Dad/Grandpa convicted of using granddaughter in child porn; daughter says she was abused by Dad too (Salt Lake City, Utah)

UNNAMED DAD has been convicted of using his granddaughter, now 8, to produce child pornography over a 2-year period--including images of him abusing the girl. The child's mom says that Dad abused her as a child, too. Mom said she reported her suspicions to authorities on 4 different occasions, but that they were "pushed aside." Unfortunately, this is typical.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705329561/Man-gets-17-12-years-in-sex-case.html

Utahn gets 17 1/2 years in sex abuse case
By Geoff Liesik

Deseret News
Published: Friday, Sept. 11, 2009 10:34 p.m. MDT

The defendant sat stoically in a faded jail uniform, his handcuffs held at his waist by an ill-fitting chain.

Behind him, his daughter tried to stifle the sobs that wracked her body as she prepared to ask a federal judge to send her father to prison for as long as possible. He'd used her little girl — his now 8-year-old granddaughter — over a two-year period to produce child pornography that included images of him sexually abusing the child.

Defense attorney Robin Ljungberg was the first to address U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart at Tuesday's sentencing hearing for the 42-year-old Duchesne County man, who had pleaded guilty in June to production of child pornography.

Ljungberg said the case had prompted his client, for the first time in his life, to disclose abuse he said he'd endured as a child.

"(Child sex abuse) doesn't just affect one person, but the next generation, and the next generation," the attorney said, arguing that because of the cyclical nature of the crime, "it's hard to know who to blame the first time."

For the defendant's daughter, however, it was clear who should bear responsibility for the abuse her child had endured.

"He did it for years, and he did it on purpose," the woman told Stewart, adding that her father had been convicted of sexually abusing her when she was a child.

The woman said she tried to keep her daughter away from her father and even reported suspicions of abuse to authorities on four different occasions. Those reports were "pushed aside," she said, and she eventually chose to remain silent because of pressure from her family.

That decision now plagues the woman with guilt, she told Stewart.

"How the hell did I let it happen to her, when I knew what happened to me?" she asked through tears, before addressing her father's new claim that he was also abused. "I can't believe that would be the basis of a defense."

Despite her own victimization by her father, she said she has never sexually abused anyone.

Julie Bradshaw, director of the Primary Children's Center for Safe and Healthy Families, told the Deseret News on Wednesday that the widespread belief that the sexually abused will themselves perpetrate sex abuse is erroneous.

"There's been no proof of a causal relationship there," said Bradshaw, who was not involved in the federal child-pornography case. "We call that the 'Vampire Effect,' and there isn't one. It's a myth.

"He's using that as a mitigating factor in his crime, but there's no proof that one caused another," Bradshaw added. "They use it to try to mitigate the harm they've caused, and it doesn't. You have a choice in how you behave."

The shame often associated with sex-abuse cases — for both victims and offenders — makes it impossible to gather accurate statistics on the frequency with which the abused become abusers, Bradshaw said. Past research on the subject has been discredited because the offenders surveyed were "motivated to lie," she said.

"One symptom of sexual abuse might be that a child becomes sexualized early," Bradshaw said. "Does that mean you turn into a pedophile? No. Does it make you easy prey for a pedophile? Yes, because you'd be very easily manipulated. Can you tell whether or not that boy or girl is going to turn into an abuser after the fact? No."

After hearing from all the parties at the hearing — including information that the defendant's computer contained thousands of images of child pornography and that he had fled the state to avoid prosecution — the judge seemed to agree.

"The court cannot accept as an excuse that (the defendant) was a victim of abuse as a child," Stewart said, indicating his skepticism about the disclosure because of its timing.

"It was perhaps the result of a realization of the consequences he faces," the judge said.

Stewart ordered the man to serve 17 1/2 years in federal prison, followed by 20 years of supervised release. The man still faces two state charges of aggravated sex abuse of a child, which carry mandatory prison sentences.

In addition to federal prison time, Stewart also ordered the man to pay for any therapy his granddaughter requires.

Bradshaw said there are proven treatment models that work with children who are victims of sexual abuse. She recommended that parents contact the Children's Justice Center or state Division of Child and Family Services in their area if they believe their child is the victim of sexual abuse.