Neighbors thought Zion Dutro and his wife, Glenda were "very nice, they were good people" Sure, some of them knew he was an RSO, but believed he had turned his life around with church. " It does happen. People do change their lives." claimed one neighbor who wished to remain anonymous. Others said the Dutros were friendly but kept mostly to themselves, except around holidays when they came door-to-door with cookies and invitations for neighbors and their children to attend parties at their church.
They often did missionary work in other countries, including Mexico. Zion and Glenda Dutro member's of a group formed by their church, called Forgiven. The group's objective is described as "restoring Lives and relationships by helping people develop a lifestyle of Biblical forgiveness," and include goals like "eliminating self-condemnation," "sincerely asking others for forgiveness" and "restoring broken relationships." IMO, these two should never stop condemning themselves, or restore any of their broken relationships. And, they do not deserve to be forgiven.
Some of the alleged victims are the children of the suspects' family members. They were taken away from their parents because of abuse. And they were sent to live with Dutro. The system seriously failed these kids. In 95, Zutro was arrested and put in jail for sexual abuse. The victim was one of the women that came forward to file the complaint. After he did his time, and got out of jail the abuse continued. According to Antioch police Sgt. Diane Aguinaga, "They kept a tight (control) over these kids. They were all home-schooled. There was a lot of brainwashing."
In fact, when new allegations came to light in 2003, the children were told that "police were a test from Satan" and were to be ignored, so the police were unable to get anywhere in the investigation.
When family members learned the couple was planning on adopting children from Mexico, they came forward. There were six female victims, now in their twenties, and one male, in his forties. However, the statute of limitations on his abuse has lapsed. The most recent case occurred about three to five years ago, when one of the victims was 21 years old, Aguinaga said. Some of the victims had been abused as young as 18 months.
The Contra Costa District Attorney's Office filed 21 counts against Zion Dutro, who is being held on more than $8 million bail.
Glenda Dutro was charged with two counts of felony cruelty to children and two counts of lewd and lascivious acts on minors and is being held on $2 million bail.
"She is an accessory," Aguinaga said. "The mother is being charged because she knew about this all along and did nothing to protect the children."
