Bob Perez, driving force in discredited sex abuse cases, dies Police Department - Cold Cases | City and County of Denver At least one caseworker said change was needed in the Devereaux household - perhaps only boys should be placed there. [80], In 1995 journalist Tom Grant of KREM-TV won a George Polk Award for Excellence in Journalism for his coverage of these cases. [13][14], Many of the people convicted were poor, had intellectual disabilities and were on welfare, and their lawyers stated that their guilty pleas were coerced. . Shetland (TV Series 2013- ) - IMDb He rose quickly, becoming a detective trainee only three years after being sworn in. . On March 13, 1995, Perez put Donna in his police car with two social services caseworkers and they drove through Wenatchee and East Wenatchee. Striding down the hallway of the county courthouse - tall, fair, well-built, with a sidearm and handcuffs visible under his leather jacket - he is the image of righteous justice. "But I was not willing to have my wife and 5-year-old son picked up, interrogated and God knows what . . As the citys chief sex crimes investigator, Perez arrested dozens of Wenatchee Valley adults between 1994 and 1995 on suspicion of sexually abusing children, sometimes in bizarre, ritualistic fashion. SEATTLE (AP) -- The young girl whose accusations evolved into the Wenatchee child sex ring cases was a quick-witted child who blossomed once she was given love and attention, her former foster father testified. Others argue children do not lie about something as physically and emotionally painful as sexual abuse. . Witness: No intimidation by police in sex-ring case - HeraldNet Robert Perez's passing has been publicly announced by Valley Of The Temples Memorial Pk & Funeral Homes in Kaneohe, HI.Legacy invites you to offer condolences and share memories of Robert in the G I'm lying.". Terror Rules The Inevitable Result Of Child Worship Trials And Troubles In Happy Valley - Newsweek The court also vacated orders dismissing Detective Robert Perez and Wenatchee Police Chief Kenneth Badgley, on the ground substantial justice required it. . Mae Hochstetler can pay the bills because the state pays her to care for her adult son, with a pandemic pay bump. 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. [CA] UPDATE: Ex-Detective Perez stabbed to death - Blogger The Wenatchee Case - CBS News Q. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! He says homicide is different from all others: "I think one of the most stressful jobs that I've had . . Her confession, together with statements by Perez' foster daughter and a 13-year-old friend, bound together the various abuse cases. . Then a tip came from the Holts' former landlady. [68] The city of Wenatchee paid the Robersons a settlement of $700,000. Every person alleged to have been part of "The Circle" is poor, some desperately so. Interviewed in jail where she is awaiting trial, Donna Hidalgo claimed innocence. 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 . "Let me tell you, I was abused by two uncles and a cousin, and I know the dirt you feel. [4] The Roberson's 5-year-old daughter testified that her parents never abused her,[27] so Judge T. W. Small dismissed two charges that they had. [10] This drive became known locally as the "Parade of Homes"[11][12] or the "drive-by". Supportive parishioners, many of them poor and dependent on the food the Robersons' gave out weekly, decry the arrests as police "payback." + Subscribe for $1 for the first month A. ", "FMSF Newsletter - November/December, 1995 - Vol. Court of Appeals of Washington,Division 3, - Findlaw Only after reassurances and coaxing did the teenager reveal he had repeatedly been sodomized by his father. [1] The allegations started when two children under the foster care of detective Robert Perez began accusing their parents. ", Perez went back to the kids, accompanied by a Child Protective Services investigator. Somebody would have told.". 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. Wenatchee is generally regarded as a pleasant town with a solid, upright middle class. "[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". . Plaintiffs' attorney James Beecher said Perez. - Drive continuous improvement and efficiency in the accounting and master data processes for NA Hub. Miller was brought back to Wenatchee. One of Devereaux's foster daughters said he raped her. 336 Roberson v. Perez Aug. 2004 123 Wn. It is important to note that their marriage ended after one of Miller's daughters (by a previous husband) accused Steinborn of sexual molestation. On March 13, 1995, Perez put Donna in his police car with two social services caseworkers and they drove through Wenatchee and East Wenatchee. With her statement, police and prosecutors were able to convince Harold that he, too, should enter a plea of guilty. 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. Per capita income remains lower, and unemployment and felony rates higher, compared to much of the rest of the state. See more Perez memorials in: Santa Clara Cemetery; Oxnard; Ventura County . Perez even let Jen go on Dead to Me after Jen confessed to murder. Local authorities alleged that dozens of children were raped in the bedrooms of their parents, in the homes of their neighbors, and at ritualized orgies on the altar of a church. Bob Perez died last Thursday at Central Washington Hospital, according to. [70][71] While on trial for child abuse, Douglas County also prosecuted the Robersons for welfare fraud, a case the Robersons described as "harassment". A few are of below normal intelligence. [11][27] Four months later they were each released on a reduced $12,500 bail to await trial. Advertisement. She responded, "I only did it twice.. . Perez, 60, of Waterville died on Dec. 12 at Central Washington Hospital of stroke-related complications, The Wenatchee World reported Wednesday. 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. None of the interviews, or the adults' confessions, was taped. In 1994, Perez (who had undergone a few hours of specialized training in child abuse investigations) took his foster daughters on a ride through the streets of Wenatchee, asking them to identify places where they had been abused . Justice would have required someone within the system having the backbone to stand up and declare "This is wrong." Would you consider that training to be appropriately extensive? However, the allegations weren't true.. Market data provided by Factset. S Federal & W Florida . A Rogue Cop and Every Strategy He Can Think Of: The Wenatchee Cunningham v. City of Wenatchee, 214 F. Supp. 2d 1103 (E.D. Wash. 2002) I thought to myself, `Oh God, what a mess,' and went straight to my supervisor," Glassen said. 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 . Following this, he was "accused, indirectly, of committing some of the same crimes". New York City Police Department - The Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP) The City's investigation began after a foster child in the home of Wenatchee Police Detective Robert Perez claimed that she and other children had been sexually abused while attending the family's East Wenatchee church. [32] The main witness was Perez' foster daughter; Perez was the investigator of the cases. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. A conspiracy such as that alleged in Wenatchee has never been substantiated in this country, according to federal authorities. Bundling the girl up, Perez and two Child Protective Services caseworkers drove the child, now 10, around town so she could point out where these orgies were supposed to have taken place. Even in plain clothes, Perez looks formidable. That didnt happen. Some lost parental rights. The wake it leaves behind is never-ending. Many people were horrified, almost grief-stricken by the sex scandal; others were beginning to think police, and Perez in particular, were manufacturing charges. His dreams came true and he became a K9 officer. WENATCHEE Former Wenatchee police Detective Bob Perez, who led a discredited child sex ring investigation in the 1990s in central Washington, has died. Distraught, Devereaux responded, "My life is ruined, okay, I did it. 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. Gomez, 267 F.3d 895, 907 (9th Cir.2001) (internal quotations omitted). Late one afternoon that September, Luci Perez sat down with her foster daughter. Rafael Perez: The Man Who Inspired Denzel Washington's Oscar - Amorq No. [12], In 1997, Pastor Roby and Connie Roberson attended the "Day of Contrition" conference in Salem, Massachusetts, along with other victims and experts of the day-care sex-abuse hysteria.[6][87][88]. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Children were interviewed in the presence of other children. Ralph Gausvik brought suit against Detective Robert Perez, alleging Perez violated his civil rights during a sex abuse investigation. Many of the adults arrested as a result. The last civil lawsuit against the city was settled in 2011 for $120,000, the paper reported. "We had to undress and lay down on the bed, a kid on each bed," she said. Believe me, I know, its hard in the trenches and Perez hasnt made it any easier. or redistributed. On a sticky-hot July afternoon, about three months after the Towns were arrested, Perez knocked on Laura Holt's door. In March, with her parents in prison, the Everett child began making new allegations: Dozens of adults had regularly forced her and countless other children to have sex. When Ventura Police arrived to the 1500 block of Daffodil Avenue, they found 37-year-old Robert Perez had been stabbed once in the chest. A child may misattribute a specific abusive act . That suspicion was heightened by medical evidence suggesting that at least one and possibly both of the boys had been abused. But by the time Detective Robert Perez completed his investigation, 24 people in Wenatchee had been accused in a child sex-abuse scandal. The distinction blurred with the availability of family-wage, factory jobs. -----------------------------------------------------------------. . ", 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." Several of the accused claimed that their confessions were coerced. Detective Second Grade Kevin G. Hawkins 5/7/2007. 123 Wn. App. 320, Roberson v. Perez - MRSC WENATCHEE Former Wenatchee police Detective Bob Perez, who led a discredited child sex ring investigation in the 1990s in Central Washington, has died. But there was one problem: none of it actually happened. Go to Fox Nationto start a free trial and watch the extensive library from your favorite Fox News personalities. The Robersons were arrested on 22 counts of child rape and molestation. 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.' [43], Critics maintained that these cases were mishandled by the police and proper protocol was not followed when interviewing the children. ROBERSON v. PEREZ | 99 Wn. App. 439 | Wash. Ct. App. - Casemine ." Heres whats happening at the mid-point of the 2023 session of the Washington Legislature. The more he heard, the. In early August 1994, Perez paid another visit to Cherie Town, who was in the Chelan County Jail awaiting sentencing. As I have long argued, Evil does not require a motiveit simply is. Auxiliary Police Officer Milton S. Clarke Children, not knowing whether their memories are real, grow up unsure and unhappy - damaged no matter what happened. - Lead Detective Controls audits processes, coordinate testing and audits with internal audit team. The Unraveling Of A Monstrous Secret -- Sex-Abuse Scandal Has Wenatchee