News Tribune, Friday, October 06, 1995

STATE NEEDS HELP IN CHILD SEX CASE

Gov. Mike Lowry acted wisely this week when he asked U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to look into a bizarre child sex-abuse case that's been festering in Wenatchee for more than a year now.

The "case" - actually a multitude of interconnected prosecutions in Chelan and Douglas counties - has grown so convoluted, strange and clouded by charges of official misconduct that only the Justice Department may be able to settle the questions surrounding it. Federal intervention seems especially advisable in light of the fact that law enforcement agencies and state agencies have been accused of what could be civil rights violations.

There seems little question that children were victimized in the Wenatchee area and that some of the 28 adults who've been charged so far are guilty of serious crimes. Four have been convicted, and 10 have pleaded guilty. In some cases, especially those pursued in the early months of the investigation, terrible accounts of incest and abuse were corroborated by confessions, adult testimony and other apparently solid evidence.

It's worth noting that police officers, prosecutors and judges in two counties consider most of the charges credible. Yet some aspects of the case are profoundly troubling.

One is the sheer magnitude of the sexual abuse ring described by authorities. Investigators say roughly 50 children were systematically raped and sodomized for years by roughly the same number of adults, sometimes in elaborate group orgies, often in a small church, all under the noses of their unsuspecting neighbors.

There's also the whiff of hysteria that's grown increasingly strong in recent months. Critics who have raised questions about the investigation have themselves been accused of sexual abuse. A CPS caseworker was hounded out of the state after reporting that one supposed victim had recanted her accusations. A television reporter who aired a skeptical report of the prosecutions suddenly discovered he had come under criminal suspicion.

The investigators may well have lapsed into recklessness or zealotry at times. One suspect was charged with 3,200 counts of first- degree child rape. Many of the charges are based on allegations of a 10-year-old girl whose foster father happens to be the lead detective on the case. Some critics say the police have coerced testimony from children and suspects of limited intelligence.

State agencies and local authorities may be out of their depth in handling this murky and nightmarish case. It can't hurt to bring in the Justice Department.

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