The two men most responsible for putting Mathew Alan Nash behind bars  the lead investigator and the prosecutor — say his case is highly unusual.

“Ninety-nine percent of them are in absolute denial about their problem,” said Robert Holland, the lead investigator for child abuse cases with the Macon County Sheriff’s Department.

“A case like his may never happen again,” said Stephen Boone, the assistant district attorney responsible for prosecuting cases in Macon County.

Nash admitted his guilt and says he needs treatment for his desires, and Holland says he believes that the former Mormon missionary truly does want help. But Holland, who flew to Utah to interview Nash as the case unfolded about 20 months ago, says one other point must be remembered: Nash only called law enforcement officers after he revealed his crimes to a counselor who threatened to turn him in if he did not do it himself.

Boone says, in fact, that he has little hope that most people he puts behind bars for child abuse will ever stop committing crimes against children.

“For most of these people, regardless of the treatment, I have little hope that they will ever get cured, even after 20 years in prison,” said Boone. “I don’t look at how to fix the person, I look at what kind of controls we can put on them.”

Holland says that many of the perpetrators don’t believe they are doing anything wrong. During interviews with suspects, he says some confess their crimes but try to defend it by saying the children wanted them to do it.

In one case, Boone says a recently convicted molester said he “only did it until she said it hurt her, then he stopped.”

In many child abuse cases, the perpetrator is someone in a position of authority. Nash admitted that his missionary work allowed him to gain access to children. During interviews with one child molested by Nash, investigators learned that the child’s grandfather might have also been sexually molesting her. Now, that 90-year-old grandfather is in prison for his crimes.

In another case, a mother tried to convince investigators to dismiss a charge against her boyfriend because she said it was her fault.

“One of the patterns is that mothers are often dependent on the abuser, financially or otherwise. They don’t want to believe it is true or they don’t care,” said Boone.

Child abuse is treated differently than other crimes in North Carolina. Counselors, doctors and all citizens must report child abuse if they know about it. That law helped convince Nash to turn himself in.

Also, task forces that combine the work of law enforcement, prosecutors, social services, the medical community and children’s advocate groups are in place in most counties. The multi-jurisdictional approach helps in successful prosecutions and helps children deal with the fact that they have been victimized.

“Lots of people help these cases get to court. How the cases are handled out here after they are discovered is great,” said Boone.

Both Boone and Holland say working in child abuse cases is taxing work that leaves everyone involved shaken as the evidence and the crimes unfold during the investigation.

“You lose sleep over these cases,” said Holland.

“I have had the gut feeling that someone was guilty, but we did not have the evidence to convict them. Then, six months later, it happens again and we are able to get them,” said Holland.

Successful prosecutors try to understand criminals’ motives and desires, but Boone, a father, says it is different with child abusers.

“I can understand most criminals, understand why they do something. But when it comes to molesting little kids, it makes no sense to those without a perverted mind.”