Film & TV
May 23, 2023
‘How to Create a Sex Scandal’: What You Need to Know About the New Docuseries
The Max docuseries debuting today sheds new light on my reporting for Texas Monthly.
Mineola Swingers Club
White Hats
December 6, 2022
White Hats, Episode 5: Bias Toward Action
How does the Texas Rangers’ legacy as frontier lawmen affect the men and women who wear the badge today?
News & Politics
March 20, 2019
A Third Accuser in Mineola Child Sex Abuse Case Recants
Carly Mayo, eighteen, is now back in Tyler and living with her mom as she reckons with her past.
True Crime
February 21, 2018
The Girl Who Told the Truth
A decade ago, Gabby Sones accused her parents and five others of running the most depraved child sex ring in Texas history. Now she’s ready to clear their names.
The Stand Up Desk
October 30, 2015
The Mineola Child Sex Case Gets the Movie Treatment
”Booger Red,” a film by Berndt Mader and based on a Texas Monthly story, premieres at the Austin Film Festival.
The Daily Post
November 19, 2013
The San Antonio 4 Are Finally Free
Four women spent more than thirteen years in prison because of bad science and scurrilous tales told by children who had been coached by an adult. They’re free now, but who else is sitting behind bars based on these types of false accusations?
News & Politics
November 10, 2013
Foster Mother Whose Children Testified in the “Mineola Swingers Club” Case Now Accused of Abuse
Eight years ago Margie Cantrell pushed law enforcement to investigate allegations of abuse by a group of adults in Mineola. Seven people were convicted of child sexual abuse, and the scandal rocked East Texas. Now, two of those same children are alleging Cantrell physically abused them.
News & Politics
June 1, 2011
An Absolute Honest-to-God Texas Frame-up
The “Mineola Swingers Club” cases come to a disgraceful end.
News & Politics
September 1, 2010
Trial and Error
The wheels of justice (or injustice) continue to turn in the shockingly bizarre Mineola swingers club case.
News & Politics
July 15, 2010
The Verdict
Another defendant in the Mineola child sex ring crimes is found guilty.
News & Politics
June 18, 2010
Reversal of Misfortune
New trials for two of the Mineola Swinger's Club defendants.
News & Politics
April 1, 2010
When DAs Attack!
The Mineola child sex ring scandal keeps getting weirder.
News & Politics
August 1, 2009
Sex, Lies, and Videotapes
The Texas attorney general takes a second look at the Mineola child sex ring cases.
News & Politics
June 30, 2009
Searching for Truth
Investigators and social workers in the Mineola Swingers Club cases have admitted that there was plenty of evidence that never made it into the first three trials that resulted in three life sentences. Will it make a difference?
News & Politics
April 1, 2009
Hysteria
When adults are accused of unthinkable crimes against children, what’s fact and what’s fiction can get lost in translation.
True Crime
April 1, 2009
Across the Line
Was the quaint East Texas town of Mineola home to a horrific child sex ring? Were the three people sent to prison last year for running it guilty? Was justice served? Depends on which district attorney you ask.