• U.S.

THE TIDE TURNS IN WENATCHEE

2 minute read
David Van Biema

ROBERT AND CONNIE ROBERSON FInally got their daughter Rebecca back last week. “It was great,” says Robert, a Pentecostal lay preacher, who, along with his wife, had just been cleared of 14 counts of child molestation in Wenatchee, Washington. Roberson says Rebecca, placed in foster care when her parents were arrested, “was fine–she just acted like she’d been staying overnight someplace else.”

Many in Wenatchee no doubt wish they could resume their own lives so blithely. The Robersons were among 40 adults accused of thousands of sex crimes by detective Robert Perez. Perez’s charges were based on unvideotaped “recovered memories,” which it now seems he may have coerced from children, including his troubled foster daughter. Yet he and local prosecutors still managed to jail 28 people, many poor, mentally deficient, or otherwise unable to mount a robust defense.

“We were fortunate, praise the Lord, but this is not over,” says Roberson. He intends to file a civil suit against the state, seeks the release of those in prison and supports a local campaign to have the U.S. Justice Department investigate. Indeed, Attorney General Janet Reno has asked her civil rights division to review the case under laws against misusing public office to deprive citizens of their due-process rights; a report is due after Christmas. But it is unclear whether the proofs necessary to convict Perez and others are available in Wenatchee. A state appeals court may free those who were jailed. But no court can effect the rebuilding of shattered lives and families.

–By David Van Biema. Reported by Elaine Lafferty/Los Angeles and Elaine Shannon/Washington

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