The accusations multiplied until the sexual-abuse scandal in Jordan, Minn. (pop. 2,663), gripped the entire community. After a mother told police last year that her teen-age daughter had been abused by a neighbor, 24 adults were charged with molesting 37 children, including their own. The children provided graphic testimony, and James Rud, 26, a convicted child molester, described a perverted version of hide-and-seek in which, he said, the adults would search out the children and spend five or ten minutes sexually molesting each one.
The first case to go to trial ended...