How To Interview A Sex Offender
The case information was pretty weak, with no evidence at all
.A 13 year old girl had disclosed to her school counselor that her step-father was "touching her" inappropriately and making her feel nervous.
The counselor reported the allegation to Health & Welfare authorities, who notified the county Sheriff's office that had jurisdiction in the small mountain community.
The Sheriff assigned the case to one of his top investigators, a veteran who had worked many child abuse cases in her career. When the Sheriff's Investigator met with the involved parents of the young girl, the hostility was tremendous. The stepfather yelled and screamed, the mother continually said her husband couldn't or wouldn't do such a thing and the investigator was ultimately asked to leave their house.
The Sheriff's Deputy, acting in concert with a Health & Welfare caseworker, declared the girl in imminent danger and removed her from her home, along with three younger children, pending the outcome of the investigation.
The girl went through a forensic interview process with a team of forensically trained medical personnel, where she received a complete physical exam and forensic interview where she related the extent of the abuse.
During this forensic interview, the girl disclosed that her stepfather had been giving her back rubs which ended up with him fondling her breasts. He also had rubbed her buttocks during these back rubs and she could feel that he had a penile erection during these situations.
She also had the feeling that her stepfather had been spying on her at night when she was sleeping, although she couldn't actually remember seeing him in her room.
The man, of course, denied ever sexually touching the girl in any way.
That's where the investigation stalled.
The parents retained an attorney, who communicated with the State's Attorney in subsequent court hearings.
The presiding judge continued the case twice to allow for the investigation to be completed. At the third appearance, the parents appeared in court unrepresented and announced they had fired their attorney and requested time to hire another one. This request was granted.
In the meantime, since the allegation of abuse had been made against the father, not the mother, she was allowed full access to her 13 year old daughter during supervised visitations.
The mother convinced the daughter (who was getting tired of living in a foster home) that if she said she had been making up the original allegation, the case would be dropped and everyone would be allowed to go home.
The "victim" officially recanted (took back) her allegation to the Sheriff's Department, saying she made the whole thing up. However, the plucky Sheriff's investigator had discovered that the stepfather also had female children from a previous marriage, who were now in their 30's.
At first very reluctant to make statements, both women ultimately related to the investigator how their father had molested them when they were in their teens. The primary thing he had done was to rub and fondle their breasts and buttocks.
They both refused to testify about the abuse, however, saying they were still afraid of him.
Finally, 4 months after the children were removed from the home, the Court, the State's Attorney and the new defense attorney for the parents agreed that the children would be allowed to return home and all criminal charges would be dropped if the father took and "passed" a polygraph examination.
If he "failed", he would be charged criminally and the case would go to trial.
Both attorneys agreed with the court that I should be the one to administer the polygraph.
by: Chip Morgan