Mom Forces Children to Have Sex

Mom Forces Children to Have Sex

Thursday, August 7, 2008

A mom and her boyfriend have been sentenced to life in prison--an alleged swinger's club member who witnessed the sex acts goes on trial this week.

A building that once housed a daycare center and later became a "swingers' club" in Mineola, Texas, turned into a house of horrors for four children who were forced to perform sex acts on others and each other.

Shauntel Mayo, 29, the ringleader of this unthinkable abuse, made her three kids (then ages 5, 6, and 7) and her own 6-year-old baby sister perform sex acts if they wanted dinner. "The unthinkable," said Smith County assistant district attorney Joe Murphy. "She had her kids have sex with each other and taught them to masturbate. She taught them how to strip. She withheld food from them. All so she could make money."

One of the alleged members of the sex club, Patrick "Booger Red" Kelly, is on trial this week for charges of organized criminal activity and aggravated sexual assault of a child. Murphy's opening statements began with, "Ladies and gentleman of the jury, this case is about pure evil--and that's what you're going to hear from the witnesses in this case."

Pure evil might be an understatement. According to prosecutors, the kids were groomed for sex shows in what Mayo called "kindergarten" classes. At "kindergarten," they said they learned how to strip, dance and perform sexual acts--first on dolls, then on each other. Upon "graduating" from "kindergarten," they were forced to have sex with each other in front of 50 to 100 adult members of a swingers' club once a week. Before going on stage, they were given the painkiller Vicodin--which their abusers called "silly pills"--to loosen them up for their performances. The children were forced to have sex with each other or perform sexual acts for club members who paid a fee to watch. Investigators believe up to 15 other children were victimized, and are still trying to locate them.

According to the Associated Press, the police department first investigated a complaint in June 2005 in which the siblings' foster mother said one of the girls described dancing toward men and another child said that "everybody does nasty stuff in there."

"We learned to strip (at 'kindergarten')," said the 7-year-old. "I had to touch my privates with my sister's and brother's privates for the people in the club."

The mother of the three siblings and her live-in boyfriend have already been convicted in the case and were sentenced to life in prison.

The siblings, who have been adopted and have gone through intense therapy, are now doing better, the welfare agency said. However, the man who gained permanent custody of the children, John Orville Cantrell, 64, of Mineola, was recently arrested for aggravated sexual assault of a child on a California case from 18 years ago.

What's your reaction to this horrifying case?

33 comments so far | Post a comment now >>

This is sick. These people deserve the harshest, cruelist punishment imaginable.

- Anonymous

Posted 08/07/08 06:02 PM

This is appalling. I am furious. These people cannot be let back into society. What is wrong with people? What is this world coming to? My heart just aches for those young kids.

- foxymama

Posted 08/07/08 06:04 PM

I don’t come to this site to be depressed!

- Anonymous

Posted 08/07/08 07:12 PM

This is ridiculous. Send them to me. These children need a good home.

- Anonymous

Posted 08/07/08 10:58 PM

People like these canot be helped. they really should be put to death. they’ve taken the innocence away from babies. These were her babies. Frontal labotomy or death!

- Jan

Posted 08/07/08 11:57 PM

I hope that every adult involved in this crime rots. I hope that they live in the worst kind of hell. What they did, even the people paying to watch was unthinkable. I pray that the children can find some kind of peace and closure after this. It angers me that there are people out there that hurt innocent children like that.

- motherofthree

Posted 08/08/08 08:50 AM

Okay, I am going to throw up now. What I am wondering is, who is worse? These pathetic sick-os…or, Casey Anthony? You look at the expressions of the adults busted in this kiddie-sex crime ring and you see something that can only be described as stupidity mixed with depravity. You look at Casey Anthony and you see something else. Intelligence, yes, but arrogance. What both sets of perps have in common is complete lack of conscience. What is stunning is the PLANNING that went into this kiddie sex-ring. The training of the kids. The Vicodin. How did this stay under the radar screen so long? Who are the other criminals who frequent this club…and others like it? I can understand many sexual perversions but not child molestation. These incidents are truly apocalyptic. They read to me like the end of the world, the end of civilization.

- Watching from New York

Posted 08/08/08 10:46 AM

This just makes me sick. Even with the most intense therapy, it still makes me wonder how these kids will view sex since they’ve already had it (forceably) at such a young age. This is truly heartbreaking.

- Kristen F

Posted 08/08/08 10:47 AM

She is one ugly woman

- Anonymous

Posted 08/08/08 10:55 AM

This is so sad. I can’t believe a mother would put her kids and own sister through this! I’m glad she got life in prison, that’s where she needs to be.

- M.L.

Posted 08/08/08 11:45 AM

Life in prison is too good for these people. This makes me sick.

- Anonymous

Posted 08/08/08 12:33 PM

What’s really sick is that she looks like she was crying in that picture, or at least really sad. I love the frontal lobotomy or electric chair idea, but my Lord, those children will really be messed up for life, no matter what. No matter what punishment she receives, it will never help those poor babies. SICK.

- Anonymous

Posted 08/08/08 12:53 PM

Unless they are kept in solitary confinement for the duration of their sentences, they will get what they deserve. Believe it or not, there is a code of honor amongst prison inmates. Someone, sometime, who is also there serving a life sentence will kill them both. I hope they do it very slowly.

- ame i.

Posted 08/08/08 08:07 PM

I like the idea of filling their veins with Morphine, and throwing them into a cage with hungry lions. I want them to be fully aware as they are eaten alive. Knowing that my tax dollars go to keeping them housed, fed, and clothed doesn’t give me any comfort.

- KB

Posted 08/09/08 11:33 AM

Seems pretty unlikely to me that there were 50 to 100 paying attendees at these alleged performances. Seriously, in the middle of nowhere, Texas, where are you going to find 100 people so lacking in morals? Anybody remember the McMartin preschool case in California? Turned out to be all lies and coaching from psychologist.

- Anonymous

Posted 08/21/08 07:17 PM

These poor children are forever broken, most go on to abuse their children and others. I feel the ones who payed at the club needs prison time also. They live among us and our children. Mineola needs to clean out its police force, and start fresh. I feel some might of attended the club, why else was the case closed so quick??? Anyone who would hurt a child needs to took out and shot.

- Anonymous

Posted 08/21/08 09:23 PM

Only one thing to do with those sick bastards: Take em outback and shoot them all in the head. Plain and simple.

- Anon

Posted 09/28/08 03:33 AM

Wow where Have I been. These people should not be allowed to live the rest of there lives in the comfort of prison. They may not have killed these kids, but in away they did, these beautiful children witll never be the same.

- Delaine

Posted 12/04/08 09:45 AM

SHE SHOULD NEVER EVER BE ABLE TO HAVE ANY CONTACT WITH HER KIDS OR ANY OTHER KIDS. PUT HER AWAY,AND THROW THE KEYS AWAY!

- Deborah

Posted 12/09/08 04:00 PM

OMG…I only live 20 miles from there! I can’t believe how sick this world has gotten! I hope that mother gets life in prison so she can sit for the rest of her life thinking about what she did to those children.

- Nicole

Posted 12/30/08 09:35 PM