Tyler

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

The third defendant to go to trial in the Mineola Swingers’ Club case, where children were forced to perform sex acts and dance for an audience, is scheduled for jury selection Monday.

Patrick “Booger Red” Kelly, 41, Tyler is charged with engaging in organized criminal activity and aggravated assault of a child for allegedly forcing two young siblings to have sex with each other in 2004. He faces five years to life in prison for each charge.

The defendant is also charged with tampering with evidence for allegedly destroying evidence in the case, including costumes the children wore when they performed for the audiences and videotapes of the children performing skits and having sex with each other. Kelly faces two to 10 years in prison if convicted of the third-degree felony.

Jury selection for Kelly’s trial in 241st District Judge Jack Skeen Jr.’s court is scheduled for Monday and evidence in the case will begin Tuesday.

Kelly’s defense attorney Thad Davidson filed a motion to continue the trial late Friday and the judge will take up the matter Monday morning during a pretrial hearing.

This week, John Cantrell, the foster dad for three of the victims in the Mineola Swingers’ Club case, was arrested on a California warrant charging him with aggravated sexual assault of a child for an alleged 1990 incident.

The victims in the Mineola Swingers’ Club case — three siblings who are now a 10-year-old girl, a 9-year-old boy, a 7-year-old girl and their 9-year-old aunt, all have testified that Kelly and his co-defendants taught them beginning at age 5 how to dance and perform sex acts in “kindergarten,” then forced them to dance and have sex with each other in front of an audience at the Mineola Swingers’ Club. The defendants collected money for the performances but only paid the children with food. The children were also given “silly pills,” or drugs, before they danced in the club.

In November 2004, Child Protective Services began investigating allegations of neglect and drug abuse. What they discovered, after the children were removed from the home in March 2005, were children suffering ongoing sexual abuse and exploitation.

Two of Kelly’s co-defendants have gone to trial.

Jamie Pittman, 36, was convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child and was sentenced to life in prison. His girlfriend, Shauntel Mayo, 29, Tyler, was found guilty of engaging in organized criminal activity and was sentenced to life in prison, as well as 20 year sentences for two counts of sexual performance of a child.

Defendants in the Mineola Swinger’s Club case who are awaiting trial include Dennis Boyd Pittman, Rebecca Pittman, Shelia Darlene Sones, and Jimmy Dale Sones.

Smith County district attorneys Joe Murphy and Zach Davis are prosecuting the case.