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

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.

William Hooker Sentenced to 20 Years for Possessing Child Porn

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.

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

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.

Howard Dotson Jr Arrested on 96 Counts of Sexual Abuse

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.

Elizabeth Smart Testifies How She Was Raped

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."

Officer Antonio White Arrested for Rape & Incest

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

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

White was hired by the Macon Police Department in September of 2007 and was assigned to Patrol for most of that time.
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Andrew Mogilyansky Sentenced to 8 Years for Rape

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wendy Cannin Arrested for Having Sexual Contact with Teens

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.

G.L. Sizemore Charged with Rape of Child

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.

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

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

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).”

Sex Offender William Davis Sentenced to 120 More Years

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.

Moises Acurio-Suarez Arrested for Raping 7-year-old

A Georgetown man is behind bars on multiple charges after being accused of raping a 7-year-old boy at least four different times.

Georgetown police were contacted Wednesday by staffers at Nanticoke Memorial Hospital who stated that there was a 7-year-old boy being examined for a possible sexual assault. Police say the exam revealed injuries to the victim that were consistent with sexual assault.

According to police, a further investigation revealed that 21-year-old Moises A. Acurio-Suarez was a neighbor of the boy. Police say that at times the boy's mother would drop him off at Acurio-Suarez's home to be baby-sat while the mother would go to work.

Police say that on Wednesday, the boy told his mother that he did not want to be dropped off at Acurio-Suarez's home anymore because Acurio-Suarez was having sex with him.

According to police, the Children's Advocacy Center also interviewed the child who disclosed that on at least four different occasions Acurio-Suarez made him have sexual intercourse.

Acurio-Suarez was taken into custody and according to investigators, admitted that the boy's allegations were true. Police say the only reason Acurio-Suarez gave for the sexual assault was that his family rejected him at a young age.

Acurio-Suarez was charged with four counts of first-degree rape, one count of second-degree, felony endangering the welfare of a child, and unlawful imprisonment. He was jailed in in lieu of $237,000 cash bond.

Zachary James Pence Charged with Rape of Child

A 19-year-old Clinton man has been charged with rape of a child and aggravated child abuse or neglect.

Zachary James Pence was arrested Thursday by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office after a grand jury returned a three-count indictment. He is being held on a $100,000 bond.

The indictment was the result of an investigation involving the abuse of an 18-month-old boy and 3-year-old girl in July.

Pence is the boyfriend of the children’s mother, and she has not been charged. The investigation is continuing, however, according to Anderson County Chief Deputy Mark Lucas. More charges may be forthcoming.

The children have been removed from the home and are in the custody of the Department of Children’s Services.

Matthew Ryan Cummings Charged with Rape of 11-year-old

Authorities charged a Camp Lejeune Marine late Tuesday with having sex with an intoxicated preteen girl last year while the girl’s mother slept in another room.

Matthew Ryan Cummings, 20, of Barracks FC372 aboard base, was charged by the Onslow County Sheriff’s Department with first-degree statutory rape, first-degree statutory sexual offense, indecent liberties with a child, and crimes against nature.

Sheriff’s Sgt. John Getty was asked by a local mental facility to interview an 11-year-old girl beginning July 13. Getty discovered the child was having suicidal tendencies. Getty’s investigation revealed that the girl had been statutorily raped in late November 2008, according to a press release from the Sheriff’s Department.

“The statutory rape and other sex acts were performed on the 11-year-old child in her own home while the child’s mother slept in another bedroom of the home,” Sheriff Ed Brown said. “(Cummings) obtained beer from the refrigerator of the victim’s home where he and the victim both consumed the beer and became intoxicated.”

The girl’s family moved to Onslow County in November 2008 and the Cummings befriended the girl during the times the mother had left her with a neighbor across the street, according to Getty’s investigation.

The mother reported her concern for Cummings behavior toward her daughter to the Sheriff’s Department in February, according to incident reports on file at the Sheriff’s Department.

Cummings was interviewed at that time and was strongly advised to have no further contact with the girl.

“However the statutory rape had already occurred approximately four months before the mother came to the Sheriff’s Office in February 2009,” Brown said.

Cummings was arrested at Building 66 aboard Camp Lejeune by the Sheriff’s Department. His bond was set at $200,000 and he has a court appearance scheduled for today.

His rank and deployment history were not immediately available from base officials.

Tim Mountford Arrested for Rape of Minor

A Delaware County man accused of raping and impregnating a 14-year-old girl in his legal custody will go to trial in October on those charges.

Tim Mountford, 51, of Grove is free on $150,000 bail. He is charged in Delaware County District Court with second-degree rape and child sexual abuse.

Mountford was ordered to stand trial on Oct. 12 during a court hearing on Monday. He could face up to a life sentence if convicted of child sexual abuse.

Mountford has declined to comment on the case based on the advice of his attorney, Winston Connor II, who has referred to his client as "developmentally slow” and said he “does not function as a 50-year-old.”

He was ordered to pay child support on the now 15-month-old infant after a paternity test determined a 99.99 percent likelihood he is the child's father. Matina Garner, Mountford’s stepdaughter is attempting to adopt the child.

Tim and his estranged wife, Vicki Mountford became the legal guardians of the victim after she was raped and impregnated at the age of 11. Vicki Mountford filed for divorce in June, according to court records.

In that case, Tommy James Isbell, 36, of Jay pleaded guilty in 2004 to four counts of first-degree rape and 12 counts of forcible sodomy and was sentenced to life in prison. He had been having sex with the child since she was 9, according to a Jay Police Department report.

The victim’s first child, a daughter, was born with birth defects and died a few weeks after birth.

The Mountfords served as foster parents in their home about a block from Grove Middle School from Sept. 25, 1998, to May 22, 2006, and ran a day-care center from Feb. 7, 2002, to July 15, 2006, according to the Department of Human Services.

Rone Nunez Charged with Murder

A Cedar Park man has been indicted by a Williamson County grand jury in connection with the April death of a 9-year-old who was initially believed to have been accidentally electrocuted.

Family members and police told KVUE News the child touched a power line that stands about four feet above the fence around her house on April 25.

But Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley said Tuesday that the investigation was expanded after a forensic examination found that Cecilia Izquierdo had been killed. During an autopsy, the medical examiner noticed the girl's throat had been cut. Forensic testing revealed she had also been raped. The Texas Rangers assisted with the investigation, and Rone Nunez, 24, was arrested in May on an unrelated charge and later named a suspect in the case.

"She was not electrocuted. There was not an electrocution," Bradley said. "The information that we received early in the investigation caused us to take another look."

The grand jury indicted Nunez on six counts: capital murder, super aggravated sexual assault of a child, murder, aggravated sexual assault of a child, aggravated kidnapping and injury to a child.

Prosecutors said they would not discuss details of the investigation until a trial happens.

Nunez, a Honduran national, was apparently living with the little girl's family when she was killed.

When the 9-year-old's body was found in April, Cedar Park investigators said the little girl had been electrocuted after touching a low hanging power line. Bradley couldn't say why Cedar Park police didn't let others know an alleged killer was still living in their neighborhood.

"The danger of early statements and jumping to conclusions and press releases in these kinds of cases you run the danger of saying something that's not accurate and misleading the public," he said.

Cedar Park Police Chief Henry Fluck says this was an ongoing investigation -- but was not clear on why the public continued to get the wrong information about Izquierdo's death.

"The initial theory by investigators did not pan out, we will certainly admit to that," Fluck said. "We're very pleased that the efforts made in this investigation resulted in an indictment. And we feel it was a very solid case against the suspect and i think that's what matters in the long run."

Super aggravated sexual assault was created through Jessica's Law in 2007 and carries a sentence of 25-99 years or life in prison. Capital murder is punishable by death or life in prison. Neither offense allows for parole.

Daniel Schillinger Sentenced to 20 Years for Sexual Assault

A 48-year-old Wisconsin Rapids man was sentenced this morning in Wood County Circuit Court to 20 years in prison for sexually assaulting children.

Daniel A. Schillinger was given 15 years of extended supervision to follow his prison sentence and was ordered to pay $840.20 plus $270.35 restitution, undergo any counseling deemed necessary and have no contact with his victims or children younger than 18 for two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child and one count of repeated sexual assault of a child.

Wood County Circuit Court Judge Edward Zappen Jr. said Schillinger’s lack of understanding about the seriousness of the crime and failure to take responsibility for his actions were factors in the sentence.

According to one criminal complaint, Schillinger repeatedly inappropriately touched and had sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl on several occasions in late 2006 and early 2007.

In the second case, the criminal complaint said Schillinger inappropriately touched two girls and had them touch him.

Emily Kay Thurber Charged with 11 Sex Crimes Against Children

A 26-year-old Rupert woman charged with 11 sex crimes against children has been scheduled for a preliminary hearing on some of the charges Friday.

Emily Kay Thurber is charged with one count of lewd conduct with a child, one count of sexual battery of a minor child, two counts of sexual abuse of a child, three counts of statutory rape and four counts of criminal conspiracy. Prosecutors say the charges stem from incidents between 2005 and 2008 with two victims. They are split among three separate court cases.

Thurber’s fiance, 30-year-old Joseph David Lentz of Idaho Falls, was accused of taking part in the alleged abuse. He was sentenced in May to four to 16 years in prison for statutory rape and sexual abuse of a child

University Student Arrested for Sexual Assault on 13-year-old

A 20-year-old Central Washington University student has been arrested for the alleged sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl he met when she was attending a music camp where he was an instructor, Ellensburg police said Tuesday.

The suspect was arrested Monday in his hometown of Bothell, Wash., and was transported to Ellensburg. He was booked into the Kittitas County jail on two counts each of second-degree child rape, second-degree child molestation and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes, according to a news release from Ellensburg police Capt. Mike Coppin.

The victim was staying with her aunt in Ellensburg while attending the music camp, which was July 3-12 at Central, Coppin said. The alleged sexual abuse occurred last week, he said.

Ellensburg police are investigating whether there may be other victims. Anyone with concerns or information should contact the police department at 509-962-7280.