Sunday, September 27, 2009

Ricky McDaniel Sentenced to Five Years for Possessing Child Porn

Ricky Lee McDaniel, 53, of Adairsville, was sentenced Friday, Sept.25, by United States District Judge Harold L. Murphy to serve five years in federal prison on charges of possessing child pornography.

“Child pornography is a permanent record of sexual child abuse, and its circulation on the internet haunts the victims for the rest of their lives,” said Acting United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “The defendant in this case had over 1,200 images and four video clips of child abuse stored on dozens of diskettes, and he will now receive the punishment that federal law provides for such deplorable conduct.”

Gordon County Sheriff Mitch Ralston said of the case: “I am pleased with the results of the arrest and prosecution of Ricky Lee McDaniel in connection with the child pornography charges brought against him by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. A defendant such as this is a menace not only to the children in our community, but to children elsewhere in our country. I recognize and applaud all of the intensive investigative work put into this case by the FBI, and I also commend the detective from my own staff who very capably assisted the FBI with this matter. I look forward to enhanced cooperation between the Sheriff’s Office and federal authorities in detecting, arresting, and prosecuting persons involved in such vile activities.”

McDaniel was sentenced to five years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. McDaniel was convicted of the charges on July 21, 2009 after a two-day trial.

According to Acting United States Attorney Yates, other information presented in court and the charges, Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began investigating McDaniel after an investigation in Oklahoma linked his internet service to the receipt of child pornography.

FBI agents assisted Gordon County Sheriff’s Department investigators in executing a search warrant of McDaniel’s home in Calhoun.

Agents found, among other things, over 1,200 images and four video clips of child pornography being sexually abused on approximately 60 floppy diskettes. Several of the children shown being raped and abused in the images and videos were previously identified victims of child abuse cases from across the country.

This case was investigated by Special Agents of the FBI and investigators from the Gordon County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant United States Attorney William G. Traynor prosecuted the case.

This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, the Attorney General launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices around the country, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet.

Jocquise Coleman Faces Charges of Murder by Child Abuse

An 18-year-old Las Vegas man will face a judge Friday, two days after he turned himself in to police to face charges of murder by child abuse.

Jocquise Coleman disappeared after his girlfriend’s baby, 16-month-old Lamaj Terry, was rushed to a hospital with severe injuries that doctors determined were the result of “definite physical abuse.”

Coleman’s girlfriend, Brittany Terry, said she had left the child in his custody several times while she went to work. She told police she noticed some bruises on the boy days before his death, but Coleman insisted the child hurt himself playing.

“You never think it could happen in your own back yard,” a neighbor, Tanisha, saed. “It does make you think twice about who you’re going to trust [with your kids].”

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Previous Stories:
September 23, 2009: Police Arrest Accused Child Killer

Texas Child Protective Services Will Provide More Information About Children Who Die of Abuse

A state law that requires Texas Child Protective Services to provide the public with more information about children who die of abuse quietly went into effect this month.

Although the agency releases some basic information about children who die of abuse or neglect, the practice has never been uniform across the state. Now, within five days of a child abuse death, the agency will have to provide the child's gender, age, date of death, and whether the child was in a foster home or living with a parent or guardian or someone else at the time of death. Law enforcement agencies typically release the names of deceased children, once relatives are notified.

Also, CPS will now have 10 days to produce a report to the public after the agency completes its own investigation into how the child died.

That 10-day report will include whether abuse was a factor in the child's death, a summary of previous abuse reports and those report results, and a description of any services offered to the victim's family before the death.

The law is the third attempt by state Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, to get this information regularly released to the public.

He credited Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Commissioner Anne Heiligenstein for helping him craft a law that passed this last session.

“They have been much more willing to work with us this session than they have been in the past,” Uresti said.

“How are we every going to fix the problem if we don't know what the problems are?” he said.

Uresti first came up against the CPS confidentiality rules as a state representative, following the Christmas Day 2003 death of Jovonie Ochoa, a 4-year-old San Antonio child who had been starved to death by his family.

As a lawmaker and then-chairman of the Texas House Committee on Human Services, Uresti had access to all of the child's information, but the agency's own confidentiality rules barred him from discussing those details with the public.

“My hands were tied,” Uresti said.

Following Jovonie's death, it was revealed that CPS had visited his family the year before but lost track of the family and closed the case. About 20 percent of child abuse deaths in Texas involve children in families already known to CPS.

Three such cases this year in the Houston area prompted Heiligenstein to send a team here to review the agency's investigations.

Two-month-old Amber Maccurdy of Katy, 4-year-old Emma Thompson of Spring and 3-year-old David Lee Tijerina of Conroe all died from abuse after CPS had visited their homes to check on them.

Former Officer Ryan Jackson Arrested for Molesting Juvenile

A former Shreveport police corporal is accused of having inappropriate sexual contact with a female juvenile while working an off-duty security job.

Ryan Jackson, 30, of the 4100 block of Pines Road in Shreveport, was booked into Caddo Correctional Center at 5:10 p.m. Friday after being indicted on one count of molestation of a juvenile. He was there Friday evening on a $75,184 bond, according to online booking records, which later did not list him as being at Caddo Correctional.

Jackson was employed by the Shreveport Police Department at the time of the incident, which was reported April 21, according to news releases from the Police Department and City of Shreveport.

He was placed on paid administrative leave April 28 then fired June 24, as a result of internal and criminal investigations, for violating departmental policies, the releases state.

“When an officer conducts himself in such a manner as to bring disrepute to the badge we are entrusted to wear, it is disappointing and disconcerting,” Police Chief Henry Whitehorn says in one of the statements released after 5 p.m. Friday. “I hold each of my officers to a high standard, and I will simply not tolerate misconduct.”

The case was handed over to the Caddo district attorney’s office, which brought it before a grand jury. That panel returned a secret indictment against Johnson, a seven-year member of the department, the city’s release states.

The date the indictment was handed up was not immediately known Friday by representatives of the Police Department and city. An after-hours phone call to the district attorney’s office was not answered.

Mayor Cedric Glover was “repulsed, disgusted and appalled by the charge” and commended Whitehorn for his swift action in the matter, according to the city’s release.

If convicted as charged, Jackson could face one to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.

The law also includes a provision for more jail time if a juvenile is molested by someone who has control or supervision over the juvenile. The provision increases the possible penalty to up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

And if the juvenile is younger than age 13, Jackson could face 25 years to life in prison if convicted as charged.

Officer Antonio White Arrested for Rape & Incest


MPD Officer Antonio Jose White is now on administrative leave and is facing a number of charges after an investigation by the Houston County Sheriff's Office.

He was arrested Thursday afternoon and is charged with Rape, Incest, Aggravated Child Molestation, Aggravated Sexual Battery, Statutory Rape, Cruelty to Children 1st Degree, and Child Molestation.

White was hired by the Macon Police Department in September of 2007 and was assigned to Patrol for most of that time.
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Information:
http://www.13wmaz.com/news/breaking/story.aspx?storyid=69561&catid=4