Tony Leon, My Father, Died — Cowardly, Child-abusing Fraud

Madison, Wisconsin — "I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction," wrote Clarence Darrow in his 1932 memoir.

Darrow might have been thinking of Tony Leon of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin — my late father who died this month, a child abuser, and a malignant narcissist until the day he left this world.

Tony Leon was not a good man. I won't be attending the Dec 21 service in Fondy. Don't believe what you read in his obit.

I think any human being deserves a send-off, but when you self-consciously abuse children, you're shit and the world should know you're shit.

Tony Leon was shit.

My earliest memory, one I won't forget, is the idiot lining us all up in the dining room at our West 13th Street home, when the four kids ranged in age from about seven to about three-years-old.

"You better hope your Mother doesn't die, or you're in trouble" he railed, continuing on and on, but not making a whole lot of sense.

It was a lot to unpack for a five-year-old: Why is this idiot yelling at us? Why he would suggest Mom might die, and what is he trying to accomplish with this hostile screaming?

It never got much better from Tony Leon.

Three sneak attack-ambushes against me between 10 and eight-years-old at our later Howard Ave home: Two in the upstairs hall-way, one when I was walking in the living room past the player piano.

The last attack happened in front of my Mother. And then the physical attacks stopped, either because of her intercession and objection or because I was beginning to grow.

But it was not the hitting, slapping and choking that was the big problem for me, (I was pretty tough for a little kid): It was the malice, and my knowledge that there was a hostile person who could and wanted to cause me harm on a near-constant basis.

It fucked me up. I developed a slight stutter as a young teenager and a mild generalized anxiety disorder that never really went away.

One of Tony Leon's favorite psychological ambushes after he became afraid of one-on-one physical encounters was a bait-and-switch psychological tactic the U.S. military used to use.

It was used in Basic Training to weed out those who might not be temperamentally suited for combat. The tactic was not intended for use against children by anyone.

Here's what it is: Take the innocence and credulity of a child and speak as though you are fraternal, agreeable and sympathetic. Then, without pause, launch into harsh, abusive and maligning words to cause distress, then smile and laugh. That's who Tony Leon was.

There was a lot more abuse, passive aggression and constant put-downs, but those are some of the highlights.

My Mother and I talked often. She said, he was worse towards me because I physically looked like him, and I objected so frequently. She confessed late in her life, she regretted not listening to her Georgia family and leaving Tony Leon.

I told her she was a victim, she did the best she could and had nothing to apologize for. I assured her that her life and kindness would live on through me. My Mother was actually famous in Fondy for being nice.
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Deep-down, Tony Leon both loathed himself and thought the world needed to bow to his every whim and passing caprice.

I came to understand that Tony Leon was a malignant narcissist with authoritarian and obsessive features. But it was worse: Tony Leon was an undiagnosed psychopath.

You see, I read voraciously for the pure joy of it, and escape from the lunatic. I found out the psychopathic personality traits fit this prick to a T.

We had a seal-point Siamese cat named Lady. Lady would get in heat once a while, and Tony Leon would go on-and-on that if Lady had kittens, he would drown them in the Fond du Lac River about a half-mile away.

But it is the way he described the scenario and the joy he took in detailing what he would do that I found chilling, cruel and infuriating. I told the bastard he was a coward.

To get a flavor of this feature of Tony Leon's pathology, the drunken idiot's story at a dinner instructs as well.

Tony Leon was reveling in his telling of tieing ropes onto cats and throwing the cats over a bridge into a river in Aurora, Illinois with his friends.

I told him, again, he was a "fucking coward." A younger brother, Jimmy, picked up Lady and moved the cat away from Tony Leon, but I think this was clowning intended to dissipate the narrative of hurting small animals.

But who does this shit to children? Who revels in hurting small animals? Who invests so much time and effort in deliberately causing harm onto children? Only shit does this, and I am proud that I told him so.

Tony Leon is gone and good riddance. He has been buying off family members for months now to keep the truth silent.

There is a lesson in the passing of this contemptible coward.

The truth is one person can help the world a lot more than what another can do to destroy and harm. You can believe it.

District Atty Martin Lipske Covered for Child Sex Trafficking Offender

Iron County Martin Lipske runs legal interference for his
ally, Dennis D. Braun, in sex trafficking case in 2013-14

Update II: Another reader points out that Lipske, known for slow-walking cases, rushed this one though before Wisconsin's Sex Trafficking statute was passed and became widely publicized.

Updated - A reader points to the unpredictability and volatility of Iron County District Attorney Martin Lipske in allegations-of-sexual-assault cases, noting a case in which Lipske had recommended 60 years of prison and 20 years of parole. (Ansami, Daily Globe (Ironwood, Michigan))
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Suppose, and to be redundant hypothetically, a 14-year-old girl were transported over 600 miles to Madison to an isolated Madison hotel by three adults for the pleasures of a man paying $1,300.

Suppose early the next morning the girl fled the hotel screaming.

Suppose further that the man in the hotel room who paid the $1,300 was granted a liquor license 10 years earlier by the City, running a strip bar and brothel, among other dealings illegal under Wisconsin law.

Suppose further that the sitting District Attorney publicly took sympathies with the man in a local TV interview referring to him as a harmless "gentleman" after the incident, and then agreed to a deferred prosecution, meaning no prosecution of the man.

Suppose the absence of 'sexual predator' condemnations from the sitting District Attorney in the criminal complaint against the man, and no talk of protecting children.

I can tell you what would happen in Madison, and rightfully so: The community would be outraged, howls of condemnation would ring through the press, editorial demands for resignation of the DA would be legion across the political spectrum; child advocacy and sexual assault public interest groups would be all over the local media; a Recall petition would be launched within days; and national media would pick up the story asking: What is happening in Madison, Wisconsin?

This would not happen in Madison, Wisconsin and Dane County.

Iron County District Attorney Martin Lipske

But this is precisely what occurred in 2013-14 in Iron County in far-northern Wisconsin in a hotel in the town of Mercer (population 1,407).

The case is State of Wisconsin vs. Dennis D Braun (Iron County Case Number 2013CF000052). [Update: Link to Wisconsin Circuit Court Access indicates this case is no longer public. Strange. Circuit Court Access message reads, "Your request could not be processed. That case does not exist or you are not allowed to see it."]

And the offending District Attorney is Martin Lipske of Iron County for whom the local ribald sex trade community in the City of Hurley provides political support.

Lipske's Iron County has been a notorious playground for corruption and the sex trade for many years.

Silver Street in Hurley, Wisconsin, known
for its wide selection of 'gentleman's clubs'

Below is video of Lipske portraying one Dennis D. Braun as a harmless, "elderly gentleman," and in typical Lipske-bizarre fashion, Lipske says: "There's nothing glorifying about this," with Lipske then feigning surprise that sex trafficking occurred in his rural county when Lipske knows perfectly well about Silver Street in Hurley.

Lispke was just shocked, shocked.

After the KBJR News, (Oct. 2, 2013) piece ran, it was reported that Braun sought and was granted a liquor license in the city of Hurley's topless bar section and Braun is at the center of the sex trafficking scandal.

Lipske was in a corner, raising the question of how to help his ally, Braun.

Lipske first minimized the affair, "the man only engaged in kissing the 14-year-old and providing wine." (KBJR News, Oct. 2, 2013)

Lipske then filed one charge, "Soliciting a Child for Prostitution."

This is the same district attorney notorious for filing multitudes of criminal charges for disfavored defendants such as GTAC mine opponents, knowing his political alliance with Iron County Judge Patrick Madden will almost guarantee verdicts and sentences Lipske wants, hence smart defendants ask for judicial substitution when Lipske and Madden are together on a case, unless the case involves a favored prostitute and a favored John.

D.A. Martin Lipske protects sex trafficking in Iron County

When the media light was off the sex-trafficking story, on January 13, 2014, Lipske and Judge Madden amended the charge for the "gentleman," to "Solicitation of Prostitutes," and on the same day agreed to a deferred prosecution, no prosecution, no conviction.

Lipske had done his job for the Iron County political machine.

There is no end to what Lipske is capable of both in persecuting the innocent, and protecting the guilty.

The last judge or district attorney criminally prosecuted in Wisconsin was Iron County Circuit Court Judge Alex Raineri in 1980 in a federal corrupt-prostitution case.

Lipske and Madden ought join Raineri, and every criminal case prosecuted by Lipske should be opened and objectively and thoroughly examined for misconduct and abuse of process.

Lipske is desperate for political allies outside of the sparsely populated Iron County.

In 2008, Lipske ran for DA on the Democratic Party ticket.

In 2012, after Scott Walker and Republicans went to work for the GTAC mine in Iron County after state Republicans and their allies were compensated by GTAC, Lipske ran as an independent.

In 2014, after Waukesha District Attorney Brad Schimel successfully ran for Wisconsin Attorney General, Schimel put out a press release announcing "Another Democrat Endorses Brad Schimel," listing Iron County District Attorney Martin Lipske as a Democrat.

Lispke is for sale.

Worse, Martin Lipske is out of control and running wild as a sitting district attorney is literally terrorizing a Wisconsin county.

Iron County DA Is Minimizing Child Sex Trade

Update: District Attorney Lipske is shocked, shocked to find prostitution rings operating in Iron County. And child-sex trafficking rackets, who would have thought: Rural, isolated Iron County? Anybody who looked; that's who.

A 14-year-old woman runs screaming out a motel in Hurley, Wisconsin in Iron County, and is apparently a victim of sex trafficking.

And we have the Iron County District Attorney, Martin Lipske, playing the limited-hang-out game

Below is video of Lipske portraying one Dennis D. Braun as a harmless, "elderly gentleman" just looking for company.

Now, just breaking we find out Braun sought and was granted a liquor license on the city of Hurley's topless bar section of town and Braun is at the center of the scandal.

There is no end to what Lipske is capable of both in persecuting the innocent, and protecting the guilty:
From Anatomy of a Wrongful Conviction:

Today, WJFW TV-12 NewsCenter revealed  67-year-old Mercer man, Dennis D. Braun is at the center of the sex trafficking case in Iron County, Wisconsin.

According to newspaper archives at the Ironwood Daily Globe, Braun was reported on June 12th, 2003, to have sought and gained a liquor license at 21 Silver St., Hurley in Hurley's notorious lower block where several topless bars and strip clubs operate.

21 Silver St. in Hurley is well known to be the address of a topless bar known by several different names through the years including Club 21 and currently as Club Sierra.
DA Martin J. Lipske has yet to charge Braun for his involvement in the sex trafficking case which saw three Milwaukee women, Tamyra Thomas, Nikia Burchette and Tanya Brown arrested on several felony charges including human trafficking and trafficking of a child.

Braun claims he found an ad in milwaukee.backpage.com advertising escort services to which he replied to. He reportedly offered the women $1,000 for their services plus traveling money. DA Lipske says charges are pending against Braun for his involvement.

Too much light on this for Lipske to run interference for Braun on this one.

Child Sex Trafficking in Iron County

Updated - "There's nothing glorifying about this," said Iron County District Attorney Marty Lipske.

No shit.

If any more evidence were needed that isolated Iron County Wisconsin is a sick den of corruption; comes a news headline today:

Three women charged in alleged child sex trafficking in Iron County

"It's not just an urban problem, it can also be a rural problem and with the advent of the internet it can happen anywhere," Iron County District Attorney Marty Lipske said.

You think?

Lipske's Iron County has been a notorious playground for corruption and the sex trade for many years.

Below is video of Lipske portraying one Dennis D. Braun as a harmless, elderly gentleman just looking for company.

Now, just breaking we find out Braun sought and was granted a liquor license on the city of Hurley's topless bar section of town and Braun is at the center of the scandal.

There is no end to what Lipske is capable of both in persecuting the innocent, and protecting the guilty:

ACLU Fights for Common Sense

Zero tolerance equals zero intelligence.

The Safford (Arizona) Middle School, child abusers against families and their defenders, including the ACLU. That's what the Safford Unified School District v. Redding (08-479) before the U.S. Supreme Court is about.

U.S. Supreme Court Hears Arguments Today On Unconstitutional Strip Search Of 13-Year-Old Student For Alleged Ibuprofen Possession (4/21/2009)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT: media@aclu.org

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court today heard oral arguments over whether school officials violated the constitutional rights of a 13-year-old Arizona girl when they strip searched her based on a classmate's uncorroborated accusation that she previously possessed ibuprofen. The American Civil Liberties Union represents April Redding, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, whose daughter, Savana Redding, was strip searched by Safford Middle School officials six years ago.

"At stake here are the fundamental privacy rights of America's students – when is a strip search of a child justified," said Adam Wolf, an attorney with the ACLU who argued the case before the Court today. "The Constitution must shield students like Savana from suffering potentially lifelong harm due the senseless overreaction of school officials."

Savana Redding, an eighth grade honor roll student at Safford Middle School in Safford, Arizona, was pulled from class on October 8, 2003 by the school's vice principal, Kerry Wilson. Earlier that day, Wilson had discovered prescription-strength ibuprofen – 400 milligram pills equivalent to two over-the-counter ibuprofen pills, such as Advil – in the possession of Redding's classmate. Under questioning and faced with punishment, the classmate claimed that Redding, who had no history of disciplinary problems, had given her the pills. After escorting Redding to his office, Wilson demanded that she consent to a search of her possessions. Redding agreed, wanting to prove she had nothing to hide. Wilson did not inform Redding of the reason for the search. Joined by a female school administrative assistant, Wilson searched Redding's backpack and found nothing. Instructed by Wilson, the administrative assistant then took Redding to the school nurse's office in order to perform a strip search.

In the school nurse's office, Redding was ordered to strip to her underwear. She was then commanded to pull her bra out and to the side, exposing her breasts, and to pull her underwear out at the crotch, exposing her pelvic area. The strip search failed to uncover any ibuprofen pills.
"The strip search was the most humiliating experience I have ever had," said Redding in a sworn affidavit following the incident. "I held my head down so that they could not see that I was about to cry."

The strip search was undertaken based solely on the uncorroborated claims of the classmate facing punishment. No attempt was made to corroborate the classmate's accusations among other students or teachers. No physical evidence suggested that Redding might be in possession of ibuprofen pills or that she was concealing them in her undergarments.

Furthermore, the classmate had not claimed that Redding currently possessed any pills, nor had the classmate given any indication as to where they might be concealed. No attempt was made to contact Redding's parents prior to conducting the strip search.

"To this day, I do not understand why I was strip searched, and not a day goes by that I don't think about it," said Redding prior to today's argument. "No one should have to go through this. It should be against the law."

The case, Safford Unified School District v. Redding, was appealed from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which found the strip search to be unconstitutional. A six-judge majority of the appeals court further held that, since the strip search was clearly unreasonable, the school official who ordered the search is not entitled to immunity.

"Strip searching a 13-year-old girl is not the same as looking in her backpack," said Steven R. Shapiro, the ACLU's national Legal Director. "Neither the Constitution nor common sense permits school officials to treat them as the same."

The ACLU and ACLU of Arizona are joined in the proceedings by Bruce Macdonald, with the law firm McNamara, Goldsmith, Jackson & Macdonald, and Andrew Petersen, with the firm Humphrey & Petersen.

In addition, a broad constellation of adolescent health experts and privacy rights advocates filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of Redding, including the National Education Association, National Association of Social Workers (NASW), CATO Institute, Rutherford Institute, Goldwater Institute, and Urban Justice Center, among others.

NASW's brief documents that strip searches can have a devastating emotional impact on students, deeply and irrevocably affecting the victims' relationship with their peers and school officials.

The ACLU's brief in the case is available online at: www.aclu.org/scotus/2008term/saffordunifiedschooldistrictv.redding/39160lgl20090325.html

Fourth Amendment

One of the freedoms that they hate us for.

Unreasonable Search
The strip-search of Savana Redding at an Arizona middle school was unnecessary, humiliating and clearly unreasonable.