense," he wrote. "There is no chance that any other forensic examiner will find Heather Keller to be anything but competent and responsible."