He since has tried unsuccessfully to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming he was coerced into confessing to acts he did not commit. But both the state Supreme Court and U.S. District Court have upheld the validity of Ingram's plea, which also underwent a five-day review in Thurston County Superior Court. Gary Tabor, the county's chief criminal deputy prosecutor, says Ingram implicated himself in statements to police, long before investigators, a minister or psychologists got involved in the questioning. The advocates suggest Ingram's memories of abuse were manufactured. Among those advocates is Seattle-based Chuck Noah, a former Lewis County resident, who says he himself was falsely accused of abuse by his daughter after a therapist encouraged her to remember events that Noah claims were fictitious.
Some activists say memories of past sex abuse are often the result of poor therapy.
Activists rallying behind Ingram, who was convicted of raping his daughters, say memories of long-forgotten sex abuse are actually the result of sloppy therapy or implanting, a phenomenon they call false memory syndrome. Among the activists is Chuck Noah, a Seattle man who was accused of abuse by one of his own daughters, a charge Noah heatedly denies. Noah believes Ingram similarly was the victim of false accusations. But Thurston County Sheriff Gary Edwards and Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Gary Tabor have stood by investigator' handling of the case in which Ingram, a former top official in the sheriff's office, admitted his guilt and then tried to take back his guilty plea. The brainwashing theory was only a theory.