Folsom Man Gets Life in Prison for Sex Abuse
By Penne Usher
A Folsom man and self-proclaimed prophet has been sentenced to life in prison for what is being called one of the most horrific child sexual abuses cases in the Sacramento area.
Allen Harrod, 61, was found guilty by a federal jury in February 2008 of six counts of the interstate travel of four minors for the purpose of engaging in unlawful sexual conduct, and one count each for the transfer of his own seven-year-old son.
A second defendant, Michael LaBrecque, 50, of Fort Worth Texas was also sentenced to life in prison for his role in producing sexually explicit images of Harrod’s son.
Judge Shubb imposed the statutory maximum sentence of 15 years for each of the six travel counts, and ordered that they be run consecutively for a total of 1080 months, or 90 years. The life sentence imposed by the Judge for Harrod’s transfer, and Labrecque’s assumption of custody of the Harrod boy for purposes of producing child pornography, was ordered to run concurrently with the 1080 months imposed in the other six counts.
Shubb noted that the case represented “one of the most serious cases” he has seen in more than a decade.
According to court documents, Harrod and LaBrecque, along with their wives, engaged in “ritualistic sex acts” with children from both families as part of a “religion” started by Harrod and LaBrecque, one of his followers.
“Harrod’s self-procaimed religion, a loosely defined amalgam of doctrine derived from the Book of Mormon and the Bible, promoted the sexuyal abuse of children as a means of promoting each child’s sexual maturation from childhood to adulthood,” said US Assistant Attorney Laurel D. White who prosecuted the case.
Children of both men testified during the 2003 trial that they were sexually abused by the defendants.
The testimony and evidence introduced at trial also revealed that LaBrecque engaged in ongoing sexual activity with his daughters prior to each girl’s travel to Sacramento in order to prepare them for the sex acts each would engage in with Harrod. Evidence revealed that LaBrecque would begin to sexually train his daughters when they were about seven or eight years old. Evidence offered at trial, however, revealed one daughter was as young as four years old when the sex began.
The evidence also revealed that Harrod transferred custody of his then seven-year old son to the LaBrecfque so that sexually explicit images could be taken of the boy. In July 1991, the boy traveled to Fort Worth, Texas with his mother, Irene Hunt, and lived in the LaBrecque household where he was home-schooled and photographed engaged in sexually explicit conduct with LaBrecque’s wife, Juliette LaBrecque. The evidence also revealed that another purpose of transporting Harrod’s son to Texas was to train him in sexual activity for the purpose of some day assuming his father’s role as the patriarch of the two families. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the two counts involving Juliette LaBrecque and charges against her were dismissed.
Harrod’s common-law wife Irene Hunt, had previously pleaded guilty in federal court pursuant to a plea agreement wherein she agreed to cooperate with the government and testify against the others.
