MAMA JUNE: CHILD MOLESTERS CANNOT BE REHABILITATED

Over the past few days, the media has been inundated with news that Mama June (from the show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo) has allegedly been having a relationship with registered sex offender Mark McDaniel.

I am a former Federal agent and private investigator with over 40 years investigative experience. I have interrogated dozens of pedophiles, and I firmly believe they can not be rehabilitated.

In this post, I discuss the Mama June events, I talk about a case in which I discovered a man already convicted of child molestation had in fact been framed by his ex-wife and stepdaughter, and I talk about why I have never taken on another case involving the topic of child molestation.

This sorry subject came up when two things happened.

First, Anna Marie Cardwell, the oldest daughter on the show , told the press she was the victim of McDaniel when he was dating her mother, June Shannon, aka Mama June. Anna Marie advised she was eight years old at the time.

Second, photos emerged showing June and Mark recently house hunting together, and in a hotel room together.

There are plenty of photos of McDaniel on the internet with Mama June. There also photos of McDaniel’s booking and release photos after serving ten years for the aggravated molestation of another child. You can find all you need to know about McDaniel at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Sex Offender Registry.

My initial reaction was that Photoshop may have been involved, and that this was some kind of promotional gimmick put forward by TLC, the network that carries the show. Then I was saw that TMZ had these photos and was airing the story. Say what you want about TMZ and their methods of obtaining photos and information, at the end of the day they source their information, and have a level of factual integrity that is unsurpassed in the entertainment news industry.

Other media sources are reporting the father of Honey Boo Boo’s 17 year old sister, Jessica Shannon, is Michael Anthony Ford. Sources advise that Ford is currently in prison for sexual exploitation of a child and is not expected out for another ten years. Once again, you can see his history and photos on the internet.

Is there a pattern here?

The truth is I know nothing about Mama June’s show, I’ve never watched it. I know nothing of her game plan, or in fact she is dating child sexual predators. One thing I do know is how to interview and interrogate pedophiles.

A false positive

In one of my very first cases as a private investigator in the early 1980’s, I believed the gentleman that came to me for help was, in fact, the worst of the worst.

I didn’t want to take on a child molestation case. It was just repugnant and did settle well with my inner core. The client’s persistence that he was innocent, as most do, was the turning point in my taking the case.  He had already been convicted of multiple counts of sexual misconduct with his 16 year old step-daughter. When I reviewed the transcripts from the trial, I was even more convinced he was guilty.

I could not have been more wrong.

Through the course of our investigation, we found incontrovertible evidence that he had been framed by the step-daughter and her mother, to glean all his assets in a bitter divorce case. That matter, and getting an innocent man off from spending the rest of his life in prison, was a life changing event for me.

You may think that this experience taught me to question my own assumptions and have patience in these cases. The fact is, I have never taken another pedophile / child molester case. The case above received significant national media attention and as a result, I was sought out by many child molesters and their attorneys throughout the United States (and in a few foreign countries) to help defend them in court. I would rather do just about anything else for a living.

Everyone deserves a defense, but I leave these sorts of cases to other private investigators.

My belief is that child molesters cannot be rehabilitated

What I have come to believe, through many years of research, interviews and experience is that pedophiles can not be rehabilitated. From my chair, I have never seen or talked with one that has. I realize that there is some evidence to the contrary. The point is: I don’t want to use my talents or abilities as a private investigator to help keep child predators from going to prison.

TLC has cancelled Here Comes Honey Boo Boo because of the newly uncovered events. Kudos to them. Mama June needs to cancel her relationship with child molesters. If she doesn’t, her grandchildren are the ones that will likely suffer the consequences.