Last Edited: Thursday, 21 Aug 2008, 1:54 PM CDT
Created: Thursday, 21 Aug 2008, 1:54 PM CDT

By ANABELLE GARAY
Associated Press Writer

TYLER, Texas -- Jurors began deliberating Thursday whether an East Texas man groomed children as young as 5 to perform sex shows at a swingers club.

Patrick "Booger Red" Kelly is charged with engaging in organized criminal activity and faces a possible life sentence if convicted. Prosecutors allege Kelly is a member of the so-called Mineola Swinger's Club, though the 41-year-old Kelly has testified he is innocent.

Deliberations in the trials of two others linked to the small-town East Texas club lasted only a few minutes before jurors returned with guilty verdicts.

During closing arguments in the three-week trial Thursday, prosecutor Joe Murphy argued that the four children had contact with Kelly and each showed signs of sexual abuse. Kelly previously faced allegations of sexual abuse involving a child who is not part of the case.

"Why is it that every child that comes into contact with him is broken?" Murphy asked.

Kelly's defense attorney, Thad Davidson, questioned why the children didn't remember details about the club and why they weren't examined by medical personnel trained to detect sexual abuse.

Davidson also pointed out that the lead investigator had little experience handling sex crimes and contended he didn't conduct a thorough investigation. The investigator was influenced by the woman who brought the original complaint, Davidson said.

"So you got these incredible suggestive, tainted ... interviews. And who takes over the interviews? The woman who has custody of the three children," Davidson said.

Prosecutors contend Kelly helped set up a "kindergarten" where young children learned to dance provocatively. To help perform at the club, prosecutors say the children were given Vicodin-like drugs the adults passed off as "silly pills."

Kelly has said he has no knowledge of "silly pills" and never made children do any kind of sexual dancing or touched them inappropriately. He said he has never even been to the Mineola Swinger's Club.

Other witnesses called by Kelly's attorneys have said that while swinger parties took place in the building, children were never present.

Margie Cantrell, who has custody of three of the children, sparked the two-year investigation by the Texas Rangers when she reported that her foster children told her of having being forced into sex. The outcry came some 18 months after the abuse was alleged to have happened inside the windowless rooms of the former day care.

Jamie Pittman and Shauntel Mayo were sentenced to life in prison in earlier trials. Three other defendants in the case are awaiting trial.

Mineola is about 85 miles east of Dallas.

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