Three girls who accused the husband of a Falls Church, Va., council member testified at a hearing Tuesday.
Michael Gardner, the father of 10-year-old twins and the husband of Councilwoman and ex-Mayor Robin Gardner, is charged with two count of aggravated sexual battery and one count of object sexual penetration. A judge referred the case to the grand jury Tuesday.
In court Tuesday, a 9-year-old girl testified about a slumber party at Gardner’s home, NBC Washington’s Pat Collins reported. She said six girls were there. They played hide-and-seek and watched two movies before going to sleep after midnight. The girl said she woke to Michael Gardner unzipping her sleeping bag. He slipped his hand under her pajamas, she said. Then he went back and did it again.
Another girl also testified that she was touched inappropriately by Gardner at that party, Collins reported.
A 10-year-old girl testified about an encounter at another party. She said Gardner entered the bedroom, lay down next to her and touched her, Collins reported.
“He asked me if it felt good,” the girl testified. “I said no, but after that, he kept on doing it.”
Gardner, a former chairman of the Falls Church City Democratic Committee, is free on $50,000 bond, but he can’t go home or have contact with his children.
