How Could You? Hall of Shame-Stacey Garrett Begay and Terry Begay UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Tahlequah, Oklahoma, adoptive father “Stacey Garrett Begay, 46, was charged with the offense, stemming from an April 21 incident wherein Begay’s wife, Terry, returned home and found her husband in a “compromising” situation with their 16-year-old adopted daughter” on Monday May 9, 2011.

“At the time, investigators said Terry fired at a handgun at her husband and daughter during a subsequent argument at the home.” No one was injured. Terry will not be charged.

“Terry told deputies, on the night of the incident, that she heard laughter coming from her daughter’s bedroom when she entered the house. She opened the bedroom door and found her daughter in bed and her husband hiding behind the door.

Stacey allegedly gave investigators a statement admitting he’d been having sex with the teen since December 2010.

He faces a possible life in prison sentence, if convicted of the charge.”

On Tuesday, May 10, 2011, he pleaded not guilty. He will appear in court on July sounding docket.
“Begay’s bond has been set at $15,000. Court records do not show Begay has an attorney at this point.”

Begay Charged With Child Sex Abuse

[Tahlequah Daily Press 5/10/11 by Bob Gibbins]

Alleged Child Sex Abuser to Appear in Court

[Tahlequah Daily Press 5/11/11 by Staff]

Update: “Jurors on Tuesday returned a guilty verdict for a man accused of having sex with his adopted daughter and recommended he receive a 30-year sentence.

Once the verdict was announced, Stacey Garrett Begay, 47, was taken into custody and ordered to be held at the Cherokee County Detention Center until formal sentencing on Nov. 8.

After jurors exited the courtroom to begin their deliberations in the case, District Judge Darrell Shepherd ordered Stacey’s wife, Terry Begay, to be taken into custody on perjury charges.

Terry had taken the witness stand Monday afternoon and appeared, at times, to have trouble generating answers for Assistant District Attorney B.J. Baker and for her husband’s defense attorney, A.J. Garcia. She was unable to immediately supply answers to several questions, and at other times said she couldn’t recall what she’d done, seen or heard.

Shepherd had provided Terry Begay with immunity from prosecution at the state’s request, but told Terry Tuesday that, while she testified, it was “clear you were not telling the truth.” Shepherd told her she wasn’t arrested Monday because he wanted to ensure Stacey Begay had a fair trial.
Shepherd ordered Terry Begay to be held on a $10,000 bond with arraignment set in front of Associate District Judge Mark Dobbins.

The jury of nine men and three women deliberated for just more than an hour and recommended Stacey Begay serve a 30-year sentence for child sexual abuse – 10 years more than what prosecutors requested as punishment. Shepherd ordered a presentence investigation be completed before Stacey Begay’s formal sentencing in November.

Much of the state’s case against Stacey Begay focused on a written statement he provided to Kathy Young, a domestic violence and sexual assault investigator with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.

Terry Begay previously testified she arrived at home and heard laughing coming from her daughter’s room. When she went into the room, her daughter was in bed and covered with a blanket, while Stacey Begay was behind the door, initially out of Terry’s sight. The girl had a shirt on, but no underwear, Terry previously testified.

Terry said everything was “just kind of spinning and getting real surreal,” that she could see her daughter and husband talking but didn’t recall what was said. She said it sounded like Stacey told her, “It’s what you think.”

Authorities said Terry Begay later grabbed a pistol and fired shots at her husband.

“She was pissed, and she got a gun and went to shooting,” Baker told jurors.

Stacey admitted to Young he’d been having sex with his adopted daughter since December 2010, after the girl broke up with her boyfriend.
He described, in his written statement to Young, how the interactions began with the girl sitting on his lap after school, while Terry was at work or in school. Stacey then described in detail the process he and the girl would take, from touching, tickling and kissing to what eventually led to the two having sex in the girl’s bedroom.

He told Young the girl would do things to “please” him, such as making cookies or dinner, and said the girl never ridiculed or criticized him.

“She made me feel good about myself,” Stacey Begay wrote in his statement to Young.

He admitted he’d had sex with the girl 10 times or more, Baker told jurors.

Garcia said Stacey might have made the written statement so he could get away from Terry Begay and let her calm down, “so [he’s] not getting shot at.”
Terry might have inferred that her daughter and husband had been having sex, and was jealous when she opened fire with her pistol, Garcia suggested.
“What safer place to be than in the jail house, while Momma cools down?” Garcia asked.

He related the state’s case to a “photograph of Bigfoot,” and said prosecutors were jumping to conclusions with no evidence that Stacey and his daughter had an incestuous relationship.

Baker argued it wasn’t reasonable for Stacey Begay, in order to get away from his wife, to lie to investigators and say he had sex with his adopted daughter.

“Stacey Begay had an incestuous relationship with his daughter,” Baker said. “… This is the case of the fox adopting the hen, and that’s exactly what you heard.”

Baker told jurors that the Begays wanted the case to “go away” and be “swept under the rug.”

Man convicted of child sex abuse

[Tahlequah Daily Press 9/26/12 by Josh Newton]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update 2: ” Prosecutors are asking a judge to nix a man’s second jury trial for child sex abuse after a criminalistics exam showed a 99.9 percent chance he is the father of the victim’s baby.

Stacey G. Begay was convicted of child sex abuse in 2012 and sentenced to 30 years in prison, but District Judge Darrell Shepherd granted him a new trial earlier this year when Stacey Begay’s adoptive daughter, Christina Begay – the alleged victim – claimed the two had been coerced into saying they had sex together.

Christina Begay testified to Shepherd that her father never touched her or did anything wrong, and said they both tried to tell authorities “the truth” in April 2011, when Stacey Begay and his wife, Terry, were arrested.

Police said they were called to the Begays’ home in Cherokee County in April 2011 after Terry Begay found her husband hiding in Christina’s room. Christina was in her bed, wearing only a shirt. Terry Begay then allegedly retrieved a gun and opened fire on her husband and adoptive daughter.

Stacey Begay and Christina Begay both provided written statements to investigators, admitting to having a sexual relationship. Statements indicated the two had sex several times over a period of months, and Stacey Begay’s statements provided intimate details of the alleged relationship.

After Stacey Begay was convicted, Christina Begay told the Daily Press authorities forced her and her father to say they had been having sex for several months. She also claimed staff of the District Attorney’s Office threatened her and prevented her from testifying on her father’s behalf. She said she was determined to bring the truth to light – that her father was innocent.

Christina, now an adult, later told her side of the story in front of Shepherd. After listening to Christina’s testimony, the judge determined Christina and her mom, Terry Begay, had made “outlandish” statements throughout the court process, and may have colluded “to pull some shenanigans with this case.”

Terry was arrested at the conclusion of her husband’s first trial and charged with perjury as a result of her testimony.

But Shepherd decided to give Stacey Begay a second jury trial, citing his concern that the defendant receive his right to a fair trial. The second trial was set to begin later this month.

After the judge’s ruling, prosecutors issued subpoenas for DNA swabs from Stacey Begay, Christina Begay, and Christina’s baby, who was born Dec. 19, 2011 – eight months after Stacey Begay was arrested for sexually abusing his adopted daughter. According to a copy of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation’s exam of the DNA, there is a 99.9 percent probability that Stacey Begay is the father of Christina’s baby.

In his motion asking Shepherd to reconsider the second jury trial, Assistant District Attorney Doug Dry says the DNA test results prove Christina Begay’s statements under oath were “blatant falsehoods.”

“… Christina Begay perpetrated a fraud upon these judicial proceedings… ,” Dry’s motion alleges.

Dry asks Shepherd to reinstate Stacey Begay’s previous guilty verdict with a sentence of 30 years.”

Tests: Begay likely father of baby of adopted daughter

[Tahlequah Daily Press 5/6/13 by Josh Newton]