National progressive news outlet Daily Kos is taking notice of the most recent chapter in Arkansas social services mogul turned convicted briber Ted Suhl‘s legal troubles.
This week a group of former residents at Suhl’s Lord’s Ranch facility filed a civil lawsuit alleging they suffered sexual abuse as children at the hands of a director there, and that no one stopped the abuse even after the children asked for help. Attorneys for the eight male plaintiffs said they have more victims preparing to come forward with more lawsuits. Suhl is named as a defendent in the suit filed in federal court Monday.
Operating under legal jeopardy is not a novel condition for Suhl. In 2019, he was less than halfway through a seven-year prison term for bribing a state official to increase Medicaid payments to his facilities when then-President Donald Trump commuted his sentence. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee helped secure Suhl’s release.
While Suhl’s own background and that of his fraudster family members include swindles in both California and Arkansas, the new lawsuit seems to be the first time Suhl has gotten caught up in allegations of sexual abuse and coverups.
Huckabee and Trump, however, have lots of experience championing the cause of felons and sex offenders, hence the Daily Kos christening the trio an “axis of evil.”
From today’s Daily Kos:
In 2019, [Suhl] was released after Trump commuted his sentence to time served — after ex-Governor and current Christofascist Mike Huckabee lobbied on Suhl’s behalf. This is not the first time Huckabee has been closely associated with child molesters. In 2016, prominent Christian author John Perry, who co-wrote Huckabee’s book “Character Makes a Difference,” was accused of child molestation in two separate lawsuits.
To fill out his dance card, Perry also co-authored a book with Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore, “So Help Me God.” Moore was also accused of sexual abuse of minors, by four women. Yet in 2018, he received Trump’s endorsement in his losing campaign for Senate.
