Atwood man pleads not guilty to child sexual assault
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By Jacob Hamm
Zachariah McCullough pleaded not guilty to five counts of child sexual abuse at his preliminary court hearing last Wednesday.
McCullough was arrested on June 22 after an investigation began in May. Police were called to his home in Atwood on May 30 after it was reported a family member ran away after a physical and verbal altercation with McCullough.
The family member was interviewed by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and was briefly taken into protective custody. They were interviewed by the Child Advocacy Center in Charleston a few days later, where they described being molested by McCullough and forced to perform sexual acts on him.
During the interviews, the family member said that the abuse began in 2024 while they lived in Colorado. When they moved to Atwood in May 2024, the abuse continued, according to the report made by the family member, which was confirmed by the witnesses who worked for the Atwood Police Department and the sheriff’s office during the hearing.
McCullough’s defense attorney, Kevin Nolan, cross-examined one of the witnesses about the specifics of the case, such as what day he was arrested and if the family member had been medically examined. According to the witness, the alleged victim has not been medically examined.
Nolan also asked if McCullough’s wife, Mary McCullough, was interviewed as part of the investigation. The prosecution confirmed she had not been interviewed as of the writing of this story.
The prosecution was not convinced by Nolan’s questioning of the witnesses and questioning the specifics of the dates of the events. The prosecution indicated it had probable cause to charge him with the five counts of abuse. McCullough will remain in custody of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office until his trial, which is scheduled for Sept. 14–18. He will have a jury trial.
All suspects are considered innocent until proven in a court of law.