{"id":175071,"date":"2017-12-02T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2017-12-02T15:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=175071"},"modified":"2025-06-20T00:06:52","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T05:06:52","slug":"father-accused-incest-forcing-victim-get-abortion-receives-probation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/father-accused-incest-forcing-victim-get-abortion-receives-probation\/","title":{"rendered":"Father avoids prison time for incest of 11-year-old daughter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A West Virginia father has been placed on probation<\/a> after pleading guilty to incest in an unusual plea deal. According to the Herald Dispatch<\/a>, the original charges state that Michael Joe Adkins, the child’s biological father, raped the girl at his Ona residence. He then covered up the sexual abuse by forcing her to have an abortion<\/a> after she became pregnant at the age of eleven. \u00a0Earlier reports published by the Herald-Dispatch<\/a>\u00a0state that the alleged sexual assault occurred sometime between Oct. 1, 2010, and Feb. 11, 2011. Adkins faced charges of incest, sexual assault, obstruction, child neglect creating risk of injury and conspiracy.<\/p>\n

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Michael Joe Adkins<\/p><\/div>\n

A West Virginia State Police report<\/a>\u00a0published online states that in 2011 Corporal Marleen Moore with the West Virginia State Police Crimes Against Children’s Unit began the initial investigation of incest:<\/p>\n

Cpl. Moore, with the assistance of the Cabell County Prosecutor\u2019s Office obtained additional evidence and a disclosure from the victim that she had been impregnated by her father. Upon becoming pregnant, the father and his wife did conspire to take the victim to have an abortion. This was done while leading Cpl. Moore, the prosecutors, CPS [Child Protective Services] and the victim\u2019s doctor to the belief that the victim had a miscarriage. The parents then allowed the doctor to perform an unnecessary D&C medical procedure. The accused parents then threatened the victim with harm if she informed anyone of the fact of her being impregnated by her father and of the abortion. Michael Adkins was arraigned on charges of Sexual Assault 1st Degree, Incest, Sexual Abuse By A Parent or Guardian, Child Neglect Creating Risk of Injury, Intimidation of a Witness, Obstructing an Officer and Felony Conspiracy. Amanda Adkins was arraigned on charges of Child Neglect Creating Risk of Injury, Intimidation of a Witness, Obstructing an Officer and Felony Conspiracy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Amanda Adkins<\/p><\/div>\n

Corporal Moore told Live Action News that by the time police were notified, the child had turned twelve and was still pregnant. She stated that Child Protective Services were brought into the case when the parents,\u00a0Michael Adkins along with Amanda Adkins, the child’s stepmother, took the child for medical care because she was ill, and doctors discovered the pregnancy. The couple was originally arrested<\/a> in 2013\u00a0on charges of child neglect causing the risk of injury.<\/p>\n

Then,\u00a0in March of 2014, WSAZ reported<\/a>\u00a0that the couple was “accused of arranging two abortions within 15 days for his daughter, who was 11 at the time.”<\/p>\n

Media reports indicate that on March 1, 2011, Amanda Adkins took the girl to a Charleston abortion facility. She then lied to doctors, CPS workers, police, and other authorities about the abortion, claiming it was a miscarriage.<\/p>\n

Corporal\u00a0Moore told Live Action News that authorities did not find out about the abortion until eight months later when a family friend, who traveled with the couple to the abortion clinic, mentioned it to friends in passing.<\/p>\n

Live Action News confirmed with\u00a0Corporal Moore that neither the abortion doctor nor the clinic in Charleston, which Moore said has since relocated to another state, notified them about the child’s abortion at the time, a point\u00a0reiterated<\/a> by WSAZ in 2013:<\/p>\n

Up until the abortion, all the health care professionals involved in this case were in touch with investigators. That included a therapist and a physician who confirmed the pregnancy. Then, an abortion clinic in Charleston performed the procedure but didn’t notify authorities. We wanted to find out why, so we checked the laws.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to Corporal Moore, it was too late to obtain fetal tissue to perform a DNA test and confirm the paternity of the baby.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer stepmom snuck her off and got an abortion and neglected to tell anybody,\u201d\u00a0Corporal Moore\u00a0told local media outlets at the time. \u201cShe made statements telling everyone it was a miscarriage. The Adkins\u2019 made threats against their daughter, telling her not to tell.\u201d<\/p>\n