Furnas County Sheriff’s Sgt. Alex Huntley testified for a good part of Friday in the Furnas County jury trial of Billy Quinn of Oxford. Quinn is charged with 14 counts of sexual assault, sex trafficking and visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct. On his initial interview with the alleged victim in the case, Huntley said she appeared to be very distraught and emotional. The interview lasted for about 1.5 hours on January 19, 2020. Following the interview, Huntley wrote his report and wrote affidavits seeking an arrest warrant for Quinn and search warrants of Quinn’s downtown Oxford building known as Green Acres and his residence.
The Nebraska State Patrol joined the investigation and they assisted other members of the Furnas County Sheriff’s Office in executing the arrest and search warrants that evening. Jurors viewed body worn camera video by Sgt. Huntley depicting their entry into the back door of the Green Acres building. Quinn briefly locked himself in his office but, then came out. He was then taken into custody and read his Miranda rights. Under initial questioning from Huntley, Quinn asked about the age of consent for sex and denied having sex with a 15-year-old. He said the girl represented herself to be 18-years-old and said she tried to get a job in his cafe.
Sgt. Huntley was questioned by both prosecution and defense about procedures for collecting, storing and transferring evidence for examination. Huntley did not seize the alleged victim’s cellphone at her initial interview on January 19th but, said it was collected a day later. He was asked by special prosecutor Corey O’Brien why they weren’t collected at the interview? Huntley said it “slipped my mind. I should’ve but, I didn’t”. O’Brien further said that in hindsight, you should have collected them that day? Huntley replied “absolutely.”
An interview was scheduled at the Family Advocacy Network in Kearney for the alleged victim. The girl was interviewed by Anna Brewer, an investigator with the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office specializing in human trafficking and Huntley. She was also examined by Chrisanne Wickham a registered nurse and sexual assault nurse examiner at the F.A.N center.
Also testifying Friday was Furnas County Chief Deputy Sheriff Seth Gustafson and Nebraska State Patrol Investigator Mike Dowling.
The trial continues Monday in Beaver City and is expected to continue through the end of the week.
