DISCLAIMER: This information represents the views of the author and not of MIT or any groups or publishers mentioned. I speak only for myself.
SUMMARY: The satanic ritual abuse (SRA) hoax has ruined many innocent people's lives and forced some to spend years in prison. Several are still in prison or have trials pending. Power hungry district attorneys, sloppy and unscientific psychotherapists, ignorance and hysteria drive these prosecutions.
Even when the charges are dropped, the falsely accused teacher suffers a shattered reputation, ruined career, and financial ruin. The child victims end up convinced that they were sexually abused in satanic rituals. The trials feature junk science and outrageous legal antics that could be worthy of a Monty Python skit or Kafka novel.
The Little Rascals Daycare Case is one of the largest ongoing ritual abuse cases. In that case two people have been sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in the state penitentiary.
NOTE TO READERS: Because of the very limited amount of time available, there are certainly points for improvement here. Feel free to point out to me spelling, grammar, and style errors that I have not filtered out.
OUTLINE:
Robert Kelly, the owner of a plumbing supply company, and his wife Betsy ran a prestigious daycare center in Edenton, NC. In the fall 1988 their school was so popular in this upper middle class community that they moved to a new larger building to accommodate more children. Three months later they would find themselves and their teachers the victims of the nations largest satanic ritual abuse (SRA) prosecution. In 1992 Bob would be sentenced to twelve consecutive life terms in the North Carolina state prison. In early 1993 the school cook, Dawn Wilson, would receive a life prison sentence. In the meantime others accused of being apart of this sex ring would spend over a year in prison unable to meet the excessive bails set by the court.
In late 1988 to early 1989 the Edenton police were taught about supposed satanic cults who ritually abused children in daycare centers. How the ritual abuse allegations started is very uncertain, because very poor records were kept. One version is that rumors started after a boy was slapped at Little Rascals and the Kelly's did not apologize to the mother. [Nobody disputes the slapping incident.] Another mother repeated Questioned her son about Little Rascals' under the guidance of a police officer trained in ritual abuse. One day the boy claimed that Bob Kelly did bad things to him, and eventually accused Bob of sticking a finger up his rear.
Then a police officer and several therapists began interviewing children and asking Questions about abuse. From the statements of the parents and notes of the therapists it appears that almost no children claimed to have suffered sexual abuse until repeatedly interrogated by parents and therapists. In fact therapists and police officers justified the destruction of the tapes of their early interviews by claiming that nothing was revealed. Children were criticized when they denied abuse and praised when they made accusations.
A Frontline show, "Innocence Lost" (July 1993) (transcripts available from Journal Graphics, 1-303-831-9000 and recording available from PBS video 1-800-424-7963) documents the ludicrous nature of this case and the coercive interviewing techniques which pressured children into making accusations.
In one example, their children in therapy identified more "abused" children. One mother, Debbie Forrest had been in and out of the center at all hours of operation and seen no evidence of sexual abuse in the center. Her son exhibited no symptoms and reported no abuse even though other children claimed he had been molested. In early interviews he excited the police when he admitted that Mr. Bob played doctor. They were quickly disappointed when the child described this as applying a bandage to the site of a playground injury. One therapist, Judy, called Debbie at work and told her that by not bringing her child in to the state sponsored therapy she was being a bad parent. Debbie responded that she wanted to use an independent psychiatrist. The therapist objected and called Debbie's mother to try to get the boy to attend "therapy." Eventually an independent clinic confirmed that there is no evidence of the abuse.
On "Innocence Lost," another couple who are skeptical about the case, Sandra and Mike , recounted how their son began showing abuse symptoms only after the "therapy" began. Their son ultimately would accuse the sheriff, the mayor, and many others of participating in the sex ring. At one point in therapy he maintained that Mr. Bob (Bob Kelly) was the "good guy" and the sheriff was the "bad guy." Sandra also recounted how when parents confided in her they admitted to refusing the give their children desert until they "told the truth" about Little Rascals.
Many parents, under the guidance of therapist, gave children homework and readings to encourage them to disclose abuse. One accusing parent described how she took her daughter to several meetings with a therapist over a period of several weeks. (See "Innocence Lost") Each week the therapist would give the family a book which described an animal daycare situation where the "adult" animal would abuse the little animal and instruct the little animal not to tell. The story would end when the little animal disclosed the abuse and everything was made better. After several weeks of such nightly readings and several therapy sessions, the child disclosed all sorts of sexual abuse including accusations that she was thrown into shark infested water. Ultimately these disclosures contained stories of trips into outer space, devil worship, human sacrifice...
After the McMartin case, ritual abuse believers and prosecutors learned not to make video tapes of therapy sessions because they would show the jury how coercive the interviews were. In fact on a nationally televised panel discussing ("When Children Testify," Frontline video 1991) a prominent FBI official admitted that he does not recommend videotaping child abuse investigation interviews because it creates evidence that the defense attorneys can use. In the Little Rascals case, police investigators and therapists stated that they destroyed audio tapes of initial interviews because the children made no accusations.
Even if only 1 in 10 would disclose spontaneously, the likelihood that all 50 children would keep such a secret is less than 1%.
1)Robert F. Kelly Jr, co-owner of Little Rascals with his wife. In April 1992 a North Carolina jury convicted of 99 out of 100 counts involving sexual crimes against children. He is serving 12 consecutive life terms and his case is under appeal. Perhaps it is luck that he was not charged with operating an unlicensed spaceship? What was the one count he was not found guilty of? Having sex with his wife in front of the kids. According to the Frontline show, the jury did not believe his wife would do such a thing. The nature of this case is best described by the title of an Atlanta Constitution article I pulled off a database: "Boy 7, Says Kelly Prayed to the Devil" The abstract describes testimony by the boy given in court that devil worship services took place at Little Rascals.
Three jurors believed that Kelly was completely innocent, but caved in after intense pressure during two weeks of deliberations. Jurors pushing for a conviction insisted that an acquittal would hurt the children. The three jurors have signed affidavits that they convicted Kelly because of pressure from other jurors, rather than because they believed Kelly to be guilty.
Furthermore they documented serious jury tampering by other jurors. Jury forewoman, Katherine Harris, brought in copies of a "Redbook" article on child molesters and the pro prosecution members of the jury used it to diagnose Kelly as one. Juror Dennis Ray claimed that someone in a prison he worked told him he knew that Bob is a child molester. Another juror told the others that he was molested as a child and kept it secret, even though he denied this during the jury selection process.
2)Kathyrn Dawn Wilson: The Little Rascals' cook. On December 20, 1992 she was convicted of one first degree sexual offense and four counts of taking indecent liberties with a child. She was sentenced to life in prison and is awaiting the decision of the appeals court. She Is under house arrest on $250,000 appeal bond. Dawn was not accused of any sexual misconduct until months into the investigation, after considerable "interviewing" of the children. One parent watched the therapy session where her son made the first accusation against Dawn Wilson. She told Frontline that her son was badgered and confused by the therapist, and the therapist identified a "bad doll" as Dawn. According to jurors a key factor in the conviction was the prosecution's adding therapist notes to the evidence pile at the end of their rebuttal, when Dawn's attorney could no longer refute it.
3)Elizabeth T. "Betsy" Kelly. Ran Little Rascals. In January 1994 she pleaded no contest to 30 charges in exchange for a 7 year sentence. Given credit for the two years spent in jail trying to raise bail, she will serve no more than 1 year and 3 months. She maintains her innocence, but after seeing two innocent people get life sentences, she did not believe a fair trial would occur. The following have not been tried yet:
4)Willard Scott Privott: Owned video store and shoe repair shop. Spent 3 1/2 years in jail until his bail was lowered from 1 M to 50K. According to some sources Privott has never been in the daycare center, but authorities were suspicious because his video store sold some x-rated films. The prosecutors accuse him of being the link to the "kiddie-porn" world even though pornographic pictures of Little Rascals children have ever been found. He recently pleaded no contest to some charges in a deal which insured he would serve no additional prison time.
5)Shelley Alyce Stone: center worker in charge of 4-5 year old. charged wt 14 counts and free on 375K bond. She has refused to accept anything other than an apology from the state. Her trial was scheduled to begin on October 31, 1994, but has been postponed.
6)Robin Boles Byrum: cared for 2-3 year olds. facing 22 counts and free on 200K bond
7)Darlene McDonald Harris: not a worker at the center. Faces three counts of sexual abuse. Free on $245K bond. Like Privott, she has never been in the center. Her involvement started when a jealous ex-husband accused her of child abuse.
Even on the witness stand some children initially denied or claimed not to remember the abuse until coaxed and led by the prosecutors. For example if a child responded "I don't know" to the Question "Where did Mr. Bob put his ding doing?", the prosecutor would ask "In your mouth?"
In another instance the prosecution had to drop the charge that Mr. Bob licked a child's "hiny. " Why? The prosecutor accidentally coaxed the child into testifying that he licked Mr. Bob's "hiny."
The nine jurors who still support the conviction denied that tampering occurred. One of those jurors denied the incident with Redbook (under oath), claiming that he told Frontline that "There might have been a book." Even the showing of his Frontline interview in which he described the usage of the Redbook article could not convince him.
Dawn Wilson is also appealing her conviction.
ANSWER: Unfortunately there are many such cases, in both rural and urban areas. Edenton while perhaps close knit and insular can hardly be considered primitive or backwards. There are many other cases. They are often poorly publicized because they are deemed "local issues".
Some may be triggered by an incident of physical or sexual abuse, though the perpetrator may or may not be among the accused. Sometimes a personal vendetta is behind the accusation. In a case in Niles, Michigan, the first complaint appeared after the daycare center owner filed a neglect report against one parent. Her husband was ultimately convicted, spent five years in jail, and was released after a successful appeal.
Other times a parent may have problems with the child and after reading or hearing about sexual abuse erroneously assume the cause is sexual abuse. One case began when a girl reported that a teacher played with her vulva. Many bizarre accusations later, the prosecutor realized that the case was a hoax. Apparently a month before the accusation, a physician had treated the child with a vaginal cream.
A common trigger is when a parent reads a symptom list and then decides that his or her child had the symptoms of a victim of sexual or ritualized abuse. The parent (or therapist) than repeatedly Questions the child. One noted trigger is a parent catching a child in sex play and pushing the child to reveal where he or she learned it.
One case detailed in Elizabeth Loftus' book "Witness for the Defense" began when a five year old girl made the statement "Dick is another name for penis." The parent overreacted and pestered the child until she created a sexual abuse story. The defendant was tried for sexual assault and acquitted. As a result of the parental pressure and therapy, the girl will likely go through life believing that she was sexually abused.
Defendants:
Betsy Kelly
Bob Kelly
1300 Western Blvd.
Raleigh, N.C. 27606
Dawn Wilson and her daughter Elizabeth (age 5)
and son Zachary (4 months).
Route #2 Box 223
Statesville, NC 28677