INCEST & UNDERAGE SEX IN THE HOME OF FAMILY_X_

Angela explained during her forensic interview that she was routinely molested by Carson. Social workers at the CT Department of Children and Families (DCF), as well as Angela’s private therapist, had also previously noted Carson’s molestations. [3A]

Carson admitted to police and social services that he had molested his sister, but minimized its extent. [3B] Julie also discussed it with DCF, but lied about the details and the duration, as she did in her sworn affidavits for police. Julie told DCF that Carson had only “touched” Angela’s “vaginal area” and that both children were “unclear” about the incident. [3C]

Angela, however, in her CAIT forensic interview, was very clear that her brother’s molestations were more than a “touch.” When asked for details, Angela explained that Carson had her use her hands and mouth on his “private,” and that he liked to “rub” his private between her “flaps” (by which she meant her labia). [3D]

Angela told CAIT she was unsure exactly how many times these molestations occurred, but it was “lots of times.”

Angela further explained that she had engaged in sex play with her eight-year neighbor friend, “Lily,” also in Jeff’s and Julie’s bedroom, in which the two girls would “touch each other’s privates.” When the CAIT interviewer asked, “What did you touch each other’s private with?” Angela responded, “Just hands.”

As noted in the forensic medical exam, Angela’s hymen was intact, but exhibited a small “notch.” [3E] This is consistent both with her description of being molested by her brother, and with Lily’s fingers in Angela’s “private” —  although such a notch is clearly inconsistent with the multiple alleged penile rapes, the alleged rape with a wine bottle, and the alleged rape with Julie’s dildo.

In her interview with CAIT, Angela further disclosed that she and Carson, and at other times she and Lily, looked at pornography in the form of Jeff’s magazines as well as Internet images on the _X_ family’s shared computer. Both the computer and Jeff’s magazines were kept in Jeff’s and Julie’s bedroom.

Although police would later recover pornography from Jeff’s and Julie’s computer, police recovered no pornography of any kind from the Barney home. [3F]

It is impossible to know, today, how many other neighborhood children, in addition to Lily, may have had engaged in sexual activity in Jeff’s and Julie’s bedroom. At the time of the CAIT forensic interviews, Julie listed her occupation as voluntary “After-School Enrichment Director.” [3G]

According to Megan Barney, Julie first alluded to Carson molesting Angela sometime in the summer of 2003. Megan did not involve authorities at the time because Julie downplayed the seriousness of the molestations, and because Julie claimed to have training in sexual abuse counseling. [3H]

According to Megan, when Julie informed her on October 19th that Carson was also having sex with Jeremy, it’s likely that Julie assumed Megan would not call authorities on this occasion, either, given the involvement of her son.

As previously discussed, DCF noted that Julie had no intention of involving authorities. On the contrary, she planned “to keep this from public exposure” and she had been under the impression that “[Megan] agreed this was OK.” [3I] After Megan called the regional crisis hotline, however, the subsequent involvement of State authorities meant that Jeff and Julie could end up being investigated for neglect and child endangerment, among other possible charges.

As Julie began placing her own phone calls to authorities, making the first of numerous false allegations, the earliest DCF reports are careful to note that Julie appears to be “minimizing” Carson’s sexual abuse of his sister, and that Julie “want[s] to report Jeremy, but she is reluctant to report [Carson].” [3J]

DCF also notes that “It is unclear if [Julie] reported [Carson’s] sexual abuse of her daughter to police.”

What is clear to DCF is Julie’s motivation for contacting them: “[Julie] said police are involved and now she is disclosing this.”

In contrast to Julie’s later allegations, DCF also notes Angela and Jesse “denied that Jeremy touched them.”

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THE CAIT FORENSIC INTERVIEWS