Timothy Sandfort
See Pictures, link at bottom.
Wrongfully Convicted of Sexual Abuse
To whom ever this may concern:
Hello, my name is Timothy Sandfort and
I was wrongly convicted of a crime that I did not commit. My stepson, Charles
McClure accused me of four counts of sexually abuse. He is 11 years old
and is a proven compulsive liar, has done lots of things to our family.
He has made false reports to D.F.S, has hurt his little brother to the point
that he could have died, and he swore that his real dad done it to his little
brother, he stated that his dad done it in a drunken rage, was able to tell
the same story over and over and it be the same. So the entire family believed
that his real dad had hurt the little brother. He wound up
in court over this issue. About 6 months later Charles went to his mother
and reported to her that he was in fact the one that done it to his little
brother not his dad. He only did it because he was mad at his dad and the
only reason he was telling his
mom is because he felt like he had made his point.
When this child was 5 years old he would tell
people that his dad rubbed/played with him in the shower and made his
penis hard. Nothing was ever found there. Should also be noted that, this
child had been going to counseling during this
alleged time and nothing is in the records at all of any abuse, he had
seen this counselor for 2 1/2 years. When this was
reported D.F.S. had Charles change counselors and start going to one that
they wanted him to see. His old counselor was out
of the picture all-together. His old counselor did not testify in court
nor was Charles counseling records brought in for that time period. This
counselor knew Charles very well and knew a lot of the stuff that he had
done in the past. Yet none of this was allowed to be in court. This child
has done numerous other things to this family and to himself that is not
mentioned above.
In our home we used what we called the
buddy system, because we have had so many problems with this child, that
we
all agreed that no one was safe to be alone with him, because of his lying
and dishonesty all the time. We took this buddy
system very seriously in our home. So I have at least one witness if not
more every time I was around Charles. The buddy system was easy to do in
our home because we had 3 teenage children and my wife and I, this system
worked very well in
our home. In fact if my wife wasn't going to be home for any length of
time this child went back to his dad's house. This was basically laughed
out of court; I was never alone with this child ever for any reason at all.
This started Oct. 2001. All the allegations were from Jan.2002 to Aug. 2002.
No one wanted to listen.
The state attorney was able to get thrown
out of court the fact that this child's dad is gay and has a gay lover, that
they
have walked around the house nude, they have watched dirty movies with
this child, and my step daughters have caught there dad and lover in bed
together, my step daughters have also seen them walking around nude, and
seen them let Charles watch these dirty movies.
Now this child lives with his dad and his dad's
boyfriend full time and they wonder, the jury and the judge, how this child
could have known this kind of stuff. It was thrown out and not allowed to
be talked about as a possiblility of how this child could know this. I am
not saying the dad or the boyfriend done anything to him, all I'm saying
is he has been around gay men that have let him see things that may not have
been appropriate.
This is information that my youngest
brother-in-law (Robert Simonelli) has just given us permission to disclose
in this
letter. From the time Robert was about 10 years old till he was about
15 he was molested by his ex brother-in-law Andy McClure and his current
boyfriend Jimmy LaFavor. Robert states that his sister never knew about
it. That it always happened when she was at work. She worked evening shift
or the midnight shift. They had no children when it first started they didn't
adopt there kids to later. So when they molested Robert they were alone.
Robert states that he was threatened and was told that no one would believe
him if he told, and that they would hurt him if he ever told.
By the time Robert was 15 years of age, he stopped
going over to his sister's house and if he had to he never stayed with them
(his brother-in-law Andy McClure and his boyfriend Jimmy LaFavor) alone.
He never told anyone till he was between
19 or 20. He went to D.F.S and they told him because he was over the age
18 that there wasn't anything they could do.
Robert stated he had concerns for the 2 minor boys either living or having
visits with their dad and boyfriend. Yet nothing was done. He then went to
the police, they told Robert that they couldn't do anything either because
it had been to long for
anything to be done. Robert has also disclosed this information to the
parole board of Callaway County.
Robert has been able to disclose all of this
to his family and he's been able to make some kind of peace with it. Now
Robert feels somewhat responsible for this now. He knows Andy and Jimmy
raped him he can remember ever little small
detail. He's scared it will happen again or maybe it has already happened
again and this child (the alleged victim) Charles McClure has either mistaken
identity or wants to blame someone else to protect his dad and his dad's
live in boyfriend.
Robert also states there was another person
watching a lot. He never done anything to me just watched. This was also
disclosed to my 1st lawyer and they stated that it didn't matter that
it had nothing to do with this case and they wouldn't do anything. I believe
it has something to do with my case and someone needs to be checking other
places such as his dad and
his boyfriend. I would never point the finger at another person because
I know what it feels like to be wrongfully accused. Robert Simonelli reports
all this information to me.
Robert has stated that he would talk to anyone
about this if they would like his number is 314-718-0643. Robert has
also stated that the damage has already been done to him and he's had
to learn to live with it. Robert wants to help Tim
Sandfort and to ensure that his nephews are safe.
The police (Callaway county sheriff
department) called me at work and told me I needed to go in for questioning.
I asked them how long I would be there because I am a hypoglycemic and I
need food at regular intervals. The police (Houges) told
me it would be approximately thirty minutes. So on August 28th of 2002
I went in for questioning about these accusations and was kept for seven
hours during this time I told them again that I was a hypoglycemic and I
needed food. They refused and
told me that if wasn't their job to feed me. The police officer did not
know what hypoglycemia was and I had to explain to him
in great detail. I also requested to see my wife, Karrie Sandfort, and
they told me she had left when actually she was out in the hallway the entire
time except to go out for a cigarette. Why didn't I get to see my wife?
The cops testified that I wasn't under arrest.
Yet I was in a locked room. They finally brought me a cup of coffee with
regular sugar. I told them I could not have that. They told me it was the
best they could do and I had to deal with if or do without. If
I was not under arrest why didn't they let me leave to go get a snack out
of the machine or to go find my wife?
My memories become fuzzy after that point, the cops say I made out a full-page
confession and signed it.
I have no memory of this confession that I supposedly
wrote out. I talk about a shed on our land and give dates, in reality that
shed didn't even exist at time I said; we didn't get that shed till months
later. The weather was freezing rain that day, so
why would I be on a piece of land that we had just bought having my stepson
do something to me in a shed that didn't exist, further more we didn't even
have my stepson that day, my wife keeps good records when we have the kids
for visits and
when we don't, between the 2 of us we have 8 children so it's important
to know when everyone is coming and going.
The cops also testified that they did not feed
me during my interrogation and that I was shaky, pale, and stared off into
space with a blank look on my face. Those are common signs of an attack.
By the time I have signed this confession I hadn't eaten for 10 to 12 hours,
not good for someone that is to eat every 3 to 4 hours or 6 times a day.
The cops ended up arresting me at
some point. I have no memory of it. My wife reports that see saw me around
mid
night. My wife reports that I was shaky, pale, sweaty looking, and disoriented
was talking in circles. My father-in-law saw
some of the same stuff along with a close family friend. My wife reported
this to the police and they told her that nothing was wrong with me and that
I was perfectly OK. She did not agree, but yet they refused to do anything.
There again none of this was allowed in court. Not relevant to the case.
.
I was bailed out of jail a few days later
by friends, and they dropped the charges December 23rd and rearrested me
December 24th. I was bailed out the same day. I spent the next
14 months fighting these accusations. I have been away
from my loved ones and was not allowed to see my children. I have demolished
my funds for bonds and lawyers and had to switch to a public defender.
I have missed my little girl’s first steps and
her first words. I haven't seen my little girl since she was 5 months old
and
she's now 19 months old. I also have other children and stepchildren.
I've had to miss my stepdaughter's eighth grade
graduation and I will soon miss my son's and daughters graduation from
high school. All I want is to be clear of these charges and be able to go
home to my family again. I would also like to see the police to have to change
policy and procedure to be everyone gets a break regardless of the allegations.
I would like for the cops to have to be trained to detect signs and
symptoms of hypoglycemia attacks. This is a big problem in our country
and law enforcement need to be trained to help someone in the time of need,
instead of getting what they want out of them.
I went to trial on October 8th and 9th of 2003.
I thought I was finally going to get justice but the prosecuting attorney
was able to get a lot of valuable evidence supporting my case thrown out,
but was able to keep a lot of evidence against it. I was convicted of three
of the four charges. The recommended sentence for me from the jury is 110
years. A long time for a man
that didn't commit a crime. There have been several motions filed in my
case on things that were not done correctly. The
motions have been denied by the judge.
Sincerely,
Timothy Sandfort
Dictated by Timothy Sandfort and typed by Christina Cook.
Sandfort Family
9964 Eagles Nest Drive
New Bloomfield Mo. 65063
Swanangel7@aol.com
We have contacted several places to help the
injustice that has happened here, in our family.
We want to join in and help stop the injustice in
this country. No one ever really knows how bad it is until you get struck
by the injustice bug. We were just a common family with common problems
until this nightmare started. If we can help one
other person not to have to feel this pain and suffer it would be all
worth it to help stop the injustice with people with hypoglycemia and other
disabilities.
I am an innocent man that has been wrongfully
convicted, I could never do the horrible crimes they calm I have done. I
read the papers and I sound like a monster, that I am not. Please help us.
It should be noted that the 1st statement I
made out the cops lost that one. I made that statement shortly after I arrived
at
the police station. This statement clearly proves I'm innocent and I didn't
do anything wrong. Yet I wasn't allowed to leave
after I made my statement. The cops also took pictures of my private areas
the next day; they came into my cell and told me
that they were taking pictures. End of story. They lost these pictures
and then they found the pictures again. Then the picture was used in court.
Is this allowed? They (the cops) say there never was a first statement, but
I can clearly remember doing
that one. I hadn't been there very long at that point, the cops also say
the pictures was never lost, but there was a letter sent
to my 1st lawyer and now no one can find the letter.
I'm on lawyer number 3 and the letter has been
lost or taken out or something, but I remember seeing it. The cops also testified
that this child was able to describe my private areas to a T. That is not
true I have read the report myself that this
child gave. Would like to also note that my confession was suppressed
to the best of my knowledge, but yet the state
attorney was able to use it in court. How can that be? My lawyer said
she entered it as hearsay evidence. I'm a little confused about this. I
thought if your confession was suppressed it was like it never happen. Is
this correct? Hearsay I thought they
used on children when they couldn't testify for themselves. This child
was able to testify in all the court dates. In the trail he
got on the stand and stated that he couldn't remember anything that had
happened and that he didn't know what sexual
abuse was. Then the state attorney brought in hearsay things. I'm really
confused on this.
Please help me and my family
Thank you so much for taking the time out of
your busy day to read my story. The Sandfort Family.
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