Twins were convicted of abusing kids. Their house has been sold to help child victims.

A Lexington house owned by twin brothers convicted of sexually abusing young boys has been sold, and part of the proceeds will be used to help child victims.

Jack and Jerry Cassidy were Boy Scout leaders in the 1970s who were convicted in recent years of abusing six children who were 15 or younger at the time.

Much of the abuse happened at their home on Mason Headley Road, where they still lived when Lexington police began investigating in 2014.

Now, the government has sold the house, and part of the proceeds are being given to the Children’s Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass, which advocates on behalf of children who are alleged to have been abused and helps coordinate child abuse investigations by providing a safe, child-friendly place for interviews, medical exams, and mental health and other services.

“We are going to change the narrative of this story,” Winn Stephens, executive director of the center, said in a news release. “What started as a horrible crime will ultimately result in helping hundreds of children overcome the abuse they suffered. These funds will also be utilized to aid in the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases and to make sure other individuals who hurt our most vulnerable citizens are swiftly brought to justice.”

Jack Cassidy, 80, is being held at the Kentucky State Reformatory in La Grange, according to the Kentucky Department of Corrections. He pleaded guilty in August 2015 to nine felony charges, including sodomy, sexual abuse and possession of child pornography. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Jerry Cassidy died of natural causes on Sept. 10 while incarcerated, WLEX-TV reported. He had been sentenced to 20 years after he pleaded guilty in July 2016 to possession of child pornography, sodomy, sexual abuse and four counts of indecent or immoral practice with another.

Lexington police began investigating in August 2014, when they and other emergency responders were called to the house.

“Police found that the Cassidys had documented their abuse of victims, in diaries and other writings, and had evidence of that abuse on display in the house,” the news release stated.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a civil forfeiture action, which is allowed by federal law in such cases, in 2015, “asserting that the home had facilitated the interstate transport of minors for the purpose of sexual assault,” according to a news release. The Cassidys agreed to forfeit the house to the government.

The FBI received the proceeds from the sale through the government’s “asset forfeiture equitable sharing program,” which allows the agency to give as much as 80 percent of the proceeds to local law enforcement agencies that investigated and prosecuted the case.

In this instance, the FBI shared the maximum amount with the Lexington Police Department and the Fayette Commonwealth Attorney’s Office. They, in turn, are permitted to transfer as much as $25,000 a year from the shared money to “community-based organizations that serve a law enforcement purpose.” They are each giving the Children’s Advocacy Center the maximum allowed, for a total of $50,000 this year, with the rest to be transferred next year, according to the news release.

Fayette County PVA records indicate that the U.S. government sold the property in January for $115,000.

The forfeiture was jointly announced Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney’s office, the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, the FBI, the Commonwealth Attorney’s office, Lexington police and the Children’s Advocacy Center.

“Under Kentucky law, our office could not obtain forfeiture of the property where these horrible acts occurred,” Fayette Commonwealth’s Attorney Lou Anna Red Corn said in the news release. “We are fortunate in Lexington to have law enforcement agencies that work together like this, and as result of these shared funds, we are turning something horrible into something healing for child sexual abuse victims.”

This story was originally published November 15, 2017 at 9:04 PM with the headline "Twins were convicted of abusing kids. Their house has been sold to help child victims.."