Crimes Against Our Children

Stay Safe

2009-11-08T17:32:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all who have visited this site, but I will no longer be posting any new information for a undetermined amount of time. I will however leave all information that is currently posted.

Sgt. Chad Lakey Arrested for Sexual Battery on Child

2009-10-31T21:28:00.000-07:00

An Osceola sheriff's sergeant arrested Friday on a domestic child-sex charge was moved Saturday to the Orange County Jail for his protection.

Chad Lakey, 33, who comes from a family of law officers, was arrested after a South Carolina woman told police he molested her daughter. The incident is said to have happened at Lakey's St. Cloud home in summer 2008. It was reported three weeks ago, St. Cloud Capt. Bret Dunn said.

Bail on the charge of domestic sexual battery of a child older than 12 is $2,500. Lakey, a former St. Cloud police detective, was placed on administrative leave while the Sheriff's Office conducts an internal investigation, department spokeswoman Twis Lizasuain said Saturday.

Lakey is married to St. Cloud police Sgt. Dhalyn Lakey, and his father, Jim Lakey, is a retired Kissimmee police sergeant who lost in the Republican primary for Osceola sheriff in 2004.

Miriam Gallegos & Angel Montoya Charged with Death of 3-year-old

2009-10-31T21:16:00.000-07:00

A woman and her boyfriend pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and child abuse in the death of the woman's 3-year-old daughter, who was found in a trash bag.

Miriam Gallegos and Angel Ray Montoya entered their pleas Friday.

Prosecutors say Montoya killed the child while Gallegos was at work then the couple conspired to cover the crime by disposing of the body in a ravine in September 2007.

The couple told authorities the girl was missing.

Authorities say the child died of asphyxiation.

Montoya faces charges of first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death, while Gallegos faces charges of accessory to a crime and child abuse resulting in death.

Marcus Cobbs Charged with Starving Toddler to Death

2009-10-31T21:13:00.000-07:00

A former member of a religious cult backed out of a plea deal Friday and will face trial on charges that he and others starved a toddler to death because the boy refused to say "Amen" after meals.

Marcus A. Cobbs, 22, had agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of accessory after the fact. But his attorney abruptly withdrew the plea after a dispute with prosecutors over the conditions of his release.

Cobbs will now face trial in January along with three other members of the now-defunct cult known as 1 Mind Ministries. All four face charges of murder and child abuse in the January 2007 death of 1-year-old Javon Thompson and could face life in prison if convicted.

Had Cobbs pleaded guilty, he would not have admitted any role in starving the child. But he did help the cult members cover up Javon's death, according to a statement of facts read in court to support his guilty plea.

He burned a mattress where the boy's body had lain for several days while the cult members prayed for his resurrection, according to the statement. He also measured Javon's body, washed it, wrapped it in a blanket and placed it inside a suitcase that he bought, the statement said.

The cult members drove to Philadelphia with the suitcase containing Javon's body, where they hid it in a shed behind a home, according to the statement and other court documents. The suitcase remained there for more than a year before police found it.

Javon's mother, Ria Ramkissoon, was part of the cult and pleaded guilty to child abuse resulting in death. She is expected to testify against the other members and remains jailed. At the time of her plea in March, she held out hope that Javon would be resurrected, and in an extraordinary arrangement, prosecutors agreed to withdraw her plea if that occurs.

Maureen Rowland, Cobbs' public defender, told the Associated Press she thought her client would receive a five-year suspended sentence and be released from jail immediately after pleading guilty.

"He was only taking it because he wanted to get out of jail," Rowland said. "If he was sitting in jail, it wouldn't be a good deal."

But prosecutors said they never agreed to his immediate release. Their tentative plan was for Cobbs to live with a relative out of state until after the trial of the other three cult members, said Joseph Sviatko, a spokesman for the state's attorney's office.

Attorneys did not bring up their disagreement about the conditions of Cobbs' release until after Baltimore Circuit Judge John Philip Miller accepted the guilty plea.

Clearly exasperated, Miller called the attorneys to the bench for a heated conference, after which Rowland announced that she was withdrawing the plea. Miller agreed to throw it out.

"You didn't have an agreement, it appears," the judge said.

Leon Surgeon Charged with Child Abuse

2009-10-31T19:18:00.000-07:00

Along Clover Meadows Drive you find many families, many children. Babies (with supervision) to teenagers make the rounds Friday night, a number of them passing a home where a three-year-old was Wednesday when police say something happened to her, something criminal.

“It gave me a gut feeling, like I was sick to my stomach,” says Trudy Murray in front of her townhome. She was one of the people who saw police and paramedics pile on to her street then into a house across the street from hers.

“After awhile, they brought this, this body out,” Murray recalls, “She was kind of limpy-looking, and I thought, ‘Oh, my God.’”

“She had a face mask on, like she was trying to be resuscitated from whatever, you know, the situation was,” adds another neighbor.

The situation, as Chesapeake officers tell it, is this: Leon Surgeon was taking care of the three-year-old while her mom was at work. Paramedics wound up taking her to the hospital for what looked like severe head trauma. The extent of her injuries was so bad, she was transferred from Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center to Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters where she was in critical condition late Friday.

Surgeon, who has a (different) child with the three-year-old’s mother, now faces two charges, including felony child abuse.

“It does happen. I see it. I read it,” Murray notes. “It’s just sad, sad what happens to all these children. They’re being abused, and nobody cares.”

“I don’t know what a three-year-old child could do so bad to make someone actually try to hurt them like that,” a neighbor says. “Evidently, this gentleman has a problem with children or with hisself, or life in general.”

13News went to the home out of which neighbors watched emergency workers bring the three-year-old. Someone who answered the door said she knows Surgeon, but wouldn’t say what her connection to him is, and she denied knowing his relationship to the mother of the three-year-old. She went on to say she believed Surgeon was “somewhere else” when the girl was in trouble Wednesday. Pressed for more information, she closed the door and said, “I’m not talking to you.”

“Go after him. Get him,” Murray says. “If anybody does that to a small child, they belong not even on the street, not even any place near children.”
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http://hamptonroads.com/2009/10/chesapeake-police-charge-man-felony-child-abuse

Edward Kestler Arrested for Trying to Meet Minor

2009-10-31T18:32:00.000-07:00

A 29-year-old Bluffton man was arrested earlier this week after driving about three hours in the hope of having sex with an underage girl he met on the Internet, according to investigators.

Edward Joseph Kestler of Baywood Drive was arrested Monday by the Lexington County Sheriff's Department and charged with one count of criminal solicitation of a minor and one count of attempted criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

Investigators say Kestler solicited sex from an undercover Lexington County Sheriff's deputy who posed an as underage girl on the Internet. The deputy was undergoing Internet predator training from S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster's office, according to a news release Friday from the office.

The Lexington County Sheriff's department is part of McMaster's 50-agency Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Kestler arranged to meet the girl at a predetermined location in Lexington County and was arrested by Lexington County Sheriff's deputies and officers from the Town of Chapin Police Department. Police searched Kestler's vehicle and recovered a laptop computer and a removable drive as evidence, according to authorities.

The age of the girl Kestler believed he was meeting was redacted by police from arrest warrants. He was charged with second-degree attempted criminal sexual conduct with a minor, which the state defines as sexual battery against someone between 11 and 14 years old.

Kestler was released Wednesday from the Lexington County Detention Center on $50,000 bond, according to the Lexington County Sheriff's Department.

He faces 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted. The attorney general's office will prosecute Kestler's case.

An April 2007 arrest for assault and battery is Kestler's only prior arrest in Beaufort County, according to the county's online jail log.

Kestler's arrest was the 178th for the task force, which was created in April 2004 to develop a network of state and local agencies to investigate and prosecute Internet child sexual exploitation.

"We know that we have put a dent in this problem just by the sheer number of arrests we've made," said Mark Plowden, spokesman for the attorney general's office. "But we know that for every one that we catch, there are hundreds out there. There is never any loss of perverts on the Internet looking for children. It's a tremendous problem."
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More Information:
http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/1019485.html

Samantha Abernathy Pleads Guilty to Child Abuse

2009-10-31T17:22:00.000-07:00

A 21-year-old woman who was wanted for missing her sentencing hearing on a felony child abuse charge is back behind bars.

Officers from the Arizona Department of Public Safety arrested Abernathy in Mesa about 10:40 a.m. Thursday, and she was being held Friday in the Maricopa County Fourth Avenue Jail, according to jail records.

Samantha Abernathy, who left her two sons, ages 1 and 3, home alone about 2 a.m. June 14, pleaded guilty to one count of felony child abuse on Sept. 11 in Maricopa County Superior Court.

Abernathy was free on bail, and when she did not show up for her sentencing on Oct. 23, a warrant was issued for her arrest. Abernathy had not been checking in with the court and was not cooperating with Pre-Trial Services, the agency that keeps tabs on people who are free on bail, according to court records.

Abernathy was being held on $5,000 bond, and is scheduled to appear for a hearing on Nov. 5, according to jail records.

Under terms of the plea deal, Abernathy will be on probation for 16 years and spend up to a year in a county jail if the court chooses probation. The court also could send her to state prison for up to 18 months, according to state sentencing laws.

Neighbors called police about 7 a.m. to report that the children were wandering around the apartment complex at University Drive and Gilbert Road in Mesa.

When police arrived at the apartment, they discovered it in filthy conditions and the boys hungry. One of the children reached for dog food as police were investigating, according to police.

Robert Edmunds Jr Arrested for Sexual Conduct with Minor

2009-10-30T21:55:00.000-07:00

Warren County Sheriffs arrested a Thurman man early Thursday morning after conducting an investigation into his alleged sexual relationship with a child that occurred for several years.

Robert B. Edmunds, Jr., 37, was arrested when sheriffs pulled his car off exit 15 of the Northway at 4:20 Thursday morning, according to a statement released by sheriffs on Thursday evening.

It was reported that Edmunds was in possession of a rifle and suicidal after he found out about the investigation into his conduct that began on Wednesday.

Police say Edmunds was charged with first degree sexual conduct against a child, arraigned in Glens Falls City Court and remanded to Warren County Jail on $50,000 cash or $100,000 bond.

Edmunds will return to court on November 17.

Gang Rape Suspects in Court

2009-10-30T00:05:00.000-07:00

Security was unusually tight Thursday as four young men made their first court appearance in last weekend's gang rape at Richmond High School, a crime that brought anguish to students and leaders in the city and sent shock waves throughout the nation.

Later Thursday, police arrested a sixth suspect in the case. A fifth suspect was arrested earlier but has not been charged.

Three defendants, all of them juveniles charged as adults, were wearing bulletproof vests when they were led into Superior Court by a corps of Contra Costa County sheriff's deputies. The three - one of whom had a black eye - looked morose and said nothing as relatives wept in the gallery.

Only one, 15-year-old Cody Ray Smith of San Pablo, entered a plea - not guilty - during the brief arraignment in Richmond.

All four were ordered by Judge Peter Berger to come back to court Thursday for more proceedings in the rape of a 15-year-old Richmond High girl, who was attacked after she left the school's homecoming dance Saturday night.

Authorities say the defendants are among as many as 10 young men who raped the girl over two hours in a courtyard on the campus, while others watched and took photos with cell phones.

Richmond police arrested a sixth suspect, Jose Carlos Montano, 18, Thursday afternoon near his San Pablo home. Montano was booked on felony charges of rape, rape in concert with force, and penetration with a foreign object. His bail was set at $1.3 million.

Litany of charges
Smith and two other defendants, Marcelles James Peter, 17, of Pinole and Ari Abdallah Morales, 16, of San Pablo, are juveniles being charged as adults. They all face felony counts of rape in concert, otherwise known as gang rape, and penetration with a foreign object. Morales also is charged with felony robbery for allegedly stealing the girl's jewelry.

The boys are being held at juvenile hall in Martinez on no bail.

The fourth suspect, 19-year-old Manuel Ortega of Richmond, is charged with rape in concert, robbery and assault causing great bodily injury. He is being held on $1.2 million bail.

All four face potential sentences of life in prison if convicted.

The hearings began at 9:50 a.m., when the three boys were walked into court by an uncharacteristically large contingent of five deputies. The defendants' hands were shackled to their waists, and their chests bulged from the bulletproof vests.

Court officials said the vests were needed because of the potential for vigilante violence.

"This crime was extremely callous and brutal," said Deputy District Attorney Dara Cashman. "We've been getting expressions of outrage from all over the country."

Morales' left eye was blackened, as if he had recently been hit.

Relatives tearful
Peter's cousin Monquasha Peter of Richmond burst into tears upon seeing him, and her mother, Monica Peter, dabbed her eyes.

Peter's family accused prosecutors of having racial motives. Peter is the only black suspect named in the case. Smith is white, and the other suspects are Latino.

Peter "didn't have anything to do with this," his aunt said. "He said everyone was just walking past, and he just kept moving when he saw something was going on.

"He's a good kid with no criminal record who likes to play soccer," she said. "I am going to prove his innocence.

"My nephew is scared," she added. "He is the one they've arrested who is black, and if they give my nephew a life sentence, I will sue Richmond. There is no way in hell I will see my nephew blamed in this because he is black."

Ortega's hearing immediately followed the boys'. His hands were cuffed behind his back, but he wore no bulletproof vest and had just one deputy minding him.

Two female relatives of Ortega began to cry as he walked in. They declined to comment afterward, other than to say they didn't think he was guilty.

Court records show that in July, Ortega was arrested in San Pablo on misdemeanor charges of possessing a deadly weapon - a dagger - and spraying graffiti on a house and breaking its windows. The case is pending.

A fifth suspect, 21-year-old Salvador Rodriguez of Richmond, has been arrested but has not been charged.

School troubled
Counseling and discussion sessions were held Thursday at Richmond High to let students vent their despair over the crime and the damage they feel it has done to their community's reputation. They and city leaders plan more gatherings in the coming days.

Authorities say the attack on the girl began when a boy who knew her, possibly Smith, called her over to a group in the courtyard as she was walking by to meet her father after leaving the dance.

Smith is a student at Richmond High, and Ortega dropped out in 2007 after his junior year. Around the same time, Morales transferred from Richmond High to a continuation school, authorities say.

The girl joined the young men in drinking hard liquor but refused to have sex with them, authorities say, and then the group attacked her.

Morales' attorney, Ernie Castillo of Oakland, said his client has no convictions on his record.

"This is a horrible tragedy," Castillo said of the gang rape. "It's hard to understand how something like this could happen at an American high school."

Helping rape victim
Richmond High School is accepting cards and donations for the victim and her family. They can be mailed to the school at 1250 23rd St., Richmond, CA 94804-1011. Make checks out to the Richmond High Student Fund, with "For sex assault victim" written in the memo line.

Brian & Hollie Beston Arrested for Raping 4-Year-Old

2009-10-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

A Kent man and his estranged wife filmed themselves raping a 4-year-old girl and traded Web images of the abuse with a man facing child-molestation charges in Southern California, King County prosecutors allege.

Brian Beston, 36, and Hollie Beston, 31, of Burien, were arrested by Seattle police last week after the FBI learned of the couple from the child-molestation suspect in San Diego, according to the charges filed Wednesday in King County Superior Court.

The Bestons have each been charged with first-degree child rape, first-degree child molestation, sexual exploitation of a minor and depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. They are being held at the King County Jail on $500,000 each.

King County prosecutors say the unlikely tipster is a 38-year-old man, who San Diego authorities say is facing 42 years in prison for years of abusing a boy he was mentoring. The man, Richard Hockaday, reported the Bestons' alleged abuse "as part of his therapy," according to King County charging papers.

The San Diego man told federal investigators that he met the Bestons on Craigslist. Hockaday advertised himself as a single mother looking for parents in Seattle and San Diego with whom to carry out some sort of "fantasy," charging papers said.

Eventually Hockaday started talking to the couple about traveling to Seattle to have sex with the girl, charging papers said. Hockaday said that he watched Beston, who police say is 6 feet tall and 360 pounds, have sex with the small girl over a Webcam, according to court documents.

Hockaday said he received 40 to 50 pornographic images from the Bestons during the three months they were in contact, charging papers said.

After communicating with the Bestons for several weeks, Hockaday was arrested by San Diego police for investigation of sex crimes there. He's accused of sexually abusing a boy he was mentoring between 2003 and 2007, and the victim contacted police earlier this year to report the abuse, said George Modlin, a deputy district attorney in San Diego.

Hockaday is charged with nine felony counts.

Seattle police searched the Bestons' homes in Kent and Burien last Friday and confiscated computers, cameras, flash drives, cellphones and other electronics, court papers said.

Police believe the Bestons abused the girl for several months, charging papers said. Investigators spoke with Brian Beston and believe that he had sexual contact with the girl once or twice each week between June and late September or early October, charging papers said.

Hollie Beston is also accused of operating the camera and sending the images via a cellphone and the Internet. On her MySpace page, the woman describes herself as "a mommy" and a "proud parent."

Neither Brian nor Hollie Beston has a felony record, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Zachary Wagnild said. The Bestons will appear in court for arraignment on Nov. 10.

The child was taken into custody by state Child Protective Services. Investigators do not believe any other children were abused, said Seattle police spokesman Mark Jamieson.

Former Teacher John Hoffman Convicted of Sexually Assaulting Student

2009-10-29T19:21:00.000-07:00

A former northeast Nebraska teacher convicted of sexually assaulting a student has been sentenced to 18 to 25 years in prison.

John Hoffman was sentenced Tuesday in Knox County District Court. He had earlier pleaded no contest to a charge of sexual assault of a child.

Authorities say the 30-year-old Hoffman had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old student. Hoffman was a teacher for the Bloomfield Community Schools at the time.

Hoffman was arrested in April after authorities searched his home and found evidence supporting the teenager's accusations.

Information from: KNEN-FM, http://www.knenfm.com

Bobby Holloway Arrested for Sexually Abusing Child

2009-10-29T19:19:00.000-07:00

Authorities arrested an Albertville man for allegedly sexually abusing a child.

Albertville police arrested Bobby Lee Holloway, 55, Lazy Creek Circle, at 11:47 a.m. Monday and charged him with sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12, said APD spokesman Sgt. Jamie Smith.

Holloway was transferred to the Marshall County Jail under a $20,000 bond, Smith said.

“Holloway was taken into custody on the charge after a lengthy investigation by Chief Detective J.T. Cartee,” Smith said, citing the police report. “The investigation has also uncovered more past incidents, which are also under investigation at this time.”

Smith said the charge is for one victim.

“However, we are still investigating some other possibilities with other victims,” he said.

William Hooker Sentenced to 20 Years for Possessing Child Porn

2009-10-29T19:12:00.000-07:00

A Salt Lake City man was ordered to spend almost 20 years in prison for possessing child pornography.

U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball sentenced William Seth Hooker on Tuesday to 235 months behind bars. Hooker had admitted he possessed depictions of children engaged in sexual activity.

Hooker, 47, has prior convictions for child sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of a minor and rape of a child for crimes that occurred in 1997. He currently is serving a 150-month federal sentence for a 2007 armed bank robbery.

Kimball ordered that 120 months of the pornography term run concurrently with the bank robbery sentence and 115 months run consecutively to it. In addition, he placed Hooker on 10 years of supervised release after he gets out of prison.

Bradley Preston Found Guilty of Sexual Abuse on 8-Month-Old

2009-10-29T19:10:00.000-07:00

A Hancock County jury found a Storm Lake man guilty of second-degree sexual abuse and incest last week in Hancock County District Court.

Bradley Gene Preston, 27, formerly of Britt, was charged in July 2007 with the sexual assault of his eight month-old child. His trial, which took five days, concluded on Oct. 20.

According to a criminal complaint filed in the office of Hancock County Attorney Karen Salic, police were called on June 12 to 114 1st Ave. SW in Britt. Preston told police he was carrying his daughter down the stairs when he slipped on a camera on the steps. He said he thought he might have squeezed her hard enough that it caused her to have a hard bowel movement.

The child was taken to Hancock County Memorial Hospital, but was later moved to Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines for two days of evaluation.

Doctors found perianal bruising on the child and noted blood in her stool. They determined the child's injuries were not consistent with Preston's story.

Preston was the only adult present at the time of the injury, the complaint said.

Preston was free on bond until his court date. He is now being held in the Hancock County Jail pending sentencing, according to Salic.

Judge Stephen Carroll has ordered a pre-sentence investigation. A sentencing date has not been set.

Second-degree sexual abuse is a Class B felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison. Incest is a Class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Polygamist Raymond Jessop Arrested for Sexually Assaulting Teen

2009-10-29T19:07:00.000-07:00

A 38-year-old man from a polygamist sect sexually assaulted a teenager less than half his age at the Yearning For Zion Ranch, a prosecutor charged Wednesday to open the first criminal trial since the ranch was raided.

An attorney for defendant Raymond Jessop disputed the allegation, telling jurors there is no evidence Jessop sexually assaulted the girl in Schleicher County. The location is critical, since prosecutors must prove they have the jurisdiction to prosecute the alleged crimes.

Jessop was one of 12 members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints charged after authorities raided the ranch last year and swept 439 children into foster care. The children were later returned to their parents after an appellate court intervened, but documents and DNA seized during the raid resulted in criminal indictments on charges ranging from failure to report child abuse to sexual assault and bigamy.

All the men will be tried separately.

Both sides presented opening statements Wednesday evening in Jessop's case after 12 jurors — seven men and five women — were culled from a pool of 300, the largest ever called in this tiny county 200 miles northwest of San Antonio.

Assistant Attorney General Eric Nichols said Jessop was 33 when he had sex a 16-year-old girl, who later gave birth to a daughter. Under Texas law, generally, no one under 17 can consent to sex with adult. Nichols did not discuss the relationship between the two in his opening statement, but prosecutors have said in court documents the teen is one of Jessop's nine wives. Jessop has also been indicted on a bigamy charge that will be tried later.

"You will see evidence that establishes that this offense — the offense of sexual assault of (the teen) — occurred just down the road from this courthouse at the YFZ Ranch," Nichols told jurors.

Defense attorney Mark Stevens said prosecutors would not be able to show evidence of a crime occurring in Texas, and he urged jurors not to be distracted by the alleged polygamy or the religious beliefs Jessop and the church. Broadcast images of women from the church wearing prairie dresses and distinctive braids were impossible to ignore during the weeklong raid in April 2008.

"We don't try people because of their hairstyles or their clothes. We don't try people because of their religious practices," Stevens said. "We try people based on evidence, facts and proof."

Testimony in the case is scheduled to begin Thursday. Nichols had previously said the trial would take about two weeks. Prosecutors have prepared to call dozens of witnesses, including law enforcement officials, child welfare workers and church members.

The FLDS is a breakaway sect that is not recognized by the Mormon church. It has historically been based along the Arizona-Utah border, but church members bought a 1,700-acre ranch outside Eldorado about six years ago and began building log cabin-style homes and a four-story limestone temple that is visible from the highway that run's through the town of about 2,000 people.

Sect Leader Warren Jeffs was arrested in 2006 and convicted as an accomplice to rape in Utah for arranging an underage marriage there. He awaits trial on similar charges in Arizona before he can be tried for sexual assault of a child and bigamy in Texas.

Fearing possible prosecution for underage marriages, Jeffs allegedly advised Jessop not to take the 16 year old to the hospital even though she was struggling for days in child labor. One of Jeffs' daughters allegedly married Jessop at age 15 and is the focus of the separate bigamy indictment.

The Mormon church, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

Piano Teacher Donald Palmer Convicted of Molesting Student

2009-10-25T19:36:00.000-07:00

A 60-year-old Allouez piano teacher was convicted Friday of molesting a student during a piano lesson in May.

Donald Palmer offered a special plea to second-degree sexual assault of a child that allows him to maintain his innocence, but concede there in enough evidence for a judge or a jury to find guilt.

Palmer was arrested May 2 after a 14-year-old boy told authorities that Palmer had sexual contact with him during a lesson at Palmer’s Allouez home. Palmer posted bail but was arrested two days later and charged with bail jumping for calling the boy’s mother to apologize despite a condition of bail that forbid him from having contact with the boy or his family.

Palmer posted bail again and was arrested May 19 for allegedly pushing his 84-year-old mother down during an argument. He was charged with bail jumping and disorderly conduct for that incident.

Palmer posted bail but was arrested a fourth time on Aug. 27 after he was involved in a car accident and allegedly drank a large amount of vodka. His bail included a condition of absolute sobriety.

Palmer, on Friday, pleaded no contest to the felony bail jumping charge stemming from his call to the victim’s mother. The two other bail jumping charges and the misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge were dismissed as part of Palmer’s plea deal.

All three dismissed charges can be considered at his Dec. 18 sentencing hearing.

Palmer faces up to 46 years in prison.

After entering his pleas, Palmer asked to have his bail reduced citing a need to “re-establish his credibility” and deal with some health issues. Brown County Circuit Court Judge William Atkinson denied the request.

Kenji Haley Arrested for Sexually Abusing Children

2009-10-25T19:07:00.000-07:00

A 31-year-old man accused of sexually abusing children for years under the guise of dating single mothers has been arrested, Cook County sheriff's police said Saturday.

Kenji Haley had eluded authorities since 2007 when he was charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child younger than 10.

The sheriff's department said it recently learned Haley was seeing as many as 10 women with young children in Cook County.

Police arrested Haley Thursday at a home in the 8700 block of South Kingston Avenue.

The department has opened an investigation into Haley regarding possible Chicago-area victims.

Michael Davis Arrested for Raping Girls Age 10 & 11

2009-10-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

A Mooringsport man has been arrested by Caddo deputies after charges that he raped two girls, aged 10 and 11 at the time of the attacks, Sheriff Steve Prator says.

Michael Jerry Davis, 32, of the 400 block of Weston Street, was arrested at his residence late Thursday by Detectives Jackie Winston and Dorothy Brooks.

The alleged abuse by Davis has been ongoing for several years, the detectives said. Davis is accused of raping a girl numerous times over a two-year period beginning in 2004. The victim was 10 years old when the sexual abuse began.

An 11-year-old girl also reported she was raped several times by Davis between June and November 2008, detectives said.

Davis was booked into Caddo Correctional Center on two counts of aggravated rape.

His bond has been set at $500,000.
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http://www.wxvt.com/Global/story.asp?S=11372567

Sick Couple Charged with Having Sex with 18-Month-old Daughter

2009-10-22T11:44:00.000-07:00

A Punta Gorda man has been charged with having sex with the 18-month-old daughter of his girlfriend, who detectives say was also involved in the acts.

Glenn M. Nelson, 59, of the 28000 block of Bermont Road, was arrested Tuesday and charged with capital sexual battery and lewd and lascivious molestation on a child under 12, the Charlotte Sheriff's Office said.

He is being held without bond at Charlotte County Jail.

The Sheriff's Office has not released details about the victim's mother, who lives in Port Charlotte. The investigation continues and more charges are expected, sheriff's spokesman Bob Carpenter said.

Detectives searched the mother's home and found child pornography on her computer. Chat sessions between the couple discussing having sex with the baby on webcam were also found, officials said.

Detectives then searched Nelson's apartment and offices at the Villa Del Sol apartments in Punta Gorda, where he is the property manager. They said the couple engaged in sexual acts with the girl since she was born. Photos were taken and sent to Nelson's home computer and his workplace, the Sheriff's Office reported.

Detectives filed additional charges against Nelson after an investigator located photos in his computer.

The baby was initially turned over to the Department of Children and Families, and is now with a relative.
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http://www.news-press.com/article/20091022/NEWS01/910220365/1002

Antonio Moreno Arrested for Sexual Battery on Child

2009-10-18T23:22:00.000-07:00

43-year-old Antonio Arementero Moreno of Tampa, Florida was arrested Wednesday and charged with Sexual Battery on a Child Older Than 12 and Lewd and Lascivious Molestation on a Child Older Than 12. He had a bond hearing earlier today and has been ordered held without bail. Moreno is currently lodged in the Hillsborough County Jail.

Moreno has apparently been sharing a bedroom with the boy at Moreno's home although their relationship has not been made public by the Hillsborough County Sheriff.

The sexual battery took place around midnight and the boy told his father about the incident, who called police as soon as it became known to him.

Moreno, who is unemployed, was also arrested back in January by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office on a Domestic Battery charge. He was released on his own recognizance the next day. I don't know if it's been to court or not but will try and update this post later in the week when I have time.

Former Officer Travis Ezell Arrested for Child Porn

2009-10-15T22:17:00.001-07:00

A former University of Oklahoma police officer was arrested and booked into the Cleveland County Jail on a complaint of possession of child pornography.

Travis Lee Ezell, 41, allegedly downloaded the pornography from his home computer.

OU Police Lt. Bruce Chen said Ezell is recently no longer with the OU Police Department.
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http://www.normantranscript.com/localnews/local_story_287011551

Teacher Deanna Higgins Charged with Sexual Assault

2009-10-15T21:55:00.000-07:00

A Spring High School teacher has been accused of having an improper relationship with a student, KPRC Local 2 reported Tuesday.

Science teacher Deanna Higgins has been charged with having an improper relationship between an educator and a student and sexual assault of a child. Both charges are second-degree felonies.

Higgins has been a science teacher at the school since January 2008. She is on administrative leave from the school.

Principal Donna Ullrich sent a letter home to parents to alert them to the situation.

"I want to assure you that the safety of our students is of the highest importance," she said. "Inappropriate behavior with our students will never be tolerated or overlooked."

Ullrich said a second teacher is also on administrative leave in a separate issue. She said she could not release details about that case until the investigation is complete.

Spring ISD released the following statement.

"Incidents involving improper relationships between teachers and students are not tolerated in Spring ISD. We have made it our practice to take allegations of this nature seriously. We will investigate thoroughly any report we receive and pursue criminal charges when appropriate."
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http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/091013_spring_teacher_charged

Fannie Schwartz Charged with Endangering Welfare of child

2009-10-15T21:36:00.000-07:00

The wife of a man charged with sexually abusing two young girls, is now also charged in the case.

Prosecutors today charged Fannie J. Schwartz, 47, of Seymour, with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

Late last week, Johnny Schwartz (right) was charged with statutory sodomy and first degree child molestation, for incidents that allegedly happened over an eight year period ending in June 2008.

Now prosecutors accused Fannie Schwartz of allowing her husband to have sexual contact with the girls.

Court documents say the girls were 6 and 14 when the abuse began.

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http://www.kspr.com/news/local/64466317.html

Terry Lane Lee Arrested for Sexual Assault

2009-10-15T21:34:00.000-07:00

In Midland, police have arrested and charged a man with two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child.

A warrant for 46-year-old Terry Lane Lee of Midland was issued Tuesday, and he was arrested yesterday, after two female victims reported the abuse to authorities in Fort Worth.

Fort Worth Police and CPS then contacted the Midland Police Department about the case.

Police say the assaults occurred at west Midland apartment complexes over a period of ten years and that the victims and lee know each other.
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http://www.oaoa.com/news/midland-38062-jauz-children.html

Signs Of Sexual Abuse

2009-10-15T21:31:00.000-07:00

According to the Arkansas Coalition Against Sexual Assault, more than 65% of all sexual assault victims are under the age of 18. Of every 10 people, nine have identified the assailant as someone they know. We talked to two doctors Thursday about the problems related to sexual abuse.

"A lot of times in working with children or even adolescents or adults who have been victims of any type of abuse, there can be a series of several different types of emotions," said Dr. Bill Smith, Clinical Manager at St. Bernard's Behavioral Health.

"If left untreated, sometimes this can result in major episodes of depression," said Smith.

Smith said sexual abuse can trigger anxiety, depression and nightmares later in life.

"A lot of emotions come to play and sometimes these emotions for some individuals can develop into some type of behavioral or mental illness," said Smith.

Smith said the best course of action for anyone suffering from sexual abuse symptoms need to seek the help of a medical professional.

According to Dr. Elmo Diaz, a psychiatrist with Families Inc, the major problem with sexual assault in victims of any age is that it often goes unreported.

"If we're able to raise awareness in the public, that number will shrink," said Diaz. "Obviously people don't recognize signs. People who are in touch with students, with the kids like the teachers or the parent itself."

"They're having emotions or feelings that kind of take them back to that abusive time. That can be very difficult the older you are. It's harder to do that sometimes," said Smith. "I think the more people are aware of this type of help in therapy and counseling can be very beneficial to children adolescents and adults."

"The first thing that we need to do is to listen to the children. Sometimes we brush off things that are not supposed to come out of a 3, 4 year old's mouth," said Diaz. "Sometimes they're telling you it's going on. What's going on?"

"If it's ongoing at the time, I would think the child is scared. The fear that they may have been threatened by the person who is abusing them or persons that are abusing them," said Smith. "They may have a fear that they're going to get hurt or that whoever the person is that's abusing them may hurt someone that they love in their family."

Diaz said one sign is that children become more isolated in society.

"Sudden avoidance of people and places, no I don't want to go, I don't want to go, that kind of thing. Pay attention to that," said Diaz.

"Fear would be probably the initial reason why the child or adolescent doesn't report that to a caregiver or a parent," said Smith.

Diaz said children tell one parent that the other is abusing them, but the report isn't recognized as believable because of denial.

"They have been sexually abused by one parent. They tell the other parent and they don't believe them. That kind of thing goes on a lot too," said Diaz. "No one sign alone will give us the clue of sexual abuse, but it's a group of things. If there is a sexual abuse, there will be a group of things."

Police Looking for Man Who Sexually Assaulted 7-year-old Girl

2009-10-15T21:30:00.000-07:00

Police are looking for a man they believe sexually assaulted a 7-year-old girl.

The child was at Children’s Medical Center of Dayton for evaluation on Thursday evening, Oct. 15, Dayton Lt. Brian Johns said.

The suspect, an associate of the victim’s mother, is believed to have sexually assaulted the child several times over the course of several days, Johns said.

The victim’s mother got information that the assaults occurred and followed up with the victim, Johns said.

Dennis Earl Bradford Accused of Raping & Slitting Throat of 8-year-old

2009-10-15T21:16:00.000-07:00

An Arkansas man accused of raping an 8-year-old girl and slitting her throat 19 years ago returned to Texas Wednesday night after waiving extradition.

Dennis Earl Bradford, 40, waived extradition proceedings after his arrest on Tuesday in North Little Rock, Ark., on a charge of attempted capital murder in the 1990 abduction and sexual assault of Jennifer Schuett, now 27 and living in League City.

DNA testing techniques developed since 1990 allowed the FBI to match DNA found on a man’s underwear and T-shirt to a DNA sample taken from Bradford after his 1999 kidnapping conviction in Hot Springs, Ark. The underwear and T-shirt were discovered near the overgrown lot where Schuett, naked and bleeding from a slit throat, was dumped on a fire ant mound.

In a brief hearing today at the county jail, Bradford waived appointment of an attorney and said he would hire one. The next hearing is set for next Wednesday.

Katrina Darasouk Arrested for Child Abuse

2009-10-15T20:53:00.000-07:00

Prosecutors on Wednesday charged the mother of a 2-year-old -- who ended up with bleeding on his brain because of alleged abuse at her boyfriend's hands -- for putting him in a position that endangered his life.

After spending a night in jail, Katrina Darasouk headed into the courtroom with shackles at her ankles.

A judge set her percentage bond at $50,000 after she said quietly she understood the child abuse charge she faced and that it carried up to 20 years in prison if she's convicted.

Police say Darasouk woke up Sept. 20 to her boyfriend, Joshua Ironshell, yelling at her son and found them in the bathroom.

Darrek Andrew was unresponsive and appeared to be having a seizure.

But, police allege, Darasouk agreed with Ironshell not to take him to the hospital because he feared bruises on the boy would lead to a child abuse investigation.

Two days later, her son had another seizure while in Ironshell's care.

This time, Darasouk drove Darrek to the hospital. She told police later she thought her son was going to die.

He was unresponsive, his breathing labored, when she got him to the emergency room at BryanLGH Medical Center West.

He was taken by helicopter to Children's Hospital in Omaha, where he was diagnosed with bleeding on the brain and in the blood vessels at the back of the eye, spinal fractures and multiple bruises. He had old scarring on his buttocks.

Police say doctors treated Darrek, and he since has been released from the hospital. He was placed in foster care while police and Health and Human Services investigate, and he continues to suffer from lingering vision and balance issues.

According to court documents, Darasouk told police Ironshell was the boy's primary care provider, and that she had no idea how he got the injuries.

Police now believe she'd seen Ironshell spanking her son at least once before and told him to stop.

Sometime in the week of Sept. 12-16, police believe, Ironshell, spanked him hard enough they both fell in the shower.

Police allege Ironshell had spanked the boy while holding him by one arm, then hit him on the buttocks, hip and lower back causing swelling. He walked stiff-legged after the fall, they say.

On Sept. 20, the boy had a seizure and briefly stopped breathing, according to the affidavit filed in Lancaster County Court.

A second seizure happened on Sept. 22, the court document said. In it, police allege Ironshell and Darasouk did not take him to the hospital right away because Ironshell didn't want to be investigated for child abuse.

The charge against Darasouk alleges she went along with it, despite it putting her son in a position that endangered his life.

At about 10 a.m. Tuesday, police lodged her.

A week ago, they arrested Ironshell, later charged with felony child abuse and first-degree assault.

Benjamin Koller Arrested for Causing the Death of his 4-month-old Son

2009-10-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

Prosecutors are expected to file a murder charge Thursday morning against a 26-year-old Lafayette man suspected of causing the injuries that led to his 4-month-old son's death earlier this month.

Benjamin Koller was arrested in July on suspicion of child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury shortly after his badly injured infant, Jack Sebastian Koller, was hospitalized. Because the baby died since his arrest, court records show charges of first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death are expected to be filed during a scheduled hearing Thursday morning.

Jack Sebastian Koller died Oct. 12 while in hospice case. He was born May 27 and hospitalized July 21. The baby suffered bite marks to his left leg and both arms, bruises on his head, retinal bleeding, a skull fracture, a torn frenulum and a bruise behind his ear consistent with being grabbed by the ear, according to Benjamin Koller's arrest warrant affidavit. Doctors told investigators that fluid had to be drained from the baby’s brain.

Prosecutors delayed filing charges against Benjamin Koller because the baby was expected to die from his injuries.

According to Benjamin Koller's arrest warrant affidavit, Koller told investigators that he dropped the baby several times, would bite and shake him to get a reaction when he was unresponsive, and had held his hand over the baby’s mouth until he changed color to stifle his cries.

Jack Koller's condition unexpectedly improved after his hospitalization despite predictions that he would die and he was released Aug. 10 to his maternal grandparents. However, his condition again deteriorated and he was readmitted to the hospital, according to prosecutors.

Benjamin Koller is being held at the Boulder County Jail on a $1 million bond.

Officer Douglas Spensley Arrested for Sexually Assaulting 9-year-old

2009-10-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

Macon County authorities say a part-time police officer from Warrensburg has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl.

Decatur Police detectives say they arrested 42-year-old Douglas H. Spensley Wednesday morning at his Decatur home without incident.

Deputy Decatur Police Chief Todd Walker said Spensley was believed to be a family friend of the victim's parents.

Spensley was charged with predatory criminal sexual assault and was being held on $500,000 bond.

Spensley, who has been on Warrensburg's police force since 2006, has been placed on unpaid administrative leave, pending an internal investigation and any other criminal proceedings.

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http://www.herald-review.com/news/local/article_a10e1eba-25b8-5ec9-ae5d-3f20f09728ca.html

Robert Larry Pepper Arrested for Child Abuse

2009-10-15T17:59:00.000-07:00

A Kannapolis man has been charged with child abuse after EMS paramedics found a 12-year-old girl in a home with two drunken men.

The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office charged Robert Larry Pepper, of 2685 China Grove Road, Kannapolis, with misdemeanor child abuse and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Capt. John Sifford said EMS paramedics responded to the 2695 China Grove Road address to answer a call related to a fall around 1 a.m. Saturday.

Sifford said the paramedics found Tony Lavon Grimes, another resident of the single-wide mobile home, on the floor, apparently passed out.

EMS and deputies found Pepper drinking beer, unstable on his feet and the home "smelled horribly of beer," according to the report.

Pepper told paramedics he was plastered and needed an ambulance to go to the hospital.

Pepper’s 12-year-old daughter, who was also there, was described as upset and crying.

Deputies contacted the Rowan County Department of Social Services and stood by until a staffer arrived.

Sifford said the parents are divorced and the mother has custody during the week and the father has custody on the weekend.

Sifford said the child told officers that she slept in a recliner during weekend visits.

Thomas Hunt Arrested for Sexual Assault

2009-10-15T17:53:00.000-07:00

A North Platte man faces three more counts of sexual assault of a child.

Lincoln County authorities say 40-year-old Thomas Hunt was arrested Wednesday on accusations stemming in part from an incident last summer at Lake Maloney, which is south of North Platte.

Hunt had already been charged with third-degree sexual assault of a child - the same 11-year-old girl - and had been free on $5,000 bond.

North Platte Police Lt. Rick Ryan told station KOOQ of North Platte that incidents stemming back two years with the girl are part of the investigation.

His new bail amount was set at $100,000.

Attempts by The Associated Press to reach Hunt on Thursday were unsuccessful. Jail officials say he's still in custody. His attorney wouldn't comment.
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Information from: KOOQ-AM

Remonse Holt Charged with Sexual Assault on 7-year-old

2009-10-15T14:40:00.000-07:00

A teenager has been charged in the sexual assault of a 7-year-old.

Remonse Holt, 17, is charged with one count of predatory criminal sexual assault after an incident that allegedly occurred early last month in the 6800-block of South Wabash Avenue.

The young female victim was treated at Comer Children's Hospital and released.
Police say the suspect, a CPS student who resides in the 2300-block of South Kostner Avenue, knew the victim.

Holt was arrested at 2 p.m. Wednesday at 3000 S. King Dr., Dunbar Vocational Career Academy High School.
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http://www.examiner.com/x-7520-Chicago-Crime-Examiner~y2009m10d15-Teen-charged-in-sexual-assault-of-7yearold

Former Officer Ken Fox Wanted for Child Porn

2009-10-14T22:27:00.000-07:00

The wife of a former Oakland CHP officer was arrested by the FBI on a warrant today charging her with molesting two of her husband's young children last year and having thousands of images of child pornography on a home computer, authorities said.

Her husband, Ken Fox, 35, is still at large and being sought on the same charges by authorities who said he may have tried to fake his own death in Mexico recently.

Arrested today in San Diego was Brandie Fox, also known as Brandie Gerth, 26, the children's stepmother. Authorities said she recently split from her husband and was arrested soon after crossing the border into the United States from Mexico.

Oakland police said the California Highway Patrol told them Ken Fox had been fired. CHP officials did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Brandie Fox was arrested on an Oakland police warrant charging her with lewd and lascivious conduct with a child and possession of child pornography.

Oakland police received an anonymous tip in March 2008 from someone who believed the children were being molested during visits to the couple's Oakland home on 36th Street, not far from CHP headquarters. The children live with their biological mother but visit Fox and his wife, police said.

Authorities said Ken Fox's four children range in age from 1 to 8. Authorities said their investigation revealed that the two oldest children, 5 and 8 at the time, were encouraged to fondle their stepmother's breasts and encouraged to talk about bondage. Police said the 5-year-old girl had a leather spiked collar placed around her neck and was walked around the couple's apartment on a leash.

Police said Brandie Fox was studying for her teaching credential at the time of the molestations and wanted to be a kindergarten teacher.

In March 2008, police served a search warrant at the 36th Street apartment and seized computers that turned out to contain more than 3,000 images of child pornography, including some pictures of infants. None of those images were of Ken Fox's own children, police said.

Police said the couple were interviewed in March 2008 but denied any wrongdoing. The couple were not arrested at the time and fled the area before investigators could confirm what happened to the children and get into the computers.

Anyone with information about the case may call the Oakland police at 510-238-3641.

Officer Keith Koen Arrested for Child Porn

2009-10-14T21:27:00.000-07:00

Louisiana State Police arrested a 41-year-old sergeant with the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday morning on a count of pornography involving juveniles.

Keith Koen, of New Iberia, was arrested after investigators allegedly discovered images of child pornography on his computer, said Trooper Stephen Hammons, a spokesman for Louisiana State Police.

Capt. Wendell Raborn, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, said Koen had worked with the office since 2008 and was assigned to the Support Services Division, which handles emergency preparedness.

The Sheriff’s Office assisted State Police in the investigation.

Authorities executed a search warrant at Koen’s residence on Texaco Street in New Iberia.

Koen immediately turned in his resignation upon his arrest, according to a news release from the Sheriff’s Office.

Hammons could not say what prompted the investigation. He said no additional arrests are expected but the investigation is ongoing pending further examination of electronic storage media.

If convicted, Koen faces a fine of not more than $10,000 and a maximum possible sentence of not less than 2 years nor more than 10 years, according to state laws.

No bond had been set Tuesday morning, according to the release.

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http://www.klfy.com/Global/story.asp?S=11309543

Music Teacher James Jordan Arrested for Lewd Act with Child

2009-10-13T22:50:00.000-07:00

A music teacher in Sacramento has been arrested for allegedly abusing young children, and authorities believe there are other victims who haven't yet come forward.

James Charles Jordan, 53, was arrested on Saturday and charged with six counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14 years old. The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department says Jordan is a music minister for a local church and gives private piano and organ lessons to children.

Because of Jordan's close contact with kids, detectives say they believe there is a "high probability" there are victims that haven't come forward yet.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call Sheriff's child abuse detectives at (916) 874-8002.

Officer Billy Hurst Accused of Watching Child Porn on City Computers

2009-10-13T22:29:00.000-07:00

The fate of a Clinton police officer accused of viewing more than 23 hours of pornography during work hours could be known soon.

The Clinton Police and Fire Commission is set to meet today at City Hall, and included in the meeting's agenda is discussion of the employment case of 40-year old Billy Hurst. The 15-year veteran is accused of watching pornography on city-owned computers between November 2008 and January 2009.

Earlier this summer, the Commission heard a day and a half of testimony in the Hurst case.

He's accused of violating nine department rules including acting in a manner disrespectful of the law, violation of public trust and conduct unbecoming an officer.

Hurst has remained on the department staff since the charges were brought against him, however he was removed from his position as juvenile officer and reassigned to an overnight patrolman shift.

Hurst has not been criminally charged, however Police Chief Mike Reidy has asked for his dismissal from the force.

Deputy Mike Chauvin Arrested for Having Sex with Minor

2009-10-08T23:48:00.001-07:00

A 23-year veteran deputy of the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department was in custody Wednesday, accused of having sex with a minor who often baby-sat his adolescent son at the deputy’s Orange Grove home, Harrison County Sheriff Melvin Brisolara said.

The sheriff said 48-year-old Mike Chauvin, who’s been serving as a school resource deputy at North Woolmarket Elementary School for the past eight years, initially was suspended with pay Monday night as soon as the parents of the victim, now 17, came in to report their suspicions about Chauvin possibly engaging in sex acts with their daughter.

Brisolara said the Sheriff’s Department started conducting an internal investigation, but quickly realized that the case was turning criminal and turned over their findings to the Gulfport Police Department because the crime allegedly occurred in their jurisdiction at Chauvin’s home. Gulfport police made the arrest Wednesday, charging Chauvin with one count of sexual battery.

The investigation is continuing to determine if other charges would be filed, such as an enhanced charge of sexual battery while in a position of trust or authority. The maximum penalty for sexual battery is 20 years in prison.

The sheriff said Chauvin apparently began a sexual relationship with the girl sometime after she started baby-sitting for him in the past two years. “She was younger (than 17) when this happened,” Brisolara said.

On Wednesday, Harrison County sheriff’s investigators were continuing to work with Gulfport investigators to determine if additional charges will follow.

Brisolara said he hadn’t spoken to Chauvin since the investigation started, adding “I have no intention of talking to him.”

Brisolara was working at the Sheriff’s Department when Chauvin, whom he described as a quiet man, joined the force, first serving as a reserve officer before going full-time and working over the years in patrols and community relations before taking over as a school resource officer. Brisolara said the complaint this week was the first the Sheriff’s Department has received against him during his tenure.

Since Brisolara started serving his first term in office, he said he’s had to get rid of other sheriff’s deputies for violating departmental policies and procedures, and “this is the first criminal case I’ve worked (involving a deputy) since I’ve been in office.”

The sheriff said Chauvin was terminated Wednesday. After his arrest, he was taken to the Harrison County jail, where Brisolara said Chauvin was being placed in isolation for safety reasons.

As for the investigation that led to the arrest of one of Brisolara’s own deputies, he said he had no regrets.

Alyna Gutierrez Tries to Flush Her Baby Down the Toilet

2009-10-07T23:17:00.000-07:00

A 19-year-old Lancaster woman who allegedly claimed to have suffered a miscarriage was arrested today on suspicion of attempted murder and child neglect.

Alyna Gutierrez showed up at an Antelope Valley hospital Sept. 30 saying that she had a miscarriage at her home and had flushed the remains down the toilet, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.

While Gutierrez was at the hospital, her mother found a newborn girl in her daughter's apartment.

Gutierrez was hospitalized for an infection she received during child birth. She was released this morning and arrested by investigators, the department said.

The baby, who weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces, was listed in good condition today and will be placed in protective custody.

Officer Douglas Paulsen Arrested for Trying to Meet Boy for Sex

2009-10-07T23:08:00.000-07:00

A West Valley City police officer has been arrested for trying to meet a teenage boy for sex. That "boy" was really an undercover detective.

West Valley Police said there was nothing to indicate one of their own would be accused of a sex crime, but Officer Douglas Paulsen, a 19-year veteran with the West Valley City Police Department, is now on the other side of the law.

Tuesday afternoon, Layton police arrested the 41-year-old police officer at the Layton Hills Mall. Police say Paulsen went there to meet who he thought was a 15-year-old boy.

"Later, they were going to move to another location to engage in a sexual act," said Layton police Sgt. Jason Hinojosa.

The teen was actually an undercover officer assigned to the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force. The officer, posing as a teenager, responded to an Internet ad last month and began exchanging e-mails with Paulsen. Investigators said Paulsen sent the detective pornography.

"I'm sure the public would expect officers to be held to a higher standard," Hinojosa said.

Paulsen was a school resource officer at Hunter High School. West Valley Police said they don't think any students there were victimized.

"We don't have any reason to believe that there was any inappropriate activity that took place in relationship to his assignment as a school resource officer," said West Valley Assistant Police Chief Craig Black.

Paulsen is on paid administrative leave during this investigation. KSL News went to Paulsen's home Wednesday evening. A man who answered the door said neither he nor Paulsen had a comment on the investigation.

Trial Set for Lucy & Christopher Wilson Accused of Abusing their Baby

2009-10-06T23:24:00.000-07:00

Jury trials have been set for the Terre Haute couple accused of abusing their baby.

Lucy Wilson, 19, is accused of neglecting her baby boy, while her husband Christopher Wilson allegedly broke the baby's bones.

The baby was already receiving medical care at home and hooked up to a feeding tube, since he was born prematurely.

According to court documents, Lucy Wilson admitted to police her husband beat the baby when the child would move his feeding tube. Both parents are facing felony charges of neglect of a dependent.

Christopher Wilson also faces a charge of battery. His trial date is set for Feb. 23.

Lucy Wilson is expected to head to trial March 16.

Officer Anthony Santo Arrested for Sexually Assaulting Minor

2009-10-05T18:25:00.000-07:00

An 18-year veteran of the Norwalk Police Department has been placed on administrative leave after he was arrested Friday by Greenwich Police for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor.

Officer Anthony Santo, 42, turned himself into the Greenwich Police Department on a warrant for second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor.

Greenwich Police said the arrest stems from a three-month long investigation into the sexual assault of a minor and would not divulge further details about the arrest.

Norwalk Police Chief Harry Rilling said the arrest is related to an incident that occurred five or six years ago at a home in Greenwich. He could not give details of the arrest because the investigation is ongoing.

Rilling said the department will await the outcome of the criminal investigation before deciding whether to take further action in the matter.

"He's been a member of the department for quite some time," he said. "We've never had any complaints about him from the community or his fellow officers."

Sources close to The Hour said the sexual-assault victim may have only recently revealed the allegations to police. Under Connecticut state law, the statute of limitations to file a rape charge is 30 years after the incident occurred.

Friday's arrest marks the third time in three years that a Norwalk police officer has been charged with sex crimes.

Former Lieut. Thomas Cummings was arrested in January 2008 on multiple charges stemming from accusations of inappropriate sexual contact with two teenage boys.

Former officer Ray DeCamillo was recently released from prison after serving a nine-month sentence for sexually assaulting a 20-year-old Norwalk woman while on duty in 2006. He registered on the New Canaan sex-offender registry in September.

Coy Fields Sentenced 2 to 15 Years for Sexually Abusing 6-year-old

2009-10-05T18:15:00.000-07:00

Coy Fields will serve 2 to 15 years in prison after he sexually abused a 6-year-old three times in May in Quincy Township.

The child’s mother tearfully told Branch County Circuit Court Judge Bill O’Grady that the family only “agreed to a plea bargain” to prevent the girl from reliving the incidents again at trial.

Fields, 43, had originally been charged with first- and second-degree criminal sexual conduct. Judge O’Grady said the sentence was according to the Michigan Sentencing Guidelines.

“Your crime is very disturbing,” O’Grady said. “I am incarcerating you not only to protect the children, but to protect the entire community from your predatory behavior.”

Five People Arrested for Child Abuse

2009-10-04T18:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-04T18:18:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-04T18:13:00.000-07:00

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.

Oscar Expinosa Arrested for Sexual Assault on Child

2009-10-03T18:47:00.000-07:00

A 75-year-old Riverside County man has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a child, authorities said today.

Oscar Enrique Espinosa of San Jacinto allegedly lured the victim into an alley, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. The age and sex of the child were not disclosed.

Sheriff's deputies arrested Espinosa about 6 p.m. Wednesday after responding to a call about unknown trouble in an alley behind the 1400 block of South San Jacinto Street.

He was booked on suspicion of unlawful sexual acts with a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call investigators at (951) 791-3423.

Allen Ford Charged with Sexual Battery on Child

2009-10-03T18:36:00.000-07:00

A Bedford County man has been charged with the aggravated sexual battery of a child under 12 and may face more charges involving other victims, according to the Bedford County Sheriff's Office.

Forest resident Allen Lee Ford, who turns 63 today, is being held in the Blue Ridge Regional Jail.

The charge stems from a sexual assault that authorities allege occurred in Ford's Bedford home in 1999, shortly after Ford moved to the county, Maj. Ricky Gardner said.

Bedford investigators began looking at Ford after they were contacted by investigators from Ashland and Campbell County on Wednesday regarding a possible child sexual exploitation case.

Ashland investigators said an adult claimed he had been sexually assaulted by a man identified as Ford prior to 1999, when the adult was still a juvenile, according to the Bedford sheriff's office.

A subsequent investigation by Ashland, Bedford, Campbell and the Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force found four more alleged victims of sexual assaults which may be linked to Ford. One of those assaults allegedly occurred in Ford's Bedford home in the spring of 1999.

Harold Whittle Arrested for Child Molestation

2009-10-02T20:17:00.000-07:00

Maricopa County sheriff's detectives said they believe there may be more victims after a Queen Creek man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of molesting two girls, ages 3 and 6.

Harold Whittle, 61, was booked on two counts of child molestation. He is being held without bond at the Fourth Avenue Jail.

Detectives said the investigation began Monday when the suspected molestations were reported.

As the probe widened, another victim living out of state came forward with similar allegations.

Detectives said Whittle, who is a grandfather of 16, was arrested in Utah in 2005 on charges of lascivious acts against a child living next door.

"This is the worst act against an innocent child a person can make," said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. "I don't care if he's a millionaire or if he has a private jet, he belongs in jail," says Arpaio.

Sheriff's investigators said there could be more potential victims. People with information about Whittle are urged to contact the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office at 602-876-1011.

Howard Dotson Jr Arrested on 96 Counts of Sexual Abuse

2009-10-02T18:52:00.000-07:00

A 60-year-old Grand Junction man was held Friday on a $260,000 bond following his arrest on 96 counts related to rape and sexual assault on children.

Howard Dotson Jr. was arrested Monday by the Colorado State Patrol on suspicion of drunken driving, driving without a valid license, criminal impersonation and child abuse.

The child sex assault allegations are contained in a 12-year-old warrant issued in Boone County, W.V.

According to a grand jury indictment issued in 1997 in West Virginia, Dotson was charged with 56 counts of rape, 21 counts of first-degree sexual assault, and 20 counts of third-degree sexual assault.

The alleged crimes involved four female victims and the alleged assaults go back as far as the early 1970s. One of the victims was under age 10 when the alleged assaults began and continued into her adulthood, according to the indictment.

Paul Bess Charged with Aggravated Sexual Battery

2009-10-02T18:49:00.000-07:00

A Suffolk teacher's assistant is accused of sexually assaulting a 7-year-old child.

Police say Paul Andrew Bess, 59, turned himself following his indicment on charges of aggravated sexual battery and indecent liberties with a child.

Bess is alleged to have sexually assaulted the child at Nansemond Parkway Elementary School in June.

Bess is on admininstrative leave from his job there, according to officials.

He was hired by Suffolk Schools in August 2006 and a "successful background check was completed. He has since had exemplary evaluations,” according to spokeswoman Bethanne Bradshaw.

Bess is being held in Western Tidewater Regional Jail with no bond.

In a letter to parents Monday, principal Keith Hubbard said the Department of Social Services had conducted an investigation into this alleged incident in August and determined that the charges were unfounded.

He also made sure parents knew counselors are available if needed.

PRINCIPAL'S LETTER TO PARENTS:

October 5, 2009

Dear Parents & Guardians:

Student safety is a top priority in Suffolk Public Schools, and we want to keep families informed of situations as soon as we are able.

As you may be aware from media coverage, a teacher assistant here, Paul Bess, has been charged with aggravated sexual battery. The alleged incident was reported by a student to have happened in June during school hours. Because of the arrest, Bess has been placed on administrative leave until the allegations are resolved through the judicial system. At the time he was hired in August 2006, a successful background check was completed, and he has since had exemplary evaluations.

In August, the Department of Social Services conducted an investigation into this alleged incident and determined that the charges were unfounded.

I know as a parent such an allegation is troubling. The school works diligently to provide a quality education for all children, and to maintain a safe learning environment where students can trust the adults responsible for their care. In light of this incident, you might find an opportunity to talk with your child about these sensitive issues. If you feel your child would benefit from talking to a guidance counselor now or in the future, please call the school at 923-4167 and share your concerns.

Thank you for your concern and your efforts to keep Nansemond Parkway Elementary School a safe school.

Sincerely,

Keith Hubbard

Principal,

Nansemond Parkway Elementary School
--http://hamptonroads.com/2009/10/suffolk-teachers-aide-charged-sex-assault----------------------------

Charlene Stites Pleads No Contest to Sexual Assault of Child

2009-10-02T18:44:00.000-07:00

Charlene Stites likely will be heading to jail when she is sentenced in December after pleading "no contest" Thursday to repeated sexual assault of a child.

Stites, 43, of Manitowoc, also pleaded no contest to two of the three counts of felony bail jumping with which she was charged. The third count was dismissed, though she acknowledged responsibility for that count and it may be considered during sentencing.

The county will complete a pre-sentence investigation and a psychological evaluation of Stites in preparation for the Dec. 22 sentencing hearing.

As part of Stites' plea agreement, Assistant District Attorney Jerilyn Dietz said she will recommend no more than five years' imprisonment for the repeated sexual assault of a child charge, followed by six to seven years' probation for the bail jumping felonies.

Stites is one of six in her family to be charged with a sex-related felony stemming from a police investigation earlier this year.

Her husband, Michael Stites, was sentenced earlier this month to 45 years in prison, which includes 20 years in Brown County after revocation of the probation he was on following a 1999 sexual assault of the then-14-year-old babysitter of his children, and 25 years in Manitowoc County after being convicted of sexually assaulting two more young female victims.

Judge Darryl Deets, reading the criminal complaint, indicated on Thursday that Charlene Stites took part in some of the sexual assaults committed by her husband, Michael Stites. The no-contest plea means she admits to having engaged in sexual contact with a now-17-year-old girl at least three times in 2008.

She also is convicted of writing letters to Michael Stites while he was in jail. Part of her bail agreement was that she not contact any known sex offender, which included Michael Stites.

Her attorney, Charles Wingrove, indicated during the hearing that Charlene Stites agreed to the maximum probation sentence for the felony bail jumping convictions because of the nature of the sexual assault charge.

"These are very serious charges, deeply disturbing," Wingrove said.

The sexual assault charge carries a maximum 25 years' initial imprisonment and 15 years' extended supervision, but Dietz said she will recommend no more than five years in jail.

Elizabeth Smart Testifies How She Was Raped

2009-10-01T23:44:00.000-07:00

Taking the stand for the first time since she was snatched from her girlhood bedroom seven years ago, Elizabeth Smart testified Thursday that her captor raped her three or four times a day, kept her tied up with a cable around her leg, and threatened to kill her if she tried to escape.

Asked by a prosecutor to describe Brian David Mitchell, the self-described prophet accused of holding her captive for nine months, Smart replied: "Evil, wicked, manipulative, stinky, slimy, greedy, selfish, not spiritual, not religious, not close to God."

Smart, now a 21-year-old college student, gave her horrifying account in federal court as part of a proceeding over whether Mitchell is mentally competent to stand trial.

The 55-year-old one-time street preacher has been behind bars since 2003 — mostly in a state mental hospital — but has yet to stand trial. Twice he has been ruled mentally incompetent in state court, and he has often demonstrated bizarre behavior, including incessantly singing hymns in the courtroom and once yelling at a judge to repent.

Smart testified that within hours of her 2002 kidnapping at knifepoint, she was led away to a secluded mountain campsite and in a quickie ceremony became the polygamous "wife" of the older man.

"After that he proceeded to rape me," Smart said, sharing for the first time publicly her account of the ordeal.

She said Mitchell showed her pornography and plied her with alcohol and drugs to lower her resistance to his sexual advances. Once, Smart said, she tried to fight Mitchell off by biting him.

On the stand for nearly two hours, Smart was poised, her voice never wavering. She did not come face-to-face with her alleged tormenter. Mitchell was removed from the courtroom for disruptive behavior — singing hymns — before Smart arrived, and watched the proceedings from a holding cell.

A federal judge ruled earlier this week that Smart's testimony is relevant to the question of Mitchell's competency. Mitchell's competency hearing is not set to begin until Nov. 30, but Smart testified early because she is going on a religious mission for the Mormon church in Paris.

Smart was 14 when she was abducted from her bedroom in the middle of the night. In a surprising turn that transfixed the country, she was rescued in March 2003 after a motorist spotted her walking the streets of a Salt Lake City suburb with Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Eileen Barzee.

Smart testified that in the days immediately following the kidnapping, Mitchell held her captive with the help of a 10-foot cable bolted to her leg and tethered to a line stretched between two trees. She said Mitchell threatened to kill her if she yelled or tried to get away.

Smart said Mitchell would rape her three to four times a day. There was some respite — usually when Barzee became upset over Mitchell's relationship with Smart — but it never lasted, Smart said.

Mitchell is charged in state court with kidnapping and sexual assault. Last year, he was indicted on federal charges of kidnapping and transporting a minor across state lines. In both the state and federal cases, experts have split over Mitchell's competency.

Mitchell's lawyers maintain he is incompetent and suggested that evidence of his delusions can be found in his religious rambling and writings, including a 27-page manifesto he called "The Book of Emmanuel David Isaiah."

Smart said he read from the book repeatedly during her captivity, often sang hymns and laced his conversations with religious language. Throughout her captivity, Smart was forced to wear a white, ankle-length robe, a head scarf and two veils across her face.

"He told me he was a prophet," Smart said under cross-examination by Mitchell's lawyer. "He said he was the voice of God on Earth and that he would reign over God's children until Jesus came."

But she also said his religious revelations seemed to come only when he wanted something, or when he was trying to calm Barzee. Smart said she believed Mitchell always knew that he could be punished for her kidnapping and understood how the court system worked.

She said he gave her an alias — Augustine Marshall — and told her what to say to police if they were ever questioned. He also bragged about skirting previous accusations of sexual abuse and fooling others, Smart said.

Never in nine months did Mitchell appear confused or out of control, Smart testified: "He was a very capable, intelligent human being."

One-Month-Old Dies After Being Beaten by Teenage Father

2009-10-01T23:41:00.000-07:00

A 1-month-old infant, whom Brownsville police said was beaten to death by his teenage father, has died from severe head trauma.

According to the preliminary autopsy results, Marco Avila also had several fractures of the head, blood on the brain, two broken ribs, a broken left clavicle bone and numerous contusions throughout the face and on the body.

“This all indicates that this 1-month-old child was basically beaten to death at the hands of his father, Israel Avila,” said police spokesman Sgt. Jimmy Manrrique. “This was no accident. This was a deliberate violent beating of a 1-month-old baby.”

Avila, 17, was arrested Monday afternoon and later charged with capital murder because the child was under 6 years old. On Tuesday morning Municipal Judge Rene De Coss set Avila’s bond at $1million and sent him to Carrizalez-Rucker Detention Center.

On Monday morning, Avila and his common-law wife took the baby to Valley Regional Medical Center-Brownsville, where physicians examining the baby found signs of abuse and called police, Manrrique said. The child then was transported to Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen where he was pronounced dead at 3:47 p.m., he added.

“We are still working on the investigation; we are working with CPS (Child Protective Services) investigating the role the mother had in the case,” the spokesman said. “Indication is that she had no knowledge of the abuse. However, CPS still has to conduct further investigation to make sure the mother or other people didn’t have knowledge of abuse.”

As of now, the beating of the child looks to be an isolated incident with no previous signs of abuse, Manrrique said.

“They (Avila and the child’s mother) had a rough night,” he said. “The child had been crying the whole night and through his own admission, he (Avila) was extremely frustrated and he lost it.”

When approached on Wednesday morning, family members asked for understanding and privacy in their time of sorrow.

Patrick Leithead Arrested for Molesting 13-year-old at Park

2009-09-29T21:44:00.000-07:00

A DeKalb County man remained jailed Tuesday, more than a week after being arrested for allegedly molesting a 13-year-old girl in a restroom at Stone Mountain Park.

Patrick Paul Leithead, 36, of Stone Mountain, was arrested on Sept. 20 and charged with aggravated child molestation, according to DeKalb jail records. He is being held without bond.

According to WSB-TV, Leithead was arrested after an off-duty DeKalb sheriff's deputy caught the suspect in a bathroom stall with the girl.

"I saw a gentleman's feet sticking from under the first stall," Deputy Ruth Stringer told the television station. "The child sounded like he or she was in distress."

When Stringer yelled at the suspect, he let the girl go. While Stringer checked on the girl, an off-duty GBI agent, Sara Thomas, detained Leithead until park police arrived, WSB-TV reported.

Kirsi Nadzeika Charged with Assault and Battery on Child

2009-09-29T21:30:00.000-07:00

A 43-year-old Mashpee woman accused of seriously assaulting her 4-week-old baby boy — including flailing him around the room while holding onto his leg — was arraigned in Falmouth District Court yesterday.

Kirsi Nadzeika of 11 Periwinkle Lane was charged with domestic assault and battery, two counts of assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, and assault and battery on a child with injury, after police found her assaulting and attempting to smother her son, Nathan Nadzeika.

Legal history

Kirsi Nadzeika has a record of convictions and 10 aliases, court documents state.

She was held on $100,000 cash bail at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility.

The child was "significantly injured," the court documents state, and Nadzeika has a "prior record of violence."

According to court documents, Nadzeika was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine at the time of the alleged assault.

A spokesman from the Mashpee Fire Department said the baby was taken to Falmouth Hospital, but his condition was not known. A spokeswoman from Cape Cod Healthcare said the child was taken to another facility, but that could not be confirmed last night.

According to Police Chief Rodney Collins, officers were called to a domestic disturbance involving a child at Nadzeika's home at 12:59 a.m. yesterday. When they arrived, officers Ollie Naas and Ralph Mahoney heard screaming and entered the house.

In the kitchen, they found Leslie Brown, later identified as Nadzeika's boyfriend, on the kitchen floor trying to restrain a partially nude Nadzeika, who was holding the baby boy, Collins said. Furniture was overturned, and the floor was littered with household items.

The officers told Brown to step away from her, which he did, Collins said. They saw that the baby was bleeding from the mouth and had multiple injuries to his body. The officers told Nadzeika to move away from the baby, but she refused, according to the police, and tried to smother him.

The officers struggled with Nadzeika, Collins said. She squeezed the baby's right leg and stood up, flailing the baby's body around with "great force." Mahoney pried the baby free and Naas stopped him from hitting the ground.

Nadzeika continued to resist arrest, Collins said. She yelled Latin and religious phrases and told Mahoney he was "the devil."

Nadzeika had allegedly consumed wine and cocaine, according to court documents. Collins said that he could not immediately comment on how that was determined but said that she was obviously "high."

"Obviously it was an intense situation," Collins said. "The officers showed tremendous restraint and did a commendable job in an unfortunate set of circumstances."

Nadzeika has a record of convictions and 10 aliases, court documents state. She also has a history of not showing up for court appearances.

She was held on $100,000 cash bail at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility. She is scheduled for a Nov. 10 pretrial conference.

Tach Van Truong Wanted for Indecent Exposure & Molestation

2009-09-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

A 44-year-old man has been accused of a sex act in front of a 2-year-old boy, and authorities today are asking for the public's help in identifying more victims.

Tach Van Truong pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges of indecent exposure and annoying or molesting a child. Authorities allege Truong was in front of a 2-year-old boy who was playing outside his home on Sept 23.

Officials with the Orange County Sheriff's Department said a similar incident occurred on Sept. 19, and are releasing his picture in hopes of identifying any other victims.

"The behavior is so strange and deviant, it is possible there may be other victims," said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Sheriff's Department.

On Sept. 23, deputies were called to the 18800 block of E. Vine Avenue after a mother allegedly saw him in front of her son, Amormino said. Truong was allegedly standing in front of his home, across the street from the child, he said. The mother called a male friend, who chased Truong as he ran back to his home.

"We have been told he has done this in at least one other occasion," Amormino said.

The previous incident, which was not reported to deputies at the time, occurred Sept. 19, Amormino said. That victim was also 2 years old.

Truong is currently in custody in lieu of $30,000 bail.

Anyone with information is asked to contact authorities at 1-866-TIP-OCSD or 1-866-847-6273.

Grandfather Pleads Guilty to Molesting Two Young Girls

2009-09-29T20:57:00.000-07:00

An Orange grandfather who watched neighborhood children after school until their parents came home from work pleaded guilty today to molesting two girls younger than 7.

Octavio Reyes Cortez, 59, a landscaper, will be sentenced by Superior Court Judge Frank F. Fasel on Friday to 18 years in prison for six felony counts of lewd conduct on a minor.

Deputy District Attorney Mark Birney said the molestations date back to 1995, and the victims included a 7-year-old girl who came to Cortez' home to play with Barbie dolls with his granddaughter.

Cortez also admitted to repeated acts of molestation on a girl who was younger than 6 between 1995 and 1997.

Ricky McDaniel Sentenced to Five Years for Possessing Child Porn

2009-09-27T14:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-27T14:14:00.000-07:00

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].”

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

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

2009-09-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-27T14:08:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-27T13:56:00.000-07:00

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

Spc. Jason Scofield Arrested for Sex Crimes Against Minor

2009-09-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

A Fort Huachuca soldier has been arrested after California authorities issued a felony "fugitive from justice" warrant stemming from numerous charges of sexual conduct with a minor.

Sierra Vista Justice Court said 37-year-old Spc. Jason W. Scofield was arrested at the judge advocate general office on post Tuesday afternoon.

The court said the sex-related charges were filed against Scofield by the Fullerton, Calif., Police Department.

Fort Huachuca media relations officer Tanja Linton said Scofield joined the Army on June 8. He was assigned to the Company E, 309th Military Intelligence Battalion since Aug. 22.

Cochise County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Carol Capas said Scofield had an initial appearance in court in Sierra Vista on Wednesday, during which his bond was set at $250,000.

Scofield was booked into the county jail.

———

Information from: Sierra Vista Herald, http://www.svherald.com

Kevin Ferguson Arrested for Distrubing Child Porn

2009-09-24T21:55:00.000-07:00

Maryland State Police have arrested a 30-year-old Pasadena man on child pornography charges.

Kevin Ferguson was arrested Thursday for distributing and possessing child pornography.

He surrendered to a state police investigator with the computer crimes. He was released with no bond.

Police said a state trooper found Ferguson's computer on a peer-to-peer network sharing pornographic videos of children that could be downloaded.

Officers confiscated multiple computers, hard drives and storage media from Ferguson's home. Troopers say they recovered dozens of videos and images of children engaged in sexual activity.

Officer Jeffrey Gibson Arrested for Sexual Conduct with Minor

2009-09-23T23:12:00.000-07:00

A former law enforcement officer is out on bond after his arrest on charges of criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

Jeffrey Gibson, 41, of 1307 Tyler Road, Dillon, was arrested Tuesday after a 12-year-old told authorities he touched her inappropriately while the two were “playfighting,” according to a Dillon Police Department incident report.

The victim told police Gibson “threw her on the couch and inappropriately touched her in one of her private areas,” according to the report. The victim said Gibson had touched her inappropriately several times in the past two months or so.

The victim was placed in the custody of the S.C. Department of Social Services, pending the outcome of the investigation.

Gibson served as an officer with the Dillon Police Department about 10 years ago and worked in law enforcement in Marion County, as well.

Sgt. Daniel Bowden Busted for Child Porn

2009-09-23T23:08:00.000-07:00

A Florida Highway Patrol trooper is unemployed after he was busted for looking at child pornography online.

Lake County Sheriff's deputies arrested Sgt. Daniel Bowden, 40, Tuesday afternoon.

Bowden is facing 10 counts of child pornography for pictures the Lake County Sheriff's Office Cyber Crimes Unit confirmed were on Bowden's computer.

It's an undercover investigation that has taken months to come to light.

“This started back in November of 2008 with a search warrant. Several computers were seized and once the forensics was completed on those computers, there were several images of child pornography that we discovered,” said Cpl. Jim Vachon from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

It was a shocking discovery that led to the arrest of Bowden, an 18-year veteran of the highway patrol, who worked in DeLand, but lives in Lake County.

Deputies said some of the pornographic images Bowden had on his computer appeared to be of children under 4 years old.

“They were described as being obviously children, some pre-pubescent. Just the file names alone were pretty graphic,” Vachon said.

Bowden made statements to the sheriff’s office about his actions.

“Things like ‘I screwed up’ and ‘I was just curious,’ that kind of thing,” Vachon said.

Officers said at one point, Bowden said he did not think what he was doing was a big deal.

It wasn’t the reaction the Florida Highway Patrol had after finding out about his arrest. They said Bowden is being fired and released the following statement:

We regret the incident involving Mr. Bowden, and we certainly do not condone his actions in any way. As State Troopers charged with the safety and well-being of our residents and visitors, we expect all of our officers to hold themselves to the highest ethical and moral standards, including those relating to both their professional and personal lives.

“I mean, of course, it’s difficult for us to investigate a fellow law enforcement officer. But in the end, we've got a job to do and it's just unfortunate that this is the way it went,” Vachon said.

FBI Arrest Several Men for Distributing Child Porn

2009-09-21T22:35:00.000-07:00

The FBI today announced child-pornography charges against four men from Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, accusing them of operating a ring that distributed pornographic images and videos and referred to themselves by the name "Boy Lovers."

Charged are Jose Carlos Garcia, 22, of Schererville, Ind.; Neal Maschke, 40, of West Chicago; Corey Stinefast, 27, of Kenosha, Wis.; and Mark McGill, 24, of Crest Hill.

According to the complaints, the FBI began investigating the men in June after arresting one in their group. That man admitted to "possession, receipt, distribution and manufacture of child pornography," the complaint said. The man "also stated he had contacts with many other child pornography enthusiasts, some of whom were molesting children."

The man became a cooperating witness and may still face federal child-exploitation charges himself, according to the complaints.

In several recorded conversations -- in person, via phone and Internet chat -- the witness and Garcia allegedly discussed child pornography, and he and Garcia arranged to meet to exchange and view images and videos together.

In one phone exchange on July 11, Garcia allegedly told the cooperating witness that he had traveled to St. Louis and met with a man whom he filmed engaging in sexual activity with a young boy, the complaint against Garcia states.

On Aug. 25, the witness, Garcia and Stinefast allegedly went to a local amusement park, the complaint states. During the trip, Stinefast allegedly gave Garcia a computer disk containing child pornography that the witness later turned over to federal investigators.

The witness and undercover FBI investigators met with Garcia and Maschke in a hotel room in Skokie on Saturday night to exchange pornographic computer images and videos. Those two defendants were arrested at that time and were found to have child pornography with them, according to the FBI. Stinefast was arrested in Kenosha the same night.

McGill was taken into custody this morning. Officials say he gave a USB drive to the witness on Aug. 29 that contained over 3,500 images and 60 videos of child pornography.

If convicted of the charges against them, Garcia, Stinefast and McGill face between five and 20 years in federal prison, while Maschke faces up to 10 years in prison.

Sex offenders Re-Entering our Society

2009-09-21T22:11:00.000-07:00

EAST PALO ALTO, Calif.

After being locked away for 25 years for sex crimes, Donald Robinson moved to a little block of unassuming homes in this city on the San Francisco Peninsula on Aug. 27.

The timing couldn't have been worse. It was the day after Philip Garrido was arrested just 40 miles away on charges that he kidnapped 11-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard and held her captive for 18 years despite his long criminal record as a sex offender.

Police distributed fliers in Robinson's new neighborhood, alerting residents that he was living there. He has been targeted by a protest rally organized by the mayor and daily picketing outside his house. And the state is paying two security guards $800 a day each to protect him.

Robinson's case underscores just how hard it is for the government to move sex offenders back into society, especially at a time there is widespread outrage over the Garrido case and the missed opportunities to catch him.

It's an issue that communities around the country have faced in an era when community notification laws in all 50 states let residents know where sex offenders live.

"There's a number of challenges for everyone involved in sex offenders going through re-entry," said Richard Tewksbury, a University of Louisville professor who has studied community reactions to sex offenders. "There's the stresses and pressures on the sex offenders as they face community opposition. There's certainly stresses on communities as they have concerns about potential dangers."

Robinson was convicted of raping two women in 1976. Authorities say he first raped a 71-year-old victim, then returned to her home 10 days later to attack her again. But he could not break into the house, so he beat and raped another woman that night. He was sentenced to three years to life in prison.

In 1984, he was convicted of raping a 19-year-old girl and sentenced to 21 years in prison.

Robinson was classified as a sexually violent predator based on his likelihood of committing another sex crime, his mental state and criminal history, and forced into the state mental hospital in Atascadero in 1998 instead of being let out on parole.

He completed 11 years in state mental facilities before landing in East Palo Alto as part of a state-sponsored outpatient program. The Department of Mental Health and a contractor that manages its outpatient program for sexually violent predators looked at 1,100 properties over about six months before it found a suitable location with a landlord willing to rent to Robinson, said Nancy Kincaid, a spokeswoman for the department.

But neighbors on the street where Robinson lives in a three-bedroom corner house are furious.

Mayor Ruben Abrica had every resident in the city phone book alerted to attend a protest in front of the house. "A sexually violent predator doesn't belong here, with old people and families," Abrica said.

The mayor's office cited the Dugard kidnapping case in voicing its opposition to the placement of Robinson in this town.

"The tragic case of Jaycee Dugard ... underscores the dangerous nature of sexually violent predators and brings into question their supervision and monitoring," the office said.

Garrido, who has pleaded not guilty along with his wife, is a registered sex offender who was convicted of abducting and raping a Nevada casino worker three decades ago. He was required to wear an ankle bracelet and was under parole supervision before his arrest on Aug. 26. Police are investigating Garrido in other crimes as well, including searching his home this week for new clues into the disappearance of two girls in the 1980s.

The Robinson case and others like it illustrate the difficult balancing act between community safety and the rights of ex-offenders to live in peace and resume a normal life. (They should have fucking thought about that before they fucked up a child's life!! Fuck these assholes!!! Bet the children that they decided to violate will never again be able to resume a normal life... Why should they get too? Let them rot on some island, and they can go around fucking each other!!! Leave our children alone!!)

"It's hard to blame the community for a natural reaction to a horrific sex crime," said Dr. Deirdre D'Orazio, a clinical psychologist who works with sexually violent predators. "We're trying to integrate this person into being a law-abiding citizen again. On the other hand, we're treating him like he's going to be a predator forever."

Unlike Garrido, state officials and experts say Robinson completed a rigorous treatment program for sexually violent predators that only 15 others have completed.

At the mental hospital, Robinson was taught to examine what factors led up to his crimes and could put him at risk of committing similar ones. In an interview with a mental health evaluator, Robinson said he hated his mother for exposing him to an abusive stepfather and took that hatred out on other women.

But he credited his treatment with helping him make sense of his behavior and said he was no longer angry. "I know that I made myself a better person," he told the evaluator.

Three mental health evaluators concluded Robinson could safely continue his treatment as an outpatient.

The state of California has to pay for Robinson's re-entry into society, including his $3,500-a-month house. He also receives about $600 per month for groceries, utilities and other necessities although state officials say he has signed a promissory note to repay at least some expenses.

State officials estimate the cost of confinement and treatment of sexually violent predators in state mental institutions at $185,000 a year per patient.

But Robinson is barely free. He wears a satellite tracking device and must submit to random drug testing and polygraph tests. He cannot drink alcohol or use the Internet, has a curfew and needs permission to drive a car or even walk through a residential neighborhood.

Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Dana Overstreet said Robinson will be monitored most likely for the rest of his life. "Every year, we have to petition to have him continued to be monitored," she said, "and we plan to do that."

Meantime, Robinson, balding, bespectacled, with arthritis in both knees and a heart condition, has barely been glimpsed since his arrival. A few neighbors said they have seen him peek at their protests from behind living room curtains.

"The judge said that if Robinson weren't here, he'd be homeless," said Kenneth Barilla, 32, who lives next door to Robinson and has two daughters, ages 3 and 5. "We don't want him to become homeless. We just don't think he belongs among families." (He gave up that right when he decided it was okay to harm a child!)

Mother Stabs her 2 Daughters

2009-09-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-16T22:08:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-16T22:05:00.000-07:00

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.

Kevin Hayes Arrested for Possession of Child Porn

2009-09-15T22:45:00.000-07:00

A Cortland man was arrested and charged Tuesday for alleged possession of child pornography.

The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office along with the Cortland Police Department executed a search warrant at 82 W. George Ave. in Cortland on Tuesday morning, said a DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office press release.

Kevin J. Hayes, 39, was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography, the release said. The release said the Sheriff’s office along with the Genoa Police Department and the Illinois Attorney General’s office investigated the alleged “possession and distribution of child pornography.”

The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday the investigation is still on going and no further information is available at this time.

Hayes is currently being held at the DeKalb County Jail pending a bond hearing.

Antonia Gomez Arrested for Killing Her Daughters

2009-09-04T07:54:00.000-07:00

A Sun Valley woman was arrested today for the slaying of her 12-year-old and 17-year-old daughters, who were found stabbed to death, police said.

Los Angeles Police Officer Norma Eisenman said that investigators believe Antonia Gomez, 38, killed two of her three daughters Wednesday and then tried to kill herself. The younger daughter, Edith Moreno, was found in a house in the 7800 block of Irvine Avenue; her older sister, Diana Moreno, was found in a converted garage in the back of the property.

The girls’ mother was hospitalized with knife wounds, police said.

The sisters and Gomez were found at 11:40 a.m. Wednesday by police responding to a 911 call reporting an assault with a deadly weapon. Looking through a window, a visitor to the house saw one of the girls lying on the floor. Both girls were pronounced dead at the scene.

Their 14-year-old sister was taken into protective custody.

Michael Kevin Bradley Charged with Sexually Abusing 2-year-old

2009-09-01T19:54:00.000-07:00

D’Iberville Police Chief Wayne Payne has released information on the arrest of 23-year-old Michael Kevin Bradley of Ocean Springs on charges of Sexual Battery of a Child.

Bradley was arrested and is being held on a $150,000.00 bond set by Harrison County Justice Court Judge Albert Fountain at the Harrison County Adult Detention Center.

Captain Keith Davis of the Criminal Investigations Division said the arrest stemmed from an investigation initiated when police responded to a local hospital where a 2-year-old child was being treated.

During the investigation, information suggested the child had been sexually assaulted. Captain Davis said Bradley was associated with the victim through marriage and the assault took place at a D’Iberville apartment complex where Bradley babysat the victim.

Investigators believe the incident took place on Thursday, August 27, 2009. This case is still under investigation. However, no further arrests are anticipated, according to Davis. The victim was released from the hospital and in “good spirits.”

The police department seeks the assistance of the community for any information about criminal activity in the D’Iberville community. Please contact the Police Department at 228-396-4252 or Crime Stoppers. Callers can remain anonymous.

Pit Bull Chews Off Baby's Toes

2009-09-01T19:11:00.000-07:00

Sheriff's deputies are charging a North Carolina couple with felony child abuse after a pit bull dog chewed the toes off a 4-month old baby's foot.

The Onslow County Sheriff's Office said Monday that the 1-year-old pit bull chewed off all the toes on the child's left foot while he was on a couch Sunday night.

Deputies say the child's mother, Robie Lynn Jenkins, and her boyfriend, Tremayne Spillman, were dog-sitting for a man arrested Saturday night for illegal possession of a gun.

Authorities say they are charging a North Carolina woman who slept as a pit bull chewed the toes off her 4-month-old baby's left foot.

The Onslow County Sheriff's Office said Monday that the child's mother, Robie Lynn Jenkins, and her boyfriend, Tremayne Spillman, will be charged with felony child abuse.

Deputies say the couple were dog-sitting the 1-year-old pit bull for a friend who had been arrested on gun charges.

The Onslow County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday that the baby, who lost the toes on the left foot after the dog chewed them off Sunday night, won't be released from Pitt Memorial Hospital any time soon.

The sheriff's office said the pit bull is in animal control custody undergoing medical tests for several diseases, including rabies.

Jenkins told police she was on medication and didn't hear the child crying during the night while she slept in the same room. She said she didn't discover the injury until she changed the child's diaper Monday morning.

Deputies said that hospital officials said the child may lose his foot.

Wendy Cannin Arrested for Having Sexual Contact with Teens

2009-09-01T19:08:00.000-07:00

It was the first day of school in Heppner today, but instead of spending it in the classroom, a junior/senior high teacher spent it in jail.

Wendy Cannin, 30, was arrested at 11 a.m. when Morrow County sheriff’s detectives arrived at her Heppner home, authorities said.

Cannin, a teacher in the Morrow County School District for two years, had been put on leave last week after officials learned about the sheriff’s office’s investigation.

Cannin is accused of having inappropriate sexual contact with two teenage boys, the sheriff’s office said.

The sexual activity allegedly occurred before the end of the last school year and continued during the summer until the middle of July.

The sexual contact occurred both on and off school property, authorities said.

Cannin was booked into the Umatilla County jail on suspicion of one count of sexual misconduct, four counts of third-degree sex abuse, and one count each of third-degree rape and third-degree sodomy.

A grand jury is expected to hear the allegations against Cannin tomorrow.

Jonathon Frazier Arrested for Killing his 2-month-old Son

2009-09-01T19:06:00.000-07:00

The father of a missing 2-month-old infant, whose body was found in a wooded area in the 7100 block of Dahlberg Road, Sunday Aug. 30, has been arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder.

Jonathon V. Frazier, 42, was booked into Whatcom County Jail late Sunday evening.

The body of Jon "Cecil" Anthony Frazier was located at about 1 p.m. Sunday on private property about a mile away from the trailer where the boy and his father lived. The boy's mother, Brooke K. Johnson, 26, had reported to Whatcom County Jail the previous morning to await transfer to a state prison on a robbery conviction.

Courtesy of Whatcom County Sheriff's Office The infant was reported missing from the 1100 block of Willey's Lake Road, east of Custer by his grandmother at about 8:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 28. Frazier had told authorities he had awoken to discover that the boy was missing and the door of the trailer was open.

Whatcom County Sheriff's deputies, special agents from the FBI and representatives from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children began a criminal investigation which led to information of where the child's body was located, Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo said.

Elfo declined to elaborate on the nature of the information or how it was obtained.

Officer Aaron Pepion Arrested for Having Sex with Young Girl

2009-08-31T19:49:00.000-07:00

A Blackfeet police officer who resigned three weeks ago has been arrested on allegations that he had sex with a young girl.

The U.S. Attorney's Office says Aaron Pepion is being held without bail. Pepion was in court before a magistrate Wednesday in Missoula and will be in court again Friday on a bond hearing.

Prosecutors say Pepion had sex in April with a girl who was born in 1994. No age was listed for Pepion in his charging documents.

Blackfeet Tribal Department of Public Safety Director Henry Devereaux says the FBI investigated Pepion in July and he resigned three weeks ago. Devereaux says Pepion had been an officer for about a year when officials began investigating the allegations against him.

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http://whathappenedtoprotectandserve.blogspot.com/2009/08/officer-aaron-pepion-arrested-for.html

Former Officer David LaRose Sentenced to 4 Years for Child Porn

2009-08-31T19:39:00.000-07:00

A former Prince George's County police officer was sentenced Monday to more than four years in prison for possession of child pornography, federal authorities said.

David J. LaRose, 35, of Lusby had acknowledged that he purchased child pornography from Web sites in 2006 and 2007, authorities said. LaRose, who was convicted in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, last worked as a patrol officer assigned to the Oxon Hill station.

LaRose, who had joined the Prince George's police in 1996, was suspended with pay in March 2008 pending the investigation.

U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. ordered LaRose to serve 51 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He also will be required to register as a sex offender.

Corrections Officer Joe Rocha Charged with Child Porn

2009-08-31T19:26:00.000-07:00

The 49-year-old Travis County corrections officer who was charged with possession of child pornography Friday was caught when had asked for help with his computer, according to an arrest affidavit.

On Aug. 1, Joe Rocha asked another corrections officer to help him fix his computer because his would not start, the arrest affidavit says. He gave the hard drive to the other officer on Aug. 16 and asked him to save all family pictures and pornography that may be on the computer, the affidavit says.

“Mr. Rocha told him ‘OK, there is kiddy porn and if it got out it would be bad. Very bad,” according to the affidavit, but the officer thought Rocha was making a joke.

When the officer decided to work on the computer Aug. 19, he found several files of child pornography that pictured children as young as 7 having sex with adults.

Sheriff’s office spokesman Roger Wade said that Rocha had been employed with the agency for 23 years. He said Rocha has been fired and that an investigation into the charges is under way.

Deputies were informed that Rocha “may have been involved in illegal activities” on Aug. 25, Wade said. Authorities said they found “several images that appeared to depict child pornography on a computer belonging to Rocha.”

Rocha was being held at the Travis County Jail as of Monday with bail set at $100,000. Possession of child pornography is a third-degree felony. If Rocha is convicted, he could face between two and 10 years in prison.

Yevgeniy Igorevich Maslov Arrested for Possession of Child Porn

2009-08-30T19:43:00.000-07:00

On August 28, 2009, at 9:30 a.m., detectives assigned to the Sacramento Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force arrested 25-year-old Yevgeniy Igorevich Maslov (12-10-83) on the federal charges of receipt and possession of child pornography. Maslov was taken into custody at his home which is located in the 1400 block of Kingswood Drive in Roseville.

In December of 2008, Maslov was identified by ICAC detectives as someone who had received child pornography over the internet. A federal search warrant for the suspect’s residence was later obtained and subsequently served on February 3, 2009. Maslov’s computer was seized during the search of his residence. During the forensic examination of his computer, Maslov was found to have received hundreds of photographs and videos depicting child pornography.

On August 27, 2009, the federal grand jury handed down an indictment charging Maslov with possession of child pornography. Maslov was booked into custody at the Federal Court House following his arrest.

The Internet Crimes Against Children task force is comprised of federal, state and local law enforcement investigators and managed by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department. The task force was founded in 1998. It was formed to help state and local law enforcement agencies develop an effective response to online enticement and child pornography cases. The task force encompasses forensic and investigative components, training and technical assistance components, victim services, and community education

Adrian De Leon Convicted of Possessing Child Porn

2009-08-28T19:44:00.000-07:00

A Brownsville man whose imprisoned brother claimed responsibility for child pornography on a computer has been convicted on 20 possession counts.

The penalty phase was scheduled to resume Friday for 32-year-old Adrian De Leon. The defense is seeking probation.

A Cameron County jury deliberated three days before convicting De Leon on Thursday afternoon on all 20 counts of possessing child pornography.

The computer was seized by Brownsville police in 2006.

Jesus De Leon, who testified the pornography belonged to him, is serving 50 years for aggravated sexual assault of a child and 22 counts of possession of child pornography.

Officer Corey Yocum Arrested for Sexual Contact to Child

2009-08-26T21:31:00.000-07:00

A former Olney police officer was arrested on a district court warrant alleging two counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact.

Corey J. Yocum was arrested by the Dallas Police Department on Friday and held on a $100,000 bond.

According to two indictments issued by a Young County grand jury in May, Yocum intentionally caused a child under the age of 17 to touch him and he allegedly touched the girl in sexual manners. At the time of the alleged offense, Oct. 24, 2008, Yocum was a police officer in Olney.

“We received the allegation and forwarded it to an impartial agency to investigate,” said Randall Davis, chief of the Olney Police Department. “That investigation led to him being indicted. It’s embarrassing that it happened to us. We have every intention of policing ourselves, as well as the community.”

Jim Reeves, the investigator for 90th Judicial District Attorney Brenda Gray, said when he learned Yocum was still at large and might be in the Dallas area, he asked for help in finding the man who police have been looking for since May.

“I saw the guy hadn’t been arrested, and he had been indicted in May,” Reeves said. “I picked up the phone and contacted a Texas Ranger, Sgt. Eric Casper. Casper put out the information to his contacts in Dallas. As a result, he was arrested by the Child Sex Exploitation Unit of the Dallas PD.”

Yocum was taken to the Dallas County Jail on Friday and was transported to Young County on Monday. He is currently being held in the Young County Jail.

Pastor Joshua Spires Charged with Molesting Girl

2009-08-26T21:14:00.000-07:00

A former youth pastor is charged with lewd molestation of an underage girl.

Police say 28-year-old Joshua Spires molested the girl, who was a member of the church, while he was youth minister at First Baptist Church in Jay.

Spires faces 10 counts of lewd molestation.

David Fisher Arrested for Sexual Child Abuse

2009-08-26T21:08:00.000-07:00

Mayes County deputies arrested the principal of Choteau Elementary on Tuesday.

According to Sheriff Frank Cantey, David Fisher is being held on three counts of sexual child abuse.

Sheriff Cantey says the suspected abuse occured during the 2003-2004 school year. A then-13-year-old girl made the accusations against Fisher.

Fisher had been a teacher, bus driver and coach at Mazie Elementary at the time. This year he took the principal position at Chouteau Elementary.

Gary Anthony Debrielle Charged with Child Solicitation

2009-08-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

A Fairfax County man who worked as a high school wrestling coach was being held without bond Tuesday after he was arrested on charges of felony child solicitation in an online sex sting carried out by the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office.

Gary Anthony Debrielle, 26, of Chantilly was picked up at his home over the weekend by Fairfax County police on a Spotsylvania warrant that resulted from a series of online conversations last month, said 1st Sgt. Liz Scott, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office. She said Spotsylvania sheriff's deputy Megan Warren, posing as a 14-year-old girl, had Internet chats with Debrielle between July 10 and 14 that "turned sexual in nature."

Police traced Debrielle, who used a screen name, to a residence in Chantilly and discovered that he was employed part time by Fairfax County Public Schools, Scott said. FCPS officials said he was an assistant wrestling coach at Woodson High School.

Debrielle was charged with online solicitation of a child and attempted indecent liberties with a child. He was being held under no bond at Rappahannock Regional Jail, Scott said.

Warren was assisted in the investigation by Detective Clay Blankenship, she said.

Katherine Nadal Sentenced to 99 years for Mutilating her Son

2009-08-17T22:36:00.000-07:00

A Houston-area mother convicted of mutilating her infant by cutting off his genitals two years ago was sentenced Monday to 99 years in prison.

But minutes after the jury's sentence was read, Katherine Nadal, 28, yelled out that she did not hurt her son, prompting the boy's father to storm out of the courtroom.

Jurors deliberated for two hours Monday night before returning the sentence, which also included a $10,000 fine. The same jury had convicted her last week of first-degree felony injury to a child.

The jurors chose among possible sentences ranging from probation to life in prison. Nadal, who shook her head as the jury foreman read the sentence, will have to serve at least 30 years before she is eligible for parole.

Prosecutors asked for life in prison. Nadal's attorneys did not request a specific sentence, instead asking the jury to not punish her out of hate or revenge.

Nadal had claimed the family dog, a 6- to 7-pound dachshund named "Shorty" was responsible for mutilating her then-5-week-old son, Holden Gothia, as he slept in his parent's bedroom in March 2007 at their suburban Houston apartment.

But prosecutors said she was high on drugs when she mutilated her son with an unknown sharp instrument. Authorities say Nadal, who had prior drug arrests, tested positive for cocaine, methadone and Xanax after the attack.

Holden survived, but the severed body parts were never found.

After the sentence was announced, Holden's paternal aunt, Patches DeShazo, who has custody of the now 2-year-old boy, read a victim impact statement in the courtroom.

"I am thankful by time you are eligible for parole you will be beyond childbearing years. It makes me crazy to this very day to hear you say I did not hurt him," DeShazo said as she read her statement.

That prompted Nadal to yell back from the table where she sat with her defense attorneys: "I failed him. I did not hurt him."

The boy's father, Camden Gothia, then stood up and yelled to Nadal, "You abused him when he was in the womb," a reference to Nadal having taken drugs when she was pregnant with Holden. Gothia then left the courtroom.

DeShazo and her husband were given custody after his parents relinquished their rights. His father sees him regularly.

After the hearing, prosecutor Tammy Thomas told reporters that Nadal will never admit what she did.

"I don't know if this is justice to merit the damage," a teary-eyed Thomas said. "This is as close as we can get."

Allen Isbell, one of Nadal's attorneys, said he was disappointed that the sentence was "so long."

During closing arguments in the punishment phase of the trial, Thomas told jurors that Nadal had sentenced her child to a life of pain and suffering. "She took his identity as a human being and either flushed it or threw it in a trash can," Thomas added.

Doctors testified that he faces years of surgeries and counseling.

Nadal's attorneys told jurors that nothing they did would help Holden.

"This jury must punish Katie Nadal. That's your job. But what is appropriate? I hope you don't do it out of hate or revenge," defense attorney Skip Cornelius said.

Christopher Jason Elrod Charged with Killing His Daughter

2009-08-17T22:28:00.000-07:00

A man charged with homicide by child abuse has been denied bond.

Christopher Jason Elrod, 30, had his first appearance in Lexington County Bond Court, Saturday afternoon. According to Lexington County Detention Center officials, he was denied bond and future court dates are pending. He is still being detained at the Lexington County Detention Center.

Elrod was arrested Friday by Lexington County Sheriff's Deputies who say he killed his daughter by suffocation. He's been charged with homicide by child abuse.

The arrest came at the end of a joint investigation by the Lexington County Sheriff's Department, the Lexington County Coroner's office, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

The warrant against him states that on December 7, 2008, Elrod held his daughter, Calen Elrod, tightly against his body. Deputies say his actions obstructed the girl's ability to breath, and the coroner's office determined she died from suffocation.

Deputies say on Friday, they conducted an interview with Elrod that allowed them to get information that helped establish probable cause in the case, allowing them to formally charge Elrod.

Gordon Houston Admitted to Raping Daughter Will be Released from Jail

2009-08-17T22:17:00.000-07:00

A 69-year-old man who admitted raping his daughter when she was a young girl will be released from jail this week after spending six months behind bars for violating his probation.

Gordon N. Houston pleaded guilty in June, 2008 to the aggravated sexual assault of his daughter, Rebecca, back in the late 1980s, and was placed on deferred adjudication probation for 10 years.

The policy of the Seguin Gazette Enterprise is to not divulge the names of victims of sexual assault.

In this case, Rebecca Houston, now in her 20s, said she wanted her name used in order to bring attention to sexual assaults that are not uncommon in this community and to stand up for other victims, let them know they’re not alone and that they’ll have support if they speak out.

It took Rebecca Houston years to make an outcry herself, she said, because of the effect of years of sexual abuse as a child.

“All of my earliest memories are of this (abuse). My brother and my sister-in-law took me to the sheriff’s office to make my statement,” Houston said. “I don’t think I would have been able to do it on my own without the support of people who love me.”

The case was indicted in 2006 on multiple counts, and all but one were dismissed in the plea agreement reached in June, 2008, between the office of former District Attorney Vicki Pattillo and defense attorneys Billy McNabb and Scot Courtney of San Marcos, in which Houston would carry no conviction for sexual assault — if he successfully completed the terms of his probation.

Probation conditions for a sex offender are extensive — 274th Judicial District Judge Gary Steel’s judgement filed July 20 that returns Houston to community supervision this week has been increased to 50 separate conditions, including committing no other offenses, having no association with others who commit offenses, no unsupervised contact with children, a year of electronic monitoring to begin immediately upon his release from jail.

He is also ordered to have no contact with and remain at least 500 yards from his daughter, to paying for her therapy or counseling and participating in sex offender treatment to include mandatory regular lie detector tests. He must also surrender his passport and cannot apply for another.

There was one further condition of Houston’s continued probation: that he spend six months in county jail — the maximum a state district judge can order under the law in a probation case. That six months is up on Tuesday.

In triple-starred, underlined bold-face italics near the end of the three-page judgment, Steel made one final note to Houston suggestive of what the judge’s attitude would be, should Houston be hauled before his bench again for violating the terms of probation.

“***Zero Tolerance — follow all sanctions and directives as indicated .... during the duration of your sex offender treatment program,” Steel wrote.

Pattillo, who now has a private law practice in Seguin, does not discuss criminal cases in the newspaper. Courtney, reached for this story, doesn’t discuss the negotiations or their outcome except to say that he believed at the time that both sides and the victim had agreed to probation for Houston, who is elderly and who had never been in trouble with the law before this offense.

Rebecca Houston says she didn’t quite understand what deferred adjudication probation would mean.

“I didn’t really expect that he would just get probation,” she said. “They explained to me basically it was probation with the option, if he messed up, that he goes to prison for a long time. Now, they’re saying he could be let go again, and that wasn’t the deal as I understood it.”

The way Gordon Houston “messed up” on probation was by failing to comply with conditions of his deferred adjudication by failing a polygraph test, failing to comply with treatment assignments as directed by his therapist, failing to make progress in his treatment and failing to disclose a sexual relationship with a mentally challenged 20-year-old woman to his probation officer or therapist, as required. He also admitted keeping a photographic negative of his victim, and admitted becoming aroused by it -- an admission his now-adult daughter testified “disgusted” her.

Houston’s therapist and probation officer recommended Houston be locked up for a period of time and then placed back on deferred adjudication probation and instructed to cooperate with his treatment, and while Steel had the option of adjudicating Houston’s case, entering a conviction and sending him away, court observers say it is uncommon for a judge to overrule the recommendation of the probation department.

In an adjudication hearing that began in May and was recessed into June so the judge and both sides could review more than 100 pages of case notes pertaining to Houston’s treatment, Courtney and McNabb went on the offensive in a confrontation with District Attorney Heather Hollub and her first assistant, Larry Bloomquist, who sought a long prison term.

The defense attorneys argued that Houston was complying with his conditions and his treatment — albeit maybe not as early or as quickly as he might have —and that it was Houston himself who offered up the admissions once he began cooperating with his treatment that resulted in the motion to adjudicate his case.

“What’s he supposed to think about ‘treatment’ in light of this motion?” McNabb asked the judge.

Hollub, who has made it clear she has concerns about Houston, said she accepted the outcome of the hearings.

“We respect Judge Steel’s ruling,” Hollub said.

Courtney said the same thing.

“The process works because the judge follows the law, and Judge Steel has absolutely followed the law,” Courtney said. “The time Mr. Houston has spent in county jail as a condition of his continuing on probation is the maximum amount of time the judge can set.”

Courtney noted the recommendation of the probation department.

“The judge relies on the probation department because they’re his eyes and ears,” Courtney said. “He did find there were violations, but the judge is there to look at the violations while on probation and not necessarily the original case and retry the allegations or the original charge. That’s not the purpose of this hearing. The judge is entrusted to look at the allegations in light of the evidence, and then decide of those allegations indicate the person should be sentenced to prison or for how long or that the conditions be amended in some way so that everyone’s interests are protected. That’s what Judge Steel did in this case, and I don’t think you can ask any more of a judge.”

Courtney said he understood, now, that Rebecca Houston is unhappy with the disposition of the original case.

“I don’t quarrel with that person, and I wouldn’t ever comment on how she should feel,” Courtney said. “But that being said, the process we’ve gone through is not a process to relitigate those original allegations. It’s just not.”

Probation for a convicted sex offender is not easy, Courtney noted.

“The conditions are onerous to say the very least, and that’s not to say that they’re unfair. You have to follow them,” Courtney explained. “I caution clients considering probation that it’s not a way to get a case over with. That’s just the beginning, and it will be a long road. If you’re not willing to do it, don’t bother (with probation). I think Mr. Houston has truly and will continue to redouble his efforts to comply with the court’s orders.”

Rebecca Houston isn’t so sure.

“If he’s going after a mentally slow girl, he’s still a predator and he needs to be put away, and obviously more counseling is not going to help and there will be more victims,” she said. “I really hate the fact that a man who has admitted to molesting children has been allowed out of jail. Even though he will have an ankle bracelet tracking him, that won’t stop him from being inappropriate with anyone he can get close to.”

She said she hoped others might come forward with information about her father.

“If more victims can find the courage to speak up, maybe he can be put away for good,” she said.

Gary Wade Brown Sentenced to a Year for Sexual Abuse of Boy Scout

2009-08-17T22:02:00.000-07:00

A former Utah County Boy Scout leader narrowly avoided prison Monday and instead was sentenced to a year in jail for sexually abusing a 12-year-old troop member.

Gary Wade Brown, 42, cried in 4th District Judge Christine Johnson's courtroom as he apologized to the Scout, his family and the Boy Scouts of America for exploiting his position to victimize the young boy.

"I can't imagine the amount of pain and anger I have caused [the victim and his family]," Brown said. "No one else is to blame. I take full responsibility."

Brown pleaded guilty in June to four counts of sexual abuse of a child and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, all second-degree felonies, as part of a bargain to avoid serving time in prison, prosecutor Julia Thomas-Fishburn said.

The victim's father, who knew Brown from his Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ward, said he believes Brown can turn his life around and wants him to be given the chance to rehabilitate.

"I don't approach this situation with vengeance, but more with sorrow and pity," the victim's father said. "This is not the way I wish to see Wade."

Johnson said she was close to sending Brown to prison but decided to suspend the one- to 15-year prison sentence and give him one year in jail based on a psychologist's report that said he was a low risk for a repeat offense.

Johnson, however, placed Brown on an intensive 36-month probation, during which he must complete rehabilitative therapy and not have contact with minors, including his own children. The probation will begin when Brown, who was credited with eight months of time already served, gets out of jail in four months.

The sexual activity between Brown and his troop member occurred for 18 months in 2005 to 2006, according to police. They said the boy reported that Brown had fondled him at Scout camps and in the ex-Scout leader's car and home.

G.L. Sizemore Charged with Rape of Child

2009-08-17T21:52:00.000-07:00

A man accused of multiple sex crimes against a family member goes on trial this week.

G.L. Sizemore, 49, of Kings Mountain, has been charged with two counts of indecent liberties of a child, first-degree rape of a child, first-degree sex offense of a child, and failure to appear on those charges. His last known address is Farris Road.

Sizemore is accused of committing sex crimes while he lived in the home where the victim also lived, according to court testimony. Prosecutors said the sexual abuse lasted more than five years.

Several potential jurors were candid Monday when asked by prosecutors and the defense if they knew of or experi-enced any form of sexual abuse. More than 10 people said that they had either experienced abuse or knew of a family member who had.

Many were dismissed. It took several hours for the eight-man, four-female jury to be chosen.

Opening statements

Prosecutor Elizabeth Lari began her opening statement by saying the case, “has been a family secret for a long time.”

Lari told jurors Sizemore began touching the accuser when she was a child and went on to say the touching esca-lated to fondling and eventually intercourse. The alleged abuse began at age 5 and ended at age 12, according to Lari.

“It happened a number of times throughout the years,” Lari said.

Lifelong memory

Tears rolled down the accuser’s face as Lari told jurors she will testify on Tuesday.

“I hope she will give you the full picture,” Lari said. “This is a lifelong memory that she has repressed and will now recall in a room full of strangers.”

According to court testimony, the victim came forward to authorities in July 2003 to give a full, detailed account of what happened those years of her childhood.

Two sides of a coin

Sizemore’s attorney, Mike Griffin, said there was a period of time when everything went well between the parties.

But things quickly changed between 2001 and 2003, when the accuser came forward.

“There are two sides to every coin and two sides to every story,” Griffin said.

Kevin Siegmann Charged with Sexual Assault on 13-year-old

2009-08-17T21:47:00.000-07:00

Just before 3:00 A.M. on Sunday morning, Omaha police responded to a sexual assault call at the Regency Marriott. The victim? A 13-year-old Omaha girl.

"When officers arrived, they met the victim who stated, she had been sexually assaulted in the main lobby of the restroom," said Officer Jacob Bettin with the Omaha police department.

Police believe, 30-year-old Kevin Siegmann, an army soldier stationed in Europe, was the one who did it.

"Our suspect made contact with a group of juveniles in one of the Internet café areas of the hotel. He offered them beers, they went upstairs, and had a couple beers," said Bettin.

After the drinks, police say, Siegmann followed the victim into a bathroom, assaulted her, and took off. But, thanks to a dispatcher with "Checker Cabs," police were quickly on his trail.

"Someone contacted us at the Marriott, stating he needed transportation from the Marriott to the Comfort Inn at 87th and Dodge," said John Davis, the director of operations with Checker Cabs.

But, when the cab arrived to pick Siegmann up at the Marriott, he was nowhere to be found. Luckily, the cab dispatcher had his information.

"We require it at night as part of a safety issue. Full name, contact number, and exact address of pick up and drop off," said Davis.

That information led police to the Comfort Inn, where they found Siegmann, and made their arrest.

"We're happy to help the police out, and glad this person was apprehended," said Davis.

Siegmann has been charged with first degree sexual assault. The 13-year-old victim and her parents declined to talk on camera tonight. They say, they still have details to go over with police, before their daughter can tell her side of the story.

Police say, Siegmann was in Omaha for a function that night.

Both Siegmann and his wife are stationed overseas.

Melissa Huckaby Indicted for Kidnapping, Raping & Killing 8-year-old

2009-08-17T21:43:00.000-07:00

A grand jury has indicted a Sunday school teacher on charges she kidnapped, raped and killed an 8-year-old girl and drugged two other people.

Melissa Huckaby broke down in tears Monday as Superior Court Judge Linda Lofthus read the indictment against her. The reading came after prosecutors convened a grand jury last month to determine whether Huckaby would stand trial.

Lofthus said the grand jury transcript would remain sealed. No trial date has been set.

Huckaby, 28, is accused of killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, a playmate of Huckaby's young daughter. Sandra went missing in March in Tracy, her hometown in Northern California. A massive search for her ended 10 days later when her body was found stuffed in a black suitcase pulled from an irrigation pond near the mobile home park where she lived.

Defense attorney Sam Behar asked Lofthus to delay setting a trial date, saying he has not read the indictment or lengthy transcript because he's in the middle of another trial.

But Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa said he delivered a copy of the indictment to Behar's office earlier this month. "He's had a lot of time to read this indictment," Testa told Lofthus.

The judge then proceeded to read the indictment charges to a weeping Huckaby, who appeared in court with two fresh scratches above her right eyebrow. Neither Behar nor Testa would comment on the nature of Huckaby's injuries after Monday's hearing. A gag order barring attorneys, investigators and potential witnesses from commenting on the case remains in effect.

Huckaby in June pleaded not guilty to killing Sandra as well as to charges that she previously had drugged a 7-year-old girl and a 37-year-old man, whom police believe she had been dating. The girl and Huckaby lived in the same mobile park.

Huckaby is charged with two counts of furnishing someone a harmful substance and one count of child endangerment in the drugging cases.

In the case involving Sandra Cantu, Huckaby is charged with murder with the special circumstances of rape, kidnapping and lewd or lascivious conduct with a child under 14, which could make her eligible for the death penalty if convicted. Sandra was last seen on a surveillance camera skipping near her home just five doors down from the defendant.

On Monday, Huckaby entered the courtroom smiling, but her demeanor became tearful and somber as the indictment was read and debate on her next court appearance ensued.

Testa said the district attorney's office is treating the case as if it will be a death penalty case, but no decision is expected for at least two months.

Prosecutors convened a grand jury instead of holding a preliminary hearing in the case to ensure a speedy trial and avoid a possible change of venue. Testa also told Lofthus he wants a speedy trial because the case involves minors and should be made a priority.

Lofthus countered that it would be premature to set a trial within 30 days because Behar had not seen the indictment or the voluminous grand jury testimony.

"We need to do the case one time, and we need to have the case done right," the judge said. "The defense needs time to prepare."

Lofthus then scheduled a Sept. 10 hearing to discuss possible trial dates. Huckaby remains in the San Joaquin County Jail without bail.

Jeffery Dickson Convicted of Raping & Sodomizing 7-year-old

2009-08-17T21:37:00.000-07:00

Greene County jurors have convicted a Springfield man accused of kidnapping, raping and sodomizing a 7-year-old-girl in April 2008.

The eight-man, four-woman jury found Jeffery A. Dickson, 39, guilty of child kidnapping, forcible rape and two counts of forcible sodomy. A sentencing hearing on Oct. 23 will determine whether he spends the rest of his life in prison.

Dickson — who’d been relatively sanguine over four days of testimony — stood, stoic, as Greene County Circuit Judge Michael Cordonnier read off the convictions to a packed courtroom.

Dickson will appeal, his public defender said.

Earlier today, attorneys presented their closing arguments to the jury, which deliberated for just over two hours before announcing the verdict.

In his argument, Assistant Greene County Prosecutor Russ Dempsey methodically laid out the evidence against Dickson.

How several witnesses described Dickson being present at the North Kansas Expressway home where an all-night card game was taking place on April 5, 2008. How the girl, now 8, also was there, having been brought by her grandmother.

Dickson allegedly brought the girl Kool-Aid and helped her with the computer at various points. He also allegedly brought a cousin to the West Nichols Street home where the attack later occurred, selling him a TV.

Dempsey recounted the testimony of the alleged victim, who took the stand and described how “Jeff” came to the window of a bedroom she was playing in. He promised her a Barbie doll if she’d come with him, she said.

Dickson then allegedly took the girl to the home at 1024 W. Nichols St. — the owner wasn’t there — raped and sodomized her. He then allegedly choked her to unconsciousness and set the house on fire, an allegation for which he is not charged due to a lack on concrete physical evidence.

“Quite honestly, I don’t care if an accelerant was used,” Dempsey said, referring to fuel investigators believe was used to start the blaze. “I don’t care if he used a blow torch. I don’t care if he started it with a single match. I don’t care if a bolt of lightning struck the house.

“The fact of the matter is that (the girl) was raped and sodomized, then left inside the house when it caught fire.”

Testimony indicated the girl picked Dickson out of a photo lineup after the attack.

Lastly, Dempsey discussed a partial DNA profile found on the girl’s thigh after the attack. Because the sample was scant, analysts were not able to build a full DNA profile.

However, they performed a Y-chromosome test on the swab, and found it matched DNA on Dickson’s Y-chromosome.

That same profile would be found on any male relatives in Dickson’s paternal lineage, the analyst said. Additionally, it might be found in 1-in-3,636 individuals.

Prosecutors argue the coincidence is too great for it to have come from anyone but Dickson.

Public defender Rod Hackathorn, meanwhile, argued the girl had been swayed into believing Dickson was her attacker.

“What this case has been about from the defense standpoint from day one has been whether or not Jeff Dickson committed this crime,” Hackathorn said. “What this case has not been about is whether or not something happened to (the girl).”

He noted the child was the sole eyewitness who could say what happened to her in the early morning hours of April 6, 2008, and pointed out changes in her story from the attack until Dickson’s trial.

Prominent in this argument was the girl’s interview at Springfield’s Child Advocacy Center. Asked if she’d ever seen the man who attacked her in that interview, the girl said she hadn’t seen him until he came to her window.

In testimony, she referred to Dickson by name.

But prosecutors noted the girl described Dickson to her mother as she lay in a hospital bed shortly after the attack. That description allegedly involved a man who’d given her Kool-Aid, and was wearing a “do-rag,” as Dickson was that night.

Hackathorn suggested the girl was swayed by her grandmother, who allegedly had begun to suspect Dickson before she met the girl at the hospital.

“Don’t you think that grandma wanted to give a name?” he said. “Well, Jeff is the easy target. They convicted Jeff as soon as grandma got to the hospital.”

Prior to attorney’s arguments, Greene County Circuit Judge Michael Cordonnier ruled Hackathorn would not be allowed to suggest Dickson’s brother might have carried out the attack.

Hackathorn had planned to argue the brother occasionally hung out at the house from which the girl was abducted, was familiar with the West Nichols Street home where the assault occurred, and lived near the girl’s grandmother.

But Cordonnier ruled “there has been no proof that anyone other than the defendant committed any act connected with this crime.”

“The court is not going to permit that argument,” he said. “To do otherwise would invite the jury to enter into conjecture.”

Hackathorn instead referred to foreign DNA found under the victim’s fingernails after the assault. Analysis of the material found it wasn’t Dickson’s.

Hackathorn suggested that the girl grabbed her attacker’s hands when he choked her, and that the DNA under her fingernails belongs to the perpetrator.

“I know your heart aches for what the little girl went through,” he told jurors. “I know you want to do something for that family. That family wants more than anything for Jeff Dickson to go to prison.

“That’s the easy thing to do: to come back with a guilty verdict. But sometimes the hard thing to do is also the right thing to do.”

In a rebuttal argument, Assistant Greene County Prosecutor Jill Patterson once again summarized the state’s evidence, then posed a question.

“How does a 7-year-old wearing jeans end up with DNA matching a person who did all those suspicious things you heard about that night? she asked. “The person who took an interest in that little girl. The person who was in the same home with her and had been to 1024 West Nichols that evening.

“How does she end up with DNA on her skin matching that person? I submit to you that you know how that DNA got on (the girl).”

Michael Crites Arrested for Forcible Sodomy on 10-year-old

2009-08-17T21:34:00.000-07:00

A 26-year-old Springfield man accused of sexually assaulting a boy near a Jordan Creek swimming spot appeared in court today, waiving his right to a probable cause hearing.

Michael W. Crites is charged with kidnapping, two counts of forcible sodomy and two counts of first-degree statutory sodomy.

Prosecutors say he snatched a 10-year-old boy from a swimming hole near the intersection of Meadowmere and Hillcrest streets on July 15, then took him into the woods and sodomized him.

Crites allegedly told the boy not to scream or it would “be worse,” according to a probable cause statement filed with the charges.

The boy ran home and told his mother of the assault.

In an interview with police, Crites allegedly said he’d been walking in the woods with the boy,

“Crites was unsure how (the boy) ended up on the ground, but stated he sat next to (the child) and touched (the boy’s) anus with his hand,” the probable cause statement said. “Crites realized what he was doing, got up, and ran away.”

Crites is scheduled to be arraigned in Greene County Circuit Court on Aug. 28. He’s being held in the Greene County Jail on a $200,000 bond.

Kenneth Delaine Stewart Sentenced to 45 Years for Sexual Assaut of 7-year-old

2009-08-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

A Dayton man pleaded guilty Monday and was sentenced to 45 years in prison in connection with the kidnapping and sexual assault of a 7-year-old northeast Harris County girl abducted from a bus stop in April 2008.

Kenneth Delaine Stewart, 27, pleaded guilty on the eve of trial in state District Judge Marc Carter's court to super aggravated sexual assault. The enhanced charge mandates that he serve the entire prison sentence, prosecutors said.

Assistant District Attorney Wendy Baker said the girl's father gave a victim's impact statement, in which he thanked Stewart for letting the girl live.

Stewart's defense attorney, Alvin Nunnery, could not be reached for comment.

Investigators and members of Stewart's family said he confessed to tricking the Summerwood Elementary student into getting into his car in the Fall Creek subdivision on April 7, 2008, from a bus stop in the 14500 block of Logan Falls, police said.

More than an hour later, he dropped the girl off in Baytown, 20 miles from her home.
Clothing missing

According to court documents, some of the girl's clothing was missing when she was released and her hair had been cut. A subsequent medical examination determined the child had been assaulted.

Stewart spent a year in jail in Liberty County for assault. He also had served time in jail for burglary, theft, child endangerment and drunken driving,

His mother Theresa Jackson has said her son told his grandmother “everything happened fast” and that the child reminded him of his own 3-year-old daughter.

Before the 7-year-old was abducted, Stewart had offered a 9-year-old girl $100 to touch her genitals, police said. While she ran to alert her parents, Stewart kidnapped the 7-year-old, police said, telling her that her mother had a flat tire and sent him to pick her up.

Officer Anthony Miller Sentecned 5 Years for Child Porn

2009-08-17T20:06:00.000-07:00

A police officer, who lives in western Wisconsin, is sentenced to serve time in prison for possessing child pornography.

Monday, Anthony T. Miller was sentenced to five years in prison. He lives in New Richmond, but works in Minnesota. He has been a police officer with the city of Hastings for 11 years.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice says Miller admitted downloading and trading child pornography for the past two years.

Press Release:

NEW RICHMOND - Anthony Miller, who told investigators he was a Hastings Minnesota police officer, was sentenced by Judge Vlack today on two counts of Possession of Child Pornography. He received 14 years on the first count with 4 years of initial confinement and 10 years of extended supervision. On count two Miller received 15 years with 5 years of initial confinement and 10 years extended supervision to be served concurrently.

In addition, Miller must provide a DNA sample, register as a Sex Offender, not use a computer or access the Internet without prior written approval, not possess pornography and may not have contact with any child under 18 without prior written approval.

Miller was originally charged on December 18, 2008 with Possession of Child Pornography and Sexual Exploitation of a Child.

"Sadly, a man sworn to protect society has committed a crime victimizing our most vulnerable," said Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, whose office investigated the crime with the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and the New Richmond Police Department. "Today's sentence sends a strong message: download and distribute child pornography and you will go to prison for a long time."

Trial Begins for Richard Jay Swank Charged with Sexual Abuse

2009-08-17T19:56:00.000-07:00

Through tears, the daughter of a man on trial for years of allegedly abusing his son told of a time when her father gave her a gun and tried to get her to kill her abused brother.

The trial of Richard Jay Swank, 47, charged with multiple counts of sexual of abuse of a child, opened on Monday morning with Deputy District Attorney Kathleen DiDonato describing a horrendous life of the victim — not just from sexual abuse but also years of torture, beatings, starvation and isolation from the rest of the family.

“The beatings at the hands of his father started when the victim was about three or four years old,” DiDonato told the jury. “Shortly before 10 years old is when years and years of sexual abuse began that included repeated sodomizing and oral copulation.”

Swank is charged with multiple counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child, sexual penetration with a foreign object and oral copulation by force.

Sex Offender William Davis Sentenced to 120 More Years

2009-08-17T18:59:00.000-07:00

A convicted sex offender already serving 40 years in prison for raping a 12-year-old girl at an Ardsley motel has been sentenced to another 120 years in prison for crimes that came to light as a result of that case.

A federal judge in Manhattan today sentenced William Davis, 48, of Manhattan, for his conviction at trial on charges of producing child pornography, possession of child pornography, and being a convicted felon in possession of ammunition.

The production of child porn charge refers to explicit photos of Davis' 4-year-old step-daughter that Ardsley and Westchester County police found after they arrested Davis for the Dec. 28, 2006, kidnapping of a 12-year-old girl off a Brooklyn street.

Davis took the girl to the Ardsley Acres Motel where he raped her.

Ardsley detectives later found additional child pornography on computer disks and five bullets in a safe that Davis had left at his ex-wife's apartment in Manhattan.

He was convicted in August 2007 in state Supreme Court in Westchester County for the Ardsley rape and sentenced to 40 years.

The 120-year federal sentence imposed today will run consecutive to the state sentence.