Couple held in molestation case
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A man and a woman from California’s Central Valley face charges that they drugged young girls with Oreo cookies laced with antidepressants, then videotaped the girls as the man allegedly molested them.
Steven Patrick Arthur, 31, and girlfriend Jennifer Lynn Thurman, 32, are in Tulare County Jail on state and federal charges of molestation and pornography. The pair have pleaded not guilty to the state charges.
The couple were living in Arthur’s home in Porterville, a small town between Fresno and Bakersfield, when the crimes allegedly occurred in September.
Authorities accuse Arthur of feeding his daughter’s young friends the drugged cookies during sleepovers. He then molested the girls while they slept as Thurman filmed the acts, authorities said. The girls were 11 and 12.
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