Deschutes County Judge Alycia Sykora Dismisses God, Favors Purported Pedophile
Bend, OR – After 13-years of marriage, Beth Skaug was forced to make a life-changing decision. She discovered her husband, Brian Skaug, “had been cheating on her,” and unwilling to change his ways. Eventually, Beth and Brian filed for divorce. That is when her and her children’s worlds were rocked, and the claims of sex abuse spilled out from the darkest of places.
Shortly before the divorce, Beth’s 20-year-old son, Wyatt Anthony Carrell, the eldest of Beth’s children, was arrested for manufacturing and distributing child pornography. Shocked and in disbelief, Beth was at a loss for words. She had raised Wyatt to be the perfect gentleman, and she couldn’t understand what could have precipitated such aberrant behavior by her loving son.
Part of investigating Wyatt meant that his two younger siblings (then 8 and 12-years-old) would be questioned by Child Services. As if things could not get worse, the two children, Brian’s only biological children, disclosed what every parent likely fears most – aside from death. They both stated their Father, Brian, had sexually molested them. Reportedly, the two also disclosed that Wyatt was forced to participate.
Because the two children gave such detailed statements of abuse at the hands of their father, half-brother, grandfather, and others to an experienced forensic interviewer, it was determined that there was a “concern” that Beth’s children had been sexually abused. The interviewer further recommended that the children should not have unsupervised time with their father, grandfather, or half-brother.
Beth was devastated but things were about to spiral further.
Despite some of the most compelling disclosures that two children could make, Brian, who was an ex-Bend, Oregon Reserve Police Officer, took a polygraph and was seemingly excluded as having sexually abused Beth’s children.
The Thin Blue Line
It is important to point out that polygraph results are not allowed as evidence in criminal court proceedings in Oregon – for a good reason.
Department of Human Services (DHS) Caseworker, Jessica Summitt; Bend Police Detective, Eric Hagan; and the Polygrapher, Glenn Fairall, who has a sketchy past himself, were all quick to denounce Brian as a suspect because of his polygraph result.
Glenn Fairall – who was chosen by Brian – is former law enforcement, just like Brian. Further, it’s been reported that Glenn Fairall is refusing to produce the “polygraph” and is avoiding being served a motion for production of evidence by Beth’s legal team.
What has since ensued is enough to drive anyone crazy…
Wyatt, the older brother who had been charged with “27 first-degree counts of encouraging child sex abuse” was also a suspect, but never investigated after the children reported the abuse. Recently, Wyatt entered a “sweet” plea deal ultimately offered by Deschutes County DA John Hummel. In fact, this “deal” is unheard of – 27 counts of manufacturing and distributing child pornography were reduced to 3 felony counts, 3 years’ probation, and NO jail time.
Instead of conducting a thorough investigation, witnesses believe local authorities used their connection with Brian Skaug to hide his actions. Then, when all seemed like it could not get worse for Beth and her children – she lost them.
During a court hearing, Brian’s Attorney used a text between Brian and Beth to paint a picture that Beth was some crazy religious fanatic. Beth had told Brian they don’t get the same answers to their prayers, as an attempt to say they did not believe the same. She meant nothing more than to say they simply disagreed.
Unfortunately, her attorney, Frederick Schroeder, reportedly failed to properly represent her, and the hearing was more of an “act” than a judicial hearing. The child sex abuse expert wasn’t even allowed to testify.
This misconstrued text was wrongfully used to force Beth’s two youngest children to move back with Brian, by granting him temporary sole legal custody. Essentially, a very dangerous Deschutes County Court determined the safety of the children meant overlooking the alleged sexual abuse determined by the experts, simply because Judge Alycia Sykora must believe communing with God to be worse than sex abuse allegations.
“The Court is concerned that Ms. Skaug is hearing from God, however it’s phrased. Mother’s own statements indicated communications with God. It is true that there may be communications with God that this Court is not aware of and that may be that at some time, some place, it may be that some people do hear from God legitimately. But until that time comes, this Court believes that if a person is communicating directly with God, receiving messages from God regarding one’s story, that is a concern that delusions are occurring.” –Judge Alycia Sykora
Seriously, you can’t make this up!
After Court, Beth was required to tell her children that they had to go back to their dad’s house, and that they would only get two hours of supervised visits with her. They were devastated and confused.
Her 12-year-old son requested her to video record their testimony and said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if, if he killed us, honestly.” He wanted everyone to know that he was sexually abused by his dad (and others), hoping that his courage would encourage other children to come forward about their abuse. Within her son’s video, he testifies that others were aware of the sexual abuse but never did anything. We are not going to disclose those names at this time.
The court ordered the mother to have supervised visitation at a facility known as Mary’s Place. However, the facility only deals with instances of physical abuse and has denied the visitations; causing Beth to return to court to fight for visitation with her children.
Then, it was reported that three weeks after Beth’s children were returned to Brian, they ran away to disclose even more abuse. Detective Hagan, who had previously supported Brian’s innocence after his polygraph, contacted the officer who reported to the scene and reportedly told him not to take a statement from the children. Bend Police failed to investigate, breaking numerous policies and procedures.
An exam took place at St. Charles Medical Center and statements were taken from both children:
“last couple of nights, my dad has sexually assaulted me and my sister. Last night he put his —- in my —- and my —–,” stated in medical records.
“last night my dad put his ——— and my —- in my room. He woke me up and my brother was in there on the floor. My dad brought him into the room. He put his — in my brother’s —- and —, and I watched, then he put his —- in my —– and —– and my brother watched,” stated in medical records.
A medical examination confirmed child sexual abuse. Even still, DHS caseworker, Jessica Summitt returned the children to their father after the exam.
To make things worse, without Beth’s or the court’s permission, Brian fled to Washington with the children to live with his family in Moses Lake – the same family who were also accused of having abused the children.
According to sources, the DNA samples taken at the hospital were not tested until a subpoena was issued. The results confirmed, male DNA present on the daughter’s anus. Beth thought for sure the results would prompt police to force her Ex to give a DNA sample. Instead, the results of the DNA test sat at the crime lab for months.
Not one Law Enforcement Officer ever sought them, nor did anything about the results once they were informed. To our knowledge, they have refused to reopen the investigation despite the new DNA evidence.
It was around this time that there was a concern that DHS and Bend Police were covering up for the alleged abuser, Brian Skaug. Even still, the Deschutes County Court has refused numerous attempts to grant a hearing regarding the safety of Beth’s children.
According to people close to this case, Todd Wilson, Brian’s attorney, seems to have a “close” relationship with the Court.
Alleged Abuser uses connections within system to get custody of children
Not only is Brian connected with Law Enforcement in Bend, but he’s also reported to be a friend with one of the prosecutors for Deschutes County.
Depositions in the case bring forth new questions and highlight corruption with local government in Bend. In the original hearing, when the judge gave custody to father, DHS testified that their investigation was “unfounded”. They literally disregarded the sex abuse experts who determined otherwise. Jessica Summitt, the caseworker, had only been working for DHS for a few months prior to this case.
The depositions brought forth new evidence. When Beth’s attorney asked Summitt why they determined Brian did not sexually abuse the kids, her response was, “based on collateral evidence, that’s what we determined.” According to Summitt, this “collateral evidence” were phone calls with Beth’s estranged sister, her ex-husband, and with Brian’s sister-in-law.
Even still when Summitt, was presented with the new documents determining sexual abuse and asked why this wasn’t considered. Her familiar response was, “we considered this, but based on collateral evidence our team decided otherwise.” When asked if this team had sex abuse experts, her response was, “no.” One of the other caseworkers reportedly admitted that she would not have “unfounded” the sexual abuse by father. She also stated that mother was kind, courteous and didn’t find her to be “crazy” in any way.
Being proactive, Beth took it upon herself to take mental health tests. She knew the court thought her to be, “crazy” and she knew the only way to counter that would be to obtain an expert witness. Despite having to, “give her children to her Ex, an alleged sexual abuser;” Beth has maintained her sanity. In fact, Dr. Williams, the mental health expert who did her evaluation determined, “her findings were unusual for being indicative of extremely honest responding, something that is rare on this particular measure.”
Dr. Williams noted in the findings that:
“Based on the clinical interview and the psychological testing, I found that Ms. Skaug warranted no mental health diagnosis. There was no sign of psychosis, either during the interview or as a result of the psychological testing. One concern that should be put to rest is the issue, cited in the court transcript, concerning Ms. Skaug communicating with God or hearing the voice of God. This is not delusional and is consistent with the beliefs and experiences of many individuals who identify as Christian. Ms. Skaug should not be considered to suffer from a mental illness simply because she subscribes to the same beliefs, and has the same experiences, as other members of her religious denomination and similar Christian denominations.”
Dr. Williams’ concluded, “To a great degree of psychological certainty, Ms. Skaug suffers from no mental health condition that would render her unfit to function reliably and responsibly as a parent.”
Despite her excellent psych evaluation, and the recent DNA found on her daughter’s anus, the court has not allowed another hearing regarding the safety of her children.
Shortly after the depositions with DHS, exposing massive negligence, Brian hired an attorney from Bend to represent the children. This attorney is reportedly Brian’s friend’s wife. Even so, this attorney agreed to meet with the children without Brian present, but the court denied this request.
It has been 10 months. Beth is continuing to press forward for the safety of her children and attempting to see them despite Brian’s efforts to keep them from her. The children’s attorney is objecting to Beth’s request to see her children. A child’s attorney is supposed to act in the best interest of the children. Is this in their best interest? The US~Observer thinks not.
A final trial date for custody is set for the end of August. The question is, will unbiased authorities step in and thoroughly investigate these allegations, which are backed by medical evidence, for the safety of these children, or will there be more of a cover-up to keep Brian Skaug from facing the accusations that his own children levied against him, accusations of violent sexual assault?
Editor’s Note: The US~Observer will cover each and every future occurrence in this case and provide all of it to the public. Anyone with information on those involved in this case, especially Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel, are urged to contact the US~Observer at 541-474-7885 or by email to editor@usobserver.com – two young children’s lives are at stake.
