I still believe Robert Magoon has information on Kathy’s murder.

Robert Magoon, 75, of Tilton arrives for his sentencing hearing at Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord on Friday. ELIZABETH FRANTZ / Monitor staff

Ex-community center janitor sentenced to 25-60 years in prison

Robert Magoon, 75, of Tilton arrives for his sentencing hearing at Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord on Friday.

By CAITLIN ANDREWS
Monitor staff
Friday, July 28, 2017

CONCORD NH TILTON NH NORTHFIELD NH
By the time Robert Magoon will be eligible for parole, he will be 100 years old.

The former Concord police officer and janitor at the Pines Community Center in Northfield was sentenced to 25 to 60 years in state prison on four counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault charges Friday afternoon.

And as Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Diane Nicolosi handed down the sentencing conditions – which include no contact with their victims or their families in either case, as well as no contact with anyone under the age of 18 – she noted a requirement for sexual offender rehabilitation was not included in the conditions.

That’s because Nicolosi doesn’t envision rehabilitation for Magoon, 75, she told the courtroom.

“The thing that drives me to sentence you is because the minimum would mean a life sentence,” she said, facing Magoon, who stood with his head bowed. “It mean you’re not going to come in contact with other children, with people who are vulnerable.”

She later added: “In terms of rehabilitation, there is no option for it at this stage in your life. Should you get out in 25 years, your age alone would protect the community.”

The sentences consist of two 10-20 year sentences with some overlap, as well as two additional 10-20 year sentences which will be served concurrently. Those last two sentences could be shortened by five years each with good behavior, Nicolosi said.

There is also a suspended sentence of 10-20 years that could be imposed if Magoon does not follow his sentencing requirements. Two more sentences could be added if Nicolosi decides to keep two felonious aggrevated sexual assault charges the defendant asked to be dropped, a motion that is still pending in court.

The sentences stem from two court cases in April and May, where Magoon was found guilty to have sexually assaulted a now-nine-year-old girl and a now-29-year-old woman with cognitive and physical disabilities.

The April trial dealt with whether Magoon assaulted the now-29-year-old woman who “has a disability that renders her incapable of freely arriving at an independent choice as to whether or not to engage in sexual conduct” three separate times between January 2013 and April 2014. In each instance, Magoon was found to have lured the woman, who uses a wheelchair, with the promise of a donut into a separate room before assaulting her.

The second trial adressed charges that Magoon sexually assaulted a girl who was a participant of the Pines’s before-school program. Magoon did not work at the before-school program, but co-workers said it was customary for him to be coloring with children in the game room, and witnesses said Magoon would invite the girl to sit on his lap to color.

Additionally, Magoon is facing six remaining sexual assault cases stemming from his time at the Pines, but Assistant Merrimack County Attorney Wayne Coull has made a motion to have those cases consolidated due to similarities between each case.

Coull said the offenses “could not be overstated” and were “outrageous.” In his argument for the prosecution’s sentencing recommendations, he said the things that might cause one to hesitate to sentence him severely – his age and fragile demeanor – are what made it so easy for him to prey upon vulnerable individuals.

And Magoon’s action didn’t just hurt his victims, but the culture of the Pines Community Center, which Coull described as a place where people felt safe leaving their children.

“He used weapons like trust and opportunity in his position at the Pines Community Center to take advantage of other people and engage in predatory behavior,” Coull said. “… I would give as much consideration to his age in sentencing as he did to his victims’ ages, which was none at all. His age didn’t prevent him from victimizing them or destroying the community the way he did.”

Defense attorney Hanna Kinne argued against the length of the sentence, noting Magoon had no criminal record prior to the trials and suffers from skin cancer. She also said Magoon had been transferred to the state prison a month early due to a previous sentencing date and had been confined to the special housing unit – similar to solitary confinement – which had an adverse effect on his health.

Kinne was echoed by Magoon’s son, Mark Magoon, who pleaded for his father to have the chance to prove rehabilitation was possible.

“The system, although it doesn’t always work, is designed for rehabilitation,” he said. “He should have the chance to have a life afterwards. Any prison sentence, no matter how short, is a life sentence.”

But Nicolosi said the length of the sentence, while harsh for anyone regardless of age, must match the nature of the crime. She called her decision “reasonable” – and, speaking to one of the victims’ and both victims’ families – hoped it would lead to a place of healing for those Magoon hurt.

“They say sexual assault victims go from victims to survivors to thrivers,” she said. “I hope there’s a day when the victims can reach that point.”

(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309, candrews@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @ActualCAndrews.)

Digital Media Manager

Robert Magoon SOURCE: WMUR/Ryan Murphy

CONCORD, N.H. —
A former custodian at a community center was found guilty Thursday of sexually assaulting a girl.

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Former custodian convicted of 4 of 5 charges in sexual assault of developmentally disabled woman

Robert Magoon, 74, of Tilton, was found guilty on two counts.

Prosecutors said the girl was assaulted between August 2015 and May 2016 at the Pines Community Center in Northfield, where the girl attended before- and after-school programs.

Magoon worked at the facility as a janitor.

Magoon was convicted in April of sexually assaulting a woman who has a developmental disability. That assault also occurred at the community center.

by Jack Money Published: May 4, 2017 10:40 AM CDT Updated: May 4, 2017 5:36 PM CDT

State authorities on Thursday derailed Tate Publishing and Enterprises’ plan to resume operating.

Richard Tate, the firm’s founder, and his son Ryan Tate, its CEO, were arrested Thursday morning on eight felony charges and one misdemeanor charge filed by Oklahoma’s attorney general that accuse them of embezzlement, extortion and racketeering.

Richard Tate, 70, and Ryan Tate, 38, each face four felony embezzlement charges, a misdemeanor embezzlement charge, and three felony attempted extortion by threat charges.

Each man also faces a felony racketeering charge, and authorities said they also intend to try to get restitution from the men to compensate victimized customers.

Thursday’s arrests were the latest twist in a highly unusual affair.

Until Ryan Tate emailed some of his company’s clients last week to inform them Mustang-based Tate Publishing was reopening, it appeared the company no longer was an ongoing concern.

The company was established more than 20 years ago and, during its existence, had worked with tens of thousands of clients to publish their books and music.

But earlier this year, Richard Tate had told The Oklahoman the company was experiencing tough economic times by 2013.

Within a few years, Tate Publishing found itself being sued by printing services providers for millions of dollars.

In January 2017, Tate Publishing closed. Months later, those providers — Xerox and Lightning Source — both won their cases after Tate Publishing failed to respond to related discovery requests.

“A review of bank records shows that monies derived from the sale of publishing or music production services were deposited into business checking accounts and then transferred to Ryan Tate and Christy Tate and/or Richard Tate and Rita Tate’s personal checking accounts,” Fullbright stated.

“Bank records also show that the $50 processing fee checks from authors, made payable to Tate Publishing, were deposited directly into both Tate Publishing checking accounts and the personal bank account of Richard and Rita Tate. Richard and Rita Tate’s account appears to be used for personal transactions, including dining and entertainment at casinos in Oklahoma.”

Each of the charges filed Thursday was based on a past interactions between Tate Publishing and Enterprises, or its affiliated operation, Tate Music Group, with one of its clients.

Hunter said it’s likely that additional charges — and, perhaps additional defendants — could be added to the state’s case as its investigation continues.

A letter the firm emailed to some of its clients that announced it was resuming operations prompted this week’s charges, he added.

“That had something to do with us approaching this in the expeditious manner that we did. We don’t need any more victims,” Hunter said. “We are very focused on this. There now have been more than 800 complaints, and we are going to look into each one of them.”

Hunter said the unit still doesn’t know how much money the Tates might have wrongfully obtained.

Case details

According to information filed as part of the case:

The first embezzlement count involves a deal Frank Mineo, of Phoenix, Arizona, made with Tate Publishing in January 2016. Mineo paid Tate Publishing $25,800 to publish his book and to provide him with 10,000 copies. Mineo never received his books, and the charge states a state investigator tracked the money into Tate bank accounts.

The second embezzlement count involves a deal Clay Jacobs, of Abilene, Texas, made with Tate Music Group to produce a Christmas album, which he expected would be recorded and released in 2017. He paid the company $799 in November 2016, but the charge states he never got to record his album and didn’t receive a refund.

The third embezzlement count in the case involves a deal Bill Blair, of Guthrie, made with Tate Publishing to print his book. Blair paid Tate $2,485 to produce 75 copies of his book, but never got them. The charge states his work was put onto Amazon and offered for sale (with a notation it was unavailable and couldn’t be purchased).

The fourth and fifth embezzlement counts in the case (the latter a misdemeanor) involve books Tate Publishing printed, distributed and sold for authors in North Carolina and Louisiana. The counts accuse Tate Publishing of failing to pay royalties to those authors.

The three attempted extortion counts accuse Tate Publishing of contacting three authors and demanding they each pay the firm $50 to prevent the destruction of their files.

Heather D. Nelson, an author who has a lifetime contract with Tate Publishing, expressed relief on Thursday.

“It is incredibly encouraging to see the attorney general taking us seriously,” Nelson said. But Nelson said nobody really knows how much money the Tates have or what they owe.

“As much as I am excited to see that the attorney general making is process and moving forward, because of how slowly this process has gone, I don’t know that I am that hopeful we will get much,” she said. “It is encouraging to know that at the very least, the Tates are not going to do this to someone else.”

By Thursday afternoon, Richard and Ryan Tate each were working on getting released on a $100,000 bond, authorities said. Both men also had been ordered to surrender their passports.

Tate published both of my books: A Child is Missing & A Child is Missing: Searching for Justice. Right now, I’m working with AlyBlue Publishing on a second edition to get them back on the market. Kathy’s story is also in Grief Diaries: Surviving Loss by Homicide and Grief Diaries: Project Cold Case.

Press Release

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Attorney General Hunter Files Charges on Ryan and Richard Tate

OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter today filed eight felony charges and one misdemeanor charge against Ryan and Richard Tate for alleged fraudulent business practices the two conducted while operating their businesses, Tate Publishing and Tate Music Group.

The charges include four felony counts of embezzlement, one felony count of attempted extortion by threat, two felony counts of extortion by threat, one felony count of racketeering and one misdemeanor count of embezzlement.

Since the businesses ceased operations in January, the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Unit has received 718 complaints from authors or musicians who contracted with the companies. Complaints from customers range from failure to deliver products and services that had been previously paid for; failure to pay royalty earnings, per contractual agreement; and refusal to return files unless the customer agreed to pay a $50 processing fee.

Attorney General Mike Hunter applauded the work of the Consumer Protection Unit and the agents who investigated the case that brought charges.

“The means by which Ryan and Richard Tate conducted business to defraud individuals from across the country is unconscionable and a blatant disregard for those who entrusted them to produce their work,” Attorney General Hunter said. “I appreciate the dedication and hard work by the agents and the attorneys in the Consumer Protection Unit, who put this case together.”

Through the course of the investigation, agents discovered that money derived from the sale of publishing books or music were deposited into business checking accounts, then transferred to Ryan or Richard Tate’s personal checking accounts.

This morning, Canadian County Sheriff’s deputies apprehended Richard and Ryan Tate. A Canadian County judge set their bond at $100,000 each and ordered them to surrender their passports.

If convicted of these allegations, each defendant faces prison time and fines. The attorney general’s office plans to seek restitution for victims.

Tate Publishing Founder and Chairman of the Board Richard Tate

Tate Publishing President and CEO Ryan Tate

Tate Publishing, the publisher of A Child is Missing: A True Story, and A Child is Missing: Searching for Justice, have closed their doors for business. What does this mean for my books? Both books are currently not available for print once the current supply runs out. You can purchase signed copies of the first editions from me while my supply last.

https://kbeaudin.com/order-books/

Right now, Alyblue Media, is working on second editions of both books to get them back on the market. Lynda Cheldelin Fell, creator of the Grief Diary Series, launched Alyblue Media in 2013. Kathy’s story is in two Grief Diaries, Surviving Loss by Homicide and Project Cold Case.

I’ll update you when the second edition is ready for release.

Thank you,

Karen