Pelley innocence attorney claims mob involvement led to murders

Convicted Lakeville, Indiana murderer, Jeff Pelley, and his Indiana University Wrongful Conviction Clinic attorney, Fran Watson, are in St. Joseph County Superior Court this week seeking post-conviction relief and a potential new trial.  Emboldened by the success of the popular true crime podcast, CounterFactual, they have a new theory that it wasn’t Jeff Pelley who brutally murdered his father, Bob Pelley, his stepmother, Dawn, and his stepsisters Jolene and Janel, in 1989, but rather some bad hombres from Florida with whom Bob had been involved in some shady business dealings.  

Fran Watson claims to have an important new witness, Toni Beehler, who could blow the case wide open.  “Prior to the trial, the defense attorney did not know about a witness who will be testifying at these evidentiary hearings, and her testimony would have been consistent with the defense theory that the killers were tied to the fraudulent bank activity and the mob influence,” Watson explains.  

Beehler came forward and talked to detectives in 2003 after Jeff Pelley was charged for the murders.  Beehler told investigators that she had been hired by Bob’s church to take pictures for the church directory.  She claims Bob didn’t want to have his picture taken “as he had another life prior to becoming a minister.”  

So, clearly, he must have been mobbed up, right?  At least that’s the story Jeff Pelley and Fran Watson would like to implant in everyone’s imaginations, because Beehler says Bob Pelley gave her no additional details about his past life.  Apparently Beehler’s information was vitally important to convey to investigators after Jeff Pelley had been charged, but not so much during the initial investigation that followed the murders. 

The CounterFactual podcast takes great pains to try to implicate Bob Pelley in all manner of illegal activity.  The whole podcast is constructed around illuminating his so-called shady past.  It becomes a podcast within a podcast as host, Delia D’Ambra, investigates murder and criminal activity in Florida that Bob had nothing to do with.  Still, podcast producers and Fran Watson would like everyone to think Bob was involved, or at a minimum knew too much, and for that he and his family were bumped off by mob hitmen.

Much is made about the fact that Jeff Pelley only had about a 20 minute window of opportunity to commit these murders.  However, if you buy into the mob hitmen theory, another window of opportunity comes into focus.  The same witness statements that open and close a window for Jeff Pelley, create one for the alleged hitmen.  There is only about a 15 minute window between the time Jeff Pelley leaves the family home and the victims begin to go missing in action.  That indicates the alleged hitmen must have arrived shortly after Jeff Pelley’s departure.  It’s an incredible stroke of luck that Jeff avoided becoming the fifth victim, but also a bit of misfortune that the hitmen’s timing makes Jeff look really fucking guilty. 

Of course, there’s also all that circumstantial evidence that points to the murders originating from within the house.  But that just speaks to the cleverness of the hitmen to not force entry and to avoid a violent struggle with the occupants.  Nor did the hit team ransack the home, search for potentially incriminating documents or steal any valuables.  Additionally, the hitmen knew enough to use the 20-gauge shotgun from Bob’s bedroom, making it seem as if the perpetrator was someone very familiar to the family, and who had familiarity and unfettered access to all areas of the domicile.   

For a full explanation of the mob hit theory, in all its improbable and convoluted glory, one should listen to the CounterFactual podcast.  Episode 18, “Factually Based?”, is a critical episode where the fanciful hitman theory runs up against cold reality and reason.  Contrast Fran Watson’s conspiratorial ranting and raving to the methodical analysis of an independent crime scene expert who is brought in to offer his opinion on the crime scene and the type of killer who could have committed such a horrible act. 

Jeff Pelley was convicted by a jury in 2006 and had his conviction upheld by the Indiana Supreme Court in 2009.  If real evidence exists to exonerate Jeff Pelley, then it needs to come out.  But asserting that Bob Pelley’s criminal past finally caught up with him is reckless, irresponsible and wholly without merit.  However, there is one individual who has a documented criminal past that involves theft and even an FBI fraud investigation and conviction.  Now, who is the one with the secret life he doesn’t want anybody to know about?

The Collectors

On Tuesday, October 9,1990, a meeting of the city council of Sedona, Arizona convened at 7:00 p.m.  After the meeting was called to order and the Pledge of Allegiance recited, a brief moment of silence was observed.  Next the roll was taken and the floor opened for public comment.  Second to approach the microphone was a clean-cut young gentleman who introduced himself as Ben Porterfield and informed the gathering that he had submitted an application for the position of City Magistrate.  According to the minutes of the meeting, Porterfield “advised he wanted to give the Council an opportunity to match a face with a resume and that he would be available after the meeting for questions.”

As Ben Porterfield took his seat for the duration of the meeting, it is not known if he questioned the decision to use an alias on his application.  Perhaps a man who aspires to administer the law for a municipality ought to do so under his real name.  This might hurt his chances of getting the job, he possibly thought, especially if they do a background check which was certain to be the case.  Also, he may have wondered if managing a trailer park counted as relevant experience for issuing warrants and reviewing matters of law.  No matter, Ben Porterfield, or whatever the young man’s name was, had a number of ongoing projects in various stages of development.  Whether or not he got the City Magistrate position was of little consequence.  

Unsurprisingly, Ben Porterfield was passed over for the position of City Magistrate of Sedona, Arizona.  Months later, however, some who attended the city council meeting that night may have wished they’d taken a greater interest in the man at the microphone with the face and the resume.  Because Ben Porterfield was eventually going to become the subject of an arrest warrant, possibly issued by the newly appointed Sedona City Magistrate, and the target of a manhunt for absconding with an indeterminate quantity of Sedona residents’ precious bodily fluids.

Just a few months after the meeting, as the year drew to a close, concerned parents began presenting their teenage offspring at local medical clinics for examinations.  At the same time, the Sedona Police Department started receiving reports of a mysterious couple who were offering area teenagers ten dollars to draw a vial of their blood.  It took authorities a few weeks, but eventually they were able to zero in on a mobile home at the Windsong Trailer Park, located along U.S. 89A in west Sedona.  The trailer belonged to Benjamin and Sarah Porterfield, managers of the park.

Sedona Police Chief Bob Irish was at a loss to explain why these two individuals were collecting the blood samples.  “The possibilities of it are only limited by your imagination.  At this point, it is one of the most bizarre situations I have ever seen.”  At the time, it was thought that at least a dozen teens had allowed some of their blood to be extracted for money.  According to accounts, the teens were taken into a bathroom where a syringe was used to extract a sample of their blood.  “It looked okay to me,” said a 15-year-old who lived next door to the couple.  “They would unwrap each needle and put a brace on your arm and have you fill out a questionnaire.  You had to be 14 or over, and you could only give three times.  But the questions were really weird, like, ‘Did you use Clearasil…Are you on drugs or alcohol?’”  The young woman went on to reveal that her boyfriend and his friends had sold their blood numerous times to the couple and that the pair had taken more than 100 samples from at least 30 teen-agers.  Interviews with additional teens revealed the couple posed as representatives of the government and that the blood was needed for the testing of lasers.

Blood wasn’t the only thing the strange couple was collecting.  According to authorities, the pair had been collecting rent checks from Windsong residents and depositing them into their personal account.  This led to an arrest warrant being issued for a Benjamin and Sarah Birdsong on charges of child abuse, embezzlement, impersonating medical personnel, aggravated assault and operating a clinical laboratory without a license.  Apparently the age requirement and the questionnaire subjects were asked to fill out were insufficient to secure licensing for the couple’s blood drawing enterprise.  Investigators were also not entirely clear regarding the true identity of the individuals.  Chief Irish thought the couple’s names were possibly aliases and that they were known to have used the names Millett and Stewart when they lived in the Phoenix area.

On Monday, January 7, 1991, Sedona Police and an official from the Arizona Department of Health Services served a search warrant at the Camp Verde home of Benjamin and Sarah Porterfield.  The couple were not present at the time of the raid and had been last seen at the residence the previous Friday.  Items taken from the home by police included two handguns, two shotguns, a Mac-10 submachine gun with silencer, an IBM computer, a printer and computer storage disks – the standard items necessary to get a teen blood-buying business up and running.  Also taken in the raid were a book of satanic rituals, the Satanic Bible by Anton Lavey, photocopies, posters and banners containing occult logos and satanic imagery.  Satanism quickly moved to the top of the list of possible motives for the strange couple’s blood-buying activities.  “It seems to be the forerunner as far as theories,” said Chief Irish.  The chief further speculated the blood might be used as part of an “occult-type” ceremony, admitting that, “The worst-case scenario would be drinking it (the blood).” 

Meanwhile the search for the pair continued in earnest.  The couple owned two vehicles, a 1968 Ford pickup and a 1974 Volvo station wagon, that were now missing from the couple’s Camp Verde home.  Acting on a tip, authorities closed in on a motel in Mesa, Arizona, but missed capturing the pair by two hours.  Later, authorities admitted they could not confirm that the motel occupants were the fugitive couple.  Investigators now believed the actual identity of the pair to be Charles E. Stewart, 32, and Sharon M. Smythe, 23, who went by the aliases Benjamin and Sarah Porterfield while living in Sedona.  A number of town residents had encountered the couple, describing them as friendly but very private.  None interviewed were able to provide any worthwhile leads.  An 11-year-old neighbor of the Porterfield’s described how he was well treated by the couple who would buy parts for his bicycle and take him on camping trips.  He did admit, however, that they had some strange habits.  “I never saw any of that devil stuff.  But there was always weird, loud music in the middle of the night.  All the time, they would go camping in Boynton Canyon and then we would hear about animals that were sacrificed up there.”

Investigators continued to pore through materials seized from the couple’s home.  A computer specialist was called in to examine the contents of the Porterfield’s home computer.  At one point, the expert thought the couple may have booby-trapped the device to erase its contents if tampered with.  Eventually, however, the computer revealed little useful information about the Porterfield’s or their secret government research into blood lasers.  Occult experts brought in to examine the satanic materials concluded they showed nothing to indicate active occult involvement.  The elusive couple, who seemed to become more mysterious with every bit of information discovered about them, had seemingly vanished with potentially over a hundred vials of blood extracted from the town’s teen-age population, all while abandoning a cache of weapons and a computer.  Perhaps Chief Irish was wishing he’d introduced himself to Ben Porterfield when he had a chance.  “I remember at a City Council meeting, he went up to the microphone and said, ‘I’m Benjamin Porterfield, and I’m available to meet with you.’  He looked like a clean-cut, all-American kid,” Irish recounted.         

It should be noted that many residents and visitors to Sedona claim the city rests on a large energy vortex composed of a number of smaller vortices, the most significant of which is the Boynton Canyon vortex.  These swirling concentrations of energy are linked with any number of strange phenomena.  Perhaps a mystery couple collecting blood samples from local teens is a fairly mundane occurrence in an area where unexplained healing powers, strange spirits, ghostly hauntings, UFO activity, and Interdimensional Portals are part and parcel of the landscape.  And if two mysterious travelers conducting highly sensitive scientific research should suddenly be called to deliver their collection of samples back to their obscure corner of space and time, and if the pair of strangers should suddenly vanish through the interdimensional doorway from which they possibly emerged, perhaps it should come as no great surprise.

Schwab rebukes Trudeau for jumping too far ahead in The Great Reset playbook

Details are starting to emerge regarding why Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unexpectedly ended the Emergencies Act last Wednesday only a week after invoking it and a mere day after the Canadian House approved it.

Apparently, after witnessing the unprecedented civil liberties violations Trudeau and his goons were inflicting on a group of peaceful protesters, his mentor Klaus Schwab felt compelled to pick up the phone and rebuke the former student.

“This looks very bad for us, Justin.  You’re giving away the game.  It’s like you decided to turn to the last page of the playbook without taking the necessary steps to get there,” Schwab told Trudeau.

Trudeau is a product of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders school.  In the past, WEF Executive Director Klaus Schwab has boasted like a proud papa about the school’s most accomplished graduates such as Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin.  However, Schwab pointed to the WEF’s proudest accomplishment as placing its Young Global Leaders inside the cabinets of many of the world’s nations.

“But what we are very proud of now, the young generation like Prime Minister Trudeau, president of Argentina [Mauricio Macri], and so on, that we penetrate the cabinets. So, yesterday, I was at a reception for Prime Minister Trudeau, and I know that half of his cabinet or even more than half of his cabinet are actually Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum,” Schwab told an audience in 2017.

Schwab was reportedly apoplectic over the bad publicity Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is also a WEF Young Global Leader, brought upon the organization. 

“We must bring the people along gradually.  Haven’t you ever heard of death by a thousand cuts or the boiling frog?  You can’t just go out and start jailing people for ‘unacceptable views.’  Didn’t you learn anything, you spoiled rich idiot.  You have too much of your father, Fidel, in you.  And what the fuck is the matter with you Freeland?  You can’t just start seizing people’s bank accounts.  We are years away from social credit in western democracies,” Schwab admonished the pair.  

Schwab reportedly ended the scolding by paying the pair a backhanded compliment.

“That being said, the apparent number of citizens of a free country willing to go along with such draconian measures is very instructive.  It appears that the monumental, young global stupidity you two have shown may have inadvertently revealed something quite useful,” Schwab said.

Federal officials brace for Freedom Scooter Convoy headed toward DC

Fences and barricades are being erected around the Washington D.C. area, and the Department of Homeland Security is deploying 500 staff, hoping to head off a Freedom Scooter Convoy that is gathering momentum as it sweeps across the nation.   

Angry seniors are fleeing retirement homes and nursing facilities and joining the convoy as it patiently inches its way across the fruited plain toward the nation’s capital.  Nearly 500 strong, the Freedom Scooter Convoy is currently creeping its way through Scottsdale, Arizona.  Organizers expect the convoy to reach Washington D.C. by Labor Day. 

In Washington, federal officials are scrambling to put the nation’s capital on a secure footing.  “We’ve deployed National Guard troops to the city’s shopping malls.  We’re also securing buffet style dining establishments, libraries and just about any location where people can gather and drink an inexpensive cup of coffee,” said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.

Reporters asked whether the convoy intended to disrupt or blockade traffic as part of its protest.  “We’re keeping a close eye on the situation,” Psaki said.  “However, from what we’re seeing, rather than blocking busy interstates and city traffic, the scooter convoys seem to be bypassing the congestion by sticking to the shoulders or motoring in between lanes.  We don’t expect to have a problem here in Washington as our roadways are already quite heavily congested.”

It is still unclear what the Freedom Scooter Convoy hopes to achieve with its protest.  One participant named Silver Fox, who is riding with the Little Rascals Gang, said she wants the family visitation policy at her senior home returned to the pre-Covid normal.  Additionally, she would like to see a resumption of conjugal visit opportunities with her man on the outside.

Canada declares war on “terror” trucker convoy

The full force and fury of the Maple Leaf is about to strike mightily at Canada’s freedom trucker convoy.  Invoking powers reserved almost exclusively for war time, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared war on the lawless band of 18 wheelers, flatbeds, and reefer trucks occupying the Canadian capital and a handful of other locations around the country.

Apparently the protests were cutting into the country’s bottom line.  Indeed, the freedom truckers are so essential to Canadian commerce that not only were they required to put their health and safety on the line during the early days of the pandemic and move goods around the country and across the border, but they’re still needed to shut up, get back behind the wheel and do as their told, lest they have their livelihoods taken away and their bank accounts frozen.  

“This illegal occupation needs to end … the measure of success will be, can we get our supply chains back? Can we end the disruption to livelihoods of people who rely on trade to the United States?,” Trudeau told reporters.

The nation’s elite political class and the keyboard tapping Zoom crowd can do without the calloused hand, beer gut brigade disrupting their lives in Ottawa.  And if you don’t think the pajama clad power elite is serious, check out their little bulldog, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, as she steps to the mic and tells the people how it’s about to go down.

“First: we are broadening the scope of Canada’s anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules so that they cover crowdfunding platforms and the payment service providers they use.”

Hold up a second.  There must be some kind of mistake here.  This isn’t the press conference where they announce the takedown of some international drug trafficking cartel or terror financing network.  These are the freedom truckers, dog.   

“Second: the government is issuing an order with immediate effect, under the Emergencies Act, authorizing Canadian financial institutions to temporarily cease providing financial services where the institution suspects that an account is being used to further the illegal blockades and occupations. This order covers both personal and corporate accounts.”

So according to Freeland (ironic name, eh?), if you’re participating in the protests, or providing material aid and comfort to the freedom trucker movement, the commonwealth will come after you like a bone-chilling blast of Alberta Clipper and freeze your bank account.

Apparently the freedom truckers don’t enjoy a lot of popular support in Canada.  Most Canadians disapproved of Trudeau’s handling of the protests and were demanding a resolution.  However, who thought it would be prudent to invoke unprecedented executive powers and suspend civil liberties by equating a peaceful group of protesting truckers to terrorists?  Wouldn’t the thoughtful and compassionate approach be to just drop the mandates and the passports?  Some provinces are already doing so.  But I guess you can’t negotiate with truckers.  All they understand is the iron fist.  Maybe next time there’s a deadly virus outbreak, rather than face down the virus and put their and their family’s health and well-being in jeopardy, maybe the truckers should just stay at home and protect themselves, like their Zoom chattering overlords.

DHS deploys 500 to head off phantom trucker convoy

America breathed a collective sigh of relief this morning after the promised trucker protest convoy never materialized and the Super Bowl and all related activities came off without a hitch.  Thanks to rapid and decisive action by the Department of Homeland Security, the massive convoy of lawless truckers barrelling toward LA was never able to achieve its diabolical plan to disrupt the big game.

According to Reuters, “A reported trucker protest planned to coincide with the Super Bowl appears to be going nowhere, a social media monitoring firm that has been tracking the issue said on Saturday.”

Apparently someone forgot to notify the truckers that this big event was going down.  Although the Department of Homeland Security did its best to try to get the convoy rolling. 

“After media reported on a U.S. Department of Homeland Security memo warning of potential disruption around Sunday’s Super Bowl, there was a notable increase in social media mentions about a convoy of anti-vaccine truckers purportedly planning to descend on Los Angeles,” Reuters reported.

Okay, raise the possibility that a politically hostile U.S. based trucker protest convoy determined to disrupt America’s beloved Super Bowl holiday is on the loose.  Disseminate memo to a credulous media to promote the story and sound the alarm.  Point to resulting increased activity on social media as evidence of a plot in action.  Deploy 500 additional staff to California to head off the angry phantom convoy.  No word yet on how many DHS agents attended the Super Bowl for security reasons.      

Comment from America’s recently radicalized legions of long-haul truckers was not forthcoming as most of them were passed out in front of their televisions, overcome by voluminous consumption of hot wings and frosty cold beverages.

DHS: Rogan coordinating with trucker convoy to disrupt Super Bowl halftime show

The Department of Homeland Security raised the threat level to Orange Friday after receiving alarming intelligence indicating that controversial Spotify podcaster Joe Rogan may be directing a trucker convoy to disrupt Super Bowl activities.

A DHS memo circulated to law enforcement nationwide states that the agency “has received reports that a convoy of truckers is planning to potentially blockade Super Bowl festivities and may even be planning to bum rush the beloved Super Bowl halftime show.”

It is unclear how DHS acquired its intelligence; however, sources inside the FBI say they have several highly placed informants inside the trucker movement and are working closely with its leadership and monitoring its plans.

The DHS says that “the group intends to start in California as early as mid-February and travel to Washington, D.C., as late as mid-March, reportedly gathering truckers as they travel across the country.”

Informants inside the trucker movement tell DHS officials that leadership is taking its direction from embattled comedian and former reality tv host turned disinfo podcaster Joe Rogan.  DHS officials believe the truckers are picking up coded instructions as they listen to Rogan’s almost daily three hour broadcasts. 

DHS further noted the truckers intend to storm the field during the Super Bowl halftime show, bringing the entertainment to a halt and disrupting commerce by preventing the airing of America’s beloved Super Bowl commercials.

In a statement released Friday, Kanye West threatened not to perform if Super Bowl planners do not denounce the trucker convoys and remove them from the halftime activities.  “They can have Kanye or the Convoy.  Not both,” the statement read. 

Hot Rod Heaven

On the evening of Tuesday, October 21, 1951, a 19-year-old woman who displayed signs of intoxication was taken into custody from a location near her home by St. Joseph County Deputy Sheriff William J. Locks.  “She was higher than a kite, but it wasn’t from whisky, beer or wine,” Locks told reporters.  

During questioning, the woman revealed that she was under the influence of powerful narcotics obtained from her affiliation with a large sex, drug and theft gang.  The gang involved over a hundred area youths who met secretly in a wooded area northwest of the intersection of Grape Road and U.S. Highway 20 in St. Joseph County, Indiana.  Gang members referred to the meeting place as “Hot Rod Heaven” due to the large number of hot rods and motorcycles that assembled there.

The gatherings included youths ranging in age from 14 to 20 who engaged in heavy drinking, drug taking and “sexual indecencies”.  Additionally, investigators learned, “young hoodlums who frequented ‘the heaven’ whipped out pistols and engaged in wild shooting exhibitions.”  According to reports, “Many of the boys are armed and ‘shoot up’ the ‘heaven’ in the orgies.”  Indeed, when Deputy Locks investigated the scene, he found trees “riddled with bullets, torn pistol targets and empty beer cans pierced by gun shot.”  Some shocking headlines even reported a pair of “bullet riddled panties” had been discovered at the scene.  However, no homicides were known to have occurred at the location.  

Participants described how the gang’s leaders instructed the youths on how to steal and supplied information on “easy targets for theft in South Bend, Mishawaka and Niles.”  Additionally, the hoodlum gang leaders beat members who failed to successfully complete theft assignments and threatened to kill them if they ever “squawked”.  A female participant described “the whipping of youths who had failed on crime missions and told details of two burglaries later confirmed by authorities.  Any loot, she added, was ordered turned over to the gang’s leaders.”

Further questioning of the intoxicated 19-year-old female revealed that she had acquired the drugs from an usher at a South Bend movie theater.  Following up on the lead, investigators were able to track down the 16-year-old usher who corroborated much of the woman’s story and also provided additional details.  The usher admitted giving some capsules to the girl, but did not know what they contained.  The usher said he was instructed by a man named “Red” to give the capsules to a girl who would identify herself by giving him a signal.  The boy said he complied with Red’s orders because he was afraid of him.  

In addition to obtaining capsules from the usher, the 19-year-old woman admitted she had purchased capsules of drugs from Red himself and took them on at least eight occasions.  A separate girl claimed to have been injected with “dope” on two occasions, once by Red and another time by herself.   

Investigators learned that Red and at least a half dozen other men were responsible for trafficking the narcotics into the area.  The men reportedly acquired the drugs in Kentucky and smuggled them in the taillights of cars and motorcycles into the South Bend area.  Another 20-year-old man questioned by Locks, admitted that Red gave him money to transport youths in his car from a meeting place in Mishawaka out to the “heaven.”  Further testimony by the 19-year-old woman to Deputy Locks and St. Joseph County Prosecutor Graham McGowan revealed that “members of the Plymouth sex orgy gang recently broken by Marshall County authorities attended the sprees in ‘hot rod heaven.’”  More on the Plymouth sex orgy gang later.

While investigators were interviewing young people and trying to sort out the illegal activities taking place at Hot Rod Heaven, the state police in Kentucky apprehended a 29-year-old South Bend, Indiana man “on a charge of being under the influence of narcotics on a public highway.”  Kentucky State Patrol picked up Gilbert Yish on a highway five miles outside of Paducah, Kentucky after he’d thrown a rock through the window of a moving truck.  Yish told authorities he was under the influence of heroin.  Although investigators did not confirm Yish to be the man called Red, he was clearly a very troubled individual who may have been involved with the alleged illegal activity taking place at Hot Rod Heaven.  Just a few days after his arrest in Kentucky, and after he was turned over to the care of his father, Yish was again arrested, this time by South Bend Police at a local “trailer camp” for fighting with several guests.  Subsequent newspaper reports have Yish as a patient at an Indiana mental hospital. 

Two days after delivering a wild tale of debauchery involving a hundred youths at a secret clearing in the woods called “Hot Rod Heaven,” the 19-year-old woman arrested for being “higher than a kite” took it all back.  “Everything that I told the sheriff’s deputies is untrue,” she said.  “I stated that Red gave me some pills and that I did not know what they were for.  It was a lie.  He (Red) thought I was pregnant and he wanted to get rid of the baby, because I’m married now….I didn’t want my husband to know that I was out with Red.”  

The needle girl recanted her story as well.  “Everything I said was a lie.  My reason for doing this was I thought I would get out of trouble quicker….Red is from Mishawaka.  I don’t know his last name.  But there is such a person.  I haven’t known him very long.  I stated that Red was the first one that gave me the shot.  This is a lie.”

Among local investigators, reactions were mixed.  Some were satisfied that the girls were now telling the truth and nothing really happened, while others vowed to continue the investigation and to interview additional minors implicated in the story.  Law enforcement in surrounding cities and towns seemed eager to chalk it up as a hoax, satisfied that none of their community’s youths were involved in such scandalous behavior.

However, even as the two women in custody were now denying most of the events they previously described, they seemed to further affirm that Red was real and that he was indeed a narcotics dealer.  Also, one of the girls appeared to have knowledge of at least two burglaries known to police.  And what to make of the testimony of the usher and the driver Red recruited to shuttle teens out to Hot Rod Heaven?  The usher’s story mostly backs up the girl’s testimony about Red, and while the driver may have been inventing a role for himself in the lore surrounding Hot Rod Heaven, maybe there was some truth to what he and the other youths were describing.

Which brings us back to the aforementioned Plymouth sex orgy gang.  On September 20, 1951, just a month before the Hot Rod Heaven revelations surfaced, Ray Freed, 30, of Plymouth, Indiana was sentenced in Marshall County Juvenile Court to six months in the Indiana Penal Farm for contributing to the delinquency of minors.  Freed, the night watchman at a Plymouth creamery plant, had taken nude photographs of several teens aged 14-17 engaged in various acts of sexual indecency after hours at the plant.  While investigators told reporters other adults were involved, Freed was the only adult named and prosecuted.  In what seems a disturbing practice by today’s standards, rather than being treated as victims, 14 of the teens were punished for their participation in the “sex gang.”  Two girls were sent to the Indiana Girls’ School and three boys were sent to the Plainfield Boys’ School.  Other underage participants were placed on probation.

In addition to being a national story, the Hot Rod Heaven incident was one of many reports at the time of teen sex and drug gangs popping up all over the country.  There were so many stories in so many places that one might be inclined to think the nation was in the midst of a moral panic over behavior that was probably not all that uncommon.  Famed Indiana University sex researcher Dr. Alfred A. Kinsey was totally unfazed by the Hot Rod Heaven allegations, explaining there is “no evidence of an increase in juvenile sexual activity.  It has always existed.  The only increase is in the amount of publicity such cases have been getting lately.”  Additionally, Kinsey “estimated that there are 420,000 illicit sex experiences in Indiana each week.”  Kinsey would be in a position to know.  He most likely participated in no small number of those.

In the end, maybe there’s no such thing as a Hot Rod Heaven.  Maybe there never was.  True, young people have always been fond of finding an out of the way spot to park their cars and engage in illicit activity.  But if it was real, the secrets of Hot Rod Heaven were long ago swallowed up by its tall, smothering trees, drowned out by the angry revving of car engines, and carried away on dense clouds of hot rod exhaust.  Red and his crew, who may or may not have once strode into the chaos of the ‘heaven’ and commanded the fear and respect of the rowdy throng, and who possibly even ordered youths to steal and peddle narcotics for them, have long ago faded back into the darkness, possibly emerging somewhere else with even more sinister intent and devilish schemes.

Declining attendance at fitness centers indicates many Americans have already achieved their New Year’s fitness goals

As the first month of 2022 draws to a close, it has become apparent that many Americans who resolved to get back in shape this year have done so in record time.  Indeed, these gym warriors hit it hard for the first couple weeks of January, causing attendance at many locations to double or even triple.  Having transformed themselves in record time, many January gym rats are already hanging up their shorts and checking another resolution off their list.

“I set a pretty ambitious goal this year to get in better shape than I was in 2021,” said Cal Thomas, member at Fantastic Fitness.  “I managed to achieve that goal in about three workouts.  Needless to say, with Covid and all, I was pretty inactive in 2021.  Next year I hope to double my current fitness level by going for six.”

Gym memberships swelled the first week of January, leaving many year-round regulars having to adjust their fitness routines.  Access to facilities and equipment was temporarily hampered by the influx, but now seems to be opening back up.

“We’re just cranking out healthy people right and left,” said fitness trainer Joe Buck.  “We’re all about rapid results.  It’s amazing what you can do with two weeks and a burning desire for a new you.”

Ageing rock stars suffering under Covid rockdown restrictions

Rockdown restrictions appear to be taking their toll on some of our most beloved ageing rock stars.  Most recently, a cantankerous Neil Young insisted Spotify remove his catalog from its service saying he won’t share the platform with the likes of Joe Rogan.  In a letter to his management team, Young wrote:  “I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform. They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”

In the letter, the “Rockin’ in the Free World” composer reveals the source of his displeasure with the popular streaming service.  “I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them. Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule.”

Some say Mr. Young’s frustration with Spotify has even spilled over into his music.  According to fans at a recent event, Young took aim at the streaming giant when he altered some of his lyrics to sing, “We need a kinder, gentler speech ban hand.”  

Then there is Eric Clapton, for whom it all came into focus, when he first discovered mass formation hypnosis.   “I didn’t get the memo, whatever the memo was, it hadn’t reached me. Then I started to realize there was really a memo… It’s great, you know, the theory of mass hypnosis formation. And I could see it then. Once I started to look for it, I saw it everywhere.” 

Not you, Slowhand and Shaky.  Gentlemen, the politics of this shit is poison.  It’ll destroy your brain.  Please, do something constructive.  Snort a few lines of blow, pick up your guitars and get back about the business of rock and roll.  “She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie…”