Polygraph Examiner Sees Ugly Side of Sex Addicts
Like the men he works with, Darryl Bullens lives in two different worlds.
Two weeks a month he is at home in north central Missouri with his wife, Margaret, and his two stepdaughters, working with animals and tending to his garden.
The other two weeks he’s on the road, sitting across from men for whom living in two different worlds is as natural as breathing. Publicly these men are as normal as, well, you. They’re public relations professionals, salesmen, doctors and mechanics. But in their other world, the one they’ve carefully constructed and go to great lengths to conceal, they visit the seamiest sites on the Internet, solicit prostitutes, engage in aberrant sex acts and collect child pornography.
They’re sexual offenders, and Bullens, 41, is a polygraph examiner. Most of his work involves monitoring these men for the justice system. But he also administers polygraph tests to men who have either been caught in sexually inappropriate behavior or who are struggling with some form of sexual addiction.
Bullens is a former Virginia state police special agent who met Margaret, a nationally recognized expert in sex offender management policy, in polygraph school. They married and started Forensic Technologies Inc., of which they are both managing partners. Their most significant client is San Diego County.
At 6-foot-4-inches, 260 pounds, Bullens is built like an offensive lineman. He’s a tough guy, but he admits that his job can get the best of him.
“I used to hear when I was a police officer about what a stressful job this is,” Bullens says. “Police work is nothing compared to this. There are days now when I leave the office and all I can do is go home and go to sleep.”
Several years ago Bullens spent six-plus hours acquiring the sexual history of a man in San Diego who presented himself as a preacher but was, in fact, a sexual sadist who murdered four people.
“I looked into his eyes and I saw evil,” Bullens recalls. “What he did was beyond most people’s comprehension or imagination, and he talked about it like we would discuss the weather. That stays with you.”
It takes its toll and Bullens admits that he’s open to a career change, but he recognizes that the Lord has placed him in this job for the time being. “I have my whole church [Galt Christian Church in Galt, Missouri] praying for me. We all have gifts, and this happens to be mine. I just pray that the Lord will see fit to use me someplace else.”
Bullens accepted Christ when he was 27, in the Southern Baptist church he grew up in and his parents still attend east of Knoxville, Tenn. He wishes more men would seek help before a court orders them to.
“There’s no question that God will meet you. He can and does do amazing things,” Bullens says. “But the person has to be committed to wanting to stop. The four most important factors in making that happen are intention, determination, faith and family support.”
By Scott Walsh
Two weeks a month he is at home in north central Missouri with his wife, Margaret, and his two stepdaughters, working with animals and tending to his garden.
The other two weeks he’s on the road, sitting across from men for whom living in two different worlds is as natural as breathing. Publicly these men are as normal as, well, you. They’re public relations professionals, salesmen, doctors and mechanics. But in their other world, the one they’ve carefully constructed and go to great lengths to conceal, they visit the seamiest sites on the Internet, solicit prostitutes, engage in aberrant sex acts and collect child pornography.
They’re sexual offenders, and Bullens, 41, is a polygraph examiner. Most of his work involves monitoring these men for the justice system. But he also administers polygraph tests to men who have either been caught in sexually inappropriate behavior or who are struggling with some form of sexual addiction.
Bullens is a former Virginia state police special agent who met Margaret, a nationally recognized expert in sex offender management policy, in polygraph school. They married and started Forensic Technologies Inc., of which they are both managing partners. Their most significant client is San Diego County.
At 6-foot-4-inches, 260 pounds, Bullens is built like an offensive lineman. He’s a tough guy, but he admits that his job can get the best of him.
“I used to hear when I was a police officer about what a stressful job this is,” Bullens says. “Police work is nothing compared to this. There are days now when I leave the office and all I can do is go home and go to sleep.”
Several years ago Bullens spent six-plus hours acquiring the sexual history of a man in San Diego who presented himself as a preacher but was, in fact, a sexual sadist who murdered four people.
“I looked into his eyes and I saw evil,” Bullens recalls. “What he did was beyond most people’s comprehension or imagination, and he talked about it like we would discuss the weather. That stays with you.”
It takes its toll and Bullens admits that he’s open to a career change, but he recognizes that the Lord has placed him in this job for the time being. “I have my whole church [Galt Christian Church in Galt, Missouri] praying for me. We all have gifts, and this happens to be mine. I just pray that the Lord will see fit to use me someplace else.”
Bullens accepted Christ when he was 27, in the Southern Baptist church he grew up in and his parents still attend east of Knoxville, Tenn. He wishes more men would seek help before a court orders them to.
“There’s no question that God will meet you. He can and does do amazing things,” Bullens says. “But the person has to be committed to wanting to stop. The four most important factors in making that happen are intention, determination, faith and family support.”
By Scott Walsh
posted by Drew Dyck at 9:34 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home