A lifelong friend of Tonya Craft testified this morning that her son spent the night at the former teacher’s house several times a week in 2005-06 but she rarely saw any of the girls Ms. Craft is charged with molesting.
When Courtney Lewis was called to the witness stand, she testified that she was at Ms. Craft’s house often to drop off and pick up her son, who was friends with Ms. Craft’s son. But she only saw the first alleged victim at Ms. Craft’s house once that year, she said.
When the first girl, who now is 9, testified the first week of the trial, she said Ms. Craft had molested her when she spent the night during her kindergarten year and first-grade years, both of which were in 2005-06.
Ms. Craft, a former Chickamauga Elementary teacher, is charged with 22 counts of child molestation, aggravated sexual battery and aggravated child molestation. The charges involve three girls.
During cross-examination, Catoosa County Assistant District Attorney Chris Arnt asked Ms. Lewis if she believed Ms. Craft was innocent. She said she would like to believe that.
Earlier this morning, Shanica Lewis, a friend of Ms. Craft and no relation to Courtney Lewis, was called to the stand and testified that she used to clean Ms. Craft’s home and never saw anything inappropriate.
Assistant District Attorney Len Gregor grilled Shanica Lewis about Ms. Craft’s alleged affairs and about how she kept up her appearance.
For complete details, see tomorrow’s Times Free Press.