Stable owner charged in assault of teen

David Vanderwerken, co-owner of Shanderhof Farm in Shaftsbury, is facing life in prison after allegedly forcing himself on a 17 year old girl. Vanderwerken, 49, pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of sexual assault with no consent and another felony charge of lewd and lascivious conduct. Sexual assault carries a penalty between 3 years and life imprisonment.

The assault allegedly occurred November 3rd. The girl, who had been riding at the stable for 5 years, had been subjected to unwanted kissing by Vanderwerken back in October.

According to the Rutland Herald:

The girl told police she was alone with Vanderwerken in his house for about 45 minutes. During this time, the girl told Gaiotti, Vanderwerken touched her several times under her clothes, kissed her and threw her onto a bed and laid on top of her.According to the affidavit, Vanderwerken asked the girl to spend the night at his home on Nov. 3 but she refused.The girl told police on Nov. 3 she told another teenager, who was 15, about the alleged incident just after it happened.

Gaiotti said she interviewed the second girl on Nov. 7.According to the affidavit, the younger girl said the older girl told her on Nov. 3 that "Vanderwerken had almost raped her."The younger girl told Gaiotti the older girl's hands were trembling and said she was pale and cried a little bit.The older girl told police she had gone to work on Nov. 4. The girl said Vanderwerken was outside of her workplace that day and waved to her through the window although he didn't come inside. The girl said she had never seen Vanderwerken there before.According to the affidavit, Vanderwerken also called the girl's home on Nov. 4 and asked to talk to her although she said he had never called her at home before.

In the affidavit, Gaiotti said she spoke with Vanderwerken November 5th, who claimed that the girl had a crush on him.

Over the course of the interview, according to the affidavit, Vanderwerken admitted he and the girl had kissed but said she had initiated it because she had a crush on him.Vanderwerken told police he did not want to say anything because he didn't want to damage the relationship between the girl and his wife."In closing, Vanderwerken admitted he 'did something wrong and probably should have changed the circumstances, hoping it would just kind of blow away and she would just go off on her own,'" the affidavit said.

Man denies sexual assault