THE SATANIC SEX SCANDAL The Stakeout
In the dead of night on April 24, 1992 Constable Mike Swan and his partner were on high alert. Their chief of police, Mike Johnston, had gotten a tip. He believed that a gang with ties to the occult was coming to Martensville and that terrible things - possibly even a human sacrifice - could happen. Swan remembers, "he authorized us to go ahead and bring in our own guns and just be heavily armed as possible. I've got to admit that I had never been more scared in my life."
The Satanic gang never showed up. And by the light of day the threat seemed bizarre.
The Beginning
The nightmare that descended on Martensville, Saskatchewan began when a local mother had some grave suspicions. She worked as a nurse at a Saskatoon hospital and left her kids with a babysitter only a few blocks from her home.
Linda Sterling had a houseful of kids ranging from infants to grade schoolers. Her husband, Ron worked at a provincial jail and many of his friends were cops. It seemed the perfect place for her children.
Her two year old daughter had a diaper rash, but the chafing and redness around her genitals looked like something else. When she questioned her daughter, the little girl said "a stranger poked at my bum with a pink rope".
Biography
Read more about the Claudia Bryden and her involvement with the investigation.
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The Investigation
Martensville town police took the mother's complaint and assigned their newest constable, Claudia Bryden to investigate. She tracked down more parents whose kids went to the Sterling home. At first the kids they interviewed said that there was nothing going on.
But when Bryden teamed up with Saskatoon police officer Rod Moor frightening details began to emerge. The kids said they were fondled and forced into oral sex. That a vibrator was pushed up their bottoms and that guns were used to threaten them. And it all happened at the Sterling home.
The Devil Church
Then one kid began to talk about a place that some of the children had been driven to - he called it a 'Devil Church'. A local pilot flying over town told police that he found a blue building only 6 kilometres northwest of town.
One child said that inside the 'Devil Church' he was stripped naked, hoisted in a cage and poked at. Another said that an axe handle was shoved up their bums. Several claimed they were stuffed in a freezer. They even said that they were sexually abused on a waterbed. The children claimed that they were threatened never to tell their parents.
The Cop Connection
As the investigation progressed the children started to say that they recalled uniforms and police cars. From photos the kids picked out police officers from three different forces who they said were also involved.
By the spring of 1992 Martensville was reeling with rumours about a Satanic cult called The Brotherhood of The Ram that had police officers as members. It was an explosive situation and the Martensville police were under tremendous pressure to do something about it.
Biography
Read more about John Popowich and how the arrest destroyed his career.
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The First Arrests
In June 1992 they rounded up the babysitter, Linda Sterling and her husband Ron. A young offender and their 23 year old son, Travis were picked up later the same day.
Five cops were also arrested. One of them, John Popowich went from a police officer to a pedophile in just one hour.
In all nine people were accused of the most horrible acts against children. It was such a sensation that even the Premier, Roy Romanow headed to Martensville.
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