How Could You? Hall of Shame-Kent Faulkner 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 Oklahoma, foster father Kent Faulkner, convicted of sexually abusing his 12-year-old foster daughter (that he was in the process of adopting) has been ordered a new trial.

The reason: “The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals agreed with Kent Faulkner that his due process rights were violated when his former attorney switched jobs and prosecuted him from the Okmulgee County district attorney’s office.

Faulkner’s conviction cannot stand because there is a substantial risk that his former attorney had obtained confidential information from Faulkner which could have been used against him, according to the 5-0 ruling that was released Thursday.”

“Faulkner, now 47, was convicted of child sexual abuse and was sentenced to a 35-year prison term.
A foster parent of four children from 2006 to 2007, Faulkner was arrested in June 2007 in Okemah on allegations he repeatedly raped a 12-year-old girl he was attempting to adopt. He was charged originally with two counts of first-degree rape, one count of rape by instrumentation and one count of child sexual abuse.

Eighteen months before the criminal charge was filed, Faulkner’s lawyer had helped him gain guardianship, Lumpkin wrote. Later she helped Faulkner begin proceedings to adopt the girl.
After his arrest, Faulkner’s former lawyer, now an assistant district attorney, took part in the initial investigation by the Okemah Police Department, signed information charging Faulkner and presented information against Faulkner at his preliminary hearing, Lumpkin wrote.

When the case went to trial, circumstances surrounding the guardianship and adoption proceedings were at the heart of both the prosecution’s case and Faulkner’s defense, Lumpkin wrote.

“As the state’s and appellant’s (Faulkner) interests were materially adverse, the assistant district attorney should have been disqualified from prosecuting the case,” he wrote.

New trial ordered in Oklahoma for former foster parent[The Oklahoman 9/9/11 by Michael McNutt]

2007 Media

“Faulkner, 43, was charged June 19 with two counts of first-degree rape, one count of rape by instrumentation and one count of child sexual abuse.

He pleaded not guilty and is being held in the Okfuskee County jail, with bail set at $100,000.
Faulkner was the guardian of the alleged victim, but he was not her foster parent, said Stephanie Bond, communications manager for DHS.

Faulkner was the foster parent of four children at various times from July 28, 2006, through Jan. 12 when the last of the foster children left, Bond said.

The case

•DHS closed Faulkner’s home to foster children June 20, the day after the felony counts were filed against him.

•Bond said none of the foster children claim to have been sexually assaulted, but Assistant District Attorney Maxey Parker Reilly noted the case is in the early stages of investigation.

•Faulkner was arrested June 1 after he went to the Okemah Police Department to ask for assistance in recovering “his daughter from relatives who were refusing to return her to him,” according to an affidavit filed in the case.

•The girl’s grandmother and two aunts had taken her to a DHS office and refused to give her back to Faulkner after she told them she had been sexually abused, the affidavit indicates.

•In an interview with Okemah Assistant Police Chief Jim Rasmussen, the girl described in explicit detail how Faulkner had forced her to participate in a variety of sexual acts, the affidavit states.

•The girl reported the attacks occurred at night, while Faulkner’s wife was asleep, and during daylight hours when his wife was away, the affidavit said.

“Remember our secret,” the girl quoted Faulkner as telling her after the assaults. “No one will believe you. They know you’re a liar. I’ll beat you and send you to foster care and you’ll never see your family again.”

•The girl told police that both Faulkner and his wife whipped her with a belt.

•The girl told police the sexual attacks allegedly took place from Jan. 12 through May 29 and began about a month after two of Faulkner’s foster sons left the home.

Allegations denied

During his June 1 interview at the police station, Faulkner denied sexually assaulting the girl. He said she had been in his home about 18 months.

Faulkner agreed to take a polygraph and let investigators search the girl’s room at one point during the interview, but then asked to see a lawyer after Rasmussen told him that a medical examination of the girl had revealed evidence consistent with her allegations, the affidavit said. Evidence was taken from the home after a search warrant was obtained. ”

Guardian is accused of assault
[The Oklahoman 6/27/07 by Randy Ellis]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update June 25, 2012

A search of Oklahoma court records reveals that he had a notice of aintent to appeal on 3/16/12. There were some errors and then on 6/18/12, there was an “AMENDED NOTICE OF COMPLETION OF RECORD FOR APPEALS FROM DISTRICT COURT “