ST. LOUIS – FOX 2’s series of reports more than five years ago appears to have captured the attention of current prosecutors.

“You could literally give a person back their life,” Curtis Scott Hansen said.

Hansen is paying the price, convicted in a questionable criminal case.

“More and more people know about it, and they’ve seen it on your show,” he said.

Hansen must permanently register as a sex offender because of lies his nephews told.
The three nephews alerted FOX 2 News back in 2020 that they were coerced into lying to a grand jury.

They maintain that assertion to this day, though one of the brothers has died since our last reports.

“It never happened,” Clinton Britton said.

Clinton was eight years old at the time of the lies. His brothers were nine and 10, respectively. The foster care system took them from their home due to truancy, split them up, and provided them with a DCFS caseworker.

The Brittons said the case worker told the boys disturbing sex stories, which he wanted them to repeat to prosecutors.

“We were gone for seven years, so this man had to come up with a reason to keep us away for so long,” Clinton said.

They believed they would reunite if they repeated their case worker’s stories.

“The motivation for me was it was one step closer to getting home,” he said.

Attorney Matt Radefeld discovered that the caseworker was a man named Don Manhal, who later admitted to being a real sex offender.

“(The boys) never would have said what they said except for the interference of a very nefarious social worker,” Radefeld said.

He knows, because his firm at the time represented the former caseworker, who’s since died in prison.

“He was a predator and it’s clear he was preying on little boys at the time,” Radefeld said.

The offices of both former Missouri Governor Mike Parson and former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner told us back then that they could not act on the case.

Since that time, Hansen—though free from prison—has been threatened with arrest at theme parks and cruises because of his apparent false sex offender status.

“I’ve missed out on my grandkids and my own kids’ stuff because you’re not allowed on public school property,” Hansen said.

A breakthrough is now possible, as Hansen said he’s heard from a prosecutor with the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office, who reviewed the entire case and reportedly interviewed the witnesses we’ve spoken to in our FOX Files reports.

“I get goosebumps thinking about it. My wife and I talk about it all the time,” Hansen said. “We would travel. We’d be able to go places without people looking at you and saying you’re not allowed, you’re not allowed, you can’t be here.”

It’s an unusual case in which we know of no one who disputes Hansen or his nephews. The Circuit Attorney’s Office is not yet willing to discuss it publicly but hopes to update us soon on the results of its investigation.

“The case State of Missouri vs Curtis (Scott) Hansen, which involves charges of sexual abuse, is under review by the Circuit Attorney’s Office Conviction Integrity Unit. The review process involves an in-depth examination of the facts of the case to determine whether there is a credible claim of actual innocence under Missouri Statute 547.031,” the Circuit Attorney’s Office said in a statement.