One reckless accusation can not only ruin a person’s life, but take a harsh toll on his family.
A new lawsuit is alleging that a cop’s conflict of interest led to the arrest and prosecution of an innocent man for sexual abuse.
Joe Leonetti, a longtime girls soccer coach who also played on the U.S. men’s national team in college, is suing Clackamas County (Ore.) for $7.5 million, two-and-a-half years after he was arrested on charges of molesting a 12-year-old on the team he coached, Fox 12 Oregon reports.
The player is the daughter of a sheriff’s deputy. Leonetti’s wife was battling breast cancer at the time and died last June:
During the investigation Leonetti was forced to move out of his house, and he could only see his children during supervised visits.
The district attorney dropped the case the day after Leonetti’s counsel made her opening statement. The defense noted that Leonetti was indicted just three days after his arrest, that the “medical professionals” only interviewed the accuser more than a week after his indictment, and that the accuser gave two different timelines for when the abuse happened:
In her first interview with detectives, she said the abuse [touching her in a sleeping bag] happened between September and November 2012. In her Cares interview, she said it happened between January and August, saying “that’s what we decided.”
When the interviewer asked her to elaborate on “we,” she said “the people who are helping me.”
The girl claimed Leonetti touched her while his wife was very sick and in bed with her arm in a sling. Though that is true now, Holly Leonetti was active and traveling with her husband in Rome in 2012.
Investigators also ignored a friend’s claim that the accuser had insinuated there was DNA evidence (“white stuff”) on the sleeping bag. Leonetti’s home was never searched.
Leonetti told Fox 12 Oregon:
Our family was filled with relief and joy at the dismissal of the case last year. My wife and I enjoyed our last months together with the black cloud of uncertainty lifted, and my children and I were afforded the time to grieve without burden. Our family feels a responsibility to the public to expose the serious injustice of this investigation.
Read the story and prior reporting.
h/t NCFM Carolinas
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