13th District Attorney General’s Office Has Two Prosecutors On Child Sex Abuse Cases Due To Volume

Assistant District Attorney Jessica Krebs finishing up her first few months as a designated child sex abuse prosecutor for the 13th District.

District Attorney Bryant Dunaway said Krebs is the second prosecutor assigned to handle these cases. He said that child sex abuse is a larger issue than many people realize both in the region and nationwide.

“But it’s one of those dirty little secrets that no one wants to think about or talk about,” Dunaway said. “And they’re very difficult cases to detect and they’re very difficult cases to investigate and prosecute. As you can imagine, most abuses of these children, your key witness is a very vulnerable child.”

Dunaway said the reason it is helpful to have someone specifically dedicated to these cases is because they are more involved in the investigations than in other types of prosecutions.

Krebs said one of the things she has learned during her time is how important it is to work with law enforcement agencies through the Child Protection Investigation Team (CPIT) process. That process is statutorily mandated to include the prosecution, the DA’s office, law enforcement, the Department of Children Services and other community partners. She said that involves an entire team in conversations about specific cases to have a shared source of information.

“And without that, without that community involvement with law enforcement and our DCS partners, our cases would not be where they are,” Krebs said. “Our best prosecutions come from our best investigations.”

Krebs said one of the best things the average community member can do to combat this issue is to speak up.