1-Nov-2023

Child Safety Protection Month

November is Child Safety Protection Month. To increase awareness, Cybergenetics recounts one of the many crimes against children we have worked on, the State of New Hampshire v Louie Branco.

In 2014, a New Hampshire man lured two girls, 9 and 12, into his truck with candy. He sexually assaulted them. The hands of Louie Branco, 52, were tested for DNA. The New Hampshire State Police Forensic Laboratory developed DNA data from his hand swabs. But the lab couldnʼt produce match statistics from the data, a mixture of Branco and the girlsʼ DNA that was too complex for them to interpret.

In 2015, TrueAllele computing connected the DNA on Brancoʼs hands to both victims. The match statistics were 33 septillion (left hand) and 316 quadrillion (right hand). In 2016, Cybergenetics Chief Scientist Dr. Mark Perlin testified at the Kingston trial about the TrueAllele match results. Branco was convicted on two counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault and sentenced to 20-40 years in prison.

More than 90% of child abusers are people that the children know; 30-40% of victims are abused by a family member. In an emergency, please call your local Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline, open 24/7.