Have yet to find any pedophilia connections yet but it seems to be connected to political money laundering to this chain restaurant called Pizza Ranch.
"I feel at home. I'm at a Pizza Ranch."
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee sat at a table in the buffet chain's Council Bluffs location in late March. His town hall meeting was winding down, and he would soon hop in a car to another meeting at another Pizza Ranch (this one in Sioux City). But with the smells of fried chicken and pepperoni in the air, the winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses waxed nostalgic.
"I largely won it because of Pizza Ranches all over the state," Huckabee said. "We created the Pizza Ranch strategy. A lot of people have copied it since then, but I think we created it."
Presidential hopefuls campaigning at Pizza Ranches across Iowa — the "Pizza Ranch circuit," the media call it — has become a staple of the Iowa caucuses. The down-home,"- http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/05/03/pizza-ranch-circuit-iowa-caucuses/26844813/
Some of that odd food descriptions we've seen IMO.VVV = "We got the best chicken in town. We have very, very good pizzas ... a very wide variety of pizzas," said Kim Worden, the restaurant's assistant manager."- http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/08/11/431611133/pizza-ranch-fueling-campaigns-on-cheese-and-chicken
Disgruntled and probably biased locals FB Group - https://www.facebook.com/Boycott-Pizza-Ranch-176401289079090/
Connection to a Bob Vander Plaats (Robert Lee "Bob" Vander Plaats is an American politician and political activist. He is currently the president and CEO of The Family Leader, a social conservative organization, and the National Co-Chair for Ted Cruz for President. ) - http://www.newtonindependent.com/newton_independent/2011/01/reporters-notebook-the-vander-plaatspizza-ranch-connection-1.html
Ted Cruz connection, By the time of the caucuses, Cruz — and most of the other candidates — will have made multiple Pizza Ranch visits. Mike Huckabee told the Des Moines Register that he won the 2008 caucuses in large part through such visits: “We created the Pizza Ranch strategy. A lot of people have copied it since then, but I think we created it. This election cycle, klatches at the chain take place almost daily: a candidate in a suit (or jeans, depending on the desired optics of the day) scarfs a slice while ringed by ruddy men in ball caps, most of them obese, many of them corn growers, chicken growers, or hog growers under contract to a handful of corporations."- https://thefern.org/2016/08/the-trouble-with-iowa/
Any more leads would be helpful I searched the forum there isn't a single post about these guys but i'm sure with some digging we can connect them. Understandable this needs more investigating but seems like a reasonable place to start.
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The_Kuru ago
What year did Vander Esch become involved with Pizza Ranch? If he's a "co-founder", does that mean he co-founded the first Pizza Ranch in 1981 or did he purchase some franchises later on?
dmthirdeye ago
Original co founder as in he opened the first Pizza Ranch in 1981. After his pedophile arrest and conviction they tried to wipe his name from the company records but he is still listed everywhere and co-founder. - Vander Esch's guilty plea covers three boys he molested. Now authorities think there was a long line of other victims dating back 19 years, which is almost to the start of his Pizza Ranch chain. The prosecutor has heard from 15 other employees who say they were abused by Vander Esch. The Sioux County Attorney couldn't prosecute those cases because they were beyond the three-year statute of limitations. - http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ia-court-of-appeals/1162014.html
The_Kuru ago
I would be inclined to believe that it was an isolated pervert and not part of a culture. But if the guy was molesting the teenage boys that he employed at Pizza Ranch and he still is allowed to own Pizza Ranch restaurants, then that is hard to explain.
I can safely say that when I was a teenage boy, and I'd say the same things about my friends at the time, if this guy started stroking our dicks to get a sperm sample, his pervert career would have been short lived. His life would have been short lived. What is up with Iowa that this guy could operate this dick milking scheme for so long and no one came forward except a parent?
dmthirdeye ago
Yea pretty insane shit.... he molested 15 boys over the course of 19 years apparently probably starting when he opened the first Pizza Ranch in 1981) he was only arrested for it in 2001 and because of the statute of limitations they were only able to try him for the molestation of 3 of the 15 boys. So he got 10 years for molesting 3 boys but after 6 years a judge vacated his sentence so he got out of jail early and does not even have to register as a sex offender. The judge retired not too long after that.