Sunday, October 4, 2009

Five People Arrested for Child Abuse

Police say an anonymous tip lead to the arrest of five people charged with abusing a 4-year-old boy who remains in critical condition at a hospital.

Authorities removed nine other children from the same Hattiesburg home.

The home, which neighbors describe as filthy with graffiti on the walls, was leased by 53-year-old Sue Miller and her 34-year-old daughter, Nancy Miller. They were charged Tuesday with felony child abuse along with Patricia Aguilar, 30; Francys Albertson, 20; and Christopher Lee, 37, all of Hattiesburg.

Police spokesman Synarus Green said the "child's body was covered with new and old bruises."

A medical exam showed he had cuts on his head and body, broken teeth and internal abdominal injuries.
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Pictures & More Information: http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20091003/NEWS01/910030328/5-face-child-abuse-charges

Polygamist Raymond Jessop in Court for Sexual Assault

A member of a polygamist sect, whose ranch state officials raided last year, is pleading not guilty to sexual assault of a child.

Raymond Jessop is one of 12 men of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints indicted after the April 2008 raid on their ranch. Jessop is the first to face trial.

The other eleven defendants from the raid on the will be tried seperately later this year.

Michael Barnes Accused of Sexual Abuse

A former Catholic priest from North Carolina has been accused of sexually abusing a child in Ocean City more than 30 years ago.

Ocean City police say 64-year-old Michael Barnes of Haywood, N.C., has been arrested in his home state and is being held there. Police say they got a complaint about the abuse this spring and that the incidents took place between 1977 and 1982.

A Baltimore County man in his 40s filed a lawsuit against Barnes in Delaware in June. David Lorenz, a spokesman for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, says the criminal charges relate to the same alleged victim.

Lorenz says Barnes abused the victim during trips to Ocean City and beaches in Delaware. He says he believes there are other victims.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore says Barnes was the associate pastor of an Essex parish during the time of the alleged abuse and that he left the priesthood in 1988.