Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Mother Stabs her 2 Daughters

Police say a mother stabbed her two young daughters — leaving one on life-support — and then stabbed herself at a Southern California home.

Police say 911 calls Wednesday morning sent officers to a home in Westminster. They found the wounded woman and her two daughters, ages 3 and 5.

Westminster police Officer Van Woodson says it appears the 38-year-old woman took her daughters to a relative's home where the stabbings occurred.

All three were hospitalized. Woodson says the 5-year-old was on life-support. The mother and the other girl are expected to survive.

A motive for the attack is under investigation.

Julie Corey Arrested for Cutting Baby from Mother's Womb

WORCESTER, Mass. — A woman accused of kidnapping a baby girl who had been cut from her mother's womb has been ordered held on $500,000 cash bail.

Julie Corey was arraigned on a kidnapping charge Wednesday in Worcester after being extradited to Massachusetts from New Hampshire.

Authorities arrested Corey on July 29 after finding her with the baby at a homeless shelter in Plymouth, N.H.

DNA tests confirmed that the baby was cut from the womb of Darlene Haynes, who was found dead in her Worcester home two days earlier.

Prosecutors have declined to say whether they expect to charge Corey in Haynes' killing.

Corey's attorney said she had "something of a tortured childhood" and is the mother of five children.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WORCESTER, Mass.

A woman accused of kidnapping a baby girl who had been cut from her mother's womb has agreed to return to Massachusetts from New Hampshire to face charges.

Julie Corey had the baby girl with her when she was arrested at a New Hampshire homeless shelter on July 29. DNA tests have confirmed that the baby was cut from the womb of Darlene Haynes, who was found dead in her Worcester home two days earlier.

Tim Connolly, a spokesman for Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr., said arrangements are being made to bring Corey back within a few days. She will then be arraigned on the kidnapping charge.

Connolly declined to say whether prosecutors expect to charge Corey in Haynes' killing.

Andrew Mogilyansky Sentenced to 8 Years for Rape

A wealthy Russian-American car exporter was sentenced to eight years in prison Wednesday for procuring girls from a Russian orphanage to have sex with them.

Andrew Mogilyansky, 39, of suburban Philadelphia raped one girl on her 14th birthday and a 13-year-old in her first sexual encounter, the victims said in letters to the court.

The original indictment and an $8 million civil lawsuit accuse Mogilyansky of helping finance and run an online child-sex ring aimed at rich international customers. However, he pleaded guilty only to being a customer of the now-defunct "Berenika" ring.

"I still feel his repugnant breath. I hate him," one of the victims, now 18, wrote in a statement read in court.

Friends from Mogilyanksy's days at Columbia University testified Wednesday, describing him as brilliant and generous, and his wife called him a loving husband and father. A defense psychotherapist concluded he is not a sexual predator.

But the victims wrote that he left them pained, depressed and unable to trust men since the assaults in 2003 and 2004. Mogilyansky was accused of getting the girls from an orphanage on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, then assaulting them at an apartment in the Russian city.

Mogilyanksy received the top of the 78- to 97-month sentencing range negotiated as part of his plea to four "sex tourism" counts.

U.S. District Judge Mary A. McLaughlin decried "this business of going abroad to have sex with young girls." She found the defendant's accomplishments impressive but called his crimes "grave."

"To take young teenagers from that orphanage to an apartment and have sex with them is a grave criminal act," McLaughlin said.

Mogilyansky had lived in Richboro northeast of Philadelphia with his wife and their three toddlers until his bail was revoked following his December arrest.

"It wasn't until after I was arrested that I looked myself in the mirror and said, 'How could I have done this?'" Mogilyansky told the judge. "This isn't me."

Prosecutors previously estimated his wealth at $5 million to $10 million, and said he earned $750,000 a year as the owner of several businesses, including IFEX Global in Bensalem, the car exporting company.

But defense lawyer Jack McMahon scoffed at suggestions his client remains a millionaire, and prosecutors did not challenge his request for a low fine of $12,500.

Mogilyansky must also pay each victim $5,000 restitution, register as a sex offender after his release and serve 15 years of federal probation.

More than 50 "sex tourism" cases have been brought in the U.S. under the 2003 Protect Act, which aims to prosecute Americans who travel overseas — beyond the reach of U.S. law — to have sex with children.

The criminal case stems from a related 2006 trial in Russia that spawned several convictions, one of which brought a defendant a 10-year sentence.

The civil suit, based in part on evidence from the Russian trial, seeks $8 million in damages from Mogilyansky and others on behalf of five alleged victims. Civil lawyers for the plaintiffs and Mogilyansky did not immediately return calls Wednesday.