SEX CHARGES FORCE FAMILY TO FACE ITS PAST

In 1996 and 1999, it is alleged that Charles Frederick Sr., had sex with two 13 year old girls who lived in the house he shared with his wife, his eldest daughter and three grandchildren.  The indictments don't spell it out, but what arrest warrants, family members and law enforcement officials allege, is that the victims were Frederick's granddaughters, and that one of the girls and a grandson were the result of decades of incestuous rapes of his four daughters in the isolated houses where they grew up.  His daughters waited decades before speaking out, saying they feared coming forward until their father was jailed in August 1999, some 20 years after the abuse allegedly began.  Even the 1987 suicide of a 17 year old sister, who relatives say had kept a diary describing her despair after repeated rapes and other abuse, didn't shake them enough to speak up.  Now grown, at least two are expected to testify against their father, who could get more than 50 years in prison if convicted on three counts of sexual misconduct with minors.

(Columbia, South Carolina)