User:Rosicrucian/Franklincombo

Editor's note: This is a user sandbox for the proposed merge of Franklin Coverup Scandal, The Franklin Coverup, and Conspiracy of Silence.

The Franklin Coverup Scandal began on June 29, 1989, when the front page of the Washington Times bore the headline "Homosexual Prostitution Inquiry ensnares VIPs with Reagan, Bush", and ended when a grand jury concluded the charges were a "carefully crafted hoax". The article, by Washington Times journalists Paul M. Rodriguez and George Archibald, alleged that key officials of the Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations were connected to an elaborate Washington, D.C male prostitution ring, and reported that two of these prostitutes even entered the White House late at night. The allegations included, among other things, "abduction and use of minors for sexual perversion".

Key persons named in the allegations were Craig J. Spence, a Washington lobbyist, and Lawrence "Larry" King, then manager of the Franklin Community Federal Credit Union in Nebraska. According to the December 15, 1989 New York Times, Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers came forward with reports of "boys and girls, some of them from foster homes, who had been transported around the country by airplane to provide sexual favors, for which they were rewarded."

On January 10, 1989, the Nebraska State legislature constituted a special committee to look into the allegations with State Senator Loran Schmit as Chairman. On January 30, 1990, Nebraska State Attorney General, Robert Spire, called for a grand jury to investigate the allegations. February 6, 1990, former County District Judge Samuel Van Pelt was appointed a special prosecutor for the Douglas County Grand Jury, which convened on March 12, 1990. On July 23, 1990, after hearing many hours of testimony, the grand jury threw out all of the allegations concerning sexual child abuse, labeling the charges a "carefully crafted hoax".

Books
The Franklin Coverup: Child Abuse, Satanism, and Murder in Nebraska is a 1992 book by former Republican Nebraska State Senator, John DeCamp. He continues to research the subject.

Film
Conspiracy of Silence is a 56-minute unreleased documentary film produced by Yorkshire Television in 1994.

The documentary was listed on TV Guide for broadcast in the United States on cable outlet Discovery Channel on May 3, 1994. However, it was not aired and was never broadcast on televison.

Conspiracy of Silence was also never released theatrically nor on video; however, what appears to be a work print can be found on the Internet on public-accessible sites such as Google Video or archive.org.

Proponents of the film claim that it was withdrawn due to political pressure; neither Yorkshire Television nor Discovery Channel commented officially on why it was not aired.