01x01 - When The Swingers Came To Town

[bunniefuu]

[female reporter]
There has been another arrest
in the Mineola sex ring case.

[male reporter] Today,
a total of six men and women
have now been arrested.

[female reporter]
Smith County police say

they are accused
of forcing four children,
under the age of seven,

to perform
at a swingers' club.

The brainwashing,
that starts
at a very young age.

I wasn't just the only one
that was scared to speak out.

It felt like a cult.
The fear that was
instilled into us.

Words cannot describe
what these children
have gone through.

There is no case here.

This is smoke
and mirrors bull [bleep].

You know, the defense
just don't like the fact

that their client
got convicted
and got a life sentence.

I mean, let's call it
what it is.

I've called it
just a plain old
Texas frame-up.

They basically took
my childhood from me.

They destroyed me
and my family.

They were guilty. 100%.

I was told
keep your mouth shut
in this town.

Don't make any waves.

I made waves.

This is taken in our driveway

at Christmas.

'Cause I love them so much

and they've been so hurt.

My husband John and I
moved from California

to Mineola, Texas in 2004.

That town was so adorable.

It was fabulous.
We just fell in love.

Mineola is a great
little Texas town.

It's quiet, relaxed living.

It's a conservative community.

Most of the people in Mineola
are God-fearing people.

I don't go to church
every Sunday,
but I'm a God-fearing man.

The people here
are absolutely wonderful.

Mineola people
will do anything

to help their neighbors
here in a heartbeat.

It's not.

When we first went there,
it was wonderful.

But then I started
hearing stories.

Its nickname, by the way,
is Sodom and Gomorrah.

Always has been.

One day, I saw an article
in the paper.

Oh my gosh,
this is just unbelievable.

I didn't know we had
a swingers' club in town.

When we heard
about the swingers' club
it was a shock.

People said,
not in our neighborhood.

We just couldn't believe
that a swingers' club
was here,

'cause that's not us.

There was probably
maybe 10 couples,
and we played movies on the TV

and they all sit down
and got to
talking to each other

and then they divided up
and whoever wanted to go
with whoever,

that's what they did.

We could imagine
what was going on in there,

but we weren't part of it.

And it wasn't ill*gal.

But to put a swingers' club
around here

is like rolling a stink b*mb
into a Baptist church

and expecting
everybody to just say,
"Oh, that's okay,"

and keep on praying.

For them to put it here
was just, ugh.
Make you grind your teeth.

[Margie]
Because of the article
in the newspaper,

as a mom, I'm concerned,

and I'm a praying woman,

and so we drove up
to the swingers' club.

And we literally
raised our hands
toward that building

and we prayed and we prayed
and we prayed
that it would get shut down.

Right after that,
it closed down.

It was like it went boom.

It was here one day
and gone the next.

[Margie] I was elated.
They don't belong
in this town.

My husband, John, and I,
we're Baptist.

I accepted Christ
when I was 12 years old
as my savior.

In California,
I went to college.

I got my administration
in early childhood development.

And I passed it
with flying colors.

And so I became a foster mom.

When I started taking
foster children,

they were very troubled.

And I had made a promise,
don't give up on them.

And that's what drove me.

At one point, I was the mother
of 15 teenagers at one time
in the house.

We loved it.

But it was so hard.

And so in 2004,
we decided we could retire,

pay off a house,
and just start relaxing.

And that's when we
bought the house
on Lake Brenda in Mineola.

It was right on the lake.

Just fish and retire,
that was our goal.

At the time,
we had six children

but then my son said,
"You know,
you're such a good mom."

"Go help at least
one or two more kids."
And so I did.

And I was given Hunter,
Shelby and Carly,
to be my kids.

Before Margie's,
in the beginning,
we were just kids.

It was fun, we were happy.

[singing]
Happy birthday to you.

I loved my cap g*ns.

Used to play
Cowboys and Indians
with my older sister.

We used to ride bikes
with the kids down the street.

There was nothing really
that bad about
being kids back then.

But then things changed
in our life.

As a child,
I don't remember my dad.

I only remember my stepdad,
Jamie, ever being around.

Jamie and my mom
would get into arguments.

And sometimes,
my mom would pass out.

As kids,
we didn't really understand
the things between them.

And then one day, I remember
Child Services coming.

[Margie] The reason
that we were given
by the social worker,

why they were taken away,
was that they were neglected.

The parents were on
crack cocaine.

And so I took them in
because I wanted to help.

I remember the drive
to their house.

I was constantly asking,
so y'all live on the lake?

Thinking they live
in the middle of this lake
that we're going to.

And when we got there,
the house was nice.

The door's still broke.

Oh, wow.

This is different.

It is.

Remember that table, there.
Long table.

Carly is my little sister.

I have always been
protective of her.

When I was at the Cantrells',
I was very hyperactive.

I was, like, four.

So I was the baby.

Everyone protected me,
including Shelby and Hunter.

I never thought I'd be
back in the house.

Shelby and Carly
lived in this room here.

It actually looks
the exact same.

Margie was fun and bubbly,

kind of the mother
type of personality
that a kid would want.

John Cantrell's personality
was calming and laid back,

but not as bubbly and open
like Margie was.

John did teach us
how to fish.

We used to watch westerns
with him.

Well, I used to wake up
about 4:30 in the morning
before school

and go out and fish,

just 'cause I liked the peace,

and fishing was also
a passion of mine.

[Margie] Well, at the time,
life was okay.

But they were very troubled.

One day,
Shelby was down in the bedroom

and she had a pole on her bed
and she was doing
a pole dance.

This is just a little
seven-year-old girl.

And she's swinging her hair
around and she's doing...

it looked like
a rehearsed dance.

Hunter was a handful.

He was so angry and violent.

They were extremely,
extremely hard to handle children.

Very young
and very, very broken.

But we had promised
to stand by these kids.

At that point,
I had nine children
in the home.

And so, I thought,
if we buy a facility,

we can put the kids there
and I can run it
and have a good group home.

So I called
our real estate agent

and told her that I was
interested in a property
in town.

But this building was in fact
the swingers' club.

The lot was really large
that it sat on.

So we decided
we were going to go up

and see if we could see
in the windows.

[Hunter] When Margie took me
to the swingers' club,

she told us
that she was thinking about
buying the place.

Last time
I was in this building,

I think I was, like,
eight years old.

My sisters were with me,

John and Margie.

It's pretty hard to be in here
considering what happened.

[Margie] It was wet and moldy
and stunk.

It was nasty.

So I wouldn't let the kids
go anywhere.

And Hunter, Shelby and I
stayed by the door.

And then all of a sudden,
Shelby said,
"I know this place."

"You know, if you could see
in that room over there,"

"it has big white flowers
with green leaves."

So I said,
"Hunter, open the door."

She said,
"Mom, that's where
I had to dance."

"And you see that part
that goes like this?"

"There was a curtain on it
and Jamie was back there,"

"and I when I danced,
I had to go back
and give him the money."

I just froze. I just froze.

And then Hunter,
when we were leaving, said,

"If you look over
by the big tree,
my ball is there."

And that baby's ball
was there.

I called the social worker.

She said, "Get them to
the police department
immediately."

When I got to
the police department,

I filled out
what had just happened.

After I wrote
my report out,
they talked to the kids.

They told the police
that there was a room
called Jamie Pittman's room,

that they did dances and acts

and their mother, Shauntel,
would be there.

And they said
that they were trained
in a kindergarten.

My knowledge of a kindergarten
is kindergarten, school.

But it wasn't.

It was a grooming place.

I would think
that a police department

would go in with all barrels
and investigate.

And then I found out
that within two days

they closed the case.

To just go to
Shauntel and Jamie's trailer

and say,
"Well, didn't happen,"

it was like
calling the children a liar.

And they heard everything
from the kids.

The same outcries.

But the Mineola Police
closed it.

How dare them?

That put a million red flags
in my mind.

The first time
I heard about this case,

I thought, oh my God.
This is going on.

This incredible
child sex scandal.

These parents
had taken these kids
to the swingers' club

and they danced on stage
for money.

We need to really
look into this.

Mineola is in Wood County

and Tyler,
which is a large city,
is very close,

but it's in Smith County.

There is a real difference
in Smith County
law enforcement

as opposed to
Wood County law enforcement.

All counties in Texas
are very conservative

when it comes
to law and order,

but no county
is more conservative
than Smith County.

It has a long-time reputation

for throwing the book
at criminals,

for prosecuting hard,
for investigating hard,

for having a very high
conviction rate.

And so when
the Mineola Police Department

didn't pursue
the investigation any further,

Margie wanted something done
about it.

If the Mineola cops
weren't going to
listen to her,

she was going to find somebody
who would.

So Margie decides
to go to Smith County.

And the Smith County
DA's office had
an assistant district attorney

who handled nothing but
child cases

and her name was
Tiffany Wickel.

She had been part of the team

that had taken
Hunter and Shelby
away from their mother.

So when she heard
about what Margie was saying,
she became very alarmed.

[Margie] She came to
the Mineola police department
and basically tore them up.

Listen to these outcries
of these children

and what is going on.

[Michael]
And within two weeks,

Tiffany Wickel had brought in
Texas Ranger Phillip Kemp.

[Margie] Tiffany called me
and said,

"You need to bring
the children to Smith County"

"because the Texas Ranger
wants to come
and meet the children."

Ranger Kemp was very nice.

He was very good
with the children.

And he said, "And all I
want you to do
is just be there,"

"comfort them, you know,"

"walk them through it,
you know, it's okay."
That's what mommies do.

When I first met Ranger Kemp,

he came in with a cowboy hat
and a g*n.

Cowboy looking dude.
Sheriff looking guy
from a Western or something.

It was a little more exciting
than I'd probably
like to admit.

It's a bit confusing,
the folks involved in this.

And let me start at the top
with the eldest
of all the people involved,

which is Shelia Sones.

And Shelia
is Carly's grandmother.

[Michael] Carly's grandmother,
Shelia, was married to Jimmy.

[Michael] Booger Red was
the nickname of Patrick Kelly.

He was friends with
Shauntel and Jamie

and they'd hang out together
at his trailer in Tyler.

And it was in this trailer
where, apparently,

the sex kindergarten
had taken place.

Ranger Kemp's investigation
uncovered a sex kindergarten

in Tyler

run by Shelia, Jimmy,
Jamie Pittman, Booger Red

and Shauntel.

These kids had been indoctrinated

into this sex kindergarten

and then they had come up
to Mineola

and they had danced onstage
for money.

In these interviews,

these kids increasingly told
more and more things

about what happened.

[Gabby] This was one of
the last times

I actually ever saw
my parents

before I went
into foster care.

My parents were Shelia Sones
and Jimmy Sones.

Shauntel is my sister.

And Jamie Pittman was
Shauntel's boyfriend.

Shauntel has three children,
the oldest being Shelby,

the middle being Hunter

and then the youngest
is Carly.

I considered them
my siblings.

We were the same age.

We didn't have
the relationship of

"Oh, that's my niece."

It was more than that.
We were raised together.

And we called each other
brother and sister
all the time,

but they got to live together

and I didn't
get to be with them.

And I never understood that.

[school bell ringing]

I was seven years old.

I was in gym class

and I remember them calling me
over the intercom

to come to
the principal's office.

So, you know,
I'm sittin' here thinking
I did something wrong.

So, I went to
the principal's office

and that's when a CPS worker
came to pick me up.

She took me to
the Child Advocacy Center.

That's when
all of the questioning
with Ranger Kemp started.

[Gabby] My first impression of
Ranger Kemp

was a little intimidated.

He was a big man
with a g*n and a badge.

And he had a presence
about him

that, yeah,
he was soft and easygoing,

but it was also like...

demanded respect.

Shortly thereafter, Kemp
brings the first indictment

to a Smith County grand Jury
on Shelia Sones.

And in short order,

Shelia is arrested,

Gabby's put into foster care

and then,
not long after that,

Jimmy,

Booger Red,

Jamie Pittman

and Shauntel

are also arrested.

And the another man,
Dennis Pittman.

He wasn't related
to Jamie Pittman,

but he was friends
with Shauntel and Jamie.

This was huge news right away.

[Tamara] Mineola was such
a big part of my childhood.

So I was assigned that case.

It was a huge story.

You know, as a reporter,
you try to remain impartial,

but the personal side of me,

I was really upset about it.

It blew our minds.

It was just insanity,
the things that we heard.

So I was very thankful
that Smith County

actually stepped up
to the plate.

They did something
that Wood County wouldn't do.

The public was outraged.

People in the community
thought these parents

were the lowest-type people
on the earth.

What they did
was unforgivable.

We heard they were grooming
the underage kids.

We were really, really shocked

about what was happening
in that town.

And they kept it
such a secret

that no one in town
knew anything about it.

I first learned about it
in Iraq.

It was published in
the Stars and Stripes there.

And in bold,
"Mineola Swinger's Club"

and described
a big criminal case

about people
molesting children,

having them perform
on a pole

and perform sex acts.

[Michael]
I had never been to Mineola
before I worked on this story.

You feel like you are
going back in time.

You see the two sides
of the tracks

where you literally
cross the railroad tracks

and you are on
the poor side of town.

Trailer parks are everywhere.
They're communities.

They're like little villages,
little hamlets

on the outskirts of town.

However, John and Margie
lived in a house

on that little lake
just north of town.

From what I've seen,

they were, at first,
welcomed with open arms.

They were
conservative Christians.

They were career foster
parents back in California.

They were career foster
parents here in Texas.

They had their hearts
in the right place.

When I met Margie,
the first ten seconds,

she comes across
as very personable.

And somewhere around
the 15-minute mark,

you begin to understand

you're never gonna get
a word in edgewise.

And then, uh,
at the 30-minute mark,

you've heard
about all you wanna hear.

That was kind of
my introduction to Margie.

One day, my news director
really pushed me

to go and talk
to Margie Cantrell.

And I thought there's no way

that this woman is
actually going to talk.

But we went out
to Lake Brenda.

Lake Brenda is one of the
nicest areas in East Texas.

And I went up to Margie's door
and knocked,

and to my surprise,

she opened the door

and she welcomed us in.

I remember their house
was so beautiful.

I mean, it was huge.

These children had lived
in a trailer

and now they had
this beautiful house.

And it felt like it was just

this perfect portrait
of a home.

I sit down on the couch
and John was there,

but he was just
quietly in the background.

He just didn't say a lot.

I did try to talk to him
a few times,

but you just couldn't
get anything out of him.

He was pretty much like
a wall in a lot of ways.

Whereas Margie was
so engaging and personable.

All of times,
in those kinds of situations,

you do everything you can
to pull something out

and gain trust

and want somebody to
open up to you,

but she was so open

about everything
the children had been through

and how terrible this was.

I became thankful

that this woman was
helping these children.

And leading up to the trial,

I remember it feeling
almost like a Super Bowl

because there was just
so much tension.

The heartbeat of the town

was that finally
these children

were going to get justice,

and finally
these defendants

were gonna be
put away forever.

The 36-year-old Pittman

is accused of forcing
young children

under the age of seven

to have sex with each other
and adults.

[Michael]
Jack Skeen is the judge.

You did not mess around
with crime in Smith County

because Jack Skeen
would go after you.

Matt Bingham is
the elected district attorney
of Smith County.

Am I an aggressive prosecutor
of crimes against children?

You better believe it.

[Michael] And he gave one of
his trusted guys, Joe Murphy,

the lead on this case.

Words cannot describe

what these children
have gone through.

Uh, words cannot describe

the actions of
not only Jamie Pittman,

but all the other people that
are involved in this case.

I sat in the courtroom
every single day

and the mood was very tense.

Margie was in the courtroom.

You know,
she was a big part of--

I say the word "spectacle"
and I hate to even say that,

but that's what it was
in a lot of ways.

Exhibit number 20.

What is this?

[Michael] During the trial,

Ranger Kemp came in
and testified.

And do all
these outcries match?

Yes, they do.

Not only do you have that,

do you have the existence
of a swingers club?

Yes, you do.

[Michael]
He was entirely unflappable.

He was very calm
and very cool.

And they showed the
interviews with the children.

[Michael]
The prosecution's case was
the testimony of the children.

So they all testified.

[Tamara] They would open
the doors

and the kids would
just come out

and they were just
so adorable.

You just couldn't imagine
what they went through.

The girl worked here.

On the stand, she testified
of what it looked like,

describing the flowers
on the wall,

saying it's
what she would look at

while being r*ped
night after night.

They said, in return,
they got to eat dinner.

[Gabby]
During the first trial,

I was maybe seven,
maybe eight.

I was stressed out.

I was full of anxiety.

I'm looking around and I'm
seeing all of these people,

the man in the big black robe,

the news media was there,
there was cameras.

It was just an
overwhelming experience.

When I saw Jamie Pittman
sitting there,

I remember he looked sad.

And I remember testifying
and I...

had no remorse.

[Michael]
The trial of Jamie Pittman
only lasted three days.

And the jury came to
its decision very quickly.

When we went
into the courtroom

to hear the verdicts,

the kids were saying,

"It just has to be,
it has to be, it has to be."

They wanted this with all
their heart and soul.

[Tamara reporting]
It took less than ten minutes

for a Smith County jury
to find Jamie Pittman guilty.

And the kids went, "Yes!"

They felt very vindicated.

[reporter] On Monday,
Pittman's girlfriend

will be the second defendant
to face a Smith County jury.

29-year-old
Shauntel Loraine Mayo

is charged with
child sexual abuse.

[Tamara] Shauntel was
gonna be the big case,

because this was the mother.

People wanted to understand
how in the world

this woman could
have these precious children

and do something like this.

My name is
Ellen Gayle Burress.

I have a Bachelor of Arts,

a Master's of Science

and a PhD.

And until
I stopped practicing,

I was a licensed
professional counselor

and expert witness.

Everything I saw
about those kids

talked to me about damage,

about fear,

and a couple of 'em,

there was real...

shame.

[prosecutor]
Were you able to determine
whether or not

there was any type of grooming
that was involved

with these children?

Well, obviously, kindergarten
was the grooming spot,

in terms of getting them ready
to do in front of others

what they wanted them to do.

They had to teach them
to dance.

They had to teach them
to touch each other

and masturbate

and take off their clothes

and act sexy,

because 5-year-olds
don't act sexy.

[Gabby] By the time that
it had gotten to my sister

Shauntel's trial,

I had already been questioned
a million times.

I had already gone over
the testimony a million times.

I was tired of it.

I was-- I was ready to quit.

I didn't wanna do it anymore.

But, you know, I still kept
being hounded with

"Well, you have to do this.
You have to do this.

You have to get justice
for the others."

[Tamara] When Gabby
took the stand,

she admitted that, yes,

that she had been to
the Mineola swingers club.

And she said that she took
"silly pills" there,

she went to kindergarten,
that she performed

and she identified
her own sister, Shauntel,

as being someone
that took her there.

[Gabby] I remember
my sister sitting there

by her lawyer
and she was just bawling.

She was just--

[voice breaking]

She was just crying.

And I still remember...

not caring.

[Hunter] Seeing my mom
in the courtroom,

I'm not even sure
I recognized her.

I ask you to find her guilty
of what she's guilty of,

engaging in organized
criminal activity for profit

with her own children.

The jury deliberated
for two hours.

[foreperson] We, the jury,

find the defendant,
Shauntel Mayo,

guilty of the offence.

It was guilty right away.

[Hunter] When the verdicts
were read out,

we had absolutely
no emotion, you know.

It wasn't as if they were
really a family to us anymore.

[Tamara] When Shauntel Mayo
was found guilty,

it was a relief
for a lot of people.

I think a lot of people
were thankful

and that these bad people

who did these
horrible things to kids

were gonna be locked away.

[reporter] News from the
Mineola Swingers Club case.

Jury selection for the trial
of Patrick "Booger Red" Kelly,

a friend of Shauntel Mayo
and Jamie Pittman,

is due to begin early
next week.

[Michael]
Booger Red, Patrick Kelly,

was the one who had
the trailer where, apparently,

the sex kindergarten
had taken place.

So what they said is they
would first go to kindergarten

and get these dolls

and learn how to touch
themselves in different ways.

They would put on costumes
and doctor costumes

and would go out and perform.

[Tamara]
The things that the kids had
said about Patrick Kelly

were sensational

and dominated the headlines
before the trial.

But during jury selection,

there was a massive bombshell.

[Margie]
The Wood County Sheriffs
came in the front door

and barraged
on my husband John,

grabbed him up,

ran him out of the house.

We're like,
"What is going on?

What is going on?"

[Tamara reporting]
John Cantrell,

a man awarded custody of
three young siblings

who allegedly performed
at the swingers club

was arrested in Wood County.

They were arresting him
for molesting his daughter

20 years ago
back in California.

[producer]
How would you describe
John Cantrell's personality?

[Jenna] There's a phrase.
"A wolf in sheep's clothing."

He likes videos about
people being r*ped,

and stuff like that.

He likes little girls.

He would make me
watch it with him.

And when
I would close my eyes,

"No, you need
to open your eyes.

You need to see this."

I would tell Margie
what had happened

and she would say
I was a little sl*t.

"It's all your fault.
It's all your fault."

This is not true.

It didn't happen.

[Jenna] Margie is
a great manipulator.

She can make herself
and make you believe

she's right.

And you just get brainwashed.

She's straight evil.