Rape victim misled about attacker's parole hearing date, wants answers

RIVERTON, Utah (ABC 4 News) - The system designed to protect a Riverton woman from the man who raped her failed, she says, and now she's turning to ABC 4 to take action.

The problem started with a system called VINE, which stands for Victim Information and Notification Everyday.

The computerized system is supposed to tell victims when their attackers are scheduled to get out of prison, but a mistake in the system terrorized Stephanie Duke for a few brief moments.  "I was very angry.  I was disappointed.  I was frustrated, confused," she said.

Stephanie is on edge waiting for the day her rapist Travis Wood is released from prison.  She says her testimony more than a decade ago locked him up.  "I think there's a pretty good chance that he'll come and try to find me."

Tuesday night she read this e-mail from VINE, "This e-mail is to inform you that the parole hearing for Travis Wood has been held and the decision has been reached."

The words upset Stephanie because she wants to testify at Wood's parole hearing.  She wants the Board of Pardons and Parole to extend his sentence, but her panic was in vain. The e-mail was completely wrong.  Woods parole hearing is scheduled for March.

So what went wrong?  To find out we sat down with the group responsible for releasing the prisoners.  Board of Pardons and Parole Spokesman Jim Hatch said, "We're perplexed. We don't know why the vine system would send her this message."

Hatch says the VINE system operates independently from his department.  It uses computers to extract information from the state.  It then redirects it to victims.  Somehow the computer mixed up the information and terrified Stephanie.

ABC 4 talked with VINE Spokesman Rick Jones.  He didn't know what went wrong, but said he would investigate the problem and share his findings with ABC 4.  They will be added to this web story when they are made available.