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Thursday, March 5, 1998
By MIKE BARBER Linda Miller walked out of Chelan County Jail a free woman yesterday. Miller, a welfare mother of four, once was touted as a key witness whose 1995 conviction on eight counts of child molestation and 33-year prison sentence seemed to prove child sex-abuse rings existed in Wenatchee. Her case carried great weight in the pursuit of other cases by Child Protective Services and Wenatchee Police Detective Bob Perez, turning the investigation against scores of others. The confession included wild stories about orgies with children in two homes and a church -- and included the names of people who had questioned the validity of the investigations. Officials now say no child sex rings were found in Wenatchee. Many of those accused of sex crimes have sued the city and state for civil rights violations. Yesterday, the scales of justice tilted from one extreme to another. Miller, who has been in prison for nearly three years, took a plea bargain offered by Chelan County Prosecutor Gary Riesen. In exchange for her no-contest plea to three charges of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes, her 33-year prison sentence would be wiped away. Chelan County Superior Court Judge T.W. "Chip" Small, who presided over the 1995 trial that ended with the felony convictions that could have sent Miller to prison for most of her life, ordered her release yesterday. From a relative's home in Oregon last night, Miller said she accepted the plea bargain because it contained a promise that she could see her children again, although she can have no contact with other minors. "I wouldn't have accepted the plea bargain if it had prohibited me from seeing my children again," Miller said. It was a threat from Perez that she would never see her children again unless she confessed that made her sign the one that put her in prison, she said. Miller said the plea would make it difficult for her to file a civil suit against Perez and Wenatchee. But she may file suit against the state, claiming one of her daughters was abused while in a CPS-approved foster home. "It's just amazing to be out after all this," Miller said last night. Miller's earlier convictions were overturned by a higher court. The appellate judges noted there was evidence of sexual abuse of some children involved in the case, but it was unclear if Miller had done it. The appellate judges ruled Small allowed too much hearsay evidence in her trial and denied Miller an expert witness who would have explained how she might have been pressured into making a false confession. Miller had remained in prison, however, while prosecutors sought a state Supreme Court review. The high court last month declined to hear prosecutor's arguments, affirming the appellate judges' decision. Riesen also could not be reached for comment. In court yesterday, Deputy Prosecutor Roy Fore said the prosecution wanted to spare children involved in the case from being put through a new trial. Miller's lawyer, John Henry Browne of Seattle, said the no-contest plea to misdemeanors vindicates Miller because she does not admit guilt; will not have a felony record; and will not have to register as a sex offender. "If they had evidence to convict her of eight counts of child molestation in a retrial, they wouldn't be offering us misdemeanors," Browne said. Yesterday's plea bargain was a stark contrast to the 3,200 counts of rape on which Perez arrested Miller following a midnight-to-dawn interrogation March 25, 1995. She was investigated after Perez and CPS caseworker Laurie Alexander interviewed Miller's 12-year-old daughter at school, saying they had heard she was being sexually abused. Miller's daughter gave conflicting statements about her. Later, she told Douglas County authorities that Perez and Alexander gave her details from her mother's confession to sex abuse. However, that confession wasn't made until two days after the girl was interviewed by Perez and Alexander. That unexplained inconsistency and other questions about the fairness of the sweeping investigations in Wenatchee continue to be raised by lawmakers, the media and attorneys representing the accused. With Miller's release, 16 people remain in prison. During the two years of the investigations, 43 people were arrested on a total of 29,726 counts of rape or molestation involving 60 children.
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