Attorney General Kelly Ayotte is pleased to announce the winner of the Attorney General's Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect's 2008 Dr. Roger M. Fossum Award. This award, given in memory of the State's first Chief Medical Examiner who died in 1994, honors individuals who have made an outstanding commitment to collaborative multidisciplinary efforts to improve services to children affected by abuse and neglect in New Hampshire.

This year's nominees come from a variety of disciplines involved in cases of child abuse and neglect in New Hampshire. Each has many years of service assisting children affected by abuse and neglect. The 2008 nominees are Attorney Margo Cooper, Nashua Attorney and Guardian ad Litem; Detective Jonathon Lehto, Nashua Police Department; the Honorable Lucinda Sadler, Family Court Judge in both Derry and Laconia Family Courts; Mark Sipple, Executive Director of the Malley Farm Boys Home in Somersworth; Kristie Palestino, Director of the Hillsborough County Child Advocacy Center; and Assistant Merrimack County Attorney David Rotman.

This year's winner is Detective Jonathan Lehto. Detective Lehto is a detective with the Youth Services Division of the Nashua Police Department, which primarily investigates felonies, the majority of which involve sexual assaults against children. According to his nominator, "These cases are some of the most difficult cases that a police detective will encounter. Most sexual assaults of children are reported well after the crime has occurred, and there are no eyewitnesses and no physical evidence. The success of the prosecution stands on the testimony of the child victim. Detective Lehto is the consummate dedicated and professional detective, working some of the most difficult and sad cases a police officer will encounter throughout his/her career. It takes a special individual to work these types of cases and he has dedicated his career to serving the interests of the children of Nashua."

Attorney General Ayotte said, "We congratulate Detective Lehto on his award and we honor all of the nominees and thank them for their commitment and hard work on behalf of New Hampshire's children."