The young women who accuse Douglas R. Crossley Jr. of plying them with alcohol and sexually touching them at his Lisbon home between 2005 and 2010 didn't talk about the incidents with one another or tell anyone else for several years.

The five women, all in their 20s, finished testifying late Wednesday at Crossley's trial in New London Superior Court. The state is expected to call three additional witnesses Thursday before the defense begins presenting its case.

"I was scared," said one of the young women on the witness stand. Her mother was strict and would be mad to hear that she had been drinking, she said.

"We didn't have to speak of the incident, because we (both) knew what happened that night," said another. She testified she pulled her friend out of Crossley's king-sized bed one night when Crossley performed a sexual act on the friend while his wife also touched her sexually. The wife has not been charged.  

Crossley had provided the girls with alcohol and Klonopin pills — a sedative used to treat anxiety — before he and his wife, Danay, urged them to participate in group sex, she testified.

"He said, 'It's completely normal. You don't have to be uncomfortable or scared. We do this all the time,'" she said.

One of the young women said she kept her incidents secret for years but broke down at age 18 and told her older sister about being groped by Crossley. She said the sister burst into tears because she, too, had been victimized. It was their mother who called state police in 2013, touching off a lengthy investigation that resulted in Crossley's arrest in 2016.

The 40-year-old Crossley, who now lives in Mechanicsville, Va., is charged with five counts of risk of injury to a minor and one count of second-degree sexual assault of a physically helpless person. A conviction likely would include prison time, strict probation and registration as a sexual offender, and he is mounting a vigorous defense.

He has pleaded not guilty and hired New Haven attorney Max Simmons and Thomas A. Pavilinic, a Maryland attorney who specializes in defense of sexual assault charges. A defense information specialist also is in the courtroom.  

Senior Assistant State's Attorney Theresa Ferryman, who has prosecuted sex offenders for more than 20 years in New London, is on the state side. Her team consists of veteran inspector Philip Fazzino III and Victim Advocate Stephanie Barber.

A group of legal interns and the occasional curious attorney and court watcher have occupied the gallery in Judge Barbara Bailey Jongbloed's courtroom this week as the two sides face off.

First, Ferryman pries the information out of the young women with a series of gentle but persistent questions. Then Pavlinic grills them on cross-examination, bringing some to tears, and calling into question the dates or details of the incidents they have described.

For the jury of six to find Crossley guilty of risk of injury to a minor, the jury must find that the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt that all of the alleged victims were under 16, which is the age of consent in Connecticut. The two women allege the "Klonopin" incident took place in 2006, when they were 15, but one says it was in the summer and the other in the fall or winter.

The women testified that the crimes occurred when Crossley and his wife hosted parties for family and friends or invited the then teenage girls to their home to babysit their three young children.

They said Crossley and his wife would tell them about engaging in sexual threesomes and make comments about their breasts.

"One of my friends came with me once and she was bigger breasted," one of the women testified. "He called her 'Jugs.' He called her that to her face, so needless to say she never came over again."

The alleged victims said Crossley touched them sexually under and over their clothing after they had been drinking. If other adults were around, he would sneak them alcohol, they said. If they were alone, he would encourage them to help themselves.

"He would always be asking me, 'Come do a shot. Come do a shot,'" testified one of the women, a 27-year-old middle school teacher. "I felt like it was the only way to get him to leave me alone."

Others said they liked to go to the Crossleys' house because it was the only place they were allowed to drink. But after drinking wine coolers and vodka one night, two of them described having Crossley reach under their clothing to grope them as they played in the backyard. They said Crossley suggested it would be fun if the two girls had sex with one another, one of the women said, and later crawled onto the basement futon where they were attempting to sleep off the alcohol. They said the next morning, they woke up with no pants on.

k.florin@theday.com