Call for Policy to Increase Protection for Victims of Ritual Abuse in San Diego, Part I - Page 2
© Ellen Lacter, PhD
4. Pfingst: "[T]he abuse conference as a whole looks like a well-put-together event. It's unfortunate they have this ritual abuse stuff involved. I plan to have someone there monitoring those presentations and reporting back."
Pfingst's statements communicate that the official position of the current District Attorney's office is to discount and discredit claims of ritual abuse. District Attorneys should not discount reports of any kind of crime. Ritual abuse laws and special ritual crime police units exist in other jurisdictions in the United States. District Attorneys should be interested in protecting crime victims and prosecuting criminals based on the evidence in each case. In cases of ritual abuse, Pfingst appears to be interested in protecting the perpetrators and prosecuting the victims and advocates.
There is no question that some child abusers use Satanic or witchcraft symbols and concepts to frighten children into submission and silence. There is also no question that some criminals worship Satan or witchcraft deities. There is a large body of psychological and criminal evidence of ritual abuse. Numerous court decisions (criminal, family, juvenile, and civil) have been based on findings of ritual abuse. One list is periodically updated and published on the world-wide web by "Karen Curio Jones" (http://www.newsmakingnews.com/karencurio... In August, 2002, 65 cases were presented in this archive. Many cases are yet to be archived. And in many ritual crime cases, they cannot be archived, because prosecutors omitted the ritualistic components of the crimes to avoid defense claims that charges were based on religious intolerance.
The most recently documented ritual crime case may be that of Russell Smith. On September 4, 2002, United States Marshals in Oregon arrested Russell Smith, accused child rapist and self-proclaimed Satanist. He was wanted by the Prince William County Police Department in Virginia for rape and sodomy of a child. According to authorities, Smith convinced a young girl to become involved in satanic rituals, and part of those rituals involved having sex with her (http://www2.amw.com/amw.html). Police found in his basement a goat's skull with a pentagram drawn on it, black robes, girls' underwear, and ceremonial candles. His license plate read "100P666". Smith was profiled on "America's Most Wanted" on 8-31-02. The broadcast led to his arrest. Due to this evidence, the Satanic group he founded as Rev. Sorath, "Order of Perdition", has since excommunicated him (Washington Post, 8-27-02, p. B03, 8-30-02, p. B01).
There can be no argument that reports of ritual abuse must be taken seriously. Yet, Paul Pfingst discounts them globally. If Russell Smith had been sighted in San Diego prior to his arrest, would Pfingst have instructed law enforcement to ignore the report?
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