I am Steve Pigeon’s friend. We have been friends for more than 20 years. He recruited me as a PR consultant for NXIVM in 2007. Even though NXIVM tried to target me, Pigeon remained my friend throughout this time. When I accelerated my attack on NXIVM and its founder Keith Raniere in 2017, Pigeon helped me. Raniere is now serving a prison sentence of 120 years.
BUFFALO, NY: On December 2, 2021, G. Steven Pigeon’s life changed.
The Erie County District Attorney charged Pigeon, 61, with rape and sexual assault of a child. The charges stemmed from a single incident that allegedly took place five years earlier.
The District Attorney did not disclose the child’s name, age, or gender. However, the charges state the child was under 11 when the alleged incident occurred. The indictment alleges the incident happened between November and December 2016.
The local media reported the child is a girl. The prosecution revealed at Pigeon’s bail hearing that she was a family member. Pigeon does not have any children.
There is no allegation that Pigeon repeated or tried to repeat the charged offenses before or after the alleged one-time incident.
The Eric County District Attorney charged Pigeon with two counts of sexual assault against a child, one count of rape, one count of criminal sexual act, one count of sexual abuse, and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.
Pigeon could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of all charges against him.
District Attorney John J. Flynn, Jr. said, “This is big boy stuff here. OK? This is rape; this isn’t child molestation. This is rape, and so when we’re talking at that level, all right, we’re talking life in prison.”
Based on Flynn’s statements at a press conference, there seems to be no physical evidence, no DNA, no rape kit, no hospital records, no mandated reporter, and no confirmation from another witness.
WGRZ TV reporter Dave McKinley asked Flynn, “Do you have anything more than the word and allegation of a child?”
Flynn replied, “I’m not going to talk about any other evidence, but I have her word, though.”
According to Flynn, a lack of corroborating evidence is not unusual in child rape cases. It can be hard to find evidence to support the child’s story.
“What all these cases come down to [is] a child’s going to say something,” Flynn told the press. “I presume he’s going to say something: ‘it didn’t happen.’ All right. At the end of the day, it’s a child’s word versus his word, and I believe the child. I’m standing with the child, and I’m going to get the child justice.”
Pigeon has no previous accusations of sex-related or violent crimes. However, he has two felony convictions related to his role as a political consultant and lawyer. Because of these convictions, New York State revoked his license to practice law.
Investigation
According to Flynn, the girl, now a teen, told her mother about the alleged incident four and a half years after it allegedly occurred.
Her mother told her lawyer, who in turn called him.
“After the lawyer called me,” Flynn said, “I then gave it to my investigators and gave it to my attorneys, and they went from there.”
A several-month investigation followed. The investigators did not interview Pigeon.
Delayed Reporting Defense
Frank LoTempio III, an attorney from Buffalo, said the case against Pigeon might be challenging to prosecute. LoTempio is not representing Pigeon in the case.
“I’ve defended these cases,” LoTempio told WGRZ, “and any time you have somebody – that claim is five years old – it’s a big deal… It’s the first thing the defense attorney is going to start to question… Why didn’t this come out earlier? How come it just came out? Who was the outcry witness? Did the outcry witness then make her suggest that more happened than actually did happen? It’s a big deal.”
The District Attorney took a different viewpoint on delayed reporting.
Flynn explained, “It’s not unusual in our child sex abuse cases. The majority of the time, quite frankly, if you talk to experts on this, they will tell you that there is delayed reporting. They will tell you that sometimes it takes years and years before the child tells someone or reports it okay.
“That’s very common that you, I mean again, you look, you look at all the child, all the clergy cases, and all the, you know, all the other Boy Scout, Girl Scout, all the other, you know, youth cases that you’ve seen over the course of the past five years, and there’s obviously been a lot of them, okay. You will see, if not the majority, a great number of them. The victim does not tell anyone, and they hold it in for years and years. Like that’s very common.”
Other Evidence
During his WGRZ TV appearance, Attorney LoTempio said he believed the prosecutors would need more evidence beyond the alleged victim’s word.
“There has to be some documentation, some witnesses, a confession,” he said, “though not to a police agency, but even to the mother or the father of the child. That’s what I would assume.”
At his press conference, Flynn was asked again if he had more evidence than the word of a child.
A reporter asked, “Okay, do you have anything more than that? I’m not asking what you have, but I mean you must to bring a charge like this.”
Flynn said, “The people who allegedly went to the house. That’s some more right there. That to me shows consciousness of guilt.”
Flynn named three incidents:
“There was a text message from Mr. Pigeon to an individual in the orbit of the victim saying that allegedly, ‘Someone needs to contact me; someone needs to reach out to me. What’s going on?’…
“There was a time when he allegedly came to the home of the victim, and then it was a third time where allegedly two of his friends without him came to the home of the victim… I don’t want to make it like they came there to intimidate anyone. I think it was more of going there to say, “Hey, what’s going on?”
Assistant DA Patrick Swanson amplified Flynn’s comments at Pigeon’s bail hearing.
Swanson told the court that Pigeon texted “one of the victim’s family members, who the defendant is close with, to inquire about what was going on and why no one was returning calls. And he stated specifically, and I quote, ‘Why won’t you call? I am ready to do something drastic.’ And ‘You have to talk to me.'”
When he didn’t get a reply, Pigeon “showed up at the victim’s residence, uninvited and unannounced, where the defendant was banging on the front door, desiring to speak to the victim and the victim’s mother,” Swanson told the court.
Swanson said two of Pigeon’s friends came to the house a few days later, which led to a 911 call from the alleged victim’s mother to local police.
Pigeon’s lawyer, Paul Cambria, denied his client tried to speak to the alleged victim. He also said the text was not suspicious. Cambria added that the alleged victim’s mother is a close relative of Pigeon.
“There was never any intention to contact the person involved in the indictment,” Cambria said. “He sent a text message to several members of his family, a general message… it had nothing specifically to do with the subject of this indictment.”
Gary Parenti was one of the two friends who went to the mother’s house.
“We just wanted to find out why his family stopped communicating with Steve and would not respond to his texts,” Parenti said. “They were close and in contact regularly. Then, they suddenly stopped communicating, with no response to texts. It had never happened before. I thought the family might be in trouble.”
Parenti said he’d known the family for 30 years and had been to the house many times.
A reporter asked Flynn, “Do you think [Pigeon and his friends] had been tipped off that there was some sort of investigation, or [do] you think that they potentially just got nervous because this family stopped having communications with him?”
Flynn replied, “We believe that he thought or knew that something was going on because the victim’s, let’s call it, ‘orbit of area,’ was not responding to his calls and texts.”
Pigeon Makes Bail
Pigeon was held at the Erie County Holding Center for four days pending a bail hearing.
While Pigeon was in custody, Flynn said, “I do not believe that Mr. Pigeon should be out of jail. I believe he should be in jail for the rest of his life.”
Judge William Boller set bail for Pigeon at $750,000. Pigeon made bail.
After his release, Cambria told the media his client “vehemently denies these charges. We have indicated that, and we will move forward and let the courts decide.”
Pigeon’s Aunt Speaks
Rita Gralike, 90, is a relative of the alleged victim, her mother, and Pigeon. She is Pigeon’s maternal aunt. Gralike has known Pigeon and the alleged victim’s mother all their lives. Pigeon grew up with Gralike’s children in St. Louis.
“First and foremost, this is completely out of character for Steven,” Gralike said. “He does not act this way, never has. He is not the type of person, and it doesn’t work that way. You never have just one accusation of child molestation. Never before and never again.”
Gralike, the mother of four sons, grandmother, and great-grandmother, was head of staff at the St. Louis office of former Missouri governor Joseph Teasdale.
Gralike’s late husband, Donald, served in the Missouri House of Representatives for ten years and in the state Senate for four years. Donald was president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Joseph Simeone, Gralike’s late brother, was chief judge of the Missouri Court of Appeals and justice of the Missouri Supreme Court.
According to the St. Louis Dispatch, Judge Simeone “helped bring the Missouri judiciary into the modern age.” His portrait hangs in the state capitol.
“I would like to say that a family like ours would not absolve anyone guilty of molestation,” Gralike said.
She said she did not believe the child’s story was true, and expressed concern that her mother influenced her. Gralike said her mother had made many accusations against others in the past.
“The mother has a history of instability. If you look at the number of times she called the police, it tells you a lot. She even called the police on her own father,” Gralike said of the alleged victim’s mother.
“I suspect there was some jealousy. She was resentful of Steve,” Gralike said. “The commonsense thing to do, and what most people would do is go to the family member and ask for their reaction to this kind of accusation! Stable people don’t throw nasty accusations into a public arena without giving the accused at least the chance to discuss it sensibly.
“Why would they give credibility to a child after having known Steve all their lives? Why would they even give any credence to this child like that?”
When asked why the child would make such an allegation, Gralike said, “If this child were indeed molested, I would suspect someone else in the family was responsible. Something may have happened to her with someone else, and Steve is the scapegoat. That’s what I would be looking for if I was on the jury.”
When asked if she would trust Pigeon with children, Gralike replied, “I would trust him with any of my great-grandchildren. I’m trying to get Steve to move to St. Louis. So, he could be close to our kids.”
Gralike added, “I am the last of my birth family. So, I am the matriarch of this family. And I don’t want to go to my grave seeing this false accusation brought against my nephew. I know it’s not true.”
Gralike Text Sent to Family
Gralike shared a text she wrote to family members of the alleged victim.
It read: “Steve has always been good to all of you. You evidently had sufficient trust in him to allow Steve to take [another child in the family, name redacted] with him on any number of occasions. And not once was there any reason to think he was nothing more than a very devoted Uncle.
“In the time you and the rest of you have known and been close to Steve, have any of you had any reason to believe he could have done such a thing?… I am extremely disappointed in the actions taken against a good man. Even when he is proven innocent of these charges, people will always look at him and wonder… He’ll never be free of the scandal. And did the mother stop to think of the Pandora’s box she has opened for the rest of the family? During this trial, that little girl is going to have to take the stand and answer questions that will scar her psyche for the rest of her days….
“This is a travesty. I am forced to question [the] mother’s emotional stability to have cut all ties to her flesh and blood and accuse this kind man who has done nothing but help all of his family all their lives…”
Politics Not Involved
Steve Pigeon is a well-known and controversial figure in Western New York politics.
A reporter asked DA Flynn if Pigeon “ever worked for you, and does that give you a conflict?”
“I know him obviously,” Flynn said. “I would categorize our relationship as business acquaintances. Since our business was/is political… I would categorize [it as] a business/political acquaintance. I do not believe that I have seen him or… spoke to him in the past six years.”
“So, he never worked for your campaign?” the reporter asked.
Flynn said, “I definitely did not see him at all or speak to him at all when I was running [for DA] in 2016, and then, since I’ve taken over, I can’t remember if I’ve ever seen him or been in his presence in the past five years. So, I don’t believe that I’ve ever seen him or spoken to him in six years. Before that, I was probably in his company, maybe five to ten times total.
“I had lunch with him and another person on two occasions, maybe ten years ago, just a social matter. So, yeah, I am definitely an acquaintance of his, but again I’ve probably seen him five times my whole life and haven’t seen him in the past six years, so that, again, that gives me no pause at all.”
Pigeon’s Political Career
Pigeon has had a long career as a lawyer, consultant, strategist, campaign manager, and fundraiser. He worked for presidential candidates from 1972 to 2012, starting as a volunteer for George McGovern’s campaign in Buffalo.
In 1980, Pigeon worked on Ted Kennedy’s New Hampshire primary effort. Afterward, he returned to Buffalo to help him in the primary there.
When Kennedy ended his campaign, Pigeon worked on Carter’s presidential campaign.
He served in Gary Hart’s presidential campaign in 1984.
Voters elected Pigeon to the Erie County Legislature in 1988 and re-elected him in 1990.
He served in Clinton’s presidential campaign in 1991.
He was executive assistant to Donna Shalala, the US Secretary of Health and Human Services for the Clinton administration, in 1993.
He also served on the Task Force on National Health Care Reform, headed by Hillary Clinton.
In 1996, the elected committee members elected Pigeon as the Democratic Chairman of Erie County.
He was one of the only county chairmen in New York State to endorse Charles Schumer for US Senate over the mainstream party’s choice, Geraldine Ferraro.
He also endorsed another longshot, Eliot Spitzer, for NYS Attorney General in 1998. Both candidates won office.
His leadership style as a party boss earned him friends and enemies, including Michael Pietruszka. The source of hostility is that Pigeon endorsed Eugene Fahey over Pietruszka for the New York State Supreme Court, when both were judges at Buffalo City Court.
Due to Pigeon’s support, Fahey was elected to the NY State Supreme Court and later appointed to the New York State Court of Appeals. Pietruszka had to settle for a judgeship in Erie County.
A coalition of Democrats, the Task Force to Renew the Democratic Party, was organized in 2000 to oust Pigeon as party chairman. One of the coalition leaders was Michael Keane. He had sought Pigeon’s endorsement for Buffalo Comptroller but Pigeon endorsed another candidate instead. Keane is the current Deputy District Attorney, the second in command under Flynn, and is expected to run for DA in 2024.
Pigeon survived the coup attempt, and in a controversial vote, committee members again reelected Pigeon as their party chairman.
Pigeon started working with Andrew Cuomo during the administration of his late father, Mario Cuomo.
He was one of the only county chairmen to support Andrew Cuomo’s unsuccessful gubernatorial primary bid in 2002.
The coalition to oust Pigeon came back in full force in 2002, and Pigeon decided not to run for re-election.
After retiring as party boss, Pigeon became an enemy of the local Democratic Party. He supported candidates to run against endorsed Democrats in primaries. Sometimes, he supported Republicans in general elections.
In 2003, Pigeon helped B. Thomas Golisano, the billionaire founder of Paychex Corp, one of his friends and business associates, rescue the NHL hockey team, the Buffalo Sabres, from bankruptcy. Golisano’s purchase of the Sabres prevented the franchise from moving outside Western NY.
Pigeon worked as a senior member of longtime family friedd, Dick Gephardt’s presidential campaign in 2004.
He was one of the early supporters of Byron Brown, Buffalo’s current mayor.
He was one of the nation’s top fundraisers for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign.
Over the years, he helped raise millions for the Clinton campaigns and their foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative. Billionaire Golisano was one of the founding donors.
Pigeon raised money for Obama’s presidential run after he defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primary. In addition, he helped secure a donation of $1 million for the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Pigeon Opposed Flynn in 2008
Although Pigeon never worked for the DA John Flynn on his campaigns, Pigeon worked against him when Flynn first sought office in 2008.
Flynn was the front-runner. Pigeon supported another Democrat, Frank Sedita III. Using his connections with the Conservative and Independence parties, Pigeon helped Sedita secure their support.
Pigeon blocked Flynn’s endorsement by the Erie County Democratic Party Executive Committee, a group primarily made up of anti-Pigeon Democrats. It was a dilemma for Democrats opposed to Pigeon. Sedita would run against Flynn in the Democratic primary if the Party endorsed Flynn. If Flynn defeated Sedita in the primary, Sedita would still be on the Conservative and Independence lines ballot. Minor party lines can account for 10-15 percent of the votes in the general election. A three-way race could hand the election to the Republican, Diane LaVallee.
Flynn stepped aside as a candidate for DA. The Erie County Democratic Party Executive Committee endorsed Sedita, who won the general election and defeated LaVallee.
Handing Republicans Victory
In 2009, Pigeon helped engineer the majority control of the Erie County legislature, from a Democrat majority to a coalition of Republicans and Pigeon-friendly Democrats. The power shift was especially galling to Democrats, as the party holds a two-to-one plurality over Republicans in the county.
Statewide, Pigeon helped engineer victories for Democratic candidates in the State Senate by raising more than $4 million for their campaigns. The money came primarily from billionaire Golisano. The condition for support was that Democrats would pay more attention to upstate New York instead of its usual lopsided New York City-centric governance.
For the first time in four decades, Democrats won control of the State Senate.
After winning control, Pigeon and Golisano felt the New York City Democrats were not honoring their deal to consider upstate New York as little more than their fiefdom.
Pigeon shocked the Democrats when he arranged the “coup” of 2009, wresting control of the Senate from Democrats to a coalition of Republicans and a few Democrats.
One of the casualties was then State Senator Eric Schneiderman, from Manhattan, who was to be deputy leader.
State Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. recalled, “In 2009 when the coup… happened, the head behind it was Steve Pigeon. Eric Schneiderman was one of the shining stars in the Senate Democratic conference, and from that time, there has been bad blood.”
The following year, Schneiderman quit the Senate and ran for attorney general. Pigeon worked against him and supported Kathleen Rice, who narrowly lost to Schneiderman.
In 2010, Pigeon again supported Andrew Cuomo as governor of New York State. The campaign was successful.
Pigeon’s star was on the rise over the next few years. He ventured into international politics and did business in Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Ukraine, and Rumania. He worked with nationally known figures such as Roger Stone and Wesley Clark.
In 2013, Pigeon urged Gov. Cuomo to replace various state Republican appointees with Democrats. As a result, Diane LoVallee, Sedita’s Republican opponent for DA, lost her job at the Department of Tax and Finance.
She became a prosecutor for Pigeon’s enemy, NYS Attorney General Schneiderman.
It was not hard to get investigations launched with many local enemies and an attorney general with undisguised resentment.
A joint task force of state and federal investigators was formed to investigate Pigeon. They sought violations of election laws, such as conspiring to exceed contributions limits, concealing donors, and making false filings.
In 2015, state and federal law enforcement officers raided Pigeon’s penthouse. Judge Pietruszka, who failed to get Pigeon’s endorsement 15 years earlier, signed the search warrant.
Flynn Runs Again for DA; Pigeon Opposes Him
In 2016, eight years after being thwarted by Pigeon, Flynn entered the race again as a Democratic candidate for the Erie County DA.
Pigeon supported Flynn’s opponent, Michael Flaherty. In the Democratic primary. A third candidate in the race, Mark Sacha, tied Pigeon to Flaherty.
Pigeon became a distraction, and some said liability for Flaherty. Flynn won the Democratic primary and the general election.
After a one-year investigation, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a nine-count indictment against Pigeon on bribery and extortion charges.
Diane LoVallee, who lost her job at the Department of Taxation and Finance by Pigeon’s political maneuvering, was assigned by Pigeon-enemy Schneiderman as one of two prosecutors on the case.
As a lawyer, Pigeon had two clients with cases before former State Supreme Court Judge John Michalek when he gave the judge and his wife four Buffalo Sabres hockey tickets and a $1000 free ticket to a political fundraiser he hosted.
The judge, who had known Pigeon since he was a teenager, actively sought Pigeon’s help with getting his son a job and his wife an appointment to an unpaid committee. Pigeon sent resumes to some of his contacts. Neither the son nor the wife got the positions they sought. Pigeon’s clients did not win their cases.
In addition to the state charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York charged Pigeon with soliciting an illegal donation for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2014 re-election bid. The feds alleged Pigeon helped the Canadian owner of an online gambling company buy a ticket to a $25,000 per person Cuomo fundraiser. Federal election law prohibits foreign nationals from donating to political campaigns.
In 2018, Pigeon pleaded guilty to both federal and state charges. His convictions have a maximum sentence of one year in prison.
Sentencing Delayed
On December 14, 2021, Pigeon was to be sentenced for his federal charges and in January 2022, for the state charges.
Pigeon’s sentencing dates were adjourned after the child’s rape charge. The trial is unlikely to start until 2023.
In the event that this man is innocent, shouldn’t his accusers face charges of their own? I think the harshest penalties should be reserved for those who make false accusations. There is supposed to be a presumption of innocence. I see none of that in this case, which seems more like a witch hunt, orchestrated by an overzealous ignoramus. Suddenly this guy just gets indictment after indictment……why now? What an interesting, albeit unfair trial this will clearly be. Flynn should step down, but if he recuses himself, all those political favors he owes to this man’s political enemies may be thwarted. We can’t have that! There better be some compelling, corroborating physical evidence, not the potentially coerced word of a child and her certifiably, deeply disturbed mother. There was no police or CPS investigation-just a highly publicized arrest and legal circus act. There are no medical records, no rape kit and it’s his word against his alleged victims. How are they going to secure a rape conviction with a text message? I need to know!
[…] https://frankreport.com/2022/05/02/democrat-strategist-steve-pigeon-accused-of-rape-da-says-its-a-ch… […]
Most people aren’t blind to the BS Flynn is passing for fact. He’s a tool. I’ll assume you’ll update this once things move forward and the accuser is questioned, or whatever has to happen to fix the imbalance and injustice.
Thanks for writing it. Unfortunately its not enough yet to help Steve heal his reputation until I’ll suppose its thrown out and he’s exonerated. Maybe then somebody can sue Flynn. The accuser and you know who needs some serious help, and they better be lawyering up. Its sad though, and there will be no winners.
Can anybody tell me how many times a guy does this just once? Sounds fishy. I think this guy is innocent.
It’s kind of scary. Anytime a kid accused an adult, he’s toast.
Can FR file a FOIA request and get the number of times the child’s mother called the police with false allegations of her own?
Not to disparage anyone, but the atmosphere this child has been raised in encourages salacious allegations of men which I don’t believe were ever proven.
The public should be outraged. This is not to dismiss the validity of claims and feelings of any child, but to make such a public allegation- and condemn a man without so much as interviewing him, is beyond imagination.
Why was child protective services not called by the mother? The word of a child is important but so is the word if a man. In this case only one voice was heard. The bias is extreme from the start.
Cause cps = legal trafficking
My personal experience with Steve leaves me highly skeptical that anything sordid happened in this matter….
I have never been close to Steve, but I have always found him to be a courteous and professional individual. In the past few years, I have called him periodically to meet for coffee and find out how he is doing. I would like to offer him whatever support I can. When he was charged with political coordination, my recollection is that I saw him stopping illegal collaboration, but never witnessed him doing it.
If I have a criticism of the man, it is that his approach to Election Law matters has often been technically flawed, but never intentionally corrupt. In short, I have never witnessed him doing anything illegal.
Your “personal experience” amounts to having coffe a few times?
Yet you are “highly skeotical”?
Did you expect him to molest a child in front of you at these public meetings? Or just randomly state, ” Just Fyi I like to sexually assault children.” Motioning to barista, ” Can I get another latte, please?”
Pete has other reasons to believe in the falsity of these charges. Things I chose not to include. I interviewed him. His comments largely related to the conduct of the prosecution. Reese is an experienced attorney.
It’s pretty obvious it was a set up. A political hit job. If it wasn’t Steve Pigeon, they would have vetted the girl’s claim.
The DA used this as an opportunity. He knows the allegation is enough to destroy this pest of the Democrats.
This young woman needs help. It’s a messed-up family and no doubt Pigeon is the scapegoat.
The matriarch knows all. It’ll come out at trial but so many lives will be destroyed as a result.
How do you know it’s a female child?
And by definition a child cannot simultaneously be a “woman”. A young woman is a young adult. Not a minor child
Any man accused of rape has been set up by the FBI and a liar who has a vagina.
Vagina-havers lie to get what they want.
Just like they are doing to Vanguard.
A politician makes an ass of himself. No surprise. This must be proven in court. A person’s word is irrelevant.
Omg….another child you are dragging? Have you no shame? Why don’t you were lying yourself with such scumb buckets and then turn around and defend them. This includes Keith R. .(Since you only answer a question with a question please note, those are rhetorical questions)
All of your piece is conjecture and supposition. I’m not gonna waste my time copying and quoting like everybody else here, you know ….reread the article yourself.
Maybe you should start analyzing the company you keep. Maybe you wouldn’t be in a pickle yourself. Water finds its own level.
What if he is innocent?
Funny
Oh come on Frank, no one ever falsely accuses a politician of sexual misconduct.
This is a lot about a man and very little about the child and the actual case.
It’s very common for childhood abuse to be reported later. Children often do not even fully understand what happened until they are a bit older. Sexual activity most often isn’t even known to them.
That’s why predators prey on kids. The predator knows they can intimidate, confuse and manipulate a child. A child can lack the skill set to speak up at the time. A child can potentially be talked out of the truth of what occurred.
It’s also deeply traumatizing and painful to relive. If the household is chaotic as this one is alleged to have been than it would be even harder for the child to report. And the child is more vulnerable to predators in such a home statisticaly.
It will all be sorted out in court. But going over there after the fact and sending texts was a big mistake. This guy is a savvy person, no? Why was he even alone with this child? Lots of unanswered questions to come out in court.
It’s a horrible situation.
If it’s his niece, why can’t he be alone with her? I think his actions speak to innocence. Suddenly this family shuts him out and doesn’t return calls. I’d say it’s good reason to go to the house and “demand” to know what’s going on.
By all accounts, he was great to his nephews and family throughout their lives. Why wouldn’t he text and stop by if he’s feeling shut out? He was reasonably concerned and upset when he hasn’t been shut out in the past.
If he had raped a child, it would open him up to further accusation if the young woman had been home when he went to the house. He is no doubt savvy in his line of work and it doesn’t make any sense that he would put himself in that position.
It just doesn’t add up.
The child is a victim in this rush to judgment as well.
Why does he need to be alone with her? What can he not do with his niece and other people that he needs to do with this child alone?
If the family is as chaotic and messed up as you all are alleging it would be really stupid to spend time alone with any of the children. Perhaps you’re not a parent. But there’s no reason for any adult to be spending time alone with minor children if they aren’t the mother or the father. That includes coaches. Teachers. Religious leaders. Who do you think molests children?. It’s rare that it is a stranger.
It is almost always a trusted adult or a member of the family, neighbor who is close, someone who is in the Inner Circle. I would be suspicious of any adult man who wants to spend time alone with minor children and isn’t the father. If the child came from a tumultuous household it would be even more suspect and a poor decision on the adult’s part as well for their own protection. Have another adult there or a much older child or two. Be smart. Be safe.
Steve Pigeon never sought to be alone with this relative of his. Not once. There is so much more evidence that he is innocent.
Frank,
I completely respect you standing up for your friend, but it is unfair to present part of the information and then chastise people because they don’t know the rest of the information and aren’t getting a full picture.
The comments supporting your friend, unfortunately err on the side of blaming a child. I am telling you, in complete goodwill, it’s a very bad look especially during an ongoing investigation and will not reflect well on your friend or his supporters.
If you have actual information that could paint a fuller picture, then you should present it here. If you’re going to play the card of, ” Well, we can’t because it’s an ongoing investigation” then maybe you shouldn’t present anything at all until you’re able to provide it all?
But it is disingenuous to start a conversation on a blog and then shut down people who do not comment exactly what you want with, “But you don’t know what I know”. Share what you know then.
Fair comment. I have to consider whether I should reveal evidence that further demonstrates Pigeon’s innocence. The consideration against it is that the prosecutors may try to fabricate evidence to combat it. And I do not use the word “fabricate” lightly.
Targeted. Politics and revenge.
Something happened to this girl, but there could be many reasons for an allegation. Especially with someone so young.
Flynn might want to reconsider. He may be doing serious harm to this child if she has made a false accusation.
Who has speed dial to the DA’s office? Is this standard protocol? What happened to going to the police or having an investigation where both sides are considered?
They interrogated and investigated Pigeon for years – he’s high profile and controversial. Enough people would love to bring him down that if he were a child predator, it would have surfaced by now.
He’s not. Zero indications of it – Hundreds of thousands to the government to destroy an entire family.
You call the word of a child “zero indication”? Woah.
I’m not saying that the child should absolutely be believed on word alone, but that has not been established yet. This article is just conjecture. Be sure your sins will find you out.
We are sinners except for you, Mrs. Schmidt.
Not true. But snark is always appreciated.
I mean zero indication of such pattern of conduct, to believe he is a child predator.
I’m not discrediting the child, but a single allegation made to an unconfirmed person under unconfirmed circumstances — without even speaking to Pigeon — appears to be a rush to judgement, and Flynn made a public spectacle without due diligence.
No, I don’t think a single allegation should result in the DA announcing that an innocent person should be in prison for the rest of his life.
It’s a biased statement and done to destroy a man’s reputation.
Listen to the matriarch. If something happened, he’s a likely scapegoat and one that the political circus would love to bring down.
It won’t make it to trial. That’s the only good thing for both the teen and for Pigeon.
No one even interviewed Pigeon before charging him? Where is the justice?
The “evidence” was texts and a visit to the house. If your family suddenly cuts you out, that’s cause for alarm – not evidence of guilt.
But Flynn did not ask basic questions but instead used the bullshit as evidence. Disgraceful conduct.
District Attorney John Flynn is no hero to that young girl. Without proper investigation, Flynn has convicted her uncle/relative and recommended a life sentence, which seems improper if not illegal for the DA to announce.
This child, in the event she is confused or coerced, now has little way out because of Flynn’s public declaration. Children should absolutely be heard and given a voice, but Flynn made this case about his own ego. He’ll be tripping over his cape just like he was tripping over his words at the press conference.
And it’s great to know Flynn believes rape is “big boy stuff” and molestation… not so much?