Thurston County ritual abuse case

Who is Thurston County ritual abuse case?

The Thurston County ritual abuse case was a case in which Paul Ingram, county Republican Party Chairman of Thurston County, Washington and the Chief Civil Deputy of the Sheriff's department, was accused by his daughters of sexual abuse, by at least one daughter of satanic ritual abuse and later accused by his son in 1996 of abusing him from the ages of 4 to 12. He originally pled guilty but has since maintained his innocence. After pleading guilty, he attempted to withdraw his plea and requested a trial or clemency but his requests were refused. Ingram was released in 2003 after serving his sentence.

Ingram confessed to a variety of extremely improbable crimes and a sizable number of Ingram's fellow Sheriff's department employees were also accused by Ingram's young daughters and their friends.

The case is often cited by proponents of the idea that satanic ritual abuse actually exists as proof because Ingram was found guilty; in reality, Ingram was never charged with "satanic ritual abuse" but with six counts of rape in the third degree, and received an unusually long sentence – rather than a maximum of three and a half years, he was sentenced to twenty years.