Boys, 12 and 14, testify ex-Sonoma youth club employee fondled them

Two young brothers testified in a Santa Rosa courtroom Thursday they were molested by a former Sonoma Valley Boys and Girls Club employee who took them on trips to local pools and gyms over the course of several years.

The brothers, ages 12 and 14, made the statements in a preliminary hearing for Paul “Dwayne” Kilgore, 69, who was arrested in September after the allegations surfaced.

Kilgore was athletic director for the Boys and Girls Club for about a decade before resigning in 2013.

In barely audible testimony, the 12-year-old boy said he met Kilgore at age 6, played on sports teams Kilgore organized at the club and went with him to area swimming pools and movie theaters.

Sometime in 2015, the boy said Kilgore took him and a friend to Kilgore’s house where they played computer games in a bedroom. At some point, the conversation turned to circumcision, and Kilgore asked him to lie on his bed, the boy said.

“He told me to pull my pants down,” the boy testified.

He said Kilgore touched his “private parts” as he explained some people undergo circumcision and others do not, the boy said.

The boy also testified about the August incident at Parkpoint Health Club in Healdsburg leading to Kilgore’s arrest. He said Kilgore touched his penis after the boy, another friend and Kilgore got out of a hot tub and took showers. At the time, Kilgore also was talking about circumcision, the boy said.

After, he said Kilgore warned him not to tell his parents, the 12-year-old said.

The boy’s testimony was mirrored by statements from his older brother, who described a similar pattern of fondling he said started five years earlier.

The 14-year-old said Kilgore prefaced the touching by pointing to his lap and asking, “How are you doing down there?”

He said he saw Kilgore often at the Boy and Girls Club. The boy said Kilgore took him to “fun” places including fairs before “things got out of hand.”

Kilgore, who has pleaded not guilty to child molestation charges, listened from across the courtroom. He faces ?15 years to life in prison if convicted at trial.

The white-haired man, who is being held on ?$1 million bail, appeared to shake involuntarily through parts of the hearing.

His lawyer suggested through questioning of the boys that Kilgore was like an “uncle” to them since their parents were divorced, and was only instructing them on their bodies and puberty.

Before the boys took the stand, a Parkpoint Health Club member who reported Kilgore to authorities last summer testified he overheard the conversation Kilgore allegedly had with the younger brother.

He said Kilgore and two boys sat completely unclothed in the club’s hot tub.

When they got out, he said Kilgore brushed his hand across the boy’s upper thigh.

“I was concerned for the safety of the boys,” testified Nicholas Ballard Egan, a local school administrator.

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 707-568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ppayne.