Six people were arrested last week for their suspected involvement in the sexual assault and exploitation of five children and the murder of an unborn child. The arrests come after the discovery of an eight-year-old case left unfinished in a police department evidence room.
According to Holbrook Police Chief Mark Jackson, a recent audit of the department’s evidence room revealed the case that was apparently investigated until 2009, but was never submitted to the Navajo County Attorney’s Office for review. The 2007 case involved the sexual assault and exploitation of five juveniles, three females who were 7, 10 and 17 years of age, and two boys who were ages 1½ and 3 at the time of the investigation. Also included is the death of an unborn child of one of the victims in incidents that occurred in both Snowflake and Holbrook.
The evidence revealed in the case has resulted in the arrest of Larry Triplett Jr., 30, of Taylor on charges of first-degree murder, three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, nine counts of sexual conduct involving a minor and 26 counts of sexual assault; Larry Triplett Sr., 75, of Taylor on charges of first-degree murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child, three counts of child molestation, five counts of sexual conduct involving a minor and 19 counts of sexual assault; Carl Kelloway, 69, of Concho on charges of first-degree murder, continual sexual abuse of a child, three counts of sexual conduct involving a minor, four counts of child molestation and 17 counts of exploitation of a minor; Shelley Bradford, 38, of Snowflake on four counts of sexual conduct involving a minor; Deirdre Sullivan, 35, of Show Low on nine counts of sexual conduct involving a minor; and Karmen Podhola, 26, of Independence, Mo., on five counts of sexual conduct involving a minor.
“This is a tragic situation, I would say the worst I’ve dealt with in my career. When the case was discovered our detectives made this a priority and worked with the county attorney’s office to make these arrests as soon as possible. Nothing can make up for the unspeakable acts that these children endured and continued to endure when this case was not processed. We will continue with this investigation and do what we can to help these victims receive some sort of justice,” stated Chief Jackson, who took over the department in 2009.
The detective who handled the case left the department two years ago, so there were no immediate answers as to why this case was left unfinished.
Agencies involved with the arrests included the Holbrook, Winslow, Snowflake/Taylor, Show Low, Pinetop/Lakeside and St. Johns police departments, the Navajo County and Apache County sheriff’s offices, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, Gang Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission (GITEM) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
