SCHENECTADY, United States
A Forest Road man allegedly took in a 14-year-old runaway, promising her food and a warm place to stay after she disappeared from a group home. Instead, prosecutors said, David Tittensor exploited her by arranging sexual liaisons with other men during two weeks in January. Her ordeal unfolded gradually. She had been living at home, but had run-ins with her parents. She was sent to the Charlton School, a group home for troubled adolescent girls in Saratoga County. She had issues there, too, and fled the school with enough money to buy a one-way bus ticket. She had a vague plan to visit a friend in Schenectady. It was a cold January afternoon when she ended up in the Electric City. She wandered the unfamiliar city streets, looking for the apartment complex where her friend lived. It was starting to get dark. She was getting scared. Jason Stapleton, 29, was drinking at a friend's house and saw her walk past on Van Vranken Avenue, not far from Union College. He called out to her, made small talk, offered her a cigarette and a drink. He said he'd give her a ride to her friend's house. On the way, he said he needed to stop to see Tittensor. At Tittensor's house, the two men got the girl drunk on vodka and beer and high on marijuana in the attic. She passed out. Stapleton then raped the girl when she was unconscious. Stapleton pleaded guilty to first-degree rape in March and agreed to testify against Tittensor. He is serving six years in state prison, according to the New York State Department of Correctional Services web site. The girl said Tittensor seemed nice at first. He gave her a place to stay, took her shopping for clothes, even let her pick out her own towels and toiletries. Tittensor shared the house with a girlfriend and an 8-year-old son during visitations. When his friends came over, he sent her to the unfinished attic. Up there, he kept an old mattress leaned up against a wall. All of the alleged sex acts with the girl took place during the first two weeks of January. The girl had initially been reluctant to identify Tittensor, authorities said. It also took time to track down the men who had sex with her, authorities said. Tittensor and six other men have been charged. The men paid between $40 and $80, according to the criminal complaint filed in City Court.