A 12-year-old girl reported that her great uncle, her adoptive parent, had been sexually abusing her for about three years, but authorities in Florida did not believe her, according to a new federal lawsuit.

Now an adult, Taylor Cadle is suing over the investigation that led to her being wrongfully prosecuted instead of her uncle, Henry Cadle, before he was criminally charged and sentenced.

“This action is about more than just me, it’s about doing what’s right,” Taylor Cadle said in a statement to McClatchy News on Oct. 14. “I’m bringing this issue forward to help ensure it doesn’t happen again. Awareness is the first step toward real change.”

At age 13, Taylor Cadle was charged with lying to law enforcement about the rapes at the insistence of Polk County sheriff’s Detective Melissa Turnage, who was assigned to investigate Cadle’s case, her lawsuit filed Friday says. Turnage listened to Taylor Cadle recount the abuse in detail during multiple interviews and repeatedly tried to pressure Taylor Cadle into admitting she was lying, according to a complaint.

In a Dec. 14, 2016, police report, Turnage concluded she found no evidence that implicated Henry Cradle but that there was “enough probable cause to establish Taylor Cadle lied,” the complaint says.

Encouraged by her adoptive mother and aunt to plead guilty, Taylor Cadle agreed and was put on conditional probation, the filing notes.

The conditions required her to write apology letters to her uncle and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, which “had relentlessly pressured (her) to recant her truthful allegations against Defendant Cadle from the start of their ‘investigation,’” the complaint says.

Taylor Cadle remained in her aunt and uncle’s custody, according to the complaint. Then, within a month of her formal apologies, the complaint says Henry Cadle raped her again, inside his truck, where he had sexually abused her on multiple occasions.

This time, Taylor Cadle captured videos and photos as evidence, according to the complaint. She called 911 that evening, on July 25, 2017, and shared the images with a responding officer.

Henry Cadle was charged with two counts of sexual battery, the complaint says. In February 2019, he was sentenced to 17 years in prison after pleading no contest.

“The Polk County Sheriff’s Office completely and entirely failed Taylor,” Rafferty Domnick Cunningham & Yaffa law, one of the firms representing Taylor Cadle, said in a statement to McClatchy News on Tuesday.

“It is their job to protect children from sexual predators and instead of doing so, they conducted a wholly inadequate and biased investigation which resulted in dismissing Taylor’s allegations of rape and sexual assault and returning her to her abuser — subjecting her to further horrific sexual abuse,” the firm said.

Defendants named in Taylor Cadle’s lawsuit include Henry Cadle, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd and Turnage. She is also suing another Polk County sheriff’s detective and 10 unnamed sheriff’s employees.

Sheriff’s office responds to lawsuit

Polk County Sheriff’s Office communications director Scott Wilder told McClatchy News via email Tuesday that Turnage still works for the agency and dismissed the lawsuit as “frivolous.”

“Unfortunately, in today’s highly litigious society, lawyers will file frivolous lawsuits for just about anything, including second guessing 9-year-old criminal investigations, and then run to the news media attempting to get publicity for their lawsuit,” Wilder said. “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 these baseless and fabricated allegations in court,” Wilder added.

A few days after Taylor Cadle shared evidence she was raped, her guilty plea was vacated, according to the lawsuit. Two months later, in September 2017, the charges against her were dismissed.

The investigation was initiated a year earlier, after Taylor Cadle told her church minister’s wife that Henry Cadle was sexually abusing her, according to the complaint.

The minister called police, leading Polk County sheriff’s deputies to respond, the complaint says.

Taylor Cadle told deputies that her uncle had sexually abused her the night before in his vehicle, according to the filing.

She explained she “lost count” of how many times she was sexually abused since she was about 9, the complaint says.

Following Turnage’s first interview with Taylor Cadle, Turnage assumed she was lying, the complaint says.

After more interviews, Turnage told Taylor Cadle she did not believe her because a rape kit did not return traces of Henry Cadle’s DNA, according to the complaint.

But the rape kit was performed more than 24 hours after “the most recent rape, which would have served to minimize the presence of DNA,” the complaint says.

Henry Cadle had also used a condom, according to the filing.

“Detective Turnage’s lack of training and tainted investigation left Plaintiff at the behest of her guardian and adoptive father,” the complaint says.

Lawsuit seeks accountability

Turnage was not disciplined or reprimanded in connection with the investigation, according to the lawsuit.

After Taylor Cadle’s story received media attention in 2024, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office acknowledged Turnage made “inappropriate questions and statements” during her interviews with Taylor Cadle, the complaint says.

Rachel de Leon, a journalist and TV producer with Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, brought the story to light in November 2024.

Taylor Cadle is seeking an unspecified amount in damages with her lawsuit, which is also represented by attorney Brenda Harkavy, of Laffey Bucci D’Andrea Reich & Ryan.

“No child should ever be punished for reporting abuse,” Harkavy said in a statement to McClatchy News. “Through this lawsuit, we’re fighting to ensure that those responsible are held accountable and that lasting change is made so no other child has to endure what Taylor did.”

— Julia Marnin / Miami Herald

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(If you have experienced sexual assault and need someone to talk to, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline for support at 1-800-656-4673 or visit the hotline’s online chatroom at https://rainn.org/help-and-healing/hotline/)

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