Written by Kathryn Lyon. copyright 1995. Do not reproduce without permission.
Police Documentation of Child Interviews.
More than thirty children have been named by other children and by adults as victims of sexual abuse in Chelan and Douglas Counties in the last two years. In the case of the alleged group sexual events, their number has dwindled down to approximately a half dozen core child witnesses. And of these, two reside with Detective Perez (D.E. and her sister M.E.) and another (A.S.) has testified and admitted in interviews that she has made many false allegations of sexual abuse in the past to get people in trouble or to get her own way.(151) One of these false allegations involves her current foster father. (Note: These foster parents, the Cawderys, bear an apparent strong relationship with law enforcement and with the prosecution and investigation of these cases.(152) To my knowledge, A.S.'s assertions toward Mr. Cawdery were not investigated in any manner.) A.S. has admitted that she and others made up a false allegation about Larry Steinborn. In an interview on April 27, 1995, A.S. discussed a list of her abusers which she had compiled with the assistance of Debi Cawdery.(152) She later admitted to Detective Magnotti that she had fabricated some named abusers on the list: Jon Campbell and a "black lady," and that "Bobbie" her former foster mother might have been her "twin sister."(154) She said she had said these things under the "pressures" of the case.
Children central to these investigations are typically between the ages of eleven and thirteen: D.E. (d.o.b. 5/9/84)i M.E. (d.o.b. lO/31/82); A.S. (d.o.b. ll/14/81); A.M. (d.o.b. ll/14/84); C.M. (d.o.b. l/26/83); and P.H. (d.o.b. 9/28/83) All of these children are related by blood, friendship, or other mutual affiliations.
It is surprising, given the alleged observations of the core child and adult witnesses, that the majority of purported victims of group sexual activities have failed to materialize as victims or witnesses. The opportunity has sometimes been provided to them. For example Jeanne Diercickx, Victim/Witness Coordinator for the Douglas County Prosecutor's office, has interviewed several named or potential child witnesses to group sexual activities at the Pentecostal church. Most have denied any observation of or participation in these events. (155)
In Chelan County it appears that many purported or potential victims or witnesses were simply not interviewed. Significantly, the allegations against Robert Devereaux involve many adults and children and were said to happen over a period of several years. Many children have resided in the Devereaux home at various times. Given the nature and scope of the allegations one would presume that certain former foster children would have been witness to the events. However, there are no reports that document that these children were ever identified or interviewed.
Some potential witness have been ignored. On June 9, 1995, I spoke t~ Nicki Simpson (d.o.b. 7/26/76). (156) She said she had been one of Mr. Devereaux' foster children from l990 until recently. She said that while in his home she never observed any of the alleged events and she does not believe they occurred. She said that in fact Mr. Devereaux always made his charges observe high standards of modesty. He would knock on their doors in the morning to wake them up but would not come in. Ms. Simpson said that she has made every effort to relate these facts to the State and she has appeared on television but she has been ignored or told to stay out of it.
Thus, the governmental investigation of the group sex cases in Chelan County has been highly circumscribed. Interviews are limited to certain core witnesses. These child witnesses are all in foster care and highly accessible to the State. They are highly inaccessible to relatives, the defense, and those who might be perceived as contaminating their disclosures, including their former friends or church members.
According to police documention, certain of these core witnesses have been subjected to prolonged and repeated interviews by police agents. A.S. and D.E., for example, were subjected to six documented interviews about Mr. Devereaux's case alone.(157) According to my research D.E. has been formally interviewed by police agents more than a dozen times in regards to various cases. These are only the cases that result in documentation.
It may be presumed that numerous additional informal or undocumented formal interviews have occurred. D.E. resides with Detective Perez. He has testified that her disclosures are frequent and that he has usually encouraged her disclosures until they became too voluminous for him to handle at home.(158) A.S. resides with Debi Cawdery. According to my research Ms. Cawdery has encourage disclosures by many of her charges.(159) For example, on April 17, 1995, Ms. Cawdery contacted Wenatchee Police Department and said A.S. appeared "ready to disclose additional information" about sexual abuse at the Devereaux home."
(160). At this interview Ms. Cawdery revealed that she had assisted A.S. in keeping a journal about the molests and in making a list of her assailants. Ms. Cawdery had actually made her own amendments to the list. This is certainly direct evidence of ongoing interviews by Ms. Cawdery.
Certain interviews are prolonged. The following are examples taken from the above section regarding the investigation of the Devereaux home. On August 3, 1994, at the Wenatchee Police Department, A.S. denied that she h~d been abused by Mr. Devereaux. She was then made to sit in a room while Detective Perez interviewed A.K. and T.H. and Robert Devereaux. At her second session on that day, A.S., after these interviews were complete, A.S. made certain admissions. One of her statements bore a marked similarity to Detective Perez' conjectures about Mr. Devereaux at a luncheon (160) A.S. said that Mr. Devereaux made her sit on his lap while he had sexual contact with her.
On February 1, 1995, D.E. was interviewed by Detective Perez at his home for an approximate period of 4 hours On 3/14/95,
D.E. was interviewed by Detective Perez, Laurie Alexander and Kate Carrow between 9:30 a.m and 3:30 p.m., with a break for lunch. On April 19, 1995, A.M. was interviewed by Officers Magnotti and Kate Carrow at the CPS offices between 10:40 a.m. and 2:40 p.m. with "numerous breaks." On May 10, 1995, according to the May 15, 1995 report of Detective Perez, A.M. was interviewed at her school by Detective Perez and Laurie Alexander between 11:20 a.m. and 1:45 p.m.(161) (Note: time frames are not frequently mentioned in the police reports of Detective Perez and others. Perez either takes no notes or destroys his notes. The length of most child interviews thus cannot be determined with accuracy.)
Children may be confronted with information about disclosures made by others. On April 10, 1995, C.M. was interviewed by Jeanne Dierickx, Douglas County Victim/Witness Coordinator. This interview was taped and transcribed. After some period of qquestioning, C.M. indicated that she had been interviewed a "couple of Fridays ago," by Detective Perez and Laurie Alexander. (162). Specifically, she said, "from what I know from my mom's confession she was watching." (163). It is apparent, then, that Detective Perez or Laurie Alexander told her that her mother had made admissions and advised her of the content of her mother's statement. This interview was apparently undocumented. C.M. said that Laurie Alexander "said that everything I said was true." (164).
On June 10, 1994, Detective Perez met with the two daughters of Connie Cunningham, S.C. and J.C. According to an Affidavit of Probable Cause filed by Chelan County Prosecuting Attorney, Gary Riesen on June 15, 1994, based on the contents of an incident report written by Detective Perez, "Perez explained to the girls that their father, Henry Cunningham had admitted to many acts of sexual abuse against all four of his daughters..." According to the Affidavit of Probable Cause filed by Chelan County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Roy Fore on 5/20/95 regarding defendant Donna Hidalgo, and based on the incident report of Detective Perez, on January 23, 1995 Detective Perez contacted M.E., sister of D.E. According to this document, Detective Perez told M.E. of her sister's disclosure regarding herself and Donna Hidalgo. After this interview, also on January 23, 1995, Detective Perez picked D.E. up after school and told her what M.E. had said. D.E. made subsequent disclosures expanding on M.E.'s statements.
On March 29, 1995, Douglas County Sheriff's Deputies Wagg and Helvey, along with Laurie Alexander interviewed D.E. at Newberry Elementary School. Detective Wagg told D.E. "we knew what she h~d said to Perez about the touching." D.E. made numerous disclosures expanding on this information. On March 30, 1995, Detectives Wagg and Helvey and Kate Carrow interviewed M.E at the CPS office. DE was there for support. First, Detective Wagg asked M.E. to name the children and adults that went to the Pentacostal Church. "I asked M.E. if she had any touching problems at church. Melinda did not reply, she buried her head in her hands, and made sounds like she was crying. After about a minute M.E. pulled her sweater up over her face. I waited a short time and asked Melinda if other kids at the church had problems and Melinda said 'yes, Uh huh'." (165) M.E. eventually talked about various acts of touching at the church. she said that twenty to twenty five children might be at the church on Friday nights. They would all go downstairs after singing, to the "Big Room" where the touching happened. She described incidents at the Roberson house. "After we finished talking about Pastor Robby's house I asked M.E. if we could talk about the church again. M.E. again buried her head in her hands but (sic) her head on the table and again began to making (sic) crying sounds. I asked M.E. again where the touching happened at the church. M.E. stated that all the touching problems happened downstairs in the 'Big Room.'"
After the interview with M.E. was complete, Detectives Wagg and Helvey interviewed D.E. She was "much more open...about the touching at the church than her sister was." She expanded on her sister's statements about touching in the "Big Room" downstairs at the church. She said everyone would take off their clothes. She described intercourse by males and touching and digital penetration by females. She said the adults told the children
they would be hurt if they told, and Pastor Robby threatened to stab her with her father's hunting knife that he had borrowed.(l66)
These examples are illustrative only.
Anecdotal Information Regarding Child Interviews.
Children have been isolated and separated from much of the community and highly contained by agents of the State. A few have come forward.
(1) K.A.: Videotaped Statement.
On February 3, 1995, George Wemberly of the organization VOCAL interviewed K.A. (d.o.b. 2/13/84) and videotaped the interview.(167) K.A. is the daughter of Donna Rodriguez. one of the alleged perpetrators in the sex ring prosecutions. Although the interview contains some leading questions it is particularly instructive.
K.A. was interviewed by Detective Perez. He told her "that I'd been molested or something, kinda like." She said, "What are you talking about?...I ain't never been molested." K.A. said, Perez responded, "we know that's a lie." K.A. added, "He said a whole bunch of other girls told me you were there and when it happened and everything." Perez mentioned the names of people who were there. She couldn't remember all of the names but remembered that one that Perez mentioned was "Bob," that "owns a foster home kind of."
Perez told K.A. that D.E., whom he said lived with him, told him K.A. was molested. He said, "Well, it was only two years or three years ago, so you gotta remember." Detective Perez said "We know your mom molested you or molested other kids." He said that P.H., and D.E. had told him this. He also mentioned A.R. and A.S. as being other girls that her mother had molested.
Apparently Detective Perez did not identify himself to K.A. When he got up she saw he had a gun behind him and a badge. "Sohe was a policeman. And then I go, 'he's a policeman?'" K.A. said that the interview lasted four or five hours.
Q: You mean they interviewed you from nine o'clock in the morning until two o'clock, honey?
A: Something like that. Like onethirty or somewhere around two cause I remember he said, "well like we've gotta get around to the truth," and stuff. And "I'll stop that phone call," after he called the police to, uh, take my mom.
Q: Is that what he told you, honey? Did he tell you that he was calling the police to have your mother arrested?
A; Um hum. He just said, "this is enough fooling around." I assume he was calling the police, you know. Otherwise he was kinda warning me.
Q: What did he say, honey. This is what I have to get on record. A: Um, well, he didn't maybe, something, well, I knew that he was calling the police. I think he said the police or, "I'm calling the office now," or something kinda like that. And I was going like, "no, no, no."
Q: ...And then what did he say after you said, "no, no, no?"
A: He just kept on calling. And then he said, on the telephone he said, "um, I have a woman called Donna Rodriguez at 1006 8th Street and I want..." something "...to go to jail," or something like that.
Q: And then what did you say when you heard that, honey?
A: Um, then, um, and then he said, "well, you got ten minutes to speak now. Get it out and I'll stop that phone call. Cause they'll be there in about five seconds, five minutes," or something like that. "They'll be there by two."
Q: So he was trying to rush you into talking?
A: Uh huh.
Q: ...Did, then what did you say when you heard that?
A: Um, I was just crying and everything because I didn't want my mom to go to jail and stuff. And then he kept on asking me a bunch of questions and...
Q: So were you basically agreeing with what he was saying? A: kind of.
Q: ...Okay, were you telling the truth or were you just agreeing with him?
A: I was just agreeing with him.
K.A. said that she had told him things that weren't true after he made the call, although neither her mother nor anyone has ever molested her. Detective Perez supplied her with names and information. He said, "we also know the Millers were there too," and asked her to name off the Miller children. She also named off some other names like A.R. and A.S. and P.H. and D.H. His questions focused on the Devereaux home. "I just agreed with him because I kinda like...well at the beginning he kind of · like told me that, like, 'your mom's gonna go to prison if you don't tell the truth,' and stuff. So I kinda just agreed with him and stuff."
During the interview with Detective Perez, K.A. said "I wanta go home. I need to go home. I wanta go and talk to my mom. However Detective Perez told her, "'No, no, no, no.' They just made me sit there and sit there and sit there and sit there and sit there. And they said, 'well, we're not leaving till you, till this is over.'"
During the interview she went to the bathroom. In the bathroom she said to herself, "what am I doing? I oughta kill myself..."
K.A. said since this happened she has been separated from her family. "I can't see my mom and I can't talk to her. I can't talk to my sister. And they promised me that. Perez promised me I'd get to talk to my sister or at least get to talk to her and here I am, what, two weeks later, and I haven't even talked to my sister.
K.A. said, "I can't go to school." She said that she had been taken from her school and her friends. Commenting about Detective Perez K.A. said, "He should go to jail. And he's breaking all these kids away from their families. And they don't have a mom or a dad or anybody. And they'll just be stuck in a hospital."
Videotaped Interviews: B.H. and M.H.
On August 27, 1995, M.H (7th grader) and her brother, B.H., age 11, were interviewed by Tom Grant of the Spokane CBS affiliate television station, KREM 2.(168) The interview was also videotaped by Connie Fry who provided a copy to me. The following represents excerpts from Mr. Grant's interview. The children were interviewed separately.
M.H.
M.H. told Mr. Grant that she had gone several times to Pastor Roby's church in East Wenatchee. She would go on Sundays, Wednesdays and Friday. She said that church was "fun" and they had bible study and played games like soccer and did crafts. On Sunday was church service and Sunday school. The Pastor was nice to all the kids. She never saw anything out of the ordinary there.
M.H. said that Jeannie Diercickx had interviewed her about the church and the sex ring before and she had told her nothing happened. Then last week, Detective Perez questioned her about the sex ring. She believed it was about a week ago on a Tuesday morning at about 11:00 a.m.
M.H. and B.H. and his friend were home alone. No adult was present. Her brother had called the police on that day because she and her brother had been receiving crank calls from some kids they knew. Her brother told this to the dispatcher. Shortly after this, D~tectives Perez and Magnotti came to the door. While Detective Magnotti took down some information about the calls Detective Perez started looking around the house. "He went in my brother's room. And then he went over toward the couch and looked through the clothes. And then he went in the kids' room, and then he went in my room."
Detective Magnotti phoned the crank caller and asked him to stop placing the calls. Then, "(t)hey questioned us about the sex rings." Detective Perez took her brother and his friend outside and left her alone with Detective Perez.
"He asked me if I knew the Garaas family and I said yes. then he asked if I'd ever been touched by them and I said no. And then he asked me if I knew the Everett's and I said yeah. And he goes, did I spend some time with them and I go, yeah. And he goes, 'Have you ever been touched by them?' and I said no. And he asked if I knew Karen and I said no. And then he asked if I ever went to the church in East Wenatchee and I said yeah. And he goes, 'Well the other kids told me you did (get touched) and you're
lying to me.l...He said thirty other kids had told him I'd been touched."
Detective Perez then asked M.H. again if she had been touched at the Everett's and she said no. "And then he said Idella said she did touch me. She told him that she did touch me."
Detective Perez then told M.H. that he was going to find time to talk to him with two other girls. From what he said, she understood these to be CPS workers. He said he wanted to have them take notes. He said they wanted to talk to her about the sex rings.
Then Detective Perez "asked me again if I'd been touched by the church and I said no. And he goes, 'Well, you're lying to me.'" She said, "it made me feel bad inside...I was telling him the truth." She said that she felt pressured "because he asked me if I'd been touched and I told him no and he kept on calling me a liar."
B.H.
B.H. says he knows D.E. He has talked to her a few times since she went to live with Detective Perez. "She was a pretty nice girl but kinda mean." Once he didn't feel well and told D.E. he didn't want to talk to her. D.E. said, "if you don't talk I'll tell my dad and you'll get arrested. I'll try to make up some stuff." B.H. said this kind of thing has happened a few times with D.E.(169)
B.H. said he went to the East Wenatchee church on fridays, sundays and wednesdays. On fridays they would play, sing songs, do crafts, roast hot dogs. Pastor Robby and his wife Connie were in charge. The place was neat and clean. Downstairs there was a kitchen, offices, classrooms. There were tables with a few chairs around them. B.H. said that nothing bad or unusual or harmful happened at the church.
B.H. said he had never before been interviewed about the church or sex rings either by Jeannie Dierickx or the police. He said that last week he had called the police because he and M.H. had been receiving prank calls. The dispatcher took this information and his address. "And then twenty minutes later, um, Magnotti and Perez showed up."
While Magnotti took down some information about the prank calls, Detective Perez searched the house. "He went in my brother's room, came out, looked through some clothes, went in the kitchen. I don't know what he did, went in my sister's room, through the closet. And he, uh, looked through there and my sister heard some noises. I guess he went back through the closet and through the kitchen."
Detective Magnotti told B.H. that he wanted to talk about the sex rings. "And I'm like, 'Today?' And he goes, 'Yeah, is that a good time?' And I go, 'No, my mom doesn't want us to.' 'Why?' 'Because she don't want us to question about it.' 'Why?' I mean they said, why? 'Well, like 'cause she wants to be there.'" B.H. said, "My mom don't want us to be questioned without her there." And they were like, "Okay." And then they went on anyway.
Magnotti said, "I'm gonna take these two out." B.H. went outside with him. His friend stayed on the porch and B.H. went with Detective Magnotti to the neighbor's yard. Detective Magnotti questioned B.H. about the church. Brian told him nothing bad happened and it was fun.
Then Magnotti said, "I'll make you a deal. If you tell me something, if you tell what happened there, then you won't get in trouble."
Detective Magnotti went on questioning B.H. When he said nothing happened Detective Magnotti said, "Well, that means you're scared." B.H. said, "Why are you questioning me about this?" Detective Magnotti said, "Well, you don't have to be afraid. Police are supposed to help little kids you know."
B.H. said he was scared and confused. He said, "...when he gave me a question and I was, cause I was kind of confused and I answered wrong...cause sometimes people ask trick questions...If I answer it like wrong or something my mom will get thrown in jail, or something like that."
His sister told him that Detective Perez had asked her where her mom was, how often she cleans the house, does she go out and that kind of question.
Brenda Welch
Brenda Welch is mother of M.H. and B.H. She was also videotaped on August 27, 1995. She said that she has been very frightened and upset ever since Detectives Perez and Magnotti interviewed her children. She believes her children are frightened of the police now. She thought the police were going to come back and get her children. She said that the first day she hid. But since then she has decided, "I'm not gonna hide. I'm not gonna let him chase me out of my home. My daughter told the truth that day and I'm gonna believe her. I'm not gonna look out my window every time I see a car...I'm gonna let her be a kid."(l70) Ms. Welch has lived all her life in Wenatchee. She has never seen anything like this interview process. "I think it's a witchhunt. I think Perez is out to make a big name for himself."
S.D.: Videotaped Interview.
Interviewed S.D., d.o.b. 10/23/78, on June 15, 1995 and videotaped the interview. S.D. is the daughter of Carol and Mark Doggett who have since been convicted and are serving an approximate twelve year sentences for molesting one of S.D.'s siblings. S.D. adamantly believes that her parents are innocent and her siblings have succumbed to coercive police tactics.
In December, 1994, the Doggetts' reported to authorities that their son, J.D., had molested one of their daughters. CPS and Prez interviewed the children and decided it was consentual. CPS refused to remove the boy from the home. The parents felt their daughters were at risk and made arrangements for him to stay with relatives. They enrolled their daughter, E.D. in counseling. CPS removed their two foster children, the children of Henry and Connie Cunningham.
At this time S.D. was staying with family friends in California, Paul and Kathi Hansen. The Hansens had taken on legal guardianship of S.D. When S.D. heard that E.D. had been molested by J.D. she took an overdose of pills and was hospitalized for two or three days under a civil commitment process. Before Christmas of 1994, E.D. came to California to visit her.
On approximately January 3, 1995, Kathi Hansen received a call to tell her that Carol and Mark Doggett had been arrested on sex abuse charges. She told them that the charges named all the children as victims, including S.D. and E. When Kathi told them this, the girls were very upset and crying. S.D. questioned E.D. repeatedly about whether she had ever been molested. She told her it was okay to tell. E.D. always denied it.
On approximately January 3, 1995, Kathi Hansen was contacted by Detective Perez and told the girls would have to go down to Wenatchee to testify against their parents. ~He said that they would only need to be down there a couple of weeks for this purpose. Kathi and S.D. went to the school and S.D. got her missing assignments and took out a home study course for the two week period she expected to be gone. The following day they met Detective Perez and Wenatchee CPS caseworker, Pat Boggus, in Sacramento.
Kathi Hansen spoke to Detective Perez and Pat Boggus in S.D.'s presence, and told them of the importance of the girl's staying together because S.D. and E.D. were very close. Detective Perez assured her that a foster home had already been found and they would stay together. "She said, she told them, 'It's really important that they be placed together. Are you sure they will be together?' And they said, 'Yeah. We already have a foster home where they'll both be.'"
Kathi, S.D. and E.D. went to the CPS office in Sacramento and E.D. was interviewed. S.D. waited outside. The interview took two or three hours. After the interview, Detective Perez said it would not be necessary to interview S.D. because they had what they needed from E.D. S.D. had a few minutes to talk to E.D. alone. E.D. had been crying. "Pat told her my dad had been using drugs and shooting heroin and messing around with other women and stuff like that. And it must have been really convincing because E.D. was, you know, almost convinced. And she was really confused." S.D. said she knew her dad didn't do these things.
Kathi told Detective Perez that she had legal guardianship of S.D. She had her paperwork with her and offered to show it to him. Detective Perez said he had authority superior to that. He didn't show her any paperwork of any kind to authorize the transport. S.D. was with Kathi at all times but saw no exchange of paperwork with her. No one asked S.D.'s permission to travel to California. (See Interstate Compact, attached.) (171)
At the airport in Sacramento, Pat Boggus warned S.D. and E.D. that they better not make any trouble or they would be separated. S.D. understood that Pat was talking about her placement in Washington. On the trip, Detective Perez approached S.D. several times and said, "You know your dad raped you. Why don't you just admit it?" He said this to her several times. Sometimes he leaned over and whispered it to her. S.D. was very upset and angry but she couldn't say anything because she didn't want to be separated from E.D.
When they got to Pangborn airport in East Wenatchee, Dean Reiman and another couple were standing there. Perez said that S.D. would be going with Dean and E.D. would be going with the other couple. S.D. felt he had lied to her and she and E.D. were very upset. They cried and clung to each other.
I told them they were liars and that they'd promised we'd be together and that we haven't done anything wrong and that they had promised we could be together and they were breaking their promise and like liars. And me and (E.D.) were holding on to each other and crying and stuff. And then they were...I think it was Perez, I'm not sure which one said, "Okay you girls. Enough of this. It's time to go." And (E.D.) held onto me tighter. I wasn't about to let go of her. And then I don't know who grabbed who, but they started pulling, physically pulling us apart. And uh, (E.D.) was crying and she started screaming too, which is, you can tell that she was upset because (E.D.) isn't like that. And she was crying, "You're hurting me! Let go, you're hurting me!" And I could see the red marks on her.
S.D. said she had always felt responsible for E.D. "I was very very upset because they had promised us we would be together and they were hurting my sister and I was yelling at them to not hurt her, to let her go." The couple had to drag E.D. away to their car because she wouldn't walk. S.D. was struggling as well. When they got in Dean Reiman's car, Dean had to find her inhaler for her because she was having an asthma attack. Dean said, "Don't be mad at us. This isn't our fault. Blame your parents. It's their fault."
S.D. described being moved to a series of foster homes. She said that she has never been able to have contact with any of her sisters. She asked to see them many times. The authorities wouldn't tell her why she couldn't, "just that I couldn't at this time."
S.D. said that she was permanently removed from school, despite her many requests to return, except for a period of about a month when she was residing in Bridgeport. She said that she had been a student in good standing with a 3.4 G.P.A. She denied any behavior problems in school. When she requested to go to school they "just said, 'Oh, we'll see.' I never heard from them again." She has not done home study or correspondence courses although she is willing to do so.
One day she was told that Dean Reiman wanted to talk to her at the CPS office. On the way down her foster parent said, !YOU know that whatever else happens you'll know that, just know that I'll always love you and always be here for you." S.D. told herself, "Oh great, something's gonna happen." When she got to the office Dean Reiman said that they were concerned about her because she had an eating disorder and they thought she was suicidal. S.D. said that she was not at all suicidal at the time, nor had she said anything which might lead someone to believe she was. "And they wheeled in a stretcher and said that I was a violent person and so I was gonna have to be there, transported there in restraints." S.D. denied that she had struggled or been resistive in any way. She got on the stretcher and "they put restraints around my waist and around my wrists. And then they strapped me down and then wheeled me out and put me in an ambulance."
The drive took several hours. Although no one had told her where she was going she ultimately found herself at the Pine Crest mental facility in Idaho. It was a locked mental facility with wards for adults, juveniles and adolescents. During her approximate five week stay at Pine Crest, S.D. did not see an attorney, go to court, or sign legal paperwork of any kind. (172)
S.D. was put in group and individual counseling. Counseling was never on the subject of suicide or depression. Instead it dealt with sexual abuse. S.D.'s counselor told her she was in denial. "She said I didn't want to accept things and that sometimes that's very understandable because some things are too hard and you don't want to accept them so you choose not to. And because I was feeling so responsible I decided to block it out." Her counselor told her that she believed S.D.'s parents had ,molested her. When S.D. denied it she said, "It's okay. When you come around, I'll be here." S.D. said, "Well, you've gotta release me sooner or later."
Upon her return to Washington, S.D. attended one therapy session with Cindy Andrews. She was told she might be able to provide information which would help her sister E.D. who was in the program along with S.D.'s other sisters. The therapy dealt with the subject of repressed memories. S.D. said. "She really confused me because she that that I had a memory block and I might be choosing not to remember things. And that there were ways that I could remember things if I wanted to.
S.D. said that Ms. Andrews told her she believed that S.D. had been molested and she had also molested her siblings. She told S.D. that her sisters had told her this. When S.D. denied this to Ms. Andrews, Ms. Andrews said that she had a memory block and she was in denial. "She was just so convincing. She had me thinking, what if I do have a memory block? Cause she kinda had her facts straight and everything." S.D. was very concerned that her sisters who are much more susceptible than her, would become very confused by the therapy.
S.D. said that she had been subject to threats and retaliation because of her refusal to cooperate and name her parents for something they didn't do. She said after she appeared on television, "they were looking for me and when they found me they were gonna put me in juvie." She said she believes that the State is trying to scare her "to get me to shut up because they don't like that I'm telling everybody how wrong they are and what they're doing is wrong and telling everybody the truth about what happened." S.D. said that she had been willing to talk to me "because I want people to know the truth and to know that you can't trust these people. Because they will use anything in their power and out of their power too. Because they have it set in their minds already what happened and they won't listen to, they're not trying to find out the truth. They already know what happened so they wanta keep it that way."
Pine Crest Records.
In this section I will discuss some of the contents of S.D.'s records from Pine Cres_ Hospital as they bear on her statement and on the governmental attitudes. These records support the argument that the Pine Crest facility was being used as a vehicle of investigation. They also indicate much about governmental expectations as they affect that investigation.
The Pine Crest Hospital Discharge Summary, signed by Dr. Billy 0. Barclay M.D. states that S.D. was admitted on January 10, 1995 and discharged on February 7, 1995. In his Admission Summary, Dr. Barclay states. "She had been living in California just prior to coming to the hospital and was being returned to her home area to deal with severe family problems when she made suicidal threats and in view of her history of a previous serious overdose and eating disorder symptoms and with both parents in jail at the time, she was admitted to the hospital for her own safety." Dr. Barclay said she was brought to the hospital by Dean Reiman.
Under a section entitled "Hospital Course," S.D.'s I.Q., personality testing indicating depression and a pattern of denial, medical history and psychological history were discussed. "She was found to be intelligent and more complex than most persons her age. There were no indications of a thought disorder." No medical problems were noted.
Dr. Barclay added: "The patient's psychosocial history had to be by way of the authorities in view of her parents' incarceration. A truly amazing collateral history was obtained, one in which there was active sexual activity amongst family members and friends with the patient and her siblings and her parents all involved with each other and with multiple family members in the same area." (But, note: these facts are inconsistent with police reports and court documents, i.e., abuse of J.D, A.D., and M.D by the parents only.)
S.D. was said to be "remote and unwilling to cooperate or participate. We did what we call a reverse room restriction and virtually allowed her to be out of the room, and she had to earn privileges to be alone in her room by cooperating."
Doctor Barclay states: The patient was seen in individual and group psychotherapy by Sherri Speare, R.N., M.S., under my supervision. While there was repeated inappropriate sexual involvement between her and her parents and perhaps other adults, this was not characteristic sexual abuse case. In fact, the patient's stance appeared to be that she was thoroughly involved in the situation and acted to protect herself and her parents from any outside interference.
Dr. Barclay stated. "I've only seen one other case similar to this who happened to be a girl of similar age who was the daughter of another family member in the neighborhood where this girl was from. It appeared then that there were several families who were conspiring to live in a lifestyle that was considered unacceptable by the society as whole, and the children were every bit as much a part of this as the parents. I'm not sure that anyone has studied cases such as his enough to know what the outcome might be. (Note: several children, Holts, Towns,Cunninghams, Everetts have been sent to Pinecrest.)
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