Investigator: Child in church assault allegation changed story

Editor's note: Six weeks after charges were filed, Beaufort County Magistrate Richard Brooks dismissed the charges against Joel Iacopelli. In December of 2015, Iacopelli sued the town of Port Royal. The lawsuit alleges that Iacopelli was slandered and maliciously prosecuted by the police department. The suit is pending. 

The four-year-old who accused a Beaufort church volunteer of touching her inappropriately later told her father she made the incident up, a Port Royal Police investigator testified Friday.

Chief Investigator Robert Bilyard's testimony came during a preliminary hearing for 44-year-old Joel Iacopelli, charged July 10 with criminal sexual conduct with a minor under the age of 11.

Testifying in Magistrate Court before Judge Richard Brooks, Bilyard also said Iacopelli repeatedly denied touching the child in an two-hour interview shortly before he was charged in the case.

Brooks delayed a decision on whether to dismiss the charge or sent it on to general sessions court. He said he needed more time to examine full reports and video footage collected during the police investigation. He did not say when he would rule on the case.

The alleged incident occurred June 28 during a Sunday school class at Community Bible Church.

On Friday, Iacopelli was surrounded by supporters both inside and outside the courtroom. Many of them were fellow church members.

"We are probably the most faithest church as far as our children are concerned," member Sherry Dryg said. "We've been praying for Joel, but we are also praying for the girl and her family."

Iacopelli, a former local insurance agent and father of four, held his crying wife's hand before the hearing began.

Jared Newman, his attorney, said Friday Iacopelli lost his job because of the accusations.

Newman also said the police department "jumped the gun," on the case.

"This guy's life is ruined just because of the allegation," he said.

A CHANGING STORY

Bilyard, the 14th District Solicitor's Office only witness, testified that when the child's mother reported the alleged incident the next day, she said her daughter told her in the church's parking lot that she had been touched inappropriately.

When the woman got home, she called the child's father.

The child told him the same story.

But Bilyard told the defense Friday that the child later told her father that she made the incident up.

The child's story continued to go back and forth when she was interviewed by Hope Haven of the Lowcountry, a not-for-profit Children's Advocacy and Rape Crisis Center in Beaufort, according to Newman.

Assistant Solicitor Mary Jordan Lempesis told Brooks it is common for children to take back their story once they see the reactions of the adults closest to them.

Bilyard also testified that Iacopelli continually denied the accusation.

A search warrant served shortly after he was accused allowed investigators to seize several computers, his cell phone, home security footage and an iPad from his home.

Of that potential evidence, Bilyard said only Iacopelli's phone, which had no evidence of value, had been thoroughly examined.

The department is also awaiting test results from the child's clothes, which were turned in the day after her mother filed the report.

CONFLICTING TIME FRAMES

Newman also showed the judge 17 minutes of footage from the church's surveillance video from the day of the incident.

Lempesis contends Iacopelli was alone on two occasions with children in the Sunday school classroom.

The video footage shows five different camera angles of the church's Sunday school building, but none point directly into the room he volunteered in.

Newman said the number of people in the hallway checking on classrooms -- all of which had their doors open -- made the child's account "improbable."

The video also shows that Iacopelli was alone with the child and other children for approximately five minutes over two occasions. Those times came when the class' teacher escorted some children to the restroom.

Conflicting accounts of when Iacopelli was on church property were also questioned.

According to Bilyard, the mother said she dropped her daughter off at Sunday school around 9:15 a.m.

Bilyard said the woman described Iacopelli and the teacher in the room as who she left her daughter with.

However, the defense's video footage shows Iacopelli and the teacher arriving after 11 a.m.

An image from Iacopelli's home surveillance system shows him there feeding chickens in his yard around 9:15 a.m.

It would have taken Iacopelli at least 20 minutes to drive to the church from his Lady's Island home, Newman said.

WHAT'S NEXT

Newman, who asked for the charges to be dismissed, told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette that Brooks has two to three hours of evidence to look through before making a decision.

According to state law, even if the charge is dismissed, the Solicitor's Office could go straight to a grand jury to seek an indictment if evidence is found on Iacopelli's computers or the girl's clothes.

The Solicitor's Office did not respond to a telephone call and an email seeking comment.

Iacopelli remains free on a $75,000 bond.

Follow Caitlin Turner on Twitter at twitter.com/Cait_E_Turner.

This story was originally published August 14, 2015 at 8:42 AM with the headline "Investigator: Child in church assault allegation changed story."