John David Norman

John David Norman (October 13, 1927 – May 22, 2011) was an American pedophile and sex offender convicted numerous times between 1960 and 1998 on charges of child molestation and child pornography.

Throughout his life, Norman operated various direct mailing services dedicated to distributing child pornography and arranging sex trafficking.

Among these operations were the Odyssey Foundation based out of Dallas; the Delta Project, Creative Corps and M-C Publications based out of Chicago; and Handy Andy based out of Pennsylvania.

Norman is known for his alleged links to serial killers Dean Corll and John Wayne Gacy.

He was born on October 13, 1927, in Ada, Oklahoma, and is known to have lived in California, Colorado, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Texas.

A July 1944 article from his hometown's newspaper, The Ada Weekly News, states that he moved to Houston with his family in 1943.

The article also states that Norman, then 16, was working as a radio engineer for the station KTRH and was planning on attending Northwestern University.

Norman used at least 20 aliases in his life, including John Paul Norman, Steve Gurwell, Alan Hitchcock, Charles Caldwell, Clarence McKay and Patrick Nelson.

Norman's criminal record dates back to the 1950s, when he was twice arrested for sexual assault in Houston in 1954 and 1956, though it is unknown if he was convicted of any crime in these cases.

Court records and some news reports indicate he was first convicted of sex crimes in 1960.

Norman was convicted of sexual assault in California in 1963, and in federal court in 1970 for sending obscene literature through the mail.

He received a 15-month prison sentence for the federal charge and served time at the McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary.

On August 13, 1973, Dallas police raided Norman's apartment at 3716 Cole Avenue based on a tip from a man in San Francisco that he was running a homosexual prostitution ring called the Odyssey Foundation.

Police seized booklets bearing the name International and containing photographs and contact information of teenage boys and young men, as well as 30,000 index cards listing between 50,000 and 100,000 clients located in 35 U.S. states.

After being released in Dallas, Norman fled to Homewood, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in late August or early September 1973.

Using the name Steve Gurwell, he began living with Charles Rehling, an Odyssey client from Homewood.

Norman had previously trafficked a 16-year-old boy from Independence, Missouri, to Rehling, who went on a trip to Europe with the boy.

During his time in Homewood, Norman sexually abused ten teenage boys, enticing them with beer, showing them pornography and committing acts such as groping and oral sex upon them.

Homewood Police received an anonymous call on October 31, 1973, stating that "Steve Gurwell" (Norman) was sexually abusing boys.

Norman was out of town at the time, but police were able to locate Rehling who assisted them in their investigation.

Upon his return to Homewood on November 14, Norman was arrested and charged with five counts of indecent liberties with a child and eight counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

In the spring of 1976, while still awaiting trial on charges related to the Homewood crimes, Norman was bailed out of Cook County Jail for $36,000 by an unknown person from California.

In December 1976 he was sentenced to four years in prison and sent to Pontiac Correctional Center.

Shortly before he was released on bail, Norman began his next sex operation, the Delta Project, and began publishing a newsletter called Hermes.

From Cook County Jail, Norman sent out three newsletters using the jail's printing press, claiming that the Delta Project aimed to "provide educational, travel and self-development opportunities for qualified young men of character and integrity" and that "Delta-Dorms" were being established across the U.S. with each dorm having two to four "cadets" overseen by a "don".

Police alleged that the "cadets" were underaged male prostitutes recruited in Chicago.

Dallas Police Lt. Harold Hancock told the Chicago Tribune in May 1977 that prominent public figures and federal employees were among the names found in Norman's client list.

Investigators sent the index cards to the State Department, a fact confirmed by State Department Counselor Matthew Nimetz.

Nimetz stated that the State Department destroyed the index cards after determining them to be "not relevant to any fraud case concerning a passport".

Norman was charged with possessing marijuana, conspiracy to commit sodomy and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile; he was released on bail.

The Odyssey Foundation groomed teenaged boys and young men from bus stations, or because they were known to be homosexuals.

These boys and young men (referred to as "fellows") were photographed for the booklets and trafficked to clients (referred to as "sponsors") who paid for their "company".

The "fellows" were trafficked across the country, staying with "sponsors" for one to three days on average before traveling to the next "sponsor".

In a May 1977 interview with the Tribune, Norman denied that Project Delta was sexual in nature and claimed to have sent the newsletter to over 7,000 people.

At the time of the interview, police said that the newsletter had 5,000 subscribers and grossed over $300,000 per year.

He was eventually arrested for the last time in August 1987, in Illinois, and spent the rest of his life in state custody.

In 1999, Norman was declared a sexually violent predator by the State of California and committed to Atascadero State Hospital.

His psychiatrist, Dr. James Reavis, said about Norman: “John is an unrepentant adult male sex offender who in my opinion will go to his grave without any remorse for what he had done." Norman was released from Atascadero in October 2008 under strict conditions, but soon returned to custody after handing a sexually suggestive note to a 19-year-old male clerk at an El Centro grocery store. Norman was recommitted to Coalinga State Hospital in March 2009, where he died two years later.

He died in 2011, at age 83.

Little is known about John Norman's life, particularly his childhood and teenage years.