On Monday evening, November 6, 2006, I arrived home from work. My wife told me that a detective from our local police department had called and wanted me to return her phone call. I called the detective back and was informed they wanted to talk to me about something. I asked what this concerning, but she informed me that they don’t discuss police details over the phone for security reasons, but stated that I wasn’t in trouble at all and they just needed some information from me. This would be the first of many lies they would tell me.
On Halloween night, a lady and her daughter were almost run over by a teenager speeding in the neighborhood. She came to our door and asked us too call the police for her which I did. The police visited our house that evening, so I assumed that was what the detective wanted to talk with me about. We agreed to meet on Tuesday (11/7/2006) at 6:00pm. I had always trusted the police and sincerely wanted to help them out. Don’t ever make this mistake.
The police “interview”
Before I begin talking about what happened to me at the police interview, let me make sure you don’t ever make the same mistake I made:
Don’t ever talk to the police in a situation like this without an attorney present. If you can’t have an attorney present, don’t talk to them. You are not legally required to and they can’t make you. I grew up respecting and believe police officers. Don’t. They are not required to tell you the truth and can say anything they want to make you say what they want. They are trained to do this. You aren’t. Don’t talk to them, and if they arrest you, stay quiet and ask for an attorney.
Don’t fall for the trap that asking for an attorney will make you look guilty. That is exactly what they want you to think and they’ll even tell you that. It doesn’t matter, if they are talking to you, in their mind you are guilty.
On with my story…
I arrived at the police station at 5:30pm, and asked for the detective. She came out and met me along with another man. They told me I would be meeting with her and her supervisor (the other man). I was taken to an interview room, which I thought was strange, but figured it was just the way things were done. I had never been in a police station before in my life.
When we sat down I was told this was just an interview and that I was just there to answer some questions, and that I could leave at any time. Turns out this is a tactic the police use to avoid reading you your Miranda rights. They ask you to come in for a voluntary interview without providing you any information on why. Since you are not under arrest, they don’t have to read you your Miranda rights, yet can take a statement from you. Oh, and by the way, they write the statement and you don’t even have to sign it.
The detective started asking me questions about our parenting website. Questions like: what it was for, how long we have had it, how many members, did I collect a membership fee, etc. She then asked me if we had parties or gatherings, and asked when our most recent party was. I told her we had had about 4 or 5 and the most recent was the past weekend, on Saturday. At this point I was very confused, as they weren’t asking me questions about Halloween night as I had expected.
She then asked me questions about how I knew Rose and Scott and about my relationship to them. She then began to ask me about my interactions with Evonne that evening. At this point I was really confused, I asked what this was all about. She told me they would get to that soon.
Foolishly and trustingly, I continued to answer questions. I told them I interacted with her on two distinct occasions, one in the entertainment room, and one upstairs. I don’t recall all of the details, but at some point they told me Rose had called them and that Rose’s daughter Evonne was accusing me placing my finger in her vagina. The detective called this digital penetration. WHAT??? About this time my head started swimming, I felt all of the blood drain from my face. I was shocked and immediately denied it.
The detective informed me that Evonne had visited some trained nurses (called the Child Advocacy Center) who examined and interviewed her. They stated that they had a video interview with Evonne stating this and also medical evidence from a pediatrician that physically examined her. They told me that Evonne stated that I had inserted my finger in her vagina and hurt her. I still denied the allegation, and told them I would never do such a thing and that I would never hurt her or any other child, or touch them inappropriately.
They asked me if I could explain this, and I told them no I couldn’t and again denied it. I told them them exactly what happened, about me being in the room with her, and the only time I touched her below the waist was to pull her legs together and pull her dress down so my boys couldn’t see up her skirt. They also asked me about my interaction with her in the upstairs room, and my interaction with the other girl, Addison. They told me that Addison’s mother had been contacted and that she was going to come in for a physical and interview as well at the Child Advocacy Center (CAC)!
Could it have been an accident?
They then began to ask me if it could have been an accident. Let me again for a second to make you very very aware of something:
If you in anyway state that what occurred could have happened as an accident or did occur as an accident, from a legal perspective it’s the equivalent of admitting you did it. The police will try to act like this is an “out” for you and that if it happened as an accident that’s ok. DO NOT fall for this trap. The police are there to get you to admit guilt. They don’t care whether you did it or not, they just want to arrest you.
DO NOT in anyway state it was or could have been an accident. Doing so will have severe negative consequences on your case. If you choose to continue to talk with them without an attorney present, just continue to say no I didn’t do it (assuming of course you didn’t).
I told them no it couldn’t have been an accident that I didn’t touch her inappropriately. The detective started throwing out possible ways an accident could have occurred such as:
- My hands sticking up as she sat down
- Something in my pocket
- Even, me getting an erection as she sat on my lap! (yes, the detective really did ask me that!).
I of course denied all of these and told them no. They then said that if I didn’t do it, than how could I explain it. I told them that I had jeans on, she had tights on and a blue jean dress, and that I don’t know how it could have been an accident. They continued to push me, raising their voice and moving closer to me. I then said “If it was an accident, I can’t explain it because I didn’t do it.” The police recorded this as “It could have been an accident, but I can’t explain it”. That was what they wrote on the statement they wrote up about my interview. The statement I never saw until later.
My logic for even making the statement was that I knew I didn’t do it, and given the physical evidence, I guess it could have happened somehow that I wasn’t aware of. My problem again was I believed the police were telling me the truth. Turns out the “evidence” they had wasn’t near as accurate as they stated.
I continued to deny the charges, and told them I didn’t do this. The supervisor at that point told me that he was “100% confident that I did it”. He also told me my story was the exact same as hers, except for the part I left out. I told him that I wasn’t leaving anything out and that I didn’t do it. I told them that we could stay here all night long, and that I would not admit to something I did not do, and once again stated I didn’t do it, and won’t say that I did when I didn’t.
Request to take a polygraph
At that point, the detective asked if I would be willing to take a polygraph. Given the accusing tone of the captain and his “100%” confident statement, I decided I needed to contact an attorney before going any further with these two. I didn’t do what they were accusing me of, but they weren’t interested in hearing that perspective at all. I didn’t trust them at all at this point. They had lied to me in order to get me to the police station (remember they said I wasn’t in trouble), so I had no confidence in them. They did their best trying to get me to take the polygraph anyway. The Caption said that if I passed, they would stop pursuing me as a suspect. I didn’t believe them and felt like they were trying to trick me once again.
Don’t ever take a polygraph at the police station. I’ve read too many situations where the so called “expert” delivering the polygraph had no training at all. The police will lie and tell you that you failed, just to manipulate you into confessing. Also, while technically the results of a polygraph aren’t admissible in court, they can be used against you prior to court. The police will also tell everyone they that you failed just to attack your credibility.
I informed the captain and detective that I felt more comfortable talking to an attorney before I decided to take the polygraph. I told them I had never been accused of anything before, nor ever in an interview room like this, and wasn’t familiar with how all of this should work. Given the seriousness of the charge, I felt like I needed to engage an attorney.
The detective gave me her card, and told me to call her tomorrow (11/8) and let her know my decision. She said if I didn’t call her, she would be contacting me.
I never agreed that I made a statement, nor did I sign anything. I was still under the impression this was just a questioning interview. They walked me to the door and I left.
I staggered to my car and immediately called my wife and told her. I could barely talk. I was upset, shocked, scared, and about a million other emotions. I needed to calm down in order to drive, so I just sat there for 15 or 20 minutes. Finally I drove home.
I thought this was the worse day of my life…I was in for quite a surprise. Read about the surprise the police had in store for us next.
