Sex offender guilty on all counts

PALMER — A jury returned a guilty verdict yesterday for a man who is on tape confessing to sexually assaulting a minor.

Brett A.J. Talmadge, now 37, was accused of sleeping with a 15-year-old close family friend at his Meadow Lakes home in 2007.

Testifying before the jury last week, the girl recounted the two incidents the charges originated from.

The first happened after the victim spent a day helping Talmadge pack his belongs before he moved to Wyoming. That night, the girl said she was outside with Talmadge and two workers staying on the property when the workers offered her alcohol.

Talmadge gave his permission, as the girl had drank and smoked cigarettes at his house before. She estimated she drank 20 to 25 beers and three shots of whiskey. But before she passed out on a lawn chair, she said she remembers Talmadge sending his wife to town and seeing the two workers go into the trailer they were staying in.

When she woke up the next morning, she said she was on Talmadge’s couch wearing Talmadge’s clothes. This was not unusual, as she often baby-sat for Talmadge, but she said she always wore Talmadge’s wife’s clothes to sleep. More importantly, she said, she had soreness consistent with intercourse.

The girl didn’t report the incident for fear of upsetting the relationship between Talmadge and her family.

She said the second incident occurred when she went back to Talmadge’s house a few days later. This time, the girl said he lured her into a camper shell and told her he wanted to have sex with her. She refused, but he threatened to tell her parents that she had drank and smoked at his house. She gave in, and two counts of sexual assault of a minor and one count of attempted sexual assault of a minor came from what ensued.

The girl finally told her mother what happened, and the mother went to the Wasilla Police Department. With help from the police and a warrant to record the phone call, the mother confronted Talmadge with the girl’s accusations. The 2.5-hour long conversation was played for the jury Jan. 15.

For the first two hours, Talmadge stops short of admitting to his crime, but says how much guilt he feels. He recounts how he has lost his job and has long suffered from depression. He says how paranoid he has become, thinking the police are going to arrest him any day. His thoughts of suicide have increased since the incidents, he says on the tape.

But before the end of the tape, Talmadge resigns himself to suicide and agrees to tell the mother what happened. He said he did sleep with the girl on four or five occasions, but it always happened at his house. He said that he loved her and never once thought about her age.

The only defense offered by Talmadge’s attorney was that the state could not prove that the events occurred in Alaska.

The jury thought differently and found Talmadge guilty on all counts.

Talmadge gave no reaction when the verdict was read. The mother of the girl was listening in on the proceedings by phone.

Talmadge will be sentenced in April for three counts of sexual assault on a minor and one count of attempted sexual assault of a minor.

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.