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10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Francis Shelden and John Stamford.md
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@ -15,14 +15,11 @@ summary: "Francis Duffield Shelden belonged to an old-money establishment family
start: 1976
location: North Fox Island, Michigan
---
### The North Fox Island Operation
Francis Duffield Shelden belonged to an old-money establishment family in Michigan, with lineage tracing back to a governor, senator, and United States Secretary of War. Endowed with a trust fund, Shelden pursued a life of philanthropy that took a particular interest in youth charity. He served on the board of the Cranbrook Institute and Boys Republic, volunteered for Big Brother programs, and worked part-time as a geology professor at Wayne State University. Behind this respectable facade, Shelden owned a private island in Lake Michigan called North Fox Island, where in 1976 he established a summer camp called Brother Pauls Childrens Mission. The camp, incorporated through [[Adam Starchild]] and linked to a sham New Jersey church called The Church of New Revelation, was in reality an international child pornography and prostitution operation. When Michigan police arrested a gym teacher named [[Gerald Richards]] in July 1976, Richards confessed and implicated Shelden as a principal figure in a nationwide child exploitation network. Shelden fled Michigan before an arrest warrant could be authorised, transferring his assets into offshore trusts and escaping to Amsterdam.
Francis Duffield Shelden belonged to an old-money establishment family in Michigan, with lineage tracing back to a governor, senator, and United States Secretary of War. Endowed with a trust fund, Shelden pursued a life of philanthropy that took a particular interest in youth charity. He served on the board of the [[Cranbrook Institute]] and [[Boys Republic]], volunteered for [[Big Brother]] programs, and worked part-time as a geology professor at Wayne State University. Behind this respectable facade, Shelden owned a private island in Lake Michigan called [[North Fox Island]], where in 1976 he established a summer camp called [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]]. The camp, incorporated through [[Adam Starchild]] and linked to a sham New Jersey church called [[The Church of New Revelation]], was in reality an international child pornography and prostitution operation. When Michigan police arrested a gym teacher named [[Gerald Richards]] in July 1976, Richards confessed and implicated Shelden as a principal figure in a nationwide child exploitation network. Shelden fled Michigan before an arrest warrant could be authorised, transferring his assets into offshore trusts and escaping to [[Amsterdam]].
### From PAN to Spartacus International
In Amsterdam, Shelden started a newsletter called PAN (Paedo Alert News) under the penname Frank Torey, a nod to the publishing legacy of [[Hermes]], the Chicago-based newsletter used to facilitate [[John David Norman]]s [[Odyssey Network]]. PAN served as the European equivalent, platforming an organisation called [[Spartacus International]]. The first edition of PAN was published in 1979 through a publishing house owned by [[John Stamford]], a defrocked Anglican priest who had fled Britain in 1972 after being convicted of operating a child pornography service through the mail. Stamford ran the [[Spartacus Club]] and published travel guides that functioned as a global child sex tourism business, sponsoring boy brothels in countries such as the Philippines and Thailand. The operation was exposed by Fleet Street press in the mid-1980s, leading to a raid of his Amsterdam estate where authorities discovered vast quantities of child pornography.
In Amsterdam, Shelden started a newsletter called [[PAN (Paedo Alert News)]] under the penname Frank Torey, a nod to the publishing legacy of [[Hermes]], the Chicago-based newsletter used to facilitate [[John David Norman]]s [[Odyssey Network]]. PAN served as the European equivalent, platforming an organisation called [[Spartacus International]]. The first edition of PAN was published in 1979 through a publishing house owned by [[John Stamford]], a defrocked Anglican priest who had fled Britain in 1972 after being convicted of operating a child pornography service through the mail. Stamford ran the [[Spartacus Club]] and published travel guides that functioned as a global child sex tourism business, sponsoring boy brothels in countries such as the Philippines and Thailand. The operation was exposed by Fleet Street press in the mid-1980s, leading to a raid of his Amsterdam estate where authorities discovered vast quantities of child pornography.
### The Elm Guest House Connection