Man Found Not Guilty Of Rape Charges

Court roomA Moore County man on trial for rape of an underage girl was found not guilty on Tuesday in a Lynchburg courtroom.
Randy Cleek, 51, of 703 Leon Clifton Rd., Shelbyville, was acquitted of all four counts, which included rape of a child, aggravated rape and recklessly engaging in sexual contact with the girl.
A Moore County Courthouse jury of eight men and four women, took less than three hours to return its verdict.
On Monday, the prosecution called four witnesses to the stand, the alleged victim, who is now 20 years old, her mother, Moore County Investigator Mike Rainey and one of the alleged victim’s former school teachers.
The alleged victim testified that she was assaulted by Cleek in a trailer while with Cleek at his father’s residence in Lynchburg.
Cleek was first accused of the sexual assault in 2011.
The defense presented only one witness, Clarence Estill Cleek, Randy Cleek’s father. He took the stand as the defense attempted to punch holes in the 2003 timeline established by the prosecutors.
Cleek testified that he was with the two the entire time, with the exception of possibly leaving them alone “for a few minutes” while he used the restroom, adding that he did not leave to get something to drink or to eat while they were there.
Under cross examination, the elder Mr. Cleek said that he was unaware of the nature of potential trouble his son was in when he drove him to the police station in 2011 to be questioned. He said his son had simply told him that he was in trouble and “might get arrested.”
He also said that he did not come forward to speak with investigators or prosecutors earlier in the investigation because he was told by defense attorneys not to speak about the pending case.
(Thanks to the Moore County News for information in this story)