Justice: DENIED. False charges of sexual abuse.
Avenge010
http://www.justicedenied.org
{Jeff Clark, an inmate at Louisiana's infamous Angola prison, where a life
sentence is forever, contacted Justice Denied on behalf of Jerome Bergeron,
arguing for his innocence. VOCAL (Victims of Child Abuse Laws) is also involved
in this case. When I called to speak to the Bergeron family, I discovered they
were in the midst of another life tragedy. Travis, the youngest son, had just
been killed by a hit-and-run driver on June 28. The father, Arnold Bergeron,
was in distress, so I talked with Carmon Verdin, the sister, who filled in some
facts about her brother's case. We had to gather other facts for this story
through VOCAL to complete it. Jerome's story is all the more compelling because
it is written by one inmate (who does not proclaim he is innocent, by the way)
for another. Child sex abuse cases are infamous for creating hysteria and
shutting down the minds of jurors and average citizens. Let this case serve to
teach us to keep our wits about us in any case involving children: it is too
easy to convict someone innocent and destroy the lives of the very children we
want to protect. This story, then, although told by Jeff Clark, has been
supplemented with the information we found. --Clara A. T. Boggs}
SOUTHERN JUSTICE -- A CAJUN NIGHTMARE
by Jeffrey Clark
(Edited by a Justice Denied staff member)
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
On July 29, 1999, in a small Louisiana courthouse, one man will stand alone
against the corruption in our judicial and law enforcement systems and not only
prove his innocence, but also prove that police officials deliberately coerced
his young children to make false claims of sexual abuse so his four children
could be adopted by politically connected families.
At this hearing, law enforcement officials will present evidence and testimony
about being forced to participate in the illegal procedures used against the
children. For reasons to be revealed at the hearing, they want to have the
truth made known.
As is true of many Cajun couples, Jerome and his wife, Angela, married young
and lived deep in the Bayous of Louisiana. Soon they had four children, but
they also began having marital problems. During this time, Jerome injured his
back and was laid off work. With no income, they saw no alternative but to
apply for Aid to Families and Dependent Children (AFDC), but AFDC checks also
came with the feature of a social worker who visited frequently. Jerome's wife
was not a housekeeper, and with so many children, plus looking for work to
bring in money, the house was not well kept. Jerome did his best to help, but
had to keep looking for work. The responsibilities for these two, barely in
their twenties and limited in education and skills, were heavy.
The stage was set for disaster ... and injustice.
The social worker had some close friends who were childless and wanted to adopt
some children, so she filed a neglect and dirty house report on the Bergerons,
recommending that the children be removed and immediately placed with her
friends who had become foster and potential adoptive parents. The Bergerons
quickly found themselves in juvenile dependency court. The foster family (the
social worker's friends) decided they wanted permanent custody of the Bergeron
children. From there the case began to grow from a dirty house neglect case to
sexual abuse.
Next on the social worker's agenda was to refer the children to a Child
Protective Services (CPS) physician. For those who are unaware of how doctors
can "substantiate" sex abuse when there is none, a word of education is in
order. A doctor can find "genitals within normal limits," and then say this is
"not inconsistent with sexual abuse." In other words, nothing rules out the
possibility of sexual abuse, which is how many people wind up in prison. Expert
witnesses can and do refute these kinds of "findings," but a poor person is not
likely to have enough money to hire an expert witness. In this way the CPS
doctor determined that the children had been repeatedly molested and raped by
Jerome. VOCAL saw the medical reports, "the usual, genitals within normal
limits, not inconsistent with sexual abuse" -- meaningless to diagnose any
genuine case of sexual abuse, but a diagnosis that impresses juries and judges
who know little or nothing about the appearance of children's genitals.
The doctor reported his "findings" to the police and Jerome was arrested, then
tried and convicted. Unfortunately Jerome's wife sought the easy way out for
herself and turned state's evidence against him in exchange for her plea
bargain. That doctor, the very one who reported no findings of abuse as "not
inconsistent with abuse," was also a friend of the adoptive parents. In any
court that wanted to maintain even the illusion of fairness, this physician's
findings would have been closely questioned because of his conflict of
interest.
There are important inconsistencies and facts worth nothing in Jerome's case:
1. The children were only 1, 2, 4 and 5 years old at the time of the alleged
offenses. How credible is it that these children would be repeatedly raped by 5
to 7 different adults, yet show no bodily injuries?
2. The State offered several plea bargains to Jerome before trial, including a
deal to receive no more than 10-12 years. Jerome flatly refused any deals
because he is, in fact, Innocent.
3. Two doctors actually examined the children and gave wholly different medical
opinions, but the findings in both of the examinations were inconclusive.
4. The children were coerced and coached to testify that they were repeatedly
raped by several adults within a short period of time, which the District
Attorney used to generate massive pretrial publicity. However, at trial the
defense was absolutely restricted from proving that the children's allegations
were untrue. The State also suppressed the fact that it had court records and
evidence that unquestionably proved that, (a) one of the adults was never in
the State of Louisiana at the times of the alleged offenses, (b) the police
knew the other adults never committed any offense against the children, which
is why they were never even questioned and, (c) the police also knew that the
last person alleged to have raped the children never even existed. All this
information was effectively kept from the defense.
One of Jerome's children was easy prey. Tired of the poverty in her parent's
home, she eagerly listened to the social worker who told her she could have a
better life with new parents, but that she had to admit she had been molested.
That child, by the way, has now recanted.
5. It's notable that police officials had to conduct a total of twenty-three
separate interviews with the children to assure their testimony at trial. The
children kept telling the police the truth -- that no sexual abuse occurred.
Their truth fell on deaf ears, for these officials had their own agenda to
"make" a case. In the end, they were worn down.
The children lived with the foster family for almost five months without any
allegations or signs of previous sexual abuse. It was not until it looked as if
Jerome was going to fight the termination of his parental rights and the
adoption that the would-be adoptive family brought charges of sexual abuse
against Jerome and his wife.
Jerome's cousin worked for the local law enforcement as a reserve officer and
he had heard from one of his friends at the police department that there were
tape recordings of the children from the investigation. That officer also told
VOCAL that he had both seen and heard the tapes. Those tapes, crucial to the
defense, mysteriously disappeared. The defense was told that the tapes did not
exist, yet they existed at the time of trial.
Jerome also requested his trial transcript for his appeal. It never arrived
until the time for filing was past. The Louisiana judicial system is determined
to keep the imprisoned in prison, regardless of the truth.
While confined in the Lafourche Parish Prison, a few months after Jerome's
arrest, he was attacked and severely beaten by many inmates who later said they
were instructed to do it by the newly elected Sheriff, Jail Warden, and prison
officers. Jerome was taken to the hospital for emergency medical treatment for
facial bone fractures and injuries to his back. Internal Affairs conducted an
investigation after the inmates admitted that officials had instructed them to
severely beat Jerome. (Note: Jerome only recently learned that the inmates had
acted on instructions from the Sheriff and prison officials to beat him,
because he was immediately transferred after the incident, so he didn't know he
had been set up. He previously believed the inmates had attacked him because of
the charges and the massive publicity generated by the Sheriff.)
George Wimberly had interviewed Jerome on a legal visit in Angola for about
five hours. A few months later, when he arrived to visit again, prison officers
claimed they had no records of his application for visits in spite of the fact
that Mr. Wimberly had already been approved. They refused him access. The
Wimberlys later discovered that this was because Jerome had been beaten and
prison officials didn't want anyone to see his condition.
George Wimberly believes that the "adoption" by relatives issue was raised
after the kids were placed in the foster home. The family got in touch with
some relatives who were willing to take the children, rather than leave them in
the foster/adopt placement that was at the heart of the false allegations.
"Reasonable efforts" to place the children with family were ignored.
The family members came forward, willing to adopt the children after George
Wimberly got involved with the post-conviction appeal. He told the family that
CPS was required to make "Reasonable Efforts" to place the children with
relatives. No one from CPS ever provided reasonable efforts to place the
children with relatives, nor did anyone tell the family that they had this
right until Mr. Wimberly pointed it out.
Now eight years later, Jerome has learned that his two oldest children, a girl
we'll call Betty, and a boy we'll call Curt, made statements to credible
individuals that no sexual abuse ever occurred and that they were coerced to
falsely testify at their father's trial by the investigating detectives at the
Sheriff's Department and by an official with the Louisiana Department of Health
and Human Resources.
For some time now, Jerome's oldest son, Curt, now 12 ½ years old, has been in a
reform school after his adoptive parent beat him after he came forward to state
that no sexual abuse ever occurred, and that the police forced them to make
those claims. Unless "Betty" and "Curt" are protected by the government in the
Witness Protection Program, they will be threatened, beaten, and coerced until
once again they are forced to testify as directed by
their adoptive families and Sheriff Department officials. They should be
protected from further psychological and physical abuse for their own sakes and
welfare, and have no contact with anyone who may coerce them or otherwise try
to compromise the truth of their testimony. The truth must be made known.
In 1996 and 1997, Mr. George Wimberly, Director of the National Association of
State VOCAL Organizations, took an active interest in this case and tried to
uncover evidence to prove Jerome's innocence. State public officials
stonewalled Mr. Wimberly at every turn, as did the police, courts, and prison.
Mr. Wimberly himself heard police officials say they did "tape record" the
children's statements during their 23 interviews, and that if anyone heard what
was on those tapes they would see that Jerome never should have been arrested.
These officials also said they had police reports from those interviews proving
that they violated federal laws during the interviews with the children.
If it isn't again continued, Jerome D. Bergeron is to have a hearing on July
29, 1999, in the 17th Judicial District Court, Parish of Lafourche, City of
Thibodeaux, LA., under the docket number 246595, before The Hon. Jerome J
Barbera, III.
Jeffrey Clark writes, "We hope this case will attract the attention of massive
media coverage across the nation. Just as those prosecuting officials were put
on trial in Chicago, Illinois, we look for similar truth-seeking actions to
occur in this small Cajun courthouse.
"The destruction of an American family, false testimony coerced by police
acting illegally, psychological abuse of the children, physical beatings on the
father to force him to agree to illegal adoption of his children, and one man's
eight-year struggle to prove his innocence and get justice, are only some of
the issues involved in this case.
"Truth and justice need your help and presence at Jerome's hearing to ensure
that this Cajun nightmare comes to an end. Jerome stands alone without an
attorney to present his case. Please be present, provide assistance, or
otherwise support Jerome's cause so that the truth will be revealed at this
hearing.
"Thank you for your time, understanding, and any help you might provide to
Jerome Bergeron. For more information please contact Jerome Bergeron's uncle,
Mark, knows most about the case. Call him at (504) 532-3337. Jerome's, father,
Arnold Bergeron is at (504) 853-1937. Jerome's, sister, Carmon Verdin, also
knows about his case, but she just moved: call the father to reach her. You can
also contact a helping friend, Debbie Colinsky, by e-mail: Dial...@aol.com.
You may also contact Jerome at prison, but that correspondence is not
confidential due to prison censorship." (Address is below.)
Jerome has now been in prison for over 7 ½ years. He is now divorced from
Angela, who is supposed to be out now, but still has not been released.
Angela, writing to Jerome over their years of imprisonment, told him that she
was threatened with a life sentence if she didn't take the plea bargain.
According to what her mother has told the Bergeron family, she now wants to
help free Jerome.
Jerome also directs those who want to know more about his case to contact Mr.
George Wimberly:
Mr. George Wimberly
State VOCAL Organizations, Legislative and Special Services Office
11625 E. Old Spanish Trail
Tucson, AZ 85730
Phone (520) 722-1968
Contact Jerome Bergeron:
Jerome D Bergeron, D.O.C. #170254
Camp D
Louisiana State Prison
Angola, LA 70712
(Disclaimer: We had to piece this story together from various sources. Some
statements turned out to be incorrect -- one was a rumor that the adoptive
parents no longer wanted the children. As we can, we will update and correct
Jerome's story. This is as far as we can take it for this issue.)
© Justice Denied
janetqui...@gmail.com
Thank you,
Janet Bergeron