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RULE #2: Talking to Child Protective Services or the Police Investigator, or Anyone without an Attorney Present is the Single Worst Thing a Wrongfully Accused Person Can do.
RULE #3: In most cases an experienced attorney will not allow you to talk to Child Protective Services or the police or give a statement. The attorney knows whatever you say will be used against you.
But you are Innocent!
The violation of the above three rules by those falsely accused is commonplace. An innocent person believes sanity will intervene at some point, and decides to cooperate fully with the police and Child Protective Services. The accused gives written statements and videotaped statements to CPS and the police. In addition, the accused talk on the phone to detectives and caseworkers. They talk in the investigators offices without knowing whether they are being recorded. They often talk themselves into a corner that is extremely difficult to ever get out of.
Unfortunately, Child Protective Services and the police are not interested in conducting a fair and thorough investigation. The accused who walks into the child advocacy center without an Experienced Sex Crimes Attorney to “tell their side of things” or “clear this all up” is doing exactly what the authorities want. The child savers know what they are doing. At this meeting they will obtain real or implied admissions and circumstances presenting opportunity for abuse coming from the accused’s own mouth.
The Investigator will twist your words!
The Child Protective Service investigator will start off by asking questions that appear to be innocuous but are intentional set up questions. The investigator may ask an alleged perpetrator if they have ever given their child a bath or changed a diaper. The accused will answer “Yes” as that is a normal parental function. Then the investigator will move in for the kill. The next questions will focus on other instances in which the alleged perpetrator has touched the genital areas of the child.
For example, the investigator may ask if you have ever touched your child’s bottom or genital area. If the accused says “No”, the next question will be whether you have ever wiped your child’s bottom after changing a diaper. This will be followed by whether you have ever applied medicine or a lotion for diaper rash. After the accused says “Yes”, the investigator will become more aggressive.
Are you now are admitting to touching your child’s genital area?
The accused, knowing that any contact was done without sexual intent and solely for personal hygiene reasons is confused. The accused may say,
No, not in the manner that you are describing.
The investigator will follow up by saying,
Are you now denying touching your child’s genital area?
The follow-up questions will be to establish opportunity for abuse, such as:
Are you ever alone with your child? Have you given baths while alone with the child? Applied medication to your child without anyone else around? What about the date of the allegation, isn’t it true that you were alone with your child at that time?
Now the Investigator has what they wanted all along
The falsely accused now will face an official investigative report which will read like this:
Alleged perpetrator at first denied any sexual contact with child, but then after questioning admitted such contact. When this inconsistency was pointed out by the investigator, the perpetrator attempted to limit admission of contact by stating that same was done ‘only while giving baths and applying medications.’ Investigator finds alleged perpetrators answers to be inconsistent, evasive, and untruthful.
Arm yourself with an Experienced Sex Crimes Attorney
A knowledgeable Sex Crimes Attorney can provide the accused with an appearance of cooperation with authorities without providing evidence against themselves. The investigators can’t twist your words and dictate their interpretation of what you said if you haven’t talked to them!! The Sex Crimes Attorney can assist you in making the decision of whether to meet with child protective services or the police.
In most situations, the defense attorney knows that the arrest and charge decision has already been made and that a meeting will not change the forthcoming prosecution.
