Lawyer says child has history of making unsubstantiated sexual molestation claims
By: Glen Puitt
Review - Journal
A 4-year-old girl who accused a former Mormon missionary of molesting her has made two other sexual accusations against men, both of them unsubstantiated, a defense attorney said Tuesday.
"We have a serial accuser," said defense attorney Robert Draskovich, who represents former missionary John Misseldine.
Police say Misseldine molested two girls, ages 7 and 4, at a Las Vegas Valley church in May 2003. He is scheduled to go to trial in August.
He is charged with two counts of lewdness with a minor under the age of 14. Each count carries a possible sentence of life in prison with parole eligibility after 10 years.
He was indicted by a grand jury in December on charges of sexual assault with a minor and lewdness.
On Friday, District Judge Donald Mosley dismissed the sexual assault charge. The decision was made because of the way evidence was presented to the grand jury.
In January, the Review-Journal reported that the 4-year-old in the case once accused an uncle of sexual molestation. She later acknowledged to her mother "that she was sorry, but she told a lie," according to transcripts from the grand jury proceedings.
That case was investigated by Las Vegas police and declined for prosecution by the Clark County District Attorney's Office because of a lack of evidence.
Now, Draskovich said his investigators have uncovered yet another instance in which the girl made an unsubstantiated accusation against a man.
"It appears she's made another false accusation, prior to the one we already knew about," Draskovich said.
The defense attorney said he had no other details on the new case. He said a defense investigator uncovered the information through interviews, and that his office was told the accusation was memorialized in a report crafted by Clark County's Department of Family Services.
Draskovich said he served a subpoena recently with Family Services, seeking any reports under a specific case file number that he said contains details of the false accusation. He said Family Services acknowledged that the case file existed, but they denied his request for access to the contents of the file, saying its contents are "privileged."
Clark County prosecutor Becky Goettsch said her office is looking into the matter. She said she could not independently confirm the existence of a third instance in which the young child had made a molestation allegation.
After Misseldine was arrested in May 2003, police said he told officers he faced a similar legal problem in Virginia. Police said he told them those charges were dropped.
Draskovich disputes whether that comment was made.
