Devereaux was charged with a large number of sexual offenses against children. Most of those charges were ultimately dropped. His case was one of a number of controversial cases involving similar allegations, many of which were ultimately discredited, against adults in Wenatchee, Washington.

Devereaux sued a number of state officials. The particular question in this case was whether several employees of the Department of Social and Health Services had acted reasonably in their role in the investigation. Although the DSHS workers were not the initial interrogators, the court held that "they were aware of the facts and circumstances that would have led any reasonable investigator to at least question the allegations against Mr. Devereaux." 2000 WL 1781357 at *10.

One of the children who made (and later recanted) allegations against Devereaux

*3.

It is unclear whether the DSHS workers knew at the time that this child had FAS, or whether the court was relying on any such knowledge in holding that the workers may have acted unreasonably.

This case is perhaps more important as an illustration of the risk that an individual with FAS can too easily be induced by interrogators to tell them what they want to hear.