And the beat goes on. This case is far from over; in fact, it’s just beginning. But it comes out of the same part of Georgia that recently won renown by attempting to ruin the life of Tonya Craft with 22 criminal charges stemming from allegations of child sexual abuse. Craft was acquitted of all charges and is now suing everyone who took part in the attempt to put her behind bars.
The salient feature of her trial was the wholesale disregard of established protocols on the part of the police and various mental health “professionals” in questioning the children. It was McMartin Preschool all over again with adults continually dunning the little girls until they gave them the answers the adults wanted. We’ve known for about 15 years the right way and the wrong way to question children in those situations. Tonya Craft’s accusers opted for the wrong way.
The latest case is that of John Mulkey (The Chattanoogan, 8/11/10). Of course, he may turn out to be guilty of child sexual abuse, but from what the article tells us, I doubt it.
Two years ago, Mulkey’s wife Casey died of leukemia, leaving him and their daughter alone. He works long hours, so the girl went to the Pacific Northwest to live temporarily with relatives of his wife. Eventually, his life smoothed out and his daughter came back to live with him on June 21, 2009. Interestingly enough, his daughter
had been told by her aunts that she was not welcome back in Georgia and that her father would not allow her to come back if she left them.
Parental alienation once removed; that’s a rare bird. And, as parental alienators so often do, his wife’s family moved on to bigger game.
Somewhere during that summer the relatives called to tell Mr. Mulkey that his daughter had made startling statements that he had touched her inappropriately.
And so, Mulkey was arrested last year and charged with – astonishingly enough – carrying a pistol in his automobile while there was a warrant for his arrest. The warrant was for sexual misconduct with his daughter, but it had only been issued the previous week and Mulkey had no knowledge of it. In Georgia it’s legal to carry a firearm in one’s car, so Mulkey thought he was acting legally.
Mulkey’s never been charged with any form of child abuse. He made bail, but his daughter was placed in foster care where she still resides. It’s been a year, but the State of Georgia has made no effort to try Mulkey on the weapons charge and no effort to indict him for anything else. So he’s stuck in a kind of limbo – out of prison, but unable to clear his name or get his child back.
And yes,
according to Mr. Mulkey, his daughter has repeatedly told him that she loves him and that she did not make the statements attributed to her. Apparently, according to Mr. Mulkey, any statements she made were only after the repeated questioning by her mother”s family.
It never seems to stop. Some people will do pretty much anything to separate children from their fathers, including the type of abuse to which Mulkey’s daughter was apparently subjected. But Mulkey can take some solace in knowing that Tonya Craft isn’t far away. Maybe he should go visit her sometime. They could compare horror stories and she could introduce him to her attorney.