A loosely organized circle of friends consisted of two extended families and a pastor, his wife and a church bus driver - their lives intersecting by chance on the walk to school, at the welfare office, at church and in local taverns. Wenatchee Police Detective Robert Perez tenaciously pursued his investigation into stories of sexual predators who victimized children - sometimes their own children. "[59] Lyon described the prosecutions as "a great example of a social phenomenon that we haven't seen since Salem or the McCarthy era". What kind of perception do you think a story like this leavesthe American people? The driving force behind the investigations was a police detective, Robert Perez, who never taped a single interview, routinely destroyed any notes he made and relied primarily on the testimony of . Sheriff Allan Joseph Weber; Grafton County Sheriff's Department, New Hampshire. I doubt anyone is really investigating me, but I do believe they are trying to discredit my work. How fabricated claims of a child-sex ring rocked a Washington state The Robersons were arrested on 22 counts of child rape and molestation. 6 at 3) The reference hearing, which began on March 11, 1998, was held in front of Judge Wallis Friel and spanned the course of seven days. There had been no such sex ring ---a truth that only emerged after 43 parents were arrested and dozens of children were made wards of the state. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. A Rogue Cop and Every Strategy He Can Think Of: The Wenatchee . What steps were missed in handling this correctly? [2] Perez died in 2013 at age 60. Her statement implicated a slate of other adults, some of whom she now says she does not know. [29][30][31], In 1999, the Washington state legislature passed the "Perez Bill" which required child abuse investigators to keep accurate records of their interviews and forbade them from investigating cases involving their own children. The sheriff's office obtained search warrants and sought physical evidence, including samples of the carpet and sections of the rectory wall. A jury found him innocent of three charges, but could not reach a verdict on two others. Detective Robert W. Williamson 5/13/2007. There is medical evidence to support some charges of sexual molestation. The point? The Unraveling Of A Monstrous Secret -- Sex-Abuse Scandal Has Wenatchee Market data provided by Factset. Robert Perez Obituary (1959 - 2021) - Legacy Remembers 6, No. Wenatchee was in shock. I understand. Controversy clouds the truth in Wenatchee sex allegations Directions Physical Address: View Map 250 N Ventura Road Port Hueneme, CA 93041. A few days later, Child Protective Services concluded that the allegations of sexual abuse were "unsubstantiated," adding that police investigators had found "nothing prosecutable." - Lead Detective Controls audits processes, coordinate testing and audits with internal audit team. As the matter dragged on, Devereaux became frantic, according to one caseworker's notes, in part because his only income was the state payments he received for care of his foster daughters. in an attempt to cope with or explain the experience.". . Glassen's wife is Canadian, so they packed and moved to British Columbia. If true, "The Circle" would have likely gone down as one of the most egregious cases of crimes in American history; instead, whats egregious is that it had been entirely made up at the hands of law enforcement. . They talked for a while, and then, Glassen said, the girl "blurted out that she had told a whole bunch of lies about having sex" with Devereaux. Overnight lane reductions are scheduled Monday through Thursday, with more disruptions ahead this month. Even in plain clothes, Perez looks formidable. But prosecutors and Perez's police superiors deny any. Emergency Phone: 911. But Wenatchee police Detective Robert Perez, the foster father . Donna pointed out houses and buildings where she says she and other children were repeatedly raped and molested since January 1988. Perez was in charge of interviewing the more than 40. Morales-Perez . [15] In 1995, after Pastor Robert Roberson criticized the investigation, he was arrested and charged with eleven counts of the sexual abuse of a child. All rights reserved. The appellants further allege that two of the primary child witnesses were foster children living with Perez and that he coerced them into making disclosures with gifts or by physical abuse. Later, Cherie Town would reportedly admit to her own perverse and seemingly insatiable sexual appetite. A.I would ask him "why?". A few had histories of telling terrible lies. [32] The main witness was Perez' foster daughter; Perez was the investigator of the cases. ", Defense attorneys for Cherie Town asked the court to quash the confession, arguing that she is of "substantially low IQ" and "believed that if she told Perez what he wanted to hear, she would not get in serious trouble." I would never subject my children to that.". . The 15-year-old said Devereaux had forced her and a 12-year-old foster sister to have sex with him. -----------------------------------------------------------------. The family lived from welfare check to welfare check. [CA] UPDATE: Ex-Detective Perez stabbed to death - Blogger At the end of Dead to Me season 1, Jen killed Judy's ex Steve (James Marsden) in part because she was scared of him and in part . Some lost parental rights. Auxiliary Police Officer Nicholas T. Pekearo . 4, No. The detective had completed 64 hours of special training in sex-crimes investigation; both he and his superiors were confident of his ability to handle just about any case. As part of the Fox News Flash & Media team, Laura has her hand in a variety of content - from faith & values to crime & justice - having recently interviewed celebrities like actor Leslie Jordan, author Mitch Albom, and crime expert Nancy Grace for FOX. Children were interviewed in the presence of other children. "It's a witch hunt, pure and simple," said Bob Kinkade, self-appointed leader of the local chapter of Victims of Child Abuse Laws. [11] CHILD SEX RINGS: Police continue investigating pastor's family Perez kept asking if I hadn't seen this person and that person abuse the children. . [2][3] Many poor and intellectually disabled suspects pled guilty, while those who hired private lawyers were acquitted. They had moved from Oklahoma to Wenatchee in 1985, settling into a squat, rust-colored rental house with a narrow porch overlooking a tidy patch of grass, four lanes of traffic and a sprawling junk store with a 10-foot bull's-eye painted on an outside wall and the boast "2,000 GUNS.". Police Officer Andrew Robert MacDonald Waiving his right to have an attorney present during questioning, Meredith Town admitted to 62 counts of child rape and four counts of indecent liberties. Initially placed together, state caseworkers separated the children to prevent them from "sexually acting out amongst themselves.". [12] After case worker Paul Glassen criticized the way that Perez interviewed the foster daughter of Robert Devereaux, he was arrested for "tampering with a witness", and later fled to Canada with his family. Reed, 43 at the time, pleaded guilty to two counts of child molestation. Still, the fact remains that more than 400,000 reports of verifiable child abuse are filed nationwide with authorities each year. The only break had come when his father, a convicted burglar, got drunk and started shooting up the house with a .22-caliber revolver - probation violations that landed him back in jail. "[82][83][84] Grant first used the term "witch hunt" to describe these cases in March, 1995. With her statement, police and prosecutors were able to convince Harold that he, too, should enter a plea of guilty. Wasn't it possible, some asked, that the children, desperate for attention and approval, hadn't simply said what they thought police wanted to hear? Jury gets sex abuse suit | The Olympian . A multitude of police reports written by Wenatchee detective Robert Perez described dozens of adults lining up to take turns molesting children. + Subscribe for $1 for the first month People who know and like Perez say he is a dedicated officer, that he is often stern but can be a "teddy bear" of a man. Late one afternoon that September, Luci Perez sat down with her foster daughter. The investigation found that Perez coerced suspects, many poor and developmentally disabled, into making false confessions, and coached testimony from witnesses. "She said she was mad, that she lied, that Perez encouraged her . The allegations strained credulity but not then, nor later, did Perez or his superiors consider the children might be embroidering the truth. Det. Roberson had been looking into whether Perez was railroading poor, uneducated people into jail and had publicly spoken against the arrest of people like Harold and Idella Everett, who sometimes attended the church. [48][49], In 1996, a consultant, retired Bellevue Police Chief D.P. Hernandez, 52, faced life in. . [1] A jury deliberated only 3 hours and 15 minutes before returning a verdict of guilty on five counts of child rape and molestation. During Plaintiff's discussion with Defendant Detective Perez on June 3, 1994, Plaintiff made a detailed statement wherein he admitted to sexually abusing his daughter Jessica in Moses Lake and in Wenatchee, as well as sexually abusing his three other daughters, Sarah, Jennifer, and Carrie in Wenatchee and elsewhere. But by the time Detective Robert Perez completed his investigation, 24 people in Wenatchee had been accused in a child sex-abuse scandal. . Before being chosen to work in the Robbery-Homicide division in 1996, he spent over nine years as a homicide investigator at the South Bureau and Wilshire Division. Sadie Knowles), described as "low IQ",[77] and "who described herself as developmentally disabled", said "I pleaded guilty to something I didn't understand," and must continue to register as a sex offender. Five served their full sentences before their cases were overturned. "He wore me down and made me mad . He was born on October 17, 1953, in Ohio, to Ricardo and Anne (Tempe) Perez. "Chip" Small (judge in the Roberson case) and Carol Wardell (judge in earlier cases) with professional misconduct. Looking the other way as injustice takes its horrible toll is not acceptable. . Bob Perez died last Thursday at Central Washington Hospital, according to. As I have long argued, Evil does not require a motiveit simply is. Q. Plaintiffs' attorney James Beecher said Perez. [80], In 1995 journalist Tom Grant of KREM-TV won a George Polk Award for Excellence in Journalism for his coverage of these cases. Following this, he was "accused, indirectly, of committing some of the same crimes". Sheriff Robert C. Ynclan; Gordon County Sheriff's Office, Georgia. And Idella, threatened with a beating from her husband, had held the children down, then molested them herself. In Cherie Town's book, it was wrong for her husband to be messing around with other women. Fox Nation'sIn the Valley of Sinexamines the mid-90s witch hunt that pitted neighbor against neighbor in Wenatchee, Washington the self-appointed 'Apple Capital of The World' when police uncovered a monstrous child sex ring known among its membership as 'The Circle.' The shed appeared to have fallen off a semi truck, according to the Snohomish County Sheriffs Office. Fox Nationprograms are viewable on-demand and from your mobile device app, but only for Fox Nation subscribers. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! Seeking out and punishing sexual abusers of children has become a national obsession, sometimes with tragic results. Rafael Perez: The Man Who Inspired Denzel Washington's Oscar-Winning Role. Russell Poole - Wikipedia . Elizabeth Loftus, a University of Washington professor and nationally noted authority on memory, argues strongly that children, and even some adults, are "highly suggestible" and therefore unreliable. Police later accused him of failing to report abuse and obstructing justice, prompting an internal Department of Social and Health Services investigation. She told him she had been angry with her foster father for spying on her, for putting her on restriction after catching her having sex with a boyfriend. The apparent circle of abuse was widening. But she didn't say that she, too, had been abusing their children, and that she and her husband often passed the boys on to friends.