Prosecutors Drop 11 Counts In Child-Sex Case Wenatchee Foster Parent Agrees To Plead Guilty To Two Misdemeanors
Prosecutors Friday dropped 11 felony counts against a foster parent who had been accused of raping children under his care, in exchange for guilty pleas to two new misdemeanor charges.
Robert Devereaux, 51, of Wenatchee had been charged with five counts of first-degree rape of a child, four counts of child molestation and two counts of intimidating a witness.
Those charges were withdrawn Friday and Devereaux pleaded guilty to two new charges - fourth-degree assault, for spanking a foster child one time, and rendering criminal assistance by warning a woman she would soon be arrested.
Devereaux is one of about two dozen Wenatchee-area people who have been charged with numerous crimes in connection with two child-sex rings.
Chelan County Prosecutor Gary Riesen told Judge T.W. “Chip” Small that he believes the children who accused Devereaux and who are testifying against others in the case - including Linda Miller, whose trial started Tuesday.
Riesen said he decided to drop the child-rape charges against Devereaux because he doesn’t think he could win a conviction.
The children making the accusations have made conflicting statements to the many investigators and defense attorneys who have questioned them, Riesen told the judge.
And adults who made statements early on about alleged sex acts involving Devereaux have recanted their statements and won’t testify against him, the prosecutor said.
Small, who is presiding over the Miller trial, noted that two children testified there Thursday that they had been molested by Devereaux.
The judge said he found the matter disturbing.
Miller also signed a confession, which she later recanted, that includes references to adults having sex with children in the Devereaux home. The confession has been ruled admissible in her trial.
Small suspended all but two days of a one-year jail sentence for Devereaux, who had already spent two days in jail. The judge also ordered 240 hours of community service and two years of probation, and told Devereaux he cannot be a foster parent for at least two years.
After the hearing, Devereaux, who has been harshly critical of the investigation that led to his charges, again proclaimed his innocence.
“I am innocent of the charges. I always have been,” he said. “And I’d like to ask the question, with the numbers of kids who lived in my house during the time this was supposed to happen, why didn’t anyone ever talk to them? Why weren’t they interviewed?”
Defense attorney Steve Lacy declined comment but issued a written statement.
Even if a criminal trial had successfully cleared Devereaux, the statement said, “It cannot restore to Mr. Devereaux what he has already lost due simply to the horrible accusations leveled against him.”
xxxx WENATCHEE SEX RINGS Twenty-seven other adults have been charged since last fall with participating in what authorities describe as two loosely organized sex rings in operation since 1988. Three of the cases have resulted in convictions and ten defendants have pleaded guilty. One person was acquitted and charges against two others were dismissed. Eleven cases are pending.