6 Siblings Abused By Burrell Mohler Sr. And 4 Sons

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Six siblings who authorities say were subjected to sadistic sexual abuse by older relatives on a Missouri farm more than 25 years ago issued their first public statement Wednesday in an effort to counter defense arguments that the victims have been reluctant to take the case to trial.

In a statement read to The Associated Press by one of the women after it was approved by her four sisters and one brother, the siblings said they are ready to tell their stories in court.

"After four years of cooperating with the prosecution, we believe that a just and speedy trial can be reached without further compromising our privacy and safety," the statement said. "Even now, it is our hope that this case will bring attention to crimes against children and will give other victims the courage they need to come forward."

The AP generally does not identify victims of sexual abuse and hasn't reported the familial relationship between the alleged victims and the older family members.

Burrell Mohler Sr. and his four sons, Burrell Jr., David, Jared and Roland Mohler, are facing dozens of counts of rape and sodomy after the six siblings told investigators they were abused as children on a farm east of Kansas City over several years beginning in the mid-1980s. Burrell Sr. and Burrell Jr. remain behind bars, while the others are free on bond. All have pleaded not guilty.

The men's trials have been repeatedly pushed back due in part to delays in the defense obtaining evidence, including the six siblings' health care records. Defense attorneys have argued their clients have been in limbo for more than two years, living as accused child molesters, without getting a chance to prove their innocence in court.

Defense attorneys have requested mental and physical health records going back to when the siblings were children, noting that if the horrible acts of abuse against them really happened, there would be medical records to prove it.

George Jones, an attorney for David Mohler, contends it's unfair that his client's trial keeps getting delayed because the accusers have refused to provide health care records. Clay County Circuit Judge Larry Harman is scheduled to rule Friday on Jones' motions to have the case dismissed.

The woman who spoke with the AP said she and her siblings were concerned about the possibility their personal information would be comprised. However, she said they were reassured by the appointment of a discovery judge late last year to review all health records before deciding what should be shared with defense attorneys.

The judge signed an order Dec. 19 requiring the siblings to turn lists of health care providers over to the state, and the woman said the requested records now have been given to the court.

The woman said she couldn't discuss details of the claims against the Mohler men because she didn't want to jeopardize the criminal cases. The first trial, for Burrell Mohler Sr., is scheduled for April in Clay County.

Mitru Ciarlante, director of youth initiatives with the National Center for Victims of Crime, said the thought of providing confidential, personal records to strangers is troubling for most people, and even more so for crime victims because they don't know how that information will be used.

"When it comes to personal privacy – something many Americans value very closely – it's something we give up when we report a crime or when someone else reports a child is abused," she said. "Those are some of the barriers victims have to reporting abuse in the first place."

The men were charged in November 2009, a year after the siblings went to authorities. Four of the siblings claim the Mohler men took turns raping them over several years, including some assaults that happened after patriarch Burrell Sr., an ordained minister, conducted wedding ceremonies to "marry" the young girls to the older men so they could have sex.

Court documents also describe claims by some of the girls that they were forced to have sex with a horse and a dog.

The accusers said the abuse started when they were very young, in some cases as young as 5 years old, and they had repressed the memories for more than 20 years.

Comments

[Barbara Golden Burke]

03:14 PM on 02/21/2012

OMG! What sick men, just to have sex with your siblings is sick enough, but to make one of the women have sex with a horse and a dog. That is plain sick and demented. What are they part of the deliverance family!!!!! ??

[babbs0128]

01:16 PM on 02/21/2012

I am surprised at some of the comments. What is it that any of you refuse to believe that those siblings were raped and sodomized? Do you think that maybe the memories are true? No psychologist put false memories in everyone's head? Is there evidence enough to charge the Burrells? Can they get a conviction? All those are taken into consideration before charges are filed. Your arguments sound like you'd have to see it happen in order to believe it.

[Christine Mcinerney]

01:03 PM on 02/21/2012

My mother and her sisters were repeatly raped by their father and they never told anyone while their mother just let it happen.Disgusting spouses in this should also be held accountable.

[Christine Mcinerney]

12:59 PM on 02/21/2012

These poor women,theywill be tortured all over again.Thia is another reason why people dont report abuse ,because women are made to look like they agreed to be consentented to this and any thing they have done in there life will be dragged threw the mud.I hope they can find the strength to go threw with this!

[davidwr]

10:02 PM on 02/20/2012

Damn, the repressed memories and possibility of a group-false-recovered memory are going to be the wildcard here. Barring strong corroborating or disproving evidence, it's impossible to tell with certainty if a given recovered memory is real.

The real tragedy is that SOME abuse may have occurred but SOME of the memories may be false. This is bad because it makes everyone a victim: Those guilty of molestation are portrayed as more evil than they are, and those victimized will think they were abused worse than they actually were. If the actual abuse was mild and deserved less-than-life, the perpetrators may wind up with an unjustly stiff sentence.

[MoonMaven]

11:37 AM on 02/21/2012

to davidwr: "if the actual abuse was mild"............seriously?! there's no such thing as mild abuse if they were raped or sodomized. Of course, I must be one of those people who think of the perpetrator as "more evil than they actually" are. Having been raped and sodomized as a child I can honestly say, the act is evil. Person/s doing it, not really. But the act is the thing isn't it......not to mention how traumatizing it is to have a trusted person do this to you. The real tragedy is that some people don't see 'molest' as it truly is. Molest is a SAFE word which doesn't really say much....it could be anything. But, RAPE, SODOMY.....those words are what molest really is. And, there might not be medical history to substantiate what happened to them. Not because they weren't taken to the doctor, but because the doctor didn't put it in the medical records as it was. I feel for the siblings. My thoughts and prayers go out to them..........Hang in there and remember to BREATHE!

[davidwr]

12:14 PM on 02/21/2012

"there's no such thing as mild abuse if they were raped or sodomized."

By definition, mild abuse excludes rape and sodomy.

Mild abuse is things like sexually suggestive comments or cat-calls.

"Relatively" mild abuse is serious abuse that is less than what the person falsely remembers.

A molester may expose himself to a child or fondle a child and the child may recall it falsely decades later as penetration. If the jury believes the false memory, the guy could un-justly get life instead of decades or decades instead of years.

As far as the definition of molest:

Outside of a legal context, "molest" includes everything from forcibly or corrosively feeling up someone's breasts or privates to extreme forms of rape. In order to know how outraged I need to be when someone says they have been molested, I need some clue of the degree of the crime.

[davidwr]

12:15 PM on 02/21/2012

I am sorry you suffered in this way. Nobody, especially a child, should have to suffer being abused.

[Raquel Lee Galford]

04:22 PM on 02/20/2012

Maybe I missed it, but there is no mention of a mother of the victims. Where was she when these horrible attacks were taking place? Did no one at school or or other family members realize that something was not right? This has to be a nightmare for all of the victims. In my heart I don't understand how people can do such horrible and ghastly things to each other. My prayers go out to them

[SvrWx]

01:55 AM on 02/19/2012

I always have issues with suppressed memories coming to the surface...especially with all the siblings having the same issue. Why? Because those memories can be coerced. There was a young lady I knew back the early 80's who accused her father, the former mayor of that town, of sexual abuse. She had gone to a psychologist and he had uncovered these "suppressed memories". After all was said and done, he was found not guilty and her repressed memories were deemed to have been coerced by that shrink. To top it off, his reputation was forever tarnished.

That being said, if they did do this and are found guilty, nothing that could be done to them after conviction will be enough.

[csmomo]

01:09 PM on 02/20/2012

I doubt that these "memories" could be coerced by anyone if something had not taken place that triggered them

[salamanca1]

04:09 PM on 02/18/2012

Cue major banjos.

[Christine Mcinerney]

01:05 PM on 02/21/2012

Not funny ,it happens in your own city town or neighbor.Luck for you its only a movie!

[crawfordslc]

12:30 PM on 02/18/2012

These five sicko should be placed in cells with Buba, and live their lives in jail being all the prisoners sexual relief. But more important children must be made publicly that they can report such abuse and not fear the abuser (s), even if it is their mother, father, brother-sister or other family and non family members. Churches and schools must let children know that they can trust someone, and over come the threat of not telling.

[ltdphewl]

09:49 AM on 02/18/2012

Well they are innocent until proven guilty. That doesn't mean that they didn't do it. Sometimes medical records show no evidence of sexual abuse. I am sure they victims didn't visit the doctor much because of the fear of the abuser that they will be found out. This makes me sick. This goes on so much more than ever gets reported. These people will never have the opportunity to live a normal life because of the constant, ever on their mind abuse. People that are abused like this need justice and the justice system to do their job and put these people away for life. The accused have probably been a victim themselves at one time. They cycle continues, more children are going to be abused and it will go unreported. So sad.

[csmomo]

01:10 PM on 02/20/2012

I seriously doubt that any "medical records" exist for them. Do you really think molesters are going to take their victims to the DOCTOR????

[degirl]

07:44 AM on 02/18/2012

why do all these sickos look so much alike.?

[duaneanthonywebb]

02:28 AM on 02/18/2012

Well I had no idea that the Huffington Post would be so determined to promote a False Accuser show, as to suppress the notion that the accusers are lying. Now, unless I'm mistaken the accused are innocent until proven guilty - which means until guilt has been proven, that the accusers are liars. I guess when it's time to start "red-listing" publications and reporters who abuse their press privilege to taint Jury pools and promote predator panic shows - we'll have to make sure The Huffington Post get's the recognition it deserves.

[salamanca1]

04:11 PM on 02/18/2012

Actually, the presumption of innocence for the accused does not presume the mendacity of the accusers. Once testimony is sworn as truthful, under penalty of perjury, it is presumed to be legitimate for consideration by the jury.

[lexigram]

02:14 AM on 02/18/2012

The comments on this board are the reason that if I'm ever arrested for something I didn't do, and by some chance I get out on bail, they'll have to shoot me while I'm running away. Nobody remembers that just because you're accused of something, or arrested for something, or on trial for something, it doesn't mean you're guilty.

[csmomo]

01:12 PM on 02/20/2012

I doubt very seriously that anyone would make up such a story and tell it in court unless it happened.

[duaneanthonywebb]

02:14 AM on 02/18/2012

"After four years of cooperating with the prosecution, we believe that a just and speedy trial can be reached without further compromising our privacy and safety," TRANSLATION: After two years of untold coaching sessions and rehearsals, the liars are ready to spout to the jury what the prosecutor recommends to secure a false conviction. "Repressed memories" = Common psych-trash LIE.

[dianapisco]

11:27 PM on 02/17/2012

Kids leaving with child molesters what a nightmare.