Imagine for a moment you’re a child. Your life isn’t normal. It’s controlled by fear and pain. It’s that way because you’re being raped by your 43-year-old uncle who lives in your home with you and your family.
In March 2007 you tell your school counselor about the rapes. She calls the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office to report the attacks. You tell sheriff’s deputy what happened. You tell the truth. You think now you’ll finally be safe.
So imagine your fear when for some unknown reason to you, your uncle returns to your home and starts raping you all over again. This time he impregnates you.
You’ve done everything right. You’ve done no wrong, but others have. Like the sheriff’s office that failed to do their job.
The story I just told is true and according to newspaper stories in last week’s East Valley Tribune and Arizona Republic, the MCSO is now being sued for failing to protect a 13-year-old girl who was raped repeatedly by her uncle before and after reporting the crimes to the sheriff’s office.
Even though the case was workable, meaning there were leads to follow, investigative methods available to prove a crime was committed and evidence to support the story of the victim, the MCSO classified the case as “inactive.”
The case was inactivated even though two months after the crimes were reported to MCSO, the Arizona Department of Public Safety crime lab found “semen” on a swab taken from the young girl’s vagina during a medical examination.
The crime lab instructed MCSO to get a DNA sample from the uncle so the DNA from the vaginal swab could be compared to his and link him to the crime. MCSO didn’t take a DNA sample until 2011. It was only then when the uncle was finally charged with the crimes committed against his niece. The uncle has pled guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
These particular sex crimes took place in a county island east of Mesa and are not part of the 432 un-investigated sex crimes cases reported to the MCSO in El Mirage and western Maricopa County. Following the public disclosure of that massive MCSO failure in those cases, Sheriff Joe Arpaio told the media, “If there were any victims, I apologize to those victims.”
It’s been reported that sex crimes cases in the West Valley were put on the back burner so the sheriff could run his publicity-driven immigration round-ups.
MCSO Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan, Arpaio’s second in command, is quoted as saying of the Mesa case “he was disheartened by the claim because the Sheriff’s Office has worked to improve its abuse investigations. We’ve made a lot of progress since we first detected these cases.”
In the East Valley case, the Phoenix New Times reported this week that the deputy assigned to this particular case was ordered to work a mortgage fraud case assigned directly to her by a Deputy Chief B. Knight. The detective also reportedly was assigned to work on a credit card fraud report involving the Arizona Diamondbacks.
KPNX Channel 12 reported last year “Maricopa County records show the MCSO misspent more than $600,000 dollars earmarked for investigations of sex crimes and child abuse cases.”
To think that the health and welfare of victims of sexual assault, the investigation of current sex crimes and the prevention of future sex crimes didn’t take precedence over publicity stunts, a pet project for a deputy chief and a credit card fraud case is abominable.
The bottom line is that MCSO, under the direction of Sheriff Arpaio, failed massively in their statutory duties and professional and moral responsibilities.
As for the MCSO’s “progress” since their investigative failures were made public, all the progress in the world won’t give a Mesa girl back the childhood that was stolen from her by a sexual predator and the inaction of the MCSO.
Engaged Voter posted at 4:45 pm on Thu, Aug 23, 2012.
"It’s been reported that sex crimes cases in the West Valley were put on the back burner so the sheriff could run his publicity-driven immigration round-ups."
I may not like Arpaio, but I dislike unsubstantiated claims even more.
Source please. I would love to see this report.
The Shadow posted at 5:37 pm on Thu, Aug 23, 2012.
Joe has got to go. Mismanagement of MCSO funds, no action on sex crimes, the man has become totally consumed by the power of his office. If he is reelected, it will be a sad day for Arizona considering that the common voter couldn't see through Joe's smoke screen. Joe has got to go!
JoeMustGo posted at 5:52 pm on Thu, Aug 23, 2012.
Engaged Voter: Name anything else the MCSO hasn't put on the back burner to further efforts of immigration round ups...and no...birth certificate witch-hunts don't count. Next question...name one thing more important than preventing a child from being raped...not easy to do right?. Joe doesn't have that same problem.
one of the last posted at 6:00 pm on Thu, Aug 23, 2012.
The Reason for not investigating will not give back the child her innocents. Arpaio should be tried as assessor to each of these child sex crimes. He has let them get away without justice and to do the same to more children. Each of these Sexual preditors that gets away with this goes on to more children.
Mike McClellan posted at 6:05 pm on Thu, Aug 23, 2012.
In the relatively brief history of Arizona, Joe Arpaio's reign as MCSO Sheriff is the darkest part of our state's story.
He's vainglorious, incompetent, venal, vindictive and abusive. He's used his office to attack his opponents, he has mismanaged tax funds, he has cost taxpayers close to $100 million in lawsuits, he has avoided investigation of sex crimes like the one mentioned by Mr. Richardson, he has diverted funding to "crime suppression sweeps" for which he has zero evidence that the publicity stunts actually suppress crime.
Oh, but he has fooled the gullible into thinking that he somehow, as the gullible like to chant, "enforces all the laws all the time."
What's even darker than his reign of error and terror has been the complicity by the majority of voters over the last 20 years, who return this phony to office.
Wait until the historians get ahold of this sorry chapter of Arizona history.
chatmandu002 posted at 7:16 pm on Thu, Aug 23, 2012.
Go Sheriff Joe,
Enforce all the laws all the time.
Arizona Willie posted at 10:36 pm on Thu, Aug 23, 2012.
The responsibility for solving those sex crimes belongs to the police department of the city where they happened.
Why aren't people complaining about the police chiefs of all the various cities in Maricopa County? They are the ones who didn't solve the cases.
Unless the crime occurred on a county island it would not be Arpaio's responsibility and I doubt seriously that over 400 occurred on county islands.
Most of them happened in one of the cities in Maricopa County and the local police bear primary responsibility to solve them.
bobunf posted at 11:54 pm on Thu, Aug 23, 2012.
The 432 un-investigated sex crimes complained about occurred in Mirage when the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office had jurisdiction. There were no local police.
Similarly in the Morrison case. You will note that it is Maricopa County that is being sued, not any local police department.
bobunf posted at 12:05 am on Fri, Aug 24, 2012.
Willie, while you've been congratulating the Sheriff for enforcing "all the laws all the time" (by which you really man, "keeping the Mexicans down"), the Sheriff hasn't bothered to chase after hordes of rapists, child molesters and other abusers.
He also hasn't bothered to investigate theft. Flagrantly negligent as it may seem, the policy (not some individual Deputy's space out, but the policy) of the Sheriff's Office is not to investigate reports of theft (including $100,000 thefts and up), but to assign a case number and suggest the victim use that to report the matter to their insurance company.
Maricopa County: haven and safe harbor to child molesters, rapists, abusers, thieves and other serious criminals, but tough on dish washers and laundry ladies.
It's unprofessional; it's incompetent; it's corrupt. And, of course, it's racist and xenophobic - that's the whole point; to appeal to the people frightened by our changing demographics, the warmed over KKK. and White Citizens Councils.
Arizona Willie posted at 7:35 am on Fri, Aug 24, 2012.
bobunf == really? Those 432 sex crimes all happened in the tiny town of Mirage?
I'm not sure there are even 432 PEOPLE in Mirage.
Sheriff Joe may not be an angel -- but do you really really believe he would order his officers to ignore cases?
You claim it was the " policy " to not investigate crimes and I say PROVE IT.
Produce the order from Sheriff Joe where he instructed officers to just tell victims to call their insurance company.
PROVE IT
Mike McClellan posted at 8:23 am on Fri, Aug 24, 2012.
Two points about the lack of investigations into the more than 400 sexual assaults for which MCSO had enforcement responsibilities:
A. His chief deputy Jerry Sheridan admitted it earlier this year;
B. The Trib won a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on the MCSO problems:
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/special_reports/reasonable_doubt/
What Arpaio did do was this: He took personnel from one area and put them into his crime suppression group, leaving the MCSO short of personnel in El Mirage. Plus, detectives "investigating" the assaults repeatedly closed cases quickly, with no investigations. Sheridan's admitted both:
"The Sheriff's Office agrees its detectives working in the special-victims unit in the early part of the past decade failed to adequately investigate such cases.
"It's very difficult for all of us in law enforcement to hear a response like that because that's not the kind of standard we have set here at the Sheriff's Office," Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan said. "We became very aware of the problem in 2007, and we're still, many years later, dealing with it."
As of December, Sheridan said sheriff's detectives had reopened 428 cases from that period, making 19 arrests. Detectives determined that 116 of the sex-crime cases were unfounded, 69 were labeled inactive and 224 were cleared without arrest."
Now, you can refuse to believe either the Trib's report or the Chief Deputy's admissions, but if you do, you're reusing to admit reality.
Arizona Willie posted at 10:57 am on Fri, Aug 24, 2012.
Mr. McClellan -- bobunf claimed it was " policy " to not investigate.
Policies get typed up and posted on the bulletin boards.
I want him to post a scanned copy of the policy on some site like photobucket in order to prove his claim that it was Arpaio's " policy " not to investigate those sex crimes.
As for Sheridan -- was he testifying under oath or making a political statement in support of one of the candidates opposing Arpaio? In the latter case it is worthless.
As for the newspaper article == that too is worthless because the paper is a long time opponent of Arpaio's and would do / say / publish anything to smear him.
And Sheridan admitted that when they TRIED to solve the cases they only got arrests in 4.4% of the cases.
Now these crimes occurred over quite a few years.
Which is better -- devoting a lot of investigative time into cold cases or having officers pursue current cases? Especially in light of the low arrest rate on those cases.
I'm not saying that some officers weren't lazy and didn't do their job right years ago.
But to claim that it was Arpaio's " policy " is an outright lie.
I'd wager my next Social Security deposit that bobunf cannot post a copy of any " policy " that said officers should not investigate sex crimes.
To be clear -- Sheriff Arpaio lost my support with the birther issue and sending people to Hawaii.
But to accuse him of having a policy of refusing to try to solve sex crimes is over the top and I think it only right to say so.
I would also bet that if you checked all the Sheriff's Departments around the nation you would find as many, if not more, unsolved sex crimes in every department.
How many sex crimes DID Arpaio's office solve?
Why don't you post a ratio of solved to unsolved sex crimes during Arpaio's reign?
I think I know why. There are thousands that were solved compared to 400 that didn't get investigated properly because of some lazy officers.
Why don't you call for those officers to be prosecuted for dereliction of duty?
Mike McClellan posted at 1:35 pm on Fri, Aug 24, 2012.
Willie, at the time, those 400-some cases were not cold cases at all. They became that way because they were either outright ignored or quickly "investigated."
And you're conflating "unsolved" with "uninvestigated" -- two different things.
And you're ignoring the issue, which is that the MCSO has admitted ignoring those cases.
You can keep up the polite fiction that it didn't happen, but then I guess we all create our own reality, no matter how fantastical it is.
Arizona Willie posted at 2:35 pm on Fri, Aug 24, 2012.
Mr. McClellan -- i didn't deny that those cases weren't properly investigated.
I said I didn't believe bobunf's claim that it was Arpaio's " policy " that those crimes should not be investigated. Which is what he claimed.
I think it is blatantly unfair to declare the failure to investigate 400 crimes properly that occurred over what 16 years (?) to be Sheriff Joe's fault and to claim the failure to investigate met with his approval.
In any organization that large the top man cannot know every action of each individual under his command. It is simply impossible.
If some officers failed to properly investigate some crimes -- it was THEIR FAULT.
And Arpaio's detractors focus ONLY on a relatively few crimes but fail to mention how many sex crimes DID get solved during Joe's reign.
Figure out the ratio between solved and unsolved sex crimes, during Joe's time in office, and if it is less than X% you might have something to complain about.
But you would also need to know what the ratio of unsolved sex crimes is in all the other Sheriff's Departments like Joe's across the country to see if he did better or worse than other people in his job.
If his ratio is worse then you have a complaint, otherwise ... not so much.
Just to cite the one figure of unsolved sex crimes that occurred over almost 2 generations without comparing to both how many solved sex crimes there were and what the ratio is in other Sheriff's departments is grossly unfair.
From your previous writings, I think you are a fair minded person and I would expect you to acknowledge the unfairness of the situation.
But, to Joe haters, nothing matters but to defeat him.
Like the Obama haters, only Joe is white.
DonMey posted at 2:57 pm on Fri, Aug 24, 2012.
So, the officer isn't to blame because they were assigned two other fraud cases while working this rape case? I don't know about you, but I expect police officers to be able to work more than one case at a time, and to be able to prioritize those cases based on danger to society. If there was a failure in leadership, it was giving this officer the rank in the first place.
Arizona Willie posted at 5:01 pm on Fri, Aug 24, 2012.
DonMey --- who said it wasn't the officer's fault?
Leon Ceniceros posted at 9:18 pm on Fri, Aug 24, 2012.
"RETIRED MESA MASTER POLICE OFFICER" = IS WHAT....A RANK LIKE...DETECTIVE, SERGEANT, OFFICER, LIEUTENANT.....WHAT ???
The good "retired Mesa Master Police Officer" cited .......ONE (1) Rape case.
Was it a rape that occurred on a County "island" or where ?
As for unsolved rape cases how about the hundreds and hundreds of rape cases that have occurred in the City of Mesa....YEAR IN AND YEAR OUT.
Has the Mesa Police Department solved every single one ?
Here are the number of rape cases per year that the City of Mesa Police Department reported to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
2011 = 131
2010 = 124
2009 = 123
2008 = 161
2007 = 175
2006 = 203
2005 = 194
TOTAL RAPE CASES FOR THE YEARS 2005 - 2011 = 1, 111
HAVE ALL THE ...1,111....RAPES COMMITTED WITHIN THE CITY LIMITS OF MESA BEEN SOLVED AND THE RAPISTS IDENTIFIED AND INCARCERATEDBY THE CITY OF MESA POLICE DEPARTMENT ???
WOULD THE ...."RETIRED MESA MASTER POLICE OFFICER"....GIVE THE READERS OF THE EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE THIS INFORMATION .....OR IS THIS ARTICLE JUST ANOTHER IN THE NEVER-ENDING STRING OF ...."VENDETTA" ATTACKS ON THE ...MARICOPA SHERIFF DEPARTMENT.
Arizona Willie posted at 10:25 pm on Fri, Aug 24, 2012.
Yes Leon, you got this one right. It is simply part of the vendetta.
Arpaio's accusers won't talk about how many sex crimes were solved or the ratio between solved and unsolved.
Or how many unsolved sex crimes other County Sheriff's around the country have.
Nope, they want the gullible to believe that each and every unsolved sex crime went unsolved because Arpaio personally ordered the detective to not properly investigate it.
They claim it was his " policy " not to investigate crimes.
k33j88 posted at 4:28 am on Sat, Aug 25, 2012.
Where are the girl's parents in all of this? Why were they not mentioned?Even though my heart goes out to that poor girl that has to live with the consequences all of her life, the lack of parental follow-up is a classic example of illegal immigration chain migration. Being told by the ones you love to avoid the authorities, at the risk of deportation, is sad and can be avoidable. The sheriffs department can only do so much with illegals because of the laws on the books. This is what happens when you live in the shadows and cannot fully assimilate into society.
Arizona Willie posted at 8:45 am on Sat, Aug 25, 2012.
k33j88 ... let's try an experiment -- fix yourself up a backpack and some water and cross the border into Mexico without a passport or visa.
Then, present yourself at a hospital and demand medical care -- free.
And also demand that all papers given you be in English -- free
Then, once the laughter dies down, demand a path to citizenship because it is you " right ".
And, while you are waiting, camp out in front of their city hall and wave the America flag and hold up signs in English protesting being denied your " rights ".
Get back to us on how that worked out for ya', will ya'?
Cerulean posted at 12:23 pm on Sat, Aug 25, 2012.
I think Joe Arpaio has been minimally effective in his job. Yes, he deported some illegals, he may have frightened some, I think his efforts were mainly for his, self-aggrandizement, his reelection bid.
It is true that Arizona has a long history of tolerance toward migrants. So maybe Joe’s commercial displays, his “roundups” made some, who have distaste for non-nationals, feel better . He could have done more, had he been willing to play by the rules granted to him through 287 (g). This authorization gave Joe the ability to do more than SB1070. He abused the privilege.
Stories abound about abuse of police powers; “One of the examples cited in the lawsuit was a Latino woman who is a U.S. citizen and was 5-months pregnant when she was stopped as she pulled into her driveway.
When the woman refused to sit on the hood of a car as the officer insisted, the officer pulled her arms behind her back, slammed her stomach first into the vehicle three times and dragged her to his patrol car. He shoved her into the back seat and made her wait for about 30 minutes without air conditioning, the lawsuit said.
Eventually, the woman was cited for failure to provide proof of insurance, but the matter was resolved when she provided such proof to a court, the lawsuit said.”
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/arizona/politics/article_a91d7554-9a6a-11e1-828b-0019bb2963f4.html
I do not like a law officer who believes he/she is above the law. Joe epitomizes that kind of character.
samkat posted at 5:34 pm on Sat, Aug 25, 2012.
Dang the attack dogs are after Joe this afternoon. Bill: Have you bothered to research the other valley law enforcement agencies to see how they fared during the same time frame? I am going to vote for him regardless of your negative articles. :-)
KJDaVinci777 posted at 7:43 pm on Sat, Aug 25, 2012.
Joe is a total disgrace to Maricopa County....The FACT that this subhuman is evil tells it like it is. The thing was born evil and those who support his evil ways need counseling...Arizona deserves better and the FBI needs to go back to Law enforcement 101 to learn how to make a case against the premier organized crime leader of the county....or they could refer the case to the PPD and they will make the case and the FBI can be allowed to take credit...Both Joe and the FBI are jokes in Maricopa county...
k33j88 posted at 7:20 am on Sun, Aug 26, 2012.
AZ Willie: I'm NOT an advocate of illegal immigration. The points I've made are but a few of the unfortunate consequences of not abiding by our laws of legal entry. The parents should be held accountable. The children, however, are the victim of circumstances.
Arizona Willie posted at 8:11 am on Sun, Aug 26, 2012.
k33j88 .. the last sentence in your post " This is what happens when you live in the shadows and cannot fully assimilate into society. " implied, to me, sympathy for the invaders.
No, the children are NOT victims of circumstance.
They are victims of their parents crime of bringing them here illegally.
Now I agree they should NOT be PUNISHED for the parents crime.
But they should also not BENEFIT from their parents crime.
The law is very clear on that.
If my father embezzled $500,000 from the company he worked for and gave me $250,000 to buy a Subway franchise and I had no idea where he got the money, I would NOT be guilty of any crime.
But, when he got caught and they traced the money, they would take the Subway shop away from me because I am not allowed to profit from his crime.
If I knew he committed a crime then I would be an accessory and also guilty of receiving stolen property. And I would be prosecuted.
These children know their parents committed illegal entry and are therefore also guilty because they have not done ANYTHING to correct the problem.
Many people have been brought here illegally as children and they found a way to get legalized.
When the children have lived here for years without making any attempt to get legalized then I have little sympathy for them. There is a process in place for them to request legalization and has been for some time -- other than the Dream act.
I can't remember who it is, but I saw an article by someone who works in the White House who was brought here illegally and he applied and went through the process and became legal.
I sympathize with the plight of the kids -- to some extent. But when they know they are here illegally and stay for years without making any effort to become legal -- they lose my support.
The only thing they DESERVE is DEPORTATION.
Arizona Willie posted at 10:07 am on Sun, Aug 26, 2012.
Reading an article about Joe and deadbeat parents today. Why is it that he doesn't get any credit for this?
"We started this program in 2002, and since then, we've arrested over 1,700 deadbeat parents and gave back $14 million (to families)," Arpaio said.
Nope, as far as Joe haters ( who are often also illegal alien lovers ) are concerned -- Joe can do no right.
When reading complaints about Arpaio, is it well to remember that well over a million people have been detained in Arpaio's facilities during his tenure.
And, there are reportedly only about 6 million people in Maricopa County. I suspect they don't count the invading aliens.
But that means that, on average, one out of 6 people have been Joe's guest at some point. Of course, some were repeat visitors -- but I'm just talking a ball park figure.
So remember that when reading about how terrible Joe is.
The odds are very high that the poster has been Joe's " guest " at some point in time and didn't appreciate the hospitality.
Watchful posted at 1:28 pm on Mon, Aug 27, 2012.
Engaged Voter ..... I am a Director of a neighborhood watch within a county island in East Mesa. First let me say that I am outraged by this story. But unfortunately, this is all too common in my area. We have been operating for over 5 years and we have been reporting crimes that usually go un-investigated. The meth dealers and users etc. roam free here and those of us who live here cannot get MCSO to do ANYTHING about it. Now please do not go asking me for "proof" etc. I am far too busy to pull up reports and anything else that YOU would deem as "proof". Just trust me when I say that I am NOT alone in calling MCSO a lame duck agency.
chatmandu002 posted at 12:05 pm on Tue, Aug 28, 2012.
MCSO is demonized when they don't and demonized even more when they do.
chatmandu002 posted at 12:06 pm on Tue, Aug 28, 2012.
you know you can say d--a--m--n--ed on this site
KJDaVinci777 posted at 1:16 pm on Tue, Aug 28, 2012.
Joe Arpioa= waste-fraud-abuse-organized crime-corruption-supported by a cesspool of the West Nile Virus...If you support corruption vote for Joe-Obama and all those people endorsed by Joe.
Obama and Joe are partners in their anti-US Constitution activities...Bill, keep exposing the scum side of the MCSO, headed by Joe ...thanks
Engaged Voter posted at 5:43 pm on Tue, Aug 28, 2012.
"Now please do not go asking me for "proof" etc"
"Just trust me"
Um...no.
Arizona Willie posted at 9:35 am on Wed, Aug 29, 2012.
I see that Sheriff Joe got almost 100,000 more votes in the Republican primary than his Democratic opponents got total.
Way to go Joe.[beam]
I saw the election results for Pinal County last night on tv, and was a little bit surprised to see that nowhere in the morning paper or on the az.central website or on the evt site here for that matter, did they mention that the Sheriff Babeau blew his opponents away in last nights election.
That was a surprising result.
I thought Pinal County voters were way to conservative to re-elect someone who had brought such undesired attention to their county.
Asalieri posted at 10:24 am on Wed, Aug 29, 2012.
"If there were any victims, then I apologize" Hey Joe, you insensitive, bigoted, greedy, fraud of a man: THEY SWABBED HER INSIDES AND FOUND SPERM. HOW MUCH MORE OF A VICTIM CAN YOU GET?
All you Arpaio supporters seem to think crimes are ONLY committed by foreigners. Well here's a newsflash for all you knuckle dragging simpletons: 32% of our prisons contain WHITE AMERICAN PEOPLE. How much longer must we endure the xenophobic trappings of Arpaio's tenure? How many more 13 year old girls have to be raped by American uncles before we realize we need to put our police officers on REAL crimes and not pump all of our manpower and resources into finding and hunting down laundry ladies and burger flippers?
Wake up, Arizona. Arpaio has been a cancer we've allowed to metastasize for way too long. His priorities have made our community LESS safe. Gilbert used to be a nice place to live. Now our cops are too busy beating down Mexicans and cramming our jails full of drug addicts and we forgot that white people commit the most crimes, and even the most damaging crimes to society, like rape, murder and theft.
How much longer do we have to cater to your xenophobic sensibilities about Mexicans simply EXISTING alongside you???
Asalieri posted at 10:44 am on Wed, Aug 29, 2012.
The job of law enforcement is to keep the citizens SAFE. Arpaio thinks their job is to harass foreigners and to make sure people dont sell and use drugs.
The crime rate will go down when we take inefficient dinosaurs like Arpaio off the beat and replace him with someone who will crack down on REAL crimes.
We've had Arpaio for much too long. The office of Sheriff should have a tenure limit, like our Presidency.
Engaged Voter posted at 5:29 pm on Wed, Aug 29, 2012.
"32% of our prisons contain WHITE AMERICAN PEOPLE"
And yet caucasians make up over 70% of the general population.
"we forgot that white people commit the most crimes"
Except that your statistics show the EXACT OPPOSITE.
Oops!
Engaged Voter posted at 5:31 pm on Wed, Aug 29, 2012.
"How many more 13 year old girls have to be raped by American uncles"
Where in the story did it say the Uncle, or anyone in the family, was an American?
I suspect they were illegals...why else would the parents of the girl not call the police on the child molesting uncle?
billrichardson posted at 6:14 pm on Wed, Aug 29, 2012.
The uncle's name is Patrick Morrison. The guy is an ex-con and career criminal.
Engaged Voter posted at 1:05 pm on Thu, Aug 30, 2012.
Wow. And the parents? Have they been charged with accessory to the crime?
They sure as heck are responsible for not being competent parents!
Or is there an angle to this story that has not been revealed?
Engaged Voter posted at 1:17 pm on Thu, Aug 30, 2012.
And the child's name is Sabrina Morrison. Why leave this out?
The author should have done his homework - "the family stepped forward and agreed to disclose Sabrina's identity in the hope that their case would call attention to the widespread nature of the sheriff's mismanaged cases". Oops!
The mother made a troubling statement - "It's ridiculous that we had to wait this long. How many other little girls are out there being molested over and over again?"
Excuse us, ma'am, but your daughter didn't get molested "out there", IT HAPPENED IN YOUR LIVING ROOM.
"Sabrina's mother said she suspected several years ago that Patrick had assaulted her daughter" - AND CONTINUED TO LET HIM LIVE THERE. UGH!
What I find REALLY interesting is that Bill Richardson neglected to mention the REAL reason this case was shelved - she made multiple other claims about relatives abusing her, but investigators labeled those as unfounded "based upon the repeated lies of the victim."
"When Sabrina became pregnant in 2009, the girl again pointed to her uncle but faced lingering skepticism because of previous lying problems and the fact that she also named other men."
So the victim lied, MANY TIMES, to law enforcement...now I'm not a retired police officer, but it seems to me that LYING to law enforcement tends to hinder investigations...am I right? ;)
Asalieri posted at 5:10 pm on Thu, Aug 30, 2012.
"I suspect they were illegals...why else would the parents of the girl not call the police on the child molesting uncle?"
Mmmhmmm. How's that racism working for ya? MORRISON, that's as non-Mexican as surnames get, buddy. Keep proving us right, you xenophobic know-nothing.
Engaged Voter posted at 5:27 pm on Thu, Aug 30, 2012.
"How's that racism working for ya?"
Illegal isn't a race, genius boy.
And the NAME was conveniently left out until AFTER I made that comment.
How's that willfull ignorance working for ya?
Asalieri posted at 5:43 pm on Thu, Aug 30, 2012.
Implying that the family in question was illegal after making several anti-Mexican posts. This equates to racism. Hmmm, I guess most of the illegals crossing into Arizona must be Irish, eh? Don't backpeddle now, EV.
The name didn't matter until you brought up the hairbrained idea that they certainly must have been illegal aliens.
Then it turns out their name is Morrison and you're proven wrong. Now THAT is willful ignorance indeed. What argument are you going to use now to back your anti-immigration views?
Asalieri posted at 6:00 pm on Thu, Aug 30, 2012.
Funny thing is, this article had nothing to do with illegal immigration, yet here come the Arpaio nuts, shoehorning the issue into the comment section, like the brainless drones they are.
A little girl gets raped? Not an important issue for Arizona cops to concern themselves with. No, let's talk about how too many illegals are coming here to find gainful employment and how we can work to make their lives miserable.
Stunning showcase of your humanitarian priorities, Arpaio nuts.
remo303 posted at 10:23 am on Sun, Sep 2, 2012.
Um...did anyone notify CPS?
angel posted at 5:01 am on Tue, Oct 9, 2012.
We can argue forever whos fault it was,the simple fact is this child deserved to be protected.I too was abused all my life in as a child in arizona and i knew others just like me.Arizona has never been an ideal place for childeren and if you ask anyone who grew up here they im sure would have thier own horror story.We as arizonans should take the responsibility for what happens to our kids and put in office and in certain agencies people who will not tollerate abuse of our kids period and we as thier protectors and thier parents should insure that those responsible pay the price.Im sad for the child I know what its like to have your childhood stolen from you,it hurts and stays with you a life time.[sad][sad][sad]
angel posted at 5:09 am on Tue, Oct 9, 2012.
[smile] lets get together and vote for the one who will put things right.