Back to www.endritualabuse.org
January 1,
2001
Response by
"Karen Curio Jones" to Mark Sauer's article,
"A Web of Intrigue" in the San Diego
Union-Tribune, dated September 24, 2000
For the past several years I have been an advocate for victims of child ritual
abuse and have published
information on the world-wide web in an effort to educate the public about these
disturbing crimes. I have
posted information under various pseudonyms in an attempt to protect myself from
physical retaliation, harassment, unfounded complaints to law enforcement or
other authorities, and frivolous lawsuits. See the Anti-SLAPP web page for an
explanation of California legislation to protect first amendment rights of
individuals sued in Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, i.e.,
"getting sued for speaking out." http://www.sirius.com/~casp/welcome.html
Since 1998, I have published an archive of Family, Juvenile, Criminal and Civil
Court cases on the internet, which involve allegations of satanism and ritual
abuse (link to Satanism and Ritual Abuse). This information is taken from
appellate documents, news reports, and occasional private sources. Based on this
evidence, it seems reasonable to conclude that there is sufficient information
to warrant specialized training for law enforcement (which there is in San Diego
County), social services, and the mental health and medical professions in order
to effectively investigate and assess these complex cases, as well as to provide
treatment for the victims or perpetrators. Such training must include critical
analysis of the historical and psychological data on cults and the traumatogenic
effects of abuse.
On 9/24/2000, reporter Mark Sauer wrote an explicitly invasive and defamatory
article about this writer in the
San Diego Union-Tribune entitled "A Web of Intrigue." His writing suggests
support for individuals attempting to
expose the identity of private citizens who are exercising their right to
anonymity on the internet. In support of
this article, Mr. Sauer quotes his associates, Carol Hopkins, who founded an
organization called the Justice
Committee, and Dr. Elizabeth Loftus from the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF).
He also quotes satanic cult leader Michael Aquino from the Temple of Set, and
Michelle Devereaux, a woman who "used" to think she was a victim of satanic
cults.
I have been researching the tactics used against people who speak out against
cult activity and against therapists who treat their victims. My research
suggests that there exists a calculated effort to silence victim advocates
through the use of manipulative set-ups, misinformation and intimidation. I
believe that Mr. Sauer's article is a result of these tactics. One can also
observe this activity on the witchhunt@egroups.com list, where advocates of
abuse victims, including myself, have been the subject of rude, ad hominem
remarks such as "kook" "nut" "crazy" or "demented." I believe the purpose of
this behavior is to drive off any serious opposition from the internet and to
discredit opponents. Maintaining my position against group assault from
supporters of VOCAL (Victims of Child Abuse Laws), the FMSF, various satanists,
and those promoting North American
Man/Boy Love (NAMBLA) material sometimes presents as a considerable challenge,
but I've always considered it a form of field investigation - to research the
natives, so to speak.
Mr. Sauer quotes his associate, Ms. Carol Hopkins, as follows: Ms. Hopkins
accuses "Curio"..."Her criticism of me on the internet was constant...She
accused me of protecting child molesters, claimed I don't believe child abuse
exists, insinuated I was a child molester. Curio was a big factor in my decision
to give up the Justice Committee."
Mr. Sauer fails to inform the reader that Ms. Hopkins has been publicly
criticized for her positions on child
abuse matters in San Diego.
Ms. Hopkins was a member of a Grand Jury in San Diego, California in 1991-92
which criticized Child
Protection Services and the District Attorney's handling of child abuse cases
(1). This Jury was composed
primarily of lay people with no training or expertise in child abuse
investigations and argued to dismantle CPS's
existing objective, rational protocol for ritual abuse investigations. The Grand
Jury also advocated the positions
of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) in their report -- four months
after its inception. (The FMSF
appears to have an extraordinary interest in discrediting ritual abuse cases and
has never proven the existence
of a "false memory syndrome," today or at that time). Another Grand Jury was
convened the next year and the
subsequent 1992-93 Grand Jury report corrected what they deemed to be
misinformation by the previous 91-92 Grand Jury (2). Years later, in 1998,
Hopkins admitted to consulting with Dr. Loftus of the FMSF on issues and cases
during the writing of the 91-92 Grand Jury report (3), despite their denials in
Mr. Sauer's recent article in September 2000.
Ms. Hopkins created publicity for herself after her Grand Jury work and her
advocacy on behalf of the accused
in the Akiki Case in San Diego, California in 1993. She then went on to
orchestrate media events on behalf of the accused in the infamous Wenatchee
Child Sex Ring cases. Ms. Hopkins managed to have a child witness in the
Wenatchee case placed in her custody in San Diego while simultaneously trying to
overturn that child's parents conviction for child molestation in Washington
State. Ms. Hopkins used this child/witness to advocate her position in a press
conference, meanwhile Mr. Sauer supported Hopkins involvement in these events in
a San Diego Union-Tribune article (4). Ms. Hopkins then claimed on the Witchhunt
list that Ivory Johnson, the ex-director of Child Protective Services in San
Diego County, personally monitored this placement, and Ms. Hopkins refused to
have a home study (5). This is extremely unusual practice and I believe, if
true, raises concerns about possible undue influence by Hopkins on this child
and on the outcome of the case against her
parents.
Throughout the years, Ms. Hopkins, in the opinion of this writer, went on to
unfairly criticize Children's Hospital in
San Diego and various physicians and therapists based on incomplete information.
She then quotes her own biased conclusions under the rubric of an organization
she founded which is ironically called the "Justice Committee." In my view, this
is a tactic by yet another self-appointed social critic, ushering in a new era
of Orwellian double-speak.
Mr. Sauer represents me as initiating a controversy about Carol Hopkins, but in
an article several years ago in
a local publication, the San Diego Reader, the author, Tim Brookes, reports on
Hopkins describing the controversy surrounding herself:
"As soon as the grand jury began asking questions in the social services
community, though, Hopkins was accused
of being a protector of child molesters and by implication
a child molester herself." (6)
I have never implied that Ms. Hopkins is a child molester, and I believe that
her statement in Mr. Sauer's article
accusing me of having done so is a common, repetitive and deliberate ploy to
make herself look like a victim.
Mr. Sauer, in his article dated September 24, 2000, reports that Ms. Hopkins
claims I "tracked" her to Mexico.
Here are the actual facts. Concerned citizens in the town of Cuernavaca, Mexico
contacted me in 1999, knowing of my postings on the world-wide web. They were
concerned about the position Ms. Hopkins was taking in that town - yet again -
on behalf of the accused perpetrators in a high-profile child molestation case.
Hopkins wrote an article in the local newspaper, the Cuernavaca Lookout, about
the child abuse "witch hunts" in the United States which reflected her typical
bias in these matters. A rebuttal to Hopkins article was written by a local
citizen (7). These and other articles about the Cuernavaca case were then sent
to me. I was dismayed to read that some of the parents and children claimed to
have been threatened to keep quiet or they would be killed.
Ms. Hopkins has a public web page on the world wide web announcing her business
in Cuernavaca, Mexico, as well as divulging her exact contact address on that
web page. Anyone who knows how to use the internet can easily find this data.
Therefore, Ms. Hopkins' allegations of unusual "tracking" by me in Mr. Sauer's
article are simply false. For Ms. Hopkins to conclude this, when she's made
public statements about her exact location, reveals more about her
preoccupations then her supposed trackers.
Mr. Sauer quotes FMSF member Elizabeth Loftus, alleging that my posts were
responsible for the bad reception she received in New Zealand recently.
Strangely, Dr. Loftus omits any mention of important information about her New
Zealand trip. Dr. John Read
was protesting Elizabeth Loftus' placement as a keynote speaker at an annual
conference. Dr. Read was a
member of the committee issuing the invitations and apparently he was concerned
about her controversial
positions about child abuse and memory. Due to the controversy, he resigned from
his post as Director of
Scientific Affairs. I learned about it via a public newspaper article and radio
show transcript which was posted
by an FMSF advocate on the Witchhunt egroups list (8).
Mr. Sauer quotes Satanic cult leader, Michael Aquino of the Temple of Set. Sauer
writes: "Curio claims that Aquino was booted out of the Army as a result of the
Presidio (child abuse) investigation," and that Michael Aquino said he
voluntarily retired in 1994.
Mr. Sauer fails to include in his article that the United States Court of
Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Aquino vs.
Stone, 957 F.2d 139, February 26, 1992 states:
"In 1990 a continuation board of the Army Reserve recommended discontinuing
Aquino's service in the Reserve, and he was processed out of the Army." (9)
(Here is the Lexis version of the opinion.) Mr. Sauer also fails to mention that
a substantial settlement was made to the parents in the Presidio Army Base case,
even though nobody was successfully prosecuted. Michael Aquino has never been
charged or convicted of any crime.
In November 2000, a new book was released, written by Noreen Gosch, entitled
"Why Johnny Can't Come Home." This book alleges disturbing activities by Mr.
Aquino and others, and alleges a political cover-up. She states that the FBI and
local law enforcement did not do their jobs and actually hindered the
investigation of her missing son. See her web page: http://www.johnnygosch.com.
I think any surface investigation of the controversy surrounding Aquino should
give any rational person pause
before accepting his statements at face value, despite the Ph.D and title of
"Doctor" attached to his name.
Mr. Sauer quotes Michelle Devereaux, who "used" to believe she was abused by a
satanic cult until 1999, when she became a "target" of "Curio."
Individuals who contact me via email may be persons of good intent, satanists or
persons with serious psychiatric disorders. Thus, I have always made it a
practice not to divulge my identity to strangers on the internet and I would
caution others to use similar discretion.
Ms. Devereaux first contacted me by email in early 1999, but due to her
escalating messages, I asked her to quit writing to me. She then established
contact again under another name, claiming that she believed that some harm was
going to come to me due to a number of individuals seeking to discover my
identity. She suggested that information about this should be added to my web
page. Later, she clarified that she was concerned I could be a victim of
physical harm. I verified her concerns by contacting the FBI office in San
Francisco, a Detective in San Diego who is now in the San Diego District
Attorney's office, and an arson
investigator in Washington State, who all confirmed that they had been given
general information that she was
concerned some type of harm was about to befall me. Because of that, in
approximately January of 2000, I asked the District Attorney's office to keep an
informal file on the matter.
I looked up past messages Ms. Devereaux had written and saw that she had
disclosed under her own name that she "used" to think she was responsible for
the death of infants, in addition to once believing her parents were satanists
(10). Ms. Devereaux then began following me. I asked her to stop it, as I did
not appreciate being tracked, especially after she admitted she could be
followed by other parties. She then began harassing me on the Witchhunt@egroups
list, of which we are both members, claiming she had taken my picture. It became
obvious that she had passed my picture around to the people she had earlier
inferred might want to
harm me, apparently trying to elicit a reaction. I documented most of this as it
was occurring on a public web
page. She then tried to take a public poll on the egroup list, asking if people
wanted to know my identity. She
was admonished to stop it by the moderator of the list, but it was clear she was
trying to frighten me. Then she
began making absurd statements and false allegations to the original detective I
had spoken to earlier at her
behest.
Soon thereafter, Ms. Devereaux contacted the San Diego State University Police
in furtherance of this ongoing
harassment campaign. This was shortly followed by Mark Sauer writing a lengthy
article that supported Devereaux's tactics, quoted substantial mis/disinformation
from his associates, and represented San Diego State Detective Susan McCrary and
Lt. Eddie Gilbert as sympathetic to this cause. I believe that what has occurred
is a good lesson in how law enforcement can be manipulated into cooperating with
devious
individuals or groups. As a result of the continuing false allegations, I
recontacted the District Attorney's office
about my concerns.
For the record, if I have ever misrepresented any facts, I am always grateful to
receive a correction; however,
my opinions are my own and they are not subject to change by threats or
intimidation. I've been writing simply as an anonymous concerned citizen, not
affiliated with any organization or selling a service.
If others would like to assist in publicizing ritual abuse cases, please
download copies of the ritual abuse archive and give copies to your local law
enforcement, social services, mental health and medical organizations and
request that training be offered.
http://www.newsmakingnews.com/karencuriojonesarchive.htm
http://alexconstantine.50megs.com/satanism_and_ritual.html
Thank you to everyone on the internet who spoke out on my behalf. I think the
message sent was loud and clear.
Cult groups and extremists supporting such groups are not going to silence us,
and these crimes against children will continue to be publicized.
Notes:
1. San Diego County Grand Jury, Report No. 8,
"Child Sexual Abuse, Assault and Molest Issues,"
June 29, 1992
2. San Diego County Grand Jury, Report No. 13,
"Protect the Child, Preserve the Family,"
June 29, 1993
3. Tim Brookes, "The Memory Wars,"
San Diego Weekly Reader, August 20, 1998, pg. 20
4. Mark Sauer,
"Teen says parents were wrongfully convicted/Case
was originally thought to be a satanic sex ring,"
San Diego Union Tribune, June 18, 1996
5. Carol Hopkins [forwarded by Greg Clarke], Witchhunt@egroups.com, March 3,
2000
6. Tim Brookes,
"The Memory Wars," San Diego Weekly Reader,
August 20, 1998, pg. 59
7. C.C, Cuernavaca Lookout, April 19, 1999
8. Adriaan Mak, Witchhunt@egroups.com, August 14, 2000
http://www.egroups.com/list/witchhunt
9. West's Federal Reporter,
Aquino vs. Stone, 957 F.2d 139; February 26, 1992
10. Michelle Devereaux,
Witchhunt@egroups.com.
October 13, 1999
http://www.egroups.com/list/witchhunt