Issue 58 – September 2004

S M A R T
(Stop Mind control And Ritual abuse Today)
P. O Box 1295, Easthampton, MA 01027-1295 USA E-mail: SMARTNEWS@aol.com

The purpose of this newsletter is to help stop secretive organizations and groups from abusing others and to help those who allege they have been abused by such organizations and groups. This newsletter is not a substitute for other ways of recovering from ritual abuse. Readers should use caution while reading this newsletter. If necessary, make sure other support systems are available during and after reading this newsletter.

Important: The resources mentioned in this newsletter are for educational value only. Reading the books cited may or may not help your recovery process, so use caution when reading any book or contacting any resource mentioned in this newsletter. Some may have a religious or other agenda that may be separate from your own recovery process. Others may have valuable information on the Masons and other organizations, but have triggers or be somewhat sympathetic to those organizations. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the views expressed in this newsletter constitute expressions of opinion, and readers are cautioned to form their own opinions and draw their own conclusions by consulting a variety of sources, including this newsletter. Resources listed, quoted and individual articles, etc. and their writers do not necessarily support all or any of the views mentioned in this newsletter. Also, the views, facts and opinions mentioned in this newsletter are solely the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily the opinions of this newsletter or its editor.

This issue of the smart newsletter was co-edited by Steve F. and others. SMART also wants to thank all those that have contributed resource information to the newsletter.

Next year’s conference information is available at http://members.aol.com/smartnews/smart-2005-conference.htm or by requesting it at the address above by regular mail.

Resources and Information

Please note: Listing of these resources does not necessarily constitute our endorsement of them. They are for educational value only and some may be heavy for survivors to read. Some of the conferences listed may not necessarily be safe for all survivors. S.M.A.R.T. recommends always bringing a support person to all conferences. If you are a survivor of mind control and/or ritual abuse, S.M.A.R.T. recommends that you try to bring a support person that is familiar with mind control techniques. LMS: article from ACHES-MC (Advocacy Committee for Human Experimentation Survivors – Mind Control) for unconsentually federally funded mind control as children or adults Canada contact Lynne Moss-Sharman, 230 Miles St. E. #3, Thunder Bay, Ont. P7C 1J6, lsharman@shaw.ca

Legal Information

Porn or confession? Catholic priest tells all 6/10/04 Reuters “Buenos Aires, Argentina – A 77-year-old Roman Catholic priest in Argentina has published his memoirs recounting sex with women and a frustrated gay liaison, angering church officials. The autobiography, No Beating About The Bush. The Life Of A Priest, tells of the life and loves of Father Jose Mariani in a posh parish in Cordoba, Argentina’s third biggest city where he has been a priest for 53 years.” http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=3&art_id=qw1086891302319B236&set_id=1

Roman Catholic priest pleads guilty to possessing child pornography 6/18/04 Buffalo, N.Y. (AP) “A Roman Catholic priest pleaded guilty Friday to possessing hundreds of images of child pornography that he downloaded in the rectory of his church, officials said. The Rev. Fred Ingalls, 56, faces up to 5 years in prison at sentencing, scheduled for October. Ingalls, a priest for 30 years, was arrested in February and immediately suspended from ministry….Court records indicated that the computer images included naked and prepubescent children engaging in sex acts with adult males. At the time of his arrest, Ingalls was pastor at St. Joseph’s Church. He had taken over the parish following the removal of another priest over a sex abuse allegation.”http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/06/18/national2018EDT0779.DTL

Priest charged with soliciting prostitution By AP 7/13/04 “Hazleton – Luzerne County prosecutors charged a Hazleton priest yesterday with offering to pay a stranger $50 for sex. Prosecutors said the Rev. Samuel Perrins approached a 22-year-old stranger on the street in early June and briefly solicited him for sex before walking away. The man said he declined the offer, then used a pay phone to call police.” http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/search/s_203174.html

Tucson diocese suits pending now at 20 7/29/04 “Tucson – As the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson considers filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection because of mounting legal costs, the number of pending lawsuits against the diocese over alleged clergy sexual abuse is up to 20. The diocese has named 28 priests, two deacons and one nun on a public list of clerics with credible accusations against them of sexually abusing minors. In one of the four new lawsuits, Philip A. Hower refiled his suit in federal court rather than Pima County Superior Court. Hower claims he was a victim of employment discrimination because he was a whistle-blower about clergy abuse and was turned down for the priesthood by the diocese. Meanwhile, a Tucson-area woman and her son who were both former parishioners at Our Mother of Sorrows Catholic Church claim in their lawsuit that the diocese lied to them about an accused molester.” http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0729churchsuits29.html
Judge denies diocese attempts to dismiss lawsuits AP 7/16/04 Davenport, Ia. “A judge has denied attempts by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport to dismiss two of 16 civil lawsuits claiming the plaintiffs failed to file the suits alleging decades-old sexual abuse by priests before the statute of limitations expired. Judge C.H. Pelton made his ruling Thursday in the lawsuits which allege sexual abuse by the Rev. James Janssen, the Rev. Francis Bass and the Rev. Theodore Geerts more than 30 years ago.” http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040716/LIFE05/407160364/1045

Church facing mega-suit – Hearing opens today on more than 150 sex-abuse cases Don Lattin, 7/15/04 “More than 150 lawsuits against Catholic dioceses in Northern California have been bundled into a litigious mega-case filed on the behalf of men and women who say they were sexually abused by priests when they were growing up decades ago in Catholic churches from Santa Rosa to Monterey….The combined lawsuits are known as “Clergy Three.” “Clergy One” and “Clergy Two” represent hundreds of additional abuse claims that have been filed and combined in Los Angeles and San Diego. Most of this litigation is the result of a bill sponsored by state Sen. John Burton, D-San Francisco, adopted by the Legislature and signed into law in July 2002 by former Gov. Gray Davis. It lifted the statute of limitations last year on lawsuits filed against churches, schools and other institutions that negligently allowed employees to molest children.” http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/07/15/BAG3C7LGP01.DTL

from LMS Clergy abuse cases refocus attention on LA cardinal’s time as Stockton bishop Gillian Flaccus, 7/2/04 LA(AP) “The case of a notorious molester from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockton has come back to vex Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, who testified at a 1998 civil trial involving the former priest. Six lawsuits accusing ex-priest Oliver O’Grady of abuse were filed last year, under a California law that lifted for one year the statute of limitations in old sex-abuse cases. Now plaintiffs’ lawyers want to discover what Mahony knew about the activities of O’Grady, a former Stockton priest who pleaded guilty in 1993 to molesting two brothers and served seven years in prison before being deported to his native Ireland. Mahony was bishop in Stockton from 1980 to 1985, during part of O’Grady’s tenure there.” http://sfgate.com/

Springfield Diocese Reaches $7M Settlement 7/23/04 By Trudy Tynan Springfield, Mass. (AP) “The Springfield Diocese on Thursday reached a proposed settlement worth more than $7 million with 46 people who accused priests of molesting them when they were children. Twenty-two of the alleged victims had sued the diocese. The others had complained to the church about having been abused but never took legal action against the diocese or their attackers. Lawyers for the plaintiffs will present the proposal to their clients, who would have 14 days to enter into binding arbitration to determine how much money each will receive, the diocese said. Most of the alleged victims say they were abused by defrocked priest Richard Lavigne in the late 1960s and 1970s. The others have accused about 20 other priests – a handful of whom are dead – of abuse that ranged from the 1950s to the early 1990s. While Lavigne is the only accused priest within the diocese to have been defrocked by the Vatican, the others have been removed from ministry by the diocese.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-4341192,00.html

Suit: Dupre said files destroyed 8/3/04 By Bill Zajac “Springfield – The Most Rev. Thomas L. Dupre said personnel records of priests were destroyed upon the retirement of former Bishop Christopher J. Weldon, according to a clergy sexual abuse suit filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield. Dupre was chancellor when he discussed the files in 1977 or 1978 at a deanery meeting of diocesan priests at St. Bartholomew’s rectory in Bondsville, according to the suit filed last week in Hampden Superior Court by John Doe, a pseudonym used to protect the plaintiff’s identity. Dupre resigned as bishop of the Springfield Diocese in February amid allegations that he abused two minors more than 20 years ago….A grand jury has been considering charges against Dupre since March when Bennett determined there was “just cause.” Possible charges range from sexual abuse to failure to report abuse to the proper authorities.” repub.com

Swales award rises to $2.7M Peter Geigen-Miller, Free Press Reporter 6/17/04 “Interest and court costs have boosted a ground- breaking sexual abuse court judgment against the Roman Catholic Diocese of London to more than $2.7 million. Details of the financial judgment in a suit by the Swales family of London against the diocese and retired priest Barry Glendinning were released yesterday. Superior Court Justice John Kerr awarded brothers John, Ed and Guy Swales and members of their family more than $1.39 million in a judgment delivered in February.” http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2004/06/17/502284.html

Campaign office linked to sex orgies By Peter Hansen 6/27/04 “A Jury in Brisbane has heard claims of orgies in a unit used as a National Party electoral campaign office during the lead-up to Queensland’s historic 1989 state election. In the dock was former teacher, Brisbane businessman and National Party backroom organiser Garry Robin Ford, 55. He pleaded not guilty to 39 charges including indecent treatment of under-age boys, sodomy and supplying drugs during 1989 and 1990. He denied Crown allegations that he lured schoolboys as young as 12 to his unit and other places and took part with them in “pagan rituals” to initiate them into a White Brotherhood sect. Six young men testified against him as to what they said happened when they were youths in 1989-90. ….Prosecutor Todd Fuller suggested that in November 1989 he had been involved with two youths and another man at the unit organising sexual acts for pornographic movies…..He denied ever luring youths to the Windsor unit and later to premises at Sunnybank to play the amusement videos or to watch pornographic movies or to use cannabis and magic mushrooms – habits he said he detested….Six young men testified against Ford, saying he had lured them into sexual activity and supplied them with drugs and pornography when they were between 12 and 16. Ford denied all claims. He said the White Brotherhood claims stemmed from the title of a book a youth was reading at the time. The youth was into “sex magick” books and witchcraft and if Ford talked to him of homosexuality and religion he was trying to mentor the youth to put God first. He denied taking part in any sexual ritual in a bat cave. He recalled visiting the cave one night with a group, including women, and nothing sexual took place. He denied taking part in an “exorcism” of another youth.” http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/

Ex-Nat official jailed for child sex By Ainsley Pavey 8/13/04 “A former Queensland National party official who forced teenage boys into sex acts as part of pagan rituals was jailed today for eight years. Garry Robin Ford, 55, will also be forced to give police his contact details for a decade once released on the 22 charges involving the drugging and sodomising of underaged boys. Ford was found guilty by a Brisbane Supreme Court jury in June of indecently treating, sodomising and supplying hallucinatory magic mushrooms to boys during 1989 and 1990. The trial was told schoolboys had sat in a candle-lit circle as their black-caped “teacher” chanted and danced. They performed sex acts on each other and on Ford to be initiated into his White Brotherhood sect. …Six young men testified against Ford during the trial. They alleged they took part in pagan rituals in Brisbane suburbs and in a bat cave near Yeppoon in central Queensland. Ford, a former teacher, worked for the Nationals in the lead-up to the 1989 Queensland election won by the Wayne Goss-led Labor Party….Ford is still facing another three indictments set to go before the District Court later this year.” http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,10431356%5E1702,00.html

Legal rulings favor plaintiffs in church sex-abuse lawsuits Philadelphia (AP) “A statute of limitations many legal experts had expected would protect the Roman Catholic Church from lawsuits by people abused decades ago by priests is looking like less of a shield after a series of recent court decisions. Employing an unusual legal strategy, lawyers for alleged abuse victims have sought to skirt Pennsylvania’s two-year time limit on personal injury lawsuits by claiming the church engaged in a decades-long conspiracy to conceal sexual abuse against minors. The extent of the cover up, the suits claim, did not become apparent until 2002, when a firestorm of publicity over the church’s role in protecting abusive priests prompted the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to publicly acknowledge the problem for the first time. A three-judge panel in Lehigh County gave a preliminary nod to that strategy last week when it refused to throw out six lawsuits filed against the Diocese of Allentown by people who claimed to have been molested by priests between 1965 and 1982.” http://www.poconorecord.com/local/tjd88134.htm

from LMS N.S. diocese faces lawsuits by men who say priest sexually assaulted them – Canadian Press 7/9/04 Halifax “Three men who say they were sexually assaulted by a Roman Catholic priest when they were children are suing the Nova Scotia diocese that once supervised him. The plaintiffs filed separate statements of claim stating the Bishop of Antigonish and the diocese failed to protect them from sexual abuse by Rev. Hugh Vincent MacDonald, who died on June 27. Prior to his death, the priest was charged with 27 offences involving 18 children between the ages of eight to 15. The allegations involved a host of inappropriate sexual contact including touching and fondling in churches in Cape Breton and Antigonish, N.S., in the 1950s and 1960s. ….the allegations have yet to be proven in court.” http://www.canada.com/

Wanted in Canada, friar lives quietly in U.S. mission – Abuse survivors group says church is putting itself above the law By Kim Lunman 7/27/04 “At first glance, Brother Gerald Chumik would not seem out of place at the Santa Barbara Franciscan mission. The elderly friar tends to his herb garden and prays constantly. But the ailing 69-year-old never leaves the historic Catholic mission alone. He’s essentially under house arrest, according to church officials, and is wanted in Canada on charges of molesting a teen three decades ago in Newfoundland. The case of Brother Chumik has sparked angry calls on both sides of the border for his return to Canada, where he is wanted on a warrant for two charges of gross indecency against a teenage boy…” http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040727/PRIEST27/TPNational/Canada

Detroit Catholic diocese to handle 26 priest sex cases – Vatican directs how to proceed with 13 priests; other 13 outcomes still uncertain By Kim Kozlowski / The Detroit News 8/13/04 “The Archdiocese of Detroit will resolve 13 of 26 cases of priests accused of child sex abuse in the following manner. Among them are four priests who will face a canonical trial that will be decided by three fellow priests from outside the archdiocese.” http://www.detnews.com/2004/religion/0408/13/d01-241672.htm

Samoa takes steps to deport fugitive cleric – News’ report on molestation conviction spurs investigations 6/24/04 By Reese Dunklin / The Dallas Morning News “The Samoan government, prompted by a Dallas Morning News report, moved Wednesday to deport a fugitive Catholic priest for failing to disclose a child sexual abuse conviction before entering the country. Immigration authorities also are investigating the priest’s superiors in the Salesians of Don Bosco religious order because they, too, did not disclose the information, said Auseugaefa Poloma Komiti, senior adviser to Samoa’s prime minister and Cabinet.”….Deportation will force Father Klep back to Australia, where he is the subject of a nationwide arrest warrant on five charges of indecent assault. Samoan officials said they are coordinating his return with Australian authorities.”

Report: Molesters were moved from country to country Dallas, 6/18/04 (CWNews.com) “The sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Church in the US over the past two years is not be limited to the US or any international borders, according to a report to be published by the Dallas Morning News this weekend. Between 100 and 200 priests around the world, mainly members of religious orders, were allegedly moved from country to country after being accused of various matters, including allegations of sexual abuse of minors and other criminal activity….He said that there are documented cases of priests, accused and in many cases criminally charged, convicted, or having admitted to abuse, who were transferred from one country to another, and in some cases, transferred from country to country to country. “Some are in active ministry today while on the run from law enforcement,” Egerton said. The initial focus of the coverage will be on the Salesian order, he said, adding that there has been a systematic practice by this, the third-largest, men’s religious order of moving such priests around the world. One of the cases to be highlighted in the initial coverage involves an Australian priest who was repeatedly accused of sexual abuse until he was moved to Rome in the 1980s and then on to New York. After a time he returned to Australia where he again worked with children and was again accused of molesting children. He was convicted and sentenced to community service and went back to ministry. In the 1990s, after a new criminal investigation was begun, the Salesian order allegedly moved the priest to Samoa and told his accusers that he would be working in a remote area with no access to children. The Dallas newspaper sent reporters to Samoa to verify these assurances. They found the priest at a parish church, surrounded by children who called him by name and he was handing out candy to them. He was in active ministry, and the newspaper reportedly found that he sometimes tutored children alone in his bedroom.” http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=30298

Runaway priests hiding in plain sight 6/19/04 “Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing children are hiding abroad and working in church ministries, The Dallas Morning News has found. From Africa to Latin America to Europe to Asia, these priests have started new lives in unsuspecting communities, often with the help of church officials. They are leading parishes, teaching and continuing to work in settings that bring them into contact with children, despite church claims to the contrary….Nearly half of the more than 200 cases we identified involve clergy who tried to elude law enforcement. About 30 remain free in one country while facing ongoing criminal inquiries, arrest warrants or convictions in another. Most runaway priests remain in the church, the world’s largest organization, so they should be easier to locate than other fugitives. Instead, Catholic leaders have used international transfers to thwart justice, a practice that poses far greater challenges to law enforcement than the domestic moves exposed in the 2002 scandal. Police and prosecutors, however, often fail to take basic steps to catch fugitive priests.” http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/062004dnpropriestoverview.275bc8e59.html

Report: Fugitive Priest Worked in Honduras AP Dallas 6/20/04 “A fugitive priest accused of molesting an altar boy in Costa Rica was put to work in two remote parishes in Honduras by a Roman Catholic cardinal who has been mentioned as a candidate to succeed Pope John Paul II, The Dallas Morning News reported….Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez put the Rev. Enrique Vasquez to work in the parishes from last year until March, when Vasquez fled the village of Guinope days ahead of police….Vasquez had fled criminal accusations in Costa Rica in 1998 and served in dioceses in New York and Hartford, Conn., before fleeing again and spending time in a clergy treatment center in Mexico, the newspaper reported. Officials in both U.S. dioceses said Vasquez had a letter from the Costa Rican diocese indicating he was in good standing.” http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/1-06202004-319685.html

Oregon Archdiocese Files for Bankruptcy 7/7/04 by Rukmini Callimachi, AP Portland, Ore. “Being molested by a priest left James Devereaux with nobody to confess to. What he could not find at the confessional as a boy, Devereaux hoped he would find in court as a man. But just as Devereaux and his lawyer were preparing to sue the late Rev. Maurice Grammond, the Portland Archdiocese announced Tuesday it was filing for bankruptcy. The archdiocese took action because of the steep costs from clergy sex abuse lawsuits, halting the trial of a lawsuit against Grammond, accused of sexually abusing more than 50 boys in the 1980s. Devereaux said he would persevere despite the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, an unprecedented step that could open the Roman Catholic archdiocese to new levels of court scrutiny.” http://story.news.yahoo.com/

Polish priest convicted of sexually abusing six girls, given suspended prison term 6/25/04 Warsaw Poland (AP) “A Polish court convicted a Roman Catholic priest Friday of sexually abusing six young girls during a decade-long period and imposed a two-year suspended prison sentence. The regional court in the southern town of Krosno also barred the Rev. Michal Moskwa, 64, from teaching jobs for eight years.” http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/06/25/international1459EDT0608.DTL

Polish Seminarian Convicted of Child Pornography in Austria VOA News 8/13/04 “An Austrian court has convicted a Polish seminarian student for the priesthood of possessing child pornography and sentenced him to a six-month suspended prison term. A court in St. Poelten, west of Vienna, found the 27-year-old defendant, identified only as Piotr Z., guilty of downloading hundreds of images of child pornography from the Internet. The sentence comes just a day after a papal emissary, Bishop Klaus Kueng, closed the St. Poelten seminary saying the diocese had failed to properly screen applicants. An Austrian magazine recently published photos of seminarians and teachers kissing and groping each other. ” http://www.voanews.com/

Austrian Seminary Shut Down for Probe – Papal Emissary Shuts Down Austrian Seminary Amid a Child Pornography Investigation AP Vienna, Austria 8/12/04 “A papal emissary on Thursday shut down an Austrian seminary where authorities reported finding about 40,000 photos and numerous videos, including child pornography, on computers. Other photographs of seminary students kissing and fondling each other and their older religious instructors at the seminary also were found in the diocese of St. Poelten, about 50 miles west of Vienna. Some of the photos were published in Austrian media and triggered a public uproar that prompted Pope John Paul II to dispatch Bishop Klaus Kueng as an “apostolic visitor” to contain the scandal.” http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040812_830.html

Porn scandal rocks church 07/11/04 Vienna “The report said that some of the seminary leaders had joined in “sex games” and allowed themselves to be photographed. Profil quoted allegations of drunken orgies in the seminar building where “Nazi slogans were also heard”. Trainee priests had downloaded child pornography pictures.” http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1556012,00.html

Priests ‘in orgy’ at seminary 07/12/04 “About 40,000 photographs and an undisclosed number of films, including child pornography, were downloaded on computers at the seminary in St Poelten, about 50 miles west of Vienna, the respected news magazine Profil reported.” http://212.2.162.45/news/story.asp?j=2349720&p=z349735&n=2349812

Austrians outraged by shock find in sex photos William Kole in Vienna 7/13/04 http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=799732004

Arrest In Seminary Sex Scandal Vienna, Austria, 7/19/04 “The affair has rekindled anger and disgust among Austrian Catholics still scandalized by pedophilia allegations that surfaced in 1995 against the late Cardinal Hermann Groer, prompting the Vatican to oust him. (AP) Prosecutors on Monday charged a 27-year-old Polish candidate for the priesthood with possession and distribution of child pornography, invoking a tough new federal law in a widening investigation into a vast cache of lurid images found at a seminary. The student, whose name was not released, had downloaded “numerous” photographs from a Web site in his native Poland, state prosecutor Walter Nemec said in a statement. If tried and convicted, he faces up to two years in prison.” http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/19/world/main630516.shtml

Uncovered Vatican files highlight abuse 7/3/04 “The Christian Brothers have revealed that they have uncovered files in the Vatican relating to the abuse of schoolboys in Irish institutions. The files include written accounts about thirty findings of child sex abuse at six schools between the 1930s and 1960s. Eleven of the cases relate to Artane Industrial School, while the others relate to other schools around the country. The Christian Brothers say, the files were found by an archivist last year and will now be handed over to the Committee of Inquiry into Child Abuse.” http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0703/brothers

Lawsuits allege Vatican concealed sexual abuse By Rachel Zoll 7/11/04 AP “Leading advocates for victims of clergy sex abuse are directing their criticism beyond U.S. Roman Catholic bishops to the highest levels of the church. They’re now accusing Vatican leaders of hiding the scope of the molestation problem worldwide — and demanding reform. Another sex abuse lawsuit was filed last month naming the Vatican as a defendant — this time in Kentucky. Separately, Minneapolis attorney Jeff Anderson, who specializes in clergy abuse lawsuits, has filed two others that target officials in Rome.” http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/local/9128512.htm

From LMS As Frankel awaits sentence, loose ends abound – Cases tied to ex-Toledoan include 5 states vs. Vatican By Robin Erb “Marty Frankel spends his days in an 8-foot by 12-foot brick jail cell in Central Falls, R.I., awaiting his fate. Meanwhile, in a courtroom an hour’s ride away, federal prosecutors have dismantled the multimillion-dollar empire he built by gutting the assets of struggling insurance companies, ultimately trying to launder the stolen funds through the Vatican – an effort that almost succeeded because of help he received from some of the Holy See’s high-ranking authorities, according to a pending lawsuit. It was a scheme that would prompt a global manhunt and make the former Toledoan the subject of two books and countless articles….State charges were lodged against several defendants. Civil claims have cropped up around the country; the most sensational of the civil suits is one filed in 2001 by five states against the Vatican. In those five states – Mississippi, Tennessee, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arkansas – a guaranty fund formed by the states’ insurance companies had to shell out millions of dollars to cover the more than $200 million in assets of the seven companies drained by Frankel. Now the states are looking for a way to recoup the losses. The states’ insurance commissioners contend that the Vatican violated the federal Racketeer Influenced Corruption Act. That’s because, in his quest to wash money through the Vatican, Frankel had enlisted the help of elderly Msgr. Emilio Colagiovanni, the head of the Monitor Ecclesiasticus, a 120-year-old publication that interprets church law and disburses money to charities, according to the suit. Frankel proposed to the monsignor and other high-ranking Vatican officials that he would set up a charitable fund and place $55 million in it. The Vatican would be able to take $5 million for the charities it saw fit. In return, several of the officials received cash or gifts from Frankel, the suit contends. The Vatican has denied that it accepted any of the funds, and only Colagiovanni has been convicted. Still, while lawyers have been exchanging motions in the suit and a trial date hasn’t been set, several other chapters in the Frankel story are closing. Ten of Frankel’s 11 codefendants are in various stages in the court system. Four of them are serving a combined 278 months, or more than 23 years, in federal lockup. Five are scheduled to be sentenced in the coming months.” http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040809/NEWS08/408090317/-1/NEWS

Suing Vatican Bank, Insurance Official Charges Racketeering Jackson, Miss.(AP) The torching of financier Martin Frankel’s $3 million mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut, was meant to destroy evidence of an insurance scam that cost Mississippi and other states millions, police said….The financier, who initially fled to Europe, was extradited and pleaded guilty in 2002 in Mississippi to stealing $208 million in five states. But that did not end the case for Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale. While unraveling Frankel’s web of trickery, Dale found a thread that led into the secretive halls of the Vatican….In a lawsuit Dale filed, which is moving toward a jury trial in U.S. District Court in Jackson, he claims Vatican officials violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Damages, if Dale prevails, could be more than $600 million. A Vatican spokesman denies the Roman Catholic church profited from business dealings with Frankel or accepted funds he stole. The church has filed a motion to dismiss the suit for lack of jurisdiction, and a ruling is expected this summer.” http://www.beliefnet.com/story/148/story_14872_1.html

from LMS Trial date set for priest accused of killing nun 8/6/04 “”Father Robinson, 66, who was not present for the hearing, has pleaded not guilty of choking to death and stabbing Sister Margaret Ann in the hospital. Her body was found April 5, 1980, in the sacristy of a chapel. She was strangled, then stabbed up to 32 times in what investigators called a ceremonial killing.” http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040806/NEWS02/408060382/-1/NEWS

Pastor made nanny kill wife By Mattias Karen in Stockholm 8/3/04 “The lawyer for a pastor convicted of manipulating his former nanny into murdering his wife said today he would appeal the life sentence a court handed down last week. Helge Fossmo, 32, was sentenced to life in prison on Friday after the Uppsala District Court ruled that the Pentecostal church pastor persuaded Sara Svensson, 27, to shoot his wife as she was sleeping in their house in Knutby, about 75 kilometres northeast of Stockholm. Svensson also shot Fossmos’ neighbour, Daniel Linde, who survived the January 10 attack.” http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,10329209%255E1702,00.html

Priests want right to drink and drive July 13, 2004 “Croatian priests are calling for their exemption from a bill banning drivers from drinking before getting behind the wheel, since they have to imbibe wine while on the job, a local paper has reported. “Police should be instructed not to treat priests like other drivers. In a certain way they should be exempted from the law” banning alcohol while driving, Catholic priest Zivko Kustic told the Jutarnji List daily.” http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,10124351%5E13762,00.html

Supreme Court allows priest abuse suit AP Washington 6/21/04 “The Supreme Court on Monday allowed a lawsuit to proceed that accuses the Archdiocese of Milwaukee of transferring a child molester from Wisconsin to work as a Roman Catholic priest in California. The justices declined without comment to block a lawsuit involving allegations that the priest, Sigfried Widera, molested an 8-year-old California boy after his move….Before his death, Widera fled the country to avoid trial on dozens of counts of child molestation in Wisconsin and California.” “The case is Archdiocese of Milwaukee v. Superior Court of California, 03-1444.” http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1154&slug=Scotus%20Church%20Abuse

Vatican Aware of Abuse for Centuries, Study Says – Authors use church’s own documents to make their case. Critics say money is the motive. By William Lobdell, LA TIMES 6/20/04 “Roman Catholic officials have argued that the church learned only in recent years that it had a widespread problem with priests molesting children. A report in February by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, for example, said Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and other bishops didn’t realize until 1985 that sexual abuse by clergy was “more than a matter of tragic but isolated incidents.” But a North Carolina priest and two former monks who live in Southern California say they have scoured ancient Vatican records and forgotten Latin texts to show just the opposite: that the church has recognized the problem of abuse by priests for at least 1,700 years and has failed to address it successfully. “The contention that the present scandal is isolated to this era is completely debunked by the Roman Catholic Church’s own documents,” concluded Father Thomas P. Doyle and former monks Richard Sipe and Patrick Wall in their 375-page report, “Canonical History of Clerical Sexual Abuse.” The authors finished the report last month and are looking for a publisher.” “But church attorney Callahan, who represents the Diocese of Orange in nearly 100 cases now in mediation, said that most studies show the molestation rate within the Catholic clergy to be 3% to 5%.”

Nicaragua says it hunting priest fleeing child sex charges 7/13/04 Managua, Nicaragua (AP) “A Costa Rican priest fleeing sexual molestation charges apparently has entered Nicaragua and is being sought here, the National Police said Tuesday. Police spokeswoman Miriam Torres said that the Rev. Enrique Vasquez was being sought on an Interpol warrant on behalf of Costa Rican officials. Vasquez fled Costa Rica after a criminal complaint was filed by the mother of a boy he allegedly molested. He later worked in Connecticut, New York state and South Carolina, as well as in Honduras and Mexico….”We are very worried at the number of victims with whom we have spoken. There are many youths who have suffered because of the abuses committed by Father Vasquez,” Bruce Harris, executive director of Casa Alianza, said in a news release. The organization has criticized church leaders in Honduras and Costa Rica for failing repeatedly to tell police about the whereabouts of a man they knew was wanted on charges of abusing children. It said it has received telephoned threats warning it to drop the issue.” http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/07/13/international1525EDT6054.DTL

Nine Held After Child-Sex Squad Raids 6/21/04 – The Age / The Australian / AAP “Two former Anglican ministers and a former Salvation Army officer are among nine people arrested by a South Australian police task force in relation to alleged child sex offences. Those arrested also include a former junior surf lifesaving coach and two former leaders of the Church of England Boys Society. The first of the nine arrests was made last Thursday by the South Australian Police pedophile task force as part of its investigation into child sex abuse claims within the Anglican Church. The task force was established in June last year after two Anglican clergymen went public with claims of up to 200 child sex abuse cases within the Adelaide diocese.” http://www.anglicanmedia.com.au/

Group Decries Military on Sex Assaults 7/13/04 By Jon Sarche, AP “Denver – Nearly 200 women serving in the Middle East say they have been sexually assaulted by fellow soldiers in the past 21 months, a victims’ advocacy group said Monday as it criticized the U.S. military for falling short in addressing the problem. From October 2002 through June, the Miles Foundation received 187 reports from the region – and fewer than half had been reported to military authorities, said Christine Hansen, executive director of the Connecticut-based group. During the same period, the Pentagon has received 112 reports, Hansen said.” http://story.news.yahoo.com/

Ten Convicted in French Pedophilia Case 7/2/04 Saint-Omer, France (Reuters) – A French court convicted 10 people in a pedophile case on Friday, finding six of them guilty of child rape after a controversial trial which rocked France’s justice system….the court in the northern town of Saint-Omer sentenced 37-year-old Myriam Delay-Badaoui, the woman at the center of the trial, to 15 years in prison for child rape. Her husband, unemployed alcoholic Thierry Delay, 40, and a couple who were their neighbors, were also handed hefty prison sentences for rape. All four had confessed to raping the Delay couple’s four children. The court also sentenced priest Dominique Wiel and another man to prison for rape, and found four others guilty of abusing, but not raping, children. All six had pleaded not guilty. Seven other people were acquitted.” http://story.news.yahoo.com/

NCPCA State Statutes – Child Abuse Statutes and statistics are available at http://www.ndaa-apri.org/apri/programs/ncpca/statutes.html

Lawmakers can’t continue to ignore the victims of incest By Cindy Uken The Desert Sun 6/5/04 “Partisan California legislators have, with a single roll-call vote, exploited victims of incest. It’s a blow to every child who has been sexually violated by their father. Along straight party lines, lawmakers pooh-poohed SB 1803, which would have ended the practice of preferential treatment for child molesters whose victim is a family member. In California, constant sexual abuse of a child under 14 will get the perpetrator six to 16 years in prison — if the perpetrator is a stranger. However, incessant sexual abuse of your own child, stepchild or close family friend can get you therapy and an expunged record.” http://www.thedesertsun.com/news/stories2004/opinion/20040605003948.shtml

describes abuse – Iraq’s Child Prisoners “A Sunday Herald investigation has discovered that coalition forces are holding more than 100 children in jails such as Abu Ghraib. Witnesses claim that the detainees – some as young as 10 – are also being subjected to rape and torture By Neil Mackay “It was early last October that Kasim Mehaddi Hilas says he witnessed the rape of a boy prisoner aged about 15 in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. “The kid was hurting very bad and they covered all the doors with sheets,” he said in a statement given to investigators probing prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib. “Then, when I heard the screaming I climbed the door and I saw [the soldier’s name is deleted] who was wearing a military uniform.” Hilas, who was himself threatened with being sexually assaulted in Abu Graib, then describes in horrific detail how the soldier raped “the little kid”.In another witness statement, passed to the Sunday Herald, former prisoner Thaar Salman Dawod said: “[I saw] two boys naked and they were cuffed together face to face and [a US soldier] was beating them and a group of guards were watching and taking pictures and there was three female soldiers laughing at the prisoners. The prisoners, two of them, were young.” It’s not certain exactly how many children are being held by coalition forces in Iraq, but a Sunday Herald investigation suggests there are up to 107. Their names are not known, nor is where they are being kept, how long they will be held or what has happened to them during their detention. Proof of the widespread arrest and detention of children in Iraq by US and UK forces is contained in an internal Unicef report written in June. The report has – surprisingly – not been made public. A key section on child protection, headed “Children in Conflict with the Law or with Coalition Forces” http://www.sundayherald.com/43796

Report concerning maltreated children in the torture-prison in Iraq “four sources confirm independently of one another, that occupation troops are holding children as prisoners. Two witnesses even report instances of maltreatment. The human rights organization Amnesty International is outraged over the reports of Iraqi child prisoners.” http://www.traprockpeace.org/iraqi_child_prisoners.htm

‘Secret film shows Iraq prisoners sodomised’ By Charles Arthur 7/16/04 “Young male prisoners were filmed being sodomised by American soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, according to the journalist who first revealed the abuses there. Seymour Hersh, who reported on the torture of the prisoners in New Yorker magazine in May, told an audience in San Francisco that “it’s worse”. But he added that he would reveal the extent of the abuses: “I’m not done reporting on all this,” he told a meeting of the American Civil Liberties Union. He said: “The boys were sodomised with the cameras rolling, and the worst part is the soundtrack, of the boys shrieking. And this is your government at war.” http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=541472 or http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/071704A.shtml

describes crimes – Torturing Children By William Rivers Pitt 7/20/04 “The biggest story of the Iraq war is about the torture of Iraqi children. A German TV magazine called ‘Report Mainz’ recently aired accusations from the International Red Cross, to the effect that over 100 children are imprisoned in U.S.- controlled detention centers, including Abu Ghraib. “Between January and May of this year, we’ve registered 107 children, during 19 visits in 6 different detention locations,” said Red Cross representative Florian Westphal in the report. The report also outlined eyewitness testimony of the abuse of these children. Staff Sergeant Samuel Provance, who was stationed at Abu Ghraib, said that interrogating officers had gotten their hands on a 15 or 16 year old girl. Military police only stopped the interrogation when the girl was half undressed. A separate incident described a 16 year old being soaked with water, driven through the cold, smeared with mud, and then presented before his weeping father, who was also a prisoner.” http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/072004A.shtml

Survey: Soldiers Suffer Stress Disorder Fayetteville, N.C. (AP) “Fort Bragg paratroopers coming back from serving in Iraq suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder at almost the same rate as Vietnam War veterans, according to a military survey. The survey of about 1,300 paratroopers from the 2nd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division 2nd Brigade that have returned from a year of service found 17.4 percent of soldiers have post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.” http://fsnews.findlaw.com/articles/ap_stories/other/1500/8-10-2004/20040810054502_056.html

describes crimes Child sex cases put law on trial 7/9/04 by Catherine Field, Paris “A string of child murders and rapes in quiet provincial towns and villages in France hardly makes for pleasant summer reading. Yet as most of France starts winding down for the long summer break, the news seems to get worse and it is casting fresh doubt over the country’s police and judicial system. French and Belgian investigators are re-examining 30 unsolved murders and disappearances after 62-year-old French forester and casual worker Michel Fourniret admitted killing eight young girls, a man and a woman.” http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3577313&thesection=news&thesubsection=world&thesecondsubsection

MPs and police ‘in child sex network’ By Gosia Kaszubska 7/9/04 “A sophisticated pedophile network involving former politicians and police has been operating in Victoria since the 70s, anti-child-abuse campaigners claimed yesterday. Reina Michaelson, head of the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program, and Bravehearts founder Hetty Johnston said victims had told them of an organised child pornography and prostitution network with links to former MPs and senior police officers. The claims a pedophile ring was operating under the protection of police came after the Victorian Ombudsman released a damning report on the conduct of four child sex abuse investigations, leading to a review of the operations of the sexual crimes squad. Two experienced members of the squad will be investigated over their role in the abuse cases, which are being reopened. The inquiry found the officers failed to adequately examine several child abuse allegations and concluded they may have lied under oath to investigators from the Ombudsman’s office. The Ombudsman found officers from the squad told the Education Department a teacher had been cleared of abuse allegations, despite conducting no investigation into the claims. In a separate case, a senior detective blamed a 12-year-old girl for encouraging a man who had allegedly abused her and another officer described the victim as “a little slut”.” http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10084076%5E2702,00.html

Child killer convicted in Belgium 6/17/04 “Belgian paedophile Marc Dutroux has been found guilty of abduction, rape and murder after a three-month trial. The 12-member jury convicted Dutroux of leading a gang that kidnapped and raped six girls in the mid-1990s, leading to the deaths of four of them….Marc Dutroux, 47, unemployed electrician: Guilty of kidnap, rape, murder Michelle Martin, 44, Dutroux’s estranged wife: Guilty of conspiracy to kidnap Michel Nihoul, 62, businessman: Acquitted of kidnapping Michel Lelievre, 32: Guilty of kidnapping …Mr Nihoul was acquitted of involvement in the abductions of the girls, but was convicted of human trafficking and drugs charges. Dutroux’s ex-wife Michelle Martin was convicted of convicted of complicity in the girls’ imprisonment.”….Another of the accused, drug addict Michel Lelievre, was found guilty of kidnapping.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3811907.stm
Belgian Child Killer Gets Life in Prison 6/22/04 Arlon, Belgium (AP) – Marc Dutroux was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for a series of child kidnappings, rapes and murders that horrified Belgians and prompted sweeping police reforms and a crackdown child sex crimes. Dutroux’s ex-wife, Michelle Martin, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the deaths of two 8-year-old girls who starved while Dutroux was serving a short jail sentence for car theft. Martin testified she was too afraid to enter the basement to feed them. Another accomplice, Michel Lelievre, was sentenced to 25 years for helping in the kidnappings and other charges….Dutroux had previously been convicted for pedophilia and was on parole for raping girls in 1989 when he struck again.” http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040622/D83C5A8G0.html

from LMS Belgian pedophile convicted 6/17/04 Arlon, Belgium “A jury Thursday convicted Belgium’s public enemy No. 1, Marc Dutroux, for a series of child rapes and murders in a case that has horrified the country for nearly a decade….Mr. Dutroux sought to paint himself as the pawn of a still-hidden crime ring that was abducting young girls in eastern Europe to become prostitutes – a scenario rejected by prosecutors, who said they found no evidence. Mr. Dutroux accused Mr. Nihoul of being his link to the syndicate, a charge that Mr. Nihoul denied.” http://www.globeandmail.ca/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040617.w2belg0617/BNStory/International/

Lingering Sex Scandal in Chile Still Roils and Divides the Political Heirs of Pinochet “Claudio Spiniak, center, has been accused of running a prostitution and child pornography ring in Chile. The case has split Chile’s right-wing political parties and led to a bill to limit news coverage of such scandals. By Larry Rohter 8/8/04 Santiago, Chile – For Chile’s right wing, it has become the scandal that refuses to go away. Though the “Caso Claudio Spiniak” began as a squalid sexual matter, it has been transformed into a political issue that has divided supporters of Gen. Augusto Pinochet and pitted them against an increasingly combative news media. The scandal has been agitating Chile since late last year, when María Pía Guzmán, a conservative member of Congress, denounced what she described as a prostitution and child pornography ring and accused Mr. Spiniak, the nouveau riche owner of a string of health clubs, of leading it. She said that some of her own political allies were involved. “There is evidence that within the intimate circle of Spiniak’s network, there are politicians,” she said, citing accounts that she said she had heard at a shelter for sexually abused youths. In the latest round of accusations, made public in July, people identified as procurers for the ring have implicated as clients the mayor of a large city and a Roman Catholic bishop renowned for his opposition to the Pinochet dictatorship. Both men have denied any involvement in the sex ring, but in a poll taken early this year, three-quarters of those surveyed said they believed that politicians were involved. Mr. Spiniak, through his lawyer, has denied that he headed such a ring. A total of 18 criminal investigations are under way, with at least a half dozen more expected to be opened soon. Last month, the investigative judge in charge of the case, Sergio Muñoz, ruled that there were sufficient grounds to move ahead with the inquiries and formal indictments of Mr. Spiniak and others the judge deemed to be members of an “illicit association.”” http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/08/international/americas/08chile.html?pagewanted=all&position=

Satanism Linked to Priest’s Murder in Chilean Cathedral – Assailant Invoked Devil’s Name, Says Servite Superior Santiago, Chile, 7/26/04 (Zenit.org).- The archbishop of Santiago decried the existence of Satanic groups in Chile in the wake of the weekend murder of a priest in the metropolitan cathedral. Cardinal Francisco Errázuriz, archbishop of Santiago and president of the country’s episcopate, made that observation Sunday, a day after Servite Father Faustino Gazziero de Stefani, 68, was slain after he had celebrated Mass…..Authorities identified the assailant as Rodrigo Orias Gallardo, 25. Orias, who dressed in black, was armed with a knife, and wounded himself after attacking the priest, authorities said. Police said the assailant was not mentally disturbed or under the influence of drugs. “It has been a terrible and unexpected tragedy,” Father Bernardino Zanella, the vicar responsible for the Servites in Santiago, told the Missionary Service News Agency. “This young man did not know Father Faustino,” he said. “Inspired by the madness of Satanic groups, he attacked him, but he would have attacked anyone who was in that place at that time.” “A brother who was present in the cathedral told us that after killing Father Faustino, the youth knelt down by his side invoking Satan’s name,” Father Zanella reported. The Servite vicar warned that “the phenomenon of Satanism in Chile, as in other countries of the world, is growing strongly. Numerous groups are active in the country, especially in the cities, although in recent years their presence has also spread to minor urban centers.” http://www.zenit.org/english/

article describes violent crimes Possession and the law by Sarah Duguid 7/30/04 “In 1981 Colonel Kobus Jonker joined a charismatic church and became a born-again Christian. At the time, he was a respected senior detective with the South African police…..Jonker is utterly convinced of the reality of a dark underbelly of Satanic activity in the Christian world: this woman’s death changed his life. He stopped investigating murder and robberies and began to devote himself to fighting Satanism full-time. In the course of his work, he says, he helped people possessed by demons to find Jesus. He interviewed a woman whose voice turned into a growl deeper than anything he had heard before. He describes watching as a pentagram inexplicably appeared in blood on a suspect’s arm. He tells how he thwarted a female assassin working for a Satanic coven who turned up at his office clutching a pistol inside her handbag. She left still clutching the gun, her hand seemingly paralysed by his prayers. Jonker’s bosses remained steadfastly cynical; they rolled their eyes at his stories. But when he raided a house in 1991 and found a Bible bound in chains, the walls smeared with blood and a Chinese woman’s head in a cupboard, his commanding officers were finally persuaded to start the Occult Related Crime Unit (ORCU), with Colonel Jonker at its helm. Last year, the unit claims, it made 70 successful prosecutions under the 1957 Witchcraft Suppression Act.” http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1087374032442

describes graphic rituals and crimes – Witch doctors arrested in raid on fetish shrines “Lagos, Nigeria (Reuters) Nigerian police have arrested 30 witch doctors in a raid on fetish shrines in southeast Anambra state where over 50 decomposing bodies and 20 human skulls were discovered, a police spokesman said Thursday. The heads, genitals and other vital parts of some of the bodies, found in a teak forest in Okija village, had been severed, a sign they may have been killed for ritual. “We saw more than 50 bodies in various coffins. There were several skulls, some of them really fresh,” Anambra police spokesman Kolapo Shofoluwe told Reuters by telephone. Ritual killing is common in some parts of Nigeria where many people believe they can become instant millionaires by using human organs to make potent charms. Many Nigerians mix traditional religions with Christianity or Islam. Police said preliminary investigations showed that the people died after the sorcerers engaged them in an animist ritual. As part of the ritual, the victims pledged their property, including bank accounts, to a deity upon their death, the officer said. Their relations were made to believe they would also die if they refused to give up the property.” http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/08/05/nigeria.sorcery.reut/index.html

describes rituals – Nigeria Discovers 50 Possible Cult Victims 8/5/04 by Daniel Balint-Kurti, AP “Lagos, Nigeria – Police in eastern Nigeria discovered skulls and the corpses of more than 50 people in shrines where a secretive cult was believed to have carried out traditional ritual killings…Two religious leaders and 28 others were arrested in connection with the Wednesday discovery of bleached skulls, fresh corpses and partly mummified bodies at 20 shrines in forests near Okija, police spokesman Kolapo Shofoluwe told (AP). The town is in the eastern state of Anambra. Police believed some of the victims — businessmen, civil servants and others — may have been poisoned as part of a shadowy ritual justice system, Shofoluwe added. The group is believed to practice a ritual in which parties involved in a personal dispute — often over business deals — are made to drink a potion they are told will kill only the guilty one.” http://news.yahoo.com/ also see http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,128128,00.html

Hidden in Plain sight – Domestic abuse among Amish and Mennonites often ignored, even tolerated among church leaders By Linda Espenshade, Larry Alexander – Intelligencer Journal 7/12/04 “Lancaster County, PA – From the Amish hayloft to the quilted Mennonite bedside, the cries of abused women and whimpers of violated children are often stifled by the very church leaders who have been called to help.” http://www.lancasteronline.com/

Study highlights sexual abuse of disabled “A study by four Dublin-based psychologists has reportedly found that more than 120 people with intellectual disabilities are sexually abused in Ireland every year. Reports this morning said the study by the psychologists at St Michael’s House in Dublin found that more than half of the abuse was perpetrated by another disabled person. One-quarter of cases reportedly involved another family member and 10% involved a member of care staff.” http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=111329140&p=yyy3z9846

Abuse Case Highlights Gaps in List – Va. Man Wasn’t On Sex Offender Registry By Avis Thomas-Lester 7/4/04 “He was wanted on a felony arrest warrant in Florida. He had a 1993 conviction in Frederick County for soliciting a teenage boy and faced charges in Charles County last year after a boy accused him of molestation, court records show. When asked, Thomas Richard Koucky admitted to police that he had little control over his desire for boys and may have molested 300 of them. “If I walk out this door and a young boy is standing there and I’m around, it’s all over,” he said in comments quoted in a court report.” washingtonpost.com

from LMS Undies thief an abductor? By AP Portland, Ore. 6/24/04 “A man who had 40,000 pictures on his computer of women being tortured and raped has been named a suspect in the disappearance of a college student, according to a police affidavit. Police found more than 3,000 pairs of women’s underwear in the home of Sung Koo Kim, 30, along with dryer lint labelled as being from the apartment building where 19-year-old Brooke Wilberger was last seen, said the affidavit. Kim has not been charged in the disappearance.” http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/News/2004/06/24/511770.html

Mind Control and Experimentation

from LMS National Post 6/10/04 Brainwashing Victim Wins $100,000 Ruling – Montreal clinic experimented with electroshock by Jeff Heinrich “A woman has been awarded $100,000 in compensation after receiving controversial electroshock treatment in a Montreal psychiatric institute in 1953. “I’m stunned,” Gail Kastner, 70, said yesterday. After some reflection she added: “I’m pleased and I’m numb.” The shock treatment turned the then 19 year old honours student into a woman who sucked her thumb, talked like a baby, demanded to be fed from a bottle and urinated on the floor. She was ostracised by her affluent family and ended up living in poverty. Ms. Kastner was left out of a 1994 federal compensation package for other victims of brainwashing because she was deemed to have undergone less intense treatment that had fewer long-term effects. Now, a Federal Court judge has reversed that decision and awarded her $100,000, the same Ottawa granted a decade ago to 77 other victims of Dr. Ewen Cameron, the director of the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal.
In 2000, Ms. Kastner sued the Allan Memorial for $4.2 million, but lost. She tried to appeal, but with no success. The federal compensation doesn’t nearly equal what she could have won. “It begs the question: if I’m awarded now, why was I turned down in my lawsuit?” said Ms. Kastner, who lives alone on a guaranteed income supplement of $1000 a month. 253 of Mr. Cameron’s other patients also had their claims rejected. Carried out from 1950 to 1965, Mr. Cameron’s now-discredited
“de-patterning” program of massive electroshock therapy and drug-induced sleep was funded by the CIA and Canada’s Health Department….In 1953, Ms. Kastner was a 19 year old honours student from
a wealthy Montreal family. Suffering from mild depression and anxiety, she was admitted to the Allan Memorial twice for short stays and given electroshock treatments – 63 in all. She was also put into comas by being injected with insulin and given different drugs to induce sleep. The goal was to “de-pattern” her brain so she could recover and lead a normal life.”

From LMS Sex abuse allegations spur probe by RCMP – B.C. commune is home to sect – Polygamist group investigated earlier Daniel Girard, Western Canada Bureau 7/24/04 Vancouver “A new RCMP team is being established to investigate allegations of child abuse at the polygamist commune of Bountiful in the British Columbia Interior….Bountiful, a community of about 1,000 people near Cranbrook in southeastern B.C., has long been the subject of allegations of sexual abuse and of teenaged girls being made concubines or “celestial wives” of men who are much older and already have several other wives. Although polygamy is illegal in Canada, the B.C. government has been reluctant to act. It has obtained two legal opinions that said the group, a breakaway sect of the Mormon Church known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, could likely successfully argue the law violates a person’s right to freedom of religion. But Plant said one of the keys in the government moving now is a letter he got in May – the first-hand account of a woman who said she was abused at Bountiful. That let him “engage some of my colleagues in more active discussions of what we ought to do here.” The B.C. education ministry, which gives about $500,000 a year in grants to the schools there, is also concerned about allegations the schools teach racism and white supremacy. “What truly offends the majority of people who hear about these allegations goes beyond the question of multiple marriages,” he said. “It includes suggestions there are children who are being sexually exploited, girls being transported across the border, and so on. “If supported by the facts, these charges would have no constitutional challenge.”” http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1090620613221&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467

from LMS Polygamist leader named in abuse suit – Allegations: The polygamous church president, two others are accused of sexual assault By Pamela Manson 7/30/04 “A former member of a polygamous sect on the Utah-Arizona border on Thursday accused three of his uncles, one of them the faith’s leader, of sexually assaulting him when he was a child and calling it “God’s work.” In a lawsuit, Brent Jeffs claims that the trio of leaders in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) – president Warren Steed Jeffs, considered by his followers to be their prophet, and his brothers, Blaine Balmforth Jeffs and Leslie Balmforth Jeffs – described the abuse as a way to make him a man. “Those defendants explained to plaintiff that it was ‘God’s will’ that he never disclose the abuses to anyone, and if he did, it would be upon pain of eternal damnation,” Brent Jeffs, 21, said in his suit, filed in Utah’s 3rd District Court. “Thus, for many years, the frightened child remained silent.” But Brent Jeffs said his brother’s suicide two years ago prompted him to finally break his silence. His suit, which claims FLDS leaders knew of the “perversity and sexually predatory acts” but did nothing to stop them, gives no details about the death. Under Utah law, child sexual assault victims have until age 22 to bring a civil suit. Rodney Parker, a Salt Lake City attorney for the church, said all of Jeffs’ charges are false.” http://www.sltrib.com/

United States District Court Northern District of California Wayne A. Ritchie, Plaintiff, V. United States of America, Defendant. No. C 00-03940 MHP MEMORANDUM & ORDER Motion to Dismiss/ Motion for Summary Judgment “As explained in this court’s July 12, 2001 Memorandum and Order, plaintiff, a former Deputy United States Marshal, alleges that he was unwittingly given food or drinks that were laced with lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or another psychoactive drug while attending a holiday party…Following this intoxication, and after visiting several bars, plaintiff initiated an armed robbery. Plaintiff was then taken into police custody where he wrote a letter of resignation. Plaintiff alleges that he was a victim of a national federal program called “MKULTRA” for the research and development of drugs to alter human behavior. Plaintiff maintains that he “first suspected that he might have been surreptitiously drugged” when he read Dr. Stanley Gottlieb’s obituary in the newspaper on March 15, 1999. Compl. ¶ 23. He found additional support for his suspicion in April 1999 when he read a diary entry of George White, an agent of the Bureau of Narcotics and allegedly the operating head of the CIA’s “mind-altering program” in San Francisco.” “”Defendant contends that plaintiff’s claims are barred by laches. To prevail, defendant must demonstrate that plaintiff “inexcusably delayed the pursuit of [his] claim,” causing prejudice. United States v. Marolf, 173 F.3d 1213, 1218 (9th Cir. 1999). For the reasons discussed above, defendant has failed to prove that plaintiff knew or should have known that his injury was caused by LSD before he read Dr. Gottlieb’s obituary in March 1999. Absent this proof, the court cannot find plaintiff’s delay “inexcusable.” Defendant’s motion is denied.” http://www.cand.uscourts.gov/cand/judges.nsf/61fffe74f99516d088256d480060b72d/dd09e63861fe4b6588256d480060d0d9/$FILE/msj.pdf

From LMS – Describes violence – Prayer led to pain for cult victims By Meg McSherry Breslin 6/20/04 “But as the weeks passed, the students began fasting and soon were depriving themselves of sleep. Some cut off ties to family and friends and left Wheaton to follow Golwalla and his strict directives. In her desire to become a missionary, Andreson had become part of a cult. At Golwalla’s orders, Andreson said, she even beat other members and ultimately caused self-inflicted wounds, puncturing her face and buttocks with a hanger until she bled and scarred. “I always hated the pain,” she said. “But at the same time, it made me feel more … worthy to be there. I thought that this is what I needed for my own preparation as a missionary.” Andreson, who said she suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, is among a group of former Wheaton students now recovering from the experience….Meanwhile, parents of former members have spent thousands of dollars getting their children out of the cult. Some argue that Wheaton College–despite its protective Christian atmosphere–did little to help. “If Feroze had walked on campus with a bottle of wine and cigarettes in his pocket, he’d be kicked out of Wheaton,” said Christine Wolfe, mother of twin boys who joined. “But there’s nothing protecting students from a predator like Feroze.” http://www.chicagotribune.com/

from LMS Church to fight new law’s time limit – Retroactive clause unfair, officials say By Manya A. Brachear 7/27/04 “The Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago plans to argue in court Tuesday that the state’s recently extended statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse allegations should not apply to suits filed before the law was changed. The tactic has infuriated abuse survivors who feel the archdiocese has betrayed victims of sexual abuse by withdrawing its outspoken support of the law and invoking statutes of limitations to avoid liability.” http://www.chicagotribune.com/

from LMS Sun News Services Buddhist Leader Raped Young Girls 6/22/04 “Bangkok – A criminal court sentenced a former Buddhist abbot to 160 years in prison yesterday, for raping underage girls, but he will have to serve only 50 years under Thai legal limits, an official said. Chamlong Polseu, 65, who was once a popular spiritual leader to many politicians, was convicted of raping and molesting more than 10 girls under the age of 15, a court official said on condition of anonymity. Chamlong’s conviction is the latest embarrassment for Thailand’s Buddhist clergy, plagued by scandals ranging from sex and alcohol abuse to murder.” http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/News/2004/06/22/509105.html
Abuse complaints ‘should be believed’, says lawyer 6/21/04 By Martin Johnston “The more than 200 former psychiatric patients claiming compensation for mistreatment should be believed because of the sheer force of their numbers, a lawyer says. Sonja Cooper, who represents more than half the claimants, said their credibility was established by so many people recounting similar experiences. “It is the significant numbers of people from disparate parts of New Zealand who have never discussed their experience at Porirua Hospital and are telling us a story we have heard over and over again.”….The number complaining to the lawyers of mistreatment in the 1960s and 1970s is growing steadily, now topping 200. Over half are former patients of Porirua Hospital, near Wellington. The rest were at now-closed asylums from Auckland to Dunedin, including Oakley, Kingseat, Tokanui and Lake Alice Hospitals. Mostly aged eight to 16 at the time, they allege beatings and sexual abuse by staff and patients, inappropriate and excessive use of electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), drugs including paraldehyde and solitary confinement. Four ex-patients of Ngawhatu Hospital in Nelson have lodged claims of abuse at the facility, which closed in 2000/01, and a former nurse aide says patients underwent ECT experiments.” http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3573772&thesection=news&thesubsection=general

From LMS Duplessis orphans seek proof of medical experiments 6/18/04 Montreal “Survivors of the Duplessis-era orphanages in Quebec want officials to exhume several hundred bodies in an abandoned cemetery in Montreal so they can be tested for evidence of medical experiments. Rod Vienneau, a spokesperson for the group of so-called Duplessis orphans, said experiments they suspect were performed on living children included lobotomies. Any evidence turned up by the tests would be used in a suit against the government, the Roman Catholic church and the doctors, said Daniel Lighter, the group’s lawyer….1944-59. During those years, about 20,000 Quebec orphans were sent to asylums and to other church-run institutions because the province could get more federal money to care for people labelled mentally deficient. Nuns running the orphanages were also allowed to sell unclaimed bodies to medical schools for $10. No one knows how many orphans ended up on the dissection tables for medical students. Many survivors say they were sexually abused at the orphanages and forced to work in slave-labour conditions. Some say they were experimented on.” http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/06/18/canada/duplessis_cemetery040618

Focus of Catholic sexual abuse suits now includes nuns by Ellen R. Stapleton AP 8/2/04 Louisville, Ky. “The Roman Catholic sexual abuse crisis has focused primarily on molestation by priests, but in Louisville, more than 20 people are now suing an order of nuns that staffed an orphanage decades ago. While most experts agree the incidence of abuse by nuns has been much less frequent than with male clergy, the phenomenon has been gaining some attention recently. The initial lawsuit against the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth was brought by seven plaintiffs July 15, just over a year after 243 people reached a $25.7 million settlement with the Archdiocese of Louisville over abuse claims. Herman J. Lammers, a longtime Catholic Charities director who was accused by two of those plaintiffs, was the resident chaplain at St. Thomas-St. Vincent Orphanage, which the sisters ran from 1952 until it closed in 1983. Lammers died in 1986. The recent complaints have been filed mostly by women who say Lammers raped or molested them. But there are also allegations against more than 10 nuns.” http://www.newsday.com/

article describes crimes – Trafficker may be key to torso in Thames Rosie Cowan, 7/7/04 “A man convicted of people-trafficking yesterday may hold the key to the horrific ritual killing of the African boy known as Adam, according to the detective heading the murder hunt. The man was named in Southwark crown court, London, as Mousa Kamara, 30, but police say he is Kingsley Ojo, 35, from Nigeria. He admitted two charges of smuggling adult illegal immigrants into the UK, and using a false passport and driving licence. Police suspect he may be the man who brought the boy, whose torso was found floating in the Thames in September 2001, to Britain….Detectives believe he was a ritual sacrifice, of which there are believed to be hundreds every year in Africa. Unable to identify the victim, or to find the rest of his body, Scotland Yard was initially baffled.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1255592,00.html

describes crimes – President Announces Initiatives to Combat Human Trafficking Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel – Tampa, Florida 7/16/04 “Worldwide, at least 600,000 to 800,000 human beings are trafficked across international boarders each year. Of those, it is believed that more than 80 percent are women and girls, and that 70 percent of them were forced into sexual servitude. The United Nations believes that the trafficking of human beings is now the third largest source of money for organized crime, after arms and drugs….It is estimated that between 14,500 and 17,500 victims of trafficking cross our borders every year. U.S. law enforcement has documented cases of Latvian girls trafficked into sexual slavery in Chicago, or Ukrainian girls trafficked in Los Angeles, and Maryland, or Thai, Korean, Malaysian and Vietnamese girls trafficked in Georgia, or and Mexican girls trafficked in California, New Jersey and here in Florida. Many of the victims are teenagers, some as young as 12 years old. Many victims are beaten. Some are killed.” http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/07/20040716-11.html

Experts in sex slavery say Vermont case fits pattern of nationwide problem 7/23/04 By Wilson Ring, Essex Junction, Vt. (AP) “news reports linked the now-closed Tokyo Spa and two other health clubs in the area to what police say is an international prostitution ring that smuggled Asian women into the United States and made them sex slaves….Experts in sexual slavery say the Vermont case fits the pattern of a problem that is reaching into the smallest corners of the country. “Modern-day slavery is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world,” said Derek Ellerman, co-executive director of the Washington-based Polaris Project, a grass-roots anti-trafficking organization. “They have done a very good job of spreading into suburban and even rural areas,” Ellerman said. “It’s a market-driven criminal industry. Wherever there is demand for commercial sex the traffickers will spread to those areas.” ….In court documents, police say the women who worked at the spas never left. Even groceries were brought to the house….Court documents filed by police to get search warrants for the three businesses outline what authorities say could be a link to international organized crime and sexual slavery. Similar operations, according to the papers, are being investigated by federal authorities in New York City, New Jersey and Maine.” “Typically, sex rings offer to bring women into the United States for a fee. Once in the United States, the women are forced to repay the cost of their passage by working as prostitutes. The women will give most of the money they make to the brothel owner.” http://cbs2.com/national/InternationalProstitu-aa/resources_news_html

from LMS Massage parlor in Maine part of sex ring – Police say syndicate lures Korean women By Sarah Schweitzer, Globe Staff 8/14/04 Lisbon, Maine “‘Law enforcement officials say the Koreans were part of a syndicate that ensnares women who are desperate for residence in the United States and willing to prostitute themselves. Authorities say the women worked in establishments advertised as massage parlors — in the case in Lisbon, the “Asia Accupressure Therapy Center” – that are, in fact, fronts for elaborate prostitution rings run from New York and other large cities. The organizations, authorities say, are branching into New England to operate businesses that often go unnoticed in the setting of a strip mall. In such venues, some local police investigators say, the sex trade flourishes, populated by women who work as prostitutes to pay fees to the smugglers who secured their entry into the country.” http://www.boston.com/

140 years after emancipation, trafficking in humans persists By Kristina Goetz The Cincinnati Enquirer 8/16/04 “They are used in prostitution, farming and mining. Overwhelmingly, they are women and children. They are slaves, and scholars say there are as many as 27 million around the world 140 years after slavery was abolished in the United States.” http://www.coshoctontribune.com/news/stories/20040816/localnews/1055350.html

For 1.2 million children – childhood sells for $1,000. An estimated 1.2 million children (UNICEF) are trafficked and sold every year as prostitutes, workers in sweat shops, servants, and soldiers. Ninety percent of trafficked children are girls. Child Trafficking – selling of young girls and boys into prostitution or slave labor – is one of the most heinous violations of the rights of children. Universally illegal, it is a real, clandestine, and tragic practice in major cities around the world. Every year, a staggering 7,000 to as many as 10,000 girls from all over Asia – children between the ages of 9 and 16 – are trafficked against their will across the open borders with India, and sold into prostitution – sexual slavery – in cities like Bombay.” http://www.planusa.org/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/56/tp/VE1HUj0xLHRpZD0zODMs

Task force to target human trafficking By Juan A. Lozano AP August 14, 2004 Houston “U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby….said about 16,000 people are brought into the United States against their will each year by trafficking organizations. Many of the immigrants are from Vietnam, Southeast Asia, India, Eastern Europe and Central and South America.” http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_state/article/0,1874,ABIL_7974_3110740,00.html

Mystery of Milan’s ‘devil worshippers’ By Peter Popham in Rome 6/18/04 “Police in Varese, west of Milan, last week added one more name to the list of young people they believe were murdered by a group of heavy metal enthusiasts who took the ultra-violent lyrics of their musical heroes too literally. Andrea Ballarin, 22, from the small town of Busto Arsizio, whose death in 1999 was recorded as suicide after he was found hanged in his old school, became the fourth person police believe fell victim to the brutal antics of a group of local losers, routinely described in the Italian media as devil worshippers.” http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=542113

Satanists accused of ordering serial killings By John Phillips in Rome 7/30/04 “Police in northern Italy say they have smashed a vicious gang of satanists, following the arrest this week of three men accused of ordering the murder of at least five young people in the Milan area since 1998. Officers identified the trio as Paolo “Ozzy” Leoni, 27, the alleged charismatic leader of the group, Eros Monterosso, 27, and Marco Zampollo, 26, taking to eight the total number of alleged sect members arrested…The three were arrested on Tuesday night for allegedly ordering the ritual murders of Chiara Marino, 19, and Fabio Tollis, 18, in January 1998.” http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=546094

Describes rituals and crimes – Alarm in Italy as growth of Satanism creates “market” for consecrated hosts Rome, Italy, 7/15/04 “Fr. Aldo Buonaiuto, director of an “emergency help line” that assists young people wanting to get out of satanic cults, expressed alarm this week at the growth of Satanism, which has created a “market” for consecrated hosts in Italy. In statements published in the Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana, Fr. Buonaiuto explained that “a proliferation of cults exists which practice black masses, with the profanation of consecrated hosts, rape and torture.” “We know of cases of consensual vampirism, and also the assaulting of young people who have been drugged in the course of ritualistic orgies.” ….”Some cults perform rituals with the consecrated hosts while under the influence of LSD or cocaine, led frequently by ex-priests who have offered themselves in the service of Satan,” he told Famiglia Cristiana.” http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=1554

Italian Police Look to a Cult in ’98 Killings of Teenagers By Al Baker 6/20/04 “Busto Arsizio, Italy — The six-year search for Chiara Marino and Fabio Tollis, two missing teenagers who were members of a heavy metal band called the Beasts of Satan, ended in a pit in the woods northwest of Milan. The authorities say other members of the loose-knit band buried the bodies after killing the teenagers in a drug-fueled Satanic sacrifice….The police and prosecutors have widened their investigation to a number of unsolved killings and suicides, and are focusing on 20 square miles in Lombardy to determine whether any of the deaths can be connected. The authorities are trying to learn whether the suspects, and any others who may have been involved, took orders from a larger network of Satan worshipers, possibly in Turin.” http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/international/europe/20ITAL.html

describes graphic violence Satanic cult link to cemetery staff ‘suicides’ By Peter Popham in Rome 6/23/04 “Italian authorities plan to exhume at least two more corpses as part of a widening investigation into satanic rites, heavy metal music and human sacrifice that has kept the nation agog for the past three weeks. At least three murders of a ritual type are already pinned on the semi-professional heavy metal musicians from the Beasts of Satan band and their plumber friend, all now in custody, who police believe to be the leaders of a satanic sect known by the same name. The men, all in their 20s, are accused of stabbing and shooting their victims, then burying them still alive in a lonely wood. But after checking records of other deaths in recent months in the district of Legnano, on the outskirts of Milan, particularly those that occurred when the moon was full or new, police have alighted on two suicide cases that were particularly baffling: two young men, at least one of them close to the alleged Satanists, both of whom worked in the Legnano cemetery and both of whom killed themselves in the past six months.” http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=534231

The Black Magic World of Murder Victim Father of 3 7/2/04 “A Murder probe into the mysterious death of a West parish councillor took a macabre turn yesterday as police admitted it may be linked to black magic and the occult. The body of quiet father-of-three Peter Solheim was discovered two weeks ago by fishermen floating in the sea off Black Head, near The Lizard, Cornwall. His death was immediately treated as suspicious, and “unexplained” injuries over the victim’s body and other mysterious details prompted police to launch a murder inquiry earlier this week. Yesterday, they confirmed they were investigating whether Mr Solheim’s death was linked to his long-standing interest in the occult which had frightened fellow pagans and driven him to leave a druid sect. His fellow druids had become increasingly alarmed by Mr Solheim’s growing interest with the darker aspects of the occult, Satanism and an obsession with knives…he was practising his own Satanic rituals away from their sect and eventually, some five years ago, divorced himself from their gatherings altogether.” http://www.westpress.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?command=newPage&nodeId=145785&contentPK=10520736
Fight! Rabbit! Fight! – stories about ritual abuse written by Laurie Matthew is available at http://www.18u.org.uk/ or by writing Eighteen and Under, 1 Victoria Road, Dundee, Scotland DD1 1EL

Investigating Religious Terrorism and Ritualistic Crimes by Dawn Perlmutter helps assist in criminal investigations of ritual crimes, presents signs and symbols to look at in crime scenes, details groups involved in rituals and lists symptoms of ritualistic and sexual abuse. Available from CRC Press, LLC, 2000 NW Corporate Blvd. Boca Raton, FL 33431, http://www.crc press.com (ISBN 0-8493-1034-2)

from LMS Ex-resident sues Fernald over experiments AP 7/1/04 “A former resident of the Fernald State School in Waltham filed a lawsuit yesterday alleging that he was subjected to radiation experiments more than 50 years ago. Charles Hatch, a former resident of the state school for the mentally handicapped, contends in a lawsuit filed in Suffolk Superior Court that he was not informed of his participation in the experiments. The suit names the Department of Mental Retardation as a defendant and seeks unspecified damages.” http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/07/01/ex_resident_sues_fernald_over_experiments/

from LMS Patients lived in fear of ‘The Treatment’ 7/10/04 By Phil Taylor “Brutal treatment of patients was the culture of the Porirua Mental Hospital in the 1960s, four former workers have said. The four women told the Weekend Herald that electric shock treatment was routinely used as punishment and patients were drugged into zombie-like states to make them more manageable. The women – students at the time – said part of their duties was to hold patients down while shock treatment was applied. Now, Vicki Carnell, Helen Talbot, Elisabeth Gamlen and Gini Bevan, all aged in their 50s, are writing to Attorney-General Margaret Wilson, the Crown Law Office and lawyer Sonja Cooper, who represents more than half of 200 former psychiatric patients who are suing the Government for compensation for mistreatment.” http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3577616&thesection=news&thesubsection=general

The next two may be very heavy for survivors.

Project MKUltra, The CIA’s Program of Research in Behavioral Modification http://www.bvalphaserver.com/article7963.html

These pages have FOIA documents on MK-ULTRA. http://www.bvalphaserver.com/contentid-21.html

ALL IN THE MIND Something to hide? He can make brain waves tell on you – Dr Mukundan’s firm is selling brain fingerprinting software to four countries now – Swapna Nair Ahmedabad, 7/1/04 “Dr Mukundan heads Brainex (meaning brain experience), his five-month-old company that has to its credit a forensic technique called Brain Electrical Activation Fingerprinting. The technique – used on crime suspects – stimulates brain waves, analyses them and can help determine what the person’s connection with the case is.” http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=89970

There is a petition – that Ceases and Bans Direct Energy and Electronic Surveillance Harassment of Humans. The petition is at http://www.ethical-business.com/default.asp?sect=detail&pet=1013

Journal Articles

Many of the journal abstract excerpts and quotes in this section of the newsletter came from the backlash_ology@yahoogroups.com listed as BO For info. write backlash_ology-owner@yahoogroups.com

MIT prof pays for abuse with 10-month sentence By J.M. Lawrence 6/27/04 “A former MIT professor who defied court orders to pay his daughter $796,000 for sexually abusing her as a child has been sentenced to 10 months in prison. David Hoult, 68, of Wayland, denies he abused his daughter, New York harpist Jennifer Hoult. But a federal jury in Boston in 1993 awarded her the money after hearing testimony about abuse memories she recovered during psychotherapy at age 24. Hoult testified her father repeatedly raped her from age 4-16. After the verdict, her father moved to hide his assets, according to federal prosecutors. He closed his bank accounts, transferred properties to his new wife, filed for bankruptcy and moved. He went on the lam when the judge issued a warrant for his arrest. The engineering prof started living in motels until federal marshals captured him on Aug. 25 in Florida. On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge George A. O’Toole sentenced Hoult to 10 months.” http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=33505

two from BO Study of cases of anterograde amnesia in a disease of mental disintegration. Janet P, Nicolas S, Penel A Hist Psychiatry 12:48 Pt 4, 481-8 (2001) “Pierre Janet, in his famous paper (1892) on anterograde amnesia, is concerned with the theme of the disintegration of the human personality. He shows that the weakened personality may lose the power to assimilate memories of current events. After a severe shock, there may supervene not only a retrograde amnesia (a blotting out from memory from some period before the accident), but also a continued or anterograde amnesia, that is to say, an inability to remember events occurring after the accident. Janet details the circumstances of a very interesting case of amnesia resulting from an attack of hysteria, brought on by the shock of bad news.”

The multiple personality epidemic — Additional cases and inferences regarding diagnosis, etiology, dynamics, and treatment. Boor M J Nerv Ment Dis 170:5, 302-4 (1982) “This review examines 16 papers published between 1970 and early 1981 that reported 29 cases of multiple personality other than the 50 cases reported earlier by George Greaves. These 29 case reports confirm that psychic and physical abuse, sexual trauma, and restrictive environments during childhood and consequent conflicts, especially regarding anger and sex, are likely to have etiological significance for this disorder.”

From BO Assessment of child neurology outpatients with headache, dizziness, and fainting. Emiroglu FN, Kurul S, Akay A, Miral S, Dirik E. J Child Neurol 2004 May; 19(5):332-6. “We investigated 31 children who presented with these symptoms. All children were evaluated for their medical history and had a physical and neurologic examination. We attempted to rule out a possible organic etiology….Most of these patients were adolescents and female. Psychosocial stressors such as academic problems, familial dysfunction, parental psychopathology, and child sexual abuse were associated with somatic symptoms.” Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Dokuz Eylul University Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey. neslihanemir@hotmail.com

from BO A case of incest with dissociative amnesia and post traumatic stress disorder [Article in Turkish] Erdinc IB, Sengul CB, Dilbaz N, Bozkurt S. Turk Psikiyatri Derg 2004 Summer; 15(2):161-165. “Incest is a kind of sexual abuse that causes serious disorders during childhood and adulthood. In order to overcome the trauma, abuse victims frequently use dissociative defence mechanisms. Post traumatic stress disorder, dissociative disorders, major depression and borderline personality disorder can be seen in the victims of childhood sexual abuse. In this article we present an adolescent who was found and brought to our clinic by the Children’s Police Department while she was wandering around aimlessly….Through this case presentation we would like to emphasize the relationship between childhood physical and sexual abuse and dissociative
disorders.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15208772
Psychiatric News July 2, 2004 Volume 39 Number 13 © 2004 American Psychiatric Association p. 45 Clinical & Research News Virtual Reality Treatment Combats Phobias, PTSD by Eve Bender “By entering virtual worlds, people who are enslaved by irrational fears can come to terms with the source of their distress in a safe, clinical setting. …Virtual reality bridges the gap between imagination and the real world by simulating reality to the extent that patients paralyzed by phobias can, through exposure, learn to tolerate the object of their fears.” “”Confronting Traumatic Memories Virtual reality is also helping patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to JoAnn Difede, Ph.D., associate professor and director of the Program for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Studies in the department of psychiatry at Cornell University Weill Medical College. For patients with PTSD, research has shown that the illusion of presence in the virtual world promotes the “emotional processing of memories associated with the traumatic event,” Difede said.” http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/39/13/45?etoc

from LMS Study: Almost one in 10 students subject to sexual misconduct by school Workers Ben Feller, Ap Education Writer 6/30/04 – Washington (AP) “More than 4.5 million students endure sexual misconduct by employees at their schools, from inappropriate jokes all the way to forced sex, according to a report to Congress. The best estimate available shows nearly one in 10 kids faces misbehavior ranging from unprofessional to criminal sometime between kindergarten and 12th grade, says the report by Charol Shakeshaft, a Hofstra University professor.” http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/a/2004/06/30/national1130EDT0560.DTL
“Children face sex risk at US schools – It’s not just the high-profile cases, like the ex-model held for seducing a boy of 14. New research suggests 10 per cent of American pupils are victims of sexual abuse Richard Luscombe in Miami 7/18/04 The Observer “Research claiming that one in 10 American children has been sexually exploited at school – and that almost half the abusers are women….More than 4.5 million school-age children have been subjected to some form of sexual behaviour from teachers or other adults meant to be looking after them, said the first official research commissioned by the US government’s education department.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1263844,00.html

Identity Personality Disorders and Dissociative Disorders in Children Dr. M. C. Barreda-Hanson, Director, Department of Psychology ACT Community Care and The Canberra Hospital “DSM-III describes the onset of DID as occurring in early childhood or later but rarely is it diagnosed before adolescence. There are several hypotheses about why the diagnosis of DID is not made earlier in life. Some reasons are due to the fact that some of these children do not display symptoms that draw the attention to this disorder. Many of the behavioral presentations of these children are misdiagnosed or misinterpreted and in many cases the doctors and the professionals do not ask the right questions.” “”DID clients often describe: – a history of recurrent episodes of abuse – abuse is usually of a sexual nature, with life threatening experiences and beginning in childhood (Barach, 1996; Ross et al., 1990).” “”ETIOLOGY OF DID (Reference lost) 98 to 99% of children assessed with DID had developed DID as a consequence of overwhelming, life-threatening trauma at an early, sensitive age, before the age of nine. ADULTS: 68% to 83% reported sexual abuse as children – 60% to 75% reported physical abuse as children ADOLESCENTS: 73% reported sexual abuse – 100% reported some previous trauma. This included death, witness of murder of other, another’s violent death, injury, hospitalisation, surgical or medical trauma – 73% reported physical abuse – 82% reported emotional abuse” “”DID children have a high rate of comorbidity with other disorders (Hornstein & Putnam, 1992; Hornstein & Tyson, 1991; Peterson & Putnam, 1994) Most common ones are: Attentional Deficit Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder.” http://www.empty-memories.nl/article.html

Adult sexual assault: Prevalence, symptomatology, and sex differences in the general population. Elliott DM, Mok DS, Briere J. J Trauma Stress 2004 Jun; 17(3):203-11. “The prevalence and impact of adult sexual assault (ASA) were examined in a stratified random sample of the general population. Among 941 participants, ASA was reported by 22% of women and 3.8% of men. Multivariate risk factors for ASA included a younger age, being female, having been divorced, sexual abuse in childhood, and physical assault in adulthood. Childhood sexual abuse was especially common among sexually assaulted men and women (61 and 59%, respectively). ASA victims were more symptomatic than their nonassaulted cohorts on all scales of the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI; J. Briere, 1995), despite an average of 14 years having passed since the assault.” Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Association between childhood trauma and physical disorders among adults in the United States. Goodwin RD, Stein MB. Psychol Med. 2004 Apr; 34(3):509-20.”Childhood physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect were associated with a statistically significantly increased risk of a wide range of physical illnesses during adulthood. After adjusting for demographic characteristics, lifetime anxiety and depressive disorders, alcohol and substance dependence, and all types of trauma: results showed that childhood physical abuse was associated with increased risk of lung disease (OR= 1.5 [1.1, 2.2]), peptic ulcer (OR= 1.5 [1.03, 2.2]) and arthritic disorders (OR=1.5 [1.1, 2.2]); childhood sexual abuse was associated with increased risk of cardiac disease (OR = 3.7 [1.5, 9.4]); and childhood neglect was associated with increased risk of diabetes (OR=2 2 [1.1, 4.4]) and autoimmune disorders (OR =4.4 [1.7, 11.6]).” ….Consistent with previous work, these results suggest that self-reported childhood trauma is associated with increased risk of a range of physical illnesses during adulthood.” Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. rdg66@columbia.edu

Psychological sequelae of childhood sexual abuse: abuse-related characteristics, coping strategies, and attributional style. Steel J, Sanna L, Hammond B, Whipple J, Cross H. Child Abuse Negl. 2004 Jul; 28(7):785-801. “Of the 285 participants, 33% reported unwanted or forced sexual contact before the age of 18 years. Participants who reported a history of CSA also reported higher levels of psychological distress when compared to those who did not report a history of abuse. In testing the model concerning the relationship between victim-offender characteristics, mediating variables and psychological distress in adulthood; two abuse-related characteristics (number of offenders and duration of abuse) were found to be directly associated with psychological distress in adulthood. Other abuse-related variables (i.e., relation with offender, force, resistance, age of onset, participation, and frequency of abuse) were found to be related to psychological distress in adulthood through the mediation of various coping strategies (i.e., Accepting Responsibility, Confrontive Coping) and attributions (i.e., internalization of the abuse).” Department of Psychology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA

Memory and affect [Article in French] Derouesne C. Rev Neurol (Paris). 2000 Sep; 156(8-9):732-7. “Experimental studies showed that recall of neutral material was better if subjects were in the same mood at the time of recall as during the time of encoding (mood dependency). Other studies showed that subjects had better memory for material with an affective valence corresponding to their mood than for material with a different affective valence (mood congruency). The discrepancy between the results of various experimental studies on mood and memory are related to methodological difficulties and different theoretical approaches. Studies on autobiographical memory showed that some emotional memories can be specially vivid or persistent (flashbulb memories, Post-Stress Traumatic Disorder) but, in the opposite, that strong emotion can result in lacunar amnesia.” Hopital de la Salpetriere, 47, boulevard de l1Hopital, 75651 Paris Cedex 13.

BRAIN Cavaco et al. Brain.2004; 127: 1853-1867. The scope of preserved procedural memory in amnesia. Cavaco S, Anderson SW, Allen JS, Castro-Caldas A, Damasio H. Department of Neurology, Division of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, USA; Centro de Estudos Egas Moniz, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal. Summary “The finding that patients with amnesia retain the ability to learn certain procedural skills has provided compelling evidence of multiple memory systems in the human brain, but the scope, defining features and ecological significance of the preserved mnemonic abilities have not yet been explored.” http://brain.oupjournals.org/cgi/reprint/127/8/1853

Article describes abuse – Searching For Angela Shelton 7/30/04 “(CBS) As a Hollywood screenwriter, model and actress, Angela Shelton lives much of her life on film. But for years, this cover girl has covered a dark secret – an unexposed snapshot of her past….In a quest to find herself, as Correspondent Bill Lagattuta reported last spring, she would make a very unusual documentary. Angela’s idea was to hit the road in a rented RV, and try to meet as many women as she could who were also named Angela Shelton….”In the back of my mind, I thought I was gonna find that the statistics aren’t really right, and that there are more women than you really think are being abused,” says Angela. “But I didn’t really want to find that!” Angela knew about the subject of sexual abuse well, because that was her dark secret. As a child, she says, her father molested her.” http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/09/48hours/main604910.shtml

Nature Neuroscience 7, 841 – 846 (2004)Published online: 25 July 2004; | doi:10.1038/nn1290 Early life experience alters response of adult neurogenesis to stress Christian Mirescu, Jennifer D Peters & Elizabeth Gould Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA goulde@princeton.edu “Maternal deprivation produces persistent abnormalities in behavioral and neuroendocrine functions associated with the hippocampus, a brain region that shows considerable structural change in response to experience throughout life. Here we show that adverse experience early in life affects the regulation of adult neurogenesis in the hippocampus. More specifically, a decrease in cell proliferation and immature neuron production are observed in the dentate gyrus of adult rats that are maternally separated as pups.” http://www.nature.com/

Complex PTSD – A National Center for PTSD Fact Sheet By Julia M. Whealin, Ph.D. What are the differences between the effects of short-term trauma and the effects of chronic trauma? The diagnosis of PTSD accurately describes the symptoms that result when a person experiences a short-lived trauma. For example, car accidents, natural disasters, and rape are considered traumatic events of time-limited duration. However, chronic traumas continue for months or years at a time. Clinicians and researchers have found that the current PTSD diagnosis often does not capture the severe psychological harm that occurs with such prolonged, repeated trauma. For example, ordinary, healthy people who experience chronic trauma can experience changes in their self-concept and the way they adapt to stressful events. Dr. Judith Herman of Harvard University suggests that a new diagnosis, called Complex PTSD, is needed to describe the symptoms of long-term trauma. What are examples of captivity that are associated with chronic trauma? Judith Herman notes that during long-term traumas, the victim is generally held in a state of captivity. In these situations the victim is under the control of the perpetrator and unable to flee. Examples of captivity include: Concentration camps Prisoner of War camps Prostitution brothels Long-term domestic violence Long-term, severe physical abuse Child sexual abuse Organized child exploitation rings” http://www.ncptsd.org/facts/specific/fs_complex_ptsd.html

In Your Head – Manchurian Candidate Taps Emerging Science to Depict Mind Control By Amanda Onion July 29, 2004 “While a chip implant to change a person’s memory hasn’t surfaced, scientists have begun influencing memory using pharmaceuticals. And technology that has been tried extensively on animals can trigger the subjects to follow commands with the flick of a switch. “These kind of innovations all have this feeling of being exciting, but also creepy,” said Richard Glen Boire, founder of the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics, a nonprofit awareness group in Davis, Calif. Enhancing and Repressing Memory – One study, for example, found nine healthy middle-aged pilots who took the Alzheimer’s drug Aricept remembered flight-simulator lessons much better than nine others who took a placebo. Aricept has unwanted side effects, but researchers are working on other drugs that have been shown to promote long-term memory in animals. Certain drugs known as beta blockers, meanwhile, have been shown to suppress emotional memory. Some feel this holds promise for people with post traumatic stress disorder who have trouble leaving behind wrenching events of their past.” “Records show the government has long been interested in using drugs to influence the brain. In fact, lawsuits are now pending in federal courts from people who claim they were guinea pigs in the CIA’s infamous MKULTRA project. In this top secret research, agents gave LSD and other drugs to hundreds of unsuspecting Americans during the Cold War. Stopping Raging Bull – Brain stimulation technology has also long loomed as a means to control the actions of another living being. Starting in the late 1940s, scientists have zeroed in on key regions of the brain that, when stimulated, can produce lethargy or anger or irresistible sensations of pleasure.” “Some of the most well-known studies on brain stimulation was by the Spanish scientist named Jose Delgado. Throughout his work in the 1950s and ’60s, Delgado developed a procedure for implanting electrodes into areas of the brains of animals. By relaying small electric pulses into specific regions, he made monkeys suddenly become lethargic and unresponsive to food and their young. Triggering signals to other areas of cats’ brains, he prompted the animals to attack and kill rodents placed in front of them. In his most famous experiment, he planted several electrodes into the brain of a fighting bull and sent a signal that stopped the bull dead in its tracks as it was rearing up to attack. When he switched the signal off, the bull resumed its aggressive behavior.” “”Two years ago scientists used electrodes in rats’ brains to activate their reward centers and effectively steer the rats to the left or right. A tiny backpack on the rats acted as the pulse receiver. The researchers said the so-called “rat-bots” could someday carry cameras and help in the search for survivors.” http://abcnews.go.com/sections/SciTech/Living/mind_control_040729-1.html

How brainwashing came to life and thrived – Jeff Stryker – 8/1/04 “The term “brainwashing” was first popularized by Edward Hunter, in his 1951 book, “Brainwashing in Red China.” Brainwashing was his translation for a Chinese term “hsi-nao,” meaning, roughly, “cleansing of the mind.” “Lifton concluded that the Chinese interrogation techniques were merely time-honored methods of psychological coercion: isolation, humiliation and the repetition of propaganda.” “Helen McGonigle, a Connecticut lawyer who represents victims of trauma and sexual abuse…When asked if she thinks the government is still in the business of mind control, McGonigle responded without skipping a beat. “Absolutely,” she said. “The history of the Bluebird, Artichoke and MKULTRA definitely raise the bar of suspicion,” McGonigle said, ticking off a series of government experiments involving hypnosis, sleep deprivation and the use of psychotropic drugs. MKULTRA, underway from 1953 to 1966, involved research into mind-control agents at scores of prestigious institutions by prominent psychologists. MKULTRA scientists attempted to determine whether LSD could be aerosolized effectively; the CIA even hired a magician to teach field agents how to slip LSD into the drinks of unwitting subjects. Other experiments involved various forms of sleep deprivation and hypnosis. Consider a research question posed in CIA documents from the Bluebird experiments in the 1950s: “Could we seize a subject and in the space of an hour or two by post-H[ypnotic] control have him crash an airplane, wreck a train, etc.?”” http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/08/01/INGRR7UIJ31.DTL

Implications of childhood trauma for depressed women: An analysis of pathways from childhood sexual abuse to deliberate self-harm and revictimization. Gladstone GL, Parker GB, Mitchell PB, Malhi GS, Wilhelm K, Austin MP. Am J Psychiatry 2004 Aug; 161(8):1417-25.”One hundred twenty-five women with depressive disorders were interviewed and completed self-report questionnaires…..Women with a childhood sexual abuse history reported more childhood physical abuse, childhood emotional abuse, and parental conflict in the home, compared to women without a childhood sexual abuse history. The two groups were similar in severity of depression, but the women with a childhood sexual abuse history were more likely to have attempted suicide and/or engaged in deliberate self-harm. The women with a history of childhood sexual abuse also became depressed earlier in life, were more likely to have panic disorder, and were more likely to report a recent assault. Path analysis confirmed the contributory role of childhood sexual abuse to deliberate self-harm and the significance of childhood physical abuse for recent interpersonal violence.” The Villa, Mood Disorders Unit, Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, NSW 2031, Australia. g.gladstone@unsw.edu.au

Child sexual abuse. Johnson CF. Lancet 2004 Jul 31; 364(9432):462-70. “Child sexual abuse is a worldwide concern. It is an insidious, persistent, and serious problem that, depending on the population studied and definition used, affects 2-62% of women and 3-16% of men as victims. Pain and tissue injury from child sexual abuse can completely heal in time, but psychological and medical consequences can persist through adulthood. Associated sexually transmitted diseases (such as HIV) and suicide attempts can be fatal.” Ohio State University College of Medicine, Child Abuse Program at Children1s Hospital, 700 Children1s Drive, Columbus, Ohio 43205, USA. Cjohnson@chi.osu.edu

Annotated Bibliography of Clergy Sexual Abuse James S. Evinger Rochester, New York 7/30/04 8th revision “The phenomenon of sexual abuse as committed by persons in fiduciary relationships is widespread among helping professions. Those who perpetrate these violations are not confined to any nation. This bibliography is oriented to several specific contexts in which this phenomenon occurs. The first context is the religious community, particularly Christian churches, and particularly in the U.S. This is the setting of occurrence that I best know and understand. The second context for the phenomenon is the professional role of clergy, a religious vocation and culture of which I am a part. While the preponderance of sources cited in this bibliography reflects those two settings, the intent is to be as comprehensive as possible about sexual boundary violations within the religious community.” http://www.advocateweb.org/hope/bibliographyje/default.asp

Neural correlates of traumatic recall in posttraumatic stress disorder. Liberzon I, Britton JC, Phan KL. Stress 2003 Sep; 6(3):151-6. “Preliminary findings show that PTSD patients and combat controls had differential blood flow patterns during emotional recall in amygdala, insula, and medial prefrontal cortex. Consistent with and extending prior findings, these preliminary results replicate differential patterns of activation in limbic and paralimbic regions of PTSD patients and trauma exposed controls suggesting that these neural substrates may be involved in the deficits in emotional processing in PTSD on one hand, and in resilience to trauma on the other.” Psychiatry Service, Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs Medical Center, MI 48109, USA. liberzon@umich.edu

Educator Sexual Misconduct: A Synthesis of Existing Literature http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/misconductreview/index.html

Teenage pregnancy and associated risk behaviors among sexually abused adolescents. Saewyc EM, Magee LL, Pettingell SE. Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2004 May-Jun; 36(3):98-105. “Sexual abuse was reported by 6% of males and 27% of females in 1992, and by 9% and 22% in 1998. Reports of pregnancy involvement were significantly more common among abused adolescents (13-26% of females and 22-61% of males, depending on type of abuse) than among nonabused adolescents (8-10%). Abused adolescents were more likely than others to report risk behaviors, and teenagers reporting both abuse types had the highest odds of pregnancy involvement and risk behaviors.” Center for Adolescent Nursing, University of Minnesota School of Nursing, Minneapolis. saewyc@umn.edu

Trauma and autobiographical memory specificity in depressed inpatients. Hermans D, Van Den Broeck K, Belis G, Raes F, Pieters G, Eelen P. Behav Res Ther. 2004 Jul; 42(7):775-89. “The number of specific responses was not related to depression severity, but was significantly associated with the presence and severity of reported physical abuse. Participants who had been victim of physical abuse were less specific than participants who had not been confronted with such physical adversities. The results are discussed in the context of a functional hypothesis about the developmental relations between memory specificity, trauma and depression.” Department of Psychology, University of Leuven, Tiensestraat 102, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.

Dennis Wayne Ard, Appellant V. the State of Texas, Appellee, No. 05-02-01915-cr, Court of Appeals of Texas, Fifth District, Dallas, 2004 Tex. App. Lexis 7339, August 16, 2004 “A jury convicted Dennis Wayne Ard of aggravated sexual assault of a child and assessed punishment at sixty years in prison. In four issues, appellant complains about factual sufficiency of the evidence, exclusion of expert testimony, a ruling on disclosure of juror information cards, and ineffective assistance of counsel. We affirm the trial court’s judgment….Applying these principles to Dr. Gottlieb’s testimony, we conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the proffered opinion. The trial court held a hearing to determine if Dr. Gottlieb’s testimony was admissible. Dr. Gottlieb testified that there are anecdotal reports of psychotherapists implanting memories, but “there are no empirical research studies that could be done ethically where you would deliberately create false memories in a child in a real psychotherapy situation. [*9] ” He cited two researchers who published studies about implanting memories in general, but none showed that therapists, in particular, can and do implant memories by virtue of the fact that they are therapists. Dr. Gottlieb also testified that research is available which shows that because of all the “challenges” to memory, psychotherapists are in a position of extraordinary power where they must deal with this information quite delicately so as to avoid even a hint of trying to implant memories in their patients. The trial court allowed Dr. Gottlieb to testify on memory in general, including memory degradation, the effect of age on memory, and the constructive quality of memory. The court also allowed him to testify that a person can adopt ideas if they are suggested to him over time, social demands will sometimes make
a person say what he believes is expected, and repetition over time can affect the way that a person inputs memory. The trial court refused, however, to allow testimony that psychotherapy, in and of itself, can reinforce implanted memory, cause implanted memory, or cause false outcry. n2 The trial court’s ruling was clearly within the zone of reasonable disagreement [*10] and not arbitrary or unreasonable. Accordingly, we overrule issue two….Footnotes…We note Dr. Gottlieb did testify, without objection, that there is a potential influence of counseling or psychotherapy on a child’s memory.”

Special Training Offers Practical Strategies for Protecting Children in a Hostile Legal Climate – National experts present legal strategies and therapeutic interventions San Diego, California (at the 9th International Conference on Family Violence) – Saturday, Sept. 18, 9am-5pm Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center http://www.towncountry.com/ “The Leadership Council on Child Abuse & Interpersonal Violence is hosting an in depth workshop to aid mental health professionals, law enforcement, and officers of the court to recognize and overcome barriers to effective child protection. A psychologist, a researcher, and two attorneys from the Leadership Council on Child Abuse & Interpersonal Violence lead this workshop, which is filled with legal and clinical examples from actual cases along with practical solutions for working within a system that often impedes rather than facilitates the identification and protection of abused children.” For More Information: Go to http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/Media/Conf2/conf2.html

Sexual abuse in childhood and youth as psychopathologically relevant life occurrence: Cross-sectional survey. Nickel MK, Tritt K, Mitterlehner FO, Leiberich P, Nickel C, Lahmann C, Forthuber P, Rother WK, Loew TH. Croat Med J. 2004 Aug; 45(4):483-9. “A cross sectional study conducted between 1998 and 2002 included a random group of 936 inpatients….We compared the inpatients who had been sexually abused in their childhood (n=250) with other psychiatric inpatients in the control group (n=486). RESULTS: Out of 250 sexually abused patients, 25.7% were victimized by fathers/stepfathers, 4% by mothers/stepmothers, 12.4% by aunts or uncles, 10% by brothers or sisters, 7.6% by grandmothers/grandfathers, 30.1% by family acquaintances, and 29.3% by strangers. Unlike the parents of patients in the control group, the parents of sexually abused patients had more conflicts, especially over alcohol consumption (p<0.001) and extramarital affairs (p<0.001), they divorced more frequently during the first seven years of the patient’s life (p<0.001), and had more underlying emotional (p<0.001) and physical illnesses (p=0.006). Significantly more sexually abused patients reported having poor concentration (odds ratio [OR]=5.03; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.98-9.70; p<0.001) and sexual handicaps (OR=5.16; 95% CI=1.81-11.39; p<0.001), tended to hide their body (OR=3.65; 95% CI=1.69-7.30; p<0.001), abused illicit drugs (OR=2.38; 95% CI=1.08-6.01; p<0.001), had borderline personality disorder (OR=4.21; 95% CI=2.44-8.40; p<0.001), and suicidal ideation (OR=2.87; 95% CI=1.71-5.96; p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The patients who were sexually abused in childhood had significantly less satisfactory lives and more frequent psychiatric
illnesses, suicidal ideation, disturbed social functioning and perception of the body, and psychosomatic diseases.” Marius Nickel, Inntalklinik, D-84359 Simbach am Inn, Germany, m.nickel@inntalklinik.de
From BO Relationships between childhood maltreatment, adult health and psychiatric outcomes, and medical utilization. Arnow BA. J Clin Psychiatry 2004; 65 Suppl 12:10-5. “Childhood maltreatment strongly predicts poor psychiatric and physical health outcomes in adulthood. This overview of the literature shows that individuals who suffer abuse, neglect, or serious family dysfunction as children are more likely to be depressed, to experience other types of psychiatric illness, to have more physical symptoms (both medically explained and unexplained), and to engage in more health-risk behaviors than their nonabused counterparts. The more severe the abuse, the stronger the association with poor outcomes in adulthood. Childhood sexual abuse in particular has been repeatedly associated, in adulthood, with physical complaints such as chronic pain that are likewise associated with depression. Individuals with a history of childhood abuse, particularly sexual abuse, are more likely than individuals with no history of abuse to become high utilizers of medical care and emergency services.” Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif.

The PTSD Workbook – Simple, Effective Techniques for Overcoming Traumatic Stress Symptoms by Mary Beth Williams and Soili Poijula, gathers “together techniques and interventions used by PTSD experts around the world….Readers learn how to determine the type of trauma they experienced, identify their symptoms and learn…strategies…to overcome them.” New Harbinger Publications, Inc. 5674 Shattuck Ave. Oakland, CA 94609, www.newharbinger.com ISBN 1-57224-282-5

Five Day Intensive Workshops provide participants structured, intense environments to experience themselves and relationships with others. Workshops explore in part childhood trauma for dates, locations and prices, Safe Harbor, 2312 W. Olive #B, Burbank, CA 91506 818-845-0729

from LMS – The Salt Lake Tribune – More than 40% of child sex abusers have family ties with their victims “In contrast, police reports indicate strangers were perpetrators only 6.5 percent of the time, according to a Tribune analysis of state Bureau of Criminal Identification records from 2002.” http://www.sltribune.com/

October 13, 2008 · Filed Under Newsletter 2004 - Issues 54 - 59

Issue 58 – September 2004

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