Haunted house horror: Pedos hired at Ohio family attraction despite owners knowing their backgrounds
If you or anyone you know suspects child abuse, you are urged to immediately call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential and the hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
WARNING: This article contains details of incidents of sexual assault that some readers may find traumatic. Discretion is advised
ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: A woman had to quit her job at an Ohio haunted house after her boss hired three pedophiles despite being aware of their criminal past. Besides, a California man who also worked as a clown at a popular Halloween attraction, was sentenced to two centuries years for "raping minors in his sex dungeon."
Kim Neubauer told Inside Edition that she left her job once she got to know her co-worker was a registered sex offender. "He's there hiding under makeup in the dark in a costume. It's very scary to have people like that working around children in the dark," she reportedly said. All three of them have now been fired from their job. A 32-year-old man, Morgan Delos Fowler, who worked as a scare actor and host at haunted mazes and events across Southern California was sentenced to 215 years in July.
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In June, Fowler, 32, pleaded guilty at the Riverside County Superior Court to 18 felonies, including 10 counts of rape and other sexual assault charges, after brokering a plea agreement. According to Patch, Fowler faced nearly 60 charges involving dozens of survivors spanning from 2007 to 2019. He had been working at events across Southern California, including Lake Elsinore Storm Stadium's 'Field of Screams,' 'Sinister Pointe' in Orange County, and others of his own making and targeted 20 people.
Fowler would use various haunted houses to find people to prey upon. He even seduced people, some as young as 14, his survivors said. He would then try to make them submissive members of his sex cult. The sex offender hid behind a creepy clown persona he called 'Trixter' and planned to develop a sadistic society where he was the leader, victims told Patch. "Morgan was dressed as Trixter, his clown persona and was scaring crowds of people," one survivor revealed. "I went and talked to him, as I was a clown in my free time. He shared his card and we began talking. He was one of the first people who cared about my gender and being trans and would stand up for me. No one had ever done that before."
Speaking to the outlet, the survivors also said that Fowler was the leader of a "sex cult." "He had so many people in his control. There were contracts and rules that everyone had to follow, and things people had to do and say," they explained. "He called us a 'family.' He confided in me that his biggest dream was to be the mayor of a town where there were no laws about sex. I began to worry for the young teens who went to buy weed from him."
"The sentence of 215 years, four months to life ensures that this serial sexual predator can never again prey upon or victimize anyone," the district attorney's office said in a statement, hoping the conviction would bring a sense of relief to Fowler's many survivors. After an anonymous tip to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, Fowler was arrested in 2019 regarding child sexual abuse material. However, he was not charged with creating or possessing such material.
A deputy wrote that he had "a sex dungeon in his garage with weapons throughout the house" in a statement petitioning for increased bail for Fowler after his arrest. "Suspect knows where all three victims live and had been physical with them in the past causing them to fear for their safety," the deputy wrote. Twin brothers Zach and Jeromy Ball, who often go by the Bloodshed Brothers, hired Fowler to scare guests at their haunted house, 'Field of Screams,' just outside of Los Angeles.
According to two women who spoke to Inside Edition, the two brothers were also not that innocent. One of the female workers at Bloodshed Brothers, Bree Drumwright said Zach took her to an empty room in the haunted house to get physical with her. "I was 14. It still hurts I wish I could get the closure, but it still hurts," she explained. The brothers would bring coolers of alcohol to work, according to Maddie Estrada who also worked at the attraction in high school. "They would bring coolers of alcohol. And they would make sure it was sweet stuff like Mike's Hard Lemonade or fruity things that would be yummy for kids," she said. Zach pressured Estrada to get into a sexual relationship with him. She was 16 at that time and Zach was 24. "I was a kid. Just having this abusive man be the only person I could rely on for advice or comfort, and he didn't even give that to me," she said.
Estrada said that Zach had "groomed her" during a "vulnerable time" in her life. "He met me at an incredibly vulnerable part of my childhood and completely used it to his advantage to break me down and mold me into an object that suited his sick fantasies," she reportedly said. "Before I met him, I was a virgin and had never even thought about trying sex or alcohol. At the time, I dearly valued abstinence from both as a result of my religious upbringing."
While Jeremy was never charged, Zach was found guilty of oral copulation with a minor. He is a registered sex offender, although he spent only one night in jail.