Written by Kathryn Lyon in "The Wenatchee Report"
Copyright 1995
In 1992 D.E., then eight years old, lived with her mother and father and her sister and three brothers in a tiny house bespeaking the family's poverty. D.E.'s mother, Idella Everett, has an IQ recently tested as 58.(13) Her father, Harold Everett, can neither read nor write. The Everetts have lived most of their lives in Wenatchee, Washington.
According to incident reports of Wenatchee Police Department Officer Kevin Dresker, (14) on February 26, 1992 a school counselor contacted the Wenatchee police because D.E. told him her "privates" hurt. From her statement and her recent behaviors the counselor suspected she had been sexually molested. That same day a CPS worker, Kate Carrow, interviewed D.E. at her school. D.E. purportedly told her that the day before two boys, Pancho and Julio, had put their fingers in her vagina while she was walking down an alley on her way home from school. Pancho and Julio are first graders at D.E.'s school. D.E. said that her sister M.E. had been in the alley with her when this happened. However, M.E. told Ms. Carrow that not her but their brother, R.E. had been there. Ms. Carrow was not satisfied.
Upon receiving this information Kate Carrow, on February 26, took D.E. to an emergency room doctor. Dr. Ettinger's finding was that D.E.'s genital area was "grossly normal." D.E. told Dr. Ettinger that two boys from school had touched her. (15)
Following up on this information, Officer Dresker contacted D.E. at her school on February 28, 1992. He told her he was a "kid safety" person. he talked about "good touching: where someone may kiss or hug you," about "bad touching: like when someone hits or kicks you," and about "secret touching: where someone touches your 'private parts.'" After some initial reluctance Donna acknowledged that she had some "touching troubles." She repeated that Julio and Pancho had touched her on her "pee pee." Kate Carrow, who was also present, drew six boxes on a piece of paper. Officer Dresker labeled the fourth box "secret," or "private part' touch. D.E. said she had that kind of touch. When Officer Dresker asked who had done this she said, "Pancho and Julio." She "made a mark by the groin area," of a drawing supplied to her for this purpose, to show where she had been touched. She said at different times that she had been touched with a hand and a stick. She also was inconsistent about who had been with her.
Neither Officer Dresker nor Ms. Carrow were satisfied. At this point both Officer Dresker and Kate Carrow "felt that D.E. had been molested, but that she was afraid to tell us who had molested her, so she was making up a story about Julio and Poncho. Julio and Poncho are both in the first grade at Lincoln school. Some of the statements and the apparent amount of physical damage to D.E., didn't match what we were told." (16)
On March 2, 1992, Officer Dresker interviewed Harold and Idella Everett. The Everetts related that on February 25, 1992, D.E. had come home from school and told them that two boys had kicked her in an alley. Then on February 27, 1992, after CPS had contacted her at school, D.E. told her parents that the two boys had approached her in an alley, pulled down her pants and "put their hands up her."
On March 3, 1992, Kate Carrow took D.E. to see a doctor at Wenatchee Valley Clinic. This time the doctor, Dr. Eisert, indicated that there was physical evidence consistent with sexual molestation. The medical examination results indicated no bruising, scarring, recent or old trauma of the anus. The vaginal area was without obvious adhesions or scars. Reference was made to an absence of hymenal tissue and hyper vascularity. No acute scars or obvious acute tears were observed in the examination or subsequent colposcopy examination.(17)
On the same day, Officer Dresker spoke with D.E.'s siblings, M.E. and R.E. (then six) at the Wenatchee Police Department. M.E. said D.E. hadn't been walking with her when the alleged incident occurred, but with R.E. She didn't know anything about "touching troubles." R.E. said that he was walking a little behind D.E. on February 25, 1992. He saw Julio hit D.E. "in the privates with a stick," while she had her clothes on. Kate Carrow remained unsatisfied. Upon hearing this, Ms. Carrow spoke to Harold and Idella Everett, who "agreed to a voluntary placement of D.E." D.E. was placed in a foster home. (18)
Nearly two weeks later, on March 16, 1992, Officer Dresker and Kate Carrow were contacted by D.E.'s foster mother, Debbie Cawdrey. Ms. Cawdrey said that initially D.E. would only talk about Julio and Pancho. On March 11, according to Ms. Cawdrey, D.E. "wasn't ready to say who hurt her." However on March 12, Debbie asked D.E. if she was "ready to talk." and D.E. said that she was. Debbie's husband Pete had then questioned D.E. and she said that a male approached her when she was walking with a friend, Veronica. This male grabbed her and "put his hand in as far as it would go." She thought the man's name was "Abel." Debbie told D.E. she was proud of her for her disclosure. Ms. Cawdrey was satisfied.
After receiving this information on March 16, 1992, Officer Dresker and Kate Carrow talked to D.E. at her school about the "touching troubles." D.E. refused to talk to Officer Dresker about these touching troubles. She turned away and was "almost to the point of crying." Officer Dresker reports that, "I asked her if she knew the person that she had touching troubles with and she nodded yes." Because D.E. was "having a hard time talking about the incident," Officer Dresker drew a series of stick figures. Through a process of elimination, D.E. pointed to the larger of two stick figures. Officer Dresker concluded that D.E.'s assailant was an adult male.
Because D.E. was "still having problems telling who the person was," Officer Dresker asked D.E. to whisper the name of the person to a stuffed animal. After a time, D.E. faintly whispered, "Abel." Officer Dresker then "told her how brave she was for talking." With reluctance, D.E. indicated on pictures provided by Kate Carrow that the man had touched her on the vaginal area with his hand. D.E. then identified Abel as a man who used to live with her sister, Karen Lopez. Although D.E. told Officer Dresker that her friend Veronica had been present and had seen the incident and that she had later discussed the touching with Veronica, Veronica denied memory of any of this when she was interviewed by Officer Dresker on the same day. No matter, Officer Dresker and Kate Carrow were satisfied.
On March 19, 1992, Officer Dresker and Officer Ramirez went to the home of Abel Lopez. Apparently Mr. Lopez could speak only Spanish but Officer Ramirez interpreted for Officer Dresker. Officer Dresker then later wrote the incident report. Officer Dresker related in his report, "I told Abel that (D.E.) said that the touching occurred and the doctors report confirmed that touching had occurred and I just wanted him to be honest with me so I could hear his side. I told him that I didn't feel he was being honest with me. I told Abel that if he wasn't honest with me, it could hurt him later on. I advised him that maybe it was possible that (D.E.) wanted him to touch or even touched him first. I told him that I knew the incident occurred, I just wanted to hear his side of the story as to what happened." At last, Mr. Lopez related that D.E. had grabbed his hand and put it to her vagina but he had snatched it away and went home.
Mr. Lopez purportedly believed that by telling the officers what they wanted they would be satisfied and let him go. They were indeed satisfied but they didn't let him go. Officer Dresker asked him to sign a statement. Abel Lopez asked if by signing a statement it meant he wouldn't be able to talk to a lawyer. Officer Dresker said no. Abel requested a lawyer a few times thereafter but, according to Officer Dresker, he continued to volunteer information. Officer Ramirez asked Abel if he wanted a lawyer or he wanted to talk and Abel said he wanted to talk. At that point Abel said he had lied in his statement and he had not touched D.E. (Wenatchee Police Department Incident Report, dated 3/2/92. Officer Kevin Dresker.)
And so it began.
From this simple origin, D.E. has become the paramount complaining witness regarding sex rings in the Wenatchee and East Wenatchee areas. Most of her allegations include the time frame prior to her interview by Officer Dresker. After her disclosures in 1992, D.E. was returned to the family home. In October of 1993, she was placed in the home of Robert Devereaux, a single male foster parent, because of allegations that her father Harold Everett had been physically abusive (spanking her brother with a belt.) In early 1994, Detective Robert Perez completed a brief training course in investigating child abuse allegations. Shortly thereafter, he took over as head of the crimes against children unit of the Wenatchee Police Department. He immediately set out on a course of aggressive investigation of child sex abuse allegations.
In March of 1994, D.E. was placed as a foster child in the home of Detective Perez. In June of 1994, Detective Perez made sexual comments about D.E.'s former foster father, Robert Devereaux, indicating his belief that Mr. Devereaux was sexually abusing the foster children in his charge, and implying he would get him someday.(19)
Robert Perez has testified that it took several months for D.E. to bond with him.(20) Then, in January of 1995 she told Detective Perez that she wanted to talk about others who had molested her. She named her parents and seven other adults, including Robert Devereaux. She described group acts of sex involving several children at various locations.(21) Three days later D.E. told Perez about several other adults, and additional child victims.
On March 13, 1994, D.E. drove around in a police vehicle with Detective Perez, Kate Carrow, and Laurie Alexander, also a Wenatchee CPS worker. D.E. pointed out 15 locations in Wenatchee and six locations in East Wenatchee, including Pastor Robert Roberson's Pentecostal Church, as being locations where she and other children had been molested by groups of adults. D.E. was interviewed by Detective Perez on March 14, again with Laurie Alexander and Kate Carrow present. On this and her previous disclosures D.E. described various sexual activities including penile/vaginal penetration. She said that at the Pentecostal Church they would sing songs and then go down to a "big room" where touching and intercourse occurred. She identified over 25 adults and a dozen children.(22)
Police reports document that D.E. has been interviewed formally by police more than a dozen times. Many more interviews are undocumented. Detective Perez has testified that Donna experienced many emotional difficulties at his home. When she acted up he told her several times that he would have to have her removed, at least temporarily. (23) Her disclosures may have followed a pattern of these statements.
According to an article in the Wenatchee Daily World, around the time of the trial of Donna Hidalgo in mid September, 1995, D.E. started to throw things around the Perez home. Detective Perez had D.E. charged and taken to juvenile detention. After a stay in juvenile detention, D.E. was then placed in another foster home. After she had testified against Ms. Hidalgo, D.E. was returned to the Perez home. However she soon had a temper tantrum again. The trial of Kerri Knowles, scheduled to begin the week of October 2, 1995 was continued because D.E. was purported to be experiencing emotional difficulties.
Detective Perez has testified that D.E.'s disclosures, made to him and his wife Luci at their home, became so frequent that he could no longer take them down. He told D.E. to save her statements for formal police interviews at the station. According to her statements and testimony, D.E. has named over 90 people as her molesters.
D.E.'s is only one of many stories.
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