VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — A Volusia County father and son remain in the county jail without bail after they were arrested on charges of abusing two children, deputies said.
9 Investigates reporter Daralene Jones found out this isn't the first time the family has been investigated.
Leslie Ross Senior and Leslie Ross Junior are accused of abusing one of the girls starting with when she was 3 years old and the other when she was 5; both are family members, investigators said.
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Channel 9 normally doesn’t report on stories involving allegations of sexual abuse and family members because it may identify the victims, but we chose to do so in this case because of the previous allegations leading up the arrests.
One of the girls said the abuse continued until three weeks before the police report was filed, investigators said.
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood told Eyewitness News that sex abuses cases are most common among family.
“We teach kids in school, someone calls you to a car, don't go over, clearly there's a threat there. The biggest threat, in my opinion, is internal, coming from your family members,” Chitwood said.
Leslie Ross Senior has lived in the same DeLand home for more than 40 years.
Ross Jr. was a teacher at T. Dewitt Taylor Middle-High School, in Pierson, and was investigated for having a sexual relationship with a student in 1999 and again in 2006 with two different 17-year-old students.
9 Investigates learned he married his first victim and they later had a child. They divorced when she learned Ross Jr. allegedly cheated with another student in 2006 at Taylor-High School.
He had worked for the school since 1997 but resigned the day after the accusation was made, a school spokesperson said. The state later revoked his teaching license.
The cases involving Ross Jr. were never prosecuted because the victims did not cooperate, investigators said.
Ross Sr. was accused of molesting one of the victims in 2006, but the prosecutor declined to file charges, according to reports obtained by 9 Investigates.
The state attorney's office said in a statement Thursday that, "Due to the age of the child victim and the lack of disclosure by the child victim during the Child Protection Team interview, the State Attorney's Office was unable to pursue charges. A 'no information' was filed Jan. 3, 2008."
Both face charges of sexual battery and lewd and lascivious molestation. If convicted, both face life in prison.
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