LA - 8 arrested in rape-incest of 3 little girls

[Missizzy]

I'm sorry that you had to go through the shock of something like this being linked to a person who knew. Yuck!! Can I ask, though, what you mean when you say that the town of Ville Platte is "bizarre".

The truly bizarre Hosanna Church sex scandal jumped to my mind. But that was in Ponchatoula, LA. I checked and that's 125 miles to the east of Ville Platte. I wonder if any of these folks ever attended there or even lived in that area? That case was a strange one. Here's a description in case anyone local might see a connection:

http://www.rickross.com/reference/hosanna/hosanna9.html

 

[Filly]

Topix.




http://www.topix.com/forum/city/ville-platte-la/T3JOMMIM7CJPTU2EO

Philly is weird, but hopefully we don't have a whopping 8 people atacking kids all at once. That is beyond weird. That's criminal and sick.

 

[Missizzy]

Well....Topix is always so ummmm enriching. I gleaned two facts that bother me greatly. First off, has DHS checked on the little developmentally disabled 8 year old? If they don't, do I need to drive down there? That comment is going to haunt me.

Secondly, there's a mention of foster care. I don't know if the poster is speaking about these children, specifically, or theoretically.

Yes, bizarre. Very. Sounds like a number of the staff at the restaurant are alleged to have been involved. Sounds like there a might bit of dysfunction and drug use in the area. The posters surely don't have a lot of faith in their local LE.

So so sad for the children.

 

[queenofcorona]

I don't know, maybe bizarre isn't the right word. There are some really nice people there, but there are a lot of drugs and even more racism. I just feel really uncomfortable there, like there is something strange going on just under the surface that everyone knows about but doesn't talk about. Just the other day a guy who owns an insurance agency in Ville Platte shot two insurance investigators from the state and the himself. Just a lot of crime for such a small place.

 

[queenofcorona]

Also, just read this:

Couple Charged with Aggravated Rape of Children Bonds Out of Jail

A couple charged with aggravated rape of three children is now out of jail, according to the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office. The couple, Barry Giglio and his wife Marla Giglio are each out on $300,000 bond.

Both were charged each with three counts of aggravated rape of three nine year-old girls. There were six other arrests in this crime.

The Giglio's own The Pig Stand in Ville Platte.

http://www.katc.com/news/couple-charged-with-aggravated-rape-of-children-bonds-out-of-jail/

 

[Missizzy]

I've seen some comments under news articles which seem to imply that several of those who were arrested worked at that restaurant. Does anyone know if that's true?

 

[Spurser]

I think the owners of the pigstand were originally from New Orleans and relocated to Ville Platte after Katrina. If so, we can't blame Ville Platte for their disgusting ways.

 

[bessie]

I've seen some comments under news articles which seem to imply that several of those who were arrested worked at that restaurant. Does anyone know if that's true?

Giglio did confirm that two of the women were former employees at his Ville Platte restaurant, The Pig Stand.

http://www.katc.com/news/suspects-in-child-rape-case-claim-innocence/

 

[bessie]

I was just checking up on the St. Landry 8. We know the Giglios bonded out last month. All three Stelly's and Lawrence Ricks remain in St. Landry Parish jail. The Bloods' status is "transferred", location unknown. Wonder what's up with that?

 

[Missizzy]

The Bloods were held in the St. Landry Parish Jail. I wonder if evidence has increased the charges to the federal level and they've been moved to a holding center. IME, though, even when people are awaiting trial on federal charges, they are often left at the country jail. For some reason, that might not be safe, however. They might be talking.

 

[Missizzy]

Finally, an update--and a disturbing one:

http://www.dailyworld.com/article/20110911/NEWS01/109110334/Couple-try-clear-names-rape-case

Couple try to clear names in rape case
September 11, 2011

"The allegations were horrific, but apparently false, so Marla and Barry Giglio, a married couple and owners of the Pig Stand Restaurant, on Friday tried to clear their names and the reputation of their popular eatery. The Giglios were among eight people accused of raping three prepubescent girls in a small trailer near Church Point last October. The St. Landry Parish Grand Jury last week decided there was not enough evidence to indict six of the accused, including the Giglios...."

and

"...The girls, then 4, 5 and 7 years old, respectively, were in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services at the time of the alleged incident and could not have been in the trailer. "All kinds of stuff was alleged to have happened in this itty, bitty bedroom with all these adults and three children," he said. "This was absolutely false....."

and

"...The Giglios called the press conference in an effort to repair their tarnished reputations...."

and

"....The criminal justice system worked. Justice was served. These allegations were proven to be false...."

and

"....The Grand Jury last week, however, said there was not enough evidence to prosecute in every arrest except John and Alice Stelly's aggravated incest counts...."

more at link

I'd love to know what caused three such young children to lie. A tiny little 4 year old? Why would they include others not actually involved in their abuse? I wonder what a child therapist would say about this. I'm the first to try to get the word out when a person's name is cleared. I will take the investigator's word that nothing occurred with many of the adults charged. How I hope these folks can rebuild their reputation. Hopefully the community can pull together and really support their restaurant.

I've long thought that there needs to be a support group who helps those rebuild reputations after an allegation is determined to be false. I'm not referring to cases where some believe a person was wrongly convicted. Only those determined innocent through the justice system. Some sort of advocate, similar to the victims advocate.....as the falsely accused are victims.

 

[Spurser]

Wow. Thanks for posting this Izzy. I'm speechless.

 

[eileenhawkeye]

All I can think about is the Samantha Runnion case where she was murdered by Avila, who had been acquitted of molesting his ex-girlfriend's daughter. I don't know anything about this specific case, but considering how lenient our country is towards rape, I'm always skeptical when someone is acquitted of it.

 

[Cappuccino]

There have been several instances of over zealous adults producing false accusations from children, this sounds like one of those. Not to say that nothing at all happened, but you need to be very careful when questioning children as young as four. They don't understand the consequences of telling an untruth in that situation, so they just try and please their questioner, which makes them very susceptible to leading questions, or repeated questions.

I'm glad the courts seem to have sorted out the facts from the fiction before any falsely accused people were convicted.

 

[pinkfly]

I have seen many taped questioning sessions with children. Often the untrained person will use very leading questions that a child accepts as fact and goes on from there. I hoped that this kind of questioning was behind us and all LE knew to bring in trained experts. Also letting the children recount their stories to several adults can cause the facts to grow as each new adult puts a little more spin on the events.

If this is the case here I do feel bad for the unjustly accused. I hope the little girls are getting true counseling.

 

[Pollywog]

How horrible to have been charged for something like this. Where do kids as young as 4 get ideas like this and why would they name all of those people? This is just sickening. Would the 3 kids belong to the Stelly person perhaps? I hope those that are innocent are able to rebuild their lives and I hope the 3 girls get counseling and are not put back into a bad situation.

I remember all the accusations made against the lady in GA by all those kids and their parents, turns out none were true. I forget her name, but it was in Ringold GA.

 

[Cappuccino]

How horrible to have been charged for something like this. Where do kids as young as 4 get ideas like this and why would they name all of those people? This is just sickening. Would the 3 kids belong to the Stelly person perhaps? I hope those that are innocent are able to rebuild their lives and I hope the 3 girls get counseling and are not put back into a bad situation.

I remember all the accusations made against the lady in GA by all those kids and their parents, turns out none were true. I forget her name, but it was in Ringold GA.

It could be that the children went and told someone, (truthfully), that they were being abused, and that person, or someone else questioning them, asked repeatedly had anyone else been involved. The child says no the first time, but if the adult carries on asking the same question, in a child's mind that means no is the wrong answer. So they start naming the first people they can think of, in order to get the answer "right" and please the adult.

Like Pinkfly, I've seen tapes and read transcripts of such interviews, and its disturbing how easy it is to get a false accusation out of a young child. What's also disturbing in this case is that whoever did abuse these children will likely get away scot free now, because their defense lawyer will raise the false accusations in court and create reasonable doubt.

In short - nobody should be questioning a child under 12 about sexual abuse unless they have specialist training, and all interviews should be videotaped and shown to the jury in their entirety.

 

[Missizzy]

An excellent point. Most parents of children who have made a disclosure don't realize that they won't be privy to the information disclosed on the videotapes--until such time they are played in court. I believe it is now common police practice to inform parents to never "interview" their children. It's a parent's job to be watchful and to listen but far better to allow the interviewing to be done by professionals.

There's a case in Oklahoma concerning an adoptive father and pastor who was alleged to have molested his adopted daughters. I was very concerned when I read that their mother had questioned the girls in a very leading manner. She used the trick of telling one that another had disclosed, thus eliciting a disclosure. I was certain that the DA would not be pleased. But Pastor Pitts fully confessed to all the crimes so there was no need for testimony. Still, I wish parents realized how important this issue is. Sadly, most have no earthly idea that this will ever happen to their precious child. Oh, if that were only true.

I have to wonder about the former employee of the restaurant. Is this the woman noted to still have charges? Why were the little ones in foster care in the first place?