East Texas

By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer

Young children were forced to dance and perform sexual skits at a "Mineola Swinger's Club" for food. If they told anyone, they would be beaten, the children told investigators.

Jamie Pittman, accused with five others in a "Mineola Swinger's Club" that charged money for people to watch children dance and perform sexual acts, was on trial for the second day Wednesday for committing aggravated sexual assault of a child - causing two siblings to have sex with each other - in 2004. The 36-year-old Tyler man faces up to life in prison if convicted in 241st District Judge Jack Skeen Jr.'s court.

In March 2005, Child Protective Services began investigating allegations of neglect and drug abuse. What they would find were children suffering ongoing sexual abuse and exploitation.

A two-year investigation resulted in Pittman being charged with seven felonies, along with Shauntel Loraine Mayo, 29, Patrick Stephen Kelly, 41, and Dennis Boyd Pittman, 45, all of Tyler; Shelia Darlene Sones, 48, Mineola; and Jimmy Dale Sones, 33, Brownsboro.

The alleged victims in the case include three siblings - who at the time of the outcries in 2005 were a 7-year-old girl, a 6-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl. The siblings' aunt, who was 6, was also allegedly forced to dance and have sex with the other children.

Jamie Pittman is the first defendant to go to trial.

On Wednesday, the jurors watched a two-and-a-half-hour videotaped interview Texas Ranger Sgt. Phillip Kemp conducted with the oldest victim when she was 8 and her 7-year-old brother. Their foster mother was also there to make the children feel more comfortable during the interview in November 2005, about eight months after the children were removed from their home by CPS.

The girl drew a diagram and described the inside of the club where they danced. She said there were two guards standing inside the front door and "Dennis" would sit at the front desk where people had to pay for tickets to watch the movies made of the children performing sex acts.

The girl said there were eight kids who would perform in the club. Her brother had to have sex with a teenaged boy for the movies, she said, and she would make movies with some of the other children. Jamie Pittman filmed the movies, she said.

The movies would be filmed in one area of the club and people would watch the movies in another area. People would also watch as they danced and performed sex acts. Each time she was asked about what they did, the girl would spell out "s-e-x" but refused to say the word.

The girl said the children were made to watch their own movies to see how they turned out and they made a new movie each week.

She talked about the adults who had jobs at the club and described what they did. Pittman would collect the money they made after their shows, she said.

The girl got food for her performances.

"I had to do it or I wouldn't get food for a week," she said.

Her brother got paid with food and money which, she said, wasn't fair.

She said the first time she danced, it was at the house of "Booger Red," also known as Patrick Kelly, and Ms. Mayo taught her how to dance.

The girl described a night at "Booger Red's" house when she was 4 or 5 when she said he choked a lady until she collapsed, while her kids were present, then he pulled her body off somewhere and she never saw her again.

At age 5, the children would begin kindergarten, where they were taught sex acts using dolls. At the school, the kids were called by numbers, such as Kid One. She said she was in the older group and had graduated from kindergarten.

Jamie Pittman would buy "silly pills" all of the children would take every time they went to the club, she said. "They made us feel like, to do anything. They made us feel silly and stuff ... They made us crazy," she said.

The girl said Pittman would beat them often with a paddle and described once when they were spanked for playing tag and running in the house. They were forced to pull down their pants when he spanked them. She said she was grounded for three weeks because she wore a sweater to church he had told her not to wear.

The girl said Pittman, Ms. Mayo and "Booger Red" burned the costumes the children wore at the club and the videos they had made because they didn't want CPS or anybody to know about them. They were burned in a trash pile behind "Booger Red's" house and they told the girl not to tell anyone, she said.

The 7-year-old boy told Kemp "nasty" things happened to him in kindergarten, but he didn't want to talk about it. He said his sister had to touch him when they were at the club and they played doctor for people. He also said they took "silly pills" and he named other children he did plays with. He said Pittman videotaped the skits they made.

He said Pittman would give him money for working. Other kids would come to his house, where they would practice with dolls, he said, and they had to watch "nasty" movies.

THE INVESTIGATION

Kemp testified he began investigating the "Mineola Swinger's Club" in November 2005 after the Smith County District Attorney's Office asked him to investigate the allegations. When the children - three siblings and their aunt - no longer had contact with the suspects, they began to divulge more information about what happened to them, he said.

He said Pittman orchestrated and videotaped an incident where the two siblings were forced to have sex with each other.

Kemp said people came to watch the children's shows, but he was never able to identify any of the spectators. He believes other people were there and didn't do anything to protect the children. He said he believed a lot more than the four children were involved, but he hasn't been able to find them yet.

Jeff Howard, the assistant principal at Brownsboro High School, testified that he fostered the young sister and brother for about six weeks, beginning in March 2005. He said the boy was a sweet child with a bad temper and anger problems and repeatedly soiled his pants. He said the girl was also sweet and was very protective of her brother. She was very affectionate and always wanted to please people but was also very emotional and cried easily.

When the boy's violence escalated to him throwing a baseball bat at Howard's wife and assaulting a teacher at school, he said he called CPS so the boy could be evaluated. Instead, CPS took both children from the home, he said.

Cindy Swoapes testified that she owned the building where the club was housed in Mineola. She and her late husband worked hard to make it into a day care but when her husband passed away she put the building up for sale. She said she rented it to Russ Adams, a man who told her he would use it for a place where disabled children could go with their families.

She said when she found out it was a swinger's club in the summer of 2004, she was mortified and immediately evicted the renters. She said she later found children were involved and it was a nightmare for her. Ms. Swoapes, who said she had never seen or heard of any of the defendants, has since sold the building, she said.

The felony offenses the defendants have been charged with include aggravated sexual assault of a child, sexual assault of a child, indecency with a child, sexual performance by a child, injury to a child, tampering with evidence and engaging in organized criminal activity.

Assistant Smith County district attorneys Joe Murphy, Zach Davis and Aaron Rediker are prosecuting the case while defense attorney Jim Huggler is representing Pittman. The trial is to resume Thursday.

PITTMAN
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