SL man facing sex charges for touching stepdaughter

Mon, Jun 22, 2009

SPRING LAKE — A Spring Lake man is in jail awaiting charges for allegedly inappropriately touching his 5-year-old stepdaughter late last week.

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Todd Edward McCallum, 38, was arrested Friday evening after his stepdaughter reported the incident to her mother, who then contacted police.

According to a Spring Lake/Ferrysburg Police report, officers were called to a residence on Summit Street on Friday morning after the 5-year-old showed her mother blood in the toilet and said it was because her father had touched her "last night."

During a forensic interview conducted at the Children's Advocacy Center in Holland, the girl told investigators that McCallum had punched her in the stomach, removed her clothes and his shirt, and touched her — according to the report. Her mother was on the couch sleeping while the incident occurred, the girl said during the interview.

The girl's mother told police that McCallum had taken her daughter upstairs at around 9 p.m. Thursday, according to the report, and she went up herself about an hour later. McCallum slept on the couch that night, and the victim and her mother slept upstairs in the bed, the mother told police.

The girl's mother also told police that there didn't seem to be anything abnormal about the situation because McCallum regularly slept on the couch when the girl wanted to sleep with her mother.

The girl was also taken to DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids for a medical examination.

According to the police report, McCallum, who works at Villa Pizza at Rivertown Crossings Mall in Grandville, was apprehended by Grandville police Friday afternoon and turned over to a Spring Lake/Ferrysburg officer.

During an interview with police, McCallum said he had taken the girl upstairs and was rubbing her back to help her fall asleep, and did not recall touching her, according to the report. But McCallum also said that he knows the girl wouldn't lie about something as serious as these allegations; and told investigators "if something happened, it was an accident."

McCallum added that he was also falling asleep while lying in bed with the girl and doesn't exactly remember what happened.

McCallum is expected to be arraigned this afternoon in 58th District Court in Grand Haven on a charge of first degree criminal sexual conduct.