‘No Doubt of His Innocence,’ Defendant’s Wife Tells Vons Molest Trial

Russell Cilibraise III is a “family man” and an “honorably discharged veteran of the Iraq war,” his molestation trial was told Thursday on a day when the defense called three character witnesses but not the accused.

Iliana Cilibraise, his wife, said she loved her husband and did not believe he was capable of doing what he is being accused of.

“I would not be testifying if there was any doubt of his innocence,” she told a jury in El Cajon Superior Court. “I would not allow anyone to hurt my children, even if I loved them. I’d probably hurt them before I let them hurt my children.”

Cilibraise, of La Mesa, is charged with committing lewd and lascivious acts with a child, stemming from a June 2011 incident at the Vons near City Hall when a 10-year-old La Mesa boy allegedly saw Cilibraise sitting on the toilet, holding his son Russell (known as “Russy”) on his lap, while the baby fondled the man’s penis.

Defense attorney Cassandra Hearn described Cilibraise as a “family man” and noted his Iraq war service.

The young eyewitness that he saw the baby with both hands on Cilibraise’s “privates” moving them in an up and down motion.

The first to testify Thursday was Iliana, who told of how she met Cilibraise in 2008 at P.B. Bar & Grill, and how they started dating.

They had their first child (Russy) on Sept. 16, 2009. The couple were married July 23, 2010, and had their second child, Ella, on July 25, 2011, about five weeks after the alleged incident took place.

Iliana works as a banker at Wells Fargo. Her branch is inside the Vons supermarket in the La Mesa Springs shopping center near City Hall.

Cilibraise, accompanied by Russy, chatted with his wife on the day of the incident, before heading to the bathroom.

“He told me he had to go poop,” Iliana said. “I was like, ‘Really, Babe?’” adding that she was embarrassed because “he was very explicit as to what was going on with his stomach.”

When the defendant returned to meet his wife about 20 minutes later, after she closed out her shift for the day, “everything seemed normal,” Iliana said.

When asked by defender Hearn if anything in her husband’s behavior made her think that something strange or unusual had just taken place, she said: “Not at all.”

She said her husband is a stay-at-home dad with the family relying on her income, and he takes classes at ITT Tech. She also said that it is not unusual for her children to go into the bathroom with her and Cilibraise, both in private and public.

Hearn then asked about the nature of Russy’s attention span at the time of the incident.

“He wouldn’t stay focused on playing with one thing for very long,” Iliana said. “I mean, he was a baby. He was only 1.”

Next to testify was Iliana’s brother, Fernando Uribe, who described his relationship with Cilibraise as good, and told Hearn that he considers him part brother and part in-law.

Uribe, who works as a security guard at a US Bank branch in downtown San Diego, moved in with the Cilibraise family in January 2010, and since that time has spent a lot of time with Russy and the defendant. 

He said that he has often spent time with Cilibraise while he was caring for Russy during the day. He doesn’t believe the accusations against his brother-in-law.

“Knowing Russell like I do, that’s not Russell,” he said. “I believe he didn’t do it. He’s a great father.”

The last person to take the stand was one of Cilibraise’s friends, Gregory Goulding, who drove down from Twentynine Palms.

Goulding, a former staff sergeant in the Marine Corps, said he met the defendant through a mutual friend, while he was at Camp Pendleton, and Cilibraise was working as a contractor on the base. They soon became good friends.

Cilibraise moved in with Goulding and his family in January 2006. He moved out in November 2008 when Cilibraise came to San Diego.

Goulding has five kids, and said that he would often let the defendant baby-sit them.

“He’s the person I trusted all the time to take care of my children,” Goulding said.

He said that after the incident, Iliana contacted him. He told her that no matter when she needed him to come testify, he would do it.

“I knew it wasn’t true,” Goulding said of his first hearing the allegations. “I still know it’s not.”

After Goulding’s testimony, Judge Joseph Brannigan recessed for the day. The trial resume at 9 a.m. Friday at El Cajon Superior Court.