Hair Balls was shocked — shocked — to find out the former Austin man accused of producing a notorious series of child-porn videos known as “The Tent Series” was a member of an Austin-area nudist colony that describes itself as “family friendly.”
David A. Diehl, 48, was arrested near Jacksonville, Fla., after FBI agents were able to identify him as the man who recording himself raping a 9-year-old girl in a camping tent — videos of which have apparently surfaced in more than 100 child-porn cases. Although it might be a case of justice too late, Diehl was fortunately stupid enough to allow a few clues to pop up in the video, including a novelty $1 million bill issued in 2000 by the Star Ranch Nudist Club in McDade.
Both Diehl and his alleged victim were members of Star Ranch, and the novelty bill was issued when the ranch hosted the annual Southwestern Sunbathing Conference, according to KXAN. The alleged victim’s parents “worked the ranch during the conference, so the girl was unsupervised for hours at a time,” according to the news station.
And when agents interviewed Diehl’s ex-wife, who was 15 when she married the 31-year-old Diehl, she dropped the bombshell that her ex “had a fixation on young girls.” What a surprise.
Hair Balls has no problem with nudists, but we’re a little concerned about Star Ranch’s mixture of creepy old dudes, naked little girls, and coolers full of beer. But maybe that’s just us — after all, according to the Star Ranch site “Children adapt very well” to public nudity.
“They are natural nudists and usually take to it with minimum adjustment. They love the pool and the playground.”
Apparently, they also love to run naked, as evidenced by the annual
5K Bare Buns: “We invite you to bring your children, 18 years and under,
and let them enjoy the fun as they compete for a beautiful 1st, 2nd or
3rd place medallion.” So, just to be clear: On April 17, you can go
watch a bunch of naked little boys and girls running together in a
group.
Or, now that it’s getting warmer, you can watch naked little boys and
girls go swimming. Here’s how one proud parent described his
ten-year-old son’s experience on a “skinny dipping” website: “He peeled
right off & jumped in the pool. Since this was his first experience,
we called him ‘white tail’!”
Again: if you are a pedophile, you might be glad to know there is
a membership organization near Austin where little boys and girls are
allowed to run around nude, and apparently sometimes unsupervised. Plus,
it sits on 110 acres, which makes it perfect for a (secret) game of
hide and seek. And if they allow dudes who married 15-year-old girls,
their standards can’t be that stringent.
We’re going to go take a shower now. But not with any kids.
(For what it’s worth, the ranch put out a prepared statement: “We have assisted in an FBI cyber crime investigation and we do not have any results. In the interest of justice we do not want to say anything that might compromise the prosecution of this case. We applaud the authorities for their diligence in the investigation of this case.”)
This article appears in Apr 15-21, 2010.
