RICHMOND, Va. — A former Prince George County assistant superintendent is facing mounting allegations of child sexual abuse spanning five decades, according to court documents obtained by CBS 6.
The Commonwealth is seeking to enter evidence of other bad acts in the case of retired educator William Barnes Jr.
Barnes was indicted twice last year and faces 10 charges for allegedly sexually assaulting his stepson and his friend when they were teenagers.
The friend, who has identified himself to CBS 6, anonymously, reported Barnes in 2014.
But prosecutors are asking the court to allow evidence from five other alleged victims at the June trial.
“The allegations that the prosecutor makes in order to admit this evidence is that they occurred in a very similar manner, like often at his home, and, you know, involving contact out of the presence of the parents, involving like spooning, type of behavior while they're in bed. All those similarities help a prosecutor to get this evidence admitted,” said CBS 6 Legal Analyst Todd Stone.
“The defense is going to argue, this is going to be horribly prejudicial, and the probative impact of it does not outweigh the prejudice to the defendant and the defense is going to try to build in appellate issues to raise at the next level,” Stone added.
The Commonwealth argues, “The defendant used his position to create opportunities for contact with young boys aged 12 to 15 years of age. The defendant then used the coercive power to situationally isolate these young boys in beds either in his homes, or in one instance, in a hotel room. Once isolated in bed, the defendant “spooned” his target youth, and in nearly all these cases, the defendant reached around to touch the front of their bodies to touch their genitalia.”
The allegations span decades and locations. At least three members of the Claremont basketball team that Barnes coached claim they were assaulted at sleepovers in his Sussex home in the early 1970s.
In 1985, three accusers allege they were sexually assaulted in Barnes's Prince George home, including his stepson, a man who briefly lived with Barnes, and the man who first reported Barnes to police anonymously in 2014.
One incident allegedly occurred in 1975, when a 15-year-old alleged victim on an overnight hockey trip with Barnes locked himself in a hotel bathroom after reportedly waking to find Barnes sexually assaulting him with his hand from behind. Prosecutors say he then saw Barnes licking his fingers. Court records indicate the boy locked himself in a bathroom and refused to open the door until Barnes's mother came to the door.
A 2024 search warrant revealed that alleged victims reported Barnes kept "photographs of victims" in his living room on what they called a "wall of shame" that were eventually moved to a storage room.
Police searched Barnes's Prince George home on July 23 and July 30 of last year, removing documents, a photo with a frame, and cards.
In a March 2024 interview, Barnes’s stepson Donald Newbold, described the man he said sexually abused him as a teen.
"This guy wasn't just a pedophile, he was a professional monster, professional predator," Newbold said.
"It was almost like it was expected such an arrogance that he'd picked me up from a girlfriend's house sober or not and then I'd go to my room and he was not even five minutes behind me he was in there holding me down on the bed with his hands on my shoulders, like he expected for me to be there for him," Newbold tearfully recalled.
Barnes retired in August 2023, weeks after Virginia State Police opened an investigation into allegations against him, following sworn affidavits from multiple men who claimed they were abused as teenagers.
The defense has requested a change of venue for the three day jury trial that is scheduled to begin June 16 in Prince George County. They have also filed a motion to have Barnes's indictments dismissed.
"The defense is arguing that that lapse of time between the offenses being committed and the prosecution denies his client due process," Stone explained. "The law essentially says that there has to be some delay by the prosecutor intentionally in order to deprive him of that due process. I would expect that the prosecutor would likely prevail on both of those issues."
Barnes is scheduled to appear in court for a motions hearing on April 25 where many of these issues are expected to be addressed, including a motion to join the cases.
Click here to find our most recent investigation.
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
📲: CONNECT WITH US
Blue Sky| Facebook| Instagram| X| Threads| TikTok| YouTube
