Used Films, Photos to ‘Diminish Resistance’ of Young Girls : Child Molester Tells Panel of Porno Ties

A 50-year-old convicted California child molester, testifying Thursday before a Senate panel, offered a chilling confession of how he victimized young girls for nearly 30 years, bribing and pleading to coerce them into having sex with him.

Surrounded by U.S. marshals, Joseph Henry--now confined to Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino--told senators he used pornographic films and photographs of children to “diminish the resistance” of the 22 girls ages 6 to 14 that he victimized from 1949 until he was arrested in 1978.

An “inextricable connection” exists between pornography and child abuse and cannot be ignored, according to Sen. William V. Roth Jr. (R-Del.), chairman of the Senate Government Affairs permanent subcommittee on investigations, which is considering tougher federal laws on child abuse, child pornography and child prostitution.

Behind the Photos

“It is chilling to realize that every photo on every page of every (child pornography) magazine represents the actual molestation of a child,” Roth said. “Every photo is a permanent record of the work of a child molester. For child pornography to exist, a child must be exploited--and, in most cases, physically abused.”

Henry said he often showed pornographic materials to the children he abused. “If a pedophile (an adult with an abnormal sexual desire for children) wants a little girl to do a certain act and she doesn’t want to do it, he can say, ‘Look, this little girl is doing it,’ ” he said.

He recalled: “I bribed my victims. I pleaded with them. But I also showed them affection and the attention that they thought they were not getting anywhere else. Almost without exception, every child I have molested was lonely and longing for attention.”

Henry, who later became involved in a child prostitution ring, added: “I cannot begin to imagine the damage that was done to those children by what I and the others did to them . . . . All I know now is that pedophilia is wrong.”

Rainer Hernandez, a 21-year-old UC Santa Barbara college student from Rosemead, Calif., told members of the subcommittee how he was abused by his uncle for four years, starting when he was 12.

Former Scout Leader

“To my knowledge, he never lurked around school playgrounds offering candy and puppy dogs to small children,” he said. “He was a former Scout leader, a former Big Brother with Catholic Charities, an elementary school teacher and a school counselor trained in child psychology. He used to take scores of boys on overnight camping trips, each one carrying a signed permission slip from their parents.”

Saying his uncle is serving a six-year prison term, he added: “As tragic as it all is, it could have been so much worse. I truly am one of the lucky ones. My parents never rejected me. They loved me then and love me now.”

Roth said he intends to introduce a series of bills that would strengthen existing federal child pornography and prostitution laws.