© 1999 by Harold Jaffe Artwork © 1999 by
rThe wife and mother-in-law of a convicted child molester took him captive, brutalized him sexually and with a serrated kitchen knife carved "I am a child molester" on his belly before dumping him wrapped only in a blanket behind a pizza parlor 93 miles away.
Three females — including the wife’s aunt — were indicted Tuesday on charges of kidnapping and raping 27-year-old Rodney Hostetter who was released in February after serving two years in Calapatria State Prison for molesting a seven-year-old child.
The husband of one of the three women also was indicted for allegedly trying to bribe Hostetter to drop the charges.
I don’t know if it was a warning or revenge," Captain Burt Yancy said. "With what was carved on his belly, you can draw your own conclusions."
Jewel Hostetter, 26, her mother Mary Louise Skoggin, 44, and Jewel Hostetter’s aunt, Velma P. Larmer, 39, are accused of attacking Hostetter July 26 at his rented trailer in this semi-rural family community just north of Spring Valley.
According to police reports, the man was on his back on the couch sipping a Dr. Pepper, watching TV when the women burst in, wrestled him to the floor, bound his hands behind his back, pulled off his Reeboks, and cut off his sweatpants and jockeys. They shaved his head and pubic hair, raped him with a zucchini, rubbed a heat-producing ointment on his genitals, and forced the self-styled vegetarian to eat raw hamburger which he promptly upchucked.
Rodney Hostetter told authorities he tried to resist and was "screaming from the pain."
After carving "I am a child molester" on his belly, the three women allegedly drove him 93 miles to his hometown of Indio, dropping him behind the Pasadoble Pizza Parlor, naked, except for a pink and green Minnie Mouse blanket, with his hands still tied behind his back.
Rodney Hostetter could not be reached for comment yesterday. His phone is unlisted, his fax is out of order, and American Online abruptly terminated his E-mail account.
The women face one count each of rape and two counts of kidnapping. Each of the charges carries three to 10 years in prison. However, sentiment in this Southern California family community is overwhelmingly in the women’s favor and against Rodney Hostetter.
One middle-aged male, father of two adolescent boys, seemed to speak for the citizenry of Spring Valley, and for all of California and much of the U.S., when he said: "I hate child molesters, period. If I was those women I would have cut off his b---s."
13 Questions
From the outset. Instilled by his parents who were Sixties-era flower children. So even though it may not seem like a big deal, forcing him to eat raw hamburger like the women did got his attention.
Rodney Hostetter is 5-feet-10, 154 pounds naked except for his earrings, nipple ring and tattoos. He’s a halfway decent athlete who played some second base for his junior high school team. Well, maybe he’s a little soft. The thing is Jewel Hostetter’s aunt Velma P. Larmer is 6-3, 240 and an ex-wrestler on the professional women’s tour. She was known as Monstress Velma. She hated Rodney’s butt even before he was child molesting.
Nah. That’s a myth. Child abuse, molestation, what have you — it ain’t no different than carjacking. I imagine he was fucked over some in the joint, but only because he’s soft. Sixties upbringing.
Mary Louise Skoggin, Jewel’s mom, did the carving. And, yeah, there was a whole lot of red stuff, but the women wore rubber gloves, black long-sleeved sweaters, and black jeans stuck into their black high boots. They looked like freakin’ ninjas.
Jewel’s mom and aunt are pushing her to file, but she claims she still loves Rodney. Claims she wants a child with him. Three children as a matter of fact. She wants to raise a nuclear family with him right there in Indio between Orange County and the Salton Sea.
Mary Louise Skoggin, Jewel’s mom. She has a green thumb. Which Jewel didn’t inherit, by the way. Actually Mary Louise wanted to use a cucumber while Velma P. Larmer wanted to fist him, with the rubber glove on, of course. The two women appealed to Jewel who couldn’t make up her mind. The zucchini was a compromise. The child molester would have been better off with Velma P. Larmer’s fist, fat as it is. That zucchini was about as big as a toddler’s arm.
Hell, it was 9:45 in the a.m. Rodney likes his brew well enough, but, no, he ain’t any kind of a hellish drinker. If you read that as meaning he isn’t a manly man, that’s your privilege. Again, blame it on his Sixties counter-culture upbringing. In case you’re wondering what all he was watching, it was on of those sexy tabloid deals. Either Montel or Oprah, or maybe Ricki Lake.
Ninety-three is a crucial number in Jewel Hostetter’s astrological chart, having to do with Mars, the moon, Scorpio, and the Christian trinity. I don’t know all the fine print. Pasadoble was the dance Mary Louise Skoggin and her husband, Jewel’s dad, were dancing when he popped the question. Pizza with pepperoni, anchovies, meatballs, jalapeños, black olives, mushrooms, and, I think artichokes was what Velma P. Larmer and her husband Leon ate on the night she won the Super Heavyweight title on the pro women’s tour.
I have nothing to say about the pink and green Minnie Mouse blanket.
That would be Velma P. Larmer’s husband, Leon, her ex-wrestling manager, he’s a paraplegic. He offered Rodney Hoffstetter season tickets to the San Diego Chargers home games in exchange for dropping the kidnapping, assault and rape charges. Evidently Rodney considered the offer but then he rejected it.
That’s a lotta shit, okay? Mary Louise Skoggin had drank a bunch of coffee — twelve or fourteen mugs. But that was her custom. Jewel suffered from clinical depression and was up to 160 mils of Prozac daily. Velma P. Larmer, who’s an early riser, had been on her back on a crawler since five a.m. working on her custom Ford pickup. Yeah, she could have been a little stoked from breathing that engine oil and high-octane gas. But none of them were high on speed or crack or any other damn thing.
No way. Denied it from day one. His idea was that he was set up by the child’s dad. The child himself had obviously been coached but still wavered on the identification. The judge, in his wisdom, felt there was strong enough evidence to convict. The child’s father is an assistant district attorney for the city of San Diego.
Not that much. Does some maintenance around the trailer park. He used to drive part-time for UPS, but after his conviction they wouldn’t take him back.