The Associated Press
VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) - The Clark County sheriff and a sergeant have apologized for the sergeant’s comment that a disabled teenage girl, who was missing two weeks before she was found with a man subsequently charged with kidnapping and child rape, had invited the crime on herself.
Sheriff Garry Lucas acknowledged in a statement Wednesday that Sgt. Dave Trimble’s comments last week “appear to blame the victim.” Lucas said they do not represent the philosophy of the sheriff’s office.
Trimble had told The Columbian newspaper on Sept. 13 that the 14-year-old girl, who has a form of autism, was “a victim just by virtue of her age” and that “she invited this all on herself.”
His remarks came a day after the girl was rescued from a house in the Tacoma suburb of Fircrest. Court documents said the girl was found lying on a bed curled into the fetal position, surrounded by chains and sexual devices. In another room police found a video camera and pornography, among other things.
Police arrested and jailed Stanley Scott Sadler, 47, of Fircrest. He has been charged with kidnapping, rape of a child and sexual exploitation of a minor, with bail set at $250,000.
In his statement, Lucas wrote, “It is easy in the midst of the pressure and emotion of a press conference involving controversy to make ill-considered statements.
“Occasionally those statements become defining moments in an individual’s career,” he said. “Although Sgt. Trimble’s comments were clearly unacceptable - and Sgt. Trimble, without doubt, understands they are unacceptable - I would point out that he has had an exemplary law-enforcement career.”
Trimble, a 24-year veteran of the department and head of its major crimes unit, also issued an apology, The Columbian reported Thursday.
“My lapse of good judgment is inexcusable but I assure you that my comments were made with no malicious intent or desire to harm anyone,” he said. “Much to my dismay, that is the perception and I owe (the girl) and her family my most sincere apologies.”
The girl’s mother, Debbie Farnam of Hazel Dell, said the apologies were not sincere and not enough: She wants Trimble to apologize in public with the media present because the remarks were made at a news conference.
The girl had been missing since Aug. 29, when she walked away from a foster home in the Fern Prairie area north of Camas to meet a man she had communicated with on the Internet.
She has Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism in which a person has normal intelligence and language development but poor social and communication skills.
Police rescued the teen acting on a tip from an Internet sleuth with perverted-justice.com, a Portland, Ore.-based Web site that works to find and stop people preying on minors over the Internet.
Operators of the Web site found the teen on the Internet in two days after her mother discovered Sept. 10 that the girl had been logging on to a poetry Web site during her captivity.
Farnam disputed from the start that the girl was a runaway. Five days passed after her disappearance before the sheriff’s office issued a missing-person alert.
Police did not retrieve Farnam’s computer, which contained lists of Web sites and instant message addresses, until Sept. 8.
Joe Dunegan, acting chief criminal deputy, told The Columbian that the sheriff’s office has only one person trained in computer forensics, although it also has access to forensic services of the Vancouver police and the FBI.
Xavier Von Erck, who runs the Web site, said advanced knowledge of computers was not necessary to find the girl. He found her through the instant message names she used and Web sites she frequented.
“It was pathetically easy,” Von Erck said.
Sgt. Don Polen said Thursday that the sheriff’s office is evaluating its handling of runaway reports.
“We’re trying to look at what other departments in the state are doing to see what improvements are necessary,” he told The Associated Press. “We’re taking a look at the program.”
He said disciplinary action against Trimble was being considered. Polen did not know of any plans for increased computer training of staff.