Jury finds former Belvedere deputy fire chief guilty of raping 15-year-old girl
A former Belvedere deputy fire chief has been found guilty of raping a 15-year-old girl whom Delaware State Police said he met through his job in 2022.
Dwayne L. Pearson Jr. shook his head as he was being handcuffed and led away after a jury found him guilty on Friday of six crimes, including second- and fourth-degree rape.
Family members of the girl began crying as the jury forewoman announced the guilty verdicts. It took the jury of five men and seven women about three hours to reach their verdict.
In addition to the two rapes, Pearson was found guilty of second-degree unlawful sexual contact and three counts of sexual abuse of a child by a person in a position of trust.
No date was given for Pearson's sentencing hearing.
What investigators said happened
The girl and now-40-year-old Pearson met in July 2022 during a joint training operation with another fire department, according to court documents obtained by Delaware Online/The News Journal.
The two met a second time that month at a fire station. That's when the court documents said, Pearson's conversation with her turned sexual. Some of these conversations occurred on social media, including Snapchat.
Their encounter turned physical the following month when the girl would meet Pearson, who would arrive in his Belvedere Fire Company pickup truck, court records said. They would then drive somewhere else, where they would have sex.
More: Former Belvedere deputy fire chief charged with raping 15-year-old girl
The girl's mother was told in September 2022 of a possible relationship between her daughter and Pearson. The mother confronted her daughter, who admitted to the sexual relationship, according to court records.
On Sept. 11, the court documents said, Pearson contacted the girl and told her an investigation had been launched and that she needed to remove him from Snapchat. Five days later, Pearson told her to add him back on Snapchat.
Then, using the app, he "told her to delete every correspondence between them," according to investigators.
Pearson also told investigators he'd stopped being friends with the girl on Snapchat, adding he refused to meet with her at a certain location "because he didn't want any inappropriate rumors to generate," the court documents said. Instead, he told investigators, he offered another location to meet.
Credibility
Pearson told investigators he did not have sex with the girl, but according to court documents, could not provide a reason why the girl would make this up.
His attorney, David Facciolo, suggested to jurors that with no physical evidence, they should look at the teen's credibility.
In his closing arguments, Facciolo reminded jurors how the girl was angry after Pearson stopped communicating with her, but on the stand said she was upset, not angry. He also reminded jurors that her description of Pearson's penis was not accurate.
"This gives you an idea of [the girl's] true credibility," Facciolo said.
In defending the girl's credibility, Deputy Attorney General Cari Chapman asked jurors to review the amount of time the girl was with Pearson during the times she said he had sex with her. Chapman also questioned why the then-39-year-old deputy fire chief would friend a 15-year-old girl on Snapchat — a social media messaging app whose pictures and messages are available for a short time before they disappear.
She also reminded jurors how Pearson took the girl to places where there were no security cameras.
As for the discrepancies in describing Pearson's penis, Chapman explained the girl barely saw it as her hands were placed on it.
Send tips or story ideas to Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Jury: Former Belvedere deputy fire chief guilty of raping teen girl
