in 2005, birdie jo was reprimanded by joplin police for calling the station and making a false report. incredibly, she was at it again, pretending to be a teenage boy who d just been molested by his father and who just couldn t take it anymore. she was advised by police to stop or she d face criminal charges. they have a real issue with deception. it s something that they ve dealt with all of their lives and until they make some real changes, are going to continue to. jobs were never in short supply. becky and birdie had several, but they never stayed for very long. i couldn t even begin to recount how many jobs those two girls had during the period of time that we were associated with them. whatever shot they had at redeeming themselves with the church came to an abrupt end on november 6th, 2006. the pastor performed his usual sunday service. that evening, a special offering was taken for mission work,
an inconsistency there. and he said, i m 33 years old. and if that weren t enough, soon, another shock. chris took the pastor to meet the rest of his family, his mother, stepfather, and his twin sister, becky. when i began a dialogue with the family, they used the word she three times. the first two times, i m just listening. but the third time, i said, okay, so you re not a male, you re a female? and then there was a little bit of laughter and confession and said, that was the next thing i needed to tell you. so now the trusting pastor jones knew that chris wasn t who he thought he was at all. birdie jo had done it again. jones said he really had no choice. he had to call the middle school and tell them that they d all been duped. and of course, the school had to inform the authorities. and once again, the law would have to deal with birdie jo.
in birdie jo hoaks, but maybe this time, could it be he ll be right? coming up birdie jo and her sister becky both face felony charges. my concern and the sheriff s concern was, look at all they ve gotten away with. what will birdie jo and becky do next? i thought somebody was playing a joke on me. i walked in my office and i asked the secretary, i said, okay what s going on? the safe is gone. follow the wings.
not impossible for the state to convict the sisters. we had already had a preliminary hearing, where a court had found that there was probable cause to believe they had committed felonies. the court had bound them over and set a jury trial. so when he dismissed it, it bothered us, but we knew it wouldn t be long before they did something again. by then the story of birdie jo and becky had made the national news. could they get away with even more? pastor jim jones remained close to the twins and tried to help them make better choices. the power of god is amazing. but by 2005, galena assembly of god had a new pastor, rich graves. he did his best to make the twins feel welcome. the church really had a heart and continues to have a heart for people that are struggling and suffering. these young ladies needed somebody to care enough about them to try and help them. in spite of their history, the church was determined to try and do that, if they would allow them.
2007 the prosecutor became involved in a scandal involving allegations of wire fraud, extortion and a strip club. with the cherokee county attorney s office in turmoil it seemed bernie and becky s cases were no long or their radar. this was a story that felt like fiction the whole way. reporter jason georgia, tended the hearings in kansas and got to know bertie and wrote about the twins for the chicago tribunes wto. i read about the things that bertie had done in the past i saw how incredibly personable she could be. she smiled and she talked and she joked with the judge and joked with the attorneys and she was comfortable in any situation and any conversation and she was incredibly quick on her feet. he believes the twins are rather calculating and know exactly what they re doing. one anecdote that gave me insight into them, when i was in the courtroom before the attorneys arrived and the judge arrived, at one point the sisters were sitting in the courtroom with just them