gregation is located, had been riven into factions b’ the scandal;rnaccusations lit up ward meetings like tracer fire. Rumorsrnof a Satanic child sexual abuse ring ran rampant. Sccral familiesrnwho believed that the state had not done enough to investigaternthe allegations formed a small therapy group underrnSnow’s direction. Within that group was the family of AlanrnIladfield, a steelworker in his mid-3()’s. Snow had told I ladfieldrnthat his children were among those abused by the Burnhamrnchildren.rnAfter the Burnhams were cleared by the state, accusationsrnbegan to proliferate within the therapy group, hi a matter ofrnmonths e-ery family represented in the group—with the exceptionrnof the Iladfields—found itself implicated in childrnsexual abuse. More than forty adults were accused of molestation,rnand nead’ ever’ house on Iladfield’s block was identifiedrnas the site of an “incident.” At one point Iladfield joculadrnasked his wife, “When am I going to be next?”rn’l\c) weeks after Iladfield’s remark, his ten-year-old daughterrnaccused him of molesting her. In a private session withrnSnow, the Iladfield girl had been asked to “give herself arngrade” regarding various aspects of her life. The girl offeredrngenerous grades for her sehoolwork and her social life, but arnlow grade regarding her own personal safety. Asked bv Snowtornspecif the source of the perceived danger, the Iladfieldrngid said, “‘Ihcre’s only one in my famiK,” and wrote “Cod, m-rndad has touched me” on a slip of paper.rnIbis disclosure was made after nine months of intensiverntherapv. For the better part of a ear the I ladfield child, alongrnwith her friends, had been relcntlessK indoctrinated regardingrn”good” and “bad” parental touches. It is quite difficult for arnparent to avoid a “bad” touch, since it is defined as any kind ofrntouch that makes a child uncomfortable; one commentator referredrnto this as the “hug vour child, go to jail” syndrome.rnGay I ladfield initially refused to believe her daughter’s accusations;rnthe mother called Snow and insisted that a terriblernmistake had been made. Snow arranged a meeting for thernnext day. Lhider Snow’s guidance the girl repeated the accusations.rnAnother of Iladfield’s children, an eleven-year-oldrnbo, was asked if he had been abused. After an initial denial,rnthe bo broke down into tears and said that the charges wererntrue. The session witli Snow was enougli to convince GayrnIladfield that her husband was an abuser. That cry day sherntook the children and left Alan Iladfield for good. Shortlyrnthereafter, Alan Iladfield was arrested.rnAs the goycrnment investigation of Lchi continued. GayrnIladfield filed for divorce. As custody issues were raised, accusationsrnwere levied against Alan Iladfield’s family: Iladfield’srnparents and 16 of his male cousins were named asrnabusers. In a second Lehi divorce proceeding that arose fromrnthis abuse scandal, charges were also filed against the malernrelatives of that embattled father.rnSome in the community began to suspect that Snow wasrnmanipulating the children under her supcrv ision. One 1 ,ehi fatlicrrnsent his children to Snow with the stipulation that anotherrnadult be present to observe the therapv sessions. The fatherrnwas told that an independent observer would be an unnecessarrnintrusion because Snow had a “good way” with children.rnAfter one session the skeptical father withdrew his childrenrnfrom therapy; within a week he was named as an abuser byrnchildren still under Snow’s care.rnSuspicions that Snow was manipulating the Lehi childrenrnwere not confined to the community; similar misgivings werernexpressed by law enforcement officials and some of Snow’srnprofessional peers. Utah County Chief Deput- AttorneyrnWivne Watson recalls, “I went up and witnessed one of BarbararnSnow’s sessions with one of the Lehi kids. . . . I was appalled.rnI had deep reservations about whether the ideas expressedrnbv the child[ren] related to what had actuallyrnhappened to them or whether thev were the product of ideasrnplaced in their minds bv Barbara Snow.” According to Watson,rnthe therajiist would sit with a child on the floor of a roomrnfilled with tovs and stuffed animals. “If the child reacted negativelyrnto I Snow’s] questions she would remain very formalrnand stiff. If the child reacted positively, and indicated somethingrnhad happened, she would become verv warm and loving,rnand hold the child in her lap and tell the child what a goodrnchild she is. 1 found that totally unacceptable for a criminal investigation.”rnOwen Quarterberg, chief investigator for the Utah CountyrnSheriff’s Department, witnessed one of Snow’s ses.sions and offeredrna report similar to Witson’s: “The interview wasn’t goingrnanywhere so she sat the boy on her lap with her arms aroundrnhim, then some responses began to occur.” Snow would askrnthe same questions until she received satisfactory responses.rnDr. Stephen Golding, an expert in forensic investigation, examinedrnvideo and audio tapes of Snow’s sessions and foundrnher technique leading and suggestive: “She doesn’t know whatrnrole she’s in. Professionally, it is the most ill-advised thingrnshe could do.” During (.)ne session reviewed b Golding, Snowrndrew a set of stickmen on a chalkboard and told the children,rn”I lere are the perverts, and they are smiling because they arerngetting awa with it.”rnSnow protested that her approach was “therapeutic” ratherrnthan “forensic”—that she sought to “heal” abused childrenrnrather than to collect legal evidence. But why would a “healer”rncommand another therapist to obtain confessions? Furthermore,rnSnow’s approach to “healing” occasionally skirtedrnabuse. Utah Counts Sheriff’s detective Mike MeConnell consideredrnSnow’s api^roach to be “aggressive and confrontational.”rnDescribing a session he had witnessed, VlcConnell reported,rn”At one time she embraced a child and the child triedrnto get awa. She asked leading questions. The child was pla-rning w itii dolls and tliose were taken awa.”rnJudy Pugh, one of Snow’s colleagues at ISAI’C, had beenrntold b one of the Lchi children that the entire child abusernscandal was a “fairy tale” concocted to satisfy Snow. Onernchild who had been under Snow’s care later testified underrnoath that she had been intimidated by Snow into offering anrnaccusation. Accumulated misgivings about Snow’s reliability,rncoupled with an utter paucity of physical evidence, led thernUtah County Sheriff’s office to conclude that no abuse hadrntaken place in Lehi.rnBut the state investigation ground on, propelled by politicalrnconsiderations. Associate Deputv Attornev General PaulrnWarner explained that “When we took oer the case [fromrnUtah Count law enforcement] we had to start from groundrnlevel. We found that the Utah County Attorne ‘s office hadrnneither the ]5olitical will nor the experience to do the job thatrnneeded to be d(jne.” ‘I’he task at hand, according to Wirner,rnhad less to do with justice than with the proper “message”: “Ifrnwe had backed off, it would have sent a message to childrnabusers that it was now open season on the kids.” Utah Countyrnofficials were just as anxious for the safet of children, butrnlANUARY I993/2.Srnrnrn