Germain’s court hearing pushed to January

A court hearing for Henry Germain, the former Castlewood Country Club tennis director charged with several counts of child molestation, was continued again to Jan. 9.

The 62-year-old Dublin resident is currently out on $1.14 million bail for the 16 charges of alleged child molestation against six female victims since he was first arrested Sept. 2.

Berkeley attorney Elizabeth Grossman, representing Germain, and Deputy District Attorney Susan Torrence agreed to the continuance. Judge Hugh Walker asked what was taking so long, and Torrence said there was no trouble gathering the information, but that ongoing new findings was the reason for the delay.

Sgt. Ray Kelly of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department said the case is open and is encouraging any other victims to come forward by calling the anonymous tip line at 510-667-3622 or him directly at 510-667-3657.

There are about a half dozen other alleged victims that have come forward, according to Kelly, saying they were abused by Germain back to the early ’80s when he worked as a tennis pro at the now closed Desert Club of La Quinta in Palm Desert, Calif. While Germain can’t be charged from these alleged incidents, the victims can testify in court.

“What we have found is that victims were sexually abused in the early ’80s and ’90s in a similar manner,” Kelly said. “The methods of abuse that were used were not changed in three decades. That’s very compelling. Those victims can in a way help the new victims add validity to their abuse.”

Comparing it to other similar cases, Kelly said it was unique and unfortunate that the alleged abuse went on for so long and was just now coming to light.

Germain has yet to enter a plea because Grossman said she intends to file a demurrer, which would challenge the legitimacy of the charges. At a previous hearing, she said the alleged victims came forward with their information after the time allowed in the state of California, known as the statute of limitations. In California, the statue of limitations in child molestation cases is 10 years.

While Kelly couldn’t confirm the reason for continuance, he said it was common in cases like these because of the large amount of work that investigators have done that is turned over to the defense council.

“The investigation is still ongoing; it’s not closed,” Kelly said. “[This case] has the potential to remain open for a long period of time. With like a homicide case, you may catch the guy that did the crime, but with these crimes, you don’t know how many victims there are out there. Each new victim is almost like a separate case. We still have resources committed to this case and we’re working with the prosecutor and the defense to make sure that all the proper procedures are followed.”

Germain is still required to have supervision when spending time with his daughter, but is allowed to be unsupervised with his two sons. Other conditions of his release are that he is not allowed to leave the state or contact any minors or the alleged victims.

The next hearing will be at 9 a.m. Jan. 9 at the Pleasanton courthouse on Stoneridge Drive.