MOTHER SAYS YOUNG GIRL HAUNTED BY NIGHTMARES AFTER ALLEGED ABU SE.(Capital Region)

Byline: CAROL DEMARE Staff writer

The mother of a child who was allegedly molested at a Guilderland day-care center testified Tuesday that her daughter was haunted by nightmares that may have been related to sexual abuse.

The witness, whose name is being withheld by the Times Union, said her daughter, who is now 4 1/2, told her she had nightmares about a snake hurting her. The child also said that Wayne Rogers "had the snake" that hurt her, according to the mother.

Rogers, 44, who's been at the county jail in lieu of $30,000 bail since his arrest on Jan. 10, 1992, is charged with two felony counts of first-degree sodomy and endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor.

The crimes allegedly occurred in 1991 while Rogers was employed at Elly Rogers Neighborhood, a day-care center operated by Elly Rogers, a relative, out of her then home at 3045 Evelyn Drive in Guilderland's Carman Road area.

Wayne Rogers is accused of forcing a girl, then 2 1/2, to perform oral sex on him between June and December 1991 while her 4-year-old brother watched. He is also charged with forcing a 3-year-old girl to commit the same act between September and December 1991.

Following a so-called competency hearing Tuesday morning, which was closed and held in chambers, County Judge Thomas A. Breslin ruled that two of the three children who are mentioned in the indictment can testify, according to Assistant District Attorney Paul DerOhannesian.

Those two are a boy, who's now 6, and his sister, 4. Their mother testified Thursday that she observed her children attempting to act out sexually and took them to a pediatrician, who suspected sexual abuse.

The second little girl, whose mother testified Tuesday, will not take the stand, DerOhannesian said.

The judge found that the two who will testify "had sufficient intelligence and knew the difference between the truth and a lie," which are the major criteria in a competency hearing, DerOhannesian said.

The mother who testified on Tuesday said her daughter was age 3 when she enrolled her at the center on Sept. 1, 1991. She said that around mid-October she noticed behavioral changes in the child but didn't take her out of the center until January 1992.

For instance, the little girl didn't want her to leave when she dropped her off at the center, something that had not occurred when she first started taking her there, the mother said. Then, the nightmares started, first a couple of times a week, than nightly and then twice a night.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Michael A. Feit, the mother conceded that even though she detected that her daughter "became uneasy around Wayne," she never talked to her about it and continued to leave her at the center.

State Police Senior Investigator Kevin M. Tuffey testified Friday that Rogers admitted on Jan. 10, 1992, that he molested two girls at the center.

State prisoner William Almy also testified Tuesday about what Rogers told him when both were on the same tier at the Albany County jail in January 1992.

Rogers said he was in the back yard of the center one day, and a little girl put her hand in his shorts, Almy said. He said he told Rogers he was going to testify against him because what he did to little girls was wrong.

Tuffey testified that Rogers told Elly Rogers a similar story about what two little girls did to him in the back yard.

Rogers is expected to testify in his own defense.

The trial continues today.

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO - TIMES UNION/STEVE JACOBS

DEPUTIES ESCORT Wayne Rogers to court Tuesday for his trial on charges that he sexually abused children at a day-care center in Guildlerland.

MOTHER SAYS YOUNG GIRL HAUNTED BY NIGHTMARES AFTER ALLEGED ABU SE.(Capital Region)

Byline: CAROL DEMARE Staff writer

The mother of a child who was allegedly molested at a Guilderland day-care center testified Tuesday that her daughter was haunted by nightmares that may have been related to sexual abuse.

The witness, whose name is being withheld by the Times Union, said her daughter, who is now 4 1/2, told her she had nightmares about a snake hurting her. The child also said that Wayne Rogers "had the snake" that hurt her, according to the mother.

Rogers, 44, who's been at the county jail in lieu of $30,000 bail since his arrest on Jan. 10, 1992, is charged with two felony counts of first-degree sodomy and endangering the welfare of …