Child Protective Services Warned About Sexual Abuse and Didn't Act
Deputy Chief for Seattle's Border Patrol, Joseph Giuliano, confessed to raping a 14-year-old girl who was living with him in 2008. New evidence shows that the rape could have been prevented. Inappropriate behavior was reported to CPS. CPS failed to act and another child lost their childhood.
Deana Hartnell is Giuliano's step-daughter and lived in the home where the abuse occurred. She immediately noticed something inappropriate, saying that Giuliano's behavior turned "creepy":
In addition to the sexual jokes, Hartnell says he showered the girl with gifts, such as an expensive camera and a laptop. She says Giuliano would pick the girl up early from school and take her out late at night for coffee, "making her feel very important, putting her into his world and making her feel special, and he was perfectly grooming her."
After discovering that the 14-year-old was sleeping in the same bed as her mother and Guiliano, Hartnell contacted Child Protective Services.
•On April 3rd, Hartnell reports the suspected abuse to CPS.
"They were sleeping in the same bed, she was 14 - he was in his mid-50's ... it just screamed out to me that this is not right," she said.
Hartnell says she confronted Giuliano.
"He blew up and got very defensive and angry and the end of it was he told me to get the heck out of the house," she said.
Her next step was contacting CPS.
"I just wanted to make sure that they understood that I felt very strongly that she would definitely be abused in some way, shape or form, if she hadn't been already," she said.
CPS took down Giuliano's name, the address and some basic information, but never opened an investigation.
•By mid-April, according to Giuliano's statement to police, he began fondling the girl in bed.
Again according to Giuliano's statement, the abuse continued for the next five months, until the girl started high school. Then Giuliano says he started fantasizing about getting the girl's friends involved. Law enforcement says an anonymous source from the high school contacted them.
•The fondling continued, escalating to oral sex.
•By the last of April it advanced to sexual intercourse.
"They left this vulnerable little girl in the hands of a perpetrator - in his bed, literally, where he raped her for the next five months."
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