Woman Tells Of Separation From Sister In Sex Probe -- She Says She Denied Being Sexually Abused

A young woman who contends her parents were falsely accused and imprisoned after they were accused of sexually molesting her siblings burst into tears as she recalled how she was forcibly separated from her sister during the Wenatchee child-sex investigations.

Yesterday, Sarah Doggett, 19, told the court about her parents' experience in 1994-95 when they were accused of sexually abusing their children by Wenatchee police investigator Robert Perez.

Doggett testified that she told investigators repeatedly that she had not been sexually abused by her parents and that she had never seen her parents sexually abuse her siblings. No one believed her, she said.

At one point in 1995, Doggett testified, Washington state Child Protective Services workers strapped her to a gurney against her will and drove her to an Idaho mental institution after she had persisted in her denials.

"They told me I was suicidal and had an extreme eating disorder," said Doggett, who now lives in Ukiah, Calif.

Doggett said the state employees told her she needed to be hospitalized for her own good, but she added that she had done nothing to warrant such an action and was never given "a choice."

The former Wenatchee resident also testified yesterday in King County Superior Court that she "thought it was a joke" when she was told her parents had been arrested on 1,000 counts of child rape.

Eventually her parents, Carol, 39, and Mark Doggett, 40, were

each convicted of child rape and child molestation and sentenced to 10 years and 10 months in prison. But the Appeals Court overturned their conviction in 1997.

The Doggetts remain in prison pending a decision on whether they will be retried.

Plaintiffs Pastor Robert "Roby" Roberson, his wife, Connie, and Honnah Sims and Donna Rodriguez are suing lead investigator Perez, state social workers, a mental health therapist, the City of Wenatchee and Douglas County for false arrest and the way they handled the initial investigation.

The Robersons and Sims were acquitted in 1995 of multiple counts of child rape and molestation. Charges against Rodriguez were dropped when four of her five accusers recanted.

The plaintiffs are seeking $100 million.

"From the very beginning I was very up front and saying nothing had happened," said Doggett, who has filed her own lawsuit against the state and several individuals.

But during cross-examination, Doggett, the oldest of five children, admitted that her sister had told her she'd been sexually abused by a sibling shortly before the allegations against her parents were made.

Doggett said she was so distraught by her sister's allegations that she attempted suicide. She was 16 at the time.

Doggett also conceded during cross-examination that the allegations made by her sister prompted her parents to seek help from Child Protective Services. At the time, she said she was living in California with a family friend because she had several problems and didn't feel she could sort them out at her home with her parents and siblings.

Doggett said Detective Perez and a social worker interviewed her sister extensively when she visited her in California. After the interview, the girls and Perez waited for a commuter flight at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to return to Wenatchee together, she said.

During their wait, Perez told Doggett, "We know your dad raped you, why don't you just admit it."

Doggett said she ignored Perez's comment because she feared she might be separated from her sister.

Despite promises that she and her sister would remain together, Doggett said they were separated abruptly later that day after they reached Wenatchee. She was sent to one foster home, her sister to another.

"She was screaming and I was fighting to keep her with me," Doggett testified. "I knew that if I let her go that I wouldn't see her again."

Earlier yesterday, Wenatchee Police Chief Ken Badgley said there was no conflict of interest in allowing Perez to pursue allegations of an organized child-sex ring leveled by his own foster daughters.

Badgley said he told the detective "he was going to have to go extra steps" because his foster daughter was the primary accuser and there was a potential conflict.

"I just told him to have an extra sensitivity and awareness of the situation and keep that in mind," Badgley said.

The Wenatchee Police Department had been sharply criticized for keeping Perez on as the lead investigator.

Badgley defended his decision yesterday, saying he had deliberated about the conflict of interest issue and concluded Perez should remain as the lead investigator. He testified that he was certain that whenever Perez talked to his foster daughters about the criminal investigation there were always Department of Social and Health Services workers present.

He also said that if there was any conflict of interest, he was responsible for it, not Perez.