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

By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer

Three young siblings testified in front of a packed courtroom Wednesday about how they learned sexual acts in “kindergarten,” then graduated to the “Mineola Swingers’ Club,” where they performed for an audience.

Shauntel Loraine Mayo, 29, Tyler, is on trial for three felony charges in 241st District Judge Jack Skeen Jr.’s court for her involvement in the case. She 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, a 5-year-old girl and their 6-year-old aunt.

Defendants in the case include Ms. Mayo and 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.

The oldest sibling, now 10, likes to color more than anything else. She went to two different types of kindergarten — one where she learned school work and the other where she was taught bad stuff by the defendants, she testified. She learned how to touch the private parts of dolls, herself and the other children, she said.

“Booger Red” told her he would hang her and Ms. Mayo said she wouldn’t be able to eat if she didn’t dance at the club, she said, adding that the adults kept the money they collected from the audience. The girl also talked about how the defendants would videotape them performing sex acts at the club.

When she went to vacation bible school while in foster care, Ms. Mayo’s sister told her if she told anyone, she would get “Booger Red” after her. She said she was scared to tell anyone at first and was afraid no one would believe her.

She said when CPS came to their house, Ms. Mayo was hiding inside.

A CPS worker testified she waited for three hours outside the residence and told Ms. Mayo over the phone that she would have to take the children if she didn’t come home.

The boy, now 9, likes to play video games. His favorite is Sponge Bob Square Pants.

He never went to kindergarten at a school. He went to kindergarten with Ms. Mayo, Jamie and Dennis Pittman and Kelly. There, he said, the children were taught to do things he didn’t like. After kindergarten, they were taken to the club by Ms. Mayo and Jamie Pittman and, “I would do all the bad stuff.” When asked what he got for dancing, he said, “We only got our dinner.”

The youngest sister, now 7, likes to play Barbies. With a yellow bow in her curly, blonde hair and a flowered dress that matched her sister’s, she testified that she went to kindergarten with “all the bad people,” where they were taught “bad stuff.”

Ms. Mayo sobbed at times during the children’s testimony.

A 15-year-old girl talked about being taken to strip clubs with the oldest sibling, where they were given silly pills, or Vicodin, and danced. She said Dennis Pittman would sell drugs out of his house and also gave the children marijuana.

When she was 11, she said she was sexually assaulted by Dennis Pittman and was given a tattoo by him. They threatened that if she ever told anyone, they would find her and kill her.

Since the six defendants have been indicted, Dennis Pittman’s wife, Rebecca Pittman, has been arrested in Washington for her suspected involvement in the case.

On Tuesday, a 9-year-old girl, the aunt of the other three victims, testified about going to kindergarten and performing at the club.

LONG-TERM DAMAGE

Forensic counselor Dr. Gayle Burress testified that what the children went through would leave long-term damage. “They will never forget; they will never fully recover,” she said.

Dr. Burress said when a child is victimized by someone they love and should be protected by, they don’t know who to trust. She said there was a long period of preparation by the defendants in the case “designed to benefit adults while harming children.”

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.

The jurors watched a 2 1/2-hour video of an interview Kemp did with the oldest sister, then 8, and her brother, then 7, in November 2005. They told the Ranger what they were forced to do in kindergarten and at the club.

The girl described the inside of the club, down to the flowers painted on the walls in the room where she had to have sex with her brother and other children.

Kemp testified there was no doubt in his mind that this happened to these children.

He said an investigation to determine who attended the club is ongoing.

Margie Cantrell, the foster mother and now legal guardian to the three siblings victimized in the case, said when she got the children, the boy’s behavior was bizarre and erratic; he was very violent and angry. The older girl was more mature than she should be at her age and she was very sexual. The youngest girl was a “tragically sexual little girl,” she said.

Mrs. Cantrell said the children began telling her about how Ms. Mayo and others would teach them and force them to perform sex acts. She said people would pay to go into a room at the club and did whatever they wanted to the children.

She said taking in the children has been the hardest thing she’s ever done in her life.

“They were afraid of Jamie (Pittman), they were afraid of Shauntel (Mayo) but they really loved her,” Mrs. Cantrell said, crying

When they went to the facility in Mineola to see if they wanted to buy it for a group home, she said the girl told her that was the club where they had performed, she said, adding that they went straight to Mineola police to report it.

Today, the three siblings are “awesome” and beautiful, she said. “They’re broken but they’re healing. They’re real troopers.”

Jeff Howard, assistant principal at Brownsboro High School, testified he was a foster parent for the two siblings in March 2005. He said the girl was very protective of her brother and always wanted to please people. At times she was very emotional, he said.

The boy soiled his pants frequently and had an anger issue, mostly toward women. Once, he threw a baseball bat at Howard’s wife and put his hands on his son. He also assaulted a teacher at school — that’s when CPS removed the children from their home, he said.

Cindy Swoapes testified that in 2004, she rented out the building she had used earlier as a day care center to a man who claimed it was to be used as a facility where children with down syndrome and their parents could come. When she found out it was being used as a swingers’ club, she said she evicted the people. She said she felt betrayed and hurt.

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 and Aaron Rediker rested their case Wednesday afternoon and the trial will resume with defense attorney Rex Thompson’s case on Thursday.