Inside How To Create A Sex Scandal's wild pedophile ring allegations that destroyed lives of adults

May 2024 · 3 minute read

A NEW documentary tells the story of a small-town scandal that saw several parents accused of forcing their children into sick sex acts.

Texas foster mom Margie Cantrell was seen as a hero for standing by three children as they described doing illicit acts in an alleged swingers club, but now the kids say it was all a lie.

In 2005, the kids, who were seven years old and under, told police that they attended a so-called sex kindergarten where adults drugged them and taught them to do sexual behaviors.

The accusations implicated seven adults who were charged with horrendous sex crimes despite a glaring lack of evidence.

One district attorney threw out the case before a neighboring county picked it up and sentenced four of the defendants to life in prison.

However, only one of the four sentences stuck as the adults were able to prove they were not guilty in an appeal.

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Now, the children and Margie are breaking their silence on the scandal almost two decades later in the Max docu-series How to Create a Sex Scandal, which premieres on Tuesday.

Margie and her husband John moved from California to the quiet town of Mineola, not far from Tyler, Texas, in 2004.

The devout Christians had cared for foster kids for years and were more than happy to add siblings Shelby, seven, Hunter, six, and Carly, four, to their growing crew.

The children were taken from their parents by Child Protective Services after they neglected them while abusing opioids.

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However, this put a huge strain on their living situation and the couple's lake house started to become far too crowded, Rolling Stone reported, citing the docu-series.

At one point, the couple had as many as 19 children in their care.

Margie was looking for more property when she found an abandoned building that she said Shelby and her siblings recognized.

The kids told Texas Ranger Philip Kemp that they were taken to the building, a former swingers club, to dance and perform sex acts.

Additionally, the children said that they took silly-pills and were instructed to dance provocatively for their parents Shauntel and Jamie and their friend Patrick Booger Red Kelly at a trailer that they called “sex kindergarten.”

A cousin, who was also a young child, gave a similar story to police and implicated her own parents in the alleged pedophile ring along with their friend.

Margie took the story to the Wood County district attorney, who said that there was not enough evidence to move to trial.

She then went to neighboring Smith County, where she found officials more eager to prosecute.

They launched a sensational trial that was fueled by the hyper-religious community's desire to see the accused behind bars.

The series is based on interviews with Margie and the kids as well as with journalist Michael Hall, who covered the story closely in investigative pieces that he published with Texas Monthly.

The new docu-series suggests that the children allegedly acted under Margie's will, who was offended by a potential swingers club in her community and made up a story to stop any suggestive behavior.

The kids accused Margie of years of physical and emotional abuse after they were removed from her home as late teens and concerns have been raised about "coaxing" in the interview with the Texas Ranger.

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Meanwhile, Margie claims that she was a whistleblower who locked up evil to make the world a better place.

According go the description, the four-part series examines "the motives and ties between family members and locals connected to a crime that may never have occurred in East Texas."

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