Everyday thousands of children are being sexually abused. You can stop the abuse of at least one child by simply praying. You can possibly stop the abuse of thousands of children by forwarding the link in First Time Visitor? by email, Twitter or Facebook to every Christian you know. Save a child or lots of children!!!! Do Something, please!

3:15 PM prayer in brief:
Pray for God to stop 1 child from being molested today.
Pray for God to stop 1 child molestation happening now.
Pray for God to rescue 1 child from sexual slavery.
Pray for God to save 1 girl from genital circumcision.
Pray for God to stop 1 girl from becoming a child-bride.
If you have the faith pray for 100 children rather than one.
Give Thanks. There is more to this prayer here

Please note: All my writings and comments appear in bold italics in this colour

Friday 31 October 2014

Boko Haram Denies Ceasefire Claim by Nigeria's Ridiculous Government

If there was ever any real hope of getting the Chibok girls back any time soon, it's been blown out the window. They will not be negotiated back. Unless Boko Haram is completely destroyed, it is unlikely that they will come back in the next decade or two.
The video released on Friday was Boko Haram's first
statement after the government announced a ceasefire
Boko Haram has denied claims by Nigeria's government that it has agreed to a ceasefire and will release more than 200 abducted schoolgirls.

The group's leader, Abubakar Shekau, said the girls had converted to Islam and been married off since being taken.

Nigeria's army announced a ceasefire with the militants on 17 October, saying the girls would soon be freed.

But violence has continued since news of the alleged truce, including a fatal bomb blast on Friday.

Boko Haram has been fighting an insurgency since 2009, with some 2,000 civilians reportedly killed this year.

'We will not negotiate'
In a video released on Friday, Abubakar Shekau said: "We have not made ceasefire with anyone. We did not negotiate with anyone. It's a lie.

"We will not negotiate. What is our business with negotiation? Allah said we should not."

Shekau also claimed that the militants were holding a German national, thought to be a teacher, who was kidnapped by gunmen in July.

There was no indication of when or where the group's latest video was shot.

The BBC's Tomi Oladipo in Lagos says the video will come as a huge embarrassment for the Nigerian government after it said it had secured a ceasefire with Boko Haram. Not really, Tomi, very few people expect the truth from the Nigerian military, government or newpapers.
Newspapers with headlines on the Chibok girls and their possible
release are displayed at a news stand in Abuja - 18 October 2014
Nigerian newspapers will print whatever you want them to print, if you pay them.

The Islamist militants sparked global outrage in April by abducting 219 schoolgirls from the remote north-eastern town of Chibok, in Borno state.

Their continued captivity has led to criticism of the Nigerian government's efforts to secure their release. 'Efforts' is much too strong a word to be applied here.

Hopes were raised earlier this month when Nigeria's chief of defence staff, Alex Badeh, announced a truce with the group.

"They've assured us they have the girls and they will release them," he said. "I am cautiously optimistic."

But the Boko Haram leader said the girls were "in their marital homes" after being married off by the group.

Last week, Human Rights Watch said in a report that Boko Haram was holding more than 500 women and young girls captive and that forced marriage was common in the group's camps.

Saudis Begin to Tackle Serious Child Sex Abuse Problem in Arabia

Studies show that the rate of child sexual abuse in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is alarmingly high with one in every four children exposed to sexual harassment at some point in their early lives. The global average is one in five.

The Orphan Care Department in the Eastern Province organized recently a lecture for foster families entitled “Sexual Harassment and Adolescence” to inform parents about the importance of protecting children from sexual harassment. 

The event took place on the premises of the Directorate General for Social Affairs in Dammam in the presence of 75 foster families.

Many papers were presented on the issue including a study conducted byWafa Mahmoud, assistant professor at King Saud University, who revealed that there was a high percentage of cases involving children being sexually abused. She pointed out that one out of every four children experienced sexual harassment.

Another study by Munera Abdulrahman showed that 49.23 percent of sexually abused children are aged 14 or below.
Dammam, Saudi Arabia
Sheikha bint Ouda Al-Ouda, a social and educational counselor, said that there were no accurate figures on the extent of child sexual abuse in the Kingdom owing to the topic being considered taboo with families fearing scandal or even being ostracized by close family members.

In other words, one in four might be a serious underestimate.

Al-Ouda explained that the main reason for the occurrence of child sexual abuse is the silence and the complacency of the family, particularly the mother. The mother needs to play a more active role in monitoring drivers, housekeepers, and ensure that their children dress modestly. Some mothers don’t mind sending children to corner stores, or with a relative, or letting them sleep with male members of the family, including the father,” she said.

Al-Ouda recommended maintaining self-control after the occurrence of a sexual abuse case and refraining from blaming the child. “A child needs support and a feeling of being safe,” she said, adding parents should not resort to self-blame but keep in mind the real aggressor who needs to be punished.

Al-Ouda also called for believing in what the child says and building trust in parents’ relationships with their children. “The more the parents trust the child’s story, the more accurate details they will be able to get from the child,” she underscored.

She also advised parents to teach children to seek other sources of support. “If parents fear that they will lose control over their emotions, they need to take the help of a social guidance specialist,” she said.

Reflecting on the ways to avoid sexual harassment, Al-Ouda said: “Get your children into the habit of reading verses from the Qur’an and help them to share an open relationship with you where they don’t fear telling you about themselves.”

She also urged schools to carry out their responsibilities to society by developing educational programs to raise children’s awareness of sexual harassment in school and other places.
She urged school authorities and parents to provide their children with self-defense skills, good thinking skills and the numbers of the nearest police station.

This is a modest but hopeful start to addressing CSA in Saudi Arabia. Admitting that it is a big problem and talking about it openly is great. Perhaps in a generation they will overcome the social taboos associated with sex abuse.

$13.5M Child Sex Abuse Award; JWs Accused of Cover-up

In the category, 'Americans like to do things 100 times bigger than anyone else', comes this extraordinary award.

A multi-million dollar award has been announced in a child sex abuse case. The abuse happened more than 25 years ago, but didn't come to light until recently.

It was a seven-year-old child and a minister. And for years, the Jehovah's Witnesses have been accused of covering up the crimes. At 10:30 Friday morning, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society - who oversees the Jehovah's Witnesses will pay this victim $13.5 million.


This victim was a member of the Linda Vista Spanish Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses back in 1986.

The minister of the bible study admitted to abusing children, but avoided prosecution by fleeing to Mexico.

The victim's attorney says the church never reported it to police, and that there are more secrets to come.

"This problem of childhood sexual abuse within the Jehovah's Witnesses organization is insidious and it is an epidemic."

The attorney of the Watch Tower says Jehovah's Witnesses do not tolerate child abuse. And you can believe everything the Watchtower says....I wonder if it's written in Nigeria?



What Kind of Nigeria Will the Chibok Girls Come Back To?

Hopes of release faded into weary cynicism this week. It’s a feeling Nigerians have grown used to. 

I have been cynical from the beginning of this 'deal' with Boko Haram. There was very little chance of it being true and coming to pass. There was a very strong probability that it was simply untrue, like so many other stories that came from the Nigerian military or government or media. 

The lies they tell, the games they play, spark hope that invariably is yanked away within days. It's criminal what they are doing to the families and friends of the kidnapped children, and they're continued neglect of the hundreds of girls and boys captured by Boko Haram. It's also criminal that their military is so pathetic and so poorly equipped that they cannot even protect the people they are supposed to. Some people should be held accountable.
Protesters call on the Nigerian government to rescue
the girls taken by Boko Haram from a school in Chibok.
The news that the Nigerian government and Boko Haram had reached a deal that would secure the release of the Chibok girls was received with excitement all over the world. I landed in Nigeria the day the news broke, and my phone was flooded with texts and messages to the effect of “Have you heard?”. Then, as the days passed and the girls did not materialise, anticipation cooled into watchfulness and watchfulness soured into cynicism. “They’re always releasing false statements,” a relative of mine said the other day. “Just let us know when they get home.”

The Chibok girls have become a symbol of everything that is wrong with Nigeria. They were abducted because the state failed to protect them. They have remained in captivity, first because their disappearance was not treated as an issue of national significance and then because despite pouring billions of dollars into defence, the army tasked with finding them is worse equipped than Boko Haram. Almost the entire population of this country can give instances where state neglect or state greed or state indifference has led to calamity in our lives.

I wonder how many Nigerians have off-shore bank accounts with millions of dollars in them? I would bet the number would be in the hundreds and possibly in the thousands as multiple billions of dollars go missing from military and government coffers. It would seem that being a liar and a thief is a prerequisite for advancement in the military and government of Nigeria.

The Chibok girls are our plights magnified – a twist of fate, and we could easily be them tomorrow. Their loss was our nadir (rock-bottom) as a nation and their recovery would mark, for many, a return to cautious optimism. Until you have a leader with some integrity, there'l be no reason for optimism, cautious or otherwise.

For others it would take much more than that. Bringing the Chibok girls back will not solve the problem of the thousands who have been displaced by Boko Haram and are now living as refugees in northern cities like Yola. Bringing the Chibok girls back will not change the fact that 12 Nigerian soldiers were sentenced to death for mutinying against their commander, and more are mutinying because they are so poorly equipped.

On Wednesday the town of Mubi, home to Adamawa State University, was overrun by Boko Haram insurgents and Nigerian soldiers fled, leaving its barracks to be looted of weapons. Some two weeks after the announcement of the deal, newspapers continue to keep track of how many days the girls have been missing – but the main headlines have now moved on to more recent atrocities.

The western fixation on the Chibok girls is seen by some as a simplification of a war that has many victims: young boys, young girls, old men, women, children, Christians, Muslims, pastors, imams, soldiers, teachers, students, journalists, a list of casualties that has no rhyme or reason.

Conspiracy theories thus abound in some quarters, as people express scepticism about the wave of international concern over Chibok. The concern from western governments, some believe, is just a ploy to get a foothold in Nigeria.After all, Boko Haram has been killing and kidnapping us since,” a friend summarised.

The concern from western governments was not about getting a foothold in Nigeria; it was simply an exercise in appeasing their own constituents. I believe they mostly left because of the impossibility of working with the Nigerian military and government. It is probably for the same reason that the west has little interest in your oil.

And for others, as well as bringing back the Chibok girls and equipping our army, how we win the wider war against terrorism is just as important.

In 2013, the US state department filed a report on human rights abuses in Nigeria. Ignoring the irony of the US filing a report on abuses that occur as a result of a war on terror, the facts presented were appalling. Extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, beatings – these have sadly become part and parcel of Nigeria’s response to Boko Haram. Innocent Nigerians are becoming collateral damage for our war on terror.

Things have so deteriorated that the US government has allegedly refused to sell arms to Nigeria because of human rights violations. Again, ignoring cries of the pot calling the kettle black, the more pertinent question is: is the kettle black? Are these allegations true? If they are, this is not how a democracy fights a war, particularly on its own territory.

In Nigeria this month, I witnessed incidents which suggest that in many ways my country is still only a nominal democracy. Waiting in traffic in Port Harcourt, in the south-east of the country, I saw a police officer run up to a traffic offender and deal him a vicious blow across the face. Bystanders did not even look up. Again in Port Harcourt, I saw a convoy with sirens blaring driving down the wrong side of the road to avoid waiting like the rest of us normal, plebeian people. And last, and most shocking, outside Lagos airport, I watched a soldier ram the nozzle of his gun, hand on trigger, into the shoulder of a driver who had formed a second lane at the drop-off point at the departure terminal.

My South African friends, very conscious of the apartheid struggle, are always quick to say, “Biko did not die for this”, or “Mandela did not go to prison for that”, whenever there has been a perceived infringement of their democratic rights. In Nigeria, we too have our democratic heroes. They were not tear-gassed, thrown in prison or killed so that 15 years later, 234 girls would go missing and no one would care.

Kudirat Abiola was not shot in the head so that I would watch a policeman almost shoot a driver for parking wrongly outside Murtala Muhammed international airport. The journalist Dele Giwa was not blown up so that, in 2014, the billions of dollars earmarked to fight a war on terror against a group much smaller and with fewer resources than the Nigerian army would unaccountably not suffice, and an additional $1bn would be needed to do the job.

Chibundu Onuzo
The Guardian
I have said before, yes please, bring back our girls – but what kind of nation will they come back to? At the Port Harcourt Book Fair last week I watched a troupe of young Nigerians act out the plight of my country. Nigeria, in ragged green and white robes, lay stricken on the floor. The actors surrounded the sick nation, listing the wrongs that had brought Nigeria to this state. So young, and these actors already knew about state corruption and state brutality and state neglect.


And yet the play did not end in despair. These young ones grew and became great, and lifted Nigeria to her feet and discarded her rags and clothed her in sparkling green and white, and danced and danced and danced with the Nigeria they had recreated. Let’s bring back our girls to a country where they can become and blossom and grow to join in the work of lifting Nigeria to her feet and making her dance again.

I hope and pray this will happen, but it can't happen until the country's leadership is held accountable for lying and stealing and indifference to the sufferings of its own people. How that might happen, I cannot even imagine.

Thursday 30 October 2014

Hawk, Police Trauma Dog, to Help Child Witnesses in Sex Abuse Case

The Calgary, Alberta, Canada's Police Service's victim assistance dog, Hawk, will be allowed to sit with two child witnesses when they testify at an upcoming sexual assault trial.

The request was made by Crown prosecutor Rose Greenwood in a pre-trial application Wednesday and the defence lawyer did not oppose the idea, which will see the four-year-old black Labrador comfort the children in December.
Hawk the dog receives his police badge
Justice Bruce Millar granted the application and addressed Hawk directly, highlighting the potentially precedent-setting nature of the decision.

"You might be the first dog in Canada, Hawk, to be a court-ordered comfort dog," said Millar.

Hawk is used by police to calm people in times of stress and trauma and first joined the force about a year ago.

Greenwood says comfort — or support — dogs have been used in court in the United States, but he believes this is the first time such a thing will happen in Canada.

"In the last few years, there's been a significant amount of cases from the U.S. where they've been using support dogs in court not only for child witnesses but vulnerable witnesses as well," said Greenwood.

One of the child witnesses is a seven-year-old girl whose father is accused of sexually assaulting her.

Her nine-year-old brother will also testify.

The children have visited Hawk twice for "play dates" to get acquainted with him.

One of Hawk's handlers says the decision to allow the dog in the courtroom is important for improving the justice system.

"Anything we can do to make the justice system more open and we can create, as best we can, a comfortable, a confident witness — that aids in the success of our justice system. It's very exciting," said Sgt. Brett Hutt. "I love it."

Greenwood said she hopes comfort dogs like Hawk will be used more in the future, adding that she'll likely make the request again.

Hawk has been used in schools where traumatic events have taken place.

He even accompanied several witnesses in the Brentwood stabbing case back to the home where the five students were killed in April.
Hawk the trauma dog with his handlers 
Sgt. Brett Hutt, Hawk the trauma dog and Kathlynn Funfer are all with the Calgary Police Service's victim's assistance unit. 

The Cruel Reality of Child Sexual Exploitation Greater Manchester

Moss Side Terrace, Manchester
Ann Coffey's report says that the recent child sexual exploitation scandal
in Greater Manchester was not an isolated incident. Photograph: Howard Barlow/Alamy
Sexual exploitation of vulnerable children has become the social norm in some parts of Greater Manchester, fuelled by explicit music videos and quasi-pornographic selfies, an MP has warned.

The systematic grooming of boys and girls remains a “real and ongoing problem”, a year after Greater Manchester police (GMP) was forced to admit it had failed abuse victims in Rochdale, said Ann Coffey, a former social worker who is now the Labour MP for Stockport. “My observations will make painful reading for those who hoped that Rochdale was an isolated case,” she writes in a significant report.

She said Britain needed a big change in attitudes towards child sexual exploitation similar to how perceptions of gay rights have changed over recent decades. She believes such exploitation should be declared a priority public health issue, like smoking, obesity, alcohol and drug use, so that a more strategic approach can be developed.

Coffey said police, social workers, prosecutors and juries are often inherently (albeit unconsciously) prejudiced against vulnerable teenagers – perhaps explaining why, out of 13,000 reported cases of major sexual offences against under-16s in the past six years in Greater Manchester, there have been only 1,000 convictions.

The report also suggests there is a significant underestimation of child sexual exploitation in Greater Manchester: GMP figures on recorded sexual offences against under-18s between 1 June 2013 and 31 May 2014 show that only 111 cases out of 1,691 were flagged on the police computer as child exploitation.

During the eight months Coffey spent researching her report, schoolgirls, some prepubescent, told her that being harassed by older men while in their school uniform was simply “part of everyday life”. They also reported online abuse, but said it didn’t bother them. “Big men will stop little girls in the road and the street. In person, it’s real. But you can block it online,” said one girl.

Ann Coffey - Labour MP for Stockport
They complained that men regularly tried to touch them or entice them into their cars, but that when police were alerted, officers told the girls: “Do not be causing trouble.” One girl told the MP: “The police have a stereotype of what we are, and we know that, so we do not go to them for help. We think: what’s the point? Young people do not call the police because we know how they look down at us. We have to just focus on getting away from the guys.”

Another said: “If my house got burgled, I would go to the police; but if someone touched me, I would not go to the police because I feel it would be a waste of time.”

Coffey said she was shocked to discover that the Crown Prosecution Service threw out a child sexual exploitation case on the basis that a victim wore cropped tops. Another never went to trial after the girl’s father told a social worker his daughter was a “slag” and only had herself to blame. Initially prosecutors didn’t want to take the 2012 Rochdale grooming case to court because of concerns about the credibility of the witnesses.

Nazir Afzal, chief crown prosecutor for the north-west, said he had written to Coffey to ask her for details of these cases. He said: “We would be extremely concerned if these comments were given as reasons for deciding not to take a case to court, but when setting out decision making it is also the duty of the prosecutor to anticipate likely angles that might be taken by the defence in their cross-examination of the victim, which could include references as it is alleged were made here.”

While welcoming the report, Afzal said it “does not recognise the leading role that the Crown Prosecution Service has played in transforming the criminal justice system’s approach to child sexual abuse cases, in Greater Manchester and across the country.” He said the introduction of specialist prosecutors meant national conviction rates for child abuse are at their highest ever – 76.2%.

Coffey said teenage boys should be educated on how to treat and respect girls. Lads at Factory Zone, a youth group in Harpurhey, north Manchester, said it was becoming increasingly common for boys to “control” girls and keep them “on discipline”. A youth worker, Kemoy Walker, told Coffey: “This involves constant ringing to check what girls are doing and demanding photos to prove their whereabouts, telling them what to wear and often keeping them in the house … I find it scary and it is becoming more and more common. You can see in the girls’ eyes that they are scared and are being controlled.”

But boys are also victims of sexual exploitation. Many of the young people Coffey spoke to often found themselves in risky situations, sometimes without even realising it. One boy said the man at the local chip shop was always offering him vodka, while another had been offered a pair of Vans trainers by a man. Neither initially saw the offers as part of the grooming process.

“I have been concerned about the number of people who have told me that in some neighbourhoods child sexual exploitation had become the new social norm, said Coffey. “They say there is no respect for girls: gangs of youths pressurising vulnerable young girls (including those with learning disabilities) for sex, and adults allowing their houses to be used for drinking, drug-taking and having sex.”

Chief Constable of Greater Manchester police Sir Peter Fahy said he welcomed the recommendations within the report and insisted specialist CSE training was already being rolled out in the force.

He said: “We want children to know that they will be believed and that we will do absolutely everything in our power to protect and help them. Knowledge and awareness around the issue of CSE has advanced a great deal in recent years but we will never be complacent, there is always more we can do to safeguard and support young people.”

Coffey added: “This social norm has perhaps been fuelled by the increased sexualisation of children and young people, involving an explosion of explicit music videos and the normalisation of quasi-pornographic images. Sexting, selfies, Instagram and the like have given rise to new social norms in changed expectations of sexual entitlement, and with it a confused understanding of what constitutes consent.

“I think we have lost the sense of what a child is. Sexual predators out there are having their quite unacceptable views confirmed through messages in the wider media: that children are just sexualised young adults.”

The report was commissioned by Tony Lloyd, the police and crime commissioner for Greater Manchester, following the Rochdale grooming scandal, which resulted in nine men being jailed in 2012. Last year GMP was forced to accept that some police officers held discriminatory attitudes towards vulnerable victims.

GMP currently has 260 “live” investigations into child sexual exploitation. Of these, 174 are recorded crimes and 18 of those cases involve multiple perpetrators.

On Tuesday, GMP arrested 11 people aged between 19 and 38 in a crackdown called Operation Heliodor on exploitation in the south Manchester area. They were held on suspicion of offences including sexual activity with a child, attempted indecent assault, inciting a child into prostitution, abduction and rape.

The key recommendations of the Coffey report are as follows:

• The removal of all references to “child prostitution” in legislation, because the term carries an implication of choice on the child’s part.

• All responses to child sexual exploitation by statutory agencies in Greater Manchester should explicitly include “boys and young men”, to address concerns of under-reporting.

• All police response officers and community support officers should receive training about child sexual exploitation crimes.

• More information about child sexual exploitation should be given to the public generally and to those who are the “eyes and ears” of the community, including pharmacists, school crossing patrol staff, school nurses, refuse collectors, bus drivers, park attendants, housing officers, and shopkeepers, as well as taxi drivers and hoteliers.

• The building of a multimedia digital network led by young people to spearhead the fightback against sexual exploitation, including a high-profile weekly radio show produced and hosted by young people on exploitation-related issues.

Case studies

• One girl, F, was born addicted to heroin and was fostered out aged eight. At 12 years old, she started smoking, drinking and taking drugs. She was getting bullied in school and so started to run away frequently, which was when she met an older man. “I lost my virginity to him, and when my foster parent found out, she said ‘Why are you being a slag?’ I was 12 and he was 19. Looking back on things, it should have been the 19-year-old’s behaviour that was being looked at and questioned, not the 12-year-old’s.”

• One young girl with a very troubled background started going missing. She was introduced by a friend to a 44-year-old man who had a makeshift tuck shop in the back of his car and would hang around giving children cigarettes, alcohol and drugs. He sexually assaulted her and she eventually reported him, but the police and social workers were not helpful at first. Her father said he had to fight “tooth and nail” to get the police to take her complaints seriously and believes they only proceeded because his daughter had kept evidence of more than 100 texts sent by the offender.

• A 16-year-old girl who had been put in a secure unit for the fourth time described what happened when she went missing from her children’s home and was approached by a man in the street who said she could go to his house and hide, where he got her drunk. “He got us wrapped round his little finger. Got us drunk and everything. And then I thought to myself, ‘I know what he’s doing, he’s trying to get me in bed.’ I went, ‘I need to go home.’ So I got my friend to ring me. So, I’ve put the phone on loudspeaker and my mate went, ‘Please can you come home?’ I went, ‘All right then, I’ll be down in two minutes.’ But he wouldn’t let us go. So we has to break the window and jump out of the window.”

Wednesday 29 October 2014

Keesha Sues Producer for Sex Abuse; Couple from 'Maury' Charged for CSA

Recording artist Kesha has filed a lawsuit against her music producer Dr Luke, real name Lukasz Gottwald, alleging she suffered physical, sexual, verbal, and emotional abuse at the hands of Gottwald.


Kesha claims she was forced to take a date rape drug and was sexually assaulted.

Within hours of Kesha's filing Dr. Luke filed a countersuit alleging Kesha is making up statements about him as a form of extortion to get out of her contract.

Gottwald's countersuit denies the allegations in Kesha's court filing.



 An Alabama couple who appeared on the “Maury” TV program in 2013 have now been arrested for the alleged sexual molestation of a 5-year-old girl. 

David Anthony Williams, 21, has been charged with 1st degree rape and 1st degree sodomy of a child less than 12 years old.  And police say that 26-year-old Brittney Day – the child’s mother – knew about the alleged molestation, but did nothing to stop or report it; Day has been charged with 1st degree sexual abuse of a child less than 12 years old. 

In October of 2013, Williams and Day appeared on the “Maury” show in an attempt to determine the paternity of another child, a baby boy who was then 4-months-old.

Lord, I hope neither of them ever get custody of the boy, or any child for that matter.


US Pervert Round-up and Big Kiddie-Porn Ring Busted

PHOENIX, Arizona -- A 52-year-old Phoenix man was arrested Tuesday after authorities reportedly found thousands of images and videos depicting child pornography inside his home.

Detectives from the Arizona Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force identified that child pornography was being distributed from a residence in the area of 44th Street and McDowell Road, according to the Phoenix Police Department.

They served a search warrant on the home and interviewed Keith Greg Carlson, who lives there with his brother, according to court documents.

Police said Carlson admitted to possessing thousands of images and videos depicting female children between the ages of 7 and 12 being sexually abused.


HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - May 2014 - Prosecutors today released disturbing allegations against the Guntersville High School volunteer soccer coach charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse.

According to court records, David Barrow has been charged with two counts of sexual abuse of a child less than 12 years old and two counts of human trafficking. He was originally charged with three counts of sexual abuse and one count of human trafficking when police announced his arrest on May 9.

Court records made public this afternoon outline the specific complaints against Barrow, who has been suspended from his volunteer position at Guntersville High School.

On the sexual abuse charges, the criminal complaint states that Barrow made nude photographs of a female child and touched her chest and genitals with his hands.

On the human trafficking charges, the criminal complaint states that Barrow did "knowingly, obtain, recruit, entice, solicit, induce, threaten, isolate, harbor, hold, restrain, transport, provide or maintain" one and/or two girls "for the purpose of causing them to engage in sexual servitude."

Barrow also paid to have the two female girls transported to a residence on Craigmont Drive less than a half-mile from Chaffee Elementary School in south Huntsville, according to the complaint.

Oct 28, 2014 -  More charges added - David Jacobs Barrow, the former volunteer soccer coach at Guntersville High has been charged in two counties with child pornography. Barrow remains in jail in Marshall County facing 27 counts of producing child pornography and related charges. He is also facing seven counts of child sex abuse, human trafficking and sodomy in Madison County.


LOUISVILLE, Kentucky. (WHAS11) -- An Oldham County man is facing charges of possessing and distributing child pornography.

According to court records, authorities seized computers from inside the home of 53-year-old Donald Jones.

Police said they believe the computers contain files depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Jones is behind held at the Oldham County Jail.


DARDANELLE, Arkansas – A Dardanelle man was arrested in a child pornography case on Tuesday (Oct. 28), according to a news release from Attorney General Dustin McDaniel.

Ronnie Ponder, 28, was arrested on suspicion of possession of child pornography and booked into the Yell County Jail. He faces 30 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, the release states.

Agents with the attorney general’s Cyber Crimes Unit executed a search warrant at Ponder’s home in the 100 block of Maple Street in Dardanelle on Tuesday. They confiscated a desktop computer, a laptop, an external hard drive, a cell phone, a flash drive and other electronic evidence, according to the release.

Special Agent Chad Meli started the investigation after suspecting that Ponder possessed child porn at his residence, according to the release.

Ponder is being held on a $100,000 bond, according to the release.


BOLINGBROOK, Illinois - Bolingbrook is a Chicago suburb. Police say a man sexually abused a teenage girl for five years.

Daniel Hillsman, 58, was arrested Tuesday on charges of predatory criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual abuse and child pornography....


JOLIET TOWNSHIP, IllinoisA 37-year-old woman was arrested Wednesday on charges related to what police allege is an inappropriate relationship with a minor.
Unnamed woman

Will County Sheriff’s Deputy Chief Ken Kaupas said the investigation began last week after a relative of the victim, a 15-year-old boy whom the woman facing charges knows, contacted police....


COLUMBIA, Missouri — Columbia resident Jarrod D. Hoffman, 41, was sentenced Monday to seven years in prison for the possession of child pornography.

In August 2013, the Boone County Sheriff's Department Cyber Crimes Task Force traced child pornography to a home computer in the Columbia area. A search warrant was served to a resident on Alpine Drive, leading to the discovery of more than 30 videos depicting the sexual molestation of children, according to a news release from the Boone County Sheriff's Department.

Detective Tracy Perkins said based on information from the seized electronics, Hoffman was identified as a suspect. On Nov. 22, 2013, Hoffman was charged with possession of child pornography and later arrested on Nov. 26, 2013.

Hoffman will participate in a four-month sex offenders program during his incarceration, Perkins said.


MISSOULA - The Montana U.S. Attorney's Office has announced that 11 men have been sentenced for their role in an international child pornography network which was targeted by investigators and prosecutors participating in Operation Kingdom Conqueror.

The multi-agency, multi-national effort targeted an online bulletin board advertising and exchanging images of child pornography, according to a news release.

All of the defendants were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy of Missoula.

One of the 11 is Paul Wencewicz, 48, of Polson, who was sentenced in connection with his March 2014 guilty plea.

Wencewicz was given 220 months in prison, lifetime supervise release, and $29,859 restitution. Wencewicz also must forfeit his computer and storage devices.

Two additional defendants, Joshua Peterson, 45, of Prescott, Arizona, and Steven Grovo, 35, of Shirley, Massachusetts, were found guilty of participating in a child exploitation enterprise and a conspiracy to advertise child pornography after a trial on Oct. 9.

Prosecutors state that in November 2009 an early participant in the conspiracy designed and created a web-based bulletin board which allowed the board members to share in their common interest in exchanging files online which contained child pornography and non-child pornography images depicting young girls.

Between Nov. 6, 2009, through March 19, 2012, members of the conspiracy used the online bulletin board to share pictures and videos of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, according to prosecutors.

During that same time, the participants agreed to use the online bulletin board to publish or print notices or advertisements soliciting additional images of child pornography which they would then share and broadcast on the Internet.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Montana Department of Criminal Investigations, the Helena and Polson police departments, the United States Department of Justice - Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Homeland Security Investigations, the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the States of Jersey Police Department, Isle of Jersey, near the United Kingdom all took part in the operation.

U.S. Attorney for Montana Mike Cotter called the sentences "a major victory in the fight against child exploitation. Pedophiles who savage our children through pornography, coercion and exploitation are on notice that when they are caught-and they will be caught-the consequences are dire and law enforcement's tolerance for these crimes non-existent."

Below is a list of the remaining defendants in the case who were recently sentenced in Missoula.

- Tony Bronson, a 53-year-old resident of Gary, Indiana, was sentenced on October 28, 2014 in connection with his April 2014 plea to guilty. Bronson was sentenced to 224 months in prison, 10 years supervised release and $29,859 restitution. In addition, Bronson must forfeit his computers and storage devices.

- Charles Crosby, a 43-year-old resident of Trenton, New Jersey, was sentenced on October 23, 2014 in connection with his April 2014 plea to guilty. Crosby was sentenced to 210 months in prison, lifetime supervised release and $29,859 restitution. In addition, Crosby must forfeit his computers and storage devices.

- Steve Humiston, a 57-year-old resident of Tacoma, Washington, was sentenced on October 23, 2014 in connection with his April 2014 plea to guilty. Humiston received 210 months in prison, lifetime supervised release, $29,859 restitution and a $5,000 fine. In addition, Humiston must forfeit his computers and storage devices.

- John Johnson, a 58-year-old resident of Locust Grove, Virginia, was sentenced on October 22, 2014 in connection with his April 2014 plea to guilty. Johnson received 180 months in prison, lifetime supervised release, and $29,859 restitution. In addition, Johnson must forfeit his computer and storage device.

- Robert Krise, a 66-year-old resident of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was sentenced on October 22, 2014 in connection with his April 2014 plea to guilty. Krise received 180 months in prison, lifetime supervised release, and $29,859 restitution. In addition, Krise must forfeit his computers and hard drives.

- Scott Long, a 53-year-old resident of Portland, Oregon, was sentenced on October 21, 2014 in connection with his April 2014 plea to guilty. Long received 200 months in prison, lifetime supervised release, and $29,859 restitution. In addition, Long must forfeit his computer and storage device.

- Ian Nosek, a 42-year-old resident of Charlottesville, Virginia, was sentenced on October 23, 2014 in connection with his April 2014 plea to guilty. Nosek received 216 months in prison, lifetime supervised release, and $29,859 restitution. In addition, Nosek must forfeit his camera and storage devices.

- Phillip Morris, 42-year-old resident of Jeffersonville, Indiana was sentenced on October 22, 2014 in connection with his April 2014 plea to guilty. Morris received 216 months in prison, lifetime supervised release, and $29,859 restitution. In addition, Morris must forfeit his storage devices and cell phone.

- Joseph Purificato, a 23-year-old resident of Mount Vernon, Missouri was sentenced on October 28, 2014 in connection with his April 2014 plea to guilty. Purificato received 180 months in prison, 10 years supervised release, and $29,859 restitution. In addition, Purificato must forfeit his computers and thumb drive.

- Jeffrey Woolley, a 53-year-old resident of Nicholasville, Kentucky, was sentenced on October 28, 2014 in connection with his April 2014 plea to guilty. Woolley received 180 months in prison, lifetime supervised release, and $29,859 restitution. In addition, Woolley must forfeit his computer and storage devices.

Bantleman Likely to be Charged with Child Sex Abuse at Jakarta Int'l School

Sun News, Calgary, Canada -- The former city teacher being detained in Indonesia on allegations of child sex abuse is likely to finally face charges, his family said Wednesday.

Neil Bantleman, who used to teach at Calgary's Webber Academy and now works at Jakarta International School (JIS), has been held since July, along with colleague Ferdi Tjiong.

"We had a lot of tears today," said Bantleman's wife, Tracy Bantleman, who visited him Wednesday, when news broke the public prosecutor had accepted the police file on her husband and Tjiong, suggesting charges are likely to be laid and lead to a trial.

Neil and Tracy Bantleman
Both are employed at JIS
"He was so distraught, he just wants to come home," Tracy said. "It's just sheer and utter disbelief and shock.

"It creates a huge swell of emotion -- fear, anxiety, nausea."

Child sex abuse accusations against outsourced cleaning staff at JIS emerged in March from the family of a boy who attends the school.

There is also a lawsuit against the school and ministry of education seeking $125 million, up from the original $12.5 million sought.

It's believed the contracted cleaning company is going to be, or has been, added to the lawsuit as well, Tracy said.

Allegations against Neil and Tjiong later surfaced from the families of two other JIS students as well as the family of the first student, she said.

A trial for the cleaners is ongoing.

"You just try so hard not to lose faith in humanity," said Tracy, who is also employed by JIS.

"We're just absolutely appalled at how the legal system has played out."

No evidence has been presented against Neil and Tjiong, she said.

"We don't have any details as to why (the file) has been accepted," Tracy said, adding Indonesia's new attorney general has yet to be named.


"The individuals making the decisions have completely abandoned their duty to protect the innocent, there seems to be a complete lack of morality."

The former attorney general recently left his post with outgoing president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, according to Asian media.

Charges are expected in the coming days.

"The prosecutor has indicated he is crafting the indictment," said Guy Bantleman, Neil's brother in Canada.

"I was 80% sure Neil would be released but there was always that little voice in the back of my head," he said. "It's devastating, it's mind-boggling."

I have no idea whether Bantleman is guilty of any child sex abuse, I prefer to think that he isn't and here's why. CSA lawsuits have become the latest 'get rich quick' scheme for many extremely poor families in southeast Asia. The more and the worse the abuse, the more money you are likely to receive. While those families attending JIS are not likely to be among the poor, the lure of big money is just as strong.

Please pray that the truth prevails.

Hundreds of 'Missing' Children at Risk of Sexual Exploitation in Greater Manchester

The report was commissioned in the wake of the Rochdale grooming scandal
Almost 650 children reported missing in Greater Manchester in 2014 were at risk of child sexual exploitation (CSE) or serious harm, a report has suggested.

The study said police received 9,789 reports concerning 3,242 missing under-18s between January and September.

It said some had been reported missing more than once and almost half of the reports were about children in care.

The report by Stockport MP Ann Coffey was commissioned in the wake of the Rochdale grooming case in 2012.

She said the children that had gone missing from care were "very vulnerable" and "at significant risk" of being sexually exploited by predators.

The report found that of the 3,242 individuals reported missing to Greater Manchester Police (GMP), 530 were in care.

At first glance this statement doesn't appear to jive with the statement above that reads, 'almost half of the reports were about children in care', however, the first statement is talking about 'reports' the second about the actual number of children in care. It would be obvious that 'children in care' were reported missing a lot more frequently than other children.

That number is over three times the children that were reported in neighbouring Lancashire, where 999 under-18s were classed as missing by police in the same period.

'Absent' children
The report stated that one in five of those reported missing in Greater Manchester were at risk of serious harm, including CSE.

In 2013, police forces introduced a new recording system, which separated reports of missing children into two categories - missing, which receives an immediate response, and absent, which does not.

The report found there were 4,923 additional episodes where a child was reported as absent.

Ann Coffey MP: "This is
very, very, very concerning"
In the report, Ms Coffey said: "There must be concern about the high number of looked after children who continue to generate multiple missing reports, as these children are particularly vulnerable to CSE."

She said she had "strong concerns" that some of the independent private children's homes in Greater Manchester were "flaunting government guidance, which says they have to notify the local authority when a child moves in from another area".

"We have, in the North West, about 25% of all private and independent children's homes in the country so authorities, often from many miles away, place children in the Greater Manchester area.

"These are very troubled children who have been moved to get them out of a situation where maybe they have been at risk.

"Those children don't necessarily want to be in Greater Manchester and one of the ways in which children demonstrate they don't want to be somewhere is that they run away.

"There is a significant risk of CSE of children who go missing from care, [as they] are very vulnerable children and are often preyed on by predators who understand this."

Recommendations
She said GMP had told her that seven children "assessed at high risk of CSE were recently placed into two private children's homes in one local authority area from a local authority in the Midlands".

"The local authority, GMP and CSE teams were not informed of their arrival.

"The children came to notice because they went missing shortly after they arrived."

The report recommends further research into the new police system, spot checks on children's homes and care provision for 16 and 17-year-olds to be registered and inspected by Ofsted, in the way under-16 care is.

The report was commissioned by Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd to assess the improvements in protecting youngsters after nine men were jailed in 2012 for running a child sexual exploitation ring in Heywood and Rochdale.

Ms Coffey will deliver the report's full findings on Thursday.

For my 2 cents worth - I believe we need people on the streets befriending these girls, guiding them, being an emergency contact. Perhaps NGOs, or local churches could create ministries for this very purpose. The predators are grabbing the girls off the streets, let's fight them on the same ground.

Tuesday 28 October 2014

Child Sex Abuse Happens Everywhere, Even Israel

Goel Ratzon was living with 21 women when he was arrested in 2010
A polygamist cult leader has been sentenced to 30 years in prison by an Israeli court for sexually abusing his wives and daughters.

Goel Ratzon, 64, had been convicted of a number of sexual offences including rape, indecent assault and incest.

Israeli media reported that Ratzon had 21 "wives" who bore him more than 30 children.

Ratzon had denied the charges, stating that the women lived with him voluntarily.

Supernatural threats
The ruling from the Tel Aviv District Court comes four years after Ratzon was arrested in a high profile police operation.

The investigation revealed that Ratzon kept various homes throughout the city of Tel Aviv where women and children lived in "horrible conditions".

Israeli media said that after joining the communal houses the women were forced to break off all ties with their families and friends. That's the definition of a 'cult'.

The court was told that Ratzon also threatened to harm the women and children if they did not obey him.
Goel Ratzon stands in between police officers in court
Ratzon threatened to harm his wives and children if they did not obey him
The self-proclaimed healer threatened to "make sure you and your children are stricken with serious illnesses", according to a witness quoted in court.

The court was told that the complete control Ratzon had over his wives and children included forcing them to tattoo his name and sometimes his portrait on their bodies.

His children were also named after variations of his first name which means "saviour" in Hebrew.

Following the sentencing, one of Ratzon's ex-partners, identified only as Maayan, told Israeli media: "The only source of happiness is that he would never return to society."

Ratzon was also convicted of defrauding his wives out of their money.

More Horror Stories from Escaped Boko Haram Captive Girls

In a disturbing look at the abuses endured by 219 Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by Islamist insurgents, a report issued Monday describes victims being forced to convert to Islam and marry their captors, being raped and made to cook, clean, carry ammunition and looted goods.

Some of this report was presented here yesterday. More from the report has come to light over some of the ordeals of the Chibok girls, including girls captured in 2013.

The report by Human Rights Watch found the 219 girls seized in the town of Chibok in a mass kidnapping in April were among at least 500 girls and women, mainly Christians, who had been abducted since the beginning of last year by the Islamist militia in Nigeria known as Boko Haram.
Some of the hundreds of Boko Haram captives
According to the rights organization, more than 7,000 civilians have been killed in the Islamist insurgency in northern Nigeria since 2009. More than half of the killings have occurred since early 2013.

The kidnapping of the Chibok girls sparked a Twitter hashtag, “Bring Back Our Girls,” and a global campaign to pressure Nigeria’s government to do more to get the girls released.

Nigeria’s defense chiefs insisted they knew the girls’ whereabouts but ruled out a military attack to free them because of the likelihood of casualties. In recent weeks, Nigerian officials have been negotiating in Chad with representatives of Boko Haram, who they claim have offered to release the Chibok girls. Nigeria is reportedly considering releasing members of the militant group in return.

Remember, you can't really believe anything that comes out of Nigeria. Human Rights Watch we can believe but anything else coming out of Nigeria has a very high probability of being false.

The negotiations have been aimed at securing the release of the Chibok girls but not hundreds of others in captivity. The mass kidnappings began in 2013, according to Human Rights Watch, but the abduction of the Chibok girls, gathered at a school for exams, was the largest single kidnapping.

The militants initially raided the school in search of a brick-making machine, according to the report, only to find there were hundreds of girls who were easy prey after the only guard on duty fled into the night.

Most kidnapped girls and women are taken into mountain caves near Gwoza, where the militias are camped. The militants have taken over more than 10 villages in the area.

At a rally Oct. 14, people demand that the Nigerian government
rescue girls kidnapped from a secondary school in the Chibok region. 
Human Rights Watch said it based its reporting on the accounts of more than 46 witnesses and victims, including girls from Chibok who escaped after being held in captivity.

One 19-year-old woman who was abducted by Boko Haram in 2013 described being held in several hill camps for three months. She became a military porter and slave, forced to carry ammunition and to cook for 14 gunmen.

Then, to her horror, she was forced to lure five young men from a vigilante group opposed to Boko Haram, most of them teenagers, into a trap.

The prisoners were taken back to the Boko Haram camp. The insurgents tied up the young men and slit their throats, yelling, “Allahu akbar!” meaning “God is great.”

Then I was handed a knife to kill the last man. I was shaking with horror and couldn’t do it. The camp leader’s wife took the knife and killed him,” the 19-year-old said, according to the report.

A 15-year-old girl said she and others were forced to convert to Islam after “unbearable” pressure.

“On that day, the leader handed us green hijabs, gave us new Muslim names and instructed the other women in the camp to daily teach us Arabic words. A week later, he performed a ceremony, reading out words in Arabic language and then announced that we were now wed,” she said. Once forcibly married, the report says, the girls were raped daily.


One woman, kidnapped in 2013, tried to escape forced marriage and rape by pretending to be ill. One of the Boko Haram fighters paid a “dowry” to buy her and came into the cave where she was lying to claim her as his wife.

“The commander’s wife blocked the cave entrance and watched as the man raped me,” she told Human Rights Watch,

Another kidnapped girl, 15, was also forced to marry.

“He soon began to threaten me with a knife to have sex with him, and when I still refused he brought out his gun, warning that he would kill me if I refused,” the girl said.

Many of the abducted girls were taken prisoner at roadblocks set up by Boko Haram. They described people being separated into groups of Christians and Muslims. The Muslims were freed. The Christian boys and men were killed. Sometimes Christian women wearing trousers were also shot. The remaining Christian girls and women were then abducted and taken to the militia’s camps.

Amid reports that Nigeria’s military failed to prevent attacks on civilians during the insurgency, Human Rights Watch called on authorities to take adequate measures to protect the population in the country's northeast.

“Abuses by Boko Haram and inadequate responses by the government are leaving many people in northern Nigeria beset by fear and anguish,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The government and its allies need to step up their protection, support services, and prosecutions of abuses on both sides to stop this cycle of terror.”

Inquiry to Look at Historic Child Sexual Abuse at Tokyo's St Mary's Int'l School


Belated admission: Pages from the 1964 St. Mary's International School yearbook introduce Brother Lawrence Lambert and his fifth-grade students. In a letter of apology to the victim dated Jan. 21 of this year, Lambert confesses to raping a student in 1965.

St. Mary’s International School is setting up a panel to conduct an internal investigation into reported cases of child sexual abuse — including one confirmed case of rape — at the school in Tokyo, according to a letter issued to alumni earlier this month.

In the letter, dated Oct. 4, Headmaster Saburo Kagei says he has recently heard from “several alumni who shared stories of abuse.” He continues: “It is very distressing to hear these accounts. . . . I want to make sure something like this never happens again.”

The letter says the school is focusing on making sure there are policies, procedures and training in place to ensure the safety of its students.

The letter was the third issued by the school addressing allegations of past child sexual abuse at St. Mary’s. In the second, issued on Sept. 11, Kagei writes, “In the spirit of transparency, I want to tell you what we know and ask for your help in uncovering the truth about what occurred.”

This letter primarily addresses what the school refers to as “allegations” made by a former student against a Catholic Brother and former principal and teacher at the school, Lawrence Lambert. It also mentions another former teacher, Brother Benoit Lessard, now deceased, who has also been accused of sexually abusing students while working at St. Mary’s.

The Japan Times was the first media organization to publish accounts from Lessard’s alleged victims in an article that ran on Sept. 1, less than two weeks before Kagei’s second letter. The article also addressed the abuse committed by Lambert.

In the Sept. 11 letter, Kagei says that he learned of the allegation against Lambert in January of this year, five months after he became principal of the school, and that the former student had come forward about the abuse in May 2013.

He also states that at that time, he learned that Lambert had written a letter of apology to the former student, who was abused in 1965. The Japan Times has managed to obtain a copy of not one but two letters of apology written by Lambert to his victim where he confesses to the crime.

To quote from the first letter, dated Jan. 21: “I finally take this opportunity to offer you my sincere apologies for assaulting you in 1965. It should never have happened. At that moment, I chose selfishly my pleasure, putting aside your value as a human being, the values that I wished to live by, the true endeavor of an educator, and the mission of my congregation. I am ashamed of what I did.”

The second letter, dated the same day, reveals details of the sexual assault: “The simple truth is that still today I cannot understand the fact I raped you. It was the first time I did that in my life, and I did not do that again. I was on my way to my bedroom upstairs when I saw you and saw nothing wrong with talking with you on the way. But then somehow passion suddenly took over and I did what I should never have done and selfishly and violently hurt your body and hurt your heart for the rest of your life.”

The victim also received a letter of apology from the Brothers of Christian Instruction, or the Mennaisians, the Catholic order to which Lambert belongs and which founded St. Mary’s. The letter is signed by Raymond Ducharme, the vice-provincial, or leader, of the Brotherhood for Japan and the Philippines at the time, and is dated the same day as the Lambert letters. Ducharme apologizes for Lambert’s actions and acknowledges the brotherhood’s failure to properly deal with the issue of child sexual abuse.

To quote: “Our Congregation also bears responsibilities concerning the evil that was done to you. A warmer community life, a better awareness of the sexuality of men living in communities, and also a strong willingness to cope frankly with the evil done to you could have helped in preventing such wicked actions, or could have helped you get through that ordeal, but it was not the way the situation was dealt with. I am sorry.”

Lambert is no longer working at St. Mary’s and has now left Japan. He is believed to be living in Canada.

In addition to these latest developments relating to the abuse committed by Lambert, further allegations against Lessard have surfaced.

One former student of the school, Joe Adams, died from alcoholic liver disease last year, and his long-term partner believes the trauma he suffered at St. Mary’s played a part in his early death in Kobe at the age of 44. Adams also had a tumor on his esophagus that was removed at a hospital in Kobe shortly before he died.

“Joe did anything not to feel. He drank beer, 12 to 24 a day,” says Kelly Rooney. “Later, I found out he was also using heroin.”

Kelly, the daughter of Hollywood legend Mickey Rooney, met Adams 17 years ago. They were in a relationship for five years, she says, and lived together in Los Angeles for the final two years of that period.

“During these years I noticed very painful behaviors,” Rooney says. “He had opened up to me about being molested by a priest. He said this Brother Lessard made it seem like a natural thing — asked him to pull down his pants, gave him an erection, showed him how to handle himself, saying this is all natural.

“This stole Joe’s innocence, I believe. I know he carried so much hate for himself and this Brother Lessard.”

Rooney was not with Adams when he died, as he had moved back to Japan to be near his mother in Kobe. She says that she learned of his death from a former classmate of Adams who telephoned her shortly after Adams died.

“This was the saddest time of my life. I loved him,” she says.

Rooney is no stranger to tragedy herself. Her own mother, Mickey Rooney’s fifth wife, Barbara Ann Thomason, was killed in a murder-suicide by her Serbian lover, Milos Milos, in 1966. Mickey Rooney died this April at the age of 93, and Kelly says that dealing with her father’s death, coupled with Adams’ a year earlier, has been tough.

“It’s been a rough time that I’ve been working through,” she says.

A former St. Mary’s classmate of Adams, Tony Jackson, who became a confidant in Adams’ final years, says his friend often spoke to him over the telephone about the alleged sexual abuse that occurred at the school.

Jackson says Adams told him for the first time in 2005 that he was molested by Lessard on the annual trip for sixth-graders to the KEEP Camp, at the Seisen-Ryo complex in rural Kiyosato, Yamanashi Prefecture. Adams’ account of his alleged abuse at KEEP was very similar to accounts from other former students who have come forward.

“Joe told me that they had a class on sex education at KEEP in Yamanashi Prefecture. . . . The boys had to line up outside a room and go in for a private one-on-one chat with Brother Lessard,” explains Jackson.

“Brother Lessard talked to Joe about what is an erection and how to get an erection. He then had Joe pull down his pants and fondled Joe, causing him to have an erection.”

Jackson says Adams told him the same story again and again during the last years of his life, and that he often became very distressed and angry when talking about it.

“He would even shout at the top of his lungs at me,” says Jackson. “I tried, without success, to calm him down.”

A year or two before Adams’ death, Jackson says he encouraged him to report the alleged abuse to the Brothers’ superior in Japan and the Archbishop of Tokyo, but that Adams instead reported it directly to Brother Michel Jutras, the headmaster of St. Mary’s at the time.

“Brother Michel replied, ‘Maybe it was not what you thought it was and you misunderstood Brother Lessard.’ Joe insisted that it was molestation,” Jackson recalls. “Brother Michel accused John of having a bad attitude. Joe contacted me afterwards, very upset.”

Adams attended St. Mary’s from 1978 to 1981. According to Rooney and Jackson’s accounts, Adams was abused while attending the KEEP Camp in the summer of 1979. He was a classmate of Fredrick Smith, who also says he was abused by Lessard at the same camp, and who told his story in an earlier Japan Times article. Both Frederick Smith and Tony Jackson are pseudonyms that the former students requested The Japan Times use for privacy reasons. Joe Adams is also a pseudonym and has been used out of consideration for his family’s privacy.

Approached by The Japan Times for comment, St. Mary’s Headmaster Kagei was not prepared to speak about specific cases, and instead paraphrased the content of his Oct. 4 letter to alumni.

“We are outraged by the thought that any member of our community might have been harmed,” he said in a written reply. “We do everything we can to provide a safe and nurturing community for every one of our students. That is our No. 1 concern.” It is now, I'll bet.

Manchester Police Smash Child Sex Abuse/Trafficking Ring

A suspected child sex abuse gang has been smashed by police officers as part of a crackdown on exploitation of young girls.

Eleven people have been arrested under Operation Heliodor in the south Manchester area, Greater Manchester Police said.

The suspected abusers, aged between 19 and 38, have been arrested for alleged offences including sexual activity with a child, attempted indecent assault, inciting child prostitution, abduction and rape. No indication yet as to what nationality the suspected abusers are. Is it possible they could be Pakistani?

Police in Manchester have arrested 11 men on suspicion of a range of sexual offences
None of the men have been charged and all have been released on bail until November and December.

How can you be released on bail when you haven't been charged with anything? That's weird! Could it be that the arrests were premature? That they were arrested too soon so that the Chief Constable could look like he's doing something, and deflect the criticism.

The arrests come at a time of increased scrutiny over the way police forces, including Greater Manchester, deal with child sexual exploitation allegations in the wake of damning reports and claims widespread abuse was effectively ignored by officers for years.

Detective Inspector Debbie Oakes of the Greater Manchester Police's Protect Team said: 'Tackling child sexual exploitation and those responsible for such heinous crimes is an absolute priority for us.'

'We listen to the children and put them at the heart of our investigations and tactics, to ensure their safety and well-being is at the forefront of everything we do.'

'Operation Heliodor is ongoing and, with this collaborative approach we will continue to target those involved in child sexual exploitation. I fully anticipate more warrants and arrests as we continue in our investigation.'

The arrests come after an MP criticised Greater Manchester Police for failing to tackle grooming gangs.

Labour's Simon Danczuk claimed Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy did not see the issue as a priority and urged him to do more.

Longsight, Manchester
The MP for Rochdale made the comments after an ITV News report said hundreds of child abusers were free to walk Manchester's streets because the force had failed to investigate allegations properly.

The arrests come after MP
Simon Danczuk criticised
Greater Manchester Police
for its handling of
child sex abuse cases
Greater Manchester Police
Chief Constable
Sir Peter Fahy has insisted
the force has 'completely
changed' since a child
sex ring operated
 in Rochdale
The force was heavily criticised in 2012 after nine men were jailed for over a long-running child sex ring in Rochdale.

Speaking earlier this month, Sir Peter Fahy admitted the force was focused on other types of crime at the time of the Rochdale offences, but insisted it has now 'completely changed'.

He told the BBC: 'Unfortunately there was this big emphasis, particularly around big cities, about trying to improve in the league tables. But that is no excuse whatsoever for the fact that a mindset had developed, not only in the police but also in social services and in the Crown Prosecution Service, that this issue of children running away from homes could not be solved.

'We now have multi-agency teams in places like Rochdale. It's not only about investigating the matter and prosecuting the offender, but crucially to try and protect the young person from being involved in more abuse.'

Commenting on the latest arrests, Lynn Perry, regional director for Barnardo's said: 'We are pleased to be at the heart of an inter-agency partnership in Greater Manchester tackling child sexual exploitation; supporting and enabling young people to speak out and providing child victims of sexual exploitation with appropriate, long term support.'