Two Fayette County parents

are standing trial this week on charges they physically molested their

two children and failed to notify police after a family member molested

their 7-year-old daughter.

Candace Marie Wheeler and Mark

Anthony (Tony) Wheeler had a videotape of her ex-husband, Bill Whistler,

molesting the girl but they failed to notify authorities, assistant District

Attorney Jim Hardin said in court Monday. An attorney for Mrs. Wheeler

said Tony Wheeler turned the tape over to authorities as soon as he discovered

it.

The jury began hearing testimony

in the case Tuesday morning.

The Wheelers also endangered

the children by allowing Mrs. Wheeler's brother, a convicted child molester,

to live with them in 1998, Hardin said in his opening statement Monday

afternoon.

The Wheelers physically molested

their 12-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter on several occasions, Hardin

alleged. That includes by physical contact and by forcing them to watch

pornographic videos, Hardin said.

The girl told a local doctor

that her parents knew Whistler molested her, but they still forced her

to visit him at his residence in Florida.

Whistler is currently serving

a jail sentence for molesting the Wheelers' daughter, Hardin said.

"Ladies and gentlemen,

these are horrendous charges," Hardin told the jury. "The evidence

will show that everywhere you looked, there were problems."

The two children were eventually

taken away from their parents for their protection, Hardin said. The girl

is living in a foster home and the boy is in a facility to treat sex offenders,

Hardin said.

Scott Ballard, the attorney

representing Candace Wheeler, said his client vehemently denies molesting

the children. He also added that the Wheelers didn't know Whistler was

molesting their daughter "until late in the game."

Joe Saia, the attorney representing

Tony Wheeler, declined to make an opening statement, reserving his right

to do so later in the trial.

Tony Wheeler is charged with

incest, child molestation, rape, sexual exploitation of a minor, distributing

obscene material and two counts of aggravated child molestation. Candace

Wheeler is charged with incest, statutory rape, distributing obscene materials,

sexual exploitation of a minor, contribution to the deprivation of a minor,

three counts of aggravated child molestation and two counts of child molestation.

Investigation of the alleged

incidents began in July 1998 when law enforcement officials learned Mrs.

Wheeler's brother, the convicted child molester, was living in the Wheelers'

home at Marnelle Mobile Home Park.

Officials would later learn

that Whistler, a trucker, would often drop in on the Wheelers and stay

overnight at their residence, Hardin said. During a search of the Wheelers'

trailer, authorities were approached by a neighbor who turned over a bag

full of pornographic tapes which she said the Wheelers had given her to

hide for them, the prosecutor added.

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