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| Mark D. Obrien is facing multiple sex charges |
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A longtime foster father from Republic is facing multiple sex charges related to two boys were placed in his home.
A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Mark Daniel Obrien, 40, who was charged yesterday (01-30-12) with three counts of deviate statutory sodomy with a child under the age of 14, 1 count of felony child abuse, 1 count of child molestation and two counts of possession of child porn.
According to court records, the boys were between 7 and 9 years old at the time of the sexual assaults.
One of the boys told investigators that Obrien made him perform oral sex on him "on so many occasions that he could not remember the exact amount of times that the abuse occurred." The boy, who lived in Obrien's home from April of 2007 to June of 2009, also says that when Obrien had anal sex with him he videotaped it. He says he was also forced to watch kiddie porn with his foster dad.
The other boy told investigator's that Obrien inappropriately touched him on multiple occasions between June of 2009 and June of 2010.
According to the probable cause statement, a forensic computer examiner found multiple images of boys in various stages of undress engaged in sex acts on Obriens laptop. The history on that computer showed that Obrien had visited several sites that "made reference to child pornography."
Obrien has been a foster parent for about ten years and has had over fifty children, who were all boys, placed in his care.
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UPDATE 02-03-12:
The U.S. Marshals Southern Missouri Fugitive Task Force and Detectives with the Republic Police Department located and arrested fugitive Mark D. O’Brien, at the home a friend near Strafford.
O’Brien is being held in the Greene County jail on $100,000.00 bond.
13 comments:
Makes me sick to my stomach for those poor children to have endured that and probably much more that we'll never know about. May God heal the children...
To the foster dad who left a comment, I hit the wrong button and deleted it. Do you mind resending it?
k
Yeah, no worries. I am the foster father that left a comment earlier.
I was just saying how disgusted I am about this "man's" actions. Very disturbing. I am sure the children that are/were in his care were removed from bad situations and he took advantage of their lack of confidence and further destroyed them. I have been a therapueticfoster parent for over 2 years and we have had 4 children in our home (currently have 3 boys)and they have had horrible lives up until they came into our home. This just sickend me. I cannot believe that the caseworkers had no clue, they must have not been doing their jobs. The guy had 50 kids in his home throughout the 10 years that he was licensed? There will be more victims that will step forward, God Bless these kids, and may he get what he deserves
Sorry, I meant to mention that I love your blog, I am on every day. Thanks for your hard work and keep it coming!
I think I know TryBeFan4LIfe or at least someone like him. People like TryBeFan4LIfe work very hard to be good foster parents and are an inspiration to me. I think that is why they take the most offense and Insult to allegation such as these. It is like a slap in the face. I hope they catch him and if he is found guilty, I hope he faces a lot of years in Federal for it. And those poor children, there is no way to give them their innocence, trust and naivety back.
Republic pd was not part of the O'Brien arrest. USMS Southern Missouri Task Force comprised of Greene and Christian Co along with US Marshals
Republic pd was not part of the O'Brien arrest. USMS Southern Missouri Task Force comprised of Greene and Christian Co along with US Marshals
I don't kow who you are SpeedyCycles, but those were thoughtful words...;0
Glad to see that they found him. I know my earlier post sounded like I convicted the guy before due process (and I am a CRJ Major), but having child porn on your computer is enough for me
@ anon.....Yes, the USMS Fugitive Task For is comprised of Greene, Christian and others. I personally spoke to Kelly Palmer and he told me Republic PD was involved in O'brien's arrest.
k
The funny part about all of this, is everyone including the news has already condemned this man on accusations and charges. He hasn't been convicted. You have to keep in mind that MANY of the children that go through these homes have behavior problems and have lied about things like this before or have motives for trying to ruin someones life.
Also, if something was found in the house and he keeps multiple children/teenagers ; did any of you stop to think it could have been one of the kids on a website?
You should all be ashamed of yourselves for convicting someone before our justice system has done so.
If he has his court date and it's determined these kids weren't telling the truth, his reputation has already been irreparably damaged even if he's completely innocent.
Food for thought.
anon: Everyone including the news convicts everyone before due process, it's the American way. And you are right....I believe the % of kids in foster care that have been "sexually abused" (physical, visual exposure, etc) is somewhere in the 98% range. Like I mentioned, I have foster children and we deal with residual effects of this and have to call our caseworkers on a bi-weekly basis for innapropriate things, nothing real serious. Main point, we call our caseworker and keep tabs on the kids because that's our job. If he allowed these kids on the internet, he should have been checking history, monitoring them, aka DOING HIS JOB, just like any parent/foster parent.
As a parent of a child that was in Mark O'Briens home I am infuriated. When we asked about a respite provider I was assured that this man was a safe. Someone dropped the ball at DFS.
Already found him guilty? Of course we have, they found pictures of him and the children on his computer. How much evidence do you need? Yes these kids have already been through a lot but that doesnt mean that they would lie about this. I am sure the investigators have carefully interviewed these boys.
In the end a lot of vulnerable children have probably been further damaged.
I also had a child there for respite care. Always knew there was something off about him but never could put my finger on it. If he was not guilty, why was he on the run? Why did they find pictures of HIM with those children? So to the woman who says shame on us is, thank God it wasn't my child he molested.
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