In case you missed it, see the explosive story here as a brave retired investigator came forward to blow the lid off of one of the biggest cover-ups by Stan Sniff there has ever been. We’ve documented several of them, knowing we were only scratching the surface.
KMIR followed up as worried parents are making the connection to what happened:
“My son was a cool kid and thought that Duffy was a cool guy and I don’t know yet if Duffy had his hands on my kid but I feel that you should release anything and everything to anybody who wants to know and needs to know just for closure, we have that right, we have that right.”
We (KMIR) again requested an interview with Sheriff Stan Sniff to give him the opportunity to address the concerns of mothers like Murray. He declined.
Kevin Duffy was apparently well-known and thus, I received the following from a former employee of the Riverside Sheriff’s Department:
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I contemplated posting this myself, but I’m afraid of retribution.–I was sitting thinking about the Duffy case, bothered by it. Its nine years old. Should we be talking about this? Are we dredging up the past for no reason? Are we retraumatizing Duffy’s family? Is this fair given the amount of time which has passed?–As I sat there, watching my kids playing, I remembered how the department had a history of keeping criminal activity as quiet as it could, for its own sake, not so much for the victims, who rarely saw justice, but rather were victimized in a new form; breach of trust. I can cite case after case where the department victimized the victims in favor of its own reputation.–I won’t delight you with the details of those capers here, those cases are barely relevant except to show a pattern of abuse, but would also dilute the impact of the Duffy case, which is a disservice to the victims, at this point. They should hardly have to endure yet another disservice from those in the public trust.–It struck me, that the named victims in this case were all disadvantaged and at risk youth, exposed to Duffy via the Sheriff Athletic League, of which he was President. Duffy used his position of trust and authority to maneuver into position to victimize these kids, breaching their trust in him, but also in law enforcement.–And then, they sought refuge in the same department that Duffy worked for, which to its credit, investigated the allegations with vigor. But then something happened. Who made the decision to let Duffy walk free for 10 days, despite signs of him being a clear suicide risk probably thought that him killing himself would be helpful to the victims and to his family. He killed himself, but the carnage remained.–The department didn’t just fail those victims by allowing Kevin Duffy to kill himself in order to avoid prosecution, it revictimized the victims. It took away their power and their right to seek justice. Their right to be made whole by a court of law. By silencing and suppressing the continuing investigation, they left countless other at risk children hanging and twisting in the wind, unable to come to terms with what was done to them, not just by Duffy, but by the department who broke their trust and failed them through not just neglect of their primary duty, but an outright violation of it, in my humble opinion. The Riverside County Sheriff’s department, destroyed the trust of children.–I know the Duffys. I feel terrible this happened to them. They don’t deserve having to relive this, but neither do the victims in this case and they probably think about it constantly. And while I have great feeling for Pat and Patti, I have to say that their suffering, while great, pales in comparison to the pain these at risk children and their families have lived with since they were preyed upon by Duffy and then the department.–As stated previously, this kind of suppression and containment didn’t start with Sniff, rather its been happening for a long time. It doesn’t make it OK. Leaders must be accountable for their actions, rather than passing blame, the buck, and maintaining the status quo. Excuses don’t cut it. Accountability and transparency, not press releases to a single news outlet at 2200HRS, containing accusations of electioneering and bias.–The buck stops with you Stan Sniff. You were the boss in 2009. You are the boss today. Stop acting like a boss, start behaving like a leader. Echelon Front! Stop hiding behind your office door and fix what you have broken. Stop sending your minions and high dollar Facebook trolls to do your bidding. Man, up.–It may be too late for you to keep your job, but maybe you can save your soul. Who knows, in time, maybe they will name that empty jail in Indio after you, memories seem to fade, after all.
I could not have written this better myself.