the Chandler Police Department's release this morning of details of the relationship between Susan Brock, estranged wife of Maricopa County Supervisor Fulton Brock, and a teenage boy, the supervisor tells New Times he knew nothing of the sexual encounters before his wife's arrest in November.
"My wife was untruthful to me. She was untruthful to the victim's parents. I knew nothing of this inappropriate sexual behavior until the police arrested my wife," Brock says. "But I certainly know enough now to divorce her and be the best dad possible to three children who really need me."
Despite Brock's claim of ignorance, the report sheds light onto what, if anything, Fulton Brock knew about the relationship before his wife's arrest. It details a meeting between him, Susan Brock, the parents of the victim, and officials from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in October 2009. At the meeting, they discussed the victim's parents' "frustration with Mrs. Brock's interference in [their] son's life."
During the 2009 meeting with LDS Stake President Mitch Jones, the father of Brock's victim asked her point-blank if she was having a sexual relationship with his son. Brock denied it -- with Fulton Brock sitting in the room with her.
Following the meeting, the boy's parents "angrily" returned an iPod Susan Brock had given their son. Fulton Brock took possession of the iPod, the report states.
Susan Brock may have lied to her husband, but even so, the writing was on the wall -- her husband, it seems, just chose not to look.
"'How could I have missed all of this' is something Fulton will probably wrestle with for a very long time," the county supervisor's PR representative, Jason Rose, tells New Times. "I think the explanation may very well be that Fulton believes the best in people, trusts. And when your long-time wife and [the] mother of your kids says something so definitively, you believe it.
Another report from the Chandler Police Department, obtained by New Times, shows the parents of Brock's victim had a problem with her picking up their son from school. They told the boy's school that Brock was not permitted to pick him up -- apparently around the same time they suspected she was having sex with the boy.
In fact, Chandler police spokesman Sergeant Joe Favazzao tells New Times that Brock was told by the school that she was not permitted on school grounds. She was told by the principal of the school that if she was found on school property, police would be called.
Whether Fulton Brock knew about his wife's ban from school grounds is unclear -- but people at the school, his church, his wife, the parents of the victim -- who at one point vacationed with the Brocks in California -- certainly knew.
The report released this morning goes on to say how Susan Brock claims to have never told her husband anything about the relationship before her arrest, at which point she copped to touching the boy twice.
"Here, here, here's the scoop," Brock said in a phone call to the boy (recorded by police after they started investigating the relationship) when asked whether Fulton Brock knew about the relationship. "I just said [to Fulton that] I touched you twice, and performed, tried to perform oral whatever, and it was a disaster. You didn't like it, and I said it was last spring and last December."
According to the Arizona Republic, the Mormon Church plans to investigate the meeting between the Brocks, the parents of the victim, and church leaders to determine whether more should have been done to prevent Brock from continuing the relationship with the boy. According to the Republic, the church has a "'zero-tolerance' position on child sex abuse and puts protection of victims above confidentiality between clergy and adults."
Given the allegations made by the parents of the victim to church authorities, it seems that policy only applies if you're not the wife of a high-profile member of the church.
