"When I saw that wasn't going to change anything, I stopped saying it," he claims. Jennifer Freyd is a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon. The film tells the story of the disintegration of a seemingly average Long Island family after the father, Arnold Friedman, and son, Jesse, were accused of molesting children in computer classes they held in the basement of their Great Neck home in the 1980's. A motion seeking such detention is permitted only when the charge is for certain enumerated crimes, 18 U.S.C. Jarecki said David Friedman hinted at his family's problems just enough to trigger his curiosity. "And, though you can't reduce individuals to a single adjective, law enforcement would say that showing them as human beings is unfair. Silberg, who has talked to victims in this case, says kids don't always tell. Boklan calls the second disc on the DVD "pure propaganda.". A little shabby, a little seedy, but a real classroom," said a woman who enrolled her two sons. Panaro confirmed that Onorato pressured Jesse Friedman on the subject of the photos and tapes before agreeing to the deal. I drew it out again," the detective is alleged to have said. The best result we found for your search is Elaine Louise Friedman age 80+ in Glendale, AZ in the Barrel neighborhood. As agents toured the house taking photographs for evidence, the daughter followed, posing all too coyly for the camera. Many articles and reviews, mostly supporting the movie's point of view, have been written. [The claim that Arnold made a motion from prison to have pornography or other materials returned to him is false. "And that boy on the couch says he only recalled this after he was hypnotized. Anyone who has seen the movie knows that it would be a much different film without so many strikingly candid moments caught on camera. A sign on the wall called his domain "Paradise 7.". "Now the issue is transitioning to a new setting," he says, "and it's not a setting in which I have much relevance because the stakes are not mine.". "The real culprit here is Arnold Friedman. He described them as a Mayberry-like force of officers who "spend a fair amount of time listening to the wind blow through the curtains.". "The only conversations Arnold ever had with the children were about work.". ", Still, Jarecki couldn't persuade David to speak about his family without him "dead- ending into these little platitudes and prepackaged little quips." Physical evidence is typically rare in such cases. As the movie outlines, police arrested Arnold Friedman, a popular and award-winning computer and piano teacher from Great Neck, N.Y., and his son Jesse on multiple counts of child sodomy and sex abuse. Jarecki began searching for news stories about the family; then his associate producer called and said, "I've got an article you might be interested in." The retired detective who led the investigation, and appears in the film, now wishes she had never cooperated with Jarecki. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle. That launched a highly aggressive and now equally controversial investigation by the Nassau County Police Sex Crimes Unit. I think Arnold missed a chance to save him in the early going. I can't condone it, I'm not happy about that fact. Join Facebook to connect with Elaine Friedman and others you may know. After contacting a psychologist quoted in the piece, she launched the Internet campaign. His approach and feelings are more balanced than perhaps any of us could be under similar circumstances. The movie suggests that an injustice was thereby done: It suggests that police over-reacted to what was no more than a collection of child pornography in Arnold Friedman's house; that there may have been no assaults at all; that, in effect, you might have been coerced or hypnotized into making it all up. heads to explain it. Reinvestigating the Friedmans - The New York Times Experts said this added to the youngsters' feelings of complicity. (4) Numerous children, ages 7-12, disclosed similar details about sexual "games" such as leap-frog and Simon says. As the boy waited in a courthouse corridor to be sworn to testify before one of three grand juries convened in the case, a prosecutor asked if he believed in God. And what is the worst question you've been asked? The film shows her being mistreated by her sons for questioning Arnold's innocence. In this case, the government concedes that Friedman was not charged with a crime of violence within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. I was seven years old when I was in the custody of Arnold and Jesse Friedman. By virtue of his own admissions in court, Arnold Friedman is a pedophile. What can I tell you? Last year, Jarecki told Newsday that he started believing Jesse Friedman because of his openness during the making of the documentary: "Many people made an effort to obfuscate in this case and in the end I found Jesse Friedman was the most open with me," Jarecki said. Jarecki had almost finished his film when David revealed an astounding fact: Not only did he possess many hours of old Friedman family home movies, but he also had hours of videotape that documented the family's life while they were facing the sex-abuse charges. " But she said there was never any indication that her father-in-law molested his son. That's not a good story.". not force dozens of sex acts on the children to whom he gave He is buried on Long Island, and his epitaph reads: "Loving father, devoted teacher, pianist, physicist, beach bum.". Jesse Friedman even detailed the abuse during a 1989 interview broadcast on national television. He said, "I fondled [the children]I was forced to, to pose in hundreds of photos for my father in all sorts of sexual positions with the kids" He now claims that his story and his tears were "fictionalized to win leniency". It was a wall that apparently had even hid Arnold Friedman's activities from his wife. McNutt, 38, an unemployed Vietnam vet, sheepishly told detectives at the scene: "I thought it would be fun to take." The ASC also recognized Alfonso Aguilar from Los Angeles Film School, Brian Plow from Ohio University's School of Film, and Ji Yong Kim and Jitsu Toyoda from the American Film Institute. What else do we know about Arnold? [This is false. "To them this is not wrong," says detective Eller. And a "I think he was crying for Jesse, who might have to spend 18 years in jail, not for our kids," said one man whose son was abused. He added that several people said they gave false testimony to investigators to "end the questioning. As he sipped the soft drink and talked about his life, Jesse had been glancing about the room. We operated from April 30, 1999 - April 30, 2014. The effects of child sexual abuse are devastating and can last a lifetime; victims have a higher incidence of school failure and dropout and are more prone to depression, suicide substance abuse, violence and adult criminality. But attacks on the film continue. dismissed, 479 U.S. 978, 107 S. Ct. 562, 93 L. Ed. In one instance, Det. The filing says that police prompted impressionable boys with suggestive questioning and that the children's therapists misused hypnosis, memory recovery and visualization techniques. IV 1986). . The investigation would leave the lives of the children and their families in shambles, and underline the difficulty of gathering evidence in cases involving pedophiles - adults who are sexually attracted to children. Sometimes . 2252 (Supp. "And, not to overstate the metaphor, but I started to see the police and the judges as these white blood cells that were saying, 'This cell doesn't fit into our community. With that evidence, and scores more unearthed in the making of the documentary, Jesse has filed a motion to have his case overturned. [Ross] has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is free on $25,000 bail. But along the way, it morphed into an investigation into the sickening details of Arnold Friedman's supposed double life as a child molester in the 1980s. "I say to them: 'I don't care what you've told the police or anybody, it's now time for you and I to talk about the truth.' 2d 697 (1987). Lurid accounts surfaced of games of "leap frog" in the nude and "find the M&M's," which involved children using their mouths to find candy hidden inside other children's underwear. His wife didn't know what happened, his fellow Justices had no idea, and his mistresses (he had several) said that they didn't know. It was a journey that had begun in his childhood. Ultimately, Arnold pleads guilty to the charges against him in the hope of saving his son, but in vain. But after the police got done with their interrogating, it seemed like half the boys in Great Neck had been forced into wild orgies. Fagin also said that some victims may want to bathe continually. (Unsigned posting in italics - Earl Nember response in bold), [This comment implies that the filmmakers shaded the film to support the Friedman version of the events. What emerged from those interviews were horror stories - stories police said the children had been too frightened to tell before - that turned the innocuous-looking, middle-class Friedman home on Picadilly Road into a virtual lair of sexual depravity against innocent children. Capturing the Friedmans (2003) - IMDb 1. In one well-known study (E. Gray, UNEQUAL JUSTICE: THE PROSECUTION OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE (MacMillan 1993) it was shown that two-thirds of child victims of sexual abuse who were threatened not to disclose the improper conduct revealed it anyway.]. 36 Battery Place They often appear confused. Arnold and Elaine Friedman lived in the Long Island community of Great Neck with their three sons, David, Seth and Jesse. "It was all greasy hair, black hair. For some parents and children, the ordeal was exacerbated by accidental meetings with Mrs. Friedman and Jesse, who was free on bail for a long time after his indictment. What else do we know about the Friedmans? Under Megan's Law, he must not be alone with anyone under eighteen years of age without their parent's consent, and they must always be informed of his criminal record. . "I'm a perfectly healthy, adjusted heterosexual.". The police questioned scores of students, all boys, who were urged to bear witness to repeated sexual victimization in the Friedman basement. After conferring briefly with his lawyer, Peter Panaro, Friedman assured Boklan, "Your honor, all the things I said were the truth.". I asked Gary if he noticed anything funny going on in the class and he said no. And I'd say, 'When was that?' (1) Although Jarecki shows the house looking porn free and a voice-over says porn was only found in the office, the prosecutor says in the movie that child pornography was found all over the house. They often appear confused. Perspectives shift as the director interviews different people and reveals new details. Ah, Hollywood! Back in 1987 and 1988, the. And "Strip Poker," in which a prone woman figure would shed clothing as the game progressed until she was naked. Galasso) they searched unsuccessfully for evidence for months while Jesse Friedman prepared for trial. "The victims seemed to have been arm twisted into buying into the prosecutors' theory that this was some kind of pedophile circus going on. Things got very heated, according to Jarecki and several other witnesses, at the Tribeca Film Festival last May and at screenings in Great Neck earlier this month, both of which were attended by several principals from the film. How does one make a film raising questions about the guilt of two defendants in a criminal case - and just leave out mention of the existence of a third? "There's no way to know if I'd gone to trial how believable the testimony would've been against me, or if I'd be one of the lucky ones whose case was overturned," says Jesse in his own defense. Inside was a magazine called Boy Love. Filmmakers and artists put things in and leave things out all the time. "I think people were more open than I expected," he said. Experts say silence in the face of abuse is commmon for childen whose first response to the unthinkable is figuratively to pull the covers over their heads and forget it ever happened. "Evidence, however, is not determined by a film editor who cuts and pastes for dramatic effect," notes Seth Goldstein, a prominent attorney and forensic expert on child sexual abuse. Sex squad detectives conducted their own search of the house and spread throughout Great Neck in teams of two, interviewing boys who would eventually say enough for police to amass 343 charges ranging from child endangerment, sexual abuse, attempted sodomy and sodomy against Arnold Friedman and his youngest son, Jesse Friedman, who was 18. Because under New York's sex-offender registration act, you must have a hearing in front of the original judge who sentenced you. "Jarecki continues to maintain that if the film had been less evenhanded the audience would not have thought deeply about where the truth lay," the article closed. A postal inspector is interviewed in the documentary, and he talks about how police raided the house on Thanksgiving in 1987. Then she left the room so he would read what was on it. But in a telephone interview, Galasso responded: "I don't know where he [Jarecki] got those photos. If the film takes home an Academy Award tonight it's nominated for Best Documentary Feature there will be rejoicing in some quarters but dismay in others. During hours of interviews with David Friedman, Jarecki learned the family's history, and a film about kids' entertainment became one about alleged crimes against children. "Jesse used to sneak up from behind me and he would slide his hands the same way his father did. More at IMDbPro Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. "We knew we had to talk to him," said Jarecki, "but, intuitively, we knew we shouldn't talk to him right off the bat because we heard he was pompous and unapproachable. They claim that some of you were visited in your homes by detectives 15 times before you remembered what happened to you on Picadilly Road. That sex abuse is the fault of the adult perpetrator, not the child. questioning methods now proven to cause false memories in children. This film reopens the Friedman case by raising the question of guilt or innocence in the context of a possible miscarriage of justice. The parents said they were told that all of the evidence their children provided could be suppressed by an adverse ruling. They cannot be abusive or personal. The plea was made during a tense, one-hour appearance before Nassau County Court Judge Abbey Boklan in Mineola and followed 2 1/2 hours of closed-door negotiations between attorneys in the case. He's going to jail; it could be for a long, long time. What happened in the Friedmans' basement? He speaks in a heavy Long Island accent in a voice that can be almost inaudibly soft. A detective is shown saying he approached children by telling them he knew the abuse had taken place and asking leading questions. "We're all for freedom of speech," Weiser emphasized, "but when a project receives the industry's highest recognition, that gives it credibility.". "The fact that you were a victim does not absolve you from responsibility," Boklan said. If an injustice was done to the Friedmans, you are honor bound to undo it. private computer lessons in the basement of their home. Mr. Friedman, now 44, married and running an online book-selling business, was freed on parole in 2001 after serving 13 years and is now classified as a Level 3 violent sex offender, which bars. He worked for a short time as an engineer, his wife said, but quit because he detested the odors. Some parents attended a series of tense meetings with Assistant District Attorney Joseph Onorato while he negotiated Jesse Friedman's plea. witnesses against Arnold seem. Mr. Jarecki's first feature a remarkable documentary chronicle of family scandal, estrangement and solidarity titled "Capturing the Friedmans" has opened to an admiring press in several cities, duplicating its reception at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Even when he is fifty years old, Jesse will be the bogeyman under the bed. In Arnold she found a man concealed within a similar emotional shroud. And so, eventually, did his 19-year-old son, Jesse. But given the social hysteria of that momentand the lack of physical evidenceJesse's decision to plead guilty hardly seems definitive. His father and mother had been arrested, she said. Subsequently, Arnold admitted that he was a furtive pederast of long standing. Galasso said it was sometimes necessary to conduct multiple interviews to get the child's whole story, which was often given in pieces. Across the hall was the entry to Arnold Friedman's office. The 2/20 article on victims speaking out against the Oscar-nominated documentary "Capturing the Friedmans" raises a question. The Friedmans' wall of secrecy quickly disintegrated after police and postal inspectors turned up the list of names in the Nov. 3 raid. Though the film explores (but does not resolve) the issue of whether Jesse himself was molested by Arnold, the youngest son maintains an essentially positive memory of his father. "I used to go to sleep listening to them fighting, screaming at one another . ". "This is the way they were raised." Galasso and her husband, [Nassau County] Judge John Galasso, and even attended the premiere of the film 'Capturing the Friedmans' together.". Elli was born on February 28, 1931 and grew up in Samorin, Czechoslovakia, a small town near Bratislava. Jesse, charged with 239 counts, pleaded guilty to 25 charges, including 17 counts of sodomy and four counts of first-degree sexual abuse. . People Photos Purpose. He will return to court April 22. But I don't know how far that would really go. molestation charges involving the Friedman basement. "The film doesn't exclude that perspective in the slightest," he said Tuesday. On his Web site (freejesse.net), Jesse Friedman details his present life. Arnold's motion from prison to have them returned (as well as the names and numbers of numerous victims) was denied. Jesse pled to 17 counts of sodomy, 4 counts of first degree sexual abuse. The child continued to say nothing had happened. This is extensively covered in the film.]. It is common for them to live behind facades so respectable that even the parents of their victims are shocked by the disclosures of abuse. Once inside, the officials would look for other samples of child pornography or evidence of molesting. Several hours of supplemental footage on a DVD version released in January, though, paint a more damning picture of the investigation.An interview with an alleged victim casts his testimony into strong doubt, and interviews with detectives underscore the extent to which they coaxed and bullied testimony from Friedman's 8- to 11-year-old students. "The only way to resolve the conflicting claims is to have an open hearing before an impartial court.". "We want to unlock information that the DA was obligated to give us at the time," he said. "I'm not a pedophile. Despite the nomination of three films that have child sexual abuse as a central theme, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences is ignoring 15,000 emails, the personal pleas of 200 victims, and the recommendation of 300 organizations and health care, law enforcement, academic, mental health and sexual assault professionals who asked the Academy to allow time on their awards show to air a public service announcement that would educate the nation about the tragic reality of child sexual abuse and tell people where to turn for help. "Capturing the Friedmans" took the Sundance Film Festival's grand jury prize in January 2003. An organization called the National Center for Reason and Justice, whose mission is to support sex offenders who claim to be falsely convicted, held a private screening of the film as a fundraiser in NYC to support their cause. Some of them still wet their beds, take baseball bats to bed with them or are unable to sleep. Onorato also raised the spectre of appeals based on defense attempts to suppress the list police used to locate the victims. For example, Arnold Friedman is shown to collect child pornography, and the film tells of his admission that he was a pedophile. Ross Cheit, a political science professor at Brown University who studies the media's portrayal of sexual abuse cases and has researched court documents in the Friedmans' case, said "Capturing the Friedmans" follows a pattern of journalism where complicated abuse cases are oversimplified for the sake of telling a good story. Police attended the meeting. As it stands I have no [legal] avenues for appeal. Capturing the Friedmans - Wikipedia Let me acknowledge them and go to jail, but spare my son. (David says) heroically chose to become a high school teacher - did Capturing the Friedmans: who do you believe? "I enjoyed friends and women more than smoking pot," he said. Our first exposure to the story was primarily the media version. of magazines stacked up all over the house. A motion seeking such detention is permitted only when the charge is for certain enumerated crimes, 18 U.S.C.S. I never saw them loving each other. when he misses opportunities to ask more probing questions, as if he'd They found a foot-high stack of child pornography secreted behind a piano in the living room. OPINION: [*48] Arnold Friedman appeals from Judge Costantino's order of pretrial detention. About two dozen families flatly refused to allow officers to talk to their children. If my father was secretly molesting kids, I would think he might have done so in the piano classes where he was alone with the kids.". It is about the elusiveness of truth, despite the seemingly best efforts of those involved to grasp it. Another man, photographed in closeup, fully lit, says that nothing happened at all. ", By March 1987 the sting was ready. But her lawyer claims she didn't speak up because she was afraid of being beaten. Here's Why Capturing The Friedmans Is One Of The Most Upsetting It may be unfair to put you on the spot like this. But most important, the story was told by the Friedmans themselves in a collection of home videos shot before, during and after the charges that was woven into "Capturing the Friedmans," the first feature film of director Andrew Jarecki, which opened to rave reviews Friday. "I've thought of prequels and sequels," he said. "It could have been used in his defence," Nemser said. At one point about 50 minutes into the proceeding he tried unsucessfully to stifle a yawn. Even now, when people see the film, a certain percentage of them say, 'I think they were guilty, or they were innocent.' "There's so much power in editing," says documentary filmmaker Charlie Thompson of Duke University's Center for Documentary Studies. He was a workaholic who talked little and demonstrated no affection for either her or their three sons, Mrs. Friedman said. Nor is the film an anti-police diatribe, though it does question some police methods and conclusions in the case. 1 guy in New York," he recalls. "I have a great photo book from Holland that might be copyable. And federal postal inspectors said they, too, are on the lookout for homemade pornography tied to those involved in the case. He went to therapy out of fear that he would molest his own children. Both he and Jesse pled to one count of using a child in a sexual performance (pornography). The only way to find the customers then, O'Malley decided, was to have Uncle Sam go into the porn business, Working with a small team of customs agents, O'Malley created a bogus Canadian company, Produit Outaouais, whose principal product was 3-by-5 pictures of children in pornographic poses; each photo was mounted on cardboard as if it were a baseball card. The haunting tale of the Friedmans - The Hindu He explained why lawyers for Jesse Friedman are seeking a new trial for the Great Neck native, whose imprisonment for child molestation was chronicled in the film. Jarecki juxtaposes this statement by Doppman's colleague, Detective Anthony Squeglia, asserting that in questioning children you must imply the answer without room for denial or evasion: "You don't give 'em an option, really." And the testimony was compelling enough. But, in a later interview, one man whose son had been victimized said he was not pleased with the deal. The questions in particular are these: Did police and a hysterical public railroad an award-winning science teacher named Arnold Friedman, then 56, and his 19-year-old son, Jesse, into pleading guilty to things they didn't do - namely, sexually molesting dozens of boys during private computer classes in the Friedmans' home in the 1980s? Donate its time to air public service announcements that tell the truth about child sexual abuse and inform people where to get help. Gary ____ was a student in Mr. Friedman's class from the time he was in 3rd Grade to the end of 6th Grade. Patrick McCormack, executive assistant district attorney, said only that the motion papers are being reviewed by the office's appeals bureau. At those trials, alleged child victims were repeatedly interviewed until they gave increasingly lurid accounts of sodomy, other abuse and even satanic rituals. . Because of the case, he said he still has trouble communicating with his son and sometimes blames himself for enrolling him in the classes. Each count carries a maximum of ten years in prison. b) or that nine obscene computer games were found in Friedman"s classroom such as "Dirty Movie" ("animation of woman who undresses, spreads her legs and then masturbates/ urinates"), and "Seasons Greeting" ("animation of Mickey Mouse, dressed in a Santa suit, appears with erection and ejaculates"). The 40-year-old Jarecki, who was in town recently to promote the film, stressed that "Capturing the Friedmans" is supposed to be about the Friedmans, a family whose lives were forever damaged when a battering ram broke down their door on Thanksgiving eve, 1987. I don't think anybody thought very specifically about exactly what had mutated in the cell to make it bad. know when he'll introduce a disorienting fact, or present an interview But what do you do when you feel you've found it? (She and Arnold eventually divorced.) Postal Inspection Service sting operation. The best any of us can do, he says, is to "stand in the place where your personal convictions are, acknowledge that place, and try to give a truthful interpretation of the reality you see from there. Jarecki and two friends co-founded Moviefone, the movie listings company. Before accepting the plea, Onorato said, he pushed Jesse Friedman for leads to the photos and tapes. The boys ran for cover. "I became afraid of everything beyond my control. "You know," said Great Neck resident Donna Schreiber as she exited the theater, "I lived on Piccadilly Road, about five houses away from [Arnold Friedman] at the time, and I was very shocked because of what happened, but the film gives you a whole different view. At that time I did not understand the dynamics of human sexuality. When interviewed on the Geraldo Rivera Show, Jesse sobbed while describing sexual abuse by his father and confessed to abusing three children. None of the pictures or tapes were found during two searches in late 1987 of the Friedman house at 17 Picadilly Road. "CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS" Documentary or Whitewash? This is an open letter to the 13 former children: You are the invisible actors in "Capturing the Friedmans." Arnold Friedman was arrested on a variety of child-abuse charges, and his wife was arrested for attempted assault. Individuals must decide for themselves if the resources meet their own personal needs. The prosecution had an obligation to share this information with me at the time they became aware of it, but they kept it secret from me and my lawyer. He really was a pedophile. Last month, Friedman filed a motion in Nassau County Court seeking "to vacate his conviction" -- which, if successful, would eventually clear him from his highest Level 3 violent sex offender status and the strict parole conditions he lives under. I don't recall anyone in my squad taking photographs. I'm saddened that the Academy did not use this opportunity for the public good," said Anne Lee, President and CEO of Darkness to Light, whose organization produced the public service announcements. Had I known of this information before, I would have been able to use it at trial and prove my innocence. "He would not have pled guilty and he would have had a very, very good chance of being acquitted.". They re-enrolled in what was an elective program. David agreed to let Jarecki talk to his mother in exchange for a copy of the Candid Camera episode.