RITUAL ABUSE? COUNSELOR SLAMS PROBE

      Last month, the Utah attorney general's office issued a report saying ritual abuse of children had occurred, but there was no evidence the problem was common or widespread.

      But Lynn Finney, a counselor of victims of ritual abuse and an author on the subject, says attorney general's investigators simply didn't look hard enough and ignored the testimony of potential victims."I attempted to give them information about the victims I have dealt with," Finney said, "and I can only characterize their response as defensive and unreceptive."

      Finney, who wrote the book "Reach for the Rainbow: Advanced Healing for Survivors of Sexual Abuse," told the Deseret News that she had offered to put attorney general's investigators into contact with victims who had very believable stories.

      "I met with them and they basically said, `We know what we are doing, and if you know of anyone who has information, have them call us.' I tried to explain that victims of ritual abuse, even their therapists, would not be willing to contact the attorney general, that if they (investigators) wanted the information, they would have to initiate the interviews with these people and handle them in a sensitive manner. And again I was told very defensively they didn't do it that way, that the victims would have to call them."

      Attorney general's investigators Mike King and Matt Jacobson say literally hundreds of people reported they knew someone who claimed to be a victim of ritual abuse, and there was simply not enough time or resources to follow every lead.

      "I cannot agree (with Finney) that victims of these crimes don't want to come forward," King said. "Clearly, people are nervous about coming forward. But if they don't, there is nothing we can do about their case."

      The investigators said the two-year probe uncovered people with tremendously heart-wrenching stories but, with one exception, no proof to corroborate the stories. Hundreds of hours were spent pur-suing dead-end leads and checking out second-hand stories, and not all victims were credible witnesses.

      "The majority of folks are so enveloped in the cloak-and-dagger aspects (of ritual abuse) they won't even give us their names," King said. "I don't know how many of the stories are true and how many are false. But we can't do anything until they come in with something we can use."