McMartin Preschool accuser recants

[question everything]

The Daily Breeze

Sunday, October 30, 2005

McMartin Preschool accuser recants

One of the 360 children who made accusations says he lied to protect his siblings and was never raped.
From staff reports

Saying he lied to please his parents and protect his younger siblings, one of the children who claimed he was molested at the notorious McMartin Preschool in Manhattan Beach more than 20 years ago has recanted his original story.

Kyle Zirpolo, now 30 and living near Santa Barbara, was among 360 children who told lurid stories of rape, animal mutilations and satanic rituals that would shock the South Bay and reverberate around the world starting in 1983. But in a lengthy first-person account appearing in today's Los Angeles Times Magazine, Zirpolo said none of it was true: He was never raped by his teacher Ray Buckey. Buckey is the son of school administrator Peggy McMartin Buckey and grandson of founder Virginia McMartin. They, along with four other employees, were charged with 206 counts of child abuse.

(snip)

The other defendants were Buckey's sister, Peggy Ann Buckey, and teachers Mary Ann Jackson, Bette Raidor and Babette Spitler. In 1986, the district attorney called the evidence "incredibly weak," and dropped all charges against all the defendants except Ray Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, who remained in custody.

Zirpolo, who was known as Kyle Sapp when he testified, remembered feeling "weird" when he was examined by a doctor in a room surrounded by stuffed animals and dolls. "I remember them asking extremely uncomfortable questions about whether Ray touched me and about all the teachers and what they did -- and I remember telling them nothing happened to me. I remember them almost giggling and laughing, saying, 'Oh, we know these things happened to you. Why don't you just go ahead and tell us? Use these dolls if you're scared.' "

(snip)


Find this article at:
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/1931362.html

[MojoXN]

1. Surprise, surprise...

This is the ultimate fusion of Rightist sexual obsession and their desire to scapegoat the "evil-doers". Who needs personal responsibility when you can have an external locus of control/victimization?

MojoXN

[MrBenchley]

4. As I recall...

Part of the accusation was that there was a maze of tunnels and secret rooms under the school where the rituals took place, but eventually it was easily proved that no such structures existed.

The trial seemed to be like something out of the Middle Ages.

[wakeme2008]

20. I remember the parents got a Court Order to dig on the site

of the pre-school as the building was being tore down. As I remember they dug for like two weeks looking for the tunnels and underground rooms the just knew were there because of the DA and Police told them their kids told about them. No tunnels or underground rooms were found. Along with the super secret jet the kids told about flying in.

[MrBenchley]

25. What a disgrace this case was...

[question everything]

30. I've never believed any of that. It has such an appearance of witch hunt

of stories that no one could seriously consider. How could people go to jail based on testimony of impressionable children, of hysterical mothers?

And this was the beginning. Many "cases" followed where it was clear that the facts did not match the "testimonials" get spineless prosecutors and hysterical constituents forced them. Many still rot in jail.

I really do not think that DAs and judges should be elected. Appointed judges and prosecutors, in theory, can assert their independence once they get the job, and do not have to kowtow to the shrillest voices.

[AtomicKitten]

2. I lived down the street from this preschool during this time.

It was a feakin' nightmare. It is amazing what happens when people drink the kool-aid. Kinda like now.

[Raine]

17. I worked in the area

and it was awful, the school was all dug up and this nightmare went on for years. It was disgraceful what happened to the McMartins and the people who worked there, they lost everything. I used to see Raymond Buckey shopping at Mrs. Gooches, don't know if he is still in the area or not.

[Old and In the Way]

3. How do the McMartins get their reputation back?

What a sad chapter of 20th century witch hunts...

[Kire]

15. they say "they don't need apologies from former students"

who were children and couldn't help themselves. Peggy Ann has said that they would rather hear from the police, social workers, therapists, prosecutors, doctors and parents who fueled the case.

But this guy, Kyle, needs to say what he said. He was abused all right. He was abused by the "investigators" who manipulated the shit out of him.

[LostinVA]

35. They lost everything they owned

Houses, savings, years of emotional and even physical pain, reputations, businesses, teaching licenses....

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[devilgrrl]

6. Who are these "feminists" that you speak of?

Any links? Quotes? Names?

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[lumpy]

32. Ms. magazine posters

appear to be avid man-haters. Ugly.

[ieoeja]

34. Read your own posted quote by Debbie Nathan.

As she says, there are feminists and then there are feminists. There are feminists who oppose Playboy because it dehumanizes women. And there are feminists who support Playboy because it displays a woman's sexuality in a society where too many people believe that "good girls don't like sex".

[NorthernSpy]

40. yes, I know...

As I said, I'm content to abandon "feminist" and "feminism" to whoever wants to own those terms. There are those who are understood by all to be feminists, and it happens that I don't share much of their worldview: hence I'll describe my own views as egalitarian and progressive instead.

There are feminists who oppose Playboy because it dehumanizes women. And there are feminists who support Playboy because it displays a woman's sexuality in a society where too many people believe that "good girls don't like sex".

Then I suppose that those two factions will continue their tug-of-war over the feminist banner. That's fine with me. I don't really idenitify with either of these positions.

[silverweb]

7. Huh?

It would be nice if what you've said made at least a little bit of sense.

[NorthernSpy]

12. my view of this is legitimate...

... regardless of whether you share it.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

14. the whole affair was ludicrous!

Everyone jumped on the bandwagon.

[Bridget Burke]

26. Legitimate for someone who hates feminism.

Since you've expressed your wish that the whole concept would just disappear.

I remember the threads on the crimes-that-did-not-occur in NOLA. Were they exclusively populated by feminists?

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[gardenista]

9. This is so completely out of left field, and so irrational.

What in the world are you talking about?

[NorthernSpy]

16. disagree with me if you like...

... but there was nothing "irrational" in what I said.

As for what in the world I'm talking about, please see post #10.

[mondo joe]

29. There are a few issues on which "feminists" fall in line w fascists and

the religious right.

But I do not believe these are real feminists - they are, rather, victimization freaks who use that as a justification for fascism.

I have no doubt there were, and are, some women who call themselves feminists who got on this bandwagon. But I do not believe it reflected feminists any more than it reflected society as a whole.

[LostinVA]

36. People are still falling for these "sex rings" today

Including people on this site. There's enough real trafficking in child pron and human lives, we don't need to make any up and destroy innocent lives.

[Ms. K]

8. My, my, how convenient is this?

Ten years after the last time anyone interviewed Ray Buckey.

Five years after Peggy McMartin Buckey died.

Fifteen years after the death of Virginia McMartin.

Now there's recanting of accusations?

You know, I had a hard time believing all this nonsense when I was growing up during the 80s. An underground Satanic cult, involving so many people, pedophilia, and animal sacrifice? With tunnels under the preschool? You've GOT to be kidding me. After all, if half the town and half the police were involved, you'd NEVER have heard a peep out of those kids. Or their claims would have been dismissed.

It's absolutely disgusting. And really, IMHO, this falls under the category of too little, too late.

[Kire]

11. read the article

he was a kid, he was just as scarred by the investigators as the McMartins were

[Ms. K]

18. I did read the article

I understand that HE was just a kid....but why haven't his parents come out and said something?

The adults who acted so damned irresponsibly in this case, and that includes the parents who didn't believe the kids who told them NOTHING HAPPENED and instead dragged them off to questionable counselors, should face libel charges.

But that won't happen, because IMHO, the right wing nutjobs will insist that the case was brought because of faaaaamily values. Family values, my ass, it probably came about because someone was having a feud, and decided the best way to get back at the McMartins was to coach their kid into making accusations of sexual abuse. But I can just see some Repuke talking head decrying libel suits brought against the irresponsible adults because, "we just can't take chances with our children".

Really? Where were those fine, upstanding citizens when the Roman Catholic sexual abuse of children was going on? Where are they now? I don't hear Rick Santorum speaking out against the abuses of the Holy Roman Church, now do I?

Sorry...I got on a bit of a rant. Must remember, this is NOT Snopes, and I'm NOT in Rantidote.

[LostinVA]

37. You can't blame the kids -- they were victims, too

The original minor complaint was physically and emotionally abused by his (literally) nutso mom. All of the kids were used and then throw out. Just like in the Little Rascals case....

[Kire]

13. It's a chilling article.

But the lying really bothered me. One particular night stands out in my mind. I was maybe 10 years old and I tried to tell my mom that nothing had happened. I lay on the bed crying hysterically—I wanted to get it off my chest, to tell her the truth. My mother kept asking me to please tell her what was the matter. I said she would never believe me. She persisted: "I promise I'll believe you! I love you so much! Tell me what's bothering you!" This went on for a long time: I told her she wouldn't believe me, and she kept assuring me she would. I remember finally telling her, "Nothing happened! Nothing ever happened to me at that school."

She didn't believe me.

[Solly Mack]

19. I'm happy he's getting a chance to talk about this

I'm sickened he and the rest of the kids went through what they did at the hands of the authorities.

Child sexual abuse is real - and what was done to the McMartin family and the children make it that much harder to go after the real cases.

The children have an excuse - they were kids and being used.

The adults involved? Have absolutely no excuse for allowing hysteria, zealotry ,and ambition to replace reason.

[Raksha]

21. I remember this case very well...

I'm glad to see the McMartins vindicated, even after all these years.

[annabanana]

22. This case did a lot of damage to our national psyche..

Kindergarten and other pre-school teachers and teachers aids all across the country were cautioned not to touch their students. And these little ones were away from home for the first time and wanted very much to hug the teachers they were with. Parents started seeing teachers as adversaries instead of allies in the raising and guiding of their children.

This wasn't just a passing cloud of hysteria that left the landscape untouched.

[KayLaw]

23. I read a book about it

The whole episode was disgusting. There was a web site about what happened that may still exist called www.witchhunt.com. I also read a book called Fatal Justice that followed up on Fatal Vision and no longer trust the government with much of anything. That's why the death penalty is my number one priority.

[murielm99]

24. There were several other high-profile cases like the McMartin

case in the 1980's. Deborah Nathan wrote Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt.

She has written about and researched other types of hysteria. For example, she writes about diseases that become "popular," like multiple personality disorder, which is actually very rare. She has studied the dynamics of groups who have a rare disease that is currently in vogue.

Obviously, she has some criticism of the media, law enforcement and therapists who embrace new, but poorly researched therapeutic techniques. These groups can contribute to the hysteria.

This article gives a summary of some of the other cases like the McMartin Preschool case:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/fuster/lessons/outcomes.html

There was a TV movie about the McMartin case. James Woods was in it. It was called Indictment: The McMartin Trial.

[MarsThe Cat]

28. If james woods was in it- good enough reason NOT to see it...

psycho-fascist fuckbag.

[LostinVA]

38. The miniseries was very good and very accurate.

[Nikki Stone 1]

27. Why were the McMartins a target to begin with?

I moved to SoCal at the tail end of the case and never understood how it got started in the first place.

[LostinVA]

39. In a nutshell:

A nutso (for real) mom, who had falsely accused people of abusing her boy in the past (and who herself abused) accused the McMartins of stuff. Nutty stuff her psychosis invented. Add that to an overzealous prosecutor and a national movement of medical and law enforcement professionals making money off of "child sex rings".... it equaled an explosive situation, that reverberated in cases across the country...a nd still does. NONE of these people in ANY of these cases were guilty. The Little Rascals case in NC is probably the worst after McMartin, except none of them were ever acquitted like the McMartins.

[devilgrrl]

41. The Little Rascals case was a TRAVESTY!!!!

Talk about witch hunts!!!!! :puke:

The "moms" that made the charge in that case were HOUSEWIVES who sent their kids to daycare!

[LostinVA]

42. I lived in Greensboro then, and watched in horror

As it unfolded. It was even "stupider" than McMartin. VERY small town, daycare smack dab in the middle of town, half the workers arrested had their own kids there, cop didn't take written or recorded notes/interviews. etc. The BEST thing: all the kids who went to a non-whacko doctor in Greensboro said nothing happened, all that went to one of the "Satanic Panic" doctors said stuff did. People never were acquitted in this! That one girl was what, 19? Her own child went there!

Just frigging crazy. Al mosts everyone I worked with in GSO thought I was a monster because I said it was all alie...

[devilgrrl]

43. 'Frontline' did a two part special about the case...

it was horrifying all right. Unbelievable!!!!

[LostinVA]

33. What a surpsie... not. Wonder when the DUers who insist

McMartin happened will post.... they are few, but they are ferocious...