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A MAN WELL·KNOWN TO CHILDREN
•
The state trooper, after Nelly's testing was completed, told
Kathleen Sorenson he tried to "break Nelly down" but he
was convinced she was telling the truth. He also told Nelly
that she "passed" and that he believed her. Although the
polygraph tests showed Nelly was not deceptive, Atty. Pat
Tripp maintained he still didn't believe what Nelly said. He
said Nelly had fantasized those stories to the point that she
believed they were true.
Tripp's line, that child victims in Nebraska just invent
abuses, and that therefore their complaints need not be seriously
investigated, would be heard from one law enforcement agency
after another, throughout the Franklin case, down to the perjury
conviction of victim-witness Alisha Owen.
For Pat Tripp, there was a personal element in this case. He
was a "good friend," according to foster parents cited in a
September 1989 report by legislative Franklin committee investigator
Karen Ormiston, of two individuals named by Nelly and
Kimberly Webb as involved with the Webbs-Fort Calhoun
Superintendent of Schools Deward Finch and Fort Calhoun
High School principal Kent Miller.
Between late 1985 and June 1986, thanks to Tripp, the
Webbs escaped both a DSS investigation and possible criminal
prosecution. Shortly after his refusal to file criminal charges
in this case, Tripp quit as Washington County attorney. Today
he is a prominent lawyer in Omaha.
• • •
Well-known as they were, Deward Finch and Kent Miller
were small fry compared to another name that appeared in
Walters' report, the same person for whom Nelly and Kimberly
said Casey Randall was the "maid"-Larry King. Walters
wrote:
While the Webbs were away, the kids snooped through the
house. They found: I. pornographic video tapes in a bag
under the Webbs' bed (which the kids played on the VCR
while Webbs were gone)-one tape specifically showing
teenagers involved in sexual activity. Nelly and Kimberly
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