Woman Accused of Child Rape

(Bristol, Tennessee) A 42-year-old Abingdon VA woman, Gwendolyn D. Hagerman, was arrested this week for allegedly raping her live-in girlfriend’s young daughter at least 11 times in three years.

Hagerman lived in a Bristol trailer park with her girlfriend and the middle-school-aged daughter from 2003 to 2007.

Hagerman has been indicted on 10 counts of rape of a child and one count of statutory rape.

Police said the assaults began when the girl was 11 years old. The statutory rape charge stems from an incident that occurred after the child’s 13th birthday.

Bristol Tennessee Police Capt. Charlie Thomas said the department began investigating the case in May 2008, when the state Department of Children’s Services became involved.

The girl and her mother had moved away from Bristol in 2007, he said. Some time later, Hagerman wrote the child a letter that was intercepted by her mother, who claims to have had no knowledge of the attacks. The letter did not specify a sexual relationship, but its romantic nature aroused suspicion. So the mother started asking questions, and discovered that Hagerman had “bragged” about incidents with her daughter to people in their Bristol, Tenn., neighborhood, Thomas said.

Officers tracked down those neighbors during their 18-month-long investigation.

Hagerman is being held without bail.