vault backup: 2026-10-09 18:00:33

20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Father Bud's Boys Farm.md

@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 ---
 aliases:
   - "Boys Farm, Inc."
+  - "Boys' Farm"
+  - "Boys' Farm of Roarks Cove"
+  - "Boys Farm"
+  - "Boy's Farm, Inc."
 tags:
   - Organization
   - FosterHome
@@ -10,27 +14,125 @@ tags:
   - ChurchOfNewRevelation
   - NorthFoxIsland
 category: "Private Organization"
-summary: "Home for wayward boys near Alto, Tennessee, founded in 1971 by Claudius Vermilye and partly financed with state and county funds, where boys were filmed for more than 270 sponsors."
+summary: "Home for wayward boys near Alto, Tennessee, founded in 1971 by Claudius Vermilye and partly financed with state and county funds, whose seized photographs and sponsor list led to a 1977 conviction."
 location: "Roarks Cove, near Alto, Tennessee"
 start: 1971
 end: 1976
 relations:
+  - type: founded
+    with: "[[Claudius Vermilye]]"
+    reverse: true
+    start: 1971
+    fn: 3
+  - type: funded
+    with: "[[Tennessee]]"
+    reverse: true
+    role: "state and county funds"
+    start: 1971
+    fn: 2
+  - type: funded
+    with: "[[Francis Shelden]]"
+    reverse: true
+    role: "listed sponsor"
+    start: 1976
+    fn: 1
+  - type: investigated
+    with: "[[J. William Pope]]"
+    reverse: true
+    start: 1976
+    fn: 1
+  - type: investigated
+    with: "[[Tennessee Bureau of Investigation]]"
+    reverse: true
+    role: "out-of-state interviews of sponsors"
+    fn: 5
 created: 2026-04-28
-updated: 2026-09-23
+updated: 2026-10-09
 ---
-Boys Farm, Inc., known as Father Bud's Boys Farm, was founded in 1971 by the Rev. [[Claudius Vermilye]], formerly rector of the Episcopal church at Alto, Tennessee, as a rehabilitation center for wayward boys in the Roarks Cove community near Alto; national wire reports placed it at Winchester and the investigator [[Kenneth Wooden]] at Monteagle. The boys were sent there by the state correction department, juvenile authorities and welfare agencies, and the farm was partly financed with state and county funds.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
 
-Films found on the Michigan photographer [[Gerald Richards]] at his arrest in July 1976 and films seized in the [[New Orleans]] raid on [[Troop 137]] led Tennessee authorities to raid the farm after they recognized some of the "actors"; Vermilye's name had also turned up in the files of the New Orleans scoutmaster [[Richard Halvorsen]]. The raid produced films of sexual acts between boys at the farm and a list of more than 270 "active sponsors," among them [[Francis Shelden]], owner of [[North Fox Island]]. District Attorney General [[J. William Pope]] said the boys were shown obscene films and given liquor before orgies filmed with a hidden camera, that films were sold to sponsors to raise money for the farm, and that some sponsors came to the farm to have sex with the boys. Half a dozen Illinois men had bought films from Vermilye, one for more than 4,000 dollars. Richards testified that the farm "sold raw film to other men. They would bring it to me to process." An investigator for the district attorney general, Pete Bouldin, described the [[The Church of New Revelation|Church of the New Revelation]], one of the network's fronts, as a "referral agency which distributes pornography around the country"; Boys Farm, Inc., was listed as a separate organization from the church. Vermilye was convicted on June 3, 1977.[^1][^2][^3][^5]
+Boys Farm, Inc., known as Father Bud's Boys Farm, was a home for wayward boys in the Roarks Cove community near Alto, [[Tennessee]], founded in 1971 by the Rev. [[Claudius Vermilye]], formerly rector of the [[Episcopal Church|Episcopal]] church at Alto. District Attorney General [[J. William Pope]] said the state correction department, juvenile authorities and welfare agencies sent boys to the farm, and the [[Chicago Tribune]] reported that it was partly financed with state and county funds.[^1][^2]
+
+### Founding and Operation
+
+Vermilye had been pastor of the Alto parish from 1958 to 1962, when he was known locally as "Bud." He established the farm in 1971, and it ran for about five years.[^3] [[The Living Church]] of August 3, 1958, listed him among the Tennessee deacons ordained on June 24 of that year, "in charge, Christ Church, Alto."[^4] The [[Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals]] later described him as a seminary graduate and ordained Episcopal priest who had run Boys Farm, Inc., "supposedly a home for wayward and homeless boys," for "some four or five years" before his arrest. The court found that the home "was not church-sponsored or related," and that it "seems to have been maintained largely from funds raised by Vermilye from the sale of photographs and slides of the children to some 200 or more 'sponsors.'"[^5]
+
+Some of the boys were placed at the farm by "various courts and welfare agencies," and others were "placed" there by their parents, the court wrote.[^5] The Tribune placed the home at [[Winchester, Tennessee]], the [[Franklin County, Tennessee|Franklin County]] seat.[^2] [[Kenneth Wooden]], an author and investigative reporter for [[CBS]]'s 60 Minutes, testified that the farm was at [[Monteagle, Tennessee|Monteagle]].[^6] A federal court order of January 10, 1978, in a civil-rights suit filed on February 25, 1977 against Vermilye, quoted the complaint's description of juveniles in the custody of the Tennessee department of corrections who were placed with Vermilye "at Boy's Farm, Inc., Monteagle, Tennessee, for rehabilitation," and recorded the defendants' interrogatory answers that four juveniles had been transferred to Boy's Farm, Inc. from the Tennessee department of corrections.[^7]
+
+Vermilye's obituary in the [[Coastland Times]] stated that he directed the Boy's Farm of Roarks Cove while serving the [[Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee|Diocese of Tennessee]], and that in Tennessee he was a member of the [[Tennessee Corrections Association]] and president of the [[Franklin County Mental Health Association]].[^8]
+
+Vermilye's eldest son, then 22, disappeared on July 5, 1974. His car was found behind the student union building of a seminary at [[Sewanee]], and his empty wallet was found on Alto Road. Vermilye told investigators he was "absolutely certain" that the son had been killed and buried in the Roarks Cove area, and he ran newspaper advertisements offering a reward. After the charges against him, Tennessee authorities looked on the disappearance "with a different light," although they could establish no link. [[Pete Bouldin]], an investigator in the district attorney general's office, said, "To us he's still just a missing person."[^1]
+
+Wooden testified that Vermilye contacted him after his appearance on the [[Today show]] and the publication of his book, and asked for help in obtaining a boy from the State of Tennessee. Wooden said that after the priest's arrest he began an investigation of children's sex and pornography throughout the United States that had lasted nine months and was continuing.[^6]
+
+### The Raid and the Sponsor List
+
+Films found on the Port Huron, Michigan, physical fitness teacher [[Gerald Richards]] at his arrest in July 1976, and films seized in the [[New Orleans]] raid on [[Troop 137]], led Tennessee authorities to raid the farm after police there recognized some of the "actors" in them.[^1] Vermilye's name also appeared in the files of the New Orleans scoutmaster [[Richard Halvorsen]], which police searched.[^2]
+
+An investigator from the local district attorney's office executed a search warrant at the farm. Officers seized developed and undeveloped photographs of residents, correspondence with sponsors, and card catalogs containing "several hundred names of past and present financial contributors from across the country." Agents of the [[Tennessee Bureau of Investigation]] and local investigators conducted out-of-state interviews with a large number of sponsors, several of whom testified at trial in exchange for a grant of immunity from prosecution in Tennessee.[^5] In 1987 the Court of Criminal Appeals wrote that "The vast majority of the information used at the trial of this cause was furnished to law enforcement officials by the sponsors of the home."[^9]
+
+Police also seized a list of more than 270 "active sponsors" of the farm, and [[Francis Shelden]], the sole owner of [[North Fox Island]], was among the names.[^1][^2]
+
+Pope said the boys had been shown obscene films and given liquor to stifle their inhibitions before sex orgies, which were allegedly filmed with a hidden camera. He said some of the pictures were sold to "active sponsors" to raise money for the farm, and that some of these sponsors allegedly came to the farm to engage in homosexual activity with the boys.[^1] A Tribune investigation of the Tennessee case disclosed that a half-dozen Illinois men had bought films from the priest, one of them for more than $4,000.[^2]
+
+Richards told the [[Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency|Senate subcommittee]] in Chicago: "That was Boys Farm in Tennessee, which sold raw film to other men. They would bring it to me to process."[^10] Asked by Senator [[Charles Mathias]] whether she knew of any institution that participated in federal funding or federal programs, [[Michael Sneed]] of the Tribune answered: "According to information that the authorities gave us, the farm in Tennessee received such funds. Additional funds came, however, from the filming of orgies involving these young boys and patrons who would pay money for these films."[^11]
+
+### Indictment, Trial and Appeal
+
+The Tribune reported that Vermilye was indicted on sixteen counts: three of crimes against nature, eight of aiding and abetting crimes against nature, four of contributing to the delinquency of minors and one of using minors in the production of pornographic materials.[^2]
+
+The trial was held at Winchester. [[United Press International]] reported on the day of the verdict that Vermilye, 48, a divorced father of five who founded the farm after his 1971 divorce, was "attempting to clear himself of nine felony counts" and could receive up to 135 years in prison if convicted of all counts.[^12] A jury of ten men and two women returned its verdict on Friday, June 3, 1977, after four days of testimony, and Circuit Judge [[Thomas Greer]] said he would pronounce sentence later. The UPI report of the verdict in [[The New York Times]] said he was found guilty of all charges against him, "three counts of crimes against nature upon boys in his care and nine counts of aiding and abetting instances of specific homosexual acts." The prosecution called the farm a "house of lust."[^13] The Tribune and the [[Traverse City Record-Eagle|Record-Eagle]] gave his age as 47.[^1][^2]
+
+The [[Washington Post]] reported that Greer "consolidated the 12 sentences against Vermilye (totaling 105-165 years) into three groups, to run 25 to 40 years."[^3] The appellate opinions describe the convictions as three charges of crime against nature and five of aiding and abetting crime against nature, with eight sentences (three of five to ten years and five of ten to fifteen years) divided into three groups to run consecutively, for "an effective total sentence of not less than 25 nor more than 40 years imprisonment." The first opinion adds that the trial judge directed a verdict on the count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor before the case went to the jury.[^5][^9]
+
+Under cross-examination Pope asked Vermilye, "Wasn't this a house of lust rather than a house of love?" and Vermilye answered, "No," and "I'd call it a house of damaged children from broken homes."[^12] Vermilye took the stand in his own defense and denied, according to the Post, that he had committed homosexual acts with the boys under his care, or that he had posed them for pornographic photographs sent to the farm's sponsors. He was confronted with some 2,000 photographs and thirteen letters he had written to a Delaware sponsor the previous year, offering slide sets for $25, and he admitted sending nude photographs and sexually explicit letters to some homosexual sponsors. He maintained that he had done so only as a "counselor" in an effort to "keep their desires in the closet."[^3] The appellate court recorded that he testified that the farm had been infiltrated by agents of a national "child porn" ring, that he offered the testimony of one former resident of the farm to corroborate his own, and that he presented two character witnesses.[^5]
+
+The court recorded that, according to those who testified at trial, the sexual activities of the residents were "wholly consensual in nature," and that "Not one of them testified to the use of force on Vermilye's part."[^5]
+
+Judge Greer, the Post reported, told the defendant that he was convinced that the two boys who testified for the defense had committed perjury at Vermilye's direction. Vermilye's attorneys said they planned to appeal.[^3] His lawyer, [[Joe Bean]], described the boys as youths who "had been kicked out of their homes and mental and penal institutions," and said: "Vermilye has done much good for humanity."[^14]
+
+The Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee affirmed the convictions on February 26, 1979. It upheld the search warrant, held that each offense was "massively corroborated by both direct and circumstantial evidence," and sustained consecutive sentencing on the ground of a "four or five year course of dealing" by a "persistent and repeated offender, who derived most (if not all) of his livelihood from the sexual exploitation of these children." Certiorari was denied on July 2, 1979.[^5]
+
+Vermilye filed a petition for post-conviction relief on August 8, 1984, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. The trial court dismissed it after an evidentiary hearing. The appellate court affirmed on September 4, 1987, and the Tennessee Supreme Court denied permission to appeal on December 28, 1987.[^9]
+
+Vermilye died at his home on June 22, 2018, at Kill Devil Hills, [[North Carolina]], at the age of 89, where he had retired in 1997.[^8]
+
+### The Congressional Record
+
+The [[House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime|House Subcommittee on Crime]] took testimony on the case in 1977. Wooden told the subcommittee that after the arrest of the priest "for running a porn operation from his Boys' Farm in Monteagle, Tenn.," he began an investigation.[^6] When the subcommittee asked for a specific instance of the trade, the Tribune's Sneed answered: "The Michigan man mentioned Father Bud's farm in Tennessee."[^15]
+
+On March 4, 1977, [[Robert F. Leonard]], president-elect of the [[National District Attorneys Association]], wrote to [[Benjamin Civiletti]], Assistant Attorney General-designate for the Criminal Division, that "there may very well be a national conspiracy made up of an inter-relating network of foster homes, churches, nature camps and other similar programs." The letter named [[Dyer Grossman]] as a person who "goes from state to state setting up these organizations," and said: "Some of the expenditures for these youngsters are unknowingly being provided by public funding."[^16] Leonard's prepared statement to the subcommittee said the association had "evidence connecting offenders in Michigan, Illinois, Louisiana, California, Tennessee, New Jersey, and other states."[^17]
+
+In the Senate subcommittee's record, Senator [[William V. Roth, Jr.]] described "a man of the cloth who ran a farm for wayward teens" who "has allegedly staged homosexual orgies with boys and mailed pictures of the activities to his donors around the country."[^18]
 
 ### The Distribution Network
 
-The writer S. Dovey wrote that film was mailed from the farm to Richards for development and distribution through MAIL-O-MATIC in [[North Carolina]] and F&S Distributors in California. Dovey also wrote that the farm was raided on November 10, 1976, and reported the next day by the *Detroit Free Press* as a national pornography hub, and that it was incorporated under the Church of the New Revelation, through which it was linked to [[Dyer Grossman]] and [[Adam Starchild]], and connected through a letter from Vermilye to Halvorsen with Troop 137 and with the Chicago network of [[John David Norman]], the [[Delta Project]] and the [[Odyssey Network]].[^6]
+The writer S. Dovey wrote that film was sent from Vermilye's farm to Richards for development and distribution through [[Mail-O-Matic|MAIL-O-MATIC]] in North Carolina and F&S Distributors in California as early as July 1976. Dovey also wrote that the farm was raided on November 10, 1976, and that the [[Detroit Free Press]] reported it the next day as a national pornography hub. Dovey wrote that the farm was incorporated under [[The Church of New Revelation]], through which it was linked to Grossman and [[Adam Starchild]], and that Vermilye wrote to Halvorsen inviting him to visit. Dovey placed the farm within a network that reached Troop 137, the Chicago operation of [[John David Norman]], the [[Delta Project]] and the [[Odyssey Network]].[^19]
+
+In his Senate testimony Richards described [[Better Life]] as "a philosophical group" run through the mail, said that the name of its leader, as he knew it, "may be an alias," and said he believed the same man ran the Mail-O-Matic operations in Rocky Mount.[^20] Asked by Senator [[John Culver]] about the organizations of another witness before the subcommittee, Richards said the only one he knew of was "a movie film business," and that "It's now called F & F Distributors."[^21]
+
+The Record-Eagle, reprinted in the House record, listed "Boy's Farm Inc. of Alto, Tenn." among three "charitable" organizations that police had pinpointed as "fronts," alongside Boy Scout Troop 137 and [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]]. According to Richards, it reported, the Church of the New Revelation, the [[Ocean Living Institute]] and the [[Educational Foundation for Youth]] were three other corporations set up as "tax dodges." The paper reported that Starchild told it the organizations were not set up as fronts for homosexual pornography, though it was possible they had been "used" for that purpose by Grossman.[^22]
 
 ### Footnotes
 
-[^1]: "Former Clergyman Is Convicted of Acts Against His Wards." United Press International, *The New York Times,* June 4, 1977, p. 33. https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/04/archives/former-clergyman-is-convicted-of-acts-against-his-wards.html
-[^2]: Wright, Marilyn. *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1976-1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
-[^3]: *Chicago Tribune,* May 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, and in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, 1977. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
-[^4]: Testimony of Kenneth Wooden, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977.
-[^5]: Testimony of Gerald S. Richards, May 27, 1977, in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, p. 41. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
-[^6]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. The incorporation under the Church of the New Revelation and the letter to Halvorsen are not borne out by the hearing record, which lists Boys Farm, Inc., separately and records only Vermilye's name in Halvorsen's files. Sole source for the passages so cited.
+[^1]: Marilyn Wright, Traverse City Record-Eagle, 1976-1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime, *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 87-88. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
+[^2]: "How Ruses Lure Victims to Child Pornographers," *Chicago Tribune,* May 17, 1977, Exhibit D-8, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 439-440. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
+[^3]: Kirk Loggins and James Branscome, "Boys Farm Scandal," *Washington Post,* June 5, 1977, Exhibit D-10, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 442-443. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
+[^4]: *The Living Church,* August 3, 1958, vol. 137, no. 5, ordinations (Tennessee, deacons). https://archive.org/details/living-church_1958-08-03_137_5
+[^5]: *Vermilye v. State,* 584 S.W.2d 226 (Tenn. Crim. App. Feb. 26, 1979), cert. denied, July 2, 1979. https://cite.case.law/sw2d/584/226/
+[^6]: Testimony of Kenneth Wooden, director, National Coalition for Children's Justice, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 202-203. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
+[^7]: [ex-ward] v. Vermilye, 78 F.R.D. 68 (E.D. Tenn. Jan. 10, 1978) (No. CIV-4-77-5). https://cite.case.law/frd/78/68/
+[^8]: "Claudius I. 'Bud' Vermilye," *The Coastland Times,* June 27, 2018, https://www.thecoastlandtimes.com/2018/06/27/claudius-i-bud-vermilye/; death notice, *The Daily Advance* (Elizabeth City, N.C.), Kill Devil Hills, June 2018, via Legacy.com.
+[^9]: *Vermilye v. State,* 754 S.W.2d 82 (Tenn. Crim. App. Sept. 4, 1987), permission to appeal denied, Dec. 28, 1987. https://cite.case.law/sw2d/754/82/
+[^10]: Testimony of Gerald S. Richards, Chicago, May 27, 1977, in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, 1977, p. 41. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
+[^11]: Testimony of George Bliss and Michael Sneed, Chicago Tribune, Chicago, May 27, 1977, in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, p. 62. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
+[^12]: "Priest on trial denies sex charges," United Press International, *Columbia Missourian,* June 4, 1977. https://cdm16795.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/colmo7/id/77557
+[^13]: "Former Clergyman Is Convicted of Acts Against His Wards," United Press International, dateline Winchester, Tenn., June 3, *The New York Times,* June 4, 1977, p. 33. https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/04/archives/former-clergyman-is-convicted-of-acts-against-his-wards.html
+[^14]: "The Cup and the Rack," reprinted in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, p. 157 (quoting Joe Bean). https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
+[^15]: Testimony of Michael Sneed, George Bliss and Ray Moseley, Chicago Tribune, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, p. 112. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
+[^16]: Letter of Robert F. Leonard, president-elect, National District Attorneys Association, to Benjamin Civiletti, March 4, 1977, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, p. 78. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
+[^17]: Prepared statement of Robert F. Leonard, National District Attorneys Association, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, p. 75. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
+[^18]: Statement of Senator William V. Roth, Jr., in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, p. 73. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
+[^19]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
+[^20]: Testimony of Gerald S. Richards, in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, pp. 37, 44. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
+[^21]: Testimony of Gerald S. Richards, in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, p. 43. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
+[^22]: Marilyn Wright, "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws," Traverse City Record-Eagle, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, p. 82. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041