Since late 2015, I postulated that Mark Smith of the Manning Sex Case would “walk” away from these crimes. On Thursday last week, that theory was proven true. I have been distressed to come up with a post in response to this crazy ass decision. The way this case played out was more odious than I could have never perceived the events as they manifested. Not only did this degenerate “walk”, but he was found “not guilty”. He can NEVER be held accountable for the crimes known to have been committed against Brittany Cutting or Kaitlyn and Kayla Rogers. How could that be possible? Ask Sir David. He is the puppeteer of this tragedy.
I can hear people saying, under their breathe, that I blame Sir David for the rain. If only that were so. It would be easier to dismiss me and this post by saying I am on a crusade against what I perceive is the Devil himself. Regrettably the Devil himself could not evoke the despondency Sheriff Morgan has in the heart of girls whose only sin was the family they were born into.
I cannot make a more compelling case for the imprisonment of Mark Smith. I have put document after document out there that support the predatory nature of this man’s heart. I’ve asked the question as to how he got a badge to begin with. He was discharged from the US Navy due to a “Personality Disorder”. He explains he was young and threatened suicide. However, being familiar with military protocol, I know you don’t get out of your obligation to serve that easily. For this reason for discharge, there must have been evidence to justify that Smith was a LIABILITY to the service.
Furthermore, a fellow cop who has 15 years experience in criminal investigations was persuaded to investigate a colleague. Not only that but he convinced a judge, who most certainly was apprehensive in issuing the search warrant, to find cause to effectively shred the credibility of deputy. For this case to be so compelling as to have an investigator come forward on his own as well as a judiciary who finds legal sufficiency to go after a law enforcement officer is HUGE.
To question the judgment of the arresting officer, Zack Ward is question all cases in his 15 years of service at the Sheriff’s office, including the Billings Case. If the evidence Inv. Ward found was not legally sufficient in the eyes of the jury, how could it have been sufficient for the State Attorney? The question here is who dropped the ball.In a press conference BEFORE THE MANNINGS WERE ARRESTED, Morgan says:
We received some information downloaded from computer systems involving this case,” said Morgan. “We have over 100,000 images that have to be reviewed in addition to videotapes. As you can well imagine what a labor-intensive process that’s going to be for us to go through all of that material.”
This means there were images from Smith, Thomas and/or the victims. Yet in a Facebook conversation 10/4/15 with Eric Haines, Chief Deputy of the ECSO, he says:
I unloaded on him including attacking his religiosity. But the point is clear, Morgan says there were videos and images
but NOW Haines says, there aren’t any videos and pictures. No video or picture evidence was presented to the jury.
What happened to them?
I’ve asked the question as to how he got a badge to begin with. He was discharged from the US Navy due to a “Personality Disorder”. He explains he was young and threatened suicide. However, being familiar with military protocol, I know you don’t get out of your obligation to serve that easily. For this reason for discharge, there must have been evidence to justify that Smith was a LIABILITY to the service.
IN ADDITION, lest we forget my post from over a year ago:
Erin Ambrose is the starting point because the entirety of the story seemingly circles back to her. She is also the person in this story with the most influence and has the greatest obligation to do the right thing. Her job title and ethical responsibility is higher than the rest and her part in this story is the most egregious. This is not an isolated incident for the State Attorney’s office. They have been more concerned with covering things up rather than pursuing justice. This is case merely epitomizes what happens on a day to day basis under Bill Eddins and his cronies.
Ms. Ambrose, Assistant State Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit, is engaged to a deputy by the name of Jason Young (Jason Von Ansbach Young).
Jason is probably the least culpable of the bunch. While he is an adult and a law enforcement officer, which, in and of itself, carries responsibility for serving and protecting the public, he is not an active participant in endangering children; he is, however, complicit.
Jason’s brother and soon-to-be best man in his wedding in January is Ryan Von Ansbach Young, an ex-deputy who is married to Mindy Von Ansbach Young, a current Lieutenant at the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
The Von Ansbach Youngs have foster children as well as their own children. Ryan Von Ansbach Young posted bail for his wife’s colleague, Mark Smith on 3/09/2015. This act which had to be known by the Sheriff’s Office due to the hand in hand relationships they have with bail bondsmen. If they did not know, it is because they did not want to know. Having a deputy, Ryan’s wife, suborning the release of a child sex offender, by extension, shows complicity of the entire organization for which she and her family represent. This is also the caveat that Ms. Ambrose falls prey to.
It is telling that this impropriety and the ability to connect this sort of deviant, sex offender with the people who are supposed to police and cage these monsters. Cozying up with them off the clock shows how little regard they have for the humanity they are supposed to be protecting. Of course, this gives a bad message to all that have knowledge of it. Of course, it de-legitimizes the entire criminal justice system in Pensacola, because cronyism trumps proper handling of criminal cases. This is the downfall of the entire community.
The malfeasance is that with all these children in their home, the Von Ansbach Youngs, all current or prior law enforcement professionals, allow a sex offender into their home. They allow said offender to come and go freely with children in the home.
The sex offender, who should not have contact with children is Mark Smith, an ex-Senior Deputy of the Escambia Sheriff’s Office. He is awaiting adjudication currently for multiple counts of sexual battery/rape of children over 16 and under 21, which has been minimized through the State Attorney’s office. Most counts being reduced to misdemeanors, even though there is video evidence of his impropriety as well accounts of sexual misconduct against others that the Sheriff’s dept. refused to acknowledge (See my post “Where’s Gavin?“)
Coming full circle back to Erin Ambrose, who is SUPPOSED to be an advocate of the children molested, battered and raped by Walter Thomas and of course Mark Smith, who were both Escambia County Deputies at the time of the offenses.
The most malicious of the acts in the fact that not only is Ms. Ambrose violating her position as Assistant State Attorney by being involved personally with a case she is prosecuting but she is closely entangled in this family that neglects their moral and ethical duties as servants of the county and officers of the court to protect children against exposure to child sex predators. She knows what happens in this close knit family that she is about to become apart of and is aware of Smith’s consistent presence in the home as well as his “access” to the children. That is a conflict of nature that corrupts the entire justice process.
The girls victimized by these sexual predators are not being protected by the system. The system is more interested in covering its as. In addition to this situation, regarding this same case, Sheriff David Morgan effectively endowed Gulf Coast Kids House with $50K for a new wing AFTER he personally became aware of the abuse of his deputies on children. This was a stop-gap measure to preemptively control the reaction of the Gulf Coast Kids House when the story inevitably became public. These two organizations colluded to sweep this incident under the rug with Gulf Coast Kids House turning a blind eye to the additional victims that may have been affected by the deputies that Sheriff Morgan failed to investigate.
This is the price of silence in Escambia County.
This case has been close to my heart as a mother and a criminologist because I know the psychological damage that occurs when a child is sexually assaulted. Now factor in the fact the kids’ mother put them in a situation to be exploited by law enforcement. What does that tell the kid? Family can’t be trusted to protect them and neither can the justice system. How dare Anne Patterson let Mark Smith get away with this. The man used his little girl to lure teenage girls in his home. He drugged and videotaped them as he raped them. Yet his charges have now been reduced from 3 counts to 1 and it isn’t even sexual battery; it is simple felony battery on a minor. In theory, since he plead not guilty and the video evidence is conveniently no longer available, Mark Smith could walk AND GET HIS BADGE BACK! WTF!!!!!!!
Conjuring Justice 