November 08, 2024
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Woman found guilty in sex assault

HOULTON – After a two-day trial and 1 1/2 hours of deliberation, a jury found a woman guilty of gross sexual assault in Aroostook County Superior Court on Friday.

Felisha Dorr, 25, listed as living in Cary Plantation, was indicted on the charge along with her husband, Charles F. Dorr Jr., 26, by the Aroostook County grand jury in January.

Felisha Dorr denied the allegations and did not take the stand in her own defense Friday.

Her husband recently pleaded guilty to the crime and testified against his wife during the proceedings. The couple is in the process of divorcing.

Superior Court Justice E. Allen Hunter presided over the trial.

Aroostook County Assistant District Attorney Suzanne Lilley told jurors that Felisha Dorr and her husband participated in a sexual act with the then 15-year-old female victim last July.

The teen, who is now 17, testified that she and her then 13-year-old sister were once related to Charles Dorr, and that they moved in with the couple briefly last year after conflicts with their stepmother.

She recounted the hardships she had endured since the death of her older sister, who was married to Charles Dorr, and the death of her mother in 2001.

The teen said that she drank alcohol and smoked marijuana with the Dorrs, and that she, her sister and the couple were drinking heavily on the night of the incident.

The girl said her younger sister was so intoxicated that she became sick and went to bed, and Charles Dorr also became ill. She said that while Dorr was in the bathroom, Felisha Dorr asked her if she wanted to engage in a sexual threesome.

The teen told Lilley that she agreed, and went to retrieve a condom and watched Felisha Dorr put it on her husband prior to the act. She also told Lilley that she had prior sexual contact with Charles Dorr, who she said started making sexual advances toward her shortly after she began living in the home.

Charles Dorr testified that he intended for the victim to live with him until she went to college, and admitted he had engaged in a sexual threesome with the teen and his wife. Charles Dorr, who is incarcerated for his role in the crime, testified that his wife was “wasted,” that he was “convulsing … puking … and having diarrhea” prior to the act and that the victim was “pretty drunk” when the incident occurred.

The victim’s sister corroborated the girl’s testimony, saying that her sister had told her about the threesome, and that she’d also overhead a conversation among the trio about it the next morning.

Felisha Dorr briefly moved out of the home last summer, and her husband testified that he continued his sexual relationship with the victim until his wife returned.

“She basically took my wife’s place,” he said Thursday.

The 17-year-old said she eventually told Felisha Dorr about the relationship with Charles Dorr, and later testified that the woman had her write a letter stating “there was no threesome.”

The girl added that she started urinating on clothes in her room upstairs because she was afraid to go downstairs into the Dorr’s sleeping quarters to access the bathroom. She said she has gained more than 60 pounds since the incident.

The two girls eventually went to live with their grandparents, who now have custody of them.

Maine State Police Detective Dale Keegan testified Thursday that Felisha Dorr had “adamantly denied that anything inappropriate had taken place” upon questioning. He said investigators could not collect evidence because so much time had passed.

Among other requirements under the gross sexual assault statute, the state had to prove that Felisha Dorr was a “parent … guardian … or some other person responsible for the long-term care and welfare” of the victim.

Attorney Cathy Rogers Lufkin, who represented Dorr, contended her client never had custody of the victim. Custody was retained by the victim’s father, she said, a fact that was substantiated by a Department of Health and Human Services caseworker. Lufkin characterized Charles Dorr as “evasive” and “snide” on the witness stand, and submitted into evidence a letter he’d written to his wife in which he acknowledged having anger management issues and warned that he would not let anyone get away with hurting him.

Dorr pleaded guilty earlier this year to assaulting his wife.

Lufkin said there were “inconsistencies in testimony, in timing” and about various acts alleged to have been committed by her client. She told jurors Friday that her client was helping the victim try to pursue her education out of town and that she was not the victim’s long-term caregiver.

Felicia Dorr sobbed after the verdict was read. She will remain free on bail while undergoing a presentencing investigation and forensic evaluation.

Correction: This article ran on page C1 in the State edition.

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