Critics Of Abuse Cases Issue Call For Boycott Of Washington Apples

A San Diego-based group critical of what it calls faulty child sex-abuse investigations across the country struck Tuesday at Washington state’s core.

The 1,000-member group, named the Justice Committee, called for a national boycott of Washington apples to protest the Wenatchee sex ring case.

Melanie Shaw, president of the Wenatchee Chamber of Commerce, and some apple growers called the boycott a misguided attempt at “economic terrorism.”

Apples and growers, they said, have nothing to do with sex ring charges filed by police and prosecutors in Chelan and Douglas counties.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” said Bob Brody, owner of King Blossom Orchards. “It enrages me that people who live 1,200 or 1,300 miles away boycott apples because of something happening in Wenatchee that we have absolutely no control over whatsoever, period.

“If they want to make a point,” Brody said, “they can pick on something else.”

The Justice Committee formed in 1993 in response to hundreds of unfounded child-abuse cases in San Diego County, said spokeswoman Carol Hopkins. She said the group is allied with nearly 25,000 other people around the country who share their views that community hysteria can feed child sex ring investigations.

Her group is targeting apples - Wenatchee’s lifeblood - as a last resort, Hopkins said, and believes it can influence up to 200,000 consumers through national contacts.

It’s the only way, she said, to wake up the community and force its citizenry to call for a federal investigation of how the case has been handled.

Hopkins was deputy foreman of a San Diego County grand jury that investigated a number of those “flawed” prosecutions and then drafted numerous investigative guidelines that have since been adopted, she said. The guidelines include how to question highly suggestible children.

The Wenatchee case has grown into the nation’s largest involving ritualistic sex with children. At one point, as many as 50 children and 50 adults were implicated in two loosely organized rings dating back to 1988.

While outside news organizations and abuse experts have questioned the legitimacy of the investigation, Wenatchee officials stand behind the prosecutions. They note that of 28 cases brought since last fall, five have resulted in convictions and 12 defendants have pleaded guilty.

Critics charge that many of the defendants are mentally retarded and succumbed to threats of life imprisonment by accepting lighter sentences.

They note that Wenatchee sex crimes investigator Detective Bob Perez has a history of bullying suspects and that one of his foster daughters is the key witness - a major emotional conflict of interest.

Sex abuse charges against five people have been dropped for lack of evidence, and one woman was acquitted at trial. An East Wenatchee pastor and his wife are on trial now, and three cases are pending.

“Because of the scope of the accusations, the people of Wenatchee will wake up with shame to what has happened in their town,” said Hopkins of the Justice Committee.

“Wenatchee, similar to Salem 300 years ago, will be the town most identified with the witch hunts of this century,” she said.

, DataTimes