A change in the ranks in Johnson County has revealed a backlog of sexual assault cases dating as far back as 2009. Adam King began his term as Johnson County Sheriff in January of 2017 and claims to have found a major failure within his own department.
King reports finding 120 open sexual assault cases with children as victims, many of which should have been closed and landed a child abuser in jail.
"We found confessions on them -- confessions from 2010 -- yeah that case was partially worked it just didn't get finished," said King.
In Johnson County victims of sexual assault are brought to this Children's Advocacy Center and from there law enforcement is supposed to pursue the alleged attacker. Advocates say cases have been mishandled for years..
"I'm incredibly grateful that there is a team working these cases now, it's heartbreaking to think about victims going and reliving it all over again," said Tammy King, the executive director of the Johnson County Children's Advocacy.
Adam King replaced Sheriff Bob Alford. Alford was reached by phone and he admits cases were piling up but did not get into specifics.
"If they want someone to blame, blame me," he said.
But King insists this isn't about blame but the reality they're facing...incomplete cases involving children that are still open.
"Some of them I don't even have the victims name, we're having to go check records through the children's advocacy center and through CPS to see if we can find the victims name," King said.
His catch up work is already yielding results. King says three people accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl seven years ago were arrested last month. More arrests are expected in Johnson County.