Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Acquittal in second Pyote sex-abuse trial

Former TYC administrator John Paul Hernandez was acquitted of sex-abuse charges in Lubbock, reports AP:
A former principal of a West Texas juvenile who claimed inmates lied when they told investigators that he had sexually assaulted them in darkened classrooms, closets and storage units was acquitted Monday of all charges against him.

Jurors deliberated for about six hours before returning the not guilty verdicts on the 11 counts against John Paul Hernandez. He had faced up to 20 years in prison on the case's most serious offenses — sexual assault and improper relationship between educator and student — which are second-degree felonies.

Hernandez was accused of sexually abusing the young men in 2004 and 2005 at the West Texas State School in Pyote.

"Six years I've been waiting to hear those words," Hernandez said. "I've already served a six-year punishment and finally a weight has been lifted."

All of Hernandez's accusers testified against him, telling jurors that Hernandez talked to them about pornography and fetishes before fondling them and performing oral sex.

Hernandez took the stand in his own defense and denied their allegations, saying the young men lied in their statements to Texas Rangers investigators. Hernandez's attorney, Albert G. Valadez, has said the former inmates made up the allegations so they'd be released from the facility, which closed last summer.

A former corrections officer at the prison testified for the defense that she heard two inmates — one of them an accuser in the case — talking about fabricating allegations of sexual abuse so they could go home.

Hernandez was the second former administrator at the prison to be prosecuted. Ray Edward Brookins, the former assistant superintendent at the Texas Youth Commission facility, was sentenced last April to 10 years in prison.
More from NPR. It's hard to know what to make of this news given all that's occurred in the wake of the original allegations against Brookins and Hernandez. After all, lots of people have lost their jobs as a result, both immediately thereafter and via the continued downsizing of the agency. And the state has charted a new policy path on juvenile justice in the wake of, and largely because of, the allegations against Brookins and Hernandez that are way too far down the road to think about retracting. So beyond those immediately affected, mostly this verdict will allow everyone to confirm their own prejudices about the agency and its past, whatever their view: Those who think the agency was troubled and its downsizing justified and necessary will point to Brookins' conviction. Those who think the agency endured a witch hunt, that dozens of people were fired unfairly, and that claims of dysfunction and corruption were overblown (and there are still quite a few in the agency's front-line ranks), may now point to Hernandez's acquittal to bolster their arguments.

For my part, I think both can be true, and both analyses have merit: When legislators began to peel back the onion at TYC - and I had a front-row seat for much of that process - there was a lot to be concerned about. IMO the shift toward de-incarceration - reducing the number of inmates in youth prisons and doling out grants to counties to manage them on their end - was totally justified and overall has worked out well. (Indeed, I believe it's the best model for reducing the size of the adult penal system..) Some of the problems discovered with education, treatment, overmedication, use of isolation, lack of oversight of private contractors, etc., were egregious, including quite a few things that had nothing to do with staff-on-youth sexual abuse. But I also think the purge of TYC staff who had nothing to do with abuse allegations - sometimes based on petty, years-old criminal convictions the agency knew about when they hired them - was wrong and unfair. And the first round of administrators brought in from the adult prison system were a full-blown catastrophe for the agency from which it's arguably still recovering.

Given the radical changes already implemented at TYC and the fluid political environment (the agency may soon be abolished and merged with the Juvenile Probation Commission), only History, with the clarity of 20/20 hindsight will be able to judge the result. Until then, this verdict closes one unhappy chapter in the story of Texas juvenile justice, further thickening an already dense and convoluted plot. A few more chapters remain to be written, though, before it's possible to tell if the tale will turn out a tragedy or have some kind of unlikely happy ending.

53 comments:

  1. There is no doubt that the youth will fabricate the most outrageous stories that you will ever hear in order to gain benefit, or generally cause trouble. On the other hand, there was sexual abuse in TYC over the years. Without seeing solid evidence, it's hard to know what the truth is.

    But, you can bet two things: the youth will still be fabricating stories, and TYC will continue to hire people who don't belong there.

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  2. I can say that perhaps a wake-up call was needed but undoubtedly the agency endured a horrible witch hunt. I am a former TYC employee and I can say that any kind of inappropriate relationship between staff and youth was investigated and certainly NOT EVER condoned. Was every instance of inpropriety discovered? No, but those in top leadership positions at the time, like Dwight Harris, were NEVER ones to sweep any inappropriate activity under the carpet as it has been insinuated. It really makes me sad to hardly recognize the agency I left 8 years ago. TYC wasn't perfect when I was there but it wasn't as corrupt as many have accused it of being. I am a bit surprised at the acquital, but I am sure the jury found reasonable doubt regarding some of the same things that TYC's own investigators found six years ago.

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  3. Justice is not always served the way we would like. There are higher powers than the jurors in Lubbock, Texas. I truly believe that Hernandez was guilty and praise Brian Burzynski for a job well done. You just never know what a jury will do.

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  4. Scott, I doubt history will ever provide that 20/20 hindsight. Evidently jurors did something they frequently don't do: they must have taken the presumption of innocence seriously, and wrestled seriously with reasonable doubt. I read a little about the case, and what I read raised reasonable doubt in my mind, while I still had reasonable suspicion of guilt. Reasonable doubt trumped reasonable suspicion, as it is supposed to do.

    Rev. Charles in Tulia

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  5. 8:23 -- I believe that Dwight Harris and many others would have swept anything under the carpet to cover their own rears and protect their careers. I am not denying that Harris did try to report this to Whitmire. However, when Whitmire ignored him, why didn't he keep on until the story was told? It would not have been that difficult to do, but he chose to ignore it after reporting it to Whitmire. Why?

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  6. 9:17- I cannot speak for Dwight Harris, but I worked with him and he never displayed anything other than absolute integrity. I would not describe him as a man who would sacrifice anything just for his career. When people like Witmire want to ignore you one minute and crucify you the next, I'm not sure what any resonable person could be expected to do.

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  7. Dwight was in over his head when it came to running the agency. He failed to see the big picture and was prone to micro-management. The agency suffered when Sandy Burnham left the agency and Dwight took her job.

    Dwight was so worried about what was happening in other states and how it could affect TYC he failed to keep his attention to what was happening in his own agency.

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  8. IMO, the acquittal was a result of the closing statements, in which the Hernandez attorney pointed out that the state had no witnesses, no DNA and no evidence of the abuse. However, this does not mean the incidents did not take place and that he is innocent. What bothers me is that he will likely seek to work with youth again and that, in itself, is a scary thought.

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  9. typical. govt officials can basically do what they want...to who they want and not much will ever be done to them...EVEN if unlike this man they are caught in the act.

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  10. Who was caught in the act, and by whom? If anyone saw him actually have sex with a student, they didn't speak up. All of us so-called "government officials" lost our jobs, so if you caught him in the act where the hell where you?

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  11. Grits said,
    "IMO the shift toward de-incarceration - reducing the number of inmates in youth prisons and doling out grants to counties to manage them on their end - was totally justified and overall has worked out well. (Indeed, I believe it's the best model for reducing the size of the adult penal system..) Some of the problems discovered with education, treatment, overmedication, use of isolation, lack of oversight of private contractors, etc., were egregious, including quite a few things that had nothing to do with staff-on-youth sexual abuse. But I also think the purge of TYC staff who had nothing to do with abuse allegations - sometimes based on petty, years-old criminal convictions the agency knew about when they hired them - was wrong and unfair. And the first round of administrators brought in from the adult prison system were a full-blown catastrophe for the agency from which it's arguably still recovering."

    I think that is a great summary of where things are at and likely to go. It will be interesting to see if, under the new model being proposed, the State and Counties can ever get to a place where they can reduce the recidivisim rate
    to around 50% for starters.

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  12. I wonder what role, if any, the lengthy delay in going to trial might have played.

    I would agree with the statement about history telling us something down the road, but I'm a little biased there...

    BB

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  13. I know juvenile crime has decreased, but I'm very skeptical of the lege's plan to scrap the present infrastructure to start a new one for a lot cheaper. Putting the old work force on the streets will just increase the amount of people on unemployment. Do we believe there is an untapped resource of skilled juvenile workers that are going to give the students better care for less money? I personally think the Texas Juvenile Justice system is headed straight to hell in a handbasket. I hope I'm wrong.

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  14. Scott: Thank you for acknowledging the fact that the first round of administrators were a full-blown catastrophie.

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  15. 1:44 pm, Good try at saving your job but this acquittal proves that TYC needs a major overhaul of the system from top to bottom.

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  16. I already lost my job, and this would be the last place to go to try and save it. I'm just posting my comments so I can point to them later.

    I worked for the agency for 17 years and I was in trouble constantly for my criticism of it, but I was trying to make it better.

    The biggest problem with the agency is the ignorance of the voters that keep sending the same people to the senate. Whitmire's been "serving" the state since 1973. Why do we think he can fix what he hasn't fixed in nearly forty years?

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  17. I agree with anonymous 4:39 P.M on their point of Whitmire. Think you could go one step further and add Jerry Madden to the list.

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  18. The message is clear even in 2011, apparently as long as one works for tyc one can safely practice pedophilia under the cover of state sponsored child abuse. A classic defense the public many times falls for due to the institutional situation the kids are in, the kids lie to get something. The truth is, and always has been, tyc staff WILL ALLWAYS LIE to protect the agency from negative publicity! A self evident truism every child who has been through tyc over its 120+ years knows all too well.
    I suppose tyc will have to entertain the notion to rehire Hernandez, and compensate him, since the court acquitted, finding him “falsely accused” of pedophilic crimes. The tyc could owe him lots of tax payer dollars over this botched cover up. Now there’s a happy ending for Hernandez. And I suppose tyc staff are jubilant and free to continue to provide/condone happy endings for kids in darkened closets, classrooms, and offices without fear of “a witch hunt” for a while.
    May God bless these kids with wisdom and strength to endure and overcome the abuse of their captors.

    Sheldon A Schepps
    214.534.4281
    Dallas, Texas
    Alumni Gatesville State School for Boys II c/s
    tyc#47333

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  19. A former corrections officer at the prison testified that she heard two inmates — one of them an accuser in the case — talking about fabricating allegations of sexual abuse so they could go home.

    You can count on TYC. If someone comes forward to testify, they will say the students lied. Did any staff members testify against Hernandez?

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  20. I'm surprised Scott allows "Sheldon" to continue posting his filth.

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  21. This really gets me #1 How many kids have been sent to tyc without dna witnesses ect..for a sex crime. Do you really believe without a shadow of doubt every kid was guilty? Who did not get the chance with a jury. And could not afford a attorney, whom had to take lousy court appointed.Just one question? How long was Hernandez still working there after Brookins? Are the Texas Ranger came? Was there enough time to get rid of evidence? And did Brookins victims get released to the free right when it came out? These kid's are not stupid, They know how it works you can scream all day help me I'm being abused, but you still need a Attorney to help you be released. Just a allegation what free you.So it's pretty stupid to say they lied to be released. My kid would know this would not get him released.Attorney's review panel etc.. They dont just let you walk out of something court ordered. That was a slap in the face to the victim's.They just called them stupid in court. 1 kid maybe, but 4 all brung this embarrasment and shameful thing on them? Come on! Let's get real! And him saying I have been waiting to hear those words for a long time (Yuk) These kids waited on Justice for a long time. To be Raped all over again.How about I'm sorry,that tyc was a living nightmare for you.Was one of more jurors smoking Crack. For a teenage boy to admit to sex abuse is not common. They have done way to many study's to even question why they recanted their story at one point. And were they still in this facility with Hernandez friends and employer when they recanted.My child probably would have recanted also if he felt the retaliation of losing phases false 225's ect..by staff whom was friends of Hernandez.They could keep prolonging their stay and after what they been through, I'm sure they did want to go home real bad.

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  22. Jamie: If my memory serves me correctly, the Texas Ranger came on Wednesday, February 23rd. Brookins was gone the next day. I believe Hernandez was gone on February 28th. As far as I know, no student was released to the free because of Brookins or Hernandez.

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  23. I guess everything I over hear someone saying in another room it will prove to be true? Did she stand outside the door and listen to how they were going to do it? When it was going down? Who they were going to accuse? This whole things makes no sense to me.She would have had to be there awile.And maybe this kid was just telling that in his own way to talk about the abuse that had happen to him. All these action reaction Add up to normal teenage adolesant behavior and talk.I pray these guy's get some kind of counsling, because they will need it for many years to come.

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  24. Thanks anon 6:44 I'am just trying to make sense why they keep saying these kids lied to be freed. If you are a tyc employer it simply does not work like that you go through proper channels, are they just would have been trasffered to another facility. And Hernandez and his Lawyer knew this. But apparently the jury was not made to understand tyc protocal.

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  25. 6:22 What filth?
    Jamie you are being way to practical the agency assumes the general public doesn’t get all this.
    6:44 Good reply… wtf

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  26. I totally agree with you, Jamie. As for the person testifying, that was about the weakest testimony I have ever heard. So sad. I just pray this man never gets another job involving kids.

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  27. Where's Ranty Chance now?

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  28. Maybe it's as easy as this:

    Brookins was convicted because there was DNA evidence, whereas Hernandez wasn't because that freak swallowed the DNA. That makes Brookins a spitter and Hernandez a swallower. Those spots on John Paul's face are tale-telling.

    Who knows....

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  29. At this point, Sheldon makes more sense than the jury that acquitted Hernandez.

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  30. Being that I live in the belly of the beast, Lubbock Texas, I can assure you they pick some real dumb jurors here, e.g. Tim Cole jury and they have a sort of idol worship of policemen, jailers, etc. In their eyes, they can do no harm. Damn, Hernandez would have had to walk in that jury room with horns and a tail before that jury would have found him guilty. BTW, there's been a blackout from our local print media and others. They're known to do that since they're all bought and paid to report the way they do or don't. That scumbag and his lawyer knew it and that's why he was acquitted.

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  31. I don't live in Lubbock, I don't know the prosecutor, I didn't attend the trial but I strongly suspect that something went very wrong here. Somebody knows what went wrong. Please tell us. If you only have wild-eyed, half crazed speculation then spare us that, please.

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  32. For those who can't imagine a motive for lying; one of Brookins' victims filed a lawsuit back in 2006 or '07. If Hernandez had been convicted they stood to collect tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Maybe it happened, maybe it didn't, but if a convict's word is ever enough evidence to send a corrections officer to prison the prisons will all be operated by robots. It should also be noted that the most highly prized skill to most of our clientell is the ability to lie well; believable but not too much detail and most importantly the ability to cover any glitch in the tale without any noticible hesitation. I've over heard them brag on themselves and chastize the ones that got caught up.

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  33. John Paul should never have been indicted in the first place. The investigation was poorly done, and the public was misled by the press. I think he used some poor judgement at times, but I always believed the charges were bogus. The biggest mistake was going dorm to dorm soliciting victims. There was a third person accused, got her picture on the news, but she got cleared before the firestorm. Thank God for that.

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  34. fyi - Lubbock supplied the jurors only. Case was moved here on change of venue because of all the publicity in the Permian Basin. Case was prosecuted by two women from the Atty. Generals office. Judge and all court personnel were from Odessa.

    From what I was told by a person who convered the trial day to day, defense presented a case for establishing reasonable doubt. Trial took two weeks and the verdict was delivered in three or four hours.

    The small parts of the case that I observed, the defense attacked the credibibity of the ex-TYC students based on their juvenile offense records AND their criminal records as adults.

    BTW, I only saw a couple of hours of the trial.

    Plato

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  35. Everyone agrees that people who are incarcerated should not be victims, but they have to understand if they lead a life of crime their credibility is going to be questioned.

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  36. Big surprise. There is a so-called "sexual abuse counselor" who works w/juvenile sex offenders in TYC. She grooms them from their admission to TYC until discharge, then moves them into her home to use as sexual playthings until she gets bored with them, then literally drops they off on the side of the road and tells them not to come back. If she can blatantly bring home boytoys from her TYC clientele and still be found "innocent" when investigated, why would anyone else worry about being discovered in their sexual misconduct? The system in a joke- the biggest sexual predators are doing the "supervision and rehabilitation" at TYC, not the offenders they victimize.

    ...And yes, said counselor is still working in TYC and is highly respected in her field. The old fraud.

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  37. 07:11

    What you described is illegal, If you have any real knowledge of this crime, please report it to your local county law enforcement, they will forward to the attorney general.

    Ham2mtr

    BTW you will recieve a tracking number from the AG investigator, please post it.

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  38. All we can hope for after this whitewash is that the movie"Sleepers" is prophetic!

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  39. I guess now Hernandez is going to take a big chunk of the budget already being cut. Whinning and complaining, Slander, punitive damage.Stealing even more from the Youth.It is making me sick to know us who are honest hard working folks will end up providing him a very nice life. While we continue to live week to week.

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  40. Ham2mtr-
    it is allegedly already under investigation via the TYC Ombudsmans office.

    Not sure why it should take so long to prove- one of the boys was there 2 years, held a joint checking account with his abuser, and was registered on the State SO registry as living at her address (yes, the irony is that she is a sexual predator "counseling" juveniles convicted of sex offenses- how could they possibly explain those things away? But she's been investigated twice and exonerated both times.

    Big surprise- she generally gets her former toys violated on their registration so they end up incarcerated again. When challenged, he pat response is, "I am a respected child psychologist in my field, and you're a juvie sex offender who is going back to jail- who do you think the system will believe?

    I have a lot of dislike for this woman. And no, the stories are not fabricated- I'm not law enforcement or anything but a family friend, and I was able to verify the joint bank account and SO registry address history. If I could do it, why can't the powers that be at TYC?

    Pretty much because they don't care. And that SUCKS.

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  41. 08:20 What facility does this woman work at?

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  42. She is your mother.

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  43. Over the years there have been several women at TYC who had inmates move in with them when the inmate was released.

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  44. 0905- She runs a residential treatment facility doing "equine therapy" for adolescents in Boerne, TX. But her personal address is different from the facility, and her "patients" don't share bank accounts with her.

    She tells these boys that she "loves" them and "wants to build a life with them." She carefully chooses boys who have no active family in their lives to ensure there is no one to offer them advice or act on their behalf... because how many involved parents would condone their 18 to 21 year old moving in with a 50+ year old "lover?"

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  45. I worked for TYC over the past 5 years. Just as all the hell broke loose with the legislative cover up of the attorney general's office poor management of this situation. I tire of the bashing of TYC employees. There are certainly staff who do things they shouldn't and there certainly are youth who are criminally minded. I wish Sheldon would focus on trying to encourage and support those staff who really do care about the kids, instead he wastes his breath ranting about abuses in TYC. It is such a waste of time and energy and such a discouragement to positive TYC staff. I left TYC because they do not pay a living wage for professional staff. Regretfully the agency does not have an interest in developing careers of professionals who have demonstrated a commitment to working with the complex and difficult TYC population. I hope some day Sheldon takes a different and more productive approach to support positive staff, and that the Texas Legislature and TYC administration will invest in the careers of those who really want to help the youth. Unfortunately I think both are as equally as unlikely to ever happen.

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  46. Sheldon is just too close to his life to look at it objectively. Certainly he must've been abused, but he obviously has some issues. I agree with him that TYC has its problems. but he's projecting his own past on the situation. He needs to let it go, for his own sake. Overall, he seems like a person who succeeded. He just needs to make peace with his past.

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  47. TYC employees that couldn't or wouldn't help youth in their care, now want to provide guidance for people on line. What a joke. Abusers inside the fence and still abusers on line. Bring on the bulldozers.

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  48. I'm just sorry that there aren't any people who are willing to consider that five lying a--holes just might have ruined the career of this man, and caused a lot of innocent people to lose their jobs.

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  49. Last poster...you are just as guilty...maybe you didn't force sex...but you are guilty as the rest of the abusers...cover and carry on ...abuse more youth...you are a thug/criminal/TYC punk/cover for Texas abuse. Did you too lie on the stand?

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  50. I'm with 9:34 p.m....
    9:47 p.m., just keep talking to yourself.

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  51. 9:53- you fucking Leslie McCollough too?

    Hate to break it to you.. bitch has a revolving door on that bedroom...

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  52. There was a mistake...he was found guilty. Now stop the sexual assualts by TYC members. Please.

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  53. Just an FYI, since I'm sure many didn't think it was really reported. TYC's Ombudsmans' office completed its investigation of misconduct by therapist Leslie Moreau McCullough and the referred the case to the Office of the Inspector General for pursuit and criminal prosecution.

    Too bad its only taken them 6 years to figure it out!

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