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WA Teen who escaped a polygamous clan was raped for years by adoptive father after therapist recommended family sleep in the same bed, Girl was also molested by birth parents for years in polygamous group/Adoptive 'Father' sentenced to six years in prison

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WA Teen who escaped a polygamous clan was raped for years by adoptive father after therapist recommended family sleep in the same bed, Girl was also molested by birth parents for years in polygamous group/Adoptive 'Father' sentenced to six years in prison Empty WA Teen who escaped a polygamous clan was raped for years by adoptive father after therapist recommended family sleep in the same bed, Girl was also molested by birth parents for years in polygamous group/Adoptive 'Father' sentenced to six years in prison

Post by Wrapitup Thu Sep 06, 2012 4:17 am

Went to adoptive family in Snohomish, Washington
Father convicted of raping and molesting her for years
Therapist had encouraged adoptive parents to explore 'attachment therapy' and fall asleep in the same bed
By BETH STEBNER
PUBLISHED: 08:50 EST, 5 September 2012 | UPDATED: 16:02 EST, 5 September 2012
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Convicted: The father, whose face MailOnline has muzzed out to protect the identity of his daughter, was sentenced to six years

A young woman who was forced to live with a polygamous clan in Utah throughout her childhood thought she found reprieve when she was adopted by a Washington man.

However, rather than help her recover from her traumatic experience, her adopted father repeatedly raped and molested her.

The father, 42, who lives in Snohomish, Washington, was sentenced to six years in prison after being convicted of several charges of rape and incest in June.

The girl, identified in court papers only as AJ, grew up in the polygamous commune in Utah. According to the affidavit obtained by MailOnline, AJ suffered 'physical and emotional abuse to such a degree that she would later be diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.'

She was placed in foster care at the age of 12 after she was taken away from her birth parents at the clan.

In 2006, AJ was adopted by her new parents, whose names MailOnline has not released in order to protect the victim's identity. After the adoption was complete, the new family moved from Utah to Snohomish.

According to the Everett Herald, a therapist encouraged the family – including the girl’s adoptive father and mother – to explore ‘attachment therapy' to help AJ recover from the emotionally damaging years at the clan.

The therapist recommended that the father, mother, and AJ– who was now 15 – fall asleep in the same bed as a means of bonding.

Within a month of seeing the therapist, AJ's father began sexually assaulting her, oftentimes when his wife was asleep in the same bed.


In a written statement, AJ said: 'When (my mother) was asleep, (my father) began touching me. We were all in the same bed.' She then described in graphic detail how her father would sexually assault her while her mother slept.

Court documents state that AJ's mother was unaware of the incestual rape. Indeed, AJ's father would often side with his daughter when she was having arguments with her mother as a means of control and alienation.

Authorities are also continuing an investigation against the therapist, who made the recommendation for the adoptive parents to ‘bond’ with their daughter.

The recommendation stemmed from the therapist’s perception that she had abandonment issues, as well as problems with attachment.

The victim said that her father coerced her into sex at least every week, saying there would be dire consequences if she refused.

He told her that if she stopped having sex with him, he would reverse the adoption and ship her back to the polygamous community in Utah, adding that she would be forced to marry into the group upon her return.

He also told her that he would kill himself, court documents stated. (Wish he would have. MOO)

And so the raping and molestation continued, often when his wife was not around. During one incident, he was performing oral sex on her in her younger sister's bedroom. AJ told prosecutors that her sister told him that she was hungry.

At that point, AJ said, her father said 'he was busy' and started having sex with her.

She told the court that the abuse continued until she left for college in 2010.

The young woman reported the abuse to her former psychotherapist in March 2011; she reported it to the police months later.

In December 2011, investigators obtained judicial authorization to record telephone conversations between AJ and her father. When she confronted him about the years of sexual abuse, her father said: 'I understand where you are coming from, I can't argue with what you said.'

In that same conversation recorded by investigators, he said to AJ: 'I took your trust. I took advantage of your love for me.'

During the trial this week, the girl asked for her adoptive father and rapist to be put away as long as possible so she could heal and get stronger before she would have to run into him again.

Superior Court Judge Ellen Fair sentenced him to six years in prison. (NOT long enough!)

Initially, the father’s defence requested a Special Sexual Offender Sentencing Alternative. If that had been approved, the father would have only been sent to prison for a year.

He would have had to undergo intensive treatment and be regularly supervised by the Department of Corrections in Washington state.

However, Judge Fair sided with the victim, citing the obligation of the law to follow her wishes. She dubbed the special sentencing ‘too lenient.’

In total, the father was charged with incest, rape of a child in the third degree, and two counts of child molestation.

According to the Herald, he apologised to her in court while the victim wiped away tears.

The judge told her: ‘The best thing is a life well-lived in spite of everything you’ve had to endure up to this point.’

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Post by Wrapitup Thu Sep 06, 2012 4:21 am

Man sentenced to 6 years for raping adopted daughter who escaped polygamous clan

Everett Herald quotes judge as saying: "To say (the victim) had a tough start to life is the understatement of the year"

Web reporter
Q13 Fox News Online
6:22 p.m. PDT, September 4, 2012

EVERETT—
A 42-year-old Snohomish man who adopted a girl who had been abused and had escaped from a polygamous clan was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison for sexually abusing her, it was reported.

The Everett Herald said the girl spent most of her childhood in a polygamous group, where she was abused. She wound up in foster care, and the Snohomish man and his wife adopted her soon after she was taken away from her birth parents.

According to court papers cited by the paper, the girl and her adoptive parents began seeing a Bothell therapist to address what they were told were the girl’s “abandonment and attachment issues.” The therapist allegedly recommended that the man, his wife and the girl — then 15 — all sleep in the same bed.

A month after the family took the therapist’s advice, the girl’s adoptive father allegedly began sexually assaulting the girl.

The victim told police that she was forced to have sex with her adopted father every week and that when she tried to resist, he threatened to send her back to her birth parents who might marry her into another polygamous family. The girl told police the sexual abuse lasted until she left for college in 2010.

Police began investigating last year after the woman told a mental health professional about it, the Herald said.

The victim on Tuesday asked Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Ellen Fair to send her adoptive father to prison for as long as possible, so that she wouldn’t accidentally be running into him in public and would be allowed some time to heal.

The defense asked for an alternative one-year sentence since he had no previous criminal history and had pleaded guilty in June to four sex crimes. But Fair sentenced him to six years in prison, the Herald said, saying the man knew she was vulnerable because of her past abuse, but took advantage of her anyway.

“To say (she) had a tough start to life is the understatement of the year,” Fair said, according to the Herald.

The newspaper said the defendant apologized Tuesday, saying he wished he could right the wrongs he committed, while the victim wrung her hands and wiped away tears.

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Post by raine1953 Thu Sep 06, 2012 5:39 pm

ONLY six years? Give me a break! That poor girl never had a chance between that damn cult and then these foster parents or at least foster Dad! This is NOT justice.
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