From CAVDEF

In 2005, a series of allegations were made about a sex trafficking ring in the Valdosta GA area. They came out right after the arrest of John Couey, a Florida sex offender who had raped and murdered 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford before fleeing to Georgia. Two different articles, one by Ralph Kershaw and one by Dan Hayworth and Roger Schmid, cited unnamed law enforcement sources in linking Couey to a pedophile ring in South Georgia. This alleged ring involved Coggins Farms trafficking illegal immigrants, pandered children to political elites in Valdosta, and was part of Ray Lemme's investigation.

Despite a lack of hard evidence, some elements of this ring have been corroborated. A couple months after those two articles, John Caylor independently published an interview with a former Coggins employee done in December 2004, who had mentioned illegal immigrant trafficking for farm labor and sex. In 2009, true crime author Chris Dahl began investigating the John Couey case and found signs that political pressure was being exerted to cover up its full extent. Dahl even identified some suggestive pieces of evidence that would fit with Couey's involvement in a Georgia sex ring. And a prostitution ring in the Georgia area that trafficked immigrant women to provide sex to farm laborers was busted in 2013, confirming the presence of illegal immigrant sex trafficking in the region.

Allegations

The sex ring allegations are quite complex, drawing in aspects of the Yang Enterprises/Tom Feeney corruption that Ray Lemme was investigating, illegal immigrant trafficking on Southern farms, and the controversial Florida case of John Couey. They can be partitioned into a couple of key sub-points.

Coggins Farms

The central participant in the Valdosta sex ring, named independently by both Hayworth/Schmid[1] and Caylor[2], was Coggins Farms of Lake Park GA. Coggins Farms was a large agricultural producer with regional farms in southern Georgia and northern Florida. It was accused of smuggling in illegal immigrants from Mexico, Honduras, and other countries to be used as farm laborers and sex slaves. These captive illegal immigrants trafficked by Coggins Farms became victims of the larger Valdosta sex ring.

The independent mention of Coggins is especially important in adding to the veracity of the sex ring allegations. Hayworth and Schmid named Coggins Farms, detailed its role in human trafficking, and even mentioned the use of "nickelmen" (explained below) in March 2005.[1] In the summer of 2005 , Caylor released his interview with a Coggins whistleblower taken in December 2004 that confirmed all of those details.

Caylor interviewed Jim Harnage, a Lake Park resident who was formerly an assistant manager of the Coggins Farm Supply. Harnage's wife worked as a financial bookkeeper for Coggins during the same period. During the interview, Harnage accused Coggins of illegal toxic waste dumping before going into darker territory: their trafficking of illegal immigrants. He asserted that Coggins used a network of crew leaders and coyotes to bring in illegal immigrants from Mexico, and that owner Kevin Coggins annually went to Honduras with a large sum of money to purchase workers. Harnage also detailed the role of "nickelmen" in providing false Social Security identification to the trafficked immigrants.

In addition to being farm hands, the trafficked girls in particular were used for sex. The girls, many of them as young as 13, were forced to be sex slaves for the other imported immigrant workers. Harnage mentioned that the girls were locked up in compounds with chain-link fences, corroborating Kershaw's claim of Mexican children being "locked in barns and other structures"[4]. He further alluded to the girls being prostituted outside of Coggins Farms, confirming their use at truck stops.[2]

Florida PEER corroborated Harnage's whistleblowing and verified part of his story. A whitepaper went into how Harnage had alerted the Georgia environmental agency, EPA, and FBI about his concerns, yet received no follow-up. They included pictures of the illegal toxic waste disposal and mentioned how many people in the region had died of cancer, confirming a portion of Harnage's interview with Caylor. PEER also brought up the immigrant trafficking allegations, writing that they sent a FOIA to INS about the illegal immigrant smuggling but never received any reply. They even expanded on Harnage's allegations, making a brief mention of the fact that Harnage also accused the crew leaders of smuggling "drugs" in addition to people.[5]

Henry Nee's SSN

Main article: Henry Nee

John Caylor[2] and the two articles[4][1] both claimed that Yang Enterprises (YEI) employee Henry Nee, an illegal Chinese alien, obtained a false Social Security number from the Valdosta ring. Since the ring was trafficking illegal immigrants from Hispanic countries into the US, it employed the aforementioned "nickel men" to furnish them with fake Social Security cards. Nee was said to have gotten his SSN from the same human trafficking network.

No evidence currently indicates that Nee's Social Security number was illegal or acquired from a Valdosta sex ring. However, the circumstances behind his SSN do deserve further scrutiny. Despite having lived in Florida for most, if not all, of his time in the US, attending university and working there, Nee had a Social Security number that was assigned in Iowa in 1983. Some people search websites do say that Nee lived in Iowa City before Florida, but those same websites show that none of his family members lived outside of Florida. So it's possible that Nee never lived in Iowa and the online services inferred it from his SSN, which would imply the SSN was indeed fake.

Furthermore, the sex ring was said to be politically-connected, protected by high-level Republicans, and Yang Enterprises was represented and protected by Bush family confidant Tom Feeney. It's quite conceivable that Feeney could have done favors for YEI concerning Nee's legal status, and that he assisted them by obtaining a false SSN from the well-connected Valdosta sex ring.

Ray Lemme death

Main article: Ray Lemme

Building off their claims about Henry Nee, Caylor and the two articles also connected the death of Florida state investigator Ray Lemme to the sex ring. Lemme was investigating political corruption, contract fraud, Chinese espionage, and election rigging tied to Yang Enterprises, which included Nee's role as an illegal alien and spy. Lemme was found dead of a suspicious suicide in a Valdosta GA motel shortly after saying he had tracked the corruption "all the way to the top". To this day, nobody has definitively explained Ray Lemme's strange death or what he was doing in Valdosta.

All of the sources maintained that Lemme followed his Yang Enterprises investigation to the sex ring in the Valdosta area, where he was subsequently murdered. Caylor claimed that Lemme was "on the trail of Henry Nee" and was in Valdosta to follow that lead.[2] Kershaw also said that Lemme "stumbled across" the Valdosta sex ring while investigating corruption in Florida, and theorized that Lemme was "drawn to Valdosta as part of his investigation".[4] Hayworth and Schmid mentioned how a "nickelman provided a false SSN to Chinese spy Henry Ni" and tied that to Lemme's YEI investigation, asserting that "Lemme was investigating the illegal alien importation".[1] So all three sources agreed on Lemme's reason for being in Valdosta.

Much about Lemme's "suicide" doesn't add up, so it's quite likely that he actually came to Valdosta as part of his investigation, rather than to kill himself. If that's true, however, his activities in Valdosta are still unconfirmed. Supposing that Lemme was en route to Valdosta on the morning of June 30th (as phone records indicate) and checked into the motel on the evening of June 30th (as witnesses seem to imply), he would have spent around 12 hours in the Valdosta area doing something unknown. That time might have been dedicated to following the Valdosta sex ring lead.

Political involvement

Caylor and Hayworth/Schmid both implicate high-level Republicans in protecting the Valdosta sex ring. Hayworth and Schmid claimed that Coggins Farms owner Kevin Coggins was a big player in the Georgia Republican Party, as well as a major campaign financier of Saxby Chambliss (made a Senator in the suspect 2002 election) and George W. Bush.[1] Caylor also named Chambliss, but placed him in a larger Dixie Mafia network that involved Georgia businessmen (such as the Coggins family) and top Republican politicians.[2] Ultimately, both of them agreed that there was high-level political support for the Valdosta sex ring, which, according to Hayworth and Schmid, led to state and federal investigations and grand jury probes being shut down on orders from the White House[1].

The claimed political connections to Coggins Farms have yet to be verified. The Coggins family are Republicans who contributed a fair amount to Chambliss and Bush, but their prominence in the Georgia GOP and relationship to people like Chambliss are unproven. Caylor has said in private correspondence that he has a tape of a goon sent by Coggins and Chambliss threatening him; this tape has not been provided.

Valdosta pedophiles

As mentioned, Jim Harnage alluded to the trafficked girls being used as sex slaves outside of the farm compounds. In their articles, Kershaw and Hayworth/Schmid go further, explicitly claiming that the girls were prostituted to Valdosta residents. Kershaw even says that the girls were provided for sex to local politicians, businessmen, and policemen in Valdosta, drawing a parallel with elite pedophilia rings like the Franklin child sex ring in Omaha.[4] Hayworth and Schmid didn't mention the elite pedophilia angle, but said that the girls were pimped to Valdosta residents by local businessmen at establishments like strip clubs.[1]

These claims, specifically of politicians, businessmen, and policemen being pandered children, are uncorroborated beyond those two articles. That said, there is some evidence of a pedophilia problem in Valdosta: in recent years, two officers from the Valdosta Police Department were arrested for pedophilia crimes[6][7], and nearly a dozen civilian and military personnel at Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta were arrested for soliciting child sex[8]. Also noteworthy is that the motel where Ray Lemme (who was said to be investigating the sex ring) died was very close to a Valdosta strip club.[9][10]

John Couey

Mugshot of John Couey

The most shocking allegation made by Kershaw and Hayworth/Schmid is the connection between the Valdosta sex ring and John Couey. John Couey was a Florida sex offender with a low IQ and history of molesting little girls. In 2005, he kidnapped 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, raped her, and buried her alive. After law enforcement began investigating, Couey fled to Savannah GA, where he was briefly interrogated, and then Augusta GA, where he was arrested and brought back to Florida. Couey's arrest, confession, and trial received nationwide attention. He was universally considered pure evil, and most people were happy to see him receive the death penalty, though Couey actually died on death row before his execution.

Couey never appeared in the media to be anything more than a lone sex offender, but Kershaw and Hayworth/Schmid identified him as a participant in the Valdosta sex ring. Both claimed that he was a patron of the ring, paying $300 for sex with the trafficked girls.[4][1] It is also possible that Couey might have had a larger role in the ring, like as a nickelman or a "mule" for trafficked children.

Kershaw pointed to irregularities in how Couey's case was handled by Florida law enforcement, indicating an apparent attempt to protect Couey and cover up the sex ring. He said that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) broke Megan's Law by failing to inform the Citrus County Sheriff's Office that Couey was a repeat sex offender, causing a delay in their response. And he cited anonymous sources in the Citrus County Sheriff's Office as saying there was high-level interference (from DC and Tallahassee) in the Couey case and that it "involves others".[4]

Beyond that, Kershaw implied Valdosta was one of Couey's destinations after fleeing Florida[4], and Hayworth and Schmid said that the city "has become a virtual haven for sex offenders"[1].

This seems like a wild series of allegations to make solely based on anonymous law enforcement sources. However, true crime writer Chris Dahl investigated the Couey case and came to believe that the true story was indeed covered up due to political pressure. Dahl originally got involved with the Couey case when he embarked on sending letters to Florida death row inmates, hoping to get interesting stories. He got into a correspondence with Couey, who promised to reveal everything about his case. Almost immediately after making the promise to Dahl, Couey died of alleged natural causes. Dahl became suspicious and began probing all the irregularities behind the case.[11] He amassed numerous pieces of evidence pointing to a much larger pedophile operation which was covered up, a conclusion that has been borne out by further research.

It is surprising that Couey was not immediately questioned, despite being a registered sex offender who lived directly adjacent to the Lunsford home. The Citrus County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) did attempt to round up all the local sex offenders, but they were unable to locate Couey, who was no longer living at the address listed in the database. However, the FDLE was aware four months prior to Jessica's kidnapping that Couey had failed to respond to a letter at his listed address, and they sent a letter to the CCSO telling them to verify Couey's location. Had the CCSO received and acted upon this letter, it likely would have been discovered that Couey was staying at his half-sister's trailer which sat 150 yards away from Jessica's house, and Couey would have been found early on. The FDLE insisted they sent the letter, but CCSO spokesman Gail Tierney claimed that the FDLE sent this letter to the CCSO's old address instead of its current address.[12] Why the FDLE made such a drastic blunder is a mystery. In any case, the effect of this blunder was to protect Couey from law enforcement. That the FDLE failed to properly inform the CCSO of John Couey's sex offender status corroborates Kershaw's article, which was published a month before local newspapers revealed that fact.

Because of its proximity to the Lunsford home, police did visit the trailer owned by Couey's half-sister Dorothy Dixon. In fact, they made several visits, but somehow never discovered Couey or Jessica. According to Mark Lunsford's lawyers, the police found suspicious behavior at the Dixon trailer and returned at least twice for that reason, but they never asked to search the inside of the trailer. Had they done so, Jessica likely would have been found alive. Couey insisted that he held Jessica captive for multiple days, and while state attorney Brad King repudiated this as a lie on Couey's part, Mark Lunsford's legal team concurred. They pointed out that no food was found in her digestive system, even though she was fed the night of her abduction, and that an early search of the property around the Dixon trailer failed to turn up her body, indicating she had not yet been buried. Nevertheless, it was also unclear why police did not find Jessica's body until after Couey's confession. Multiple search volunteers with specially-trained canines reported being told to "stand down" by the CCSO.[13]

Strangely enough, one of the Dixon trailer residents, Matt Dittrich, said in a deposition that police did search the interior of the trailer. To the best of his knowledge, that included Couey's room. That was in contradiction to statements by police, who denied conducting an interior search.[14] If the police did conduct a search there, it is inconceivable that Jessica wouldn't have been found. But it is also quite possible that Dittrich was attempting to cover for his own inaction.

How much Couey's family knew about his activities is unclear. Couey told police that Dittrich walked into his room while Jessica was in the closet, but Dittrich dismissed as "bullshit" the possibility he was in the same room as Jessica.[15] After his arrest, Couey wrote but did not send a letter to Bill O'Reilly saying that someone in the trailer knew more than he was letting on.[16] Many observers, including Dahl, were skeptical that Couey could keep Jessica for multiple days without anyone in the Dixon trailer finding out. What is clear is that the family covered for Couey by lying to the police, yet they never faced prosecution as accomplices. Shortly after Couey was apprehended, police arrested Dorothy Dixon, her daughter Madie Secord, and Dixon's boyfriend Matt Dittrich on obstruction of justice charges. All of them admitted lying to police and saying that Couey didn't live at the trailer when police came to ask them.[17] But in June, the state attorney's office dropped all charges, claiming there was no prosecutable offense committed.[18] The Florida Code from a year prior, however, stated that giving "false information to any law enforcement officer concerning the alleged commission of any crime" -- such as the whereabouts of a suspect in a missing person's case -- was a "misdemeanor of the first degree".[19]

Also surprising to Chris Dahl was the fact that Couey, while the subject of a manhunt, was able to trek down busy US 19 for a week without any police noticing him. Madie Secord and Gene Secord both raised this matter in their depositions, with Gene explicitly asking how Couey wasn't caught. For whatever reason, Couey was able to get away unmolested and escape on a bus to Georgia.[20]

After Couey was arrested, the focus immediately shifted to closing the case with him as the sole perpetrator. Couey obligingly confessed, but it was given under troubling circumstances and had some bizarre loose ends. On the first day of his interrogation, done by Citrus County detectives Scott Grace and Gary Atchison, Couey only talked hypothetically, refusing to implicate himself. When the prospect of a lie detector test was brought up, Couey asked for a lawyer, yet the interrogation continued anyway.[21] The court would later throw out his confession for that reason.[22] The next day, an FBI examiner gave him a polygraph, and then Detectives Grace and Atchison began a second round of interrogation. Without any mention of whether Couey passed or failed the polygraph, he launched into a full confession. This confession did not implicate anyone else, such as his family members who obstructed justice on his behalf. It did, however, contain some surprising remarks by Couey implying that Jessica was not a virgin[23]:

Grace: Okay. So you guys go back in to the room.. what happens? What's the very next thing that happens when you get to the room? Atchison: Is she scared? Is she crying? Couey: Oh no, I told her to lie.. No, I started... I shut the door. shut the window. Grace: Urn-hum. Couey: Closed the blinds and I told her to lay on the bed.. just.. you know, just when I started, you know, playing around, you know, fondling.. Atchison: You didn't mind you doing that? Couey: She didn't tell me to stop. She wasn't yelling and she wasn't screaming. All I.. Like I said, she was.. for some reason, she's a very polite girl and I asked her.. I said, anybody ever done that for you before, and she no. Grace: Urn-hum. Couey: I don't know.. anyway, I done dumb things, you know. I (inaudible) I shouldn't of done it, and I feel guilty about it. I fondled her. I didn't.. I didn't intercourse with her at first (inaudible).





Grace: Okay, but when you had sexual intercourse with her, okay.. did you ejaculate inside of her? Couey: Yes sir. [...] Grace: Did she cry and tell you to stop? Couey: No sir, she didn't. Grace: She didn't cry at all? Couey: No. Grace: And you just had sex. Couey: And that's why it don't make no sense. Grace: Okay. You just had vaginal sex one time? Couey: She told me when I got done.. she said that it felt like she was on her period. Grace: Cause she was bleeding so much? Couey: Yes. Grace: Okay. Couey: She said.. she started laughing about that.. I'm on my period, you know.

For obvious reasons, Couey's statements didn't have much credibility, and his insinuation about Jessica was viewed as an obvious, offensive lie. Some people might have recalled how Richard Allen Davis, the murderer of Polly Klaas, pulled a similar inflammatory stunt in court when he claimed Polly talked about her father molesting her. It seemed like Couey was just attempting to shift some of the blame for Jessica's rape and murder away from himself. Not considered was the question of whether Couey, with a severely below-average IQ, was even smart enough to attempt such a ploy. And in fact, there was troubling evidence in the case that pointed directly at the Lunsford family. Much of it came up before Couey was a suspect.

Certain aspects of the abduction bore the hallmarks of an inside job. From the beginning, it was acknowledged that there was no sign of forced entry. In fact, the door to the Lunsford home was actually unlocked.[24][25] The Lunsford family owned a dog but it did not bark during the time Couey was in the house[26], quite possibly an indication that it either knew Couey or others were involved in removing Jessica. And there was no evidence of a struggle in the actual abduction itself, to the point that Jessica was allowed to take a stuffed dolphin with her. Her autopsy showed no injuries other than those caused by the sexual assault and being buried alive.

[Inconsistencies in Lunsford family depositions]

More damning evidence was found on Mark Lunsford's computer. When Mark's computer was examined right after Jessica's abduction, the police found child porn. Lunsford denied he had viewed any child porn pictures, and claimed that they got onto his computer inadvertently through "pop ups", but they were found in the delete bin, indicating he had consciously downloaded the images before deleting them. Law enforcement was surprisingly unconcerned about this discovery. In fact, Sheriff Jeff Dawsy and the state attorney's office under Brad King both refused to pursue any criminal charges. The excuse was that Mark only had a "limited amount" of child porn and had "been through enough".[27][28][29]

Eventually, the authorities began to lie and state that no child porn had been found. Assistant state attorney Ric Ridgway wrote as much in a 2007 letter to Mark's lawyer.[30] Det. Gary Atchison repeated the same implausible excuse about pop-ups and accused the media of lying.[31] However, former journalist Dave Pieklik confirmed that he was told about the child porn and its location in the delete bin directly by the prosecutors and the CCSO's Public Information Office.[32]

The most serious accusation concerning Jessica was that she had been raped before. Outside of Couey's own accusations, the evidence for this is unclear. A Wikipedia edit on July 11, 2006 made the claim that the recently-released coroner's report showed evidence of "prior healed notches" and "clefts and scars" in Jessica's hymenal area, indicating that she had been raped before Couey abducted her. It cited a news portal on the Ocala Star-Banner website, not any specific document, and this portal is now gone, making it impossible to verify the source.[33] The autopsy report that was released through a public records request makes no mention of prior vaginal injuries. Furthermore, the identity of the Wikipedia editor turns out to be David Stodghill, himself a pedophile. Altogether, there is no unequivocal proof of prior abuse, but the other irregularities concerning Mark Lunsford and the strange behavior of the coroner (see below) certainly leave the possibility open.

It was suggested by Chris Dahl that Couey and Lunsford were both involved in a criminal underworld that exchanged sex and drugs. According to Dahl, some death row inmates suspected that scenario was what led to Jessica's rape and murder. He claimed that rumors were circulating throughout the Tampa Bay area of a larger group of pedophiles that was about to go down, but the narrative suddenly changed and Couey alone took the fall.[34] Some corroboration exists to support Dahl's recollection. One former Homosassa resident who followed the case also recalled hearing rumors that Couey had "friends", perhaps from a local bar.[35] There was in fact a local bar where people were making jokes about Jessica Lunsford.[36] In a press conference with Sheriff Dawsy following Couey's arrest, a reporter mentioned speculation from neighbors that Couey knew the Lunsford family, something Dawsy vehemently denied.[37] It did not stop others from speculating along similar lines.[38][39] Interestingly, Dawsy was a lot less dismissive of the possibility just four days earlier. On March 15, he talked about the police hunting down an out-of-state suspect who was "part of Jessica Lunsford's family, social, school or church circles".[25] Given the evidence of Couey's guilt as well as indications that the Lunsford family had some role in facilitating the abduction, it is quite plausible that Couey and Mark Lunsford made some type of "exchange" involving Jessica.

Lunsford was given a substantial amount of public sympathy after Couey was caught, but his character was by no means upstanding. Multiple ex-girlfriends accused him of physical abuse, and one also accused him of drug use, fitting with the suggestion of a sex-for-drugs exchange. One ex-girlfriend even claimed that Mark assembled a group of his biker friends to drive by and intimidate her.[40] Biker gangs, it should be noted, have long been associated with criminal underworld activities such as drugs and prostitution. So Mark Lunsford does in fact fit the profile of someone who might be involved in a sex and drug network alongside Couey.

As is well-documented in similar cases like the Franklin scandal, these types of networks are not just patronized by the bottom-rung of society (people like Couey and Lunsford). The political and business elite often engage in wild debauchery involving drugs and sex, particularly with children. It is quite likely, then, that such a ring in the Homosassa area would be well-protected by the political establishment. And Couey murdering Jessica rather than returning her to her family was a catastrophic mistake that could have exposed that pedophile underground. Dahl notes that in the search for Jessica, another body of a young girl was discovered, perhaps someone involved in this same ring who met a very similar fate. To protect the network, John Couey needed to be portrayed as a lone offender.[34] The incomprehensible actions by law enforcement, such as ignoring Mark's child pornography and not charging the others in the Dixon trailer, are indications of an official cover-up to that end.

Quite tellingly, the same cast of suspicious characters -- state attorney Brad King and Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy -- was accused of covering up child sexual abuse at Green Isle Ranch in nearby Lake County.

Mark Lunsford stayed in the spotlight for a couple years with a mixed public reception. After Jessica's death, he started the Jessica Marie Lunsford Foundation to raise money for child advocacy. He soon came under fire for mishandling foundation funds and allegedly stealing money from it for personal use.[41] At the same time, he made the unpopular move of suing the Citrus County Sheriff's Office for botching the investigation into Jessica's abduction. The public began to suspect that Lunsford was only interested in extracting money from his daughter's death.[42] Mark did raise valid points about the CCSO's negligent handling of the case, but ignored was the fact that the CCSO also covered for his possession of child pornography. For that reason, his attempt to sue the CCSO likely was for shortsighted personal gain, since a lawsuit would have forced an ugly reexamination of a case in which both sides were implicated.

As these scandals began to erupt around Lunsford, he received a generous offer from a philanthroper with a likely CIA background: Hank Asher. Asher offered Mark Lunsford a child advocacy job with a $100,000/year salary, on the condition that he close his foundation and drop his lawsuits.[43] The result was an end to the baggage dogging Mark's image, a large financial windfall on his part, and a controversial case that was finally no longer being litigated. Though Asher and Lunsford certainly had a legitimate reason to meet, having both been involved in the missing children community with John Walsh, Asher's job offer arguably looked more like hush-money to finalize the cover-up. The involvement of Asher certainly speaks to how well the missing children's movement has been infiltrated by US intelligence.

A veil of silence ultimately went up around the case. Two people who were deeply involved in the investigation soon quit their jobs. One of the lead detectives, Scott Grace, left the Citrus County Sheriff's Office to work at KBR in Iraq less than a year after Couey's arrest. According to Atchison, this may have been because he believed the Lunsford family was not properly scrutinized as suspects.[31] Medical examiner Dr. Steven Cogswell resigned in 2007 exactly one day after testifying at Couey's trial.[44] When Dahl tried to talk to people at the Sheriff's Office about Couey, he learned that no one was allowed to discuss the case at all. The other lead detective, Gary Atchison, then attempted to lure Dahl into an apparent trap. He called Dahl on a phone number that he had never given out, offering to meet him for dinner and share information. When Dahl arrived, the place began filling up with cops whom Atchison knew, and suspecting it was a setup, he got out immediately. Dahl began to realize that someone, likely with political influence, wanted to prevent the truth from coming out about Couey.[45]

Dahl learned about some of the alternative theories surrounding the Couey case, including the sex ring allegations of Kershaw, Hayworth, and Schmid. Despite the lack of concrete proof for many of the claims (such as Couey going to Valdosta), he did find that Couey had a mysterious connection to Georgia. When Couey was questioned by police about why he had gone to Georgia, he said he had met a man who would give him work, remaining vague about what it was and where he was going. Gene Secord, the husband of his niece and one of the people in the trailer with him, said something even more interesting in a deposition[46]:

A: [...] And that's -- he said he didn't have an ID or something like that and that's why Madie got him the bus ticket. Because he lives in Georgia or wherever. Or that's where he goes all the time So that's where he wanted to go back to because he said he can get work there and have a place to live. [...] Q: Do you know why he was going to Georgia or did you have an understanding why? A: Because that's where he lives, I guess, you know. I mean, whenever he's not with Troy and Marie he's in Georgia. So he wanted to go back there because he said he could get work and have a place to live. And so that's why he wanted to go back. But he didn't have no money, so Madie got him a bus ticket.

In other words, Couey, who was a Florida resident, traveled to Georgia so frequently that one of his familial acquaintances thought he lived there. While not evidence on its own, it certainly does make the theory that Couey was involved with a Valdosta sex ring more compelling. His activities in Georgia have never been explained or addressed by anyone else. Another mysterious aspect of Couey's connection to Georgia is the fact that he fled to Savannah before heading further north, following the same path as an illegal immigrant sex trafficking ring in the southeast[47] (the same activity Coggins Farms was implicated in).

The myriad irregularities in the Jessica Lunsford case lend support to Couey being involved with a politically-connected sex ring in South Georgia. Such involvement would account for the sex offender info mix-up, how police botched the case, the cover-up of more people than just Couey being involved, Couey's sudden death after consenting to reveal everything to Dahl, and his unexplained connection to Georgia.

See also

References

Identity of authors

Coggins Farms





Relatives of Kevin D. Coggins, also known as Kevin L. Coggins, who has lived in Lake Park and Valdosta

Same or different Kevin Coggins? According to The News and Observer, "Critics of Raleigh safety center seek a delay", 2010/01/28: "Last week, Kevin Coggins, director of the Greater Raleigh Merchants Association, asked council members to delay Tuesday's vote. John Odom, the lone Republican on the City Council, is a past director of the association."

Jim Harnage

Other nearby farms

Political connections

Valdosta elite pedophilia

John Couey

Sex offender stats

Investigative leads