at 23:31 on November 12, 2009, EDT.
By Bill Draper,David Twiddy, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


LEXINGTON, Mo. - Family members of five men charged in a bizarre child sex abuse case reacted with disbelief and sadness Thursday to the "unspeakable" string of alleged atrocities spanning two decades.

"It's unspeakable. I can't think of words that would put this in perspective. I find it repulsive if it's true," said Darrel Mohler, a brother of one of the five men charged.

The men - a father and his four adult sons - were dressed in orange jumpsuits and shackled at their wrists, waists and ankles on Thursday when they made their first court appearance. Associate Circuit Judge John Frerking read the charges against them, including forcible sodomy, rape with a child younger than 12 and use of a child in a sexual performance.

Authorities resumed a search Thursday at a rural property about 30 miles east of Kansas City, Missouri, where members of the Mohler family once lived. They believe they may find a body or bodies and buried glass jars with notes written by children who may have documented sexual abuse.

Authorities said a 26-year-old woman came forward to investigators in mid-August with allegations of sexual abuse that began in the 1980s and continued until about 1995. A probable cause statement released by the Lafayette County prosecutor's office says five other siblings of the woman have accused all five men of abuse, but it's unclear if all the siblings were claiming to be victims.

Burrell Edward Mohler Sr., 77, looked ill, keeping his eyes closed during much of the proceeding and coughing several times.

The other suspects are Mohler's sons: Burrell Edward Mohler Jr., 53; Jared Leroy Mohler, 48; Roland Neil Mohler, 47; and David A. Mohler, 52.

Missouri State Highway Patrol arrested a sixth suspect late Thursday, a 55-year-old man from Kansas City. The man is suspected in the rape of a child less than 14 years old, the highway patrol said in a statement. The suspect is an "associate" of the Mohler family, the statement said.

The allegations against the Mohlers - including bestiality, forcing children into fake marriages with relatives and making an 11-year-old have an abortion - date from 1988 to 1995.

Highway patrol said Thursday night it had identified "additional victims in the case."

The men did not enter pleas and said little during the 20-minute hearing. They did not appear to have legal representation. The judge told them they could apply for public defenders.

The men are being held on cash bonds ranging from $30,000 to $75,000. Their next court hearing is scheduled for Nov. 17.

Darrel Mohler, brother of Burrell Mohler Sr., said Thursday that he hasn't seen his brother for years and the two were never close. "I'm 72, and this kind of struck me right in the gut," he said.

Cpl. Bill Lowe of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said Thursday that about 50 law enforcement officials are involved in the case, and that several leads have come in since the arrests Tuesday.

On Thursday afternoon, crews dug with a backhoe in front of a garage on the property. The excavation previously had taken place about 200 yards (meters) from a house in a wooded area.

Lowe said the woman told investigators that she and her siblings had buried glass jars around the property that were filled with messages they had written "about what was happening to them" when they were younger. The woman said she had "suppressed many of the memories of abuse perpetrated on her" and her siblings, according to the probable cause statement.

The Associated Press is not revealing details that could identify the alleged victims of sexual abuse.

Three of the five men are lay ministers in the Community of Christ church whose licenses have been suspended, church spokeswoman Linda L. Booth said.


©The Canadian Press, 2009


This has made me sick to my stomach after reading this story

MF's should have their dicks cut off and fed to them in a dirty ashtry .....spineless rotten @*#?! .....yep I said it in a nice way .....I'll wait for the bricks to fly

Sick fucks

I saw this on the news. I heard they were looking for bodies too.



Well...whoopdie fuckin' do...their licenses are suspended. I'm sure they care. If there is a hell, and right now I pray there is, I hope they fry there for eternity with pitchforks up the ass.

Disgraceful!!!!!

I'm confused though about the glass jar thing

purpledoveuk said:

note in a bottle type response i imagine...

vile story though...

my goodness i am extremely tired or hearing about these child sexual abuse cases that seem to never stop! if this is the case then there is something wrong with this united states judical court system that can't seem to punish criminals anymore or give th light sentences for stuff like this

the united states is the LAST country in the world to care about child well being ANYBODY who puts their hands on an innocent child should be hanging from the highest tree somewhere and left to die

we gotta protect our children man you got some werid sick ass mofos in this country and here this judical system does nothing about it bring back the good ole days!

RenHoek said:

so they were burying notes and hoping somebody would find them or were there sickos making them log what they'd had done to them

purpledoveuk said:

I prefer to think it was the former...

hope I'm right...

Here in the UK, if found guilty, they'd probably get a max of 1yr in prison and put on a sex offender register....which nobody is allowed to see.

In our backward country the kids would probably get longer for littering and digging without planning permission.

In cases like this I am all for cruel and unusual punishment 'cause death is too easy.

PurpleDiamond2009 said:

No argument from me. You put your hands on a child, sayonara.

It's up to us to get on our elected officials to stiffen the penalties for this shit.

$30k-$75??? Fuck that, raise it to $5mil!

Humans.....the last tragic creation.

purpledoveuk said:

Here in Holland they are quite protected too. People who run websites that publish the names of CONVICTED pedos are harassed more by the judicial system than the pedo. As a matter of fact, chances are quite big that the pedo will be able to work at a schoolyard or in at a swimmingpool again and only after he repeated his crime, the neighbourhood finds out there was a convicted pedo living there all the time.
[Edited 11/13/09 13:39pm]