Convicted of child sexual assault, horse-riding teacher maintains his innocence
BY JOE DEJKA
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
He was a rising star in Bellevue, an enthusiastic community advocate and a gifted horse handler who taught riding and life skills to children through his Barebacks and Bells club.
Talkative and articulate, generally beloved by the young riders in his charge, he entered Bellevue Kiwanis leadership and considered a run for the Bellevue City Council.
Then Victor Putz fell from grace when a jury convicted him in 2001 of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in the club.
Now, after serving three years in prison, Putz is back teaching bareback riding skills to children, working for the club he founded and serving as acting treasurer while firmly professing his innocence.
Putz, 65, said he has "no doubt" he was wrongly convicted.
At a riding practice last week at the former Sarpy County landfill in Bellevue, Putz stood in a field, clearly in command, shouting orders and dishing out advice as 14 girls and one boy, ranging in age from preschool to high school, worked nine horses in parade formations.
He leapt atop one of the Arabian horses and rode double with some of the smaller girls who could not handle the big horse alone. One of the girls stood behind him on the animal's back, grinning as she bounced along like a diminutive daredevil.
Parents attending the practice said they stand by Putz.
"He's a gift from God," said Karen Morgan of Bellevue, whose 13-year-old daughter, Alaina, rides in the club. "I would trust Mr. Putz with my child any time."
Morgan, who has been with the club three years, said she believes Putz was falsely accused.
Putz was released June 20, 2006, from the Omaha Correctional Center without restrictions or supervision that would prevent contact with children. He said he might have been paroled after serving less time in prison had he admitted guilt, but he would not do that.
Authorities say that although Putz is registered as a sex offender with the State of Nebraska, he is not breaking the law. The registry tracks only an offender's address, not behavior.
"There was a jury trial. He was convicted. He served his sentence," Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov said. "It's not a matter for our consideration."
Polikov said his office would get involved only if it received a police report alleging that Putz had violated the law.
Bellevue police, who led the investigation seven years ago, say they know Putz has returned to the club. Police said they have taken a few calls from residents with questions about his return.
When working with the young riders, Putz said, he now requires that another adult be present. He said the requirement is to protect himself and the club against further false accusations.
Putz appealed his conviction but lost. He claimed he had incompetent legal counsel and the jury was improperly instructed in the standard of proof.
In an interview last week, he offered a variety of explanations for his conviction, among them that he naively gave an incriminating statement to officers he thought were sympathetic, hoping the matter would go away.
During his jury trial in Sarpy County, the girl testified that Putz assaulted her at his home after a 1998 club water-skiing outing. She testified that he pulled off her shorts and bathing suit, kissed her breasts, penetrated her with his fingers and performed oral sex on her. She said Putz then drove her home and told her to keep it a secret.
His defense attorney said the girl made up the story two years after the outing and told it to her psychotherapist as a way to escape "teenage problems" with her family.
A jury deliberated 2½ hours before convicting Putz of first-degree sexual assault and sexual contact with a child. He was sentenced to two to six years.
At his sentencing, Putz was defiant, refusing to admit his guilt even when a prosecutor confronted him with his own handwritten statement, obtained by Bellevue police, admitting he kissed the girl's breasts and stomach after the club outing.
Putz said last week that he was overtired, suffering flulike symptoms and "in a daze" when he wrote it.
"It was a written statement, not a confession," he said.
The police investigation got under way just as Putz and the club were on the rise. In 1999, he registered Barebacks and Bells with the state as a nonprofit corporation engaged in "youth mentoring and equine activities." The nonprofit status was key to begin fundraising.
That year, he also served as chairman of the city's annual Arrows to Aerospace celebration.
The Bellevue Leader newspaper named him its 1999 Person of the Year, an honor it later rescinded.
In 2000, Putz said, he even had placed an exploratory telephone call to then-Bellevue Mayor Jerry Ryan to inquire about a run for City Council.
Putz said the future was on his mind as police questioned him. "I'm thinking all this is going to go down the tubes if this makes the paper," he said.
He said he believed officers when they promised he wouldn't go to prison.
His statement was not heard by the jury - which convicted him based on the victim's testimony - because the judge ruled that it was not given freely and that police violated Putz's constitutional rights in obtaining it.
The jury verdict stunned him.
"I couldn't believe it," he said. His knees buckled after the verdict was read.
As a deputy snapped handcuffs on his wrists and led him away, sobs broke out among his supporters, 17 of them young girls, a few wearing T-shirts displaying horse images.
One of those girls, now 23, said she still supports Putz.
"He's taught us courage," said Alise Westcott. "He's taught us how to face our fears."
Westcott, who has children ages 6, 5 and 1, said she visited Putz in prison. She recalled the support she had received from him after dropping out of high school. He had encouraged her to return to school, and she did.
She said people sometimes ask where she rides, and when she answers Barebacks and Bells, they say, "Isn't that the guy. . ." and then they snub her.
At the acreage where Barebacks and Bells horses now board, a neighbor across the street did not know, until contacted by a reporter, that the man leading club members on rides has a sexual assault conviction.
That neighbor, April Micklonis, who has five children ages 4 to 9, said she hopes Putz discloses his past to new club members to protect himself and the children.
"You can't just say, 'I did my time, so I should be able to go about my regular life,'" she said. "You're convicted of a sexual act on a child. Your life has changed. And it isn't just about his life, it's about the kids that he's teaching out there, too."
Heather Camacho and her daughter, Anaya, 4, joined the club six weeks ago. She said Putz's wife, Libby, told her of his conviction during riding practice last week, the same day a reporter visited the club. Putz's past doesn't bother her, Camacho said.
"I don't have a bad feeling about him," she said. "I'm still going to take my daughter there."
Community Watch comments:
Victor Putz admitted to police that he kissed the girl's breasts and stomach after the club outing but then said that "he was overtired, suffering flulike symptoms and "in a daze" when he wrote it." ?
Uh, right. Would you admit to sexually assaulting a child when you did not do it but were tired, had flu-like conditions, or were "in a daze"? exactly, no innocent person would admit to that - and the jury saw right through it - and convicted him.
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