The Unflinching Courage of Taylor Cadle

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Taylor Cadle told a detective that the inappropriate touching had started when she was 9 years old, shortly after her Cadle’s great uncle and his wife had adopted her. Over time, the abuse escalated.

At 12-years-old, she said her adoptive father assaulted her “anytime he gets the chance,” she said.

But, cops in Polk County, Florida, decided she was the criminal. She was charged with lying to the police and ordered to write her abuser an apology letter.

“I think from the beginning—from our first interview—she had already had her mind made up about me,” Taylor told Mother Jones about the detective who interviewed her. “She made me feel like the monster.”

Justice finally came when she recorded the next assault and proved her innocence.

Taylor is one of hundreds of victims alleging sexual assault who have been charged with false reporting nationwide.

No federal agency tracks the prevalence of false-reporting charges, but over a multiyear investigation, documented in the Emmy Award–winning film Victim/Suspect, the Center for Investigative Reporting (which produces Mother Jones and Reveal) identified more than 230 cases of reporting victims charged with crimes, originating from nearly every state.

Read her whole story on MotherJones.com.

#policereports #investigation #polkcounty

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