Nick Bryant - The Franklin Scandal: A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse & Betrayal

The
Franklin Scandal

A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse and Betrayal

Nick Bryant

THE FRANKLIN SCANDAL: A STORY OF POWERBROKERS, CHILD ABUSE & BETRAYAL

COPYRIGHT 2009, 2011 NICK BRYANT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

PRESENTATION COPYRIGHT 2009, 2011 TRINE DAY, LLC

Published by:

Trine Day LLC

PO Box 577

Walterville, OR 97489

1-800-556-2012

www.TrineDay.com

Library of Congress Control Number: 2009926991

Bryant, Nick

The Franklin Scandal: A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse & Betrayal1st ed.

p. cm. (acid-free paper)

Includes references and index.

Epub (ISBN-13) 978-1-936296-44-6 (ISBN-10) 1-936296-44-6

Mobi (ISBN-13) 978-1-936296-45-3 (ISBN-10) 1-936296-45-4

Print/Hardcover (ISBN-13) 978-0-9777953-5-2 (ISBN-10) 0-9777953-5-7

Print/Softcover (ISBN-13) 978-1-936296-07-1 (ISBN-10) 1-936296-07-1

1. Political corruptionNebraskaDouglas CountyInvestigative Case Studies. 2. Political corruptionUnited StatesWashington DCInvestigative Case Studies 3. Child AbuseUnited StatesNebraskaInvestigative Case Studies.

4. Child AbusePedophiliaPanderingInvestigative Case Studies. 5. Franklin ScandalMechanics of cover-upNebraskaDouglas CountyInvestigative Case Studies. 1. Title

FIRST EDITION

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the USA

Distribution to the Trade by:

Independent Publishers Group (IPG)

814 North Franklin Street

Chicago, Illinois 60610

312.337.0747

www.ipgbook.com

Publishers Foreword

T his book has been on my desk for far too long; that it is even on my desk is in itself a story, and also a very, very sad commentary on the vacuous times in which we live.

I first heard about Nick Bryant long before I met him. The word came to me from folks in Nebraska: there was a reporter out there asking questions and saying he was writing a story about the Franklin scandal for a major magazine. Having pitched this very topic and other suppressed material to many magazines for years, I thought, Yeah, sure, sounds like a vacuum-cleaner operation to me. (Thats spook parlance for sending someone out into the field to see what they can dig up, whos where and whos talking, and about what.) It will never be printed.

A short while later someone gave me Nicks phone number; I called and we spoke. He definitely knew the subject, and seemed undaunted by the challenges of reporting this tragedy. I had asked several other writers to look at the situation and pen a book; all came back and said they had kids and were frightenedall turned me down. So, Nicks courage impressed me, and then there was his advocacy, concern and heart-felt empathy for children, especially the disadvantaged and challenged.

I told Nick TrineDay wanted to publish an in-depth look at the Franklin scandal. He said he was looking to do the same, but he was hoping to get it placed at a major publishing house. Nick was a successful freelance journalist living in Manhattan, with many friends in the news and print fields, and he was actively shopping a magazine article and a book project around the city. He was with Americas top literary agencysurely they could do something.

New York wont print it, but we will, or at the very least, they may publish it because they know TrineDay will, I bluntly said at the time.

For the next couple of years we stayed in touch. Nick would let me know of his progress, or lack of it, with NY magazine and book publishers, and I would send him TrineDays latest outputs.

Later, after his agency dropped him, apparently, over this very story and his magazine article was turned down by everybody, TrineDay brought Nick out to Oregon; we met, sized each other up, and soon agreed to work together.

Now, years later, finally, a book. One that answers many questions, while spawning more. A big one being, Now, what?

What can we the people do when our institutions are so debased that terrible child abuse is covered up using some of our most vaunted governmental agencies, and our free press actively misleads us, participating in a venal bamboozlement of our body politic? How and for whom does this system operate when the watchdogs of the press turn into the lap dogs of the corrupt?

Inveterate champion of the Franklin cause, lawyer John DeCamp, tells the story of a judge, who, when asked in chambers about why this scandal keeps getting covered up, even though everyone knows its for real, said, You wont like it, but this will help you understandread Billy Budd . To make a long story short, the judge was implying that sometimes one must allow evil to happen for the system to survive, that the tragedies of a few dont measure up to the security of all.

To that self-serving delusion I say, Hogwash!

There is no system so sacrosanct that it can condone sadistic child abuse. The terms honey-trap and national security do not absolve dirty deeds done at the expense of us all; those are simply terms used to deter investigations and consequences. In my opinion, any security bought by such a debasement brings us nothing but a deep stain. I believe an honest look at the facts reveals private agendas, systemic corruption, and very real, horrific abuse not legitimate statecraft. Therefore, I hope and pray that this book will help us, We the People, take notice of this gross crime and take some long overdue action.

What kind of action? Stand up, speak out and tell your friends. Get outraged, write your elected representatives, call your local newsask them to cover this story. Get involved locally with your feet, speech and heart. Get involved globally on the Internet. For in this computer age, we the people do have tools to bring about true change. Do we have the courage, the will? We shall see, for time has certainly brought us a way.

Peace,

Kris Millegan

Publisher

TrineDay

June 15, 2009

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

attributed to Edmund Burke

Acknowledgements

T he vast majority of this books narrative was derived from official records and from the interviews I personally conducted over the course of years. Given that many of the interviewees are identified within the text, I feel it would be redundant to name them here, but I am extremely indebted to their contributions. I would also like to thank those persons I interviewed whose names didnt make it into the text, either because they wished to remain anonymous or because I omitted their names for the sake of simplifying the narrative. I would especially like to thank John DeCamp for providing me with my initial foothold and continued support, and Dirk Gillespie for providing me with shelter during my numerous trips to Nebraska. Scores of people have given me encouragement and feedback over the years, but I would explicitly like to thank Mark Connor, Michael Rhodes, Charles Young, David Beilinson, Ann McNamee, Mathew Pritchard, Daniel OBrien, Marta Curro, and Shelley Stenhouse. Finally, I thank TrineDays Kris Illegal, who had the courage and fortitude to embrace this project after several publishers passed on it, and also TrineDays Russ Becker for his editorial acumen.

Dedicated to Jerrold Ballinger and also to the Voiceless

Table of Contents

Introduction

A s I sat in the reception area of a prominent national magazine headquartered in Manhattan, I had a nasty secret I was about to tell its editor. The secret wasnt my secretit was a national secret that had been buried for nearly two decades. I had previously let other magazine editors in on the secret, but it was so divorced from day-to-day reality that I encountered only dismissive skepticism. I was acutely aware that my upcoming meeting would mark my last face-to-face stab at pitching the story to the editor of a major national magazine, and I wanted it to count. The reception area was a beehive of activitymagazine employees and delivery men flitted in and outbut I tried to remain focused on the task at hand.