In May, a 10-year-old Omaha girl told police that her older brother had sexually assaulted her twice a few months before.
The 15-year-old boy was arrested and placed in state custody. But in October, at the recommendation of a guardian ad litem and Douglas County’s probation office, a judge allowed him to return to live at his parents’ home.
His mother and stepfather signed a safety plan that said they would not allow the boy, who had turned 16, to be alone and unsupervised with his siblings or other children.
Within two weeks of the boy’s return to the home, the girl reported that he had raped her. And their 16-year-old half-sister told police that he had also sexually assaulted her.
Now the boy has been charged as an adult with two counts of first-degree sexual assault. If convicted, he faces up to 100 years in prison. His parents face intentional child abuse charges. The teen and his mother are scheduled to appear in court Monday.
“It’s terrible,†Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said. “We want to protect children. To me, obviously, the system failed in that regard this time.â€
Gene Klein, executive director of child advocacy center Project Harmony, said it’s fairly common for the organization to handle cases of children who act out sexually against other children. What is rare, he said, is for a repeat offense to occur so soon after the child got help.
While Project Harmony staff assist law enforcement in interviewing children who are alleging abuse, Klein said they are not involved in determining the proper punishment or rehabilitation.
“None of us have a crystal ball when it comes to this, and it’s horribly unfortunate when this kind of thing happens,†he said. “I do believe the juvenile court takes very significant efforts to understand the complexity of a child’s sexual behavior and is regularly careful about the return and safety around that, creating a plan for managing that safety.â€
The World-Herald is not naming the teen or his parents to protect the privacy of the accusers.
The younger sister first reported sexual abuse to school staff on May 7. In a follow-up interview with Omaha police officers and Project Harmony staff, the girl said she was sexually penetrated by her brother sometime in November 2020 and in March 2021. The girl was 9 when the first alleged assault occurred and turned 10 in early 2021.
The boy was charged in juvenile court in May with two counts of first-degree sexual assault and held at the Douglas County Youth Center.
In late July, a prosecutor amended the charges to disorderly conduct. Officials had spoken with the girl and her therapists and weren’t sure whether she would be able to testify.
Unlike in adult court, Kleine said, judges in juvenile court aren’t bound by any restrictions or guidelines based on the type of charge a youth is facing.
Kleine said prosecutors didn’t want to make the girl testify and cause her more harm because no matter the charge, juvenile court judges can order whatever treatment or in-custody time they deem appropriate.
At a July hearing where the boy admitted to the disorderly conduct charges, Douglas County Juvenile Court Judge Mary Stevens ordered a psychosexual evaluation for him.
At a September hearing, Kleine said, prosecutors objected to allowing the boy to return home. The boy remained in an out-of-home placement. Stevens ordered that the teen successfully complete treatment “with a mental health professional trained and experienced in working with problematic sexual behavior in youth and their families.†She also imposed other typical probation supervision stipulations.
On Oct. 20, at the recommendation of juvenile probation and the boy’s guardian ad litem, Stevens ordered the teen to be placed on indefinite probation and allowed him to return home. Kleine said he didn’t know whether the prosecutor objected at that hearing.
Kleine said that while there was a safety plan in place and at least some psychosexual therapy was completed, “it’s certainly an extreme high risk to put these victims in a situation where this perpetrator has the ability to access them or any children.â€
“It’s not acceptable; it’s not something that’s a good idea,†he said. “Especially when you have the allegations that the parents didn’t do their duty in protecting these victims.â€
When a reporter asked for a comment from Stevens, an administrative assistant said the judge cannot comment on specific cases. Mary Visek, chief probation officer for Douglas County Juvenile Probation, also said she couldn’t talk about “anything related to a child in juvenile probation.â€
On Nov. 4, two weeks after the boy was allowed to go home, the 10-year-old told Omaha police that her brother had digitally penetrated her and also vaginally and anally penetrated her. The half-sister told police that the boy had digitally penetrated her.
Detectives then spoke to the 35-year-old mother and 33-year-old stepfather. They acknowledged that they had agreed to not allow the boy to be unsupervised around his siblings or other children.
But the parents told police that they left the teen alone with his siblings — twice with the younger sister and once with his half-sister — while they went to a store and to a doctor’s appointment.
The parents were arrested that day. Each was charged with two counts of intentional child abuse, a charge that carries a maximum of six years in prison. Both are being held at the Douglas County Jail on $100,000 bail.
Klein, the head of Project Harmony, said the goal for rehabilitation is get youths treatment and, ultimately, to reunite families.
“Within the family, if it’s safe, everyone wants that,†he said. “The process is really around good supervision, good accountability in the home and proper treatment. When those things are in place, kids do really well in returning home, and you can create safety.â€
In 2020, Project Harmony served more than 4,500 children in the metro area and neighboring counties. Of the abuse cases, 6% involved allegations of children assaulting other children. So far in 2021, the number of those cases has increased 2.5% over last year, said Angela Roeber, a spokeswoman for Project Harmony. She also noted that the total number of children served this year will exceed 6,000.
Lisa Mizell, president and CEO of Child Protection Center, the child advocacy organization that serves the Kansas City area, said youths involved in difficult cases can have good outcomes and bright futures as long as they and those around them are receiving proper support.
“These cases are very complicated,†she said. “With the appropriate treatment, the recidivism rate is extremely low. You have to understand, as a parent, they’re having to choose between their children — and they all need help.â€
Kleine said people in his office intend to do everything they can to keep the boy’s case in adult court. Defense attorneys often seek to move the cases of teen clients charged as adults to juvenile court. The teen’s attorney didn’t return a message left by a reporter.
Kleine said that because there were previous concerns about the 10-year-old girl testifying, his office will tread lightly as it moves forward with the felony case. In the parents’ criminal cases, he said the probation process failed by “putting responsibility on parents that didn’t take that responsibility seriously.â€
“We’ll have to do whatever we can to make sure that we have the experts on hand to help with this victim getting through this,†he said.
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