TheFranklin child prostitution ring allegations began in June 1988 inOmaha, Nebraska, when multiple prominentNebraskan political and business figures were accused of involvement in achild sex trafficking ring. The allegations attracted significant public and political interest until late 1990, when separate state and federalgrand juries concluded that the allegations were unfounded and the ring was a "carefully crafted hoax."[1][2]
In 1988, state and federal authorities began looking into allegations that prominent citizens of Nebraska, as well as high-level U.S. politicians, were involved in achild prostitution ring.[3] Alleged abuse victims were interviewed, who claimed that children infoster care were flown to theEast Coast of the United States to be sexually abused.[4]
The accusations primarily centered onLawrence E. King Jr., who ran the now defunct Franklin Community Federal Credit Union in Omaha, Nebraska, and alleged that King hosted "lavish parties at which minors were sexually abused".[3][5][6] King was a rising figure, donor, and powerbroker in the Republican Party before the investigation, singing the National Anthem at the1984 Republican National Convention and spending $100,000 on parties for the 1988 convention.[7] King had a luxurious lifestyle, chartering private jets and limousines and wearing expensive clothes and jewellery, including a $69,000 watch seized after he went into court-ordered receivership.[7] He also owned multiple houses and businesses in Nebraska, alongside a house nearEmbassy Row,Washington, D.C., which he rented.[5][7] The Franklin Credit Union was raided by authorities investigating the embezzlement of over $38 million in November 1988.[5]
TheNebraska Legislature organized a state committee in December 1988 to look into both the credit union embezzlement and the child prostitution allegations named the Franklin Committee,[5] led by state senatorLoran Schmit withErnie Chambers acting as vice chair. Numerousconspiracy theories spread after the committee was announced, claiming that the alleged abuse was part of a widespread series of crimes including devil worship, cannibalism, drug trafficking, andCIA arms dealing.[3]
In July 1990, private investigator Gary Caradori, hired by the Franklin Committee to investigate the allegations, died along with his 8-year-old son when his plane disintegrated in mid-air near Chicago. Foul play was suspected by Caradori's brother and state senator Loran Schmit, but was not proven by investigators.[8][9][10] No definitive cause for the crash has been established.
The Nebraska State Foster Care Review Board submitted the results of a two-year investigation into the alleged physical and sexual abuse of foster children to the executive board of the Nebraska Legislature, who were investigating reports of child sexual abuse linked to the credit union.[citation needed]
In July 1990, a separate county investigation by agrand jury inDouglas County, where Omaha, Nebraska, is situated, determined the abuse allegations were baseless, describing them as a "carefully crafted hoax" and indicting two of the original accusers onperjury charges.[1] The grand jury suspected that the false stories originated from a fired employee ofBoys Town, who might have "fueled the fire of rumor and innuendo" because of personal grudges, but refused to name someone as the source of the stories.[1] State senator and Franklin Committee head Schmit called the grand jury report "a strange document", adding "that is the kindest thing I can say about it."[1]
In September 1990, afederal grand jury also concluded that the abuse allegations were unfounded and indicted 21-year-old Alisha Owen, an alleged victim, on eight counts of perjury. Owen served4+1⁄2 years in prison.[11] The same federal grand jury later indicted King and multiple officers of the credit union with embezzlement of funds.[1][2] In 1991, King pleaded guilty to assisting in embezzling $39 million and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.[12] In spite of the findings of the grand jury, Paul Bonacci, a witness who was also charged by the grand jury but ultimately not convicted, filed a civil suit against King the same year. Bonacci won the case after King failed to defend himself, leading the judge to award a default judgement.[13]
In 1992, former Nebraskan state senatorJohn DeCamp released a book titledThe Franklin Cover-up, alleging that the conspiracy theories about a sex trafficking ring were true, and that the investigations into the credit union had covered up the abuse.[14] During the initial investigation in 1989, DeCamp had sent a memo to journalists containing five names of those he alleged were involved in the ring.[14] DeCamp was admonished by lawmakers for releasing the memo, with the grand jury later concluding that DeCamp had made the allegations for "personal political gain and possible revenge for past actions alleged against (DeCamp)."[15] Following the book's release, DeCamp filed a lawsuit against the grand jury over its final report and conclusions.
In 1993, aYorkshire TV film crew traveled to North America to create a documentary about the allegations titledConspiracy of Silence, interviewing DeCamp, Bonacci, and others involved in the scandal. The film was pulled from the network's release schedule before it could be aired, with an unfinished cut later surfacing online.[16]
Alisha Owen, convicted of lying to grand jury probing charges of sex and drug abuse in failure of Omaha credit union, was sentenced to 9 to 15 years in prison.
In 1991, the same year he met Noreen at the prison, Bonacci filed a federal lawsuit against more than a dozen defendants, including a former top official from the Franklin Community Credit Union, Lawrence E. King, who had political connections that reached all the way to the White House. Bonacci accused King of vicious sexual abuse, among other atrocities. By then, King was on his way to prison for embezzlement, and he did not respond to the lawsuit, though he was quoted in a 1990 Washington Post story calling sex-abuse allegations against him 'garbage.' In 1999, a federal judge entered a default judgment in Bonacci's favor, awarding him $1 million. (I tried to reach King by phone and letter for this story, but did not receive a response.) Although Senior District Judge Warren K. Urbom had previously called some of Bonacci's testimony 'bizarre,' he wrote a memorandum of decision in Bonacci's favor: 'Between December 1980 and 1988, the complaint alleges, the defendant King continually subjected the plaintiff to repeated sexual assaults, false imprisonments, infliction of extreme emotional distress, organized and directed satanic rituals, forced the plaintiff to 'scavenge' for children to be a part of the defendant King's sexual abuse and pornography ring, forced the plaintiff to engage in numerous sexual contacts with the defendant King and others and participate in deviate sexual games and masochistic orgies with other minor children.'