Warning: This article contains discussion of rape, child and sexual abuse which some readers may find distressing.
Taylor Cadle is suing the police for allegedly making her write an apology letter to the adoptive father who raped her.
The 22-year-old has alleged that staff at Polk County Sheriff’s Office in Florida, USA, accused her of lying to investigators.
Filed in a district court on 10 October, she claims Henry Cadle sexually abused her between the ages of nine and 13. It allegedly began after she had been transferred from foster care into the custody of him and his wife in 2012.
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Taylor claims that the reason why she didn’t initially report Henry is because she worried she would end up placed back in foster care.
Online court records reviewed by PEOPLE show that Henry has since been convicted of sexual battery of a child between the ages of 12 and 18, committed by a custodian.
The lawsuit says the investigation began in July 2016, following a church member reporting claims to officials at the local sheriff’s office after Taylor confided in them.
Following the accusations, the lawsuit alleges that during an interview with Henry and law enforcement, investigator Melissa Turnage said to him: “Basically, Taylor [Plaintiff], I guess, has made up these allegations, okay?
“That you have been sexually abusing her.”
The man declined to take a polygraph test (a lie detector) for the investigation and is alleged to have boasted to officials that he ‘had sex with a lot of people in the shower with my eyes closed’.
Turnage claimed in the police report that there was no evidence of abuse and accused Taylor of lying during a criminal investigation, with Sheriff Grady Judd among those also named.
She alleges that Henry’s wife pressured her into pleading guilty to this and that as part of her probation, police made her write apology notes to the man.
Two handwritten letters were included in the lawsuit with one addressed to the adoptive dad and the other to an ‘officer’.
One reads: “Dear dad, I’m sorry for what I did. I didn’t stop and think of my consequences of these actions. This will not happen again & I’m sorry. Taylor Cadle 6-29-17.”
The other to the unnamed officer includes: “I know what I did wasn’t right therefore I face my consequences.”
Still a child at the time, she was returned to Henry’s custody but went on to record his abuse of her in secret the following month.
Eventually resulting in his arrest and conviction according to the records reviewed by PEOPLE, her lawsuit explains that she showed photographic evidence to the police.
In her suit, she is asking for ‘compensatory damages and special damages, punitive damages, cost disbursements, pre- and post-judgment interest and attorney's fees’.
The Polk’s County Sheriff’s Office regarded the lawsuit as a publicity stunt and told LADbible in a statement: “Unfortunately, in today’s highly litigious society, lawyers file lawsuits that include false and misleading accusations, including second guessing nine year old criminal investigations. In this case, our deputies did an extensive investigation and made deliberate and rational decisions based upon the information and evidence we had at the time.
"We look forward to vigorously defending against the baseless and fabricated allegations included in the lawsuit in court. The child rapist Henry Cadle was arrested by our agency in 2017 for custodial sexual battery of a minor and he was convicted and sentenced to 17 years in Florida State Prison."
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 10am-8pm Monday to Friday. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111, 24/7.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact the Rape Crisis England and Wales helpline on 0808 500 222, available 24/7. If you are currently in danger or need urgent medical attention, you should call 999.
Jess Battison