A 56-year-old man is charged with allegedly taking “indecent liberties” with a teen, authorities said.
On Jan. 7, Darrel Wayne Walker was charged with three counts of forcible sodomy, two counts of aggravated sexual battery and one count of indecent liberties with child by custodian, Shelley Ward, spokeswoman for the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office wrote in an email on Tuesday.
Ward said it was an “older case” which allegedly happened in Seaford between 1999-2003 when the victim — Walker’s relative — was between 13 to 15 years old.
James City County Police Spokeswoman Stephanie Williams said Tuesday that police arrested Walker on Jan. 14 after the department received a tip from Colonial Community Corrections that he was meeting someone at the facility.
Walker had outstanding warrants and was transferred to Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail, she added.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Walker’s name no longer shows up in the jail’s inmate database.
According to the Virginia Judiciary Online Case Information system, Walker was previously charged with felony aggravated sexual battery: by force/ 13-14 in September 2019 for an incident which allegedly occurred in Seaford in October 1998.
“Walker was arrested by Richmond,” Ward wrote in an email on Thursday. “I believe that they stopped him for a traffic violation and discovered that he was wanted out of York County.”
The victim had contacted the sheriff’s office, who opened an investigation into the allegations and the investigation is still ongoing, Ward added.
“Offender [Walker] was the babysitter to the first victim and relative of the second (most recent),” Ward wrote, adding the victims knew each other but were not related.
On Wednesday, Benjamin M. Hahn, commonwealth attorney for York County and the City of Poquoson, said Walker made bond on both of the charges filed in 2019 and 2021.
Walker’s preliminary hearing date for the 2019 charges is next week. Hahn noted the case was continued for “normal reasons” such as unavailable witnesses as well as “logistics of getting translators” since both Walker and the first victim are deaf.
“We had to get two separate interpreters,” he added.
Hahn said the hearing date combines both the 2019 and 2021 charges but it could change in the days leading up to the court date.
“They may get severed but we’ll see,” Hahn noted.
Steven K. Smith, a court appointed attorney from Hampton who is representing Walker, was not immediately available for comment.
Walker’s preliminary hearing date is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 27 at 10 a.m.
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