Our speaker today was PDG Eli Gauna from the Rotary Club of Redondo Beach. Before answering the call to lead our Rotary District, Eli gained notoriety as a lawyer for one of the accused in the McMartin Pre-School case. He gave us many insights inside the 30 allotted minutes to talk about the 7 year ordeal.

PDG Gauna told us the McMartin case was the longest and most expensive case in U.S. history. Built on an original false accusation by a paranoid schizophrenic woman with a child, Eli’s client and others had their lives turned upside down by fame-seeking politicians, notch-adding government prosecuting attorneys, ratings-hungry media, a horrified mob of parents and an unlicensed puppet lady. The accusation led to the child being sent by MBPD to UCLA for an interview by a psychiatrist who used dolls with racist and gender biases to determine if abuse had occurred. That, in turn, led to a warrant to search the residence of employee Ray Buckey, also the grandson of accused school founder Virginia McMartin and son of accused Peggy McMartin Buckey, the school administrator. After finding a single Playboy magazine in his home[!],  he was arrested.

Now enter the Children’s Institute International, a previously respected child and family support organization. The organization’s director without a single professional license conducted interviews of approximately 400 children to determine if they had been molested. These interviews used anatomically correct dolls and highly suggestive interrogation techniques which resulted in many children agreeing they were abused or participated in satanic rituals, only after multiple times answering “no” to the questions posed. Questions about the ritualistic killing of animals at the pre-school and local churches, sexual abuse, and naked picture taking all must have left many of the children with long lasting, terrifying false memories.

The hysteria went beyond the McMartin Pre-School when then-Sheriff Sherman Block assigned 27 detectives to investigate several other pre-schools in the area. In all, 5 local pre-schools were forced to shut down as a result of the inability to afford legal defense representation, or simply to withstand the scrutiny of the witch hunt. In fact the investigations went far beyond the South Bay. Investigators went as close as American Martyrs Church to search for animal blood, and as far away as scandinavian countries and Thailand to search for pornographic photos of the McMartin students.

In the end, no one was found guilty of any crimes, as there was no corroborating evidence to support the accusations. Unfortunately for the true victims, the falsely accused had to live through a life altering, emotional and financially destructive ordeal. Fortunately for the perpetrators, AKA the prosecutors and elected & appointed politicians, no justice could be sought because they hid behind a wall of immunity.

Liz and Donna both volunteered their expertise to spearhead the interior design of the beautiful new Peninsula Seniors facility! Here they are enjoying the Seniors new "home".