Chicago- A former clown known as Mr. Toy admitted Wednesday that he inappropriately touched a 4-year-old west suburban girl in 2000, but says she initiated the contact.

The incident was disclosed in the trial for Timothy Merten, 52, who is charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault and predatory criminal sexual assault of a child.

Assistant DuPage County State’s Atty. Liam Brennan told Judge Robert Anderson, who is presiding over the bench trial, that Merten was driving the La Grange Park girl’s baby-sitter on errands in the western suburbs on July 7, 2000, which included a stop in Downers Grove.

Later that day the girl told her father “I have a secret.” After being assured by her father that she could tell him the secret, she told of the inappropriate touching while the car was parked in Downers Grove and she was alone with Merten, according to testimony.

The father testified Wednesday that he took the girl directly to La Grange Memorial Hospital, where police were called.

Merton of the 5500 block of South Nottingham Avenue, Chicago, told police in an audiotaped confession that the incident was the only one, but Brennan said two more victims of Merten would testify this week.

“I never meant to hurt her, but she started touching me first,” he said on the tape. “I got a little excited. I shouldn’t have.”

The trial is expected to end this week. Merten faces up to 30 years in prison.

Merten told police when he was arrested in 2000 that he had been a professional clown for “about eight or nine years, known as Mr. Toy.”

He appeared at children’s parties and various other functions and said he “liked to hug and be with children all the time,” Brennan said.

The side and rear windows of his car were covered with clown decals and advertisements for his services, authorities said.

The girl, now 9, testified Wednesday, but said she had no memory of the event, no memory of the defendant or his car.

But Brennan said evidence against Merten includes the girl’s statements made that evening to her father, the emergency room physician and police investigators.

Assistant Public Defender Thomas Ost, citing recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions about a defendant’s ability to confront a victim with their statements, asked that repeated statements not be allowed.

Anderson said he would allow testimony about the girl’s alleged statements, saying they are covered by Supreme Court guidelines.