By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
After watching the number of sexual assaults on children tick up in Wood County, the local courts, law enforcement and child protection workers are retooling their approach to handling victims and prosecuting offenders.
In 2022, Wood County investigated 126 cases of child sexual abuse. The number continues inching up, from 114 in 2020 and 121 in 2021.
And those are just the cases that authorities are aware of, according to Wood County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Dobson.
“I’m confident there are more that don’t get reported,” he said.
Wood County has had a Child Sexual Assault Task Force for a decade or so, but a renewed effort is being made to coordinate the work between investigating law enforcement agencies, the county prosecutor’s office and children protective services.
That’s where Assisting Prosecuting Attorney Charles McDonald comes in. McDonald, who is experienced in the prosecution of sexual crimes against children, is spearheading the project.
“We’re protecting the most sensitive victims from the worst people,” he said.
“This knows no socio-economic class,” McDonald said of child sex abuse. Most abusers aren’t obvious hard-core sex offenders. They are authority figures grooming their victims.
“I want to raise the level of training and understanding of the process,” McDonald said. His goal is to better coordinate the work of the agencies involved in interviewing, investigating and prosecuting serious sex offenses against juveniles.
“Sex offenses are some of the most difficult crimes to prosecute,” since there are rarely witnesses to the abuse, Dobson said.
“Often we only have their statement and very little else,” McDonald said.
Working with child victims is even trickier.
“You want to avoid the child being re-victimized by the prosecution,” McDonald said.
And the prosecution certainly doesn’t want to see the offenders against children walk free, Dobson added.
The task force meets on a monthly basis to talk about proper handling of cases.
“We want to raise the level of understanding of how to prosecute these cases,” McDonald said, adding that several local law enforcement agencies have been sending officers to the trainings.
“I think there’s been some buy-in,” he said.
One primary focus of the task force is to train law enforcement and prosecutors to properly interview children who have gone through trauma. The goal is to reduce the number of interviews a child must go through, while being careful not to lead the victim to give false information.
A peer review process lets officers study interview techniques that can get to the truth and help with an indictment.
“Children often want to please adults,” McDonald said. “The danger is that unwittingly the interviewer prompts the child in a certain direction.”
“They need an interview that is sound enough to stand up,” he said.
Also working with the task force are Wood County Children’s Services staff. Last year alone, they investigated 969 cases of child abuse, neglect and exploitation – including the 126 sexual abuse cases.
“Our load is climbing and climbing,” said Dave Wigent, director of Wood County Job and Family Services.
“Some of the most damaging stuff is sexual abuse. That damage is carried into adulthood,” Wigent said.
