James Berke Arrested for Sexual Assaulting 4 & 7-year-old

A judge Friday sentenced a Gorham man to 50 years in prison for sexually assaulting two girls, videotaping the incidents and sharing images of the victims with other computer users.

James Berke, 46, performed sex acts with a 4-year-old girl and a 7-year-old girl. Evidence seized by investigators, including several videotapes and a bottle of chloroform, suggested that Berke used the chemical compound to render his victims unconscious during some of the assaults.

"This is about as bad as it gets, in my view," Justice Roland Cole said at the sentencing hearing in Cumberland County Superior Court.

Cole said it is rare for investigators to have such damning proof of guilt as he did in this case. "Those tapes are vile and disgusting," Cole said. "But for the tapes, he might not be facing very many serious charges here at all."

Cole convicted Berke on March 16 after a jury-waived trial. The judge sentenced him Friday on six counts of gross sexual assault, three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, three counts of unlawful sexual contact and one count of violation of privacy.

Cole acknowledged that the sentence could mean Berke will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Berke would likely serve at least 35 years in prison before being eligible for any sentence reduction due to good behavior.

The judge said he has sentenced hundreds of defendants for sexual assault, and this case included some of the most disturbing behavior. "In my view he presents a very real risk" to reoffend, Cole said.

The prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Meg Elam, said the most serious aggravating factor in the case was the fact that Berke distributed images of the assaults to people he chatted with online, and possibly to online bulletin boards.

"He stored it and shared it, and these girls and their families now live with the very real fear that these images will be traded among other pedophiles forever," Elam told Cole. "He deserves every minute of 50 years," she said.

At a few points during the hearing, Elam turned and spoke directly to Berke.

"They were not your peers, they were not your friends, they were not your willing sexual partners," Elam said. "They were little children who should have been able to depend on you.

"You would have kept doing it if those teenage girls had not stopped you by looking at your computer," she said.

The investigation began on March 22, 2008, when Gorham police Detective Dana Thompson received a call from a distraught mother. The woman was friends with Berke and had allowed her three children to spend time with him and sleep over at his homes. Berke had moved several times in the previous few years.

The night before the mother called police, two of her children and one of their friends had stayed at Berke's home in Gorham. The 14-year-old witnessed her 7-year-old sister walking out of the bathroom with Berke, who was carrying a camera.

While Berke slept that night, the 14-year-old and her friend used a memory card to make a copy of the videotape that was stored on Berke's camera. The tape showed the 7-year-old using the bathroom.

Thompson got a warrant, and on March 25 he and other Gorham officers searched Berke's home. They seized computer equipment, cameras, DVDs, videotapes, negatives and film, according to police reports. Berke was arrested on April 1 after investigators from the Maine Computer Crimes Task Force reviewed the evidence.

Sarah Churchill, Berke's defense attorney, asked Cole to send Berke to prison for 15 years. She said Berke is genuinely remorseful and he is a good candidate for treatment and rehabilitation.

"He full well understands the depth and the breadth of what he did to these kids," she said.

Although it provides no solace to the victims or their families, Churchill said, there are far worse categories of sex assault against children, such as cases involving penetration, torture and the use of weapons, none of which were done by Berke.

"Everyone in this room realizes that these cases are the most difficult that the court or any of the parties have to deal with," Churchill said. "None of us really understand why people commit this kind of behavior in the first place."

Daniel Swanciger Arrested for Unlawful Sexual Contact with 3-year-old

A convicted sex offender is back in jail, accused of unlawful sexual contact with a 3-year-old child.

Daniel Swanciger, 43, who was known by the family of the alleged victim, was arrested by Westbrook police Sunday when a woman reported the crime against her 3-year-old.

By the time police got to the home in the Reed Street area, Swanciger had left. But police quickly found him and arrested him and charged him with unlawful sexual contact and, on a warrant out of Saco, for failure to comply with the Sex Offender Registry Act.

Swanciger has two out of state convictions for indecent liberties with a child. He was charged in December 2007 for failure to comply with Maine's Sex Offender Registry Act.

Swanciger is being held on $25,000 cash bail.

Julie Carr Arrested for Sexually Abusing her own Child

Detectives in Britain teamed up with U.S. federal officers and cops in Maine to quickly track down and arrest a woman who allegedly used a webcam to stream video of her sexually abusing her own young child.

The international dragnet resulted in the arrest of Julie Carr, 30, in Mars Hill, Maine, Friday. Carr, who, in her mug shot was wearing a shirt with the logo "Bad Angel" on the front and had tattoos on both of her arms, is being held in lieu of $50,000 cash bail.

Carr was arrested after a tip went to police in Humberside County in England about a man who may have been involved with child pornography.

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More Information: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Webcam-Child-Sex-Charges-Julie-M-Carr-Appears-In-Court-On-Videolink-After-West-Midlands-Tip-Off/Article/200906315307990

Julie Carr Arrested for Gross Sexual Assault

A 30-year-old local woman was arrested and charged with gross sexual assault Friday after Maine State Police alleged that she is linked to a child pornography investigation with international ties.

Julie M. Carr was arrested late Friday evening at her Mountain View Street residence after state police detectives and federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency carried out a search warrant at her home.

State police Detective John Cote said Saturday that state police investigators were contacted by ICE agents who gave details about an ongoing investigation into child pornography on the Internet.

Cote said that ICE agents were contacted by West Midlands Police in the United Kingdom. Law enforcement officials in that country were investigating child sexual abuse when they discovered recorded videos showing a woman committing sexual acts on a young child.

The U.K. investigation revealed that the U.S. was the likely origin of the videos, which Cote said had been recorded from a live webcast. Police discovered that the point of origin likely was in Mars Hill.

According to Cote, state police detectives and ICE agents worked to identify the woman while Aroostook County District Attorney Neale Adams and caseworkers from the state Department of Health and Human Services teamed up with authorities to collect information about the suspect. Information, including a photograph of Carr on file with the Maine Department of Motor Vehicles, reportedly confirmed that the woman in the video from the U.K. was Carr. Police then secured a search warrant for the Carr residence.

Authorities uncovered evidence related to the crime during the search carried out Friday evening. Police gave no details about the evidence that was gathered.

Carr was arrested and taken to the Aroostook County Jail in Houlton where bail was set at $20,000. Her first court appearance was scheduled to occur by videoconference on Monday.

Cote said Carr likely will face further state and federal charges as the investigation continues.
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More Information: http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=105867&catid=2