The Audacity of Sheila S. Polk To Help The Fortunate Son

Official attacks media reports of 'brooming'

By Stephanie Innes
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

The Yavapai County Attorney's Office is lashing out at media reports of a case involving a state senator's son "brooming" 18 children in the buttocks. A recording at the office of Yavapai County Attorney Sheila S. Polk on Wednesday said the media "grossly misrepresented" the facts & told callers how to get copies of the police reports. Polk also issued a written statement that was posted on her office's Web site, saying the crimes were not sexual but rather "hazing gone wrong."

The youngest son of state Senate President Ken Bennett admitted in court this week to assaulting middle-school boys, including three from Tucson, with a broomstick in their buttocks.

Prescott resident Clifton Roy Bennett, 18, & Glendale resident Kyle Matthew Wheeler, 19, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for the incidents & face sentences ranging from probation to 2 years in prison.

Judge Thomas W. O'Toole of Maricopa County Superior Court accepted the pleas & scheduled sentencing for May 12th. Prosecutor James Landis hasn't said what sentence he will recommend. Bennett's lawyer has asked that his client be spared from prison so he can go on a mission with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Bennett & Wheeler were junior counselors at a camp for the Az. Assoc. of Junior High Student Councils, held at Chapel Rock Camp in Prescott, when the brooming of the boys, 11 to 15, occurred. Bennett was 17 at the time. According to police reports, Wheeler also choked 3 of the boys until they passed out. The victims lawyers & parents this week expressed outrage that the charges were reduced from 18 counts of assault to one for Bennett and from 18 counts to two for Wheeler. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the judge also could classify the aggravated-assault convictions as misdemeanors rather than felonies, which means the teens could go on to become teachers or counselors and would NEVER have to disclose the incident. Lynne M. Cadigan, a Tucson lawyer who is an advocate for 2 of the local victims, says her clients were sexually assaulted & continue to suffer shame & humiliation. The father of one of the Tucson victims also says the court system would have treated Bennett & Wheeler more harshly if the 18 campers were girls.

Witnesses told police that the junior counselors lined up the youngsters, told them to bend over and "broomsticked" them. The victims told police "broomsticking" was done alternately with a broom, a cane, a mop handle & a heavy-duty flashlight while they were clothed. The exact definition of broomsticking varied, according to witness reports, from touching brooms to the boys' rectal areas to one description of how a boy was held down & the witness said the broomstick was "shoved" into his bottom. Polk wrote that the counselors' conduct was inappropriate, but they did not commit sodomy or child molestation.

Under Arizona law, a person commits molestation of a child by "intentionally or knowingly engaging in or causing a person to engage in sexual contact, except sexual contact with the female breast, with a child under 15 years of age." Anyone convicted of child molestation in Arizona faces lifetime probation and must register as a sex offender.
To view the police reports on the brooming case & Polk's letter, go to:
www.co.yavapai.az.us/departments/Aty/AtyHome.asp.