Advertisement. Wenatchee Update. [6][61][62], Courts have freed all those once imprisoned in these prosecutions. View memorials for all fallen law enforcement officers from the New York City Police Department, New York. Perez placed her under arrest. 77 | Casetext Search + Citator", "3 Settle Suit Resulting From Child Sex Case", "City's sex-case settlement with Roberson: $700,000 | Local News", "City ordered to pay after withholding records in child sex lawsuit", "Roberson Says He's Due Credit Pastor Wants Talks with Media Counted as Community Service | the Spokesman-Review", "Sex-Ring Defendant Can't Just do Pr Work, State Says Roberson Must Come up with Better Plan for Community Service Work | the Spokesman-Review", "Man jailed in Wenatchee child-sex case is set free | Northwest", "Wenatchee-Current Status: Arrests, Convictions, Dismissals", "Lesser settlement stands in sex-abuse civil case | Local News", "Woman must continue to register as sex offender: 'Sex ring' subject vows to fight on", "TV Reporter's Stories on Alleged Sex Ring Cited | the Spokesman-Review", "Silver Batons: Medium Market Television", "Grant Wins 'Pulitzer of Broadcasting' | the Spokesman-Review", "KREM-TV, Investigative Reporting on the Wenatchee Child Sex Ring | 1997 duPont-Columbia Award Winner in 1997 duPont Winners on Vimeo", "Reporters at Odds in Sex Ring Case Some May Have Saved Innocent, Others May Have Fed Flames | the Spokesman-Review", "FMSF Newsletter - February 1, 1997 - Vol. Miller was brought back to Wenatchee. The younger boy, located at school, gave a similar account. [8][9], The investigation began in January 1995 when Detective Robert Perez was told by his 13-year-old foster daughter, Donna Perez, that she had been sexually molested. There, the pastor and three other adults allegedly raped her. No child deserves to feel that, there's no way I would do those things," she said. ." The investigation began in January 1995 when Detective Robert Perez was told by his 13-year-old foster daughter, Donna Perez, that she had been sexually molested. . Defense attorneys put Wenatchee police detective Bob Perez on the stand as a hostile witness and tried to undermine his credibility. According to police records, Cherie Town was advised of her rights but chose to "cooperate.". [69] The city was fined almost as much during the civil trial for withholding evidence. Detective Robert W. Williamson 5/13/2007. On March 13, 1995, Perez put Donna in his police car with two social services caseworkers and they drove through Wenatchee and East Wenatchee. Legal Statement. Sergeant Michael B. Wagner 4/27/2007. She settled with the city this month. Experts say children who have been sexually abused for years accept it as "normal," and often will repeat the behavior in situations other than the home. (One soon ran away from Perez and recanted.) There were neighborly exchanges between families. Most were investigated, some were not - the information lost in a shuffle of supervisors. Individually and as a group, the accused were isolated from society's mainstream. 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. A. that the police officer was `out to get her dad.' See more Perez memorials in: Santa Clara Cemetery; Oxnard; Ventura County . Perez, who was called to the stand by the defense, has testified that barely a month after he was promoted from uniformed patrolman to Wenatchee's only child sex crimes investigator in January. Cherie and Meredith Town's former residence, 610 Mission St., is within an easy five-minute walk. "[82][83][84] Grant first used the term "witch hunt" to describe these cases in March, 1995. Eventually, he trained for three days under a department predecessor and. 10/25/2004. What would you say to him if he were alive today? Perez was in charge of interviewing the more than 40. PEREZ Feb. 2000 99 Wn. A. It was the touching thing, the `wild thing.' "Children's disclosures may be confusing and inconsistent. Perez looked for Green; when the two finally connected by phone, Green's first question was "Is this about Laura Holt?" She identified 19 locations: Some were familiar, such as Devereaux's house and the former rental homes of the Holts and Towns; but others, such as the Pentecostal Church of God House of Prayer in East Wenatchee, presented shocking new leads. The trouble did not end there. "There are countless suggestive forces," she said. Ricardo Robert "Bob" Perez, Jr. passed away peacefully at Central Washington Hospital on Thursday, December 12, 2013, surrounded by family and friends. Q. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. App. Civil Rights: Other case filed on July 12, 2022 in the New Jersey District Court Perez knew time was short. Per capita income remains lower, and unemployment and felony rates higher, compared to much of the rest of the state. Perez, looks a lot like Annette Funicello and exudes wholesome determination. He even suggested the detective is a bit shady. Perez said it was too late, that he was under arrest for suspicion of child rape. Retired police sergeant Mike Magnotti said protecting children was the first priority for Perez. 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. They don't want to believe it. "It is extremely easy for a child, especially when traumatized, to create false memories . No. Standing on the front porch, the 36-year-old mother of two was asked if she'd ever abused her boys. A few had histories of telling terrible lies. Children, not knowing whether their memories are real, grow up unsure and unhappy - damaged no matter what happened. I'm lying.". Physically assaultive behavior in the role of foster parent by Detective Robert Perez. 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. Perez asked for details. Attorney Robert Perez has dedicated his life to representing people accused of serious crimes. Interviewed in jail, where she is being held in lieu of $50,000 cash-only bail, Miller now claims her confession was coerced. [45], Washington Governor Mike Lowry requested a federal review,[2][44][46] but U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno declined to involve the national Justice Department in these cases. . Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Detective Perez brought L.R.H. Some will never believe it. His investigation, with state Child Protective Services agents, ensnared 42 Chelan and Douglas County residents, 28 of whom were convicted or pleaded guilty, the newspaper reported. And Idella, threatened with a beating from her husband, had held the children down, then molested them herself. The division between the two Wenatchees is deep. But never once, Cherie Town said, did she "keep the boys home from school to have sex. On March 13, 1995, Perez put Donna in his police car with two social services caseworkers and they drove through Wenatchee and East Wenatchee. That we must always remain ever vigilant. ", Perez went back to the kids, accompanied by a Child Protective Services investigator. The point? . Police Officer Jose A. Perez 4/27/1994. "[86] Grant later concluded that these cases involved "good intentions, driven to hysteria, and then funneled through some people, particularly Perez, who did not use the correct techniques in investigating these cases". A former East Wenatchee cop, Kinkade does not shy from a brawl. The Wenatchee child abuse prosecutions in Wenatchee, Washington, US, of 1994 and 1995, were the last "large scale Multi-Victim / Multi-Offender case"[1] during the hysteria over child molestation in the 1980s and early 1990s. Down at the station, seated alongside the detective's desk, Cherie Town answered questions for a long time. Detective Controls and CIP Supervisor. Oct. 6, 1995 11:59 pm ET. In this appeal, the City contends that the superior court's orders vacating the defense verdicts and ordering a new trial constituted an abuse of discretion; i.e., the City's position is that . Tim Abbey, the Supervisor of Child Protective Services at the time of the Wenatchee sex crime investigation, had no doubt done his part in aiding Perez having dismissed an alleged victims recantation, facilitating the arrest of the caseworker whod brought the very admission to his attention, and even forcing hospitalization at a mental facility for any children whod been uncooperative witnesses in the prosecution of their parents. At least one caseworker said change was needed in the Devereaux household - perhaps only boys should be placed there. Neither Perez nor his superiors will comment on the specific charges. 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. A.I do not consider a 40-hour training course on child abuse "extensive" at all. He spent his youth in Guadalajara, Mexico, where his father attended Medical School. They had no idea, of course, of the difficulties that lay ahead; no hint of conspiracy; no clue that an incestuous ring of pedophiles, the likes of which has never been proved in this country, might be operating in Wenatchee. Tim Abbey, former Wenatchee-area administrator for the state Department of Social and Health Services' Division of Children and Family Services, said he and former police detective Robert Perez . The 9-year-old had asked if they could talk. Sheriff Allan Joseph Weber; Grafton County Sheriff's Department, New Hampshire. The room's only memorable feature is an oversized Pink Panther that lounges at the desk of Detective Robert Perez, sex-crimes investigator. Wenatchee Police Detective Robert Perez tenaciously pursued his investigation into stories of sexual predators who victimized children - sometimes their own children. (Court's Memorandum Decision on Reference Hearing, Ct. Rec. Fox Nation'sIn the Valley of Sindocumentsthe perseverance and resilience of the accused and their supporters in the face of overwhelming odds, untold suffering, and unthinkable accusations. WENATCHEE (AP) The former police detective who led the discredited Wenatchee child sex ring investigation has died. "Let me tell you, I was abused by two uncles and a cousin, and I know the dirt you feel. 10/21/2004. Then a tip came from the Holts' former landlady. As it is elsewhere, the haves and have-nots don't often mingle. Glassen's supervisor reportedly passed the information on to her husband, a deputy prosecuting attorney, who passed it on to Perez. Many people were horrified, almost grief-stricken by the sex scandal; others were beginning to think police, and Perez in particular, were manufacturing charges. Perez found the older boy, who is mentally disabled, eager to please but very afraid of what might happen if his father found out "he told." 500 Park Ave West . [22] Parents and Sunday school teachers were charged, and many were convicted of abusing children, often including their own, or their foster children. Some children were abused in Wenatchee, that much is certain. [37], A jury also acquitted Honnah Sims; one juror criticized the lack of evidence and described the case as "a witch hunt",[25] and the jury foreman criticized the case as a waste of money given the weakness of the evidence. The state ferry system still faces crew shortages and a diminishing, aging fleet of green-and-white workhorses. The detective responsible for the witch hunt, Robert "Bob" Perez, having incarcerated 43 adults with almost 30,000 counts of child rape and molestation, had become the lead detective of the Sex Crimes Unit in Wenatchee after attending a 3-day, 40-hour course on child abuse. A conspiracy such as that alleged in Wenatchee has never been substantiated in this country, according to federal authorities. The lawsuit alleges it. Donna pointed out houses and buildings where she says she and other children were repeatedly raped and molested since January 1988. Q. There was, it seemed, horrific new allegations being made every day. Before he arrested Meredith Town, he wanted corroborating statements from the boys, then ages 14 and 12. Ultimately, 29,726 charges of child molestation were lodged. 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. She told a counselor that her husband, Meredith "Gene" Town, had for years been molesting their two young sons. Bob Perez died a disgraced former detective in 2013. Between tears, Green explained the abuse happened one Easter weekend when Laura and Selid Holt dropped their three kids - a 12-year-old boy, a 7-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy - off for a two-week stay at her home. That suggestion was ultimately rejected in Olympia as "discriminatory.". WENATCHEE Former Wenatchee police Detective Bob Perez, who led a discredited child sex ring investigation in the 1990s in Central Washington, has died. she said during an interview at the Washington Correctional Facility for Women near Purdy, where she is to spend the next 40 years. Interviewed in jail where she is awaiting trial, Donna Hidalgo claimed innocence. Auxiliary Police Officer Nicholas T. Pekearo . 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. Melinda Everett, now 28, a plaintiff in the sex-abuse case, lived for a brief time in the home of detective, Robert Perez, while he investigated the case. Improper training. "It's a witch hunt, pure and simple," said Bob Kinkade, self-appointed leader of the local chapter of Victims of Child Abuse Laws. Luci Perez, wife of Det. From there it's three blocks to the Wenatchee police station, a cramped stone building constructed in the early 1930s. Of the cases that ended in convictions or guilty pleas, 18 were thrown out or overturned on appeal after Perezs tactics were investigated by a specially appointed appellate judge. Whether those children were routinely gang-raped, as police and prosecutors say, is another matter. But the cases against Town and Green and 15 others were overturned on appeal after evidence emerged that suspects, children and other defendants were coercively questioned by Wenatchee Police Detective Bob Perez, and bullied into signing statements the detective typed for them.