Sex crimes up 32 percent

2002 offenses particularly serious, Miami County prosecutor says

By Nancy Bowman

e-mail address: nancy_bowman@coxohio.com

Miami County Bureau

TROY | Felony sex offenses rose by nearly one-third last year in Miami County, a situation the county's chief prosecutor attributes to factors such as increased awareness and reporting along with "a general coarsening of society."

County Prosecutor Gary Nasal said 2002 produced the most serious sex offense cases he's had in eight years as a prosecutor. It's a situation he hopes is more a fluke than an introduction to what's to follow in coming years.

As of March 31, Sheriff Charles Cox had 86 sex offenders living in the county and registered at his office, some required to report annually for 10 years after release from prison; others annually for life.

In 2002, the county prosecutor's office had 33 prosecutions of felony sex offenses compared with 25 for the same crimes in 2001, an increase of 32 percent.

A breakdown of the 2002 offenses:

• Rape: Seven

• Sexual battery: Four

• Unlawful sexual conduct with a minor: 10

• Gross sexual imposition: Six

• Attempted gross sexual imposition: Four

• Other: Two

The numbers have been noticed by court personnel and the public.

"It rattles the public sense of security. Everybody wants to know what's going on," Nasal said. A check with surrounding counties showed those agencies had not seen as large an increase in serious cases. That, Nasal said, makes him "hopeful we are in a strange period."

The run of 2002 cases began in the spring around the conviction of Dane Brown of Piqua for raping a girl during a two-year period beginning when she was 11. A county Common Pleas Court jury found Brown guilty in April of felony rape and sexual battery, including the specification he compelled the girl to engage in sexual conduct through the use of force or threat of force. Brown must serve 15 years before being eligible for parole.

Like most victims of sex offenses, the girl knew Brown.

"Lots of times people want to believe it is a stranger who has done this to their children. But, it seems like (for) all of them it is someone the victim knows, loves or trusts," said Shirley Swallow, who retired at year's end as director of the Miami County Victim Witness program.

The exceptions in Miami County were Dave Collins of Troy and Mindy Penny of Piqua, who were charged with picking up a 16-year-old Troy girl walking along West Main Street early June 26 and taking her to a Piqua cemetery, where she was sexually assaulted. Both also were charged with engaging in sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl they met last summer in Troy.

Victim Witness cases up from 61 to 144

The statistics from the victim witness program also show an increasing number of people affected by sex offenses. The program's reports Oct. 1, 2001, through Sept. 30, 2002, showed the office received 144 child sexual abuse complaints, compared with 61 complaints the previous year (Oct. 1, 2000-Sept. 30, 2001).

These are complaints the office staff responded to in some manner, not the number of criminal cases filed or convictions obtained.

Sex offense complaints seem to increase, then decrease for unknown reasons, said Detective Lt. Dave Duchak of the Miami County Sheriff's Office. He has been in law enforcement for 15 years, first with Bradford police, then Covington and with the sheriff's office since 1990.

Duchak said a noticeable increase in sex offenses in the last year can be linked to a multitude of factors, but said a couple of situations seem to recur.

No single cause can be identified

A number of offenders are stepfathers, or men living with or dating single mothers, he said. "Your true pedophiles are drawn to single women with kids. And, then you have stepdads where the kids are a little older. He may not be by definition a pedophile, but he views a 16-year-old as somebody who is willing and able, and then there's nothing wrong with it."

Duchak said more offenders are being caught with pornography, both adult and juvenile, in their computers.

"I don't see things getting any better with the Internet. Parents just need to be vigilant," he said.

"If you have a relative, a neighbor, an acquaintance, somebody who is spending an extraordinary amount of interest in your child, that should send up a red flag. It doesn't necessarily mean they are up to something, but it should be a red flag," Duchak said.

Nasal attributed the growth in sex offenses to "first and foremost the breakdown in the nuclear family." He, too, referred to the number of stepparent offenders along with "a general coarsening of society;" children raising children, causing a lack of maturity and understanding; and the information age where "children are bombarded with information beyond their years."

Nasal said increased reporting is a factor and so is improved law enforcement focus on these kinds of crimes, which makes it possible to solve more cases. There is specialized training and most departments in the area have trained people to uncover evidence from both victims and perpetrators.

Truth, fiction can be tough to separate

In his years of working with victims, Duchak said he cannot recall a young child making a false report. He's had teens making false claims, but those have been rare. All claims are checked.

Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Steve Lord is trained in operating the computer voice-stress analyzer, which uses change of frequency in the subject's voice to detect deception. The analyzer is used not only to interview suspects, but to verify the claims of victims.

"There are false allegations. It happens because of being stuck in a bad relationship, custody disputes and attempts to discredit a party. At times, there are gray areas where a person feels they are raped and possibly were taken advantage of because of miscommunication. We see this in date rape cases," Lord said.

"With sex crimes you usually have one person's word against another's and sometimes there is very little physical evidence and it all comes down to interviews," Lord said.

The better case investigators can build against an offender, the less chance that person will want a trial. A lot of times the offender will plead, keeping a child from having to tell his or her story on the witness stand.

Parents, children must communicate

The best preventive measure for parents, Lord said, continues to be an open line of communication with their children.

"The main thing I think that people can do to protect their children is talk to them, have a good line of communications, let them know about certain parts of their body. . . . There's OK touching and there's touching that is not OK," he said.

Nasal said parents of younger children have to be careful with whom they associate and by whom they are being watched. Being a little paranoid is not bad, he said. With older children, exercising good parenting and instilling values is important.

Sexual activity by an adult with a teenager may be consensual, but it is not legal, Nasal said.

Swallow said one of the most important things parents can do is talk to their kids about the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touches.

If someone touches them in a way that causes discomfort, they should tell their parents or another responsible adult. For older children, Swallow said, "Parents should be parents, tell their kids they can't dress like rock singers, et cetera."

Caryn Smith, a clinical counselor in Troy, has been working with victims of sexual abuse for nearly a decade. The past warnings for children to not get into a car with a stranger are not enough, given so many sex offenders know their victims, she said. Talk and old-fashioned supervision are important, she said.

"How do you protect them from everybody?" Smith said. "It's just giving them the knowÂledge and the education so they can make wise decisions, too. Parents and adults are more uncomfortable about this because we didn't talk about it when we were kids."

Smith said she's already started discussing good touch, bad touch and similar issues with her 3-year-old. "You need to tailor it to their age and their developmental stage."

She works to help other parents and friends find the right language and the right topics to discuss and suggests selections from a wide variety of books and other materials now available.

"If you are open with them now, they are going to be open to come to you if something happens, too. You want to open those doors for them. These perpetrators are smarter and smarter in finding ways to entice kids and we need to be one step ahead of them," she said.

"I think it all goes down to the supervision. Is my child being supervised and who is supervising them when I am not around?" Smith said.

Posted 4-10-2003

Dayton Ohio, Daily News