Eight years later, a Polk County sheriff’s detective has received a “letter of retraining” over her handling of a rape complaint that yielded charges against a 12-year-old girl for filing a false report.
About a year after facing that charge, Taylor Cadle collected photo and video evidence proving that her adoptive father — biologically her great uncle — had raped her. The Sheriff’s Office then arrested Henry Cadle, and he pleaded no contest to sexual battery on a child 12-18 years of age.
The deputy who investigated Taylor Cadle’s initial report that her adoptive father had sexually assaulted her, Melissa Turnage, recently received a letter from a supervisor directing her to complete an online course on interview and interrogation techniques, an article on Mother Jones.com reported.
A co-author of the article, California-based reporter Rachel de Leon, first reported on Cadle’s case in a video segment aired by PBS NewsHour in October. De Leon, who specializes in reporting on cases of girls and women charged with filing false reports over rape claims, uncovered details of the 2016 investigation of Taylor’s accusations against Henry Cadle.
The NewsHour and Mother Jones reports included recordings of Turnage interviewing both Taylor and Henry Cadle after the girl told a pastor’s wife that her adoptive father had been sexually abusing her.
The excerpts suggested that Turnage treated Taylor’s claims with skepticism and lightly questioned Henry Cadle.
“Basically, Taylor, I guess, has made up these allegations, OK, that you have been sexually abusing her,” Turnage said to Cadle, in an excerpt from an interview. “
Taylor Cadle, now 21 and living in North Lakeland, told The Ledger last month that Turnage had been hostile and unsympathetic from her first interview in 2016. She said the deputy was strongly influenced by her adoptive parents’ depiction of her as mouthy and materialistic.
Former legislator intervenes
De Leon and her Mother Jones co-author, Julia Lurie, contacted Lauren Book, until recently a Democratic state senator from Broward County. Book is a child advocate, having survived sexual abuse in her own childhood.
After hearing recordings of Turnage’s interviews during the Cadle investigation, Book contacted the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, according to the Mother Jones article. Capt. Dina Russell at first responded with a defense of Turnage’s investigation.
In a letter reproduced in the Mother Jones article, Russell described the inquiry as “thorough” and cited reasons Turnage gave in 2016 for questioning Taylor’s accusations — among those that she could not find surveillance video evidence of Cadle buying condoms at a gas station identified by Taylor.
But Turnage requested footage starting about 15 minutes later than Cadle would have arrived at the gas station, de Leon and Lurie reported.
Turnage interviewed Henry Cadle for only 20 minutes outside of church on the day Taylor made her accusation in 2016, de Leon and Lurie reported. When asked if he would take a polygraph test, he refused, saying, “I’ve had sex with a lot of people in the shower with my eyes closed, if you know what I mean. I’m a man.”
Turnage replied: “Daydreaming about it and answering questions in reference to the allegations are two totally different things.”
After listening to a recording of one of Turnage’s interviews from the case, Russell determined that the deputy’s approach did not meet agency standards, according to the Mother Jones story.
In the letter, dated Oct. 17, Russell wrote of Turnage’s interview of Taylor, “Several of your questions and comments were inappropriate. While your intent may have been to elicit the truth and gather essential information, referencing personal circumstances such as foster care or financial hardships can create an environment of discomfort, fear, mistrust and is simply unacceptable.”
In interviews with Taylor, Turnage warned her that if Cadle were arrested, she would return to foster care and she would not receive the dental braces she sought or the new shoes she wanted.
Russell wrote that Turnage had violated a general department order covering competency, job knowledge and proficiency. She directed Turnage to complete an online course titled, “Interview and Interrogation Techniques.”
“Please use this as a learning tool for awareness regarding the proper interview techniques when questioning victims,” Russell wrote. “I am confident you will take the appropriate steps to prevent any similar events in the future.”
Turnage would be given time on duty to complete the course, Russell wrote.
“It was nothing,” Taylor said of Turnage’s training order. “It was a laugh in my face but a slap on the wrist for her. I don’t think that it’s fair. They thought that it’s fair. They hold the power.”
Book could not be reached for comment.
History of missteps
Turnage, who joined the Sheriff’s Office in 2007, is on track to become a sergeant, Mother Jones reported.
A requested Turnage’s personnel file in late October. The Sheriff’s Office estimated that redacting the 799-page file would cost $498 in employee resources.
PCSO spokesperson Scott Wilder declined the request for an interview with Sheriff Grady Judd. The agency’s communication staff did not answer questions emailed in response to the Mother Jones story, among them:
Why did it take eight years and an inquiry from a former state legislator before the agency addressed Turnage’s handling of the Cadle case?
Did PCSO change any elements of its training or policies on interviewing minors who may be victims of sexual abuse following Henry Cadle’s arrest?
Turnage has a history of drawing warnings from superiors in the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. The Mother Jones article included three examples of her apparent missteps, aside from the Cadle case.
In 2015, Turnage failed to read a portion of the Miranda rights’ advisory to a man suspected of sexually assaulting a child. As a result, the suspect’s confession was suppressed. Turnage was suspended for eight hours, according to the Mother Jones article.
The same year, Turnage left for Christmas vacation without questioning a man suspected of raping his children or updating her supervisors on the case, the Mother Jones story said. Colleagues stepped in and arrested the suspect.
In a letter to Turnage, a supervisor wrote that her handling of the case was “inexcusable.”
In 2016, Turnage arrested the wrong person while investigating the sexual assault of a minor — a man with no tattoos, though a video of the assault showed that the suspect had tattoos, according to the Mother Jones article. She received a disciplinary letter over that mistake on the same day that she filed the affidavit against Taylor Cadle.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office did not reply to an email asking why Turnage is still on course to become a sergeant, given her career record.
Taylor, under pressure from her adoptive mother — Henry Cadle’s wife — pleaded guilty to the charge of filing a false report. Judge Mark Hofstad ordered probation, and Taylor was required to write letters of apology to Cadle and to the Sheriff’s Office.
Change in SAO policy
About a month after Taylor wrote those letters, Henry Cadle parked his vehicle along a road in rural North Lakeland and raped his adoptive daughter. Taylor, anticipating what he would do after Cadle stopped to buy condoms, surreptitiously took photos and videos, one of which showed Cadle exposed.
Tayor later called 911, and a team from the Sheriff’s Office came to the family’s home, eventually arresting Henry Cadle.
Judge Keith Spoto sentenced Cadle to 17 years in prison. The judge described Taylor as “a victim of a failure of the criminal justice system.”
Cadle is an inmate at Graceville Correctional Facility, with a current release date of July 22, 2034.
Assistant State Attorney Joni Batie-McGrew of the 10th Judicial Circuit approved the charge against Taylor in 2016. After Cadle’s sentencing, the office filed a motion to vacate the previous case and withdraw Taylor’s guilty plea. The office then entered a “no prosecution” order, dismissing the charge against her.
“The ‘false information’ has since been determined to be true,” the order stated.
The Cadle case prompted the State Attorney’s Office to adopt a policy that requires assistants to confer with the administration before charging a minor with filing a false report, spokesperson Jacob Orr said. Since then, the State Attorney’s Office has charged three other juveniles with falsely reporting sexual abuse, Mother Jones reported.
Orr said that the office found “irrefutable evidence proving the falsehood” of the accusations.
Taylor Cadle, the mother of two young children, told The Ledger in October that she resents never having received an apology from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. Taylor, who expressed admiration for Judd in an interview with The Ledger, recently sent him an email expressing outrage that the agency “is still trying to silence my story.”
Taylor wrote that the Sheriff’s Office had apparently deleted hundreds of comments about her from a TikTok story it posted.
“I thought you guys were supposed to help? Not silence a victim,” Taylor wrote. “I stayed silent then but I will no longer stand for that!”
Taylor said Wednesday that she has not received any response from Judd or anyone else at the Sheriff’s Office.
“I kind of feel like that was a given,” Taylor said. “I would hope for a response, but I truly and honestly didn’t think that it would happen. I just feel like the whole case by them is being ignored in general.”
Paragraph One of said letter: Do not ever, EVER get egg on Grady’s face.