He Was Wrongfully Accused of One of the Worst Crimes

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John J. Wiley (0:45): He was wrongfully accused of sexual assault of his three year old daughter then three year old daughter. He was jailed, incarcerated. He was never charged. He's here to talk about the incident and his life after. Welcome to the law enforcement talk radio show.

John J. Wiley (1:03): In the law enforcement talk radio show, we are joined by special guests talking about their experiences, the realities of investigating crimes. Plus, those who've experienced horrendous trauma, police, first responders, military, and victims of crime share their stories. Hi, I'm John J. Wiley. In addition to being broadcaster, I'm also a retired police sergeant.

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John J. Wiley (1:53): is free. Kontay is from great state of Florida. Where I happen to be, we have Dean Tong on the law enforcement talk radio show. Dean is an interesting story, very interesting story. He was wrongfully accused, and I think it's important to say that wrongfully accused of sexual assault with his three year old daughter who was then three years old.

John J. Wiley (2:12): He was incarcerated. He was in jail for two weeks, got bail. Eventually, the charges were dropped. He's written a book called elusive innocence, survival guide for the falsely accused. He's written multiple books.

John J. Wiley (2:24): That's one of them. His website is abuse-excuse.com. That's abuse-excuse.com. Dean, thanks so much for being a guest on the law enforcement talk radio show talking about admittedly a very difficult topic.

Unknown Speaker (2:36): Yeah. You're welcome. Thank you for having me, John.

John J. Wiley (2:38): It's a pleasure to have you here. And, I I want people to and I know this is difficult. I'm speaking to the listeners. I want you to suspend your judgment. Do not make judgments.

John J. Wiley (2:50): And I I struggle with this as much as anybody else, and I'm sure there was a time you did too. This is a situation where I'm a father. I'm a retired police officer, and I was always trained. We always believe the victim. We always investigate a crime until evidence choose otherwise shows otherwise.

John J. Wiley (3:09): Are you a judgy type person when were you before you are now?

Unknown Speaker (3:16): Was I then more judgmental than I am now?

Unknown Speaker (3:19): Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (3:21): Probably.

John J. Wiley (3:22): Yeah. It's safe to say. When someone says to me, they were accused of sexual assault, I'm like, yep. Oh, when there's smoke, there's fire. And right away, I don't think there's anything wrong.

John J. Wiley (3:35): I know better now, but when I was a younger man, that was not the case.

Dean Tong (3:40): Yeah. So I was involved in a very high conflict divorce and custody battle back in 1985. And shortly thereafter, I was accused of digital vaginal penetration of my three year old daughter.

Unknown Speaker (3:57): Uh-huh.

Dean Tong (3:59): I'm I've always been a heterosexual guy, never interested in little kids, including, of course, my own DNA.

Unknown Speaker (4:05): Right.

Dean Tong (4:06): With with that said, it did go to court. A judge threw it out. This is months before I was arrested. So there was two allegations in 1985. The first one, the court threw it out and basically said, this is ridiculous.

Dean Tong (4:20): She can't even cognitively tell me what her name is. So the judge threw it right out. Months later, I found myself guilty by association where there was smoke, there was fire.

Unknown Speaker (4:33): Right.

Dean Tong (4:34): Because the second allegation surfaced like you, John, as a as a former law enforcement officer, the police immediately believed children don't lie. They're not mistaken when they alleged sexual assault. Must be believed and protected at all costs. I was arrested. I had no bail.

Dean Tong (4:51): My lawyer was very expensive in Jacksonville, Florida, and he basically came into the jail cell and and asked me four words. Did you do it? And I said, no. Of course not. He said, that's all I need to know.

Dean Tong (5:07): And from there, know, two weeks later, I I get out. He he got me a bail bond of 25,000. My family had to put up 10% of the same, 2,500 in collateral. I took a polygraph and obtained a notice actually indicated. I went beyond that and went through a penile platysmograph also known as a basically a sex polygraph because we know from the science sexual interest precedes sexual assault.

Dean Tong (5:36): I passed that test as well with a PhD psychologist in Georgia. So I had a nice package that I wasn't lying and that I had no sexual interest in prepubescent female children.

Unknown Speaker (5:49): Right.

Dean Tong (5:49): Didn't matter. The state of Florida kept me under wraps for fifteen months till the end of nineteen eighty six when they finally threw it out and said, you know, we're we're doing a no file. We're not gonna file a information against you in the state attorney's office.

John J. Wiley (6:08): So they didn't file charges at all?

Dean Tong (6:10): Right. They just had me under probable cause arrest for fifteen months. And, of course, when I got out of jail, John, a lot of people don't know this. When I got out of jail after serving the two weeks, the media was there. They they did a perp walk on me.

Unknown Speaker (6:24): Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (6:25): It it was all over the 06:00 news in Jacksonville, Florida.

John J. Wiley (6:28): I I I agree. I I believe listen. I I've never been through anything like this in my life. And we'll we'll talk about the the before, during, and after in in a moment. But, for me, I would imagine that, first of all, where did these allegations of sexual assault come from?

Dean Tong (6:48): Yeah. So, again, we were in a a very volatile custody battle. I had a lot of evidence that my wife was going to be ruled unfit by the family court, and eventually she was. Unfortunately, you know, I was basically blindsided by these allegations. And, of course, they are so reprehensible and heinous when they happen.

Dean Tong (7:14): The court raised its eyebrows and and the state attorney's office and everybody else, and I'm immediately perceived as guilty and basically presumed guilty, having to prove a negative in my innocence. I didn't know that's the way it worked in America.

John J. Wiley (7:27): Well, we're we're taught that guilty until proven innocent, but this the other way around.

Unknown Speaker (7:33): Well, not with this charge.

Unknown Speaker (7:35): No. This charge. This is the this is the

Unknown Speaker (7:38): to the rule.

Unknown Speaker (7:39): You were considered hang on. Hang on. You were considered guilty until you're proven innocent.

Dean Tong (7:43): Yeah. This is the exception to the rule of this charge. Right. This is the horse of a different color.

Unknown Speaker (7:48): Right.

Dean Tong (7:49): And I didn't know that at the time. Remember now, John, this is 1985. We didn't have computers and Internet and iPhones and iPods and iPads and AI. We didn't have any of that stuff. You know?

Dean Tong (8:02): And and so there weren't many tools or resources for people wrongly accused to be able to help themselves or or their lawyers No. To help them.

John J. Wiley (8:12): I gotta ask you this question. When you said the allegations came across, I I would think they would hit you like a ton of bricks.

Dean Tong (8:20): Oh, it did. It did. And and I didn't know that my ex wife at the time, she was my wife. We weren't divorced until May 1985 after the first allegation was thrown out, then we got divorced, like, three months later, and then the second allegation, we're legally divorced now and I'm going to jail. But the point is this is gonna wind up to be a very nasty custody battle had I been able to litigate it in family court where, you know, depositions would have taken and all that stuff.

Dean Tong (8:52): And it just never came to fruition because these allegations basically, outweighed everything else. So she took my daughter to a therapist. And apparently, the therapist started asking, my daughter leading suggestive direct repeated questions.

Unknown Speaker (9:06): Right.

Dean Tong (9:07): And and, you know, this is a kid who couldn't really decipher truth from a lie or or fantasy from reality at three and a half years old and and basically led my daughter down that road where I was up against the wall. And, of course, my my ex wife at the time, she was still my wife at the first allegation in early nineteen eighty five. She was with another man. So she was living with another man while I'm still married. I'm sure the two of them were coaching my daughter to to set me up in some type of conspiring scheme to throw me under the bus.

John J. Wiley (9:46): We're gonna take a short break on that note. We're talking with Dean Tong. He was wrongfully accused of sexual assault of his then three year old daughter. He's written multiple books. One, the most recent one is called Survival Guide for the Falsely Accused.

John J. Wiley (9:59): Illusive Innocence is the name of the book, and his website is abuse-excuse.com. It's abuse-excuse.com. This is law enforcement talk radio show. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.

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John J. Wiley (11:13): Current conversation with Dean Tong on the law enforcement talk radio show. Dean, well, I'll put it to you bluntly. He was wrongfully accused of sexual assault of his three year old daughter, then three years old. He was incarcerated. Did time in jail.

John J. Wiley (11:30): God bail. The charges, they weren't even filed. He was released without charge. He's written multiple books. One is called elusive innocence, survival guide for the falsely accused.

John J. Wiley (11:41): And his website is abuse-excuse.com. It's abuse-excuse.com. I gotta ask you this question, and I I'm almost shudder to say this because I hear some people say this. The courts, they have, let's just say, a leniency towards women and not men. Is that correct in your your point of view?

Dean Tong (12:03): Especially in this issue, John, I would agree with that wholeheartedly.

John J. Wiley (12:07): And it it's oh, and I wanna say this. You're able to talk about this in almost a way like you're talking about someone else. Is that by design, or is that, something you learned? Because quite honestly, I don't think I can talk about emotionally. I get I get angry.

Dean Tong (12:22): Yeah. Well, I I became suicidal, John. I this this was a very traumatic experience for me, and I had ideations of hurting myself, and I had to go see a psycholog psychologist. So I did that, and this was I'm I'm now leapfrogging to 1987 where I saw a PhD psychologist for six months in treatment. Yeah, it was just very harrowing for me.

Dean Tong (12:55): So while I defeated the criminal case, if you will, the family court said I was no better good enough for no better than supervised chaperone monitor visitation. I had to see my children supervised. This included my son who I wasn't even accused of abusing.

John J. Wiley (13:13): Uh-huh. I get that. I I and here's my look. My my way of thinking I know is skewed, totally skewed. I do not want the state of Florida or anybody being involved in my business.

Unknown Speaker (13:27): I just don't. Is that fair for you?

Dean Tong (13:30): Well, yeah, it's it's the government big broad big brother uncle Sam. And, certainly, when you're up against the probable cause arrest charges, as as you know better than anybody, John, you're you're you're the government, and the accused is just a taxpayer. That's all he or she is. And, you know, you can call this a gender feminist type of allegation. You could say that my ex wife had motive and method and means and opportunity to get equity at law and court by wielding my daughter as a pawn, weapon, and tool to do so.

Dean Tong (14:06): Whatever you wanna call it, the ingredients were were right there for her to make that cake, which was gonna bury me. And this thing buried me financially, emotionally, physically, spiritually. Yeah. It's it's just surreal.

John J. Wiley (14:24): One of the questions and we're we're fast forward. We'll go to your story in a moment. I I would think that it and I'm gonna phrase this as a former question. I would think that you would still I I would still be very defensive about this. I'd walk around with the mindset of something approved.

John J. Wiley (14:41): Do you feel that way?

Dean Tong (14:43): I I can't, John, because I I graduated, if you will, became a different individual, and I'm now an expert witness in court on these types of cases. So I have to now remain objective, independent, neutral, and impartial at all forks in their own in all of my cases.

John J. Wiley (14:59): Was it fair to say that that didn't happen by accident or required a lot of work to get from point a to point b?

Dean Tong (15:06): Oh, it was climbing Mount Everest. I had to go get a master's degree. I I became, of course, multi published. I have consulted now on cases in all 50 states. I've testified as an expert witness 80 times in 20 states.

Dean Tong (15:23): Obviously, about a dozen times here in Florida. I'm I'm North Of Tampa. But the reality is, you know, I'm the guy the state loves to hate now worse than ever because I stand between an accused pedophile pedophile and a prison cell.

John J. Wiley (15:40): Well, here's the thing. When you say you accuse someone of being a pedophile, I can't think of a whole lot of other things that are more serious than that. Look, I'll phrase it this way. There are people I've met who have done homicides. They made three bad they had three bad minutes in their life.

John J. Wiley (15:57): They were great people. Great people before, great people afterwards. But when it comes to pedophiles and and there's no redeeming them.

Dean Tong (16:06): No. I I get it, and and I have no sympathy for pedophiles. In fact, I'm I'm all for governor DeSantis bringing back the death penalty for rape of a child 12. I support that. But the reality is it's not what you know.

Unknown Speaker (16:23): It's not what you think you know. It's what you can prove in a court of law.

Unknown Speaker (16:26): There's a big

Dean Tong (16:26): In these cases, in my case, it was he said, she said what a child said. It was a child hearsay. There were no there was no medical evidence. There was no trauma. The trauma was to me, not to my child.

Dean Tong (16:40): Of course, at the time, you know, she wasn't undergoing bedwetting or nightmares or flashbacks or emotional dysregulation or psychosomatic issues, stomach aches and headaches and all this stuff. She didn't she didn't have any of that. On the other hand, I was suicidal. So the the state doesn't care about that. You know that as a former law enforcement officer.

Dean Tong (17:04): You know? And and look. In these cases, they're out for conviction. They wanna get a conviction because they're pouring their time and resources into a case. There are a lot of professionals that get involved.

Dean Tong (17:15): DCF, which back in '85 was called HRS, as you know, John. And and so I was up against a mountain, a mountain of people and professionals who believed I was guilty because my child said this. It must be true. Well, there were factors governing a child's credibility, fortunately. And and, you know, in in Florida, those factors didn't come to fruition till 1994, almost ten years after my case was in court, known as a Townsend factor, State v Townsend 1994, Florida Supreme Court.

Dean Tong (17:47): So a child has to be deemed to be, spontaneous, reliable, and trustworthy before a judge or a jury can find that same child credible in a he said, she said

Unknown Speaker (17:58): Right.

Dean Tong (17:58): A case that that that's a war of words, and there's no physical medical evidence.

John J. Wiley (18:04): And I would think that this is the cop part of me. I would think that look. When it comes to and I I I'm I'm paraphrasing this. There's legitimate claims of sexual abuse. I'm not disputing that, and they're rarely apparent.

John J. Wiley (18:18): But when there is a divorce and there is a custodial parent that is making accusations, my BS alarm starts to go off.

Dean Tong (18:27): Yeah. Well, today, in today's world, in today's climate, John, perhaps, Dean Tong in in 2025 wouldn't have come under arrest because of the gravity of the child custody conflict that was going on at the same time in family court that the state knew that all of that baggage, all of that drama from the family court case would come to fruition in the criminal case, and the jury would be privy to all of that.

John J. Wiley (18:54): And by the way, I retired from police work a long time ago. A long time ago, one of the things that that we were taught early on, and you could almost sense that there is, motives behind people when the the way your poor crimes. But we were always taught that when a five year old, for example, tells you something happened sexually, believe them because their mind doesn't think that way. And then you follow the evidence if there's evidence to pursue. If there's no evidence that tells you the crime didn't commit, then you've you've gotta act that way.

Dean Tong (19:30): Right. And, unfortunately, John, the perhaps the shortcoming of of police officers and and DCF, child protective personnel and intake workers is they're not aware of the scientific studies, studies that were authored by Doctor. Stephen Sisi back in the nineties. Again, after the time I got arrested, I didn't have the benefit of all this research, but there are many studies that have been conducted. Kids that are so suggestible and pressurable.

Dean Tong (19:58): If they could talk about the tooth fairy Santa Claus and Peter Pan and the Easter bunny, they could talk about how daddy touched my

John J. Wiley (20:04): Right.

Dean Tong (20:04): And and and this happened in many studies that doctor Ceci and and his associate doctor Maggie Brooke coauthored and and were published in the nineties. One study where an actual pediatrician was accused of putting his fingers and objects in the little girl's genitalia.

John J. Wiley (20:22): We'll take a short break on that note, and we're talking with Dean Tong. He was, wrongfully accused of sexual assault of his then three year old daughter. He was incarcerated for two weeks, spent time in jail. The charges were eventually dropped. They weren't only just dropped.

John J. Wiley (20:36): They weren't pursued at all. He's author of the book, elusive innocence, survival guide for the falsely accused. His website is abuse-excuse.com. It's abuse-excuse.com. His law enforcement talk radio show, don't go anywhere.

John J. Wiley (20:49): We will be right back. Be sure to check out our website, letradio.com. That's letradio.com. There you'll find episodes of the show available as a podcast after airing on radio, and they're always free. There's 700 plus episodes on there right now.

John J. Wiley (21:10): There's blogs. Get information about our sponsors. All that and much more at letradio.com. Again, the website is letradio.com.

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John J. Wiley (22:44): During a conversation with Dean Tong on the law enforcement talk radio, Dean is kinda he's from Florida. He was wrongfully accused of sexual assault of his then three year old daughter. He was incarcerated. He was jailed. He made bail.

John J. Wiley (23:00): The charges were not even pursued. They were not only just dropped, they were not pursued by the state. This never occurred. This never happened. When I say wrongfully accused, he was wrongfully accused.

John J. Wiley (23:10): No charges are filed. He's written multiple books. One is called elusive innocence, survival guide for the falsely accused, and his website is abuse-.com. Dean, I'm the father of two daughters, and I never could imagine this. And I went through divorce.

John J. Wiley (23:30): I went through all that, and we never had this sort of accusations going on. But I'll be honest with you, still walk around thinking about some stuff from police work where I feel defensive and I cannot talk about it without being emotional. You had to be caught on left field with this.

Dean Tong (23:52): Yeah. It it was very difficult, John, for me to segregate my emotions during the time that the litigation of the case was ongoing trying to restore my family rights in order to see my children unsupervised, unchaperoned. That took about four years to do so. So very traumatic for me. We didn't have resources.

Dean Tong (24:16): You had maybe the National Organization for Men, NOM, you could reach out to. Might be able to give you some referrals to some attorneys. But there really was no resources for help. There were no therapists really. I I did find a PHE like I said earlier in Georgia who saw me for six months and was trying to work with the DCF people in Florida to try to get me some more visitation.

Dean Tong (24:40): They didn't really help the DCF. So they were of the same mindset as, you know, as as the police officers. If a child said this, it must have happened.

John J. Wiley (24:50): Right. I I get that. But there's a the missing missing thing is there's gotta be evidence to support that claim. Otherwise, it's just a claim.

Dean Tong (24:59): Well and and, of course, there's a forensic interview, John, that, you know, the child is always taken to the child protection team as it's called in Florida for that forensic interview. And that's basically the smoking gun evidence for the state, right? If the kid repeats to the forensic interviewer what she told mommy and maybe a police officer that daddy touched my that DVD of that interview will will be played for the judge, for the jury in real time at the trial. Now with that said, had the state formally charged me, and and by the way, I was arrested for capital sexual battery, which back then, you know and, well, today, it's it's life in prison in Florida without the possibility of parole. You are done.

Dean Tong (25:44): Stick a fork in you. The point I'm trying to make is had they taken me to trial, it would have been three, four more years until my daughter reached the age of six or seven where she could competently testify in a court of law against me where I where I'm gonna be afforded my sixth amendment right to confrontation of my accuser.

John J. Wiley (26:07): I gotta ask this question, and it's a painful question to ask. All that you've been through, do you have a relationship with your daughter now?

Unknown Speaker (26:15): I do not.

Unknown Speaker (26:16): Yeah. I and I'm not gonna ask you to elaborate on that. I would I'll find that personally to be very difficult for me.

Dean Tong (26:23): It's it's it's it's I don't like to think about it. Like like, it just never happened, the eradication of of my daughter from my life. But she was mainly the one who didn't want a relationship. I tried to smooth our relationship out after she emancipated and turned 18. It worked for a little while.

Dean Tong (26:47): We would do a few things together. We went fishing one time on a boat. We go to have a few beers at a restaurant, have dinner. But the reality is, guess the uncertainty in her mind as she was growing up because so many people interviewed her and prodded her that something must have happened. Her belief system became such that she was confused.

Unknown Speaker (27:11): Yeah. I get you.

Dean Tong (27:12): She didn't she didn't she didn't know. She didn't know. I I know. And and I tried to I I tried to casually get her to read over the court documentation. She never did as far as I know.

John J. Wiley (27:24): Plus, you've got to and I I don't wanna belabor this point, but you've got to you've got to counteract the accusations of someone else that that means so much to them as well. And it it's a difficult situation to find yourself in.

Dean Tong (27:38): Yes. And tragically, John, what I what I haven't told you with the audience is her mother passed away in in 2004 from from malignant melanoma and cancer. So she she lost her mom at a young age. She was only 20, 23 years old.

John J. Wiley (27:55): That's tough. That's really tough. The only person she's got left in this world is is you, and you guys don't have a relationship.

Dean Tong (28:04): Right. Well, she has a brother, of course, and she has her own daughter now, my granddaughter, who, unfortunately, because of my sequestration, if you will, from my daughter, I haven't been able to have a relationship with my granddaughter either.

John J. Wiley (28:18): I got that's the question I was gonna ask. And this this is the part where I would want to say, and I think it's normal to be honest with you, where I wanna say, I'm innocent. I didn't do anything wrong, and I need you to admit that. And they're not going to admit that.

Dean Tong (28:33): No. No. And and most guys, John, and correct me if I'm wrong, they they don't go to the Lent that I went to in this case. They they they if they're lucky to get out of the legal situation above water, if you will, floating, they run-in the other direction and never want to have anything to do with this again.

Unknown Speaker (28:53): Yeah. I don't I don't know.

Dean Tong (28:54): I I I embraced it. I embraced it and took it to another level.

Unknown Speaker (28:58): Well, you seem like the kind of guy who's got a lot of fight in you. You're and, really, when you're pushed to this extreme, what choice do you have but to come out swinging?

Dean Tong (29:08): Yeah. And, you know, I I I'm not gonna really get into it that much, but to to paraphrase what a criminal circuit court judge right where you are, John, who I testified before in 2017, almost a decade ago in West Palm Beach said to me, I've had a lot of experts in my courtroom, sir, but I've never had one who went through this experience and then became out on the other side as an expert. So kudos to you for that.

John J. Wiley (29:36): And and most most people, by the way, and I I I know this is a generalized statement, but most people, by the way, they go through something so hideous, they would they would run from it, and they would not embrace it and say, okay. This is gonna become my mission. I'll be an advocate.

Dean Tong (29:49): Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It became basically my life calling, and I I I had no choice. I I had to it's the only way that I knew to to be able to tell the world I didn't do this.

John J. Wiley (30:04): And you see, you're and by the way, where else do we have to say that I didn't do something? Where do we have to insist on saying that?

Dean Tong (30:11): Well, you know, everybody in jail, John, is is innocent

John J. Wiley (30:14): right who they are. There's a very few there's a small segment population. Yeah. I'm guilty as charge. You got me.

John J. Wiley (30:21): No. This is a very rare.

Dean Tong (30:23): But, you know, today, John, when you're when you're convicted of pedophilia or or child sexual assault, you know, you're gonna be placed in in a a in a gang populated jail cell, jail prison. And and perhaps your life is at risk because your new name is

John J. Wiley (30:42): Well, that's that's a nice way of putting it. You are definitely at risk, and you're at risk of of being killed.

Unknown Speaker (30:47): Absolutely.

John J. Wiley (30:48): Did and and did this thought cross your mind when you were doing time when you think, I didn't do anything. I'm I'm a normal guy. I'm a normal father. I'm going through this stuff, going through divorce. All of a sudden, I'm in jail with the worst label possible.

Dean Tong (31:02): So going back, John, to the Duval County Jail that I was in in Jacksonville, Florida in 1985 in September '85, I got into a fight with a who was much larger than me. But I could take care of myself, and and and the police were blowing their whistles, the guards saying that they were gonna add charges to me. And, like, I really cared after I was, you know, accused of and arrested for the most heinous thing known to to to to man and and mankind. And so I I didn't care. And and we were both bloodied, but I I guess I came out on top with this.

Dean Tong (31:44): And and they took him to the hospital and they and they made me go wash up.

John J. Wiley (31:49): Very quiet. I I get that. We're take a short break. We're talking with Dean Tong. Dean was wrongfully accused of sexual assault of his then three year old daughter.

John J. Wiley (31:59): He's written multiple books, one of which is called elusive innocence, survival guide for the falsely accused, and his website is abuse-excuse.com. It's abuse-excuse.com. This is law enforcement talk radio show. Don't go anywhere. We will be right back.

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John J. Wiley (33:13): During conversation with Dean Tong on the law enforcement talk radio show, Dean was wrongfully accused of sexual assault of his then three year old daughter. He he was incarcerated, did time in jail, made bail. Eventually, the charges were not only dropped, they weren't pursued at all. He's written a book called elusive innocence, survival guide for the falsely accused. His website is abuseexcuse.com.

Unknown Speaker (33:36): That's abuse-excuse.com. Check it out. Dean, I look at this and I'll be honest with you. This is the kind of conversation where I don't know what to say, so I get very quiet. But do you often look back and say that this was then, this is now I'm I'm a different guy?

Dean Tong (33:58): Yeah. I I certainly do, John. I I didn't know, you know, back then what I know now. I didn't know back then that my former self was was going to be this guy today. I went on to obtain a master's of science degree in psychology and the law and child forensic studies twenty years ago this month in 2,006.

Dean Tong (34:22): I went on to become a certified forensic consultant as well as a nationally certified child forensic interviewer. So I'm the guy that now lawyers call basically from all 50 states to review and critique these child forensic interviews that my daughter went through in 1985 for the defense. I go I go up against these governmental interviewers who oftentimes are well meaning and well well intentioned but misguided as they're asking the child the suggestive leading directive.

Unknown Speaker (34:53): I was going to say that some of these questions are obviously leading and some of them are, isn't this true that this occurred? Almost want to say that way.

Dean Tong (35:02): Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good point, John. Spot on.

Dean Tong (35:06): And and putting words and thoughts and ideas into the mind and mouth of the little kid. So knowing that, you know, they're they're looking to get the responses that they're seeking, which is an implication of abuse from the alleged perpetrator, the suspect, so that they can pursue a a criminal prosecution.

John J. Wiley (35:25): I I look it this way. I I I confronted. I did some of these investigations myself. What I wanted to come tell was the truth, more of what occurred. And I had to look at the the the so called bad guy.

John J. Wiley (35:38): Sometimes they were not. They didn't do anything wrong at all. And and not only would they did nothing wrong, they weren't that type of bill to begin with.

Dean Tong (35:47): Right. And and that's interesting too, John, because I require all of my clients to go through psychosexual testing when they're accused of sexual child abuse to basically help themselves prove that negative, prove their innocence. Because the first question my doctor, who's my colleague, who's been I've been working cases with him for twenty years now. He's in the Midwest. The first thing my doctor will ask you as the accused suspect, why would the child say that unless it happened?

Dean Tong (36:18): Yeah. So it puts the it puts the accused on immediate defense. You better have an antidote, and you better not think think about it. Now most men who and, of course, it's men who are usually accused of this. The only time we we hear of women accuse of sexual child is usually teachers.

Unknown Speaker (36:34): Right.

Dean Tong (36:35): Teachers in school. And and but most men caught up in this situation when they're asked by my doctor, why would the child say this? They're not gonna say, oh, because the child's a victim of suggestibility. The child's memory has been altered or or or modified. They're not gonna think about that because they don't know anything about

Unknown Speaker (36:56): Right.

Dean Tong (36:57): They're gonna think about motive. You know? Well, my ex wife wanted child support. She wanted additional child support. She she wanted custody.

Dean Tong (37:06): You know, she wanted this new man in her life. So that's why she did this fatherectomy, this paratectomy.

John J. Wiley (37:13): Here's here's the thing that I get. And this quite honestly troubles me quite a bit. We had I was actually off as a sergeant, and my buddy was, the the officer in charge. There was a then 12 year old girl named Latonya Wallace who in Baltimore. She was sexually assaulted, and she was attacked.

John J. Wiley (37:34): She was tied to a fence and and gutted like a deer and killed. And to this day, the homicide detectives have a pretty good idea who did it, but they they they couldn't develop this thing called evidence. And that doesn't seem to be the case with a lot of these parental things.

Dean Tong (37:52): Which is really disturbing, John, because in Florida, the statute is 90.803 and in parenthesis 23. It's known as the twenty third exception to the hearsay rule. And so generally speaking, hearsay is legally inadmissible.

John J. Wiley (38:09): Right.

Dean Tong (38:09): Not so not so here. The excited utterance from a child or the present tense impression from from a child or a child going to a nurse or a doctor or a therapist telling that the professional who's a mandated reporter, my dad touched me down there. It's immediately gonna be reported to the government, to to you, John, to to DCF, and it's gonna be investigated. It's gonna be very seriously investigated.

John J. Wiley (38:39): And and it should be. I'm just saying this. It should be investigated, but it doesn't mean there's charges that could be levied against someone. And the fact that you were arrested, you were incarcerated, you were jailed, you went through all that stuff, you made bail, and the charges were not even pursued. That that right there tells me something's desperately wrong.

Dean Tong (38:59): Well, remember, John, no disrespect to the state of Florida. This was 1985. This was forty years ago. The the child best interest standard, which we go by today with children and family court was not even called that back then. Back then, it was called the tenure years doctrine, if you recall that, where judges basically automatically ruled on the side of women and children, especially preschool aged children like my child.

John J. Wiley (39:25): And then here's the thing. I've I've had case after case. I I understand that this happened to you, but there are so many people where this legitimately happened to them. They were sexually assaulted. They were attacked not necessarily by family members, but by other people, and nothing happened in court because there was this thing called evidence, and there was a lack of evidence.

John J. Wiley (39:47): So the the fact that that they came after you as hard and heavy as they did, and there was no evidence to support it, it's kinda it's kinda like closing the barn door after the calzary escaped.

Dean Tong (39:59): It's a good analogy, John, and I I can't tell you why the Duval County Sheriff's Office did why they did what they did, you know, but they did. And I guess the fact that I had no bail and then two weeks later, my bail was reduced to 25,000 speaks volumes. That gee, you know, if they had a great case, my bail would have been 200,000 or something. My myself and my family could afford to get me under. If they

Unknown Speaker (40:34): had a great case, they'd have it, you'd still be locked up.

Dean Tong (40:37): Yeah. Well, and a lot of guys are even today. My clients of mine and and and just so you know, John, I I work cases with the JAC out of Tallahassee, which is the Justice Administrative Commission, meaning that if someone can't afford cannot afford my fees, you know, so long as you're indigent, which means basically you're poor and you can't afford a defense, which is not just a lawyer but experts such as myself, I will help you and and work your case with the state of Florida, ironically, is paying for my work and my time.

John J. Wiley (41:10): And by the way, can people get details about you and contact you at abuse hyphen excuse dot com?

Unknown Speaker (41:17): Yes.

John J. Wiley (41:18): That's his website, Dean Tonn's website, abuse-excuse.com. He's also written multiple books. Are those books there as well?

Dean Tong (41:26): Yes. They are, John. And and the new one coming out is called Parents Pawns, which is coauthored with a clinical forensic psychologist, Parents Pawns, expert advice in navigating false allegations and parental alienation.

John J. Wiley (41:41): Before we go, before we wrap up because we're almost out of time, is there something you would give advice to parents that they they can use to protect themselves from false out allegations like this?

Dean Tong (41:52): Yeah. I would, John. Become a cop, but but not in the literal sense. Go to Amazon and purchase a $40 body cam, and and and that's your accountability and transparency for today, especially if you don't have mini video audio cams installed in your home or outside your front door.

John J. Wiley (42:11): You got you're saying that they should get a body cam and they should wear that all the time in your own house?

Unknown Speaker (42:16): In your house, in your car.

Unknown Speaker (42:18): That's pretty

Dean Tong (42:18): In restaurant. Yes. I mean, you are one allegation away from where I have been.

John J. Wiley (42:26): And that's the reality that a lot of people face. And I look at this way, and I really hope that you and your daughter can find some way to get beyond this. I appreciate you coming on and talking about a really, really difficult topic, but I'm impressed with the the progress you've made. Dean, thanks so much for being a guest on the law enforcement talk radio show. Tell us all about it.

Unknown Speaker (42:48): Very much appreciate it.

Dean Tong (42:49): Thank you, John. Thank you for having me.

John J. Wiley (42:50): I'd like to thank our guests for coming on the law enforcement talk radio show. The law enforcement talk radio show is a nationally syndicated weekly radio show broadcast on numerous AM and FM radio stations across the country. We're always adding more affiliate stations. If you enjoyed the podcast version of the show, which is always free, please do me a favor and tell a friend or two or three. I'll be back in just a few days with another episode of the law Talk enforcement talk Radio radio show and podcast.

Unknown Speaker (43:19): Until then, this is John Jay Wiley. See you.