Something Bad Happening to Little Kids v6.0 (Mineola TX)

In all, six adults have been charged in connection with the case, one of them a parent of three siblings prosecutors say were forced to perform.

Jurors deliberated less than five minutes in 2005 before returning guilty verdicts in the trials of the first two defendants, who were accused of grooming the kids for **** shows in "kindergarten" classes and passing off Vicodin as "silly pills" to help the children perform.  "Once the kids were in [state] custody, everybody knew from day one there was something wrong with them," Smith County Assistant District Attorney Joe Murphy said. "All the technical flags of child abuse were coming out."  Jamie Pittman and Shauntel Mayo were sentenced to life in prison. Mr. Kelly also faces a life sentence, and Smith County prosecutors are hoping for another swift verdict.

'Nasty stuff in there'

The one-story building where prosecutors say four children – the three siblings, now ages 12, 10 and 7, and their 10-year-old aunt – were trained to perform in front of an audience of 50 to 100 once a week has been vacant since the landlord ousted the alleged organizers in 2004.  According to a Mineola police report, the department first investigated a complaint in June 2005 in which the siblings' foster mother said one of the girls described dancing toward men and another child said that "everybody does nasty stuff in there."

In the second trial, Child Protective Services caseworker Kristi Hachtel testified: "I've seen a lot and I never in my wildest dreams imagined this. They were preyed upon in probably one of the most heinous ways possible."