Memphis man charged with raping 6-year-old girl

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- A Northeast Memphis man is charged with rape of a child after investigators say he sexually assaulted a 6-year-old relative.

Randy Warner, 50, was arrested Saturday after police say another family member caught him molesting the girl.

Outside the home where investigators say it happened sit some of the girl's most prized possessions – a toy vanity and a pink and purple bicycle adorned with Disney princesses – now reminders of a childhood innocence lost. "You know, it just hurts me," said April Nathaniel, a relative of the girl. Eula Pugh, another family member, tells WREG Warner was visiting their home as he often did, sitting with the girl on his lap outside, when something told her to check on them.

"I just happened to go and peep out the door, and that’s when I caught him with his hands up under her clothes," she said.

Pugh told investigators she immediately brought the girl inside, where the 6-year-old admitted it wasn’t the first time.

"She just said he did it all the time, every time he would come over here," she said. "I just happened to catch him that time."

"It hurts me, 'cause we’re really close," Nathaniel said. "He’ll come over here every day and we’ll talk and hang outside and just talk while she runs around and plays outside, and I never did think that he was looking at her in that way."

Warner’s brother, Donald Warner, declined an interview, but defended his brother, calling him a “good guy” and implying an ongoing alcohol problem may be to blame.

But loved ones say that's no excuse for what Warner's accused of.

"He knows what he was doing, he knows what he was doing," Nathaniel said. "Randy’s got plenty of sense."

The family says the girl seems to be doing OK, but they know she likely has a long road ahead.

"I don’t know how it’s going to affect her later on," Pugh said.

She fears there could be more victims, and both women say Warner is exactly where he belongs: locked up.

When asked what she'd like to see happen to him, Pugh responded, "Get about 20 years."

"I just don’t want her to be messed up about this, so I want him to suffer," Nathaniel said.

Warner spent nearly a year in jail for assault in 1999.

He's being held on a $150,000 bond in this case and will face a judge Monday morning.