1PENN YAN, NY – A Yates County sheriff’s investigator who failed to act on a teenage girl’s rape allegations and later faced minimal discipline is drawing renewed scrutiny after the victim was returned home and abused again, according to an investigation by New York Focus in partnership with The New York Times.

The case began in May 2023, when a 13-year-old girl told police her adoptive father had been raping her since 2021. She was removed from the home, and the case was assigned to Investigator Megan Morehouse of the Yates County Sheriff’s Office.

District Attorney Todd Casella said Morehouse doubted the girl’s account and ignored key investigative steps — including obtaining search warrants for the suspect’s phone and home.

“What she didn’t do is the very essence of what it is

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