U.S. Department of Justice

United States Attorney
District of Idaho

Mailing Address: Street Address:     Comm: 208/334-1211
First Interstate Center              Main Fax: 208/334-9375
P. O. Box 32877 W. Main, Ste 201    Cv Div Fax: 208/334-1414
Boise, ID 83707Boise, ID 83702      Cr Div Fax: 208/334-1413
                               DTF Div Fax: 208/334-9018

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ON DECEMBER 8, 2003

CONTACT: THOMAS E. MOSS
        United States Attorney
        TERRY L. DERDEN
        First Assistant U. S. Attorney
        MARC HAWS
        Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney
        JAMES M. PETERS
        Assistant U.S. Attorney
        Boise, Idaho
        (208) 334-1211
 

FOSTER FATHER WHO 'PASSED' POLYGRAPH ADMITS SEX ABUSE

A 70-year-old man who cared for foster children at his home in Worley admitted today that he sexually abused two of the girls, despite his earlier claim that he had passed a polygraph test.

Roger Philip Long entered a plea of guilty to two counts of abusive sexual contact with a minor in U.S. District Court in Coeur d'Alene this afternoon.

U.S. Attorney Tom Moss said the two victims were among several Indian children Long and his wife cared for at their home on South Rew Road between 1999 and 2003. One of the victims, a member of the Spokane Tribe, was eleven when the abuse began. The other girl, a member of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, was seven. Long is a non-Indian living on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation.

Included in the evidence was a recorded telephone call between Long and one of the victims, in which he told her he would go to jail if she talked to the police. At the end of the conversation the girl asked, "So, you promise you won't have sex with me anymore?," to which Long replied, "Yeah."

Prior to entering his guilty plea, Long had sought to have brought into evidence the results of a polygraph test given by a private investigator. Prosecutors objected because of controversy in the scientific and legal communities about the reliability of polygraph results, and because they were not allowed to observe the polygraph and could not determine how many such tests Long might have taken before he 'passed' one.

"There is simply no way to know in a particular case whether a polygraph examiner's conclusion is accurate, because doubts and uncertainties plague even the best exams," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Peters said.

"The fact that this defendant 'passed' a polygraph but then turned around and admitted his crimes clearly demonstrates the shortcomings of polygraphs, particularly those conducted without the participation of both sides," said Peters.

Sentencing is set for February 23 at 1 p.m. at the federal courthouse in Coeur d'Alene. Long faces a maximum sentence of 48 months in prison.

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