A 72-year-old Genoa, Ark., man is facing a charged of sexual assault in Miller County in connection with the alleged sexual abuse of a young girl.
The allegations against Willard Page surfaced in November when the girl’s step-mother discovered a social media message on the girl’s phone to a friend in which she spoke of being abused in the past. When confronted, the girl allegedly said that from the age of 4 to the age of 8, between 2007 and 2011, she was sexually abused by Page at his home in Genoa.
The girl, who is now 15 and lives in a Texas city more than eight hours from the Texarkana area, told investigators that when she was a child she used to stay at Page’s house. Page is related to the alleged victim by marriage.
The girl reported that when others were not at the home and when other children were sleeping, she “knew” to get on Page’s lap where he would cover her with a blanket. The girl said Page abused her repeatedly during the four-year span. The girl said she did not realize until she was older that she had been sexually abused.
Page’s case is being investigated by the Miller County Sheriff’s Office. He turned himself in Feb. 12 with the assistance of Texarkana attorney Tommy Potter and was released the same day on a $50,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear March 12 in Miller County Circuit Court.
