A Dallas Radio Disc Jockey is on trial, accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in 1999. Anthony Salvatori is a DJ at Christian radio station KLTY. He broadcasts under the name of Tony Lopez. But at the time of the alleged offense, he worked at KISS-FM under the name Tony Marino.
The accuser in this case is now 29-years-old. It took her 11 years to disclose her rape allegations against Salvatori and because there is not statute of limitations on murder and felony sex crimes, Dallas police investigated and Salvatori was indicted on charges of Sexual Assault of a child and indecency with a child.
The woman testified in court on Wednesday, saying her memory of the alleged incident was repressed for more than a decade and triggered only when an incident of sexual harassment at a waitressing job occurred.
The woman said in 1999, she was trying to win tickets to an N'Sync concert through a phone contest run by KISS-FM. She said she called the station but lost and said Salvatori told her over the phone that if she could come to the radio station, he could get her concert passes.
The woman told jurors she got her cousin and her cousin's boyfriend to drive her to the radio station, they took a tour and were just hanging out. When her ride had to leave, she said Salvatori offered to take her home.
Jurors heard testimony that Salvatori touched the then teenager, inappropriately at the radio station and before taking her home, they stopped by his Dallas apartment. Salvatori who was 27-years-old at the time. His accuser said she was raped that same night in his apartment.
When telling her story to a Dallas Detective in 2010, the officer decided to coach the woman through a recorded phone call with Salvatori. Salvatori was contacted at work and a portion of that recording was played for jurors.
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Salvatori acknowledged he remembered her and she told him that their encounter produced a son, now 13 years old, "I remember you and we hung out. I remember that but we never had intercourse of any kind," Salvatori is heard saying on the recording. "When we were in my room, I stopped, ok I stopped from doing anything that would, you reminded me of my niece at the time and I couldn't picture myself being with someone that age so I immediately stopped."
Salvatori admitted kissing the girl, and to some heavy petting and getting real turned on but emphatically denied any sex occurred.
During testimony on Wednesday, the accuser's memory and character were called into question by defense attorneys who told jurors that this case was about money. A lawsuit has been field by the woman against Salvatori and the company that owned KISS-FM.
Testimony resumes tomorrow, Salvatori is expected to take the stand in his own defense.
