Late Wednesday afternoon, a former radio station owner accused of molesting children made a plea deal in court. Doug Wilhite was accused of having sex with teenagers and watching teens have sex in his Ormond Beach-area home.
However, Wilhite won't be going to prison. Instead, he'll go home. He walked out of the courtroom Wednesday afternoon with a sentence of community control, house arrest, and avoiding all but two of the 15 charges he was facing.
The 57-year-old former radio station owner faced sexual accusations from seven teenagers, but he walked out of court without having to go to jail and called the accusations untrue and wrong.
"Wish that they hadn't started these rumors and put them on the Internet and encouraged each other to corroborate them, but I do forgive them," Wilhite said.
Wilhite was acquitted in a trial last year, where a boy testified he had sex with Wilhite in his home several times. He was charged again when friends of the boy said they had also had sex in front of Wilhite, who gave them alcohol. Wilhite said he believes he would have been acquitted again, but didn't have the energy to sit through another trial.
"I'm too tired and too unhealthy to go to trial. I've been through a lot, my family's been through a lot and probation was preferable to me," he said.
Wilhite even gave a short victory statement of sorts after his sentencing, thanking the judge for a wonderful job and the people of Volusia County for supporting him.
"Even though there's been so much press against me, all I get are hugs and well wishes," he said.
The judge quickly reminded Wilhite after that statement that he still faces two years house arrest and 13 years probation.
The State Attorney's Office said it didn't want to put all those teenagers through a long, difficult trial.
