Meadowchik wrote:Going over the Marion Smith account again, the timeline begins with her lesson she gave at church, upon request, about the symptoms of sexual abuse. Children would come forward after that, then were referred to therapists including Snow. According to Smith's account, I might need to adjust what I said, in that the concerns about sexual abuse were already raised before the children spoke to Snow. If I go by the grandmother, it was Eileen the babysitter who had already been accused by a victim in the Brett Bullock case, and being the babysitter of her grandchildren, the father insisted Snow interview them. The first time revealed no abuse. Then Snow was informed of the accusations against Eileen, and it was then that the children are said to have disclosed abuse.
No. Just no.
The timeline begins in the summer of 1985, when Sheila Bowers of Lehi, Utah (about 30 miles south of SLC) first contacted ISAT (the organization the Marion Smith was director of) and Dr. Snow with concerns about her three children. In counseling with Dr. Snow, the children made accusations against a babysitter in their ward (Lehi Eighth Ward). This leads to Dr. Snow discovering a sex ring in that ward involving the Bishop and his wife (based solely on the accusations of children made during therapy; no evidence is ever found).
Upon further investigation, Alan Hadfield (another member of the ward and a supporter of Dr. Snow and someone who urged an investigation) is also accused of molestation and is
eventually imprisoned. (Read that sentence a few times and see if something doesn't make sense.) By 1987, Dr. Snow had accused
40 adults in Lehi of molestation and being members of a secret Satanic cult. No evidence is ever found; Hadfield was convicted based solely on the claims of the children and Snow's testimony as an "expert witness."
Against that backdrop, Marion Smith, living in Bountiful, Utah (about 10 miles north of SLC) is asked to give a lesson to her ward Relief Society on the "symptoms and treatment of child sex abuse." A woman in the ward expresses concern about her children, and Smith recommends she take her daughter to the ISAT, where they are interviewed and their accusations lead to charges of abuse against their local teenage babysitters. Eventually, Brett Bullock, a local architect then embroiled in a custody dispute with his ex-wife, is accused after she took their child to Dr. Snow.
From there, the accusations spread throughout the area. Marion Smith says "Ten children made allegations of abuse against adolescent baby tenders of both genders and against several men in the ward."
Bullock is sent to prison. Marion Smith is convinced that all the children who were "involved" with the babysitters in Bountiful need therapy, and says as much to her Bishop. He doesn't take action until his own son was named as a victim (presumably by another kid). The Bishop recommends 15 families take their kids to therapists. They do, and during their first therapy visit, the kids say they weren't abused, and most parents don't continue the visits.
In January of 1986, a babysitter named "Janice" that was used by Marion Smith's daughters (one of whom is married to Bill Carstensen) is implicated in the Bullock case.
Upon finding out that one of their babysitters might be a child molester, Bill Carstensen (who, keep in mind, is now believed to have been molesting his kids and been a part of the sex ring with
that same babysitter) "insisted his children be interviewed and made an appointment at ISAT with Dr. Barbara Snow."
Those are Marion's words, and she never explains why a child molester and member of a secret sex ring would insist his kids get interviewed by a therapist who had already discovered a member of his sex ring!The kids go to Barbara Snow and she finds "no problems" with them, and says "they seem fine." But then Barbara learns they had the same babysitter that had been accused in the Bullock case, so she re-interviews the kids for
two hours, at which point the eight year old starts talking about how the babysitter "puts crayons up us."
Many appointments follow, as well as a party to reward the kids for making accusations. The circle of accused widens, until finally the Miles are accused, and then Bill Carstensen.
Marion Smith's AccountA Rumor of Devils: Allegations of Satanic Child Abuse and Mormonism, 1985-1994