By AP
Madisonville, KY – The investigation of a sex abuse case in Madisonville has apparently been brought to a conclusion.
Police say five Hopkins County schoolboys, aged 6 to 8, were charged with felony sodomy. Investigators say the incidents happened in bathrooms at Earlington Elementary School and Hanson Elementary School.
The cases stunned residents and touched off a debate over whether the children should have been charged criminally.
But a judge has dismissed the charges with the condition that they undergo treatment. Police and prosecutors have said that was one of their goals.
They also said they felt they needed to charge the boys to determine whether adults had abused one or more of them. No adults have been charged.