411Bookworm

Pedophile who took a 12-year-old girl he was abusing to a notorious dogging site to be raped

2012-12-08T09:23:00.000-08:00

where she was raped by another man

Paedophile: Michael Gwyther was jailed for life at Swindon Crown Court for abusing three underage girls and repeatedly raping one of them

A paedophile who took a 12-year-old girl he was abusing to a notorious dogging site to be raped by another man has been jailed for life.

Michael Gwyther, 44, repeatedly raped the youngster and took her to an open-air sex site where he offered to share her with other men.

Swindon Crown Court heard Gwyther's campaign of abuse only came to light when parents of two other girls aged 14 and 15 who he was grooming found out and contacted police.
Officers found indecent pictures and an explicit video of the 12-year-old on his phone when they arrested him at his home in Easterton, Wiltshire.
Claire Marlow, prosecuting, told the court police uncovered the shocking abuse of the girl when they examined his mobile.

She said one of the older girls’ mothers was looking at her daughter’s computer and found inappropriate messages from Gwyther.
She said the 14-year-old said he had given her a lift home from a youth club in August last year and put his hand on her leg.
Another girl, aged 15, who had also got a lift with Gwyther said she too had been molested by him around the same time.
When officers tracked down the girl in the images she was too terrified to detail the horrific abuse she had suffered at the hands of Gwyther.

She eventually told how he had been raping and abusing her since she was 12, and he even took her to notorious dogging site The Barn, where strangers gathered to have sex.

Gwyther forced the young girl to have sex with a man while videotaping them, but that footage has not been found.
Marcus Davey, defending, said his client was full of remorse for what he had done.
Judge Douglas Field ruled last Friday that Gwyther presented a serious risk of reoffending.
He said: 'You have corrupted her by engaging in ever more serious sexual activity with her, starting when she was about 12 and ending when 14 or 15.
'When she was 12 you even started raping her. You raped her on six occasions, twice when she was under 13.

Swindon Crown Court: Judge Douglas Field said Gwyther abused the girls to gratify an 'entrenched deviance'

'You took her to what was known as dogging sites where strangers gather quite openly to have sex with each other. There you have instigated her having sex with unknown men.

'You did all this to gratify your entrenched deviance; you have an excessive sexual interest in underage girls.

'You started grooming the other victims. You made contact over the internet.
'This was to groom them so they would meet you so you could commit sexual offences against them.

'Your offending has caused your victims very considerable psychological damage.
'It's quite understandable to hear they have difficulties dealing with everyday life and that will last for some time.'

Gwyther, of Haywards Place, Easterton, near Devizes, Wiltshere, pleaded guilty to six counts of rape, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, three counts of sexual activity with a child and three of making an indecent photo of a child.

High school science teacher 'fondled one of her students and sent another sexually explicit texts and photos to another'

2012-11-23T05:23:00.000-08:00

A high school science teacher is facing multiple sex charges after being accused of fondling a student and sending another sexually explicit texts and photos.
Michelle Stabach Jensen was initially arrested on obscenity charges for sending the photos and texts to one of her students.
The 'sexual explicit' material was discovered after another teacher at J.L. Mann High School in Greenville County, South Carolina, overheard other students talking about the teacher.

Michelle Stabach Jensen, 40, faces up to 15 years in jail for 'sexual battery'

When police seized the 17-year-old boy's cell phone they found lewd text messages and photographs that were sexual in nature.
Jensen, 40, resigned immediately after she was confronted with the evidence by school chiefs a week ago.
She faced obscenity charges but within 24 hours police said she facing more serious charges of sexual battery.

According to an arrest warrant a 17-year-old student said Jensen touched his genitals while she allowed him to fondler her breasts.
Jensen was charged with two counts each of unlawful dissemination of obscene materials to persons under 18 years of age, and delinquency of a minor. Both charges are felonies.
She also faces one count of sexual battery and could be jailed for up to 15 years if convicted of all charges.

Jensen's misdemeanors were discovered after another teacher at J.L. Mann High School overheard students talking about the teacher

Greenville County Schools spokesman Oby Lyles said J.L. Mann Principal Charles Mayfield was informed on Friday, November 9 of allegations of inappropriate texts to students after a teacher reported an alleged conversation overheard between students.

'The administration immediately began its investigation and contacted the school’s Resource Office with the Greenville City Police,' Lyles said via email Thursday.
'The principal met with the teacher that day and she resigned while the investigation continued. The charges will be communicated to the State Department of Education, which determines revocation of teaching certificates.'
Jensen is being held at the Greenville County Detention Center on $13,000 bond.

Teacher, 73, arrested over sex abuse charges from 1960s

2012-11-20T03:13:00.000-08:00

after former pupil, 55, recognizes him at new elementary school

Christopher Kloman, 73, arrested in Virginia after yearlong investigation
Head of Potomac School, where Kloman taught for 29 years, said they are 'deeply disturbed' by the news

A teacher has been charged with sexual assaults involving four of his students from the 1960s.
Christopher Kloman, 73, was arrested on Friday at his home in McLean, Virginia after a yearlong investigation.
The head of a northern Virginia private school says they are 'deeply disturbed' by the news that their former, longtime teacher has been charged with sexual assaults.

Scandal: Christopher Kloman, 73, of Virginia has been arrested over alleged sexual abuse during his 29-year career at the esteemed Potomac School

Privilege: Staff, parents and pupils have been rocked by the sex scandal that has emerged and involves a former teacher at Potomac

Police opened the case after receiving a report from a 55-year-old woman who was a student of Kloman's at the Potomac School.
She came forward after running into Kloman at the Washington Episcopal School, where he was teaching at the time.

Police said their investigation found three other alleged victims, all girls ages 12 and 14 when the alleged incidents occurred between 1968 and 1969.

POWER AND PRIVILEGE: FOUNDING OF THE POTOMAC SCHOOL

The Potomac school was founded a century ago and has grown from a small institution in D.C. to its large, 90-acre grounds in Virginia.
Approximately 1,000 students attend the school. The campus includes nature trails, outdoor classrooms, two gyms, squash courts and a large performing arts center.

Potomac is a popular school with the children of Washington's political elite. Former students include Keshia Knight Pulliam who played Rudy Huxtable on The Cosby Show; Davis Guggenheim – director of An Inconvenient Truth and Rory Kennedy, filmmaker and daughter of RFK.

'We are deeply disturbed by this news and our hearts are with the entire Potomac community, past and present, as we work through this difficult time,' wrote Potomac School head Geoffrey Jones in a note to parents Friday that was reported by The Washington Post.
Kloman worked at the Potomac School from 1965 to 1994, police said.
The school confirmed he was both a teacher and an administrator and said in a statement Saturday that it is cooperating with Fairfax County's investigation.
A message left at a telephone listing for Kloman's home in McLean was not immediately returned on Saturday.

Kloman is being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, and the jail said he is set to appear in court today.

Distress: A former longtime teacher of Potomac school in Virginia, Christopher Kloman, has been charged with sexual assaults of former pupils

Spotted: Police launched an investigation into Christopher Kloman, 73, after a 55-year-old former pupil, spotted him at Washington Episcopal School in Bethesda, Maryland

teacher claims 14-year-old got her pregnant

2012-11-05T13:27:00.000-08:00

A 35-year-old Texas woman accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy and then claiming to be pregnant from the relationship may have worked as a substitute teacher at least once in the boy’s classroom, a school official said.

Bexar County Sheriff's Office

Amanda Sotelo, 35.

Amanda Sotelo, a resident of Von Ormy, was booked into a Bexar County jail on Nov. 1 on a charge of indecency with a child, Louis J. Antu, spokesman with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, told NBC News. Bond was set at $75,000.

School district officials learned of the allegations Oct. 31 after the boy's mother alerted them of the relationship, Anne Marie Espinoza, spokeswoman for the Southwest Independent School District in San Antonio, told KSAT-TV.

Excerpts from the affidavit

Sotelo stated that the relationship developed over time. She and the victim were both going through problems and confided in each other. It wasn’t until the end of this last school year that they began having a sexual relationship, ‘like grown-ups’ … She further admitted that she and the victim had sex about once a week. Sotelo further stated that she found out she is pregnant when she went to the emergency room the first week of September.
Sotelo further stated she loves the victim and he loves her.

"She's in jail but that's about the only thing we've heard. We've got a lot of family problems going on right now," Johnny Lopez, Sotelo’s son-in-law, told KSAT.com.

Lopez said Sotelo is married, and her husband was out of town. They have other children.

Espinoza confirmed that Sotelo had worked as a substitute in several of the district’s schools, and possibly, substituted at least once in the boy’s classroom, KSAT.com reported.
Esponiza told NBC News district officials refused to further comment.

“The district learned of an allegation of inappropriate behavior of a substitute with a high school student,” said the district in a emailed statement. “The district immediately took appropriate actions to ensure the substitute was not on any campus pending an investigation. The district made contact with appropriate agencies including law enforcement. The substitute is no longer employed by the district.”

Comedian held over claim he molested girl

2012-11-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

Freddie Starr was arrested last night by police investigating claims he molested a schoolgirl in Jimmy Savile’s BBC dressing room.
The 69-year-old comedian was taken into custody at a police station near his home in Warwickshire.
He denies claims by Karin Ward that he tried to grope her in 1974 when she was a 14-year-old schoolgirl.

Denial: Freddie Starr, 69, recently on ITV's This Morning appeared alongside girlfriend Sophie Lea, 34, to deny he had any involvement in the scandal

He is the second celebrity to be arrested after Gary Glitter, 68, was questioned for ten hours on Sunday on suspicion of committing sexual offences.
Detectives investigating Savile said last week they had drawn up an arrest list of people who could be questioned about allegations made by victims of Savile or his accomplices.

Last night a Scotland Yard spokesman said: ‘Officers working on Operation Yewtree have this evening arrested a man in his sixties ... on suspicion of sexual offences.
'The individual falls under the strand of the investigation we have termed “Savile and others”.’

Standing guard: Police officers outside Freddie Starr's home. Freddie Starr has been arrested by detectives investigating allegations of sexual offences connected to Jimmy Savile

A car drives through the gates to Freddie Starr's home as police officers stand outside

Starr said a week ago that he was prepared to speak to police about the allegations to clear his name. He said: ‘Ask me anything – anything. I’ll be interviewed by any police force.’
He has repeatedly denied claims that he groped Miss Ward.
Appearing on ITV News with his 34-year-old fiancee Sophie Lea, Starr insisted he had never abused underage girls, and said he had hired private detectives to prove his innocence.

Starr is the second celebrity to be arrested after Gary Glitter was questioned for 10 hours last Sunday on suspicion of committing sexual offences

Starr has previously denied claims by Karin Ward (above) that he tried to grope her in 1974 when she was a 14-year-old schoolgirl

Freddie Starr as Jimmy Savile in 1974 impressions show, Who Do You Do

He initially denied ever meeting his accuser, or appearing with her on Savile’s 1974 BBC show Clunk Click, but footage later emerged showing him and Miss Ward in the same shot.
Miss Ward has claimed: ‘I was horribly, horribly humiliated by Freddie Starr, who had a very bad attack of wandering hands and had groped me, and I didn’t like him because he smelled like my stepfather and it frightened me and freaked me out, and I rebuffed him.’
It prompted Starr to seek an injunction to prevent the claims being aired, but his High Court application was rejected.
He later invited reporters into his home and told them the woman was ‘a nutter’ and accused her of ‘picking my name out of a hat’.
He said: ‘I’ve never touched an underage girl in my life.’
PR guru Max Clifford has claimed dozens of big-name stars from the 1960s and 1970s have contacted him because they are ‘frightened’ they will become implicated in the widening child abuse scandal.
Savile, who died last year aged 84, has been described as one of the most prolific sex offenders in British history.
Police are following more than 400 leads into the DJ, who left at least 300 victims over a four-decade rampage of child abuse.
Miss Ward was one of several pupils from Duncroft Approved School in Surrey who were invited to the BBC by Savile to watch his shows being recorded.
In 2007, Surrey Police investigated historic complaints from former pupils of the now-defunct school, but the Crown Prosecution Service ruled there was not enough evidence to bring charges.
Savile’s victims are to sue the star’s £4million estate to seek answers and compensation, a lawyer said yesterday.
Liz Dux is representing more than 20 people who claim to have been sexually assaulted.

Prolific: Savile (left) has been described by police as 'one of the most prolific sex offenders' they have dealt with. Gary Glitter (right) was the first to be arrested in Operation Yewtree - the name of the Met Police investigation into 'Savile and others'

scoutmaster admits he molested boys

2012-10-26T06:58:00.000-07:00

Thomas Menghi's file is just one among 14,500 pages of "perversion files" compiled by the Boy Scouts of America between 1959 to 1985 and made public last week by court order

MONROE, N.C. — Former scoutmaster Thomas J. Menghi Jr. says he was usually drunk when he molested numerous Boy Scouts during the early 1970s.
He was in his late 20s, living in a Fayetteville motel and working as Tupperware deliveryman. He invited boys from Troop 786 as young as 11 years old to ride with him along his route, requesting that they spend the night in his room so they could get an early start.

"Yes, I abused kids," Menghi, now 69, said in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press. "But just how many and other details I can't remember. It was a long time ago and I was in a fog."
Menghi's file is just one among 14,500 pages of "perversion files" compiled by the Boy Scouts of America between 1959 to 1985 and made public last week by court order.

His file details the way local Scout officials investigated the allegations and removed him from the organization, but failed to report crimes to law enforcement. In Menghi's case, even some parents were not told that their children could have been victims.
The AP tracked down the former scoutmaster in Monroe, a bedroom community near Charlotte where he lives on a quiet street around the corner from an elementary school. Had he ever been convicted and placed on the state's sex offender registry, a 2006 law would bar him from living within 1,000 feet of a school or daycare.

The house Menghi shares with his adult son was decked out for Halloween with fake tombstones, a big white ghost and a black-clad witch. The front door was covered with bloody handprints and a warning: "Keep Out!"
The former scoutmaster said he was a Boy Scout growing up and wanted to give back to the organization. He was 25 years old and single when he decided to volunteer. As he spent more time alone with the boys, his "dark side" took over.
"What I did was wrong," Menghi said, sitting in a rocking chair on his front porch. "I'm not making any excuses. But I was a heavy drinker and did pot every once in a while."

His file shows local scout officials were contacted in early 1974 by the father of two brothers, ages 11 and 12. They had been overhead by an older sister talking about what happened in Menghi's motel room. Other parents also reported that their sons had been molested.

After interviewing the parents and some of the scouts, Kia Kim District Scout Executive George F. Hardwick Sr. drafted a memo stating that he believed there was evidence Menghi had abused as many as 10 boys. He and other officials met with Menghi the next day to confront him with the abuse claims and barred him from scouting.

"The biggest thing was to get the guy out of scouting and away from our boys," said George Heib, 86, a retired U.S. Army officer who was at the meeting. "Putting the boys through all the trauma of having to go to court and trial and all the stuff like that, I didn't think it was worth it. Of course, the publicity wouldn't be good for scouting, either."

The local scouting officials wrote to national headquarters seeking guidance on whether to encourage the parents of the abused boys to file a criminal complaint. Paul I. Ernst, the BSA executive then in charge of the organization's secret files, directed them not to.

"Normally, we do not suggest that any legal action be instituted by parents," Ernst wrote. "If they desire to do this on their own they certainly should bring about any action they feel necessary. Certainly in this case, there is every indication that legal action is justified."
A woman who answered the phone at a listing for Ernst, who now lives in Texas, directed questions to BSA and hung up.
There's no statute of limitations on prosecuting child sexual abuse in North Carolina. William West, the district attorney for the county that includes Fayetteville, said in a statement that his office and the sheriff's department would review Menghi's case.

Now 83 and still active in scouting, Hardwick said Thursday he never contacted some of the parents and never considered going to the police himself.
"As the district executive, I followed the procedure I was supposed to follow," said Hardwick, a retired U.S. Army officer. "I handled it according to my instructions. Today, there's no question the guy would be put in handcuffs. But that wasn't the way it was done in those days. Nobody even wanted to talk about it."

The current leadership of the Boy Scouts of America, which has hired a public relations firm to handle media questions on abuse, declined to comment on Menghi's case.
Menghi said the only reason he stopped molesting boys was because he got caught.
"That's when it really hit me. I knew I needed to quit and get help. Then I blacked it out," he said.
He said he recognized the emotional and physical pain he caused and would like to apologize to his victims. He said that might not be enough now that his secret file can be read by anyone with an Internet connection.
"I don't know what I'm going to do now," he said. "I just don't want to wake up in jail."

Profile of Female Sex Offenders:

2012-10-21T19:22:00.000-07:00

» low self-esteem
» history of severe emotional and verbal abuse
» absence of parent during childhood
» sexual (especially incest) victimization of the woman as a girl
» loss of spouse
» responsibility for supporting family
» feelings of isolation and alienation
» history of indiscriminate or compulsive sexual activity
» history of drug or alcohol abuse

Sexual predator ran girls-only parties at hospital away from staff

2012-10-15T21:09:00.000-07:00

Jimmy Savile scandal:

He used his unlimited access on the wards to recruit the young women for his private parties where he installed himself as DJ

Vile Jimmy Savile preyed on vulnerable patients at all-girl discos he ran at Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, it emerged last night.

The sexual predator used his unlimited access on the wards to recruit the young women for his private parties where he exclusively installed himself as DJ.
Dressed up as “therapeutic entertainment”, his discos in the 70s, which Savile insisted on making, “lasses only” – gave him the opportunity to mingle with unsuspecting victims, away from staff.

Fears of “systematic abuse” at the dance nights will now add pressure on the Department of Health’s probe into how and why Savile was appointed to a leading role at the high security psychiatric hospital.

Last night a source said: “Savile did whatever he wanted at Broadmoor and nobody could stop him.”
As accusations against the shamed star last night continued to mount, the Daily Mirror can also reveal Savile arranged for 60 patients, including convicted murderers, to be granted early release.

But for the patients who remained, Savile used his trusted status at the hospital in Crowthorne, Berks, to organise day trips for patients to the Queen’s back garden at Windsor Great Park and aboard a luxury boat on the Thames.

He also invited bands into the hospital grounds, then home to patients including Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe and gangland boss Ronnie Kray, to stage exclusive concerts.

A former employee at Broadmoor, who knew Savile but asked not to be named, said: “He had access to all areas.
"He went where he wanted and spoke to whoever he wanted to. He spoke to all the patients. He would just walk up and have a chat. He was always there.”

Access all areas: Savile

Savile’s influence was so powerful, the shamed star was allowed to run regular parties for female patients with help from the Friends of Broadmoor charity.
A nurse working at the hospital at the time of the disco in 1970 said after the first party: “The discotheque provides entertainment and a therapeutic atmosphere and is much enjoyed.”

Savile, who owned nightclubs Maison Royale and Le Cardinal in Bournemouth in the 70s, was the DJ at the launch event and subsequent discos.
He would play records and mingle with female patients, housed in two blocks at the hospital.

In 1982 Savile even organised a boat party for patients starting at the wealthy village of Wargrave for a day trip along the Thames.
Security fears at the time were shrugged off by staff, who said nurses had volunteered to join the patients.

In another treat for patients at Broadmoor, which stopped housing women in 2007, he held a picnic at Windsor Great Park, owned by the Crown.
He also staged a rock concert at Broadmoor headlined by pop band Roxon Roadshow in 1982.

The Jim’ll Fix It star, who had a flat in the grounds, volunteered at the hospital for 20 years before he was made head of a task force to plug a £20million deficit in 1988.

The DJ was considered by the Department of Health as the ideal person to fix the hospital’s finances and advise on welfare.
After taking over in the position, Savile organised for 60 patients to be released to less secure facilities, claiming they had been cured.

Savile said of Broadmoor in January 1989: “There’s a marvellous atmosphere there and some of them have been in a long time.
“At some stage in their unfortunate lives they have contracted a form of violent behaviour. That has now been rectified.”

The Department of Health said at the time in a statement: “It is fair to say Jimmy Savile can take a lot of credit for this.”

Conservative John Redwood, MP for Wokingham when patients were released, said: “If it is not the case there was a proper professional who approved this and Jimmy Savile had too much influence over this decision, that is an absolute scandal.

Jerry Sandusky defiantly claims he is innocent from his cell on eve of sentencing

2012-10-09T06:48:00.000-07:00

'They can make me out to be a monster but they can't take away my heart':

Jerry Sandusky tonight released an extraordinary recorded statement from his jail cell, on the eve of his sentencing, insisting he is innocent.
The former Penn State assistant football coach is facing potential life imprisonment for his crimes after being found guilty on 45 counts of child sexual abuse earlier this year.
Completely in denial over the decades of depravity he visited upon vulnerable young boys in his care, the disgraced 68-year-old said: 'They can take away my life, they can make me out as a monster, they can treat me as a monster, but they can't take away my heart.
Aired on Penn State radio, the recording continued: 'In my heart, I know I did not do these alleged disgusting acts.'
'Why have so many people suffered as a result of false allegations? What's the purpose?

Jailed: Jerry Sandusky recorded his statement from behind bars

In what will be a tough to hear stream of consciousness for many, the convicted sex offender went as far as to suggest that his case would 'maybe it will help others'.

'Some vulnerable children who could be abused might not be because of all the publicity,' he said.
'That would be nice, but I'm not sure about it. I would cherish the opportunity to become a candle for others, as they have been a light for me.
'My wife has been my only sex partner, and that was after marriage. Our love continues.'
Jerry Sandusky's lawyer said he will make similar claims in court tomorrow.
Nobody else is expected to speak on Sandusky's behalf during the sentencing hearing Tuesday in Bellefonte, defense attorney Joe Amendola said.

Meet the press: Defense attorney, Joe Amendola, speaks with members of the media after a pre-sentencing conference at the Centre County Courthouse today

Anticipation: News trucks outside Centre County Courthouse Monday in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, where Jerry Sandusky is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday

'What I anticipate he'll say is that he's innocent,' Amendola said outside the courthouse.
The attorney said others, including Sandusky's wife, have submitted letters on his behalf and that Dottie Sandusky stands by her husband and will attend the sentencing.
'He's going to fight for a new trial,' Amendola said. He said 'the important thing' about sentencing for the defense 'is it starts the appellate process.'

A young man started everything. He was joined by a well-orchestrated effort of the media, investigators, the system, Penn State, psychologists, civil attorneys and other accusers. They won.

Jerry Sandusky

Amendola made the comments Monday afternoon before he participated in a closed-door meeting with prosecutors and Judge John Cleland to discuss hearing logistics.
Lawyers for the attorney general's office said they would comment to reporters after the meeting.
Sentencing is expected to begin with a hearing to determine if Sandusky qualifies as a sexually violent predator under Pennsylvania's version of Megan's Law, after which Sandusky will be sentenced.
The 68-year-old former Penn State assistant football coach will likely spend the rest of his life in prison, given his age and serious nature of his convictions of which many carry mandatory minimum sentences of five or 10 years.
Assuming Judge John Cleland gives him at least two years - the minimum threshold for a state prison sentence - Sandusky's first stop will be the Camp Hill state prison near Harrisburg, where all male inmates undergo a couple weeks of testing to determine such things as mental and physical health, education level and any treatment needs.
Prison officials will assign him a security level risk and decide which 'home prison' to send him to.
Although Sandusky's home in the Lemont area of State College is only a couple miles from Rockview state prison, there is no way to predict where he will end up.
Because of who he is and what he's done, depending on what kind of facility he finds himself locked away in, Sandusky could be in particular danger of sexual assault when behind bars.

Optimistic: Joe Amendola, Sundusky's attorney, expects that the former coach will be housed with nonviolent offenders at a minimum-security prison

His lawyer, Joe Amendola, said he expects Sandusky will be housed with nonviolent offenders at a minimum-security prison, and the Pennsylvania Corrections Department said it is committed to the safety of all inmates, though it would not comment on what it plans to do to protect Sandusky.
With thousands of inmates raped in prison in the U.S. each year, statistics compiled by the federal government show that sex offenders are roughly two to four times more likely than other inmates to fall victim.
In some ways, Sandusky, who has been held in isolation in a county jail since he was found guilty in June, is not a prime target for assault. Inmates who are young and small in stature are more likely to be sexually victimized; Sandusky is a senior citizen with an imposing frame.
Other inmates at high risk include gay men, those who have been previously victimized and those seen as timid or feminine.
But a convicted sex offender who spent 10 years in prison, and who works with other released sex offenders through the Pennsylvania Prison Society, said Sandusky won't be able to keep a low profile.

Guilty: Sandusky was found guilty in June of 45 counts of child abuse of 10 boys some of which took place on Penn State school grounds

Wife: Dottie Sandusky has been a staunch defender of her husband's innocence throughout his trial and will be there to support him tomorrow

'You can have some control over how obscure you are as a prisoner,' said the 52-year-old man from the Philadelphia suburbs, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the stigma attached to sex offenses. 'You can either make yourself standout, or you can stay closer to the woodwork. There's no hiding that man.'
In 2008, more than 200,000 inmates in American prisons, jails and juvenile detention centers were victims of sexual abuse, according to the Justice Department. Male sex offenders were among those at highest risk: Nearly 14 percent reported having been sexually assaulted at least once while incarcerated.
Yet experts say rape isn't an unavoidable consequence of prison life. Justice Department statistics show wide variability in rates of sexual abuse across prisons and jails.
Wardens who are committed to ending sexual violence, establishing clear policies against abuse and holding their staffs accountable are likely to see fewer problems.
Lockups in Pennsylvania and across the nation are under a federal mandate to curb sexual abuse.
The rules, which took effect in August under the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, require screening to identify inmates at greater risk of sexual assault – and those more likely to sexually offend – with an eye toward keeping them apart in housing and work assignments.

Disgrace: Depending on where he ends up in prison, Sandusky could be in particular danger of sexual assault as sex offenders are the most reviled among inmates and his reputation hardly allows him anonymity

Prisons must also offer at least two means of reporting abuse, preserve evidence, ban retaliation against whistle-blowers, keep juvenile offenders away from adult inmates, and devise plans for adequate staffing and video monitoring.
The presumptive punishment for any staffer found to have sexually abused an inmate is firing.
Pennsylvania's policy for preventing sexual abuse dates to 2004.
New inmates must be screened, and anyone determined to be at greater risk of sexual victimization is supposed to get his or her own cell, or be placed in protective custody or in a special unit for inmates in danger. Pennsylvania prisons hold about 6,800 sex offenders.
But a scandal unfolding at the state prison in Pittsburgh shows that any policy is only as good as the people enforcing it. And prisons have a long way to go in that regard.
The national Justice Department survey found that nearly as many inmates were victimized by prison staff as by fellow inmates.

Prison life: The state will provide 68-year-old Sandusky with clothes, shoes and bedding, and the first set of toiletries. In Pennsylvania anyone determined to be at greater risk of sexual victimization is supposed to get his or her own cell and the shamed coach will likely be incarcerated alone

In the Pennsylvania case, prosecutors and lawsuits allege systematic abuse of inmates serving time for sex crimes against children. The suspected ringleader, veteran guard Harry Nicoletti, faces 89 criminal counts after a grand jury concluded he raped and beat inmates, directed other prisoners to soil the food and bedding of his targets, and committed other abuses while working in the prison's F Block, for new inmates.
Nicoletti, 60, and three other guards charged in the case assert they did nothing wrong and accuse the inmates of lying. The defendants are awaiting trial.
The Corrections Department is compiling data on sexual assault in its prisons and has hired a contractor to study conditions behind bars.
Amendola, Sandusky's attorney, said he hopes his client, who was convicted in June of abusing 10 boys over 15 years, won't become a statistic.
'I suspect they're going to take precautions against that,' he said.

Three second-grade boys accused of 'horrific sexual abuse'

2012-10-02T21:14:00.000-07:00

of eight-year-old classmate 'after acting out scene they saw in porn movie'

The parents of a central Indiana boy are suing his school on the grounds that their son was subjected to 'horrific sexual abuse' by three second-grade classmates during school hours.
The lawsuit filed last week in Delaware Circuit Court that identifies the alleged victim and his parents as Junior, John and Jane Doe, alleges the students' teacher and officials at Burris Laboratory School in Muncie knew the abuse was happening and failed to act on the warning they had been given.
It also contends that the four eight-year-old boys had 'unfettered access to pornographic videos' that they downloaded on school computers and iPads and then 'acted out' on the alleged victim.

More than child's play: Parents of an Indiana second-grade boy are suing his school for failing to act when it learned he was the victim of sexual abuse by classmates

The defendants in the suit include Burris Laboratory School, the alleged victim's second-grade teacher, the three students who the parents claim violated their son, Ball State University - the institution that runs the school - and the university's board of trustees.

But despite the controversial claims, Ball State spokesman Tony Proudfoot has spoken out saying the school will 'vigorously defend these unwarranted allegations.'
'Our commitment to the safety of students at Burris and the university are of paramount importance, and we fully expect the evidence to bear this out,'

According to the suit filed by attorneys on Friday, the Does received 'a a horrifying phone call' from the parent of another Burris student telling them that their son had been the victim of abuse in an incident on December 5.
But it claimed, because "'teachers and administrators at Burris failed to inform the Does of the nature of the abuse,' the parents had not discovered 'the full extent of the sexual abuse' for days.

When they did, they were shocked to find out that their son had been 'forced to give and receive oral sex and engage in inappropriate touching with other second-grade boys' in the schools facilities continually over a three-month period.

No way: Burris Laboratory School has refuted the allegations saying that it had been made aware of 'inappropriate behaviour' not consistent with this description in December and resolved the issue then

'Ball State, Burris and (second-grade teacher Janis) Segedy allowed these students to freely use the restroom together unsupervised for lengthy periods of time in groups of three or four,' reads the lawsuit.

It continues, claiming that when other students tried to warn the teach that some of the boys were 'doing things to other boys' private parts,' the teacher told them off for 'tattling'.

One of the students named as a defendant was required to go to the bathroom alone at his previous school owing to his 'inappropriate bathroom behavior,' and Burris school officials even knew this, charges the suit.

Accusing the school of actively ignoring the abuse, attorneys wrote on behalf of the Does that their son has been 'deprived of access to the education opportunities and benefits' of Burris, and that by failing to act, the school has permitted 'peer-to-peer sexual harassment to occur without consequence, thereby emboldening abusers and harassers to continue to engage in such conduct.'

Mr Proudfoot acknowledged that Ball State learned in December 2011 of alleged inappropriate behavior among four second-graders at the school and that the school and law enforcement officials had been investigating accusations.
'These concerns were reported promptly by Burris to the Indiana Department of Child Services,' Proudfoot said. 'Local law enforcement was also involved in reviewing the matter.'

However, Proudfoot said the allegations in the lawsuit 'bear no resemblance to the evidence or results of the investigations of the university or those of the agencies to which it was reported.'

While Chief Deputy Prosecutor Judi Calhoun could not elaborate on how the 2011 allegations were resolved, she offered: It is always an issue when we deal with very young people whether or not they actually possess the requisite intent to commit crimes.'

Ms Calhoun said Monday authorities had not uncovered evidence to support such claims that the events at Burris had not been reported in a timely and appropriate manner.
'If more information is available, we will look at it again,' she said.

Plea deal for pastor in child sex abuse case

2012-09-26T07:28:00.000-07:00

MANTECA - Roger Earl Rickman, a Tracy pastor and veterans' group chaplain, on Friday accepted a plea deal to one count of sexual abuse of a child younger than 10.

Rickman, who investigators say admitted to sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl, will receive 15 years to life in prison.

His guilty plea was entered in a Manteca courtroom during a preliminary hearing that would have determined whether the case goes to trial.

"The parents were more concerned about the young girl testifying," said Elton Grau, a prosecutor at San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office.

The girl will not have to testify because of the plea.

Generally, Grau said, children in such cases tend to find peace after testifying against their abuser.

"But I think the workup of taking the stand is initially very hard on a child," he said. "They're confronting the person that abused them. ... There is fear."

Rickman, 65, is a founder of the church where the 7-year-old and her family attended, Fresh Anointing Faith International Christian Church in Tracy.

He also was a chaplain for American Legion Post 172 and a master chaplain at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1537.

Tracy police launched the investigation into Rickman after receiving a call from the girl's mother June 20. She said her daughter told her the pastor made her use a sex toy and perform sexual acts in his vehicle.

Tracy police said the abuse occurred on various occasions in May, including incidents when he drove the girl home from school.

He originally faced six counts of sexual abuse, carrying a possible sentence of 45 years to life. More counts would have been added if the case had gone to trial, Grau said.

"This is one of the cases where he admitted to the conduct," Grau said. "Mr. Rickman took advantage of his position as a pastor."

Earlier in the court proceedings, two friends of Rickman's - a local church pastor and his wife - suggested to media the story might have been fabricated by the girl's family possibly in response to financial decisions Rickman made for the church.

Grau said he was angered by those statements. "The fact is that he confessed," Grau said. "The truth is there was no evidence the victim was lying."

Rickman's sentencing will be scheduled in early October

Married deputy head teacher 'had gay affair with 16-year-old male pupil who he met for sex in common room'

2012-09-18T21:34:00.000-07:00

Adam Williams, 35, 'met the boy through gating meetup app Grindr'

They are said to have exchanged almost 8,000 messages during their affair
Relationship 'exposed after boy's sister sees explicit pictures on his phone'
Youngster admits feeling as though he has 'betrayed' his teacher

Williams, who is married with two children, denies all charges

On trial: Deputy headmaster Adam Williams allegedly met a 16-year-old pupil for gay liaisons in school as the pair carried on a gay love affair

A married teacher and a 16-year-old pupil carried on a gay love affair during which they met for sexual encounters in the school common room, a jury heard.
Deputy headmaster Adam Williams of Cheltenham, Gloucester, also met the boy for gay liaisons in an attic to a school building where they were almost caught in the act by a cleaner, it is claimed.

The 35-year-old head of sixth form exchanged thousands of texts with the boy, including explicit pictures, after they met using mobile gay dating app Grindr, the court was told.

Williams was said to have been on both ends of sex acts with the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in the school common room after other pupils had gone home.

They also kissed in Williams's office and fondled in his car in quiet lay-bys, the jury was told.
Over the course of their alleged affair Williams and the boy exchanged almost 8,000 messages, among them naked photos of the teacher, whose wife is also a teacher.

The defendant, who has two children, even joked in one text message to the youngster that should their affair ever be exposed then the press would 'love it', adding: 'Technically you’re a junior.'

Opening the case for the prosecution, Christopher May told the hearing at Oxford Crown Court: 'Exchanges of messages and communications over texts involved a young man who was a student at the school.
'This came about in the late spring of 2011 when Mr Williams was accessing a gay communication application known as Grindr.

'Through this site he established contact with a young man, who turned out to be a 16-year-old pupil at the school.

'At the outset he (the pupil) didn’t give his true identity. At the beginning Mr Williams didn’t know who the person was that he was communicating with.
'Through the course of these communications Mr Williams expressed clearly how keen he was to meet up for sexual purposes.

'(Initially) the schoolboy was saying he was someone called James Rule, who was 20 and worked in retail.

'But by June 15, 2011, and although Mr Williams had suspected it might be him that he was in contact with, he (the teen) confirmed he was the pupil.'

The youth was a student at the school where Williams worked and taking his GCSE examinations that summer. Nothing happened between them over the summer term or over the summer holidays, the jury of seven women and five men was told.
The pupil was planning to leave the Oxfordshire school after completing his GCSEs and was set for an apprenticeship at Thomson Holidays in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, said Mr May.

However, during the course of the summer holiday he decided he wanted to remain at the school and join the Sixth Form to take his A-levels after the apprenticeship fell through.

The dark-haired defendant, who appeared in court dressed in a smart dark suit and tie, had the role of deciding whether the pupil could rejoin the school in the Sixth Form.
'Text message exchanges continued during that period,' Mr May told the jury. 'It’s quite clear that Mr Williams knew who it was he was in contact with.
'In due course they did meet up and had a number of incidents of a sexual nature.'
The barrister said it was a criminal offence for teachers to engage in sexual activity with somebody under 18 who is a pupil at the school where they work.
There was a total of 6,461 exchanged text messages and 1,430 through Ping, a chatroom website, between May and December last year.
'There were seven meetings between the two where sexual activity took place.' Sometimes it was kissing, and other times they engaged in sexual acts, prosecutor said.

On one occasion the pair were in the attic above the common room for which Williams had a key, the court heard. The teacher was allegedly performing a sex act on the boy when they were interrupted.

'Footsteps were heard on the spiral staircase and it was the cleaner,' said the prosecutor. 'He (the youth) was told to hide under a table.'

Later the pair were said to have exchanged messages referring to the near miss. The teacher texted: 'I’m shi**ing it. He’s gone. I can’t believe it.'
The youth sought to calm the panicked teacher by saying: 'For every hour that passes we know we are in the clear.'

Williams also texted the schoolboy after the near miss, saying: 'Shame I didn’t get to finish what I started.

The signs of sexual abuse

2012-09-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

include a sudden and inexplicable fear of people and places, a severe interest or avoidance of “all things of a sexual nature,” nightmares, depression, withdrawal, secretiveness, delinquency, aggression, and suicidal behavior.

Another large indicator is verbalization or physical reenactment of sexual activities, especially in a young child. Sexually abused children may not be able to say that they were sexually abused; instead they often use words like dirty, damaged, and hurt to express pain.

Help for sexual abuse can begin after the signs of sexual abuse are recognized. The following are some general signs to look out for:
-- Inability or difficult walking and sitting
-- A fear or refusing to join gym class or other areas where he/she will be naked with others
--Nightmares, night terrors, and inexplicable bed wetting
-- A sharp increase or decrease in appetite
-- Demonstrates bizarre, sophisticated, or unusual sexual knowledge or behavior
-- Becomes pregnant or contracts a venereal disease, particularly if under age 14
-- Reports sexual abuse by a parent or another adult caregiver

The Child Welfare Information Gateway describes sexual abuse perpetrators as someone who is “unduly protective of the child or severely limits the child's contact with other children, especially of the opposite sex; secretive and isolated; jealous or controlling with family members.”

A nationwide manhunt for a child pornographer has ended with the arrest of a husband and wife

2012-09-06T07:58:00.000-07:00

'Jane Doe' identified: Police arrest mother in nationwide child porn manhunt after cops found picture of mystery woman 'abusing daughters aged 6 and 9'

Michelle Freeman accused as 'Jane Doe' child pornographer with her husband Michael Freeman
Oregon husband and wife are accused of molesting their daughters aged 6 and 9
Graphic video and pictures allegedly produced by the couple were traded online.

A nationwide manhunt for a child pornographer has ended with the arrest of a husband and wife accused of filming and molesting their daughters aged six and nine for swapping online.
Michael Serapis Freeman, 39, and Michelle Lee Freeman, 40, surrendered to police at their home in Salem, Oregon this week after learning an acquaintance had identified Michelle from a photo circulated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last month.
Previously only identified as 'Jane Doe,' Michelle Freeman's picture was extracted from video and photos allegedly showing her victimizing the two girls, Homeland Security Investigators said.

Caught: Michael Freeman, 39, and Michelle Lee Freeman, 40, surrendered to police after learning an acquaintance had identified Michelle in photos released by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in August

Michael Freeman admitted to taking nude photos of his 9-year-old daughter while performing sexual acts on her to the witness of his 6-year-old daughter, according to the criminal complaint.

He described himself having been in a 'bad place' when manufacturing the content and trading it on a photo sharing website.
A scan of that website by the MailOnline shows lists of users providing photos of young boys and girls, many described being under the age of 18, in provocative poses coupled with similarly fueled comments.
Michael Freeman said he engaged in this file swapping of his daughter with another user for approximately one month.

Identified: This 'Jane Doe' photo released last month led to the woman's arrest this week along with her husband in Oregon

'I started it. Somehow she got involved,' he said of his wife who declined to speak with investigators.
Making their first court appearance in Portland on Wednesday, the couple have been charged with sexual exploitation of children while producing child pornography.

During the nation-wide search for Michelle Freeman, ICE agents were granted a criminal complaint and federal warrant from a U.S. District Court Judge in Washington, D.C. to arrest the woman.

ICE agents from Los Angeles, California, had been working on the investigation since June 2011 when they executed a search warrant and seized a computer with images that they said depicted the child victims being abused.

Similarities: The appeal by federal agents has echoes of an earlier hunt for a mystery boy pictured in this still released by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations unit

The case has echoes of a similar appeal by the same ICE unit, which in June released a still of a mystery boy who they said was in serious danger. Days after that appeal an arrest was made.

THE ICE INVESTIGATIONS UNIT

The ICE Homeland Security Investigations is responsible for investigating crime connected to the illegal movement of goods and people into and out of the United States.
Agents target criminal networks smuggling people and drugs across America's borders.
It has 6,700 agents spread throughout 200 American cities and 47 overseas outposts.

A break in the 'Jane Doe' investigation came in June of 2012, when the FBI in Colorado said it seized a computer that had over 200 images and two videos of the child victims with the images of accused suspect Michelle Freeman.
The then-unidentified male in the images has his face obscured and digitally altered in the files, according to an affidavit by HSI Special Agent Jim Cole, who has been working the investigation.

According to their investigation, the male suspect seen was believed to have interest in the outdoors based on a book Animal Tracking Basics which appears in the background of the video.

Investigators say they believe the pictures were taken in February of 2010.
Officials said the case is unusual since a majority of child pornography cases involve male suspects, not women.

A 6-year-old boy whose throat was slashed by an intruder high on drugs was killed trying to save his sister

2012-09-05T03:01:00.001-07:00

CAMDEN, N.J. — A 6-year-old boy whose throat was slashed by an intruder high on PCP-laced marijuana was killed trying to save his sister, coming to her aid as she was being assaulted on the floor, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Osvaldo Rivera, who is charged in Sunday's middle-of-the-night attack, sobbed during an appearance Tuesday in court in which bail was set at $5 million.
During an interrogation, Rivera had asked: "How bad did I hurt them?" assistant prosecutor Christine Shah said during the hearing.

The attack early Sunday was the second time in less than two weeks that prosecutors say a Camden resident apparently high on PCP had killed a child. On Aug. 22, a Camden woman decapitated her 2-year-old son, called 911 to admit stabbing the child, then killed herself.

Authorities said they are going to test PCP on the street to see what might be behind the outbursts of violence. The drug can make users hallucinatory and incoherent, police said.

The 31-year-old Rivera admitted he smoked "wet," a combination of marijuana and PCP, before the killing, police said. In the decapitation case, authorities said that preliminary tests showed the woman had PCP in her system and that they believed she had also smoked wet.

New details in the more recent attack were revealed after authorities interviewed the girl, 12, whose windpipe had been slashed but whose condition was upgraded from critical to stable. She ran out of the house and sought help after her brother intervened.

Both children had been sleeping downstairs when the assault began, police said.
The girl also said she had been raped by the attacker, Shah said at the court hearing.

Rivera, who did not enter a plea, is charged with murder and attempted murder, but prosecutors said more charges will be filed. Authorities said he had a drug arrest in 2009 but no other convictions. He did not yet have an attorney Tuesday.

The Associated Press is not naming the slain 6-year-old to avoid identifying his sister, who says she is a victim of sexual assault.

The 12-year-old was able to help police track down the attacker by identifying him as what sounded like "Poppy." Investigators learned Rivera was known by the nickname "Popeye" and had spent nights at an apartment in the area of the city.

Police found him hiding between a mattress and bedroom wall in the apartment. They said they also found blood-stained sneakers that matched bloody footprints in the home where the children were assaulted.

The children were being watched by a 14-year-old girl, authorities said. The teen, who was unharmed, was caring for them because their mother recently underwent surgery and was still in the hospital.

Authorities said they are analyzing batches of wet from Camden to see if it has been tampered with or if there is something chemically different about the wet now on the streets of Camden, a city across the river from Philadelphia that continually ranks as one of the nation's most dangerous.

"Is there some type of alteration that's being done that has triggered this?" spate of violence, said Camden Police Chief J. Scott Thomson.

There have been 10 homicides in the past 4 or 5 years where PCP has played a role, Thomson said. Authorities said the drug sells for about $10 a vial.
Dr. Al Sacchetti, chief of emergency services at our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden, said doctors treat at least one or two people on PCP each day.

Sacchetti said PCP users tend to engage in "non-specific aggressive behavior" and are often more of a danger to themselves than to others. PCP users tend to be incoherent and are mostly vocally aggressive. Extreme violence is rare, Dr. Sacchetti said.

"These tragedies, the last couple of cases, are very unusual for what we're used to seeing," Dr. Sacchetti said. "Usually people hallucinate, but they're not that focused. You have to be very focused to cut someone's head off or find someone and slit their throat."

huffington post

Girl was gang-raped repeatedly two years ago in Cleveland, Texas

2012-09-01T23:12:00.000-07:00

'It's not as bad as what they are saying. Nobody tied her up': Shock at Texas town that says girl, 11, who was 'gang raped was responsible because she was wearing makeup and looked older than her age'

Eric McGowen, 20, sentenced to 99 years' prison after being convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child

Though a jury found Eric McGowen guilty of horrifically gang-raping an 11-year-old girl, two major issues remain in the search for justice.

One, McGowen, 20, hasn’t been seen since he vanished during a break in proceedings last week, and the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office had few leads to his whereabouts. In the case, 20 men and boys were charged with repeatedly attacking the girl over the span of five months, through December of 2010.

Second, the small Texas community of Cleveland remains divided on the rape – some residents have suggested the girl was partly responsible because of her appearance, sparking widespread condemnation.

On trial: Eric McGowen, 20, pictured, is among 14 adults accused of raping the girl in the shocking series of attacks that took place in the small Texas community of Cleveland

Some also believe the arrests were racially motivated; all of the suspects are black, while the girl is Hispanic. The crime has created a still-lingering divide among residents.
And with the first suspect convicted in the case at large and several more defendants still facing trial, it could be some time before Cleveland, about 45 miles outside of Houston, is able to put the crime behind it.

Prosecutors say the girl was sexually assaulted on at least five occasions from mid-September through early December of 2010, at the mobile home and elsewhere. Others, however, anxiously await the capture of the first person tried and convicted in the case who ran off in the middle of his trial.

'She was just 11,' Charles Armstrong told the Associated Press, as he watched his three and four year old grandsons play in his front yard across the street from where the mobile home once stood.

'I'm not going to stand behind them (the defendants). I'm going to stand behind a jury,' said Armstrong, sitting in a plastic chair outside his mobile home following an overnight shift at his maintenance job at Wal-Mart.

Despite evidence at Eric McGowen's trial that included a confession, DNA evidence, the girl's tearful testimony and a video of her being assaulted, others haven't been swayed.

Caroline King, who lives down the street, insisted Friday that people still 'don't know the facts of the case' and said authorities were just 'harassing people' by knocking on doors in the town of about 7,700 people as they searched for McGowen.

'It's not as bad as what they are saying. Nobody tied (the girl) up,' said King, 59.

Missing: McGowen apparently escaped from the Liberty County Courthouse during a break in the trial

Some suggested early on that the girl was partly responsible because they say she wore makeup, looked older than her age and wasn't properly supervised by her parents.
But Comeka Robinson, who knows McGowen, described the girl as a 'baby.' She said what happened to the girl was wrong, but she also has doubts about the guilt of McGowen and some of the others charged.
'I would not recommend (he) turn himself in,' Robinson, 25, said.
McGowen, who had been out on bail, fled Wednesday after the girl testified that he sexually assaulted her multiple times, including once with a beer bottle.
The trial went on without him, and jurors found him guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child and then sentenced McGowen to 99 years in prison.
It's unclear if divisions in the town may be complicating efforts to find McGowen. Authorities are saying little about the search.

Crime scene: Authorities say this is the abandoned trailer where an 11-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in November 2010

Dirty: The attacks occurred inside an abandoned mobile home, pictured, police said

Interim police Chief Darrel Broussard said his agency was working with the Liberty County Sheriff's Office to try to find McGowen, including checking places he previously lived in Cleveland.

The mayor did not return a message Friday seeking comment about the case.
McGowen was the first defendant to stand trial in the case. All six of the juveniles and two of the 14 adults charged pleaded guilty. Trial dates have not been set for the 11 remaining defendants.

Police began investigating after one of the girl's classmates told a teacher he saw video of her being sexually assaulted in the abandoned trailer.

Kim Shelton, a member of the Unity Committee in Cleveland, which was created several years ago to promote the city, said the community is working to deal with the crime and trying to ensure something like that never happens again.

Recently, a local church sponsored a conference to teach girls to respect themselves, for example. Shelton also believes parents are talking more to their children.
Earlier this summer, Shelton's committee began selling bumper stickers that say 'I (Heart) Cleveland, TX' as a way to promote the city and tell others it's a good place to live.
'We consider ourselves family and we are moving forward,' she said.

Accused: Kelvin Rashad King, left, and Devo Shaun Green, right, were among those accused of raping the girl

Gang-rape: Xavier King, left, and Marcus Anthony Porchia, right, are among the 20 men and boys in the case

in the store parking lot by a registered sex offender

2012-08-31T06:31:00.000-07:00

PALMDALE, Calif. -- Workers at an Auto Zone came to a woman's rescue after she was attacked in the store parking lot by a registered sex offender, authorities say.

It happened Wednesday around 6:30 p.m. near a store in the 1100 block of East Palmdale Boulevard.

According to investigators, the victim was working on her vehicle in the parking lot when a man came up to her and claimed to be a mechanic.
When the woman refused his help, he became angry and pinned her against the vehicle and began sexually assaulting her, according to a statement from Palmdale Sheriffs Deputy Robbie Royster.

The victim cried out as she tried to fend off the man, but was overpowered, Royster said.

The man fled after he was interrupted by a store employee who was walking through the parking lot, authorities said.

The employee jumped in his car and began following the suspect, while other employee called authorities.

Deputies eventually caught up with the suspect, identified as 41-year old Corey Green, near Courson Park.

Green, a registered sex offender, was on parole for another sexual assault and wearing an ankle monitor when he was caught, authorities said.

The victim was transported to a local medical facility for treatment of undisclosed injuries she suffered during the assault, authorities said.

Green was arrested and booked on suspicion of attempted rape, penetration with a foreign object and sexual battery, Royster said.

He is being held without bail.

THE country’s worst sex offenders will be forced to take regular lie detector tests when they leave jail.

2012-08-29T21:08:00.000-07:00

Freed sex fiends face lie detector

750 vilest monsters quizzed every 3 months

Hooked up ... Sun man Tom tries test

Beasts like nursery paedophile Vanessa George and child killer Jon Venables will be hooked up to the monitors every three months and quizzed about their recent activities.

Beast ... Vanessa George

Ministers hope the scheme — targeting the 750 vilest sex fiends — will catch those who are reoffending.

Blood pressure, heart rate and breathing will be measured to make sure the monsters are telling the truth about where they have been and what they have been up to. Tests that set alarm bells ringing could see the perverts returned to jail.

In a Ministry of Justice pilot scheme, sex offenders made TWICE as many admissions when put through the polygraph tests, compared with another group.

Many even confessed to breaches of their licence conditions BEFORE being hooked up to the machines because they knew they would be caught out.

US forensic psychiatrist Don Grubin helped run the trial in the Midlands between 2009 and 2011. He told The Sun yesterday: “I have no doubt serious offences have been prevented through use of this technology.”

One freed rapist was returned to jail after admitting he had been performing sex acts in public and was mixing with other sex offenders.

Child killer ... Jon Venables

In another case a paedophile revealed he had recently started dating. Investigators later found he was regularly undressing in front of his new girlfriend’s young daughter. And a third pervert admitted he had been viewing child porn online since finishing a jail term for the same offence.

He was caught out by officials who suspected he cheated his first test by holding his breath. They gave him a second test — and he was forced to admit accessing the sickening images.

His case echoed that of Venables, 30, who was recalled to prison two years ago for viewing child porn while on life licence for the murder of two-year-old James Bulger in 1993.

Ministers hope to push plans for the tests through Parliament and bring in the £4,000 polygraph machines by 2014. Offenders who refuse to take the tests will be in breach of their licence conditions and could be returned to prison.

Justice Minister Crispin Blunt confirmed last night: “We will be making the request to Parliament and in due course we will mandate it for the 750 most serious offenders.”

Jon Venables rap ... in The Sun

myView

By TOM WELLS
I WAS hooked up to a lie detector for just minutes yesterday — but it was enough to leave me in a cold sweat.
Experts asked me to pick a numbered card and then lie about which one I had chosen.

A few minutes later a huge spike in an electronic graph gave my very basic deception away. It’s not hard to see why ministers are so excited about this technology.
Trials in the Midlands have already stopped convicted rapists and paedophiles from re-offending.Many even revealed information before their tests, knowing they were about to be caught out.
Lie detector machines have been used on sex offenders in the US for years. British experts believe it cannot happen here soon enough.

Internet Watch Foundation gets behind campaign to stop child sex offenders online

2012-08-26T05:24:00.003-07:00

Twitter blasted for being "well out of their depth" as Sunday Mirror helps shut down over 35 pedophile profiles

Internet Watch Foundation gets behind our campaign to stop child sex offenders on the net

Twitter has closed down 35 more profiles of suspected paedophiles after being alerted to them by the Sunday Mirror.

Bosses acted after we tipped them off that child protection expert Mark Williams-Thomas had discovered the perverts swapping and discussing vile images through the site.

Mr Williams-Thomas, who is leading the investigation behind our campaign to clean up Twitter, discovered the profiles within an hour of searching.

“At least four of the users were specifically targeting teenagers, looking for naked pictures,” he said.

“Others posted images of children as young as three being horrifically abused, or were posting email or contact details looking to trade images of child abuse.
“After reporting them to Twitter they were taken down with 48 hours. But I could do this all day, every day.”

Mr Williams-Thomas, who previously found hundreds of other cases, added:

“Twitter need to start using software to tackle the problem. They are well out of their depth.”

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), backed by the world’s leading online giants to stop child sex offenders using the net, has now added its weight to our campaign.

We are also being supported by John Carr, of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety, who is to raise our campaign in Parliament.

The IWF is one of the world’s leading watchdogs on child exploitation online and among its 100 members are Google, Facebook and Vodafone.

Members can remove child sex web pages 40 per cent quicker than non-members.

CEO Susie Hargreaves said: “We welcome this campaign by the Sunday Mirror.

If Twitter joins the IWF, we can help them protect their users and disrupt the distribution of some of the most horrific images.”

Twitter spokesman Del Harvey said: “Our process for reporting child pornography is approved by both law enforcement in the US and the EU, and by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

“The standard for reporting this content is similar across all social networking platforms. Twitter recently attended a cross-industry meeting on online child exploitation.

“It is part of a group that is forming to allow social networks and agencies to share best practices on identifying and reporting content of this nature.”

Internet is a dark, scary place again

By John Carr, Internet child safety expert
A wise man once said: “When you are in a hole, stop digging.” It’s advice the owners of Twitter should heed.

Ever since the Sunday Mirror exposed the way pedophiles were using Twitter to contact each other and swap child abuse images, we have been waiting to see how they will respond. Their silence is deafening. The hole is getting deeper.

Twitter’s lack of a clear and energetic response is deeply worrying. If they don’t understand and accept the need to respond to public anxiety about an issue as horrific as child sex abuse and child pornography you have to wonder what is going on inside the heads of their senior executives.

When Parliament returns in eight days Twitter need to prepare for an onslaught which will include calls for legislation that the Government may find hard to resist.

The likes of Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Yahoo! have invested hugely in putting in place systems to keep child pornography off their networks.

They have joined bodies like the Internet Watch Foundation. Twitter is not part of any of these arrangements. So Twitter are letting the side down.

The internet is back in the public eye as a dark and scary place.

*John Carr is a leading expert in internet child safety and Government adviser

Missing teenage girl escapes after being held captive by man and his mother

2012-08-24T06:28:00.000-07:00

in horrific two-year kidnap ordeal where she was beaten, raped and gave birth to her captor's baby

Girl was 15 years old when she disappeared in East St Louis, Illinois
She was raped by her captor, fell pregnant and had a baby who was also kept at the home
SWAT team stormed house and arrested 24-year-old man
Man's mother appeared to have assisted in the crime and was also taken into police custody

Boy, 16, also taken from the home which is located next to a gas station

A teenage girl who disappeared more than two years ago escaped this week from a home where she had been held captive, beaten and repeatedly raped.

The seventeen-year-old told police in Washington Park, Illinois that she was raped by her captor, fell pregnant and had a baby during a horrific two-year ordeal.

She was listed as a missing or runaway juvenile on April 6, 2010 in St Louis, Missouri, close to the state line. She was 15 years old when she disappeared.

Saved: The teenager's baby is carried away by the SWAT team after it was rescued from the home in Illinois

Captivity: Local children look on as SWAT teams swarm the home in Washington Park, Illinois, next to a Mobil garage, where girl was held for two years and repeatedly raped

The girl escaped from the home, which sits on the corner of a block next to a gas station, earlier this week and went to police saying her child was still in the house.

A heavily-armed SWAT team wearing helmets and body armor swarmed the home on Thursday afternoon at 5.30pm with their assault rifles drawn. They recovered the child and arrested a 24-year-old man

One of the officers carried the child - apparently unharmed - in his arms with a white sheet draped over the child's head to conceal the toddler's identity. The child was taken away in a waiting ambulance.

Washington Park Police Chief David Clark said it appeared the man's mother assisted in the horrendous crime.

She was also taken into custody. Police would not identify either of them by name because they had not been charged as of Thursday evening.

A boy, aged 16, was also removed from the home in his school uniform, according to BND.com

The teenager and the toddler were later turned over to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

Rescue: A baby was taken from the home in Washington Park, Illinois where his mother had been held captive

Disappearance: The girl has been described as missing or a runaway by police since 2010

The teenage girl told police she was held against her will and was beaten and sexually assaulted almost every day. It is not known how she came into contact with her captors.

She reported trying to escape several times but told police that her captor chased her down each time and forced her back to the home at gunpoint.

She told police she was able to escape this week with the help of a relative.

Police said the teen also told them she was forced by the man and his mother to give a false name in medical records during her pregnancy and when the child was born.

A neighbor, Lakeitha Smith, told several local TV stations that she saw the girl from time to time outside the house and never witnessed anything that would raise concern.

'I used to see her come out of the house, back and forth,' Smith said. 'I didn't think she was being held hostage in the house.'

The teenager’s ordeal has been compared to international bestselling novel Room by Emma Donoghue which tells a similar story of a woman who was abducted and held captive by a man who fathers a child with her. She is forced to live in a single room with her five-year-old son until they escape.

House of horrors: The girl was held against her will as this home in Washington Park, Illinois and repeatedly sexually attacked and beaten

A former Fayette County Public Schools employee has been charged with first-degree sexual abuse

2012-08-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

and second-degree sodomy involving a 13-year-old boy, according to a uniform citation filed in Fayette District Court.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/08/16/2301089/lexington-grand-jury-to-hear-child.html#storylink=cpy

Thompson, 31, of 2076 Alexandria Drive, is alleged to have performed oral sex on the boy, and later fondled the child in a separate incident, according to court documents. The events occurred in 2009, according to the document.

None of the alleged incidents occurred at school, Fayette schools Superintendent Tom Shelton said.
Thompson, who had not been arrested as of Tuesday night, is scheduled to appear in district court at 1 p.m. Thursday.

Thompson was employed by the Fayette public schools from 2006 to the end of the 2010-11 school year; he initially worked as a substitute teacher, then became a special education instructional assistant at Booker T. Washington Academy, according to the district. Thompson then moved to Leestown Middle School, where among other things he coached the school's dance team.
Thompson is a Zumba instructor.

Shelton said that in June 2011 the Leestown principal received "second-hand information" alleging "inappropriate contact" between Thompson and an unnamed minor who was not a student. Later that month, the principal, following state law and school district policy, reported the matter to the Fayette Schools Central Office and to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Shelton said.

Shelton said district officials then called Thompson in to discuss the allegations. At that point Thompson resigned, and the school system reported the case to the state Education Professional Standards Board, Shelton said.

"In August of 2011, after Mr. Thompson had left us, we received a second allegation, and we followed the same steps in reporting to the state cabinet and the professional standards board," Shelton said. "We have been cooperating with law enforcement since then."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/07/24/2269680/former-fayette-schools-employee.html#storylink=cpy

Timothy W. Bothell, 43, of Centerville, was charged with two counts of sex abuse of a child

2012-08-19T04:57:00.000-07:00

in Second District Court Friday.

Prosecutors charged a Centerville man, who is a former LDS Church employee, on Friday with sexually abusing two children and showing them his genitals several months ago.

Timothy William Bothell, 43, was charged in 2nd District Court with two counts of first-degree felony aggravated sexual abuse of a child stemming from incidents at a home between Dec. 1, 2011, and Aug. 9. He was also charged with four counts of lewdness involving a child, a class A misdemeanor.

LDS Church spokesman Scott Trotter said in a written statement, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has zero tolerance for abuse of any kind.

Those found guilty of these actions are subject to the demands of the law and also face Church discipline. The welfare of victims is our utmost concern and Church leaders will continue to offer counseling and other resources to help in the healing process."

Sometime in the past nine months, Bothell allegedly touched the genitals of a minor female, and made the child touch his genitals also, according to court documents. During the same time, Bothell "intentionally or knowingly" exposed his genitals to the same female child and another female child on at least four separate occasions, court documents state.

After being interviewed by police Bothell admitted to touching the genitals of the female child and causing her to touch his penis. He told officers he "accidentally" exposed himself to the same two female children at least eight different times, according to court records.

Trotter said that Bothell was an employee of the church but is not any longer. Trotter also said that "neither [Bothell’s] current or former church positions play any part in this case."

In 2009, Bothell co-authored a magazine article in Meridian, an LDS magazine, on "raising children to feel and recognize the spirit."

He had worked for the church in the Missionary Department at the church office building since 2004 and previously worked as a faculty development coordinator for the Assessment of Student Learning at Brigham Young University, according to his LinkedIn online account. Bothell also has a bachelor’s degree and a doctorate in psychology from BYU.

Bothell waived his right to a preliminary hearing. His next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 24. He is being held at the Davis County jail on $100,000 bail.

The Salt Lake Tribune

Middle school teacher had 'sex and pizza party with underage students where she plied them with drugs and alcohol'

2012-08-09T23:30:00.000-07:00

Jailed: Bethany Appleton, 28, Shelbyville, worked as a middle school teacher for Shelbyville Central Schools

A middle school teacher is has been jailed after holding a 'sex and pizza' parties with underage students
Bethaney Appleton is suspected of having sex with several students at her home after plying them with drugs and alcohol.
Police said the 28-year-old invited boys from her school back to her home where they were offered pizza before having sex with her.
A 15-year-old boy told investigators he had sex with Appleton multiple times over a period starting in November 2011.
The sexual contact ended in May 2012.
The teen told police the special needs teacher supplied alcohol and marijuana at the parties held in her home in Shelbyville, Indiana.
Appleton was charged with 13 felony counts following an extensive investigation by the police and Indiana Department of Child Services.
She was a teacher at Shelbyville Middle School where she worked with children with mild disabilities.
Appleton's biography on the Shelbyville school district website reveals her love for teaching.

It reads: 'I love it here and I love what I am doing. I have always wanted to be a teacher and am so glad that I have the opportunity to work with so many great teachers and students.'

Bethany Appleton, 28, Shelbyville, worked as a middle school teacher for Shelbyville Central Schools when the 'sex and pizza' parties took place

Accused: Between April 2011 and May 2012, investigators said Appleton had sexual relations with one victim in her home and provided alcohol and marijuana to her victims

The website says Appleton has been teacher at Shelbyville Middle School since 2008.
It also says Appleton’s family is known for teaching.
Appleton was charged with four counts of sexual misconduct with a minor, one count of child seduction, one count of maintaining a common nuisance, and seven counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
It’s the second incident in two months where a Shelbyville school employee has been accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a student.

More trouble: Assistant cheerleading coach at Shelbyville High School Megan Crafton was arrested for performing oral sex on a student, 17

In June, an assistant cheerleading coach at Shelbyville High School was arrested for allegedly performing oral sex on a 17-year-old student.
Megan Crafton, 22, Indianapolis, pleaded not guilty in that case, saying she wasn't in a position of authority over the student.
Appleton was being held at the Shelby County Jail on Wednesday, but she was released after a friend posted a $2,005 cash bond

You can't let it get you down, you can't let it define your personality

2012-08-08T03:56:00.000-07:00

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Four sisters are breaking their silence 10 years after they endured sexual abuse as children.
A trusted family friend is now locked up for what he did to them."As much as I want to say that it has not affected my life, it has. It's a huge part of my life and I think about it every day," said Tasha Walker.
Walking down Post Street in Riverside, it's hard for her to look at the house she was sexually abused in for years in the late 90's.

"It's really really gruesome everything that happened there, and it is hard to look at it," she said.
Even though her attacker is behind bars and no longer lives here, revisiting the site of the attack is painful.
"Me and my sisters and brother, we were searching for that kind of relationship with an adult, someone we could trust. And our entire lives we were searching for someone we could trust," she said.
Harvey Duncan was it.

A married, middle aged photographer, Walker's parents trusted him to look after Walker and her 4 siblings.
"He got lucky as a sexual predator. He picked a family that was already not stable," she said.

The kids were in and out of foster care growing up.
But in Duncan's care, it was much worse.
According to court documents, the five kids suffered two years of sustained sexual abuse in his home.
"We all agreed to come out about it, and I felt like it would give us closure. So what if we took you to the exact spot that it happened to get closure," said Autum Sorrell.
Sorrell is the oldest of the five. She's the one who turned in Duncan.

Their brother did not want to be identified for the story, and the two youngest sisters didn't want to show their face.
But Autum and Tasha wanted to go back to the attic where the abuse happened more than 10 years ago.
"Now that I'm looking right here, he could probably just sit right there and watch us out the window," said Sorrell.

They lived across the street from Duncan. Now, sitting in the old attic, the two sisters are finally talking about the years that changed their lives.
"We never ever ever brought this up to each other, mentioned it, how it affected us. We were probably embarrassed or ashamed to bring it up," she said.
But not anymore.
While Harvey Duncan still has 10 years behind bars, this family wants to live the rest of their lives free of him.
"In this situation it's purely to get the message out to other people that this is happening to that you can be alright, you can't let it get you down, you can't let it define your personality," said Tasha.

Child abusers

2012-08-06T23:07:00.000-07:00

The only way to stop them is to catch them.

The American Medical Association defines sexual abuse as
"The engagement of a child in sexual activities for which the child is developmentally unprepared and cannot give informed consent"

Some things to consider:

Most children are abused by someone they know and trust
Boys are most likely than girls to be abused outside the family.
It's very rarely a one time occurance. It's typically ongoing.
Children are more vulnerable between ages 8 and 12.
Less than 10% is reported to the police.

Note to parents: If your child tells you it's happening, believe them. Research shows children rarely lie about it.