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Popular country icon, writer of ‘Rhinestone Cowboy,’ Glen Campbell dies at 81

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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A woman who worked with a caregiver accused of sexually abusing a non-verbal patient detailed Wednesday what she believed was a pattern of peculiar behavior exhibited by the suspect, but acknowledged she never saw him engage in sexual contact with the alleged victim.</p><p>Andrew Dula III is charged with assaulting the 36-year-old patient at Community Living, a home for people with disabilities in Kingston. The assaults happened in late 2015 and early 2016, prosecutors said.</p><p>Dula, 54, Shickshinny, admitted to police in a recorded interview played in court Wednesday that he had inappropriate sexual contact with the woman.</p><p>But his attorney, Al Flora Jr., previously argued the confession alone is not enough to establish a case, setting the stage for yesterday&#8217;s pre-trial hearing to determine if charges should move forward.</p><p>At the end of the daylong session that featured extensive testimony by two witnesses, Judge David W. Lupas determined prosecutors met their burden of proof. That means the case will move to trial.</p><p>During cross-examination earlier Wednesday, former Community Living employee Lashanda Williams acknowledged that despite behavior from Dula she termed &#8220;weird&#8221; and &#8220;odd&#8221; &#8212; she said Dula worked in his long johns and sung a love song with the alleged victim&#8217;s name in it &#8212; she never saw Dula have any sexual contact with the alleged victim.</p><p>In the recorded confession, however, Dula admitted he did in fact touch the woman inappropriately.</p><p>&#8220;The whole thing was wrong,&#8221; he said in the roughly 20-minute interview.</p><p>Williams, a former Wilkes-Barre resident who worked at the facility for about a year before moving to Virginia, said Dula was always with the alleged victim and spent more time with her than with the other two patients at the small facility.</p><p>Around 1 a.m. Feb. 3, 2016, she said she walked into the alleged victim&#8217;s room and found her nude from the waist down, perpendicular to the bed, with her legs in Dula&#8217;s arm. He had a dry diaper in one hand and there was a dry discarded diaper on the floor, Williams said.</p><p>The alleged victim, Williams testified, was acting &#8220;frantic&#8221; and grabbed for her. When she asked Dula what happened, Dula told her the alleged victim was &#8220;just acting weird,&#8221; Williams said. Dula avoided co-workers for the rest of his shift, then sat in his car for an hour outside the facility, she added.</p><p>Dula, seated at the defense table, scoffed and shook his head during parts of Williams&#8217; testimony.</p><p>Flora challenged what Williams described as Dula&#8217;s &#8220;weird&#8221; behavior, and noted Williams couldn&#8217;t say for sure what set the alleged victim off that night. Flora also noted it was possible a bruise on the alleged victim&#8217;s thigh could have come from someone else.</p><p>Dula appeared poised to plead guilty in the case earlier this year, but <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/646607/caregiver-accused-of-sexually-assaulting-mentally-challenged-patient-headed-to-trial" target="_blank">rejected the plea deal</a>.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Dula </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_dula-cmyk-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Dula </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Judge rules that case will move to trial</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Co-worker calls accused caretaker ‘weird’ and ‘odd’