The New Witch Hunt

A.J. and Lisa Demaree of Peoria, Arizona have been through hell. It all started with taking a memory stick to the local Walmart for photo prints. Some of the pictures of the Demaree's three children, all girls under the age of five, were taken at bath time. Most of us have a picture or two of our children in the tub. Apparently a Walmart employee was so troubled by these pictures that they called the police. The Demarees house was searched and their children taken by Child Protective Services. After screening the family videos, in some of which the girls are playing nude, the couple was charged with child pornography and put on a sex offender list. Now after Lisa has been suspended from her job at a school for a year and she and her husband have spent $75,000 in legal fees the state has cleared them of all charges. All this for childhood photos most of us have both appeared in as children and taken of our own kids as adults. What happened to innocent till proven guilty. The pendulum has definitely swung too far. Story and sample picture here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=48024

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Alex - Tue Sep 22, 2009
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Comments

pedophiles are monsters. but we need to show some sense with these determinations. this is downright scary, decent parents being railroaded while we read stories of other children being returned to insane parents who murder them. common sense isn't all that common.

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 09/22/09 at 04:19 PM

Same thing happened to a couple at the Walmart in Salina Kansas a few years ago. The mother dropped off the film while on a shopping trip from a town in the western part of the state. When she returned she was taken into custody and interrogated. The local child protective services here after investigating decided the images were harmless. Nonetheless, Walmart policy is that if any picture contains anything, sexual, drug related, etc., the employee deems inappropriate or illegal the employee is required to call the police. Walmart admitted that in the course of the investigation.

Posted by jhwker in Kansas on 09/22/09 at 05:08 PM

yep cat $75,000, a 1yr job suspension and 3 traumatized children later everything is hunky dory. this fiasco should never have made it past the police search of the home. then the district attorney added his stupidity to it by bringing charges and carrying it on longer. and until someone is found guilty their name should not be put on a sex offender list. innocent till proven guilty. so it is okay to be accused of something you did not do without any real proof, have your life uprooted, and your young children frightened as long as several months or a year later a judge says case dismissed. wow.

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 09/23/09 at 09:16 PM

can't tell you the origin of the following quote but- "i may not be able to define pornography, but i know it when i see it." upon seeing the pics and home movies and searching the home it should have been obvious the pics were innocent family momentos and the situation resolved immediately. as to what is posed and what pedophiles look at, these family photos were just that and not displayed for public viewing. the children in this case were victimized by the system's lack of common sense, not the parents actions.

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 09/23/09 at 09:47 PM

yes but sears (and all the others) still print catalogs with similar pics. we can mandate erotica containing children illegal but no one is going to make all pics of children illegal. people have used steak knives to kill other people, but no one suggests making steak knives illegal because of it. prescription drugs are also often misused but still available. we can't stop some people from using everyday and necessary items for unintended and harmful purposes. we just do our best to protect the innocent both from harm and false accusations. hysteria driven witch hunts have marred mankind all through history and will reoccur as long as we exist i fear.

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 09/24/09 at 12:41 AM

thanks outeast. that's exactly what i'm trying to say.

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 09/24/09 at 07:50 AM

thank you martel. i appriciate it, and i'm a big fan of useless knowlege. 😊

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 09/24/09 at 04:37 PM

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