KREM-TV, Investigative Reporting on the Wenatchee Child Sex Ring | 1997 duPont-Columbia Award Winner

Tom Grant of KREM-TV was the only reporter to investigate a rash of indictments on charges of child sexual abuse in the rural area of Wenatchee, Washington in 1995. With more than 100 people implicated, 40 arrested: and 28 jailed, Grant found that many of the accused were poor, illiterate or below average in intelligence. He reported the story for more than a year and discovered that the cases hinged on the work of one police detective whose key witness was his 13 ¬year-old foster child. Grant uncovered the criminal record of the detective and brought into question the reliability of children as witnesses in cases of sexual abuse. The 13-year-old recanted her testimony.

The Silver Baton was accepted by Tom Grant.