Foster, adopted children molested by Ronald Graham provide victim impact statements before he’s sentenced to 10 years in prison

By Gregory Orear

General Manager/Editor

TROY – While stepping lightly, guided by a friend Brianna Graham delicately approached Judge Milan Berry.

And when she provided her victim’s impact statement about how her adopted father molested her through the years, her words were both soft-spoken and at the same time, carried the weight of years of trauma.

“I hate my own skin,” Graham said quietly, as several in the audience openly wept. “Myself, in my own body, I feel like a stranger, and my skin is forever stained by his actions.”

Brianna and five of her siblings or their representatives provided victim impact statements at Ronald Graham’s sentencing hearing Friday afternoon at the Lincoln County Courthouse. Graham, 62, previously entered an Alford Plea to four counts of statutory sodomy and received a 10-year prison sentence as part of a plea agreement with the Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney’s office.

After an investigation, the Prosecuting Attorney’s office charged Graham in 2022 with nine counts of sodomy, two counts of rape, and one charge each of child molestation and sexual abuse.

Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Wood said they considered pursuing a full conviction but opted for what the victims preferred.

“This plea agreement conforms with the wishes of the victims to resolve the case without the trauma and revictimization of a trial,” he said.

However, that didn’t stop several of them from standing a few feet away from their tormentor and expressing their disgust with his actions over the years.

“It’s hard to put into words what this actually did to me and what he did to me,” said Diamond Taylor, a foster child who lived with Graham starting in early elementary school. “He wasn’t just someone who hurt me, he was someone who had a duty to protect and care for me. Instead, he used that position of trust and safety to violate and destroy my innocence.”

Lillian Graham was adopted into the family and said she feels like her entire childhood was a lie, something she still struggles to reconcile.

“When all this played out, I struggled to cope, turning into someone I didn’t even recognize and choosing all the wrong ways to deal with the pain you have caused all of us,” she said. “But ruining my own life means you win. I realized that I had to stay strong. Not just for me but my beautiful family, sticking together fighting for justice.”

She said it took a while for her to realize this isn’t her fault.

“I felt a sense of guilt like somehow I failed my family,” she said. “But you’re the one who did this to us and I hope you live every day knowing that. You’re no longer a hero in my story but a monster.”

Faith Craig read a statement from another adopted daughter, Anna Graham, echoing many of the sentiments of how Ronald failed his family.

“You promised to provide a loving, stable home for us, not only for me, but my sisters and brothers. You promised that you would take care of us and love us, but that is not what you did,” she said. “You have hurt physically and mentally so many people who needed you. You are a bad person and you deserve more time.”

After those statements, Berry emphasized while many victims requested more time, the binding agreement prevented it.

“I know you’ve asked for extra punishment,” Judge Berry explained. “But if I was to do extra punishment, then Mr. Graham would be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea and would have the right to go to trial. So, I just wanted to state that for the record.”

Wood said after the sentencing while Graham may have only received 10 years today, his office is considering filing additional charges that could result an involuntary civil commitment through the Department of Mental Health as a sexually violent predator.

He also repeated concerns expressed in the Brenda Deutsch abuse case that reports of mistreatment repeatedly fell on deaf ears at the Children’s Division of the Missouri Department of Social Services.

“I was very disappointed to hear that victim after victim reported instances of sexual abuse to Children’s Division and that information was ignored,” he said. “Additionally, children were continued to be placed with a child molester.”

After the sentencing, Taylor confirmed Wood’s account.

“They called me a liar, right to my face,” Taylor said when she first mentioned she was sexually assaulted by Graham.

But after years of abuse and more than three years of court proceedings, she said she finally feels a little bit of relief and closure.

“I still feel like I’m suffocating. I can breathe, but it’s not like a full breath,” she said.

Despite the trauma, the memories and the PTSD she deals with, Taylor has been able to move on with her life, now raising seven children of her own.

“Some of them I made, some of them I didn’t” she said smiling. “But yeah, I got a lot of kids at home and I’m very protective of them.”

Despite that though, she still struggles to answer the question how she has managed to not let her past control her future.

“Honestly, I don’t know. As a teenager, I want to say I probably rebelled a bit. But once I had my first kid at 20, I kind of had to be numb to everything in the past so I could be there for my child,” she said.

She did have definite advice for any child suffering from abuse of any kind.

“It’s okay to speak. It’s okay to tell,” she said. “I’m trying to think of what I would have told myself at that age. It’s not your fault. Definitely not your fault. You keep telling a lot of different people. Tell everybody. Don’t be quiet, no matter what.”