I am just so happy that the truth has finally came out. My husband spent time with John Stole and was also wrongly convicted of the same type of crimes. He has not yet been able to afford an attorney to help get his case overturned. I think it is a shame that Ed Jagels won't even speak on the matter and is always unavailable, He is wrong for not appologizing for his part in these cases.

I am truly impressed with the fact that Sean Penn has gotten involved in this matter and that the truth is finally came out. My husband was also arrested in the 80's Witch Hunt but his case has not been overturned yet due to finances. We have been judged over and over again so we are happy to see the truth come out finally

Richard, where are you? If we stop blogging & don't get more people involved, then we will never have a leg to stand on. Let's keep this going, or give up. Which do you want to do?

The only way these people will receive restitution is to sue the Sheriff's & DA's offfice for restitution. Whether they have or not, I don't know. Sometime people that they have prosecuted have been so beaten down they don't care to sue. They just want out of jail & be left alone. If they were to sue, they would be in fear of retaliation & harrassment, which is very common. I wish we would have sued, but ran out of money.

richard arvizu. I'm so sorry that you lost 2 years of your life in jail for something you didn't do. I'm sure it affected not only you, but your entire family. It seems to be an epidemic around the country, although I do believe Kern is the worst. After my son was exonerated, they continued to harrass him. If they saw him on the street, they would pull over & ask where he was going & would search him. One night he was at a BBQ & took a couple of children across the street to get sodas & the sheriff's saw him, stopped him, asked that he put his hands up & searched him. The children were scarred to death. I believe this is against the law, but the department was so angry that the jury found him not guilty they made his life miserable for 2 years before moving. Oh, & by the way 2 of the people on the jury were correctional officers & one ex sheriff. My son was so obviously not guilty. This should never have gone to trial. You might want to check out some Advocates in the Bakersfield area. They may be of some help in your future. My suggestion is, "Get the heck out of Kern before it's to late. Good luck.

I have to agree with you Jackie. I met Stoll in jail for something I didn't do!!! I sat there almost 2 years for something I didn't do, so I know 1st hand how dirty "OUR" DA and sheriffs are. Hey Ed and Lisa are the dirtiest DA's out there. Just remember you cut off the snakes head another will grow back worse than the 1st 1. Oh yeah and my fine stay in the county jail I met at the time Mrs. Jagels, she was a real joy to talk to. She told me lots of interesting information. In Kern county they will arrest you and put your butt in jail if they think your guilty WITHOUT evidence!!!! The judges are just as bad, how can they find probable cause on would of and could of!!! Were the ONLY county IN California thats like that.... DAMN SHAME!!!!!

I don't know why this is still happening in Kern County, but I know for a fact that it still does. The Sheriff's Dept. & Ed Jagels should be investigated IMMEDIATELY, and why they haven't already been, is a mystery to me. To this day, there are innocent people sitting in Kern Jails because of false reports written by the Sheriff's Dept., and Ed Jagel continues to prosecute them without investigation. The more he prosecutes VICTIM'S the better he looks in the eyes of the ignorant people of Kern that can't see through the fog, and those are the people that will continue to re-elect him. Jagel & his cowboy Sheriff's are the BIGGEST CRIMINALS with Badges to be one. My son went through this, in a much different way. but the end result, thank GOD was good. He was exonerated by a jury of 12, which is almost unheard of in Kern County. The only problem is it cost everything we had for attorney's fees, investigators, etc. Not to mention my sons emotional state. He had never had a crimminal record until he moved to Kern. Luckily, we had many witnesses to what the Sheriffs Dept. did to my son (It was horrifying). When asked, Many of the witnesses were afraid to come forth in fear of retaliation by the Sheriffs Dept. But they stepped up to the plate. One of our witnesses was threatend by the Sheriffs Dept. to have her children taken away if she didn't say what they wanted. Because of those threats, she became a witness for the prosecution, and when prosecutor called her to the stand, She stood up and told the judge & the jury how the Sheriffs Department threatend her, all of a sudden, she became our witness and told the truth. She blew the prosecution right out of his seat. Don't think for a second this can't happen to you if you continue to re-elect the same officials that are putting innocent people in jail. Since then we've moved out of Kern and out of the reach of people out of control. I say "IF YOU MOVE TO KERN COUNTY, YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK"

This is horrific. What can be done about this? These people were railroaded into prison. My God, have mercy. if the children are now saying that it wasn't true, why are they still in prison. ?????

I believe this happened because CPS wanted it to happen. I don't believe they conspired but I feel their over-zealous nature led them to hunt the mythical "white whale" of abuse cases, the Satanic Sex Ring, when it never existed. I cried at this documentary, we as Americans need to change the laws and; quite frankly, the system of justice we have. I do not believe things are much different today in the way detectives, DA's, and CPS handle sex abuse claims. It seems to be a simple "he said-she said" society we live in. What I find the most disgusting was the investigator who "hid" possible exculpatory evidence in one of the cases. When did the Kern County police become judge and jury instead of truth-seekers and impartial investigators. My personal opinion is that we need much more honest/smarter individuals as police officers in this country. No more AS degrees and 12 weeks of Academy training, we need scholars and honest men, not men who seek promotions or the approval of his peers. Where are the honest cops in this country, the ones that remember that lying to make a case is what criminals do!

to be more precise, sorry for the spam, but to see a county by county and state by state report from people that are going through the same thing hit this link up: http://members.familyrights.us/states.html their site is a bit much to navigate through at times.