All language subtitles for How.To.Create.A.Sex.Scandal.S01E03.720p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-NTb

There have
been further shocking developments

in the Mineola Swingers
Club Case today.

With defendants Jimmy Sones
and Shelia Sones now free
after taking plea deals,

the convictions of three of
the other defendants

look increasingly likely
to be overturned.

After the lawyers for
the Jamie Pittman,

and Shauntel Mayo and
Patrick Kelly cases
filed appeals,

the 14th Court of Appeals
threw out those verdicts,

based on numerous
evidentiary errors

that the court said that
Judge Jack Skeen had made.

And this was something that
the defense attorneys

had complained about
the whole time,

Skeen seemed to
be siding with the state

and he did it to such
an extent that the court threw
out those verdicts.

He went to all the other
defendants and offered
them plea bargains.

To plead guilty
to injury to a child

and time served
so they could get out.

But Dennis Pittman
still had an appeal pending

and so Dennis wasn't
offered the plea bargain.

It was assumed he would
get out shortly afterwards,
like the others.

But by then,
Patrick Kelly,

Jamie Pittman and Shauntel
had been in jail for
almost four years.

Matt Bingham, one
of the most law-and-order
prosecutors,

makes a deal to let out

a bunch of the most
perverted, maniacal,

criminal monsters
that had ever struck Texas?

If Matt Bingham really
believed that they
had done what

he had prosecuted them
doing for four years,

do you really think
he would have let them go?

Absolutely not. They would be
rotting in prison for the
rest of their lives.

Patrick Kelly,
nicknamed Booger Red,

was sentenced to life
in prison for his role in the
alleged child sex ring.

I was locked up for
almost four years.

When I was in prison,

they overturned my case and
offered that plea
and I accepted it.

I was tired, I wanted
to get out.

I wanted to see my family.

I wanted to see my mother.
I wanted to see my brother,
my wife, my son.

What's up bud?

This is my world right here.
I will fight a grizzly
bear for him.

I'm not that good anymore,
but I'll still try.

I'll give him my best shot
that's for damn sure.

When he actually went
to jail and they told me

that's what they're accusing
him of and the DA tried to
get me to turn against him.

I told them they're crazy

because my dad ain't
never done anything like that.

'Cause it...

That was just all made
up stuff in their head.

To me, that's the worst thing
in the world for you to do,

is to molest a child,

But yet I got convicted
on hearsay.

It's what was said,
no proof of anything,
it's just what was said.

I mean, these people
don't even know me,
know nothing about me,

just because of my nickname,
I was the devil.

For Margie Cantrell to
do the things she's done,

to brainwash them kids
to say the things they said,

because these kids are going
to be traumatized
for the rest of their lives.

Margie Cantrell is a monster.

This is Margie
and John Cantrell

and all of their
foster children.
And my three children.

That woman and
that man stole my life.

Prison was hard.

I learned how to fight.

I was sexually abused
in prison,

by a group of women.

I was very targeted.

There was no
reason to live anymore.

But I knew that God wasn't
going to leave me there

I didn't know how long
it was going to take
to get me home.

I filled my time with
Bible studies and law books.

In 2011, I could have probably
took my bar exam and passed.

That's how hard I worked.

After I got out of prison,

I knew by law,

I would never get to have
contact with my kids

until they were
18 and they found me.

It was... it was horrible.

Margie was an attention hog.

Her appearance to the
public was important to her.

So when we went on outings
like this, I remember
this is at the zoo.

I remember
this picture.

This was more
of just like a show of like,

like "Oh, hey, I got
this big happy family."

But it was pretend.

Behind closed doors,
this was not true.

The entire time with
the Cantrells was

the worst time of my life.

Being back here
brings back a lot of memories.

I was always worried.
Always scared.

Margie was just,
she was an animal.

The back scratcher was
the main punishment
for everything.

They would pull
your pants down,

whoop you with that,
we'd have welts

on our backs and everything.

And you weren't
allowed to cry.

If you cried, you got
whupped again.

Making Margie angry
was as simple as

taking a cookie,

just 'cause you didn't ask
permission for it.

Or going outside
without permission.

Or talking to the
neighbors without permission.

It was everything, you know,
we... we couldn't be kids.

We weren't allowed to.

I remember the time
whenever I'd used all the
blankets in the closet

she had repeatedly bashed
my head into the doorframe,

she used to drag us across
the floor downstairs.

I think the worst
thing that happened to me

was when my head
got slammed into
the tile floor.

It was right around here.

I ran away and she was yelling
and stuff about me leaving.

She ended up slamming my head.

I was on my knees and she
ended up slamming my head.

I was downstairs and
I heard the crash on
the tile and I ran upstairs,

and I saw Carly on the ground,

it really set me off.

It was just something
you didn't do.

You didn't put your hands
on my sisters, no matter
what you did.

Carly's never been struck.

Carly has never had a spank
and a swat, nothing, ever.

Hunter was.

Not by the back scratcher.

I can sit here and say,
"Oh, no, no, no, never."
No, no I did.

I slapped him a few times.
I popped him in the
mouth a few times.

Not long after that, a hearing
was held in family
court in Tyler.

Finally, the world's gonna see
who these people really are.

Our top
is about the hearing
that took place today

regarding the welfare
of the foster children

currently in the care
of John and Margie Cantrell.

Those children were the
victims of the Mineola
Sex ring trials.

Representatives from
Child Protective Services
and attorneys

were in court to hear
the judges remarks about what
to do with the children

currently in the
Cantrell's home.

The allegations of abuse
came from multiple children.

One child alleged being beaten
with a wooden back scratcher
until it snapped

And another alleged that
Margie Cantrell popped her
in the mouth and slapped her.

The children were ultimately
removed from Margie and John,
um because of physical abuse

They didn't make that choice.
I made that choice.

Like they said, um,
"These are her kids.
She can relinquish them."

And I chose to relinquish
the conservatorship.

Also in the
courtroom was Shauntel Mayo,

herself a defendant in the
Mineola Swingers Club case

and the mother of three
children removed today
from the Cantrell household.

My heart's relieved,

because they've known
before my kids
were put in there.

They took them out
of a good loving home,

granted there was issues in
our home, but it wasn't
issues that was accused of.

And put them into a worse
situation for nine years,
they've been abused.

So that's not true.

and this is the lies they
were spreading in the
news about us.

Throughout the
Swingers Club Sex Ring Trial,

foster mother
Margaret Cantrell
was instrumental

instrumental in exposing
the alleged abuse
in Mineola and Tyler.

However with these fresh
accusations about
her own conduct,

the credibility of some
of her statements has
come into question.

I believe, uh,
from looking at that,

that, uh, we were
played in the media.

To take innocent people
and start slamming
them is disgusting.

I think, over a
course of time,

we might be seeing very
interesting statements
from these kids

about what actually
happened to them.

It's Thad Davidson, just
pushing it and pushing
it and pushing it.

"If we can ever get the
children away from
Margie Cantrell's custody,

we can get them
to tell the truth."

- Would you guys like
to say anything?
- No.

- No, I don't think
it's proper.
- Nah.

What do you think about these
allegations that are
being made against you?

We don't even know
most of them yet.

- Margaret!
Don't talk to him. Go.
- Yes, Ma'am.

Yes, Ma'am.

- No.
- Go, hurry up.

Go.

Would you like to
say anything...

We decided that the
best thing, is to go
back home.

Home was always Vacaville,

where we were loved,
where people knew us,
knew what we were like

And it would be better.

Yes, it was a dream home.

But we loaded what we could
load in a U-Haul and
a trailer behind it.

And everything else that
we ever owned,

was left behind.
We locked the door,

and we drove away.

When they came
to get us, I felt like
it's about time.

It had been so many years
dealing with her

it was just a major,
major feeling of relief
to get out of here.

I was having a lot
of issues with

my adopted parents.

We were not seeing eye to eye.

And so I was you know
like, "What can I do?"

And then I thought
about it, and I was like,

"Well, I... I can look
up my dad."

And I got the idea to
look him up on Facebook.

We wasn't allowed to have
any type of contact
with Gabby.

Uh, she would had to been
eighteen years old before

we were supposed to have
contact with her.

I got a Facebook page and all
that stuff and I posted
a lot of stuff in there,

pictures and stuff of Gabby.
And I left it open
to the public.

And that's how I found
him and then I contacted him.

She gave me her phone number.

I called her and the next day
her and her boyfriend
come out to visit.

As soon as I got
out of the car,

tears were running
down my eyes

and I just embraced her.

I don't even know how long
we stood there hugging.

It was a happy,
very happy emotional day.

He hugged me
for a really long time.

It had been
eight years

since the last time
I'd seen him.

At that time,
I was having a lot of problems
with my foster parents

and so I... I just
had enough.

I ran away and
I never looked back.

When she ran away,

she called me wanting me to
come pick her up.

So, I did.

I damn sure wasn't
gonna turn her down.

There was no way I was
going to be able to come home,

not actually having
formally recanted.

Jimmy read some of my stories

and in 2014 called me up.

And he said, Gabby really
wants to talk to you.

And so, we met at
this truck stop,

and all of a sudden,
this big rig comes pulling
into the parking lot and

Jimmy gets out
and he's... he's he's got this
Duck Dynasty shirt on.

And... and there's Gabby,
who just looked like
a goth teenager.

They came in, and they
sat down, and, and
she was real nervous.

I remember her,

her leg going up and down and

she just started spilling.

Can... can I read what
she said?

She told me that everything
they'd said was a lie.

"Sex kindergarten,
the swingers' club.

Their parents and all the
other adults were innocent.

She said, "They literally blew
up my mind and
planted stuff in it.

I'm furious about it.

They lied to me, they used me,
they screwed up my life.

And she said, my ultimate goal
is for this to be overturned.

My goal for myself
is just to tell the truth."

And not only Gabby, but Hunter
recanted as well.

When I got a bit older,
I actually pulled
my older sister

aside and asked her, you know,

do you actually remember

any of this swingers club
stuff happening?

'Cause I started realizing
I don't remember any of this.

And that's when it really
clicked that Margie

brainwashed us.

In the beginning, she asked me
if anybody had touched us and
things like that.

At first I said no.

But eventually, I just
basically started repeating
what Margie had been asking.

My name is Dr. James Wood.

I'm a retired professor of
psychology at the
University of Texas at El Paso

A lot of my research has been
on child interviewing,
child suggestibility.

One of the more amazing things
was just seeing those

interviews and then
how they were conducted.

Okay.

Introducing information.
So we've had, uh kindergarten
and did anything nasty happen?

And you put them together.
So you've actually
linked the two ideas, so that

suggests to... to Hunter, we
want a statement about nasty
things in kindergarten, right.

That's coming from
the adults, not from him.

Where did that happen?

Margie is the last
person you want
touching that

child as you try to get
a statement from him.

She's pressuring him.

She's demonstrating her
control, she pulls his
hands down like that.

She's giving him
a lot of signals about,

you're gonna do
what I want right now.

Another suggestive
interviewing technique is

giving positive feedback,

which is praising a child
for making an accusation.

Saying, "You're doing
a great job."

When Margie is with Shelby
or Margie is with Hunter,

one thing is you could say,
well, that's
their caretaker, right?

But in the case of Gabby,
they had no relationship.

She wasn't her foster child.

And yet Kemp brings
Margie in to question Gabby.

They would pull us
into this room.
It was a small white room.

It was just the same question,
just in different words, over,
and over again.

Just hours of the
same question, wanting me to
change my answer.

So they can't get her to
change her story.

So they put her in a room
with Shelby and let
Shelby interview her.

Totally in violation.

You're not supposed
to have children question
other children,

and you're not supposed
to have children pressure
other children.

Margie Cantrell

and Ranger Philip Kemp

violated just about
every rule in the book

for good interviewing
of children.

It was crystal clear

that the children were
subjected to very intense
pressure and

suggestive questioning by
Ranger Kemp and
Margie Cantrell.

It was Margie
Cantrell telling them

that these things happened.

So it's like, if you tell the
kid there's a Santa Claus and

and if you're not good,
Santa Claus won't bring
you anything

and you're putting that belief
in that child's head.

Then you could put the
bad beliefs in there too.

None of this stuff
actually ever happened.

We were manipulated
in to believing it.

When I finally realized
the sex scandal never happened

and she knew it never happened
I didn't understand why

she forced a child
into telling you something
that didn't happen.

We learned much later

the reason she's doing this

is because
the worse the child is

then the more
the foster parents pay.

And so, Margie started saying
that the children had told her

that they
were sexually abused.

Margie Cantrell
got a lot of money

for Shelby, Hunter and Carly.

The more messed up they were

the more money she got
for taking care of them.

I think it's horrific.

She was creating
this horrible backstory for us

so that she could get paid.

Margie just needed the money.
She wanted the money.

She would brag,
"Oh yeah.

John, John, now if we say
this about this kid,

then, you know we can get
$1,500 for that kid."

So everybody,

even if they
didn't have issues,

they were
going to "have issues"

when they
got to the Cantrell's house.

From an
economic point of view,

if she has these three foster
children staying with her,

they typically will be
returned to their parents.

But if the parents
are convicted

and they're put into jail,

then the children are
not going to be returned
to those parents

and they become a steady,
reliable source of income.

That's how we
learned that each one
of these children they got,

every single child,

their level escalated,
so that they made more money.

Yes, I was.

I heard

through one of the articles
that it was 3000,

maybe like 700 per child.

I wish.

But no, never, ever,
ever was that true.

You're never paid

to take care
of these children.

You have to put
the money out first,
support them.

It's a reimbursement plan
that the state has.

And as one would come in

that might have been
a fire starter,

um poke the eyes out of cats,
rip their limbs off,

they would definitely require
about $1,400 a month

or something like that.

That would be much more but
that's a 24-hour type child.

Margie is
a master actor.

She's totally alive when she
gets to play hero to the jury.

She's totally alive
running around the countryside

talking to whatever law
enforcement agent is foolish
enough to listen to her

about how these poor kids
have been traumatized

and damaged
by all these evil people,

but I'm here to save them.

But it's actually just a con.

It's just a money scam.

I did my job.
I did what I was
supposed to do.

And that's where
my part ended.

Even though people can hate me
and try to blame things on me,

I did not know the
inner workings of this case,

nor the people, nor anything,

and then you start hearing

well you
made it all up Margie,

you made this whole thing up.

And now I'm on trial.

But, where's the kids
in the mix?

Listen to them.
Maybe talk to them more.

Maybe another forensic...
I don't know.

But somewhere lies the truth.

After everything
I've been through and
everything I've seen,

I don't think
they had a choice.

But Shelby says
this is her truth

and she stands by it
to this day,

and that's the end
of her story.

I probably couldn't say
anything to her.

I would...
I would probably just leave.

They basically
took my childhood from me.

They did steal my memories.

With everything that happened,
I never thought I'd ever see
my mom again.

I can imagine it hurt a lot

to have your children
testify against you,

and put you in prison
for something you didn't do.

And knowing that they were
manipulated into doing it.

It must have been hard.

"The record will reflect
Hunter pointed to
and identified the defendant."

Having my son testify
against me broke my heart.

It broke my spirit.

It broke my spirit
for all the kids.

There was no reason
to forgive him.

I've never blamed my children.

From day one,
I've known that it wasn't...

it had nothing to do
with the kids.

When we were reunited
after all these years

my mom was
just so happy to see me,

she... she couldn't control
her feelings seeing me,

I mean she busted into tears.

She was hugging me.
She wouldn't let me go
or anything.

I didn't think
that I deserved

the chance to...
to be his mom.

I couldn't believe that he
even wanted to be around me.

Because they wouldn't have
been taken from me

if I hadn't started
doing drugs in 2003.

It was my fault.

It's always been my fault.

After I got out of prison,

I would have
major anxiety attacks.

I couldn't handle it,
I couldn't get a job.

But Jamie held my hand and

taught me how to live again.

My children haven't
forgiven me completely.

But I have.

and I had to forgive myself

because I couldn't be a mom to
them without forgiving myself.

After I had recanted,

the reuniting
with my mom happened.

It was really emotional. Uh,
she didn't know I was coming.

I remember she was...

she was
watering some plants out,

uh, by the porch area
that they had.

This truck pulls up.
It was Jimmy in the...

didn't know who the hell that
was in the passenger seat.

Then they both
got out of the truck.

And I finally realized...

who she was.

I dropped my water hose and

I grabbed
that child up so fast

and so hard
and I hugged her so long.

I didn't want to let her go

and I didn't want her
to go away.

Look how cute you were.

Not that you're not cute now.
You're adorable.

She was like, "I can
either be your best friend,

or I can step back
into the role of your mother,
it's up to you."

And I was, you know,
finally like, "I,

I want you
to be my mom again."

That's the picture
I had.

That's the picture
I kissed every night.

And I talked to.

I wrote this
when I was in prison.

And I was
definitely depressed,

I mean, I was giving up hope.

I was laying in my bunk
asleep, and I had this dream.

And I got up immediately
after the dream stopped,
and I wrote it.

"As I sit and think
about my beautiful Gabby,

how all it was is now
nothing more than memories,

I look outside and watch
an angel fall from the sky.

I look at her with a smile,
although no words are said,

she grabs my face
and breaks down instead.

I ask, 'What's the matter?'

as I wipe her tears away,

she leans in closer
and she had this to say."

"Love life and keep it simple,

but most of all,
keep your heart open,

because she loves you
and still needs you.

My angel closed her eyes,

and her body went limp

as her spirit
ascended back to heaven.

I just sat there and cried
because I knew
what she meant...

Gabby."

You okay?

It makes me cry
every time I read it.

I mean, I was to the point
where I was ready
just to off myself.

That's how depressed I was.

This right here kept me alive.

The place where it all
supposedly began.

How could
such an innocent building

be so damn evil for me?

I mean...

this is where it started.

It's where the lies came from.

and I really
don't like being here.

If my
little old arms could do it,

I'd take every damn brick
out of this bitch.

I didn't know
it existed.

How did my kids know what
the inside of it looked like?

Because I don't.

But ask my two oldest kids

and they can tell you
what it looks like.

That woman walked my kids
through this building.

Margie brought me
to this building
the first time I was here.

We drove up one day,

Margie talking about
wanting to buy the place

and I was like 8 years old.

It was creepy.

And, uh, I remember stopping

and seeing
a basketball in the back.

And, uh, I can't remember
what I said about it,

but I think
I wanted the basketball

so I think
Margie just kind of took that

and kind twisted that,

you know,
trying to make it seem like
we had been here before

and that was my basketball.

As far as
she's talking about memories,

I don't know if
Shelby maybe said something,

but I had no memory
of the place at all.

I've never been in here
with any family member ever,

um, not even in the building
or on the property.

My mother
bought me a house.

It's a mobile home right
across the street from her

with two lots,

so if anything happens,

I'm right there.

In a year or so, I'm hoping
to have me and my mother

and my grandmother
all right there
in the same vicinity,

if not side by side.

I hope to go back
and finish school

and get some stability

is really what I hope.

In 10 years it would be nice

to have a family of my own.

There you go.
There you go, Carly.

I would like
to see myself

closer to the family
I have right now.

I constantly feel guilt
about what happened.

I do feel like if I'd have
stuck with my answer
"no" in the beginning,

that it had never happened,

um, I feel like none of this
would have ever happened.

The fallout
is devastating and
it still affects us.

This is something
that we have to live with
for the rest of our lives.

Justice for my parents

would be their names cleared,

it taken off of their record,
because that felony
is still on their record.

Justice for Margie would be
seeing her behind bars.

This one woman

hated so much

that she destroyed us.

She was the rich woman.

They're going to believe her
over the poor people.

Especially poor people
that have had

poor people problems.

You could tell by
the newspaper clippings

and everything that

society thought that,
because we were poor,
we were indecent,

immoral, dirty.

I don't trust anybody.

My life experiences are really
negative toward the world.

People are liars
and they're mean.

We were innocent.

Our lives
were turned upside down.

It cost me
four years of my freedom,

the loss of my daughter.

I wasn't there as a father.

You know it makes me sad
the fact that

I wasn't there.

I didn't get to raise
my daughter.

I will never
get those years back.

After those guys
got out,

I would still get letters
from Dennis Pittman,

and basically saying,
"Look, all these other people
are out, what about me?"

And he would
always sign his letters,

"Dennis Pittman,
the innocent man."

And...

he just got caught up
in Smith County justice.

We all knew he should be free,

but the wheels
of the criminal justice system
turn really slowly.

So, every year went on,
and it was like,

of course this guy's
gonna get out eventually.

I would check to see
where he was
in the parole review.

Because Dennis was convicted
of an offense

that allowed him
to be parole eligible

with less than
half time served.

So I would periodically check
just to see and I happened to

look it up and see that

it didn't show
he was in TC any longer,

and so I text Melinda

and I said,
"Dennis might've made parole."

And, you know,
she responded back

"Or he died,"

which I'd never
even considered.

And then
we started looking into it and

of course found out that
he had indeed passed away.

He died
of COVID complications.

And that was that.

So the last innocent man...

was dead.

No.

He did?

What? I did not know that.

What? Oh, my gosh. Ugh.

Well, now I feel really bad.

Yeah, I didn't know.

His life now
is defined by this.

You know, he died

without ever having
a chance to tell his story

and for people to believe him.

And so imagine how lonely and
isolating it must have felt.

It's not about pride and
arrogance and winning cases.

It's real lives that were
affected and impacted.

We all had a responsibility.

We have failed him
in many ways.

It was the
final tragedy in this story.

And you can trace
every single terrible event
back to two people.

Margie and John Cantrell.

They were
never held accountable.

There were various people
talking about ways
they could go after them

with some kind of
fraud charges.

You know,
I think, ultimately,

the fact that

we were dealing with
a bunch of people
who lived in trailers,

a bunch of people
who didn't have any money.

I mean, ultimately,
I think people
just didn't give a [bleep].

She got away with it.
And what does she do?

She goes back to California

and scuddles
back into her hole.

Life is good.

I've been swimming a lot.

And I take care of my husband.

He has PTSD
and some problems.

And we work in the backyard.

Our backyard is gorgeous

and I have,

oh, so many grandkids
surrounding me,

and grandma's very involved
in what they're doing.

And, um...

they make me laugh

and they're coming into
those teenage years
so it really makes me laugh

because I get to
send them home.

But it's good.
Life is... is good.

I have regrets at
walking away from my home

and our dreams.

But we have new dreams
and they're pretty awesome.