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County prosecutors say William Morrison noticed the pain of a 17-year-old autistic girl last summer at Roberto Clemente Park, where he worked as a recreation director. He notified authorities about the driver of a white truck, who had kissed and texted the girl. Officers later arrested Israel Wingo, who pleaded guilty to charges related to the girl Oct. 30.

(Lonnie Timmons III/The Plain Dealer)

Israel Wingo

CLEVELAND, Ohio — As a playground director last summer, William Morrison saw the pain of a 17-year-old autistic girl, who often seemed to crumble after leaving a white Chevy truck driven by an older man.

Morrison noticed the older man kissing the girl and became suspicious. Morrison, working at Roberto Clemente Park at West 38th and Seymour Avenue, spent hours trying to communicate with the girl, attempting to reach a comfort level with her in which she would trust him.

When the girl finally did, Morrison led police to a man who preyed on a young girl with developmental issues, crimes that could lead the driver of that truck — Israel Wingo -- to a prison cell for more than 60 years.

"She was scared, and she was in pain,'' Morrison, 22, said. "I wanted to take her from that pain and misery.''

Wingo, 68, of Cleveland, pleaded guilty to 10 criminal charges Oct. 30 linked to the girl. The charges include gross sexual imposition, illegally using a child in nudity-oriented material, endangering children, possessing criminal tools and pandering sexually oriented material involving a child.

He faces 66 years in prison when Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Janet Burnside sentences him Dec. 11. His attorney, Thomas Conway, declined to comment. Wingo remains in the county jail.



Last week, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty's office blasted Wingo's behavior in a sentencing memorandum. It urged Burnside to sentence Wingo harshly, saying that he "is a child sexual predator who needs to be incarcerated so he no longer poses a risk to the community.''

The document, written by assistant county prosecutor Frankie Goldberg, details the case and Morrison's key role. Goldberg said Morrison told police in July that he had noticed the girl had talked almost daily to the older man who drove the white Chevy truck. He told officers that the man never left his truck. He would simply call the girl on her cell phone, and she would march over to the vehicle.

Goldberg described the girl in the document as "a 17-year-old cognitively disabled, autistic female." Morrison, according to the sentencing memorandum, took a picture of the truck and the license plate. Morrison got to know the girl as she would play in the water sprinkler at the park.

"I saw her every day," Morrison said. "She would be there before we got there, and she stayed all day."

He said he struggled to make her comfortable in an attempt to communicate with her.

"That was the hardest part," he said. "She had to trust me."

The sentencing memorandum said the girl's mood changed when she received text messages from Wingo, some making her cry. On July 14, the girl left with Wingo and returned three hours later "totally different,'' the document said. Morrison described her as agitated and she no longer wanted to play.

The next day, a co-worker of Morrison looked at the girl's phone and noticed text messages that were sexually explicit, according to Goldberg's sentencing memorandum. Morrison then contacted police, who spoke with the girl and realized that she was best friends with one of Wingo's relatives.

The sentencing memorandum said the victim told Cleveland police that Wingo had repeatedly touched her and had raped her. "The victim further stated that she couldn't recount how many times Wingo touched her because it happened so many times,'' Goldberg's sentencing memorandum said.

On Wingo's cell phone, police found a video of the victim nude, according to the document. In his home, they found other child pornography.

In the sentencing memorandum, Goldberg said that Wingo's "sexually explicit texts to this developmentally delayed victim, filming her nude and saving the video and his sexual activity with the victim is outrageous and has devastating effects upon society."

It's a case that began when a recreation director at a city park realized that a simple girl who loved to play in the sprinkler had fallen into the hands of a predator.

"She felt she had no other option," Morrison said. "I wanted her to know that there were other options and that there were people who were concerned for her."