Three accused of castrating six men

Police quandary: victims or clients

Three men in this small mountain town were charged Friday with performing castration and genital mutilation on at least six men in a dungeon-like room in their home.

Clients seeking castration, as well as a wide range of sadomasochistic acts, traveled from as far as South America for the men's services, police said.

Michael Mendez, 60, Richard Peter Sciara, 61, and Danny Carroll Reeves, 49, each were charged with castration without malice, maiming without malice and practicing medicine without a license. Reeves and Sciara also were charged with conspiracy in the procedures.

"It's sick. I've never seen anything like this," Haywood County Sheriff Tom Alexander said.

During a search of the men's home Thursday, officers found two plastic containers of what appeared to be frozen testicles. They also found a supply of artificial replacement testicles referred to as "neuticles."

The frozen testicles were sent to a State Bureau of Investigation lab for analysis. Officers also seized medical supplies such as sutures, bandages, needles, shock paddles and bloody scalpels.

The three men lived in a rental house on a steep, narrow dead-end road, isolated in undeveloped forest. Mendez and Sciara told officers they were a couple and Reeves their "slave." The men referred to the room where they performed the sadomasochistic acts and castrations as the "dungeon."

The men documented their procedures on camera. Several CDs and DVDs were seized in the search. Alexander said he was concerned about the psychological well-being of the detectives who must watch the videos.

A year and a half ago, Haywood County Sheriff's Office detectives learned of a Web site being produced in the area with photographs and video of sadomasochistic behavior in a dungeonlike setting.

"They found out the participants were all over 18 and were willing participants," Alexander said. The activity appeared legal, so detectives did not stop it.

Last week, an anonymous source revealed that castrations were being performed at the residence. Detectives launched a new investigation and secured a search warrant, leading to Friday's arrests. Alexander said the men apparently had no criminal records.

The men "told us what the range of surgeries were, how many they did and that they were done with consent," Alexander said.

Consent, he said, is no defense.

"You can't willingly let someone do something to you that is against the law," Alexander said. "We don't know yet whether they were paying to have it done or not."

Darrell Mathis, manager of a rock quarry and asphalt plant down the road from the men's home, was shocked upon learning of the activity. "In a tight-knit community like this, this is a big deal. It's not no little deal," he said.

Jude Kurtz, 36, a construction worker who is the closest neighbor, was relieved to learn the men were all in jail on $150,000 bail each.

A couple of years ago, Kurtz received a stern warning from a plumber who had gone to the men's house to make a repair. "He said, 'You better be careful of your neighbors up there, they have cages and whips and stuff,' " Kurtz said. "We thought he was kidding."

The men's home appears normal from the outside: a well-landscaped pond, a driveway basketball goal, lawn chairs in a circle on a slate patio, plastic hanging baskets waiting to be planted come spring.

But in the carport was a cardboard box full of medical journals and books, including "The Handbook of Pain Management."