The key witness in a sexual-battery case against a former Middlesex County social worker said yesterday he pushed Arthur R. Bracke's hands away to fend off unwelcome touching.

"I told him to stop it, but he wouldn't," the 11-year-old boy testified in Circuit Court.

"He tried to touch me in my private area again and I bent his arm back again," the boy said.

The youth, who lives about a mile from Bracke's former residence in Middlesex County, is one of two boys under 13 who were allegedly abused by the 61-year-old Bracke during sleep-overs at Bracke's house.

Bracke faces charges involving the other boy at a Sept. 16 trial. Bracke also goes to court Sept. 3 on charges of attempted murder and arson for allegedly setting fire to his house while his adopted 19-year-old son slept inside. The Nov. 17 fire triggered rumors about Bracke's conduct that caused the mother of yesterday's witness to question her son about what happened when he spent the night at Bracke's house for the first and only time on Nov. 3. She notified authorities.

Yesterday, the boy testified that he pushed Bracke's hands away after Bracke reached into his pajamas at bedtime and again early the next morning. When Bracke attempted to touch him a third time that morning, the boy said he cut him off. "He tried it again and I bent his arm back to stop him," the boy said.

The boy's mother told the court that she had known Bracke for years and that Bracke entertained her son with target shooting, video games and woodworking projects. Bracke's ramshackle and cluttered house "was a little boy's dream," she said.

Once, Bracke asked her if he could be her son's honorary grandfather, the woman testified. "Being a mother, I was kind of leery, but I had known him for years," she said.

Today's expected witnesses include a social worker who interviewed Bracke on the sexual allegations while he was in custody for the fire and attempted murder.

Bracke retired last year after a long career with the county social services office. Before that, he founded a home for troubled boys in 1975 which was first located in Newport News and then Middlesex County. It closed in 1985 because of financial trouble.
Contact Lawrence Latané III at (804) 333-3461 or llatane@timesdispatch.com