Posted on 01/25/2006 12:04:22 PM PST by kiki04
Woman's concerns lead to sex abuse probe Wednesday, January 25, 2006 By CONNIE BAGGETT Staff Reporter EVERGREEN -- A 58-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman were being held without bond in the Conecuh County Jail Tuesday as investigators worked to unravel a disturbing case of alleged sexual abuse of a teen-aged boy and a 3-year-old girl, according to District Attorney Tommy Chapman.
The two adults remained in custody due in part to the diligence of a woman who saw one of the children, believed something was wrong and pressed authorities for days to check on the child, Chapman said.
Chapman said a man who identified himself as Jack Wiley was charged Friday with failing to register as a sex offender, and a woman who said her name was Glenna Faye Marshall was charged with providing false information. Chapman said both had given investigators several false names.
"We do not know at this time the true identities of either of these people," Chapman said, "but we are comparing fingerprints to determine that. I can assure you this investigation is ongoing and more severe charges are expected."
One of the names the man gave authorities was that of a sex offender, Chapman said.
The two adults, possibly father and daughter, Chapman said, were arrested nearly a week after an Atlanta woman, Tracie Lee Dean, saw a 3-year-old girl alone in a convenience store when she stopped here to buy gasoline on Jan. 15. The child's behavior and the vacant look in her eyes made Dean suspicious and compelled her to act, she told the Mobile Register.
Dean's persistence in pressing authorities to investigate the child's welfare led to the discovery of a suspected case of abuse described as one of the most severe uncovered in the county, Chapman said.
"We believe the 17-year-old boy is a victim of sexual abuse," Chapman said, "and a doctor who examined the 3-year-old girl said there was evidence she was repeatedly raped."
Reached by telephone Tuesday, Dean, 34, the general manager of an Atlanta car dealership, said she was driving home from her mother's storm ravaged property on the Mississippi coast when she stopped for fuel in Evergreen.
"I noticed a little girl, maybe 3 or 4 years old, alone standing by herself in the store," Dean said. "I said hello, and she said, 'Hi'." Dean said she asked the girl if her mother worked at the store, and a man stood up a few aisles away, saying, "Elizabeth, are you trying to find a new mommy?"
It was very strange," Dean said. "Just the way he said it, the way she reacted. I went to leave, and she was all up under me, like she wanted to go with me. She grabbed the door to the store, I was holding it and wouldn't let go. The man finally told me I could let go of the door. When I left, I was shaken. I drove around and got the license plate number. He was in a older Suburban. I called 911."
Dean said the dispatcher told her the number was supposed to be on a 2001 Honda. When she spoke with the dispatcher again minutes later, the dispatcher said it had all turned out fine, the man and child were regular customers at the store and everything was in order.
Dean said she was haunted by the vacant look in the girls' eyes, so she did some Internet checking for missing and exploited children and found a girl in Ohio that resembled the child. She said she called Ohio authorities and a national hotline for missing children before finally contacting the detective working the Ohio case, but Dean felt no one was taking her seriously.
"I called the John Walsh show ("America's Most Wanted"), "Crimestoppers" and finally I had the tag run," she said. "It came back to the 2001 Honda. It didn't check out. On Thursday, I called the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, and asked if they could tell me who responded to the 911 call. I asked them to look at the store's videotape. They said they needed a court order. I have no doubt in my mind why we have so many missing and exploited children in this country."
Dean said she took matters in her own hands, calling the store herself, and driving back to Evergreen Thursday evening with some friends. She called the local police and again asked what had become of the tip, but didn't get answers.
She was in the store looking at the security video when an Evergreen Police Officer Brian Davis walked in by chance. He wrote a report and started looking for the girl and man.
"I drove back to Atlanta," Dean said. "The officer called me the next day and promised he would not give up."
The officer soon found the man living with the woman and two children in a squalid home along a remote stretch of U.S. 84, Chapman said. He said the children are in state custody as the investigation continues into who they are and what happened to them. Both children appear to have been severely traumatized, he said.
Dean said she just knew something was wrong that day in the store.
"I cried when I left there that Sunday," she said. "I'm crying right now just thinking of it. I had to go through hell before anyone would listen to me. I thought I was going crazy. I'm just glad she's safe."
This woman is a real hero for not giving up. Bless her!
This woman is a hero!
I see you beat me to it! ;-)
How many folks would be as persistent as this good woman? Wow.
Job well done... she should be given a reward, but sadly the focus might be on her breaking some civil liberties law...
Actually I doubt it, I'm sure this will turn out to be a sealed deal.
God bless this woman. I know how she felt, and I know how hard it must have been to pursue this.
Thirty five years ago, I was living in a temporary apartment in Houston while the builders finished my house. I was folding the family laundry in the communal laundry room when I noticed a lady and her children. Her 2 year old boy was crying his eyes out while a couple of other kids looked on. Through tears and a running nose, the little tyke clutched the front of his shorts and sobbed, "I-I-I ha-ha-have to go wee wee, Mommy." His mother swatted him hard and yelled at him and said, "Don't you dare wet your pants. You just wait till I'm ready."
I almost intervened and offered to take him to my apartment to use my bathroom, but I just stood there, open-mouthed.
That scene has haunted me ever since. In those days we weren't sensitized to child abuse, and we sure didn't interfere with another mom's children. However, I can't forgive myself for not stepping in, and I've often wondered what happened to that little tyke. I'd handle it differently today.
I had to go through hell before anyone would listen to me.
I sincerely mean this....
If you rape, hurt or molest a child, you should be removed from society.
I don't care how. Just removed.
This dispatcher, and anyone else involved in this portion of the fiasco, should be fired. How does being a regular customer make it "in order" to be driving around in a vehicle bearing plates that belong on another vehicle. I wonder how many more times the 3 year old girl was raped in the 5+ day delay caused by this idiocy.
I'm glad she persued it.
I expect her business is booming right now.
Some do, some don't. I'm glad you avoided repeating the cycle. But it's a very real phenomenon, and we shouldn't pretend it doesn't exist.
Thank God these kids are away from these two.
Yeah, if she's got a Toyota dealership! ;^)
I read this story this morning, and have been troubled by it all day. Bless Ms Dean's sensitivity, courage and persistence. And I hope the dispatcher and others who didn't do their jobs are made to answer for their behavior. This is such a troubling story.
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