WAYNESVILLE – At least six men traveled from across the nation and South America to have their genitals mutilated in what Haywood County authorities described as a sadomasochistic dungeon.
Three Haywood County men are now in jail on felony charges of castration without malice and practicing medicine without a license.
Emily Kurtz, who lives below the house the three men rented at 541 Peace Mountain Road off Allens Creek Road, said she noticed men in cars with out-of-state plates visiting the home off and on since she moved to the neighborhood in January.
Kurtz said the men kept to themselves, rarely waved and never spoke.
Sheriff Tom Alexander and District Attorney Michael Bonfoey this morning announced the arrests of the men in connection with the illegal castrations. The sheriff and prosecutor said the victims were willing participants.
The victims met the men through a locally produced Web site that published photographs of men engaging in sadomasochistic behavior. Yahoo! shut down the site in December 2004. The castrations took place last year beginning in March and continued through November, according to police documents.
The case is the first involving willing castration in the county and could be the first in North Carolina.
“This right here beats everything I have ever seen,” the sheriff said.
Dr. Paul Appelbaum, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and a past president of the American Psychiatric Association, said voluntary castration appears to be a very rare phenomenon.
“The people who I have seen who have undergone voluntary castration have been psychotic and often in the grip of a delusion that their sexual organs were causing them to behave in evil ways,” Appelbaum said. “And they felt that to rid themselves of that evil, it was necessary to rid themselves of their sexual organs.”
Arrested were:
• Michael Mendez, 60, of 541 Peace Mountain Road, on charges of castration without malice, maiming without malice and practicing medicine without a license.
• Richard Peter Sciara, 61, of 541 Peace Mountain Road, on charges of maiming and castration without malice, conspiracy and practicing medicine without a license.
• Danny Carroll Reeves, 49, of 541 Peace Mountain Road, on charges of maiming and castration without malice, conspiracy and practicing medicine without malice.
During a search of the home on Wednesday, investigators found DVD recordings of the castrations.
Mendez and Sciara moved to Western North Carolina from Topeka, Kan. Reeves moved to the area from Atlanta, Alexander said. Mendez and Reeves worked together at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino on the Cherokee Indian Reservation, where Mendez was honored early this year for his work.
Mendez received $1,000 and a commemorative crystal award for being named one of the 2005 “Shining Stars of the Year,” according to a news release sent to area media outlets in February. Mendez worked at the casino as a Total Rewards representative, providing incentives for guests.
Mendez’s ex-wife, Anne Moriarty, said she and her former husband had a son and daughter together.
“This sounds highly unlikely,” Moriarty, who has not kept in touch with Mendez since he moved to Haywood County. “I mean, this guy is as gentle as a child - the guy I know.
“The idea that he could be involved in anything like what you’re talking about is unimaginable. Totally unimaginable.”
Neighbors who live along the wooded and private Peace Mountain Road, who did not know the men, were shocked by the news of the arrests.
“It’s just appalling,” said Jane Cole, a nearby resident.
Darrell Mathis, the manager of the nearby rock quarry, which owns the house the men rented and at least one other in the neighborhood, said he planned to talk to his company’s attorney about the situation.
“They will leave that house,” he said.
voluntary castration ?? are they nuts?
Posted by: SPINMASS
apparently they didn't like nuts.
Posted by: Cinderella
lmao!!
Posted by: sdb29
Kind of makes you wonder what kind of state would have a legislature that felt a need to enact a law called "castration without malice". I wonder if "circumcision with intent to expose" is a lesser and included offense?
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