Michael Lee Smudricks / Lynn Swan West
Quadriplegic and his caregiver charged with rape and incest of three children.
Click HERE to read the story from The Shreveport Times.
An Arcadia man who is paralyzed from the neck down and his caregiver were jailed this afternoon in connection with the rape and incest of three children, Bienville Sheriff John Ballance said. Bienville sheriff’s investigators have charged Michael Lee Smudricks, 57, with one count of aggravated rape and three counts of aggravated incest.
His caregiver, Lynn Swan West, who turns 59 Thursday, also of Arcadia, is charged with one count of principal to aggravated rape and three counts of principal to aggravated incest.The alleged assault involves children under the age of 15.
Arrest warrants for Smudricks were signed March 5, but authorities could not pick him up until today after seeking the state’s help in locating a jail or prison that could house him. Smudricks became a quadriplegic as the result car accident that happened about five or six years ago, Ballance said. Efforts were made to locate a facility in the area or even a war veterans home in which to detain Smudricks, who is a war veteran, during pretrial proceedings. Ballance even tried Fortch Wade Correctional Center in Keithville, which houses geriatric inmates. “But they couldn’t take him presentence,” the sheriff said.
State Corrections Secretary Richard assisted by approving a bed for Smudricks in the hospital ward at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. Smudricks will be transported there today by ambulance.“He can get out if he can make a $800,000 bond,” Ballance said.
West’s bond is set at $175,000.The children went to West, who lived in Smudricks’ residence, to tell her about the alleged sexual abuse. “But she never reported it,” Ballance said.
8 comments:
I know this sick Bastard, Iam in shock that he could do somethine like that. And they were likely his own children.
this was my dad.... LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!! My dad was a good man!!!! It was Lynn putting fucking pills down his throat along with viagra and then letting him drink alcohol all night...... I love my dad.... and he died a few months back so show some fucking respect you bastards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is Lynda and I knew your Dad very well and I have a very hard time believing this was anything he could do. If this is Mark I knew you when you were growing up for about 5 years. I was wondering where he was buried. And where I could find his obituarie. Take Care and God Bless You. I got to write to Mike several months before he passed and he was very proud of you!
I am another child of michael smudricks and this is completely lynn's fault not my fathers i hope my father is in heven and i hope that lynn swan west burns in HELL forever and if anyone find out her whereabouts please comment ASAP!
The second post was mine. I am his youngest; his daughter Katie. I'm always checking this site for new posts. I am truly sick of seeing my father's name on this site. I ask that the person who put his name on here that you please take it off. Our whole famiy takes offense to it. If you deny my wishes, I WILL take your ass to court. That is a promise not a threat. I warn you. Take me seriously. I do not kid when it comes to protecting our family name.
Well all i have to say on the matter is that he was definitely a disgusting man. Not only did he molest all three of his children and subvert their minds into believing it was ok. He told them they couldnt go to church if they didnt. All of the children are now 17+ and all of them have serious mentall illnesses. The boy looks at child porn to this day. How could anyone be so disgusting as to take away their own childs innocence and make them think that it was ok in the end. Thank the lord for taking him to the grave so that he cant hurt anyone else.
It's Katie again. Seven years later. I'm 21 now. I'll be 22 soon. Cringing at my last two comments. Back here to fill in some blank spaces. This page has haunted what remained of my childhood and has followed me into adulthood. It gets so much worse than this generalized post. My innocence was taken from me long before this shit with my dad ever happened. An unrelated case where my uncle forced six year old me to watch porn and suck him off. It was considered a case of he said/she said. He got off scott free. I had a grown man's dick in my mouth. At the age of six. He was aquitted. So I guess I became numb to it. I thought it was normal. I was too young. I was sheltered. I was threatened. The police, the judge, the social workers, none of them had any idea about the other things that happened to us. They just wanted to focus on prosecuting my dad. This won't be easy to stomach for some people reading. Being allowed to drink and smoke to keep us quiet. Not many people know that Lynn beat us. Not whoopings, full on beatings filled with hate. Belts, hangers, extention cords, paddles. You name it, we were probably hit with it. I've been struggling with PTSD. I break down. I used to want to just die. My brother and I were both put into a behavoral hospital. I got out in a week. My brother had been in there three times. Some people don't get out for years. Do you know how terrifying that is to a 15 year old girl? Anyway, back to Lynn and dad. He was a depressed man. A drunk. A womanizer. He became a quadeaplegic on his way back from seeing one of his girlfriends. He was drunk. He should have just died then. Every Christmas, he wanted to go outside. Then he just wanted to talk about dying. He was a mean man. He once spit hot coffee in my face because it wasn't hot enough. If Lynn had been doing her job properly, this could all have probably been avoided. She was his nurse. She was supposed to be his around the clock care. Instead, I spent my childhood staying up late with my drunk father while she lay passed out asleep in the next room. Purchasing payperview porn for him. Mixing his drinks for him. E&J Brandy. Mostly mixed with water. Sometimes with Coke. Putting his cigarettes in his mouth for him and lighting them for him. Emptying his catheter when it was full. My grades dropped. I gained weight. I was depressed. I was hardly ever allowed out of my room. I looked out the window every day waiting for somebody to help. When help did come, it was in the form of police officers, CASA workers, and social workers. We lost everything. Our entire lives just -poof- gone. My sister and I were placed in a foster home where we were harassed by the other girls living there. The foster parents ignored us mostly. They just wanted the money. The small allowance we received through the state ended up getting spent on drinks and snacks that the foster parents charged us for. Not too long after, I was moved to the foster home my brother was in. My sister went to this place out of control teens went. My life in the second foster home was much better. I'd hoped that they would have adopted us. Life did not get easier when we were eventually placed with our mom. At all. I've been in some really shitty situations ever since. Family members taking advantage of SSI money I'd received as a teen. Giving up my body just to have a roof over my head. Just to survive. I live with my sister now and it's the first time in my life that I've been able to breathe and relax. I still have panic attacks. I still break down and cry in the middle of the night. There's the rest of your story. The parts media didn't cover. The parts the state of Louisiana overlooked because we were just another statistic. Just another case. Just another group of foster children. I speak for myself because I try not to talk about these things with my siblings. For obvious reasons.
Katie again
To add to my previous comment:
My sister was at the place for out of control teens because she could not be placed at another foster home at the time. She was eventually placed with a very nice family. I apologize for my story jumping back and forth. That's how memories work I guess.
To add a little more detail. The events of the molestation from our dad happened from the time I was nine up until the age of eleven, which would be when we were pulled from the house. We were analyzed. We had to tell the story so many times over the course of a few hours before being allowed to make a stop at our home, which at that point felt foreign. It was hard to understand that I was never going to step foot in my own home ever again after that night. We were told to take a trash bag of what we could grab before being split up and rushed off to our respective foster homes.
Being torn from my home and thrown into the wirlwind of therapists, state officials, and other countless faces ended up being more traumatic than the life I had lived inside that house.
I've read our story on other blog sites. People poking fun at the situation. People blaming us. The kids. Saying that it was likely our fault. Asking each other how it was even possible for a quadraplegic to molest somebody. I'll tell you how. Control and coercion. Being threatened. Being made to feel worthless. That's how. So to people that still may occasionally run across this blog, don't judge what you don't yet understand. You may end up with answers you don't want. You may have to read a story that you weren't expecting.
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