By David McGowan
One of the names raised at the Bonacci trial was that of Michael Aquino. Aquino is the ‘High Priest’ and chief executive of the Temple of Set, an overtly satanic cult that split off from the Church of Satan in 1975. Besides tending to those duties, Aquino also has occupied his time serving as (according to an official biography once circulated by the Temple) a “Lieutenant Colonel, Military Intelligence, U.S. Army.”
Aquino was accused in court by the mother of a victim as being a key player in a nationwide pedophile ring. Paul Bonacci himself has also positively identified Aquino as an associate of King, known to the children only as 'the Colonel.' King's personal photographer has identified Aquino as the man to whom he saw King hand over a suitcase full of cash and bonds.
The photographer, Rusty Nelson, also has said that King told him that Aquino was part of the Contra guns and cocaine trafficking operation run by George Bush and another notorious Lt. Col., Oliver North. Aquino has also been linked to Offutt Air Force Base, a Strategic Air Command post near Omaha that was implicated in the investigation by the Franklin Committee. He was also claimed to have ordered the abduction of a Des Moines, Iowa paperboy.
This was certainly not the first time that Aquino had been implicated as a key figure in large scale pedophile/child pornography rings. In July of 1988, not long before the King and Spence cases broke, the San Jose Mercury News ran a lengthy exposé on the Presidio Child Development Center run by the U.S. Army in San Francisco.
Allegations of abuse being perpetrated at the center first emerged in November of 1986. Alarmed by accusations made by her child, a parent had sought a medical examination which confirmed that the three-year-old boy had in fact been anally raped. The boy identified his rapist as 'Mr. Gary,' a teacher at the center named Gary Hambright.
Even with the conclusive medical evidence, “it took the Army almost a month to notify the parents of other children who had been in 'Mr. Gary's' class that the incident had taken place.” Within a year, at least sixty victims had been identified, all between the ages of three and seven, and further “allegations would be made by parents that several more children were molested even after the investigation had begun.”
Amazingly enough, the center remained open for more than a year after the first case of abuse was reported, though the Mercury News noted that “day care centers under state jurisdiction are routinely closed when an abuse incident is confirmed.” And this was considerably more than a simple abuse incident that was confirmed.
The stories told by the children implicated many other perpetrators besides Hambright. They also told of being taken away from the center to be abused in private homes; at least three such houses were positively identified. They also told of being forced to play “poopoo baseball” and the “googoo” game – 'games' that involved the children being urinated and defecated upon, and being forced to ingest urine and feces.
Many of them also spoke of having guns pointed at them and of having been told that they and/or their parents and siblings would be killed if they told anyone what had been done to them. Despite the mounting number of victim/witnesses, and the numerous crimes alleged by these children, it was only Gary Hambright who was arrested - on January 5, 1987 - and he was charged with abusing just a single child. And even then the charges were dismissed just three months later, in March of 1987.
There is little doubt that literally dozens of children were in fact severely abused at the center. There was irrefutable medical evidence to document that fact. Five of the children had contracted chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease; many others showed clear signs of anal and genital trauma consistent with violent penetration, which authorities chose to ignore. One mother complained to the San Francisco Chronicle that the FBI never interviewed her or her son, even after doctors had confirmed the boy’s abuse.
There were unmistakable psychological signs as well. As The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry noted in April of 1992: “The severity of the trauma for children at the Presidio was immediately manifest in clear cut symptoms. Before the abuse was exposed, parents had already noticed the following changes in their children: vaginal discharge, genital soreness, rashes, fear of the dark, sleep disturbances, nightmares, sexually provocative language, and sexually inappropriate behavior. In addition, the children were exhibiting other radical changes in behavior, including temper outbursts, sudden mood shifts, and poor impulse control. All these behavioral symptoms are to be expected in preschool children who have been molested.”
The journal article, written by Diane Ehrensaft, Ph.D., also noted that: “The Presidio case has confronted both the public at large and the mental health community with an extraordinary and abhorrent situation of grave psychological proportions: the willful molestation of young boys and girls by representatives of the most patriarchal and supposedly protective arm of the American government – the U.S. Army.”
The article further noted the nearly homicidal rage provoked in the fathers of the children abused in this way, as they saw the investigations of the crimes perpetrated against their children stonewalled and covered up. One father is quoted as saying: “When something about the Presidio comes on TV, I want to blow someone away.” Another father echoed this sentiment: “I was ready to blow the army base away.”
One of those who the fathers would have liked to blow away was Michael Aquino, along with his wife Lilith. One child positively identified the pair, known to the kids as 'Mikey' and 'Shamby,' and was also able to positively identify the Aquino's home and to describe with uncanny accuracy the distinctively satanic interior of the house. The young witness also claimed to have been photographed at the Aquinos' home.
On August 14 of 1987, a search warrant was served on the house. Confiscated in the raid were numerous videotapes, photographs, photo albums, photographic negatives, cassette tapes, and name and address books. Also observed was what appeared to be a soundproof room. Neither Aquino nor his wife were charged with any crimes, nor have they been to this day – a fact that Aquino claims proves his innocence.
The next month, a fire - which the Army deemed to be accidental - destroyed the Army Community Services Building adjacent to the Presidio's day care center. Strangely enough, “the fire occurred on the autumnal equinox, a major event on the satanic calendar,” as the Mercury News noted. The fire also destroyed some of the center's records.
“Three weeks later, fire struck again, this time at the day care center itself.” A building that housed four classrooms, including that of Gary Hambright, was completely destroyed. Investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms determined that “both fires, contrary to the Army's finding, had been arson.”
In between the first and second fires (with evidence indicating that a third arson attempt had been made as well), Hambright was again indicted, this time charged with molesting ten children. In February of 1988, all but one of the charges were dropped. Shortly thereafter, the remaining count was dropped as well, and Hambright was a free man once again. No further charges were brought against him.
In January of 1988, Aquino filed suit against the Army to have it cleared from his record that he had been investigated as a suspected pedophile. According to court records, he also had the gall to charge “Captain Adams-Thompson [the father of a victim] with conduct unbecoming an officer because the Captain reported the allegations of child abuse to the San Francisco police.”
In denying Aquino's motion, the court concluded that “there was probable cause to title Aquino with offenses of indecent acts with a child, sodomy, conspiracy, kidnapping, and false swearing,” despite the fact that “the San Francisco police department (SFPD) closed its investigation and filed no charges against the plaintiff or anyone else.”
Aquino and various of his defenders have consistently claimed that no one was ever prosecuted in the case due to a lack of evidence – proof that the entire affair was no more than a ‘witch hunt.’ Of course, the failure to prosecute the federal charges could also be due to the fact that, at the time, the U.S. Attorney in San Francisco handling the case was Joseph Russoniello.
Russoniello would later be identified by reporter Gary Webb of the San Jose Mercury News as a player in the Contra cocaine smuggling operation led by Lt. Col. Oliver North and company, just as witnesses would later identify Lt. Col. Michael Aquino as an operative in the very same sordid affair. It always helps when your legal ‘adversaries’ are actually on your side.
In May of 1989, Aquino was again questioned in connection with child abuse investigations; this time at least five children in three cities were making the accusations. The children had seen Aquino in newspaper and television coverage of the Presidio case and immediately recognized him as one of their abusers.
Three of the children lived in Ukiah - former home of the People’s Temple - where Police Chief Fred Keplinger was overseeing the investigation of the allegations. The Mercury News quoted the chief as saying that “the children are believable. I have no doubt in my mind that something has occurred.” Aquino was also identified by children in Santa Rosa and Fort Bragg.
In the Fort Bragg case, “allegations of ritual abuse erupted ... in 1985 when several children at the Jubilation Day Care Center said they were sexually abused by a number of people at the day care center and at several locations away from the center, including at least two churches.” Aquino was identified as having been at one of those churches.
The Mercury News also reported that there was clear evidence of satanic cult activity on the grounds of the Presidio base, including an abundance of satanic graffiti, a satanic altar, and numerous artifacts of satanic rituals. A former MP at the base is quoted as saying: “We were sitting there, we've got a cult on the Presidio of San Francisco and nobody cares about it ... We were told by the provost marshal to just forget about it.”
On April 19, 1988 - the eve of Adolf Hitler’s birthday, and seven years to the day before the Oklahoma City Federal Building would explode, allegedly due to an act of ‘domestic terrorism’- an open-house was held on the grounds of the Presidio heralding the opening of the new day care facility built to replace the fire-damaged Child Development Center.
As a final note on the Presidio case, a report in the Marin Independent Journal revealed that Aquino owned a building in Marin County - inherited from his mother, Betty Ford-Aquino - that had been jointly leased to the Marin County Child Abuse Council and Project Care for Children. The stated purpose of Project Care was, interestingly enough, to assist parents in locating day care for their children.
As disturbing as the Presidio case was, it was just one of many ritual abuse cases directly tied to one or more branches of the United States armed forces. As the Mercury News reported: “By November, 1987 the Army had received allegations of child abuse at 15 of its day care centers and several elementary schools. There were also at least two cases in Air Force day care centers,” and another in a center run by the U.S. Navy.
In addition, “a special team of experts was sent to Panama [in June of 1988] to help determine if as many as 10 children at a Department of Defense elementary school had been molested and possibly infected with AIDS.” Yet another case emerged in a U.S.-run facility in West Germany.
These cases erupted at some of the most esteemed military bases in the country, including Fort Dix, Fort Leavenworth, Fort Jackson, and West Point. Many of those making the accusations were career military officers who had devoted their lives to unquestioned allegiance to the U.S. armed forces. Many would resign their posts in outraged protest.
It would be redundant to review all these cases, as most of them followed a remarkably similar pattern. Given though that West Point is America's premier military academy, and given also that the case - like many others - was linked by witnesses to the Presidio, a brief review is warranted here.
As The Times Herald Record reported in June of 1991: “The incidents [at the West Point Child Development Center] unfolded against a backdrop of satanic acts, animal sacrifices and cult-like behavior among the abusers, whose activities extended beyond the U.S. Military Academy borders to Orange County and a military base in San Francisco, parents charged.”
The case first broke in July of 1984, when a three-year-old girl found herself in the emergency room of the West Point Hospital with a lacerated vagina. She told the examining physician that a teacher at the day care center had hurt her. The next month, the parents of another child leveled accusations of abuse at the center.
As the Mercury News reported: “By the end of the year, 50 children had been interviewed by investigators. Children at West Point told stories that would become horrifyingly familiar. They said they had been ritually abused. They said they had had excrement smeared on their bodies and been forced to eat feces and drink urine. They said they were taken away from the day care center and photographed.”
Despite abundant medical and psychological evidence, and literally dozens of child witnesses, and despite “950 interviews by 60 FBI agents assigned to the investigation, an investigation led by former U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani produced no federal grand jury indictments,” according to the Herald Record.
The Herald also noted that: “In 1987, Giuliani said his detailed investigation showed only one or two children were abused.” This was, it should be noted, a bare-faced lie from the fascistic future-mayor and would-be Senator, as the Herald report divulged: “a still-secret, independent report - produced by one of the nation's top experts on child sexual abuse - confirms the children's accusations of abuse.”
This was not the first time that the prestigious academy had shown an appalling willingness to overlook extreme levels of abuse directed at children by army personnel. A year before the abuse case broke, a 22-month-old child was murdered by an Army staff sergeant. The Mercury News reported that: “After a court martial hearing, the sergeant was given an 18 month suspended sentence and dishonorable discharge.”
In other words, he served no time and was essentially given a free ride for murdering a child. With help from Giuliani, the FBI, the U.S. Army, and the grand jury, the abusers of countless children at the day care center (which was, appropriately enough, building number 666 on the academy grounds) were likewise given a free ride.
As with the Franklin case, the children and their parents were to find justice only through the civil courts. The Herald Record reported that: “lawyers for both the government and the 11 child plaintiffs agreed that some children were sexually abused at the center two years ago” (again contradicting Giuliani's bogus conclusions). The government, however, claimed that it could not be held responsible, due to the “assault exemption in the Federal Tort Claim Act.”
As the New York Times explained: “under federal law the government cannot be held liable for assaults committed by its employees and thus cannot be sued for assault.” In other words, the Army did not dispute the allegations, it just rather cavalierly maintained that it was exempt from being sued. The court saw otherwise and awarded $2.7 million to nine of the child victims – paltry compensation for their suffering, but a victory of sorts nonetheless.
The Times opined that the settlement amount “was large for a child-abuse case in which no criminal charges were filed.” The article claimed that the failure to prosecute the case was due to the fact that “the Federal Bureau of Investigation found ‘insufficient evidence to prosecute,’” when in fact the Bureau appears to have deliberately ignored and/or covered-up that evidence.
And so ended the West Point case, except that - as one mother noted - it was hardly over: “These people stole our children. She's nothing like she used to be. She's a very angry little girl. She doesn't trust anyone. She's nothing like she was before this happened. It's never going to be over for them, or for us.”
The mother of a Presidio victim had this to say: “People keep telling us we've got to let it go -- just forget about it and go on ... Three weeks ago, our youngest daughter was having nightmares and our other daughter was closing out the whole world, going to her room and siting there, with no radio, no TV, no nothing. Tell me it's over.”
“I cannot accept promotion in a system that at first refused to acknowledge and now refuses to deal with the victims of extensive child abuse that occurred at the West Point Child Development Center.”
Army Captain Walter R. Grote, refusing a promotion to Major in June 1985. Grote referred to his protest as a “fight for the human rights of all children.”
REFERENCES:
1. Al-Kurdi, Husayn “Messing With Our Minds,” Toward Freedom, May 1998
2. Arce, Rose Marie “Liability in Point Abuse Case Debated,” The Times Herald Record (Middletown, New York), December 23, 1986
3. Blood, Linda The New Satanists, Warner Books, 1994
4. Cunningham, Douglas and Alan Snel “A Legacy of Pain: Settlement Doesn't Ease Abused Children's Fears,” The Times Herald Record (Middletown, New York), June 11, 1991
5. DeCamp, John W. The Franklin Cover-Up, AWT, Inc., 1992
6. Ehrensaft, Diane “Preschool Child Sex Abuse: The Aftermath of the Presidio Case,” The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, April 1992
7. Goldston, Linda “Army of the Night,” San Jose Mercury News, July 24, 1988
8. Goldston, Linda “Satanic Priest Questioned in New Sex Case,” San Jose Mercury News, May 13, 1989
9. Hays, Constance L. “$2.7 Million Settles Army Child-Abuse Case,” New York Times, May 23, 1991
10. Sawyer, Kathy “Army Doctor Turns Down Promotion; Lax Response to Case of Child Abuse Cited,” Washington Post, June 25, 1985
11. Steinberg, Jeffrey “Satanic Subversion of the U.S. Military,” EIR, July 2, 1999
12. “Army Doctor Refuses Promotion in Protest,” San Diego Union Tribune, June 25, 1985
13. “The Keys to Hell and Death – Part II,” SFLR News (the newsletter of San Francisco Liberation Radio), May 21, 2001
14. Michael Aquino v. The Honorable Michael Stone, Secretary of the Army (Civ. A. No. 90-1547-A), United States District Court, Alexandria Division, July 1, 1991 http://web.archive.org/web/20040229092630/http://www.konformist.com/2001/pedophocracy3.htm
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