Casper Man Not Guilty of Child Sex Abuse

It took just more than 30 minutes for 12 Natrona County jurors on Wednesday to find a Casper man not guilty of sexually abusing an eight-year-old in October.

The verdict was the end result of a three-day jury trial in Natrona County District Court.

Raymond Leroy Frederick was initially charged with three felonies including sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree. The events were alleged to have occurred over the course of a week in October.

The child's mother told police she began noticing her daughter behaving unusually from Oct. 1 - 6. When she arrived home on Oct. 1, she found her daughter naked in her bedroom.

But defense attorney Don Fuller told jurors throughout the trial that Frederick had been framed by the child's mother. Addressing jurors Wednesday, Fuller said the child's mother had leveraged the allegations against him as retribution for disputes she had with Frederick.

In one case, Fuller said, the child's mother encouraged her to tell authorities that Frederick sexually assaulted her.

Dr. Shelley Springer, a Casper pediatrician, was the final witness to testify Wednesday. When shown images taken of the child's genitals after the alleged incident, she said they did not appear to have injuries consistent with sexual assault.

"That's not the first thing I would think of," Springer said.

About a dozen friends and family members were in the courtroom to hear the verdict, which was read just after 6 p.m. Wednesday. After the clerk read the not guilty findings, Fuller patted Frederick on the back.