A teen reported years of sexual abuse to police, but what the investigator did next led to a devastating outcome

In May 2023, a teenage girl in Yates County, New York, told police officers something terrible. Her adoptive father had been raping her since 2021, starting when she was only 13 years old. She said that after some of the attacks, he gave her things like soda, candy or blueberry iced tea. The police took her out of the home right away, and a woman named Megan Morehouse from the Yates County Sheriff’s Office got the case.

This should have been one of the most important cases for the small police department that year. But Investigator Morehouse did not do the basic work needed to protect the girl. She did not get permission from a judge to search the father’s phone or look through the house where several children were living. Todd Casella, who works as the county’s top lawyer, gave her advice on how to handle the case, but she did not follow it.

What the investigator did next led to a devastating outcome. Less than two months after the girl spoke up, Child Protective Services put her back in the same home, as per NY Times. Court papers show that once she was back, people teased her and yelled at her. They called her a liar and blamed her for causing problems in the family. And the man kept abusing her sexually. 

This was more than just bad police work

The girl had to tell police again in November 2023 before anyone took real action. This time, Mr. Casella asked the State Police to handle everything. They found out the father had also hurt two other foster children. He admitted in court to sexually assaulting a child in September 2025.

What happened here was not just someone making mistakes at their job. Investigator Morehouse turned on a recorder by accident and it caught her telling another officer that she did not believe what the girl said. Later, she asked if she could cut parts out of the recording. She said it was a big file and that it might help the father’s lawyers. Mr. Casella said what she did was really wrong and that she should not be working as a police officer.

But Investigator Morehouse got off easy. Frank Ryan, who became the new sheriff in November 2023, looked at what happened and decided she did not need to be fired or even suspended. All he did was make her read a five-page paper about sharing case files and write her up. Mr. Casella was angry about this. He pointed out that a child had to go through more abuse because the investigator did not do her job right.

This case shows a bigger problem with how police officers get punished in New York. The state does not have one set of rules that everyone has to follow. Each police department gets to decide what happens to officers who mess up. 

The NY Times looked at files from over 200 small police departments and saw that officers who did similar bad things got punished in completely different ways. Cases like this teacher’s year-long pattern of abuse at a California school show how people in power who hurt children often do not face the same consequences.

In April 2025, Investigator Morehouse finally got knocked down to a lower job called deputy sheriff. This happened after Mr. Casella complained about her again for not doing her work on other cases. But she still has her job and drives around Yates County as a police officer. Mr. Casella said he will never ask her to testify in court for any case. 

Sheriff Ryan defended keeping her on the force, saying the department tries to help officers improve and that she has good qualities. The way police handle abuse claims is still a big worry, as we see in other recent cases where victims filed police reports only to run into problems getting justice.