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.<\/p>\n
Now an adult, Taylor Cadle is suing over the investigation that led to her being\u00a0wrongfully prosecuted\u00a0instead of her uncle, Henry Cadle, before he was criminally charged and sentenced.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis action is about more than just me, it\u2019s about doing what\u2019s right,\u201d Taylor Cadle said in a statement to McClatchy News on Oct. 14. \u201cI\u2019m bringing this issue forward to help ensure it doesn\u2019t happen again. Awareness is the first step toward real change.\u201d<\/p>\n
At age 13, Taylor Cadle was\u00a0charged with lying to law enforcement\u00a0about the rapes at the insistence of Polk County sheriff\u2019s Detective Melissa Turnage, who was assigned to investigate Cadle\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
In a Dec. 14, 2016, police report, Turnage concluded she found no evidence that implicated Henry Cradle but that there was \u201cenough probable cause to establish Taylor Cadle lied,\u201d the complaint says.<\/p>\n
Encouraged by her adoptive mother and aunt to plead guilty, Taylor Cadle agreed and was put on conditional probation, the filing notes.<\/p>\n
The conditions required her to write apology letters to her uncle and the Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office, which \u201chad relentlessly pressured (her) to recant her truthful allegations against Defendant Cadle from the start of their \u2018investigation,\u2019\u201d the complaint says.<\/p>\n
Taylor Cadle remained in her aunt and uncle\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office completely and entirely failed Taylor,\u201d Rafferty Domnick Cunningham & Yaffa law, one of the firms representing Taylor Cadle, said in a statement to McClatchy News on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt 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\u2019s allegations of rape and sexual assault and returning her to her abuser \u2014 subjecting her to further horrific sexual abuse,\u201d the firm said.<\/p>\n
Defendants named in Taylor Cadle\u2019s lawsuit include Henry Cadle, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd and Turnage. She is also suing another Polk County sheriff\u2019s detective and 10 unnamed sheriff\u2019s employees.<\/p>\n
Sheriff\u2019s office responds to lawsuit<\/p>\n
Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office communications director Scott Wilder told McClatchy News via email Tuesday that Turnage still works for the agency and dismissed the lawsuit as \u201cfrivolous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, in today\u2019s 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,\u201d Wilder said. \u201cIn 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe look forward to vigorously defending against these baseless and fabricated allegations in court,\u201d Wilder added.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The investigation was initiated a year earlier, after Taylor Cadle told her church minister\u2019s wife that Henry Cadle was sexually abusing her, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n
The minister called police, leading Polk County sheriff\u2019s deputies to respond, the complaint says.<\/p>\n
Taylor Cadle told deputies that her uncle had sexually abused her the night before in his vehicle, according to the filing.<\/p>\n
She explained she \u201clost count\u201d of how many times she was sexually abused since she was about 9, the complaint says.<\/p>\n
Following Turnage\u2019s first interview with Taylor Cadle, Turnage assumed she was lying, the complaint says.<\/p>\n
After more interviews, Turnage told Taylor Cadle she did not believe her because a rape kit did not return traces of Henry Cadle\u2019s DNA, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n
But the rape kit was performed more than 24 hours after \u201cthe most recent rape, which would have served to minimize the presence of DNA,\u201d the complaint says.<\/p>\n
Henry Cadle had also used a condom, according to the filing.<\/p>\n
\u201cDetective Turnage\u2019s lack of training and tainted investigation left Plaintiff at the behest of her guardian and adoptive father,\u201d the complaint says.<\/p>\n
Lawsuit seeks accountability<\/p>\n
Turnage was not disciplined or reprimanded in connection with the investigation, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n
After Taylor Cadle\u2019s story received media attention in 2024, the Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office acknowledged Turnage made \u201cinappropriate questions and statements\u201d during her interviews with Taylor Cadle, the complaint says.<\/p>\n
Rachel de Leon, a journalist and TV producer with Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting,\u00a0brought the story\u00a0to light in November 2024.<\/p>\n
Taylor Cadle is seeking an unspecified amount in damages with her lawsuit, which is also represented by attorney Brenda Harkavy, of Laffey Bucci D\u2019Andrea Reich & Ryan.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo child should ever be punished for reporting abuse,\u201d Harkavy said in a statement to McClatchy News. \u201cThrough this lawsuit, we\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Julia Marnin \/ Miami Herald<\/p>\n
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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\u00a01-800-656-4673\u00a0or visit the hotline\u2019s\u00a0online chatroom\u00a0at https:\/\/rainn.org\/help-and-healing\/hotline\/)<\/p>\n
_____<\/p>\n
\u00a92025 Miami Herald. Visit\u00a0miamiherald.com. Distributed by\u00a0Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 12-year-old girl reported that her great uncle, her adoptive parent, had been sexually abusing her for about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6573,28,30,29,114,6099,115,4281,1311],"class_list":{"0":"post-5997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-crime-public-safety","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-florida-headlines","11":"tag-florida-news","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-nation","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-rape","16":"tag-sexual-assault"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}