ORMOND BEACH - In an act that left some of his own employees stunned, beleaguered AM radio station owner Doug Wilhite poured his heart out on his afternoon show, speaking of the 16-year-old boy he tried to help, but whose accusations have him on the brink of ruin.
Monday afternoon, the 56-year-old Wilhite told The Daytona Beach News-Journal that he's living in fear because his life was threatened.
The boy, whose name is not being published because he claimed to be a victim of a sexual assault, accused Wilhite of rape, a charge Wilhite was acquitted of this past November.
"I'm afraid of him," Wilhite said, referring to the teenager who lived on and off at his Ormond Beach residence for several years. "I'm taking self-defense classes."
Sitting in his radio station office on Nova Road on Monday afternoon, Wilhite pulled out a small knife that hangs from a chain around his neck. The weapon is stashed inside a black sheath that looks like a spade.
When he dons clothing - Wilhite is a devout nudist - he also keeps a thin can of Mace in his pocket.
The knife, though, is "the only thing I wear when I'm home," he said, smiling.
But Wilhite has little else to smile about these days.
Last week he pleaded not guilty to 15 counts of lewd and lascivious behavior. The charges stem from accusations by a group of teens who say Wilhite plied them with alcohol and showed them pornography at his house.
Wilhite's financial problems are nearly as ominous. Various lenders and individuals are seeking more than $400,000 from the businessman. He also owes radio personality Big John more than $35,000. As a result, John is taking over the station - WELE-AM 1380 - as Wilhite's payment of the debt. "I loaned him the money mostly for legal bills," John said Tuesday. "I have applied for the FCC license for the station."
For now, though, Wilhite must face his demons here, and they seem mostly to center around the teenage boy he says he tried to help.
"If I could have saved him, it would have all been worth it," Wilhite said, his eyes welling up. "I still love him."
While Wilhite said he enjoyed having the boy with him because it seemed that the teen was beginning to get emotionally stronger after a tortured childhood with an abusive mother, he also said the child wreaked emotional and physical havoc in his life and the lives of his family.
He got into trouble and had addiction problems, Wilhite said of the boy. When he took the teen to a psychiatrist, Wilhite said the doctor told him to get the teenager help.
A short time after the boy moved in with Wilhite, his wife and their youngest daughter, Sherry Wilhite took her daughter and moved out because she and the girl were afraid of the boy's violent tendencies, Wilhite said.
Then the teen accused Wilhite of rape and the radio man's life went static.
Last week one of Wilhite's older daughters gave birth to a boy who lived only 22 minutes. Wilhite said he held the dead infant and thought of the 16-year-old boy he tried to save.
"I thought I should tell people what I've been through," he said, his voice trailing off.