Five McMartin Parents Call for State Probe of D.A.’s Office

Five parents of children allegedly molested at South Bay preschools sharply criticized Saturday both the way prosecutors have handled the McMartin Pre-School case and a decision to halt a yearlong investigation of child sexual abuse in the area.

In statements ironically similar to those made earlier by support groups for the McMartin defendants, the parents, who held a press conference at a Manhattan Beach home, announced that they would ask state Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp to investigate the Los Angeles district attorney’s handling of the McMartin case. They also said they will ask Van de Kamp to lobby for changes in two laws pertaining to child molestation.

The request for a state probe came after a four-hour meeting Friday night with representatives from the district attorney’s office and a Los Angeles County sheriff’s task force assigned to investigate allegations of widespread child molestation in the South Bay.

At that meeting, 61 parents of children who attended the McMartin Pre-School were told that investigators have identified 17 additional suspects allegedly involved in abuse at five preschools and uncovered physical evidence of molestation of scores of children, but that no additional charges would be filed.

Reasons Given

Officials said many of the children involved either were too young to testify, had begun recanting their earlier statements or were being withdrawn as witnesses by their parents. They told the parents that the investigative task force would be disbanded.

“It was not a pleasant meeting,” said the father of two children who attended the McMartin school. “They told us that we have a severe problem and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“This is unacceptable. It is unbelievable,” said another father, who has one child who attended the school. “What we are facing now is open season on children.”

The parents bitterly complained about the 6-year statute of limitations on child molestation charges, noting that 2-year-old and 3-year-old children who report that they have been molested are too young to testify in court and are beyond the statute of limitations by the time they reach the age of 8 or 9, when they are deemed mature enough to testify.

Lack of Rights Alleged

Prosecutors “are essentially saying that those kids don’t have any civil rights,” one father said. “It’s the perfect crime because no one can testify against you.”

The parents said they would ask Van de Kamp to lobby for eliminating the statute of limitations on child abuse charges. They also want the attorney general to push for the legal admissibility of “hearsay” evidence in such cases--testimony by adults to whom a child has reported abuse--instead of personal testimony by the child. In addition, the parents said they want Van de Kamp to look into whether the McMartin case itself has been prosecuted properly.

“The district attorney’s office and Judge Aviva Bobb have done their job well in frightening off the parents from prosecution,” said a mother who had one child enrolled at the McMartin school. “They have prolonged the ordeal far more than necessary.”

‘Affirmative Defense’

The preliminary hearing for the seven McMartin school defendants--founder Virginia McMartin, 78; Peggy McMartin Buckey, 58; Ray Buckey, 27; Peggy Ann Buckey, 29; and three former teachers, Mary Ann Jackson, 57, Betty Raidor, 65, and Babette Spitler, 36--is in its 15th month. An “affirmative defense” under way by defense attorneys may take nine months.

Several parents at the press conference said Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner should consider removing at least two of the three prosecutors from the case because of reports that those prosecutors believe four of the seven defendants may be innocent.

“We need new prosecutors on the case,” one father said. “If we continue to have prosecutions like this, we don’t need more prisons.”