Witness explains how sex predator stalked Columbia boys for years

A portrait of a sly Columbia sex predator who for nearly 20 years fooled and bluffed parents, teachers and cops all the while molesting numerous young boys emerged Tuesday at a commitment hearing for Chuck Sullivan.

“You will hear how his victims suffered,” S.C. assistant attorney General Cam Morrow told the jury on Tuesday. He is trying to convince a jury to put the now 60-year-old Sullivan in a secure mental health unit for perhaps the rest of his life.

“Sullivan is likely to commit another act of sexual violence if not confined for treatment,” said Morrow, speaking on the first day of a commitment proceeding at the Richland County courthouse.

But Sullivan’s lawyer, James Falk, told the jury in his opening remarks that Sullivan has spent 18 years in prison for his sex crimes, has had treatment and reformed.

“He’s had plenty of treatment. It’s time for him to go back home, get out of his jump suit, and have a home-cooked meal,” Falk said.

Although testimony about the harmful psychological effects Sullivan had on his victims is expected later in the trial, Falk on Tuesday morning made a passing reference to one victim. That victim, the defense attorney said, had committed suicide. Falk made the statement with the jury out of the room.

Tuesday morning’s testimony was dominated by Marie Gehle, a S.C. Department of Mental Health expert in sexual predator psychology who has spent hours reviewing Sullivan’s crimes and their effect on his victim. She also interviewed Sullivan for six hours.

Her testimony, the Attorney General’s office’s hopes, will prevent Sullivan from ever getting free.

Tuesday afternoon, Gehle told the jury that Sullivan, if released, would try to exploit young boys again.

“He is likely to re-offend if he is not committed,” she testified.

Gehle said Sullivan has an ability to pass himself off with “a very nice, church going” person who had professional jobs.

Morrow then asked, “Would it be fair to say one of the reasons Chuck Sullivan is so dangerous is because of his ability to blend in?”

“Yes,” replied Gehle.

In her interviews with Sullivan, Gehle testified, Sullivan characterized his numerous encounters with young boys as mutual sex –- a description that Gehle said clashed with reality. Many of Sullivan’s victims were asleep at the time he fondled them or were extremely upset.

Sullivan’s lack of taking responsibility for his actions is “a very negative sign,” she testified.

Over the years, Sullivan was investigated by police, parents, schools and his church “but he continued to re-offend,” Gehle said.

In her hours on the witness stand, Gehle drew a portrait of Sullivan as a young man, describing him as a systematic predator who from 1979 to 1997 – almost 20 years – used Columbia schools and athletics leagues as hunting grounds for sexually preying on boys as young as 10 and as old as 16.

Sullivan’s methods were simple, Gehle testified.

First, he gained the confidence of parents, then invited to the boys to sleepovers at his apartment. At the apartment, he gave the boys alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana and let them watch pornographic videos. Then, often while the boys were sleep, he fondled them and performed sex acts on many of them, Gehle said. Sullivan also liked to walk around naked or partially clothed while with the young boys, she said.

The sex didn’t happen right away. Sullivan “groomed” the boys over time by giving them things like tequila and beer, and showing them pornography, Gehle testified.

Meanwhile, Sullivan bamboozled parents, teachers, principals and church officials, either conning them into thinking he was trustworthy, or defending himself – either by artful denials or by hiring a lawyer – if anyone tried to accuse him of being a child molester.

Sullivan recruited his victims from Carolina Children’s Home, youth athletic leagues, Cardinal Newman school and, in one case, an elementary school, Gehle said.

The proceeding is a rare public commitment hearing for certain kinds of sexual offenders. Although he served 18 years in prison for molesting 19 young boys from 1978 to 1997, state law allows the Attorney General’s office to seek to have pedophiles like Sullivan enter a long-term incarceration in a facility operated by the state mental health agency. It is unlikely Sullivan would ever be released.

Since being released from prison last year, Sullivan has been confined in the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. He is wearing a jail jump suit while in court.

The Attorney General’s office does not normally notify the public or the press when it has court proceedings.

This story will be updated.

This story was originally published July 26, 2016 at 1:17 PM with the headline "Witness explains how sex predator stalked Columbia boys for years."