By Mike Sakal
East Valley Tribune
January 26, 2011
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/article_61acddbc-2997-11e0-8479-001cc4c03286.html
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| Susan Brock |
A graphic 73-page report detailing the relationship between a teenage boy and the estranged wife of Fulton Brock reveals the Maricopa County supervisor met the boy's parents more than a year before Susan Brock's arrest, and an iPhone the supervisor kept in a lockbox is among electronic devices being examined by investigators.
Also, Mormon leaders said they will review the role of church personnel in a 2009 meeting that took place at a Chandler stake between the Brocks and the boy's parents.
According to the report, Fulton Brock had a phone Susan Brock used to communicate with the boy locked away at home with a number of credit cards he also had taken from her.
Susan Brock, 49, was arrested in October on suspicion of sexual conduct with a minor, molestation of a child, furnishing obscene materials to minors and public sexual indecency. On Monday, she pleaded guilty in Maricopa County Superior Court to three counts of attempted sexual conduct with a minor for a relationship that began when the boy was 14. She is facing seven to 15 years in prison and will be sentenced on March 16. Brock was accused of having between 20 to 30 sexual encounters and buying the boy numerous electronic devices during the course of their relationship.
The extensive report was released by Chandler police on Wednesday, and detailed the boy's relationship with Susan Brock, how she paid him anywhere from $25 to $100 to let her touch his genitals, how the boy would not touch her and how he sometimes would ask her to stop what she was doing to him. Susan Brock also told the boy that her husband would leave her if he ever found out about their relationship and she would kill herself if their relationship were revealed "before police would ever get their hands on her," according to the report.
Jason Rose, a spokesman for Fulton Brock, released a statement on behalf of the supervisor on Wednesday saying he knew nothing about the relationship. "My wife was untruthful to me," it says. "She was untruthful to the victim's parents. I knew nothing of this inappropriate sexual behavior until the police arrested my wife. But I certainly know enough now to divorce her and be the best Dad possible to three children who really need me."
Sgt. Joe Favazzo, a Chandler police spokesman, told the Tribune on Wednesday that Fulton Brock is not under investigation at this time for any possibility of prior knowledge of the relationship, and that investigators are reviewing communication and dates from the electronics confiscated from the Brock residence that include iPhones and an iPod.
"If there's any evidence that he (Fulton Brock) knew or that anyone else such as the church had knowledge of this and there was malfeasance on anyone's part, then I would expect investigators to seek charges," Favazzo said. "He did make an admission that there was a meeting at the LDS church, and that at that time he knew there was some kind of inappropriate relationship going on."
The boy's parents were "frustrated" about Susan Brock's interference in their son's personal life as she continued to communicate with him and helped him arrange meetings with the high school girlfriend so they could have intercourse, the report says. The girl's parents had forbidden her to see the boy, it says.
When Susan Brock was confronted by the boy's parents about whether she was having a sexual relationship with their son, she denied it. At that same October 2009 meeting at a Jesus Christ Church of Latter-day Saints stake in Chandler, which was facilitated by stake president Mitch Jones, Fulton Brock grabbed an iPod that one of the boy's parents was angrily trying to hand back to Susan, who had given it to him, the report says.
The relationship came to the attention of Chandler police this past October when family friends intercepted messages on the boy's iPod Touch that included references to sex acts, documents said. The boy's father also provided police with a printout from his home computer, on which he had installed a program that reads and stores text — including chat messages. The boy's father then went to a church member who is also a retired Chandler police officer and said, "I have proof," referring to the nature of the relationship, according to police. That church member immediately reported it to police and Brock was arrested this Oct. 27.
Kim Farah, a spokeswoman from the national offices of the Mormon church in Salt Lake City, said Wednesday that church officials will be reviewing the Chandler stake's role in the Brock case to learn more about the meeting that took place in October 2009.
"Our hearts and prayers go out to the victim in this case," said Cindy Packard, a spokeswoman for the church's offices in Arizona, in an e-mailed statement. "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not condone child abuse in any form and will not tolerate such actions by anyone affiliated with our faith. Local Church leaders did not become aware of any credible information about this sexual relationship until October 2010. Within a very short time, these leaders were instrumental in getting the matter reported to law enforcement authorities.
"The meeting that took place in October 2009 was not held to discuss allegations of sexual abuse. The victim's family asked for the meeting to discuss their concerns about improper gifts and influence. In the course of the meeting, one question was asked and the allegation was denied. There was no evidence at the time that any sexual conduct had taken place and neither the church leader nor the victim's parents saw any reason to believe it needed to be pursued further.
"Later, when there was evidence that sexual abuse had taken place church leaders were instrumental in getting the matter reported to authorities. We have zero tolerance for abuse of any kind."
Jones, the stake president, could not be reached for comment.
Chandler police confiscated an iPhone during the execution of a search warrant at the Brocks' home this past October when Fulton Brock admitted to police that the phone was his wife's and that he had taken it from her, according to documents. The report says Susan Brock used the iPhone to take a picture of the boy's genitals, but the boy immediately deleted it.
According to the report, the boy told police the relationship never included intercourse, but Brock sexually touched him and performed oral sex on him.
Documents say the boy also had told Brock's two daughters of threats Susan made in the course of their relationship if he told anyone. According to the report, Susan Brock said she would tell the boy's parents that he was a liar, that he was cheating on his high school girlfriend and that he was addicted to pornography.
At one point, Brock also told the boy that she loved him, and that she would change her will and leave him $300,000 so he could go to law school and be "the best lawyer ever" and to keep him quiet, the report says.
During a telephone call police recorded between Susan Brock and the victim, she told him that she already had admitted to sexual encounters with him and wasn't going to admit to any more. She also told him that she didn't trust him anymore.
The boy then asked her if Fulton Brock knew and replied, "Fulton is not going to find out, he hasn't found out about anything we've done in the past three years, we've done a pretty good job of hiding it."
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