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EDITOR’S NOTE: It is the policy of the Tyler Morning Telegraph to not identify the victims of sexual abuse to protect their identities and encourage the reporting of such crimes.

By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer

A 9-year-old girl testified Tuesday that when she went to “kindergarten,” she was taught how to perform sexual acts with her nieces and nephew.

The girl is one of four victims who were allegedly forced to dance and have sex with each other for an audience at the “Mineola Swingers’ Club” in 2004. The adults who made them perform collected money from the patrons but didn’t share it with the children, the victim said.

Shauntel Loraine Mayo, a woman charged in the sex ring case, was in 241st District Judge Jack Skeen Jr.’s court on Tuesday for the first day of her trial. Ms. Mayo, 29, could face five years to life in prison for engaging in organized criminal activity — forcing two young siblings to have sex with each other for profit. She could also face two to 20 years in prison if convicted of two counts of sexual performance of a child — inducing the two children to engage in sexual conduct or performance, according to the indictments.

In November 2004, Child Protective Services began investigating allegations of neglect and drug abuse. What they discovered were children suffering sexual abuse and exploitation.

The 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, and their 6-year-old aunt. The children are now 10, 9, 7 and 9, respectively.

Ms. Mayo has been indicted in the case, along with her boyfriend Jamie Pittman, 36, Dennis Boyd Pittman, and Patrick “Booger Red” Kelly, 41, all of Tyler; Shelia Darlene Sones, 48, Mineola; and Jimmy Dale Sones, 33, Brownsboro.

A 9-year-old girl, the aunt of the other three victims, testified she and the other children went to kindergarten, where they learned “sexual stuff … like how to have sex,” from Ms. Mayo, Jamie Pittman, Sones, Mrs. Sones and Kelly.

The children were also taken to a club, where they danced inappropriately while nude or wearing revealing costumes and had sex with the other children, she said. The adults collected money for the performances, but the children received nothing, she said.

The children were also given “silly pills,” drugs they took so “we didn’t know what we were doing,” she said. The performances were video recorded by Jamie Pittman, she added, and the children were told that if they told anyone, “they would hurt us.”

The fourth-grade girl, who wore a purple jumper, said she likes to ride horses, do artwork and collect stuffed animals, of which she has more than a million.

Ms. Mayo cried during the victim’s testimony.

Amy McDonald, a CPS worker, testified they began to investigate Ms. Mayo and Jamie Pittman in November 2004 for reported drug abuse and neglect. Ms. Mayo tested positive for cocaine and methamphetamine after being court ordered to get treatment, she said.

On March 7, 2005, Ms. McDonald visited Ms. Mayo’s home to meet the family and found Pittman, who was ordered not to have supervision over the children, there with the 6-year-old brother and 7-year-old sister. Ms. Mayo was called and told to come to the house but said, with slurred speech, that she was at work and could not come. Ms. McDonald said she later found out that during the three hours she waited for her, Ms. Mayo was hiding inside the home.

Pittman did not let Ms. McDonald inside, but told her there was no electricity and little food for the children. After watching the young girl try to separate two fighting pit bull dogs and the boy wander away from the house, she decided to remove them for their safety, she said.

The two siblings were placed in foster care. When the brother tried to bring up Ms. Mayo and Pittman, the sister told him to “shut up” or he would “make it worser,” she said. The foster parents expressed concern for the children because of their behavior. The boy had encopresis, repeatedly soiling his pants, and acted out sexually toward another little boy, she said.

Alexia Hunter, a CPS worker, said the girl had “over-sexualized behavior” toward men and once, while performing a princess ballet with other young girls, did a risque pole dance.

The siblings began to disclose bits and pieces about what happened to them and began to discuss having to dance with Ms. Mayo and others in costumes.

About seven months after the children were removed and were living in their fourth foster home, the 5-year-old sister came to live with them after CPS took her away from Ms. Sones. Ms. Hunter said the little girl also acted out sexually and said the children did “sexualized dancing” at a club for money, where Ms. Sones was the cook.

The children also talked about kindergarten, where they were trained to perform and the 7-year-old girl said she was made to have sex with her brother, she said.

Ms. Hunter said the children were fearful Pittman would beat them with a paddle.

She said the 7-year-old girl identified the club to her foster mother and described its interior without them going inside. The foster mother then took her to the Mineola police to make a report but during an interview at the Children’s Advocacy Center, the girl was afraid to talk to the officers. Later, she said she wanted to tell the officers the truth but the Mineola police refused to allow her back for an interview, she said.

Ms. Hunter said the children are doing great with their foster parents. The girls are taking gymnastics and plan to start cheerleading while the boy no longer soils his pants very often.

CPS Supervisor Kristi Hachtel cried during some of her testimony about the case.

She said Ms. Mayo refused drug treatment ordered by the court and after the outcries were made of the sexual abuse, the visitations they were allowed to have with the kids stopped and ultimately her parental rights were terminated.

Ms. Hachtel said the victims were groomed, first with watching pornographic mov-ies, then with fondling themselves and other children and escalating to the sexual performances. They were made to feel comfortable, like the actions were an everyday process for them.

“I’ve seen a lot and I never in my wildest dreams imagined this,” Ms. Hachtel said of the case. “They were preyed upon in probably one of the most heinous ways possible.”

She said the people they loved and trusted used their innocence to prey on them.

The grandmother to three of the children testified that on March 7, 2005, Ms. Mayo called her and asked her to come to the house because CPS was there. She said she saw Ms. Mayo’s car parked at the residence but she never came home. The woman said it was a hard decision to not take the children home with her and allow them to be taken by CPS. But she said she did it for them because she was afraid Ms. Mayo would take them back from her if she took them.

She said the experience has broken her heart.

Julie Baker Strokes testified she was the foster mother of the two oldest siblings for more than a month in 2005 but could not give them the attention they needed. She said the kids were always scared, hated bath time and being in the dark and had behavioral problems.

Texas Ranger Sgt. Phillip Kemp began investigating the “Mineola Swingers’ Club” in November 2005 after he was contacted about the sexual abuse allegations by Assistant Smith County District Attorney Tiffany Wickel.

He said the oldest victim described the inside of the club in Mineola, down to the “sex room,” where they performed, which had flowers and leaves painted on the walls. She also described a room with water in it and Kemp said he found a discarded sign outside of the building that stated, “No sex in the hot tubs please.” He also found a baby crib, children’s clothing and a book in the trash pile outside of the building, located off U.S. Highway 80.

Kemp said because all of the children’s stories were consistent, he said he believed what they were telling him. “That was their life,” he said of the children.

Ms. Mayo was involved in teaching the children sex acts, taking them to the club where they danced and providing them with “silly pills” or drugs, he said.

When asked by defense attorney Rex Thompson, Kemp said not all swingers are pedophiles and not all pedophiles are swingers, but he believed anyone who went to the club and saw those children perform were pedophiles who committed crimes.

Mineola police investigated the case for one day but Kemp investigated it for two years, he said, adding that no one from the Mineola Police Department ever contacted him about it.

On March 27, Jamie Pittman was convicted by a Smith County jury of aggravated sexual assault of a child and was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the sex ring.

Ms. Mayo has also been indicted for two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and two counts of indecency with a child.

Assistant Smith County district attorneys Joe Murphy, Zach Davis and Aaron Rediker are prosecuting the case, which will continue with testimony on Wednesday.