Who’s to Blame in Molestation Case?

As a professional who has worked in the field of child abuse/neglect for Los Angeles County for 34 years, why do I think convicted child molester John Stoll is innocent (“ ‘Kids Don’t Lie,’ ” by John Johnson, Aug. 10)? 1) In at least 90% of the cases I have seen where child-custody issues are involved, allegations of molestation made by the other spouse are unfounded. In Stoll’s case, the allegations didn’t start with his ex-wife but were planted by an incompetent investigator. 2) The children immediately should have had a “scan” exam. 3) The children were led during the interviews--the same way that the McMartin investigators botched their interviews. The only mistake Stoll made was to rent his pool house to a man whose background and criminal history he did not check.

Sandra J. Meeker

Glendale

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I remember reading about the Bakersfield case a few years ago when most of the accused were being released and some measure of sanity was returning to the area. I recall being flabbergasted that some of the allegations were even more outlandish than those in the McMartin case, and wondering how anyone involved in the prosecution was being permitted to live among people with normal thought patterns, let alone to practice law. I felt that no such lunacy could possibly occur again, but are we back to the point where I can’t play Frisbee golf with my teenage granddaughter?

I hope that investigator Conny Ericsson and Child Protective Services worker Velda Murillo--smugly secure in their post-prosecution afterlives--never have to face a kid whom they have just chased out of their flower beds coming back at them, pointing an accusing finger. But if it happens, I am certain that they will be lucid enough to understand that they set the precedent of engraving in stone the mantra, “Kids don’t lie.”

Earl Eager Albert

Temple City

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For every child who bears false witness against an adult, many thousands are sexually abused. Of those thousands, few have the courage to speak up. Of those few, even fewer are believed. It bespeaks an alarming lack of conscience to sensationalize the unfortunate circumstances that occurred in Bakersfield without devoting a single sentence to the millions of children who have suffered and continue to suffer at the hands of abusers who are never found out.

Articles such as Johnson’s make it that much harder for abused children to find the courage to speak up, and that much easier for perpetrators to thrive. How sad not to consider the reality of sexual abuse in the lives of so many helpless and vulnerable children or to encourage those who are silent to ask for help.

Regina Sadono

Sylmar