The Kern County child abuse cases started the day care sexual abuse hysteria of the s in Kern County, California. At least 36 people were convicted and most of them spent years in prison.
Thirty-four convictions were overturned on appeal. The district attorney responsible for the convictions was Ed Jagels , [ 2 ] who was sued by at least one of those whose conviction was overturned, [ 3 ] and who remained in office until In , Alvin and Debbie McCuan's two daughters, coached by their step-grandmother Mary Ann Barbour, who had custody of them, alleged they had been abused by their parents, and accused them of being part of a "sex ring" that included Scott and Brenda Kniffen.
The Kniffens' two sons also claimed to have been abused. No physical evidence was ever found. The McCuans and Kniffens were convicted in and given a combined sentence of more than years in prison.
Six similar cases occurred throughout Kern County. For instance, the testimony of five young boys was the prosecution's evidence in a trial in which four defendants were convicted. John Stoll, a year-old carpenter, received the longest sentence of the groupβ40 years for 17 counts of lewd and lascivious conduct. He claimed he had lied about Stoll. Stoll was in prison for 19 years before his conviction was overturned. In Sampley and three other former accusers returned to the courthouse where they had testified against Stoll, this time to say that Stoll never molested them.
In their late 20s, each of them said they always knew that Stoll had never touched them. Self was sent to a mental hospital for sexual offenders because he had two prior convictions for child molestation.
