Casper Man Accused of Sexually Abusing Young Girl
A man accused of sexually abusing a young girl over the course of roughly seven years could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted of four felony charges brought against him in Natrona County District Court.
Carl Ernest Voigt, 57, pleaded not guilty Thursday to one count of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor, one count of attempted second-degree sexual abuse of a minor and two counts of third-degree sexual abuse of a minor. He could be sentenced to 25-100 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
Police began investigating in September after the alleged victim, who was 10 or 11 years old at the time, told a school counselor she had been sexually abused for several years.
Charging papers allege the abuse to have occurred between July 9, 2009 and September 1, 2016.
The victim reportedly said she was scared when she found out Voigt, who had been living in another city for about a year, returned to Casper to live with the victim's aunt.
She said she went to her aunt's home on Sept. 11, where she unexpectedly saw Voigt. She then ran screaming back to her house and told her mother "he's there," adding Voigt said he would hurt her and her family if she called police, according to an affidavit.
The victim told police she was scared to be alone and was having flashbacks of previous sexual abuse. During the flashbacks, she envisioned Voigt in front of her.
On the afternoon of Oct. 5, a detective learned Voigt had left town after word of the investigation got back to him.
The charges against Voigt allege he masturbated in front of the victim when she was four to 7 years old, sexually propositioned her when she was nine to 11 years old, got on top of her intending to engage in sexual contact when she was nine to 11 years old and inflicted sexual intrusion on the victim when she was four to seven years old.
The victim told investigators she used her phone to record video when Voigt allegedly propositioned her. The video was either stored on an old phone which belonged to the victim or an SD card in that phone. Neither the phone nor the SD card could be recovered to allow investigators to review the video, but court documents say the victim's family members and Voigt made statements corroborating the existence of the video.
During one alleged instance of sexual abuse, Voigt reportedly believed he was about to get caught and told the victim she would "pay the consequences" if she told anyone. When asked to clarify what he meant, the victim said Voigt threatened to say someone's sister was "raping" a child.
Prosecutors also allege Voigt got on top of the victim and tried to kiss her. She reportedly grabbed a bottle of air freshener and started spraying Voigt in the face.
The victim's aunt reportedly entered the room and yelled, "you get off my niece right now."
When asked whether anyone else knew about the alleged abuse, the victim reportedly said "pretty much my whole family knows."
While discussing their living situation during a police interview, a relative told a detective, "Carl just got back, and I've been having a really difficult time with this because of what he did to my niece," according to the affidavit.
Voigt, when interviewed by a detective, denied ever abusing the girl. When asked about the instance in which he allegedly propositioned her, Voigt reportedly said the victim had set him up and recorded his words out of context.
"I know what happened but it's not the truth what happened," Voigt said. "I'm just trying to be very honest with you, and I apologize, I sincerely apologize for ever saying it, if it wasn't for what she said it would have never happened, I never understood that when she was pointing her phone at me she was recording, she was like, on and off with the phone, pause, whatever she was doing. I didn't understand it until it happened."
In charging documents, the detective writes he was able to corroborate the victim's statements regarding the alleged incidents involving the spray bottle and the video recording.
But regarding an incident during which the victim claimed Voigt picked her up and threw her on a bed, the detective says he has no evidence to support that claim. Voigt denied the incident and said, "they're trying to string me up."
Voigt remains in custody.