Published: Oct 30, 2005
Modified: Oct 30, 2005 2:20 PM

The Associated Press
WILMINGTON, N.C. -- Police who accused a social worker of interfering in a statutory rape case faced a collection of challenges in their investigation, including an uncooperative teenage victim and indecision on the part of her parents on whether she should have an abortion, legal documents show.
Susan L. Taylor, 57, was arrested Oct. 20 at the headquarters of the New Hanover County Department of Social Services on charges that she obstructed justice by helping the teenager get an abortion.
Authorities said the abortion resulted in the destruction of DNA evidence investigators wanted for the statutory rape case.
At the time, questions focused on whether Taylor acted appropriately. But case records reported Sunday in the Star-News show officers also had to cope with confusion on the part of the girl's parents over how to deal with her pregnancy.
District Attorney Ben David planned to say Monday whether he will pursue a prosecution against Taylor.
The statutory rape investigation was opened in August by New Hanover County Sheriff's Detective T.A. Smith, when the victim was two to four weeks pregnant, documents cited by the newspaper said. At the time, the girl's father was considering whether his daughter's pregnancy could be terminated.
The records showed Smith sought information on an abortion pill the father was considering, including whether it would affect her ability to collect DNA from the aborted fetus to use as evidence.
The investigation was complicated by the refusal of the girl, who became pregnant when she was 14, to identify the 27-year-old suspect as the child's father, and by her uncooperative and unmanageable behavior during questioning on Aug. 15, the documents showed.
"During this interview the juvenile victim was unstable in regards to language used towards parents, body language, refusal to follow instructions by remaining in the designated room with parents or parent, threats of tampering with (the) file and threats of assaulting (a detective) by spitting or throwing objects," Smith wrote in an affidavit.
She also told investigators she was raped in an unrelated incident in January, was molested when she was younger and named other men with whom she "had a sexual relationship ... to avoid any questions regarding (the suspect.)"
It was unclear why the girl was involved with the Department of Social Services, where Taylor was her social worker. Documents show that Smith approached Taylor with information about the case on Sept. 6, the Star-News reported.
At that point, the girl already planned to receive a surgical abortion at a clinic in Wilmington, but the clinic canceled the procedure when Smith notified it that police would be involved.
Smith told Taylor on Sept. 9 that the girl might seek an abortion without telling anyone, and stressed to Taylor that fetal evidence was critical to the case. Smith wrote in an affidavit that she needed to be present to collect the fetal remains and keep the "chain of custody" of the evidence intact.
Smith told Taylor she would be out of town for a number of days and asked her to make sure investigators knew if an abortion was planned so another detective could be present. The abortion took place at a Raleigh clinic on Sept. 16, while Smith was away, and no other detective was notified, the documents said.
Smith said she later learned that the girl's father had recorded a conversation between the girl and the rape suspect, in which the girl said Taylor warned her that police would try to collect the DNA and had advised her to obtain an abortion while Smith was away.
On the tape, Smith said, the girl told the 27-year-old man that Taylor accused police of "overstepping boundaries." Smith also said that, in interviews, the girl's mother claimed that Taylor said Smith was "too far in the case" and "out for vengeance to get the tissue from the abortion."
Legal experts said the case against Taylor was surprising.
"It is an unusual situation where they would go after a social worker for obstruction of justice where she was probably looking out for the interests of her client," said Robert M. Bloom of Boston University School of Law. "It seems to me like they are going through a lot of effort."
The parents are concerned that Taylor was arrested in the course of trying to help their daughter, said their attorney, Tommy Hicks.
"My clients are very distraught over the fact that a woman that did absolutely nothing but trying to help them has had this happen to her," Mr. Hicks said.
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Information from: The Star-News, http://starnewsonline.com