"My daughter's life has been destroyed," the victim's mother told Eyewitness News.

Police just admitted to Eyewitness News they screwed up the investigation, letting a crucial fingerprint sit for days before testing. Because of calls from Eyewitness News, those fingerprints have finally been fast-tracked for examination.

The family told WFTV reporter George Spencer that investigators said they had to wait as long as four months for fingerprint tests. But since when does a police department wait to track down an attempted child rapist?

That is exactly the question the victim's mother had for Eyewitness News when she called and it's a good thing she did, because Thursday the Sanford Police Department is acknowledging it made a big error.

The sergeant and investigator on the case will get warnings and higher-ups will investigate.

"She says she was laying down, asleep in her bed, and somebody, she felt somebody on top of her," the victim's mother explained.

Even the victim's mother was afraid to show her face as she described every child's nightmare, a man climbing through a window early Saturday morning at the Castle Brewer Court house (see map) and trying to rape the 10-year-old girl in her bed.

"When I heard it, I asked her was she hurt? Did he take her clothes off? I panicked, got the phone, called police and told them what happened," the victim's mother explained.

At first, it was good news. Lucky enough, she said, an investigator found crisp fingerprints from the suspect right on the windowsill, but she was terrified by what that same investigator told her Monday when she called to follow up.

"He told me it would be at least four, it'll take four months. And don't call him, he'll call me," she said.

Even though investigators collected the crisp fingerprints, Eyewitness News found out that Thursday, six days after the crime, the Sanford Police Department still hadn't handed those prints over to the sheriff's office.

In fact, it was only after Eyewitness News started asking questions that the police department suddenly rushed the prints over to sheriff's investigators, where they'll be analyzed.

Police now say they should've been delivered no later than Tuesday and the officer who gave the victim's mother that brush-off, they said, misspoke.

"I think we've been violated. They treated us wrong," the victim's mother said.

The Sanford Police Department refused to speak with Eyewitness News on camera about their mistakes. Eyewitness News asked them how residents can be sure that other major crimes in the town aren't being delayed with similar problems. They just said "this is not what normally happens."