I need some legal advice / recommendations

[Strongside]

About 18 months ago, my younger sister, who is now in her early twenties, confided in my wife that she had been molested several times by my step-dad between the ages of 9 and approx 14. I am much older and was not living in the home at the time.

My wife encouraged her to share this with our family and to take legal action. She did, down to extremely graphic details. The things that happened to her are horrible, and I won't describe them here. The bottom line: this guy is a ****ing piece of shit.

My mom immediately filed for divorce and hired an attorney. They live in a small rural Missouri town where everyone knows everyone and I advised her not to hire counsel in the same county, but she felt she had to do something quickly and so she did. My sister pursued charges and went through the state police / highway patrol. A detective performed an investigation and interviewed several people, including my step sisters. He turned in a recommendation for charges to the county prosecutor over six months ago.

The case has been sitting at the prosecutor's office since it was turned in with no update. They won't tell us anything. My mom's divorce is still ongoing and has been dragged out with extension after extension, at the behest of his attorney – who, shocker, is friends with my mother's attorney.

Here's where things get infuriating, if they weren't already: My step dad is a former cop. Knows everyone on the PD and Sheriff's office. They all know his as a good old boy who would give you the shirt of his back. The reality is that he's an unstable gun hoarder who is a ticking time bomb and a child molester. My mom filed for several orders of protection, all of which were denied by the judge. She began staying in their camper at an RV park out of concern for her own safety, while he goes on living at their home like life is normal. Just last week my mom went to her home to retrieve some sentimental items because she is afraid he will destroy her property and he called the police and had her removed from her own property for trespassing, which the police seemed happy to enforce.

TL;DR:

My step dad is a horrible person, molested my sister, is a former cop who has friends all throughout the legal system where they live, and my mother's attorney is doing absolutely nothing to help.

How do we proceed? I feel like this is a Netflix documentary of a nightmare. I've reached out to a few KC attorneys but none seem to go the specific county she lives in. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[big nasty kcnut]

First get your sis attorney outside help. Then file for protection in a federal court. Then have county police to help your mom get her stuff.

[Katipan]

I think you make a tik tok about it.

[big nasty kcnut]

The main thing is to get much outside help as possible.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Katipan

I think you make a tik tok about it.

My first thought was contact some sort of media. That should break the log jam.

Just be ready to deal with the aftermath. A guy like you describe with nothing to lose, a shit ton of weapons, and training in their proper use is dangerous as **** (although honestly, most cops aren't as skilled as you might think). And orders of protection are only good for wiping your ass if you crinkle them up a bit first.

Arm up, train and be ready for action. Or leave the area. In any event, good luck.

[KCJake]

Honestly man, good luck proving anything. Just saying

[notorious]

I'd treat this like a haunted house. Don't wait for something to happen, get the **** out of there.

[TLO]

Originally Posted by KCJake

Honestly man, good luck proving anything. Just saying

What the **** kind of advice is this???

[cmh6476]

Maybe put a call in to the federal prosecutor

[DrunkBassGuitar]

**** man I don't have much advise but that shit sucks. I'm sorry that you and your sister have to go through it.

Is your sister in any kind of counseling? That shit is really hard to process without help.

[Strongside]

Originally Posted by DrunkBassGuitar

**** man I don't have much advise but that shit sucks. I'm sorry that you and your sister have to go through it.

Is your sister in any kind of counseling? That shit is really hard to process without help.

She has been in counseling, yes.

It's just hard. She's now dealing with survivor's guilt and feeling that she's torn our family apart. She has a lot of people around her who love her, and she's doing a good job of leaning into that.

I haven't personally seen or been around him since I was informed about this. I'm too afraid of myself if I see him.

I don't fear for my own safety. I don't live in the same county is this guy, and he doesn't even know my address.

In the absolute very least, I want the people in his community to know what kind of a person he is.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by TLO

What the **** kind of advice is this???

It's the truth, sadly. You're up against a former cop who is probably chummy with folks in the local government, and the allegations are several years old. It may be that Strongside's mom hasn't heard anything because the prosecutor is making sure all the i's and t's are dotted/crossed before he proceeds, but it's just as likely that he's friends with the guy or is scared to cross those who are, or simply doesn't want this sort of negative attention to stain local law enforcement. It's not like corruption and cover-ups are rare.

I have some experience with this. A child of a friend was molested by the father of one of her friends when she was in high school. He was a high-level county official, and it took forever to get the case heard/resolved. He was eventually convicted, but ended up serving almost no time for what he did, which was and is absolutely heinous. It did at least wreck his life and career, but that was of little comfort to the girl, whose life was also wrecked. Nearly 20 years later, she's still not right.

[TribalElder]

Jungle Law

[Strongside]

Originally Posted by Frazod

It's the truth, sadly. You're up against a former cop who is probably chummy with folks in the local government, and the allegations are several years old. It may be that Strongside's mom hasn't heard anything because the prosecutor is making sure all the i's and t's are dotted/crossed before he proceeds, but it's just as likely that he's friends with the guy or is scared to cross those who are, or simply doesn't want this sort of negative attention to stain local law enforcement. It's not like corruption and cover-ups are rare.

I have some experience with this. A child of a friend was molested by the father of one of her friends when she was in high school. He was a high-level county official, and it took forever to get the case heard/resolved. He was eventually convicted, but ended up serving almost no time for what he did, which was and is absolutely heinous. It did at least wreck his life and career, but that was of little comfort to the girl, whose life was also wrecked. Nearly 20 years later, she's still not right.

I definitely feel that.

But to be honest, wrecking this dude's life would be better closure than nothing happening. Right now it feels as if he's just going to go on living like nothing ever happened.

If slander weren't a thing, I'd post fliers all over their town with his face and the word PEDOPHILE over the top of it.

[BWillie]

Thats so shitty man. I hope you find justice.