John David Norman

Crimes Early crimes 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 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.

Dallas: Odyssey Foundation

On August 13, 1973, the Dallas Police Department received a memo from the FBI stating that they had talked to a 21-year-old named Charles Brisendine, who contacted the agency on the advice of Rob Shivers, the Dallas correspondent of the gay magazine The Advocate. Brisendine told agents that he had been invited to Dallas as a "fellow" by a "sponsor" of an organization called the Odyssey Foundation.

Presenting itself as a support group for gay men, the Odyssey Foundation approached and groomed male youths at bus stations. These boys and young men (referred to as "fellows") were photographed for the organization's 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". Booklets were seized containing the 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 thirty-five U.S. states.

Lt. Harold Hancock of the Dallas police 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 U.S. 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".

In the spring of 1976, while still awaiting trial on charges related to the Homewood offenses, Norman was bailed out of Cook County Jail for $36,000 by an unknown person from California. Shortly before his release, Norman began his next operation, the Delta Project, and began publishing a newsletter called Hermes. Using the jail's printing press, Norman sent out three issues of John Norman's Newsletter, 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 underage male prostitutes recruited in Chicago. In a May 1977 interview with the Chicago Tribune, Norman denied that the Delta Project 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. Norman's self-described "right-hand man" in the Delta Project's operations was Phillip Paske, whom Norman had met in prison in 1973.

In December 1976, Norman was sentenced to four years in prison for the Homewood offenses and sent to Pontiac Correctional Center. Norman was accused of re-founding the Delta Project, now called the Creative Corps and M-C Publications, and operating it out of his apartment on West Wrightwood Avenue, allegedly sending photos of the boys to a "don" in Canada. In a raid of the apartment, 20,000 pink index cards (or possibly 50,000 to 100,000) containing the names of customers were found.

Pennsylvania: Handy Andy Between October 1983 and May 1984, Norman produced and published a child pornography magazine called Handy Andy from his rural home and a nearby motel in Aspers, Pennsylvania. He exploited at least twenty teenage boys from the area, enticing them with drugs and alcohol and photographing them engaged in various sex acts.

Later crimes

Norman was convicted of child molestation in Colorado in 1988 and of distributing child pornography in California in 1995 and 1998. He was eventually released from Atascadero to the rural town of Boulevard, California, under strict conditions. Police stated they did not think Corll's other accomplice, David Owen Brooks, was involved with the Odyssey Foundation, but also did not rule out Corll and Henley as being involved,

Possible connection to John Wayne Gacy Norman is also alleged to have been connected to another serial killer, John Wayne Gacy, who murdered at least 33 teenage boys and young men in Chicago between 1972 and 1978. Norman's closest associate, Phillip Paske, was briefly an employee of Gacy's construction business, PDM Contractors. Police alleged that Paske had taken over running the Delta Project after Norman was sent to prison. In a 1992 interview, Gacy claimed Norman and the Delta Project were producing snuff films of young boys, possibly including some of Gacy's victims.