History of Pedophile Scandals Part 2: The Presidio Scandal

Part 2 of my history of pedophilia scandals involves one also from the 80s that involved the rape of children ranging from 3-7 years old, Satanic ritual abuse, and cover-up by top military brass in the US Army.

The story begins in 1986 when the parents of a young boy (3 years old) started exhibiting sexually suggestive behavior after being watched at the Presidio Child Development Center at the US Army base in San Francisco, the Presidio. When questioned about his behavior the boy said that the teacher at the day care center had fondled and bit his penis and "stuck a pencil in the hole in his bottom." The mother, who had been trained as a nurse, examined him at bed time and noticed his anus was red. Over the next several days the child continued to talk about how the day care teacher, Gary Hambright, had hurt him. Following an incident where the child tried to escape the car they were driving in when stopped at the intersection near the CDC screaming about how he didn't want to go to the daycare center, the parents decided to contact the CDC about the matter. The director of the child care center put the mother off for several days but, meanwhile, the father talked to a chaplain about the incident who contacted the Army's Criminal Investigation Division and the boy was brought in for a videotaped interview and brought to the Child Adolescent Sexual Abuse Referral Center at San Francisco General Hospital where they determined the anatomical evidence indicated that the boy had been anally raped.

The army drug their heels on the issue, taking 2 weeks to form a strategy group on the matter and waiting over a month to inform the other parents about the issue while keeping the center open for over a year, when over 60 other victims were discovered instead of the standard routine of shutting down. Despite the CASARC telling top military brass and representatives from the FBI and US Attorney General's office to expect more victims, the Army in their letter to the parents stated "We have no reason to believe that other children have been victimized."

However, other children had started to talk and what they had to say was incredibly disturbing. Many of the children described being taken out of the center and brought to private residences both on and off the base where they were sexually abused. Some described being defecated and urinated on, smeared with blood, and forced to consume feces and urine. Many told of how they had guns pointed at them or told their parents would be killed if they told what had happened. At least 5 of the children had contracted chlamydia.

Despite all of this they only arrested Hambright and only charged him with molesting the one boy, charges that were dismissed as the judge refused to allow the children's testimony as witnesses and the Army investigator had apparently botched the investigation. A few months later 37 other victims had been identified and their parents pushed to have the other parents notified. Still, the army drug their heels, putting it off another 2 weeks and thinking of every possible excuse to delay sending another letter to the parents.

Publicity from the incident led to another shocker. This was not the first time the center had been under investigation. Six years previously the man who was now director of the center had been investigated over abusing a woman who worked at the center. However, now it was found out that the woman wasn't just abused but had been pressing for an investigation due to her seeing children being violently and sexually abused. When the MP in charge of the investigation reported the allegations he was told not to look into it further and that it would be dealt with by the director's chain of command.

Upon seeing his name in the media involved in yet another scandal at the child care center, the MP, now a deputy sheriff in a nearby county, contacted the chain of command and no one in it had heard anything about the allegations or any of the other instances that had been recorded over the years . It was also found out that this wasn't the only military child care center that had allegations backed up by strong physical evidence of ritualistic physical and sexual abuse. 15 other Army child care centers and elementary schools had reports that were incredibly and horribly similar to what the children described at the Presidio. At West Point there was even a case where a Staff Sergeant murdered his girlfriend's 22 month old son for which he received a 18 month suspended sentence and dishonorable discharge. Similar allegations were found on Air Force and Navy bases.

Further investigation revealed some really dark findings. Bunkers were found in the presidio covered in satanic graffiti, one of them appeared to have been used regularly for some type of satanic rituals. Police began surveillance on the bunker but were quickly called off.

This was not the first time strange things had been found at the Presidio. A few years prior, police had responded to reports of screaming and someone dressed in all black running into a park adjacent to the Presidio holding a little girl's hand. They found a gardener's shack that had been equipped with a bed and radio and decorated with a pentagram and doll's heads.

One of the victims, a three year old little girl, started being taken to a therapist after she started having nightmares. During her therapy she described being abused by Hambright a man named "Mikey" and a woman named "Shamby". A few months later, while shopping at the PX the girl ran, scared to her father and, clutching his leg, pointed to a man and said that he mas Mikey. That man was psychological warfare specialist, former second in command of The Church of Satan, and founder of the satanic Temple of Set, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Aquino.

His wife, Lilith, a high priestess in the Temple of Set was in the parking lot and when asked if she knew the woman the girl said yes, that was Shamby.

They went home and called the FBI who interviewed the girl the next day. She described being taken to Aquino's home and headquarters of the TOS by Hambright where she was abused by Hambright, Aquino, and Lilith in a room with black walls. She stated that the abuse was photographed. After succesfully pointing out Aquino's home as the place she was abused, the FBI and SFPD served a search warrant on the house the next day where they confiscated photos and negatives, gloves, and costumes and a notebook with names and phone numbers.

Aquino said he was being persecuted for his religion, condemning the investigation as a modern day witch hunt. The man who had performed a satanic ceremony in Weshphalian Castle, a place Heinrich Himmler had used as an occult sanctuary for the SS elite, compared his investigation to the persecution of the Jews by the Nazis. He even tried, unsuccesfully, to have the father court martialled over the accusations.

Soon after, on the Autumnal Equinox, a building next to the center that housed some of the center's records was burned down with the center itself following 3 weeks later. The Army's investigation concluded it was an accident caused by faulting wiring, but a separate investigation conducted by the ATF concluded that it was arson. Meanwhile, Hambright was reindicted on the abuse charges. However, there would be no other arrests despite the children's testimony, and they said there was no other suspects.

Only 10 of the more than 60 victims were included in the indictment. All of the ones with medical evidence including the chlamydia cases and rectal lesions were dropped from the case except for the original boy as he had been examined by civilian doctors at CASARC. Soon 4 of the children were dropped from the case citing problems with their testimony. Then, all but the original boy was dropped from the case with the judge saying the charges were too vague. A 2 page document listing the names and dates of the abuse was the only evidence submitted. Soon the last one was dropped from the case on the advice of the boy's therapist.

Douglass Dietrich describes this situation and the general background of satanism in the military and more on Aquino in this interview with Sean Stone on Enter the Buzzsaw:

There are many other instances of pedophilic scandals I could relay to you but writing these 2 have taken a toll on me and I can't keep traumatizing myself researching the graphic details of these cases anymore. I have to take a break at least for a while and concentrate on other writing. I haven't included all the most graphic details in these writings but a little more investigation into them will reveal why as they are incredibly horrendous and gruesome. However, I did want to include this 1981 documentary on the subject of child exploitation as it shows that this has been a problem for a very long time and this does an excellent job of documenting the reality of the situation.

When I feel I can tackle the subject again I'll delve into Hollywood and the rampant pedophila in the media. Then I'll show how these are all connected but for now I have to focus on something, anything, else for a little while.