Former mental health board executive faces charges in Bristol, Va., that he fondled 11-year-old girl

By: Claire Galofaro | TriCities.com
Published: December 03, 2009

BRISTOL, Va. – The former head of the region’s leading mental health board is facing criminal charges following accusations that he fondled

an 11-year-old relative, then apologized to her.
Hunter Preston Widener, the executive director of Highlands Community Services until 2006, was charged Oct. 15 with two counts of aggravated

sexual battery. Widener, 66, of Bristol, Va., was released on a $7,500 unsecured bond on the condition he have no contact with the young

girl.
According to court records, the child spent the night of Sept. 12 at the Wideners’ Old Dominion Road home. When her mother picked her up the

following morning, she said Widener had “touched her in a private place.”
During a forensic interview at the Children’s Advocacy Center, the girl said Widener rubbed her genitals through her clothing, according to

the criminal complaint filed with the Washington County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court. The following morning he again

“placed his hand between her legs.” The complaint continues that he later “stated that he shouldn’t have touched her and that he was sorry.”
A preliminary hearing is scheduled at 9 a.m. Jan. 22 in Washington County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Circuit Court; aggravated sexual

battery is an unclassified felony punishable by one to 20 years in prison and up to a $100,000 fine.
Widener declined to comment over the phone Tuesday. His attorney, Dennis E. Jones in Lebanon, Va., did not return a phone call. On

Wednesday, a woman peeped through the chained door of the Wideners’ Old Dominion Road home.
“No, I’m not going to talk to you,” she said. “I think you’re very rude.”
Hunter was employed by Highlands Community Services for more than 30 years – from Aug. 1, 1975, until he retired July 1, 2006, said Michael

Cole, human resources director.
Highlands Community Services addresses mental health and substance abuse issues in both adults and children.
Widener is a life-long resident of Washington County, owns the home where he lives with his wife and has no previous criminal record. He was

a member of the 1996 task force that established the Children’s Advocacy Center – the very organization where his young relative was

interviewed Sept. 15 about her accusations against him.
“When our worlds collide like this it’s a reminder that there is no dividing line for child abuse,” said the CAC’s director Kathi Roark, who

declined to comment on specifics of the case. “Any child can be a victim of child abuse regardless of where they live or where they go to

school. Every story is different and every story is equally horrifying. People I think would be shocked by who is doing what to whom.”
Roark referenced statistics of the American Academy of Pediatrics: that one in four girls and one in eight boys are sexually abused before

their 18th birthday. Less than 50 percent report the incidents, in fear of getting in trouble or that no one would believe them.
Since 2005, the CAC has seen more than 800 new victims of sexual and severe physical abuse in Bristol and Washington County, Va., and 96

percent of the time the victims are relatives to or otherwise know their abuser.
“The very nature of this issue really is that it’s a crime of secrecy,” Roark said, noting that child molestation cases are among the most

difficult to prosecute. “It’s a crime that happens when there’s no one around to see.”