Princeton, TX, Teacher Indicted on Several Child Sex Abuse Charges

A former Princeton, Texas, ISD teacher was indicted Tuesday by a Collin County grand jury on multiple crimes against children.

Matthew J. Pappas, 31, faces a charge of continuous sex abuse of a child younger than 14. He is also charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child and two counts of indecency with a child sexual contact.

The first two charges are first-degree felonies punishable by up to life in prison if he’s convicted. The indecency charges are second-degree felonies punishable by up to 20 years in prison.


Pappas taught math at Clark Junior High School in Princeton, Texas, and resigned after his May 2013 arrest.

McKinney police said at the time of Pappas’ arrest last year that the student was from Princeton ISD but that the crimes occurred in McKinney.

Princeton is a city of about 7000 people which is more than double the population of 2000. It is located about 6 miles east of McKinney in north Texas.

The 8th grade math teacher and children’s ministry leader has quit his job and his post as a spiritual leader after he was arrested for aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Most people know Matt Pappas as a beloved math teacher at Clark Junior High School and leader of Awana at Grace Community Church in Princeton.

Court documents revealed one of Pappas’ former students, whom he taught when he was an elementary school teacher, came forward with an outcry to her parents.

The victim said Pappas and her family are friends and that she and her siblings would frequently visit Pappas’ home to play and watch movies, the documents stated.

The victim told a forensic interviewer that, twice, when her siblings left the room, Pappas had touched her inappropriately while they watched movie, the affidavit stated. When the movie was over, the assault stopped, the documents said.

Pappas’ church family was stunned and saddened by the news of the arrest.

“Initially it was disbelief and my heart sank ‬,” said Senior Pastor Rich Hooper. “This is not something that you would ever expect to hear about someone like Matt just because he is very kind, always smiling very upbeat, very positive ‬.” Unfortunately, many pedophiles are very personable and very well-liked by the families of their victims.

Hooper said Pappas passed a background check before he was hired as a children's ministry leader.

Despite the allegations, Hooper said he and his church family are standing behind Pappas’ and are praying the matter may be resolved soon.

‪”We know that even if he did make a mistake, we know that that is not his identity. We know that he is someone that we love and cherish and respect and that we want to help through this process,” Hooper said.

Pastor Hooper, give your head a shake! The Pappas you knew was not the real Pappas - he showed up when alone with little girls. Pray for him, by all means, but don't ever let him near your children again.

85 Year Old Brit Arrested in Spain on EU Warrant for Child Sex Abuse

A British pensioner wanted since the late 1980s over child sex abuse allegations has been arrested in Spain.

Colin John Brown, 85, is alleged to have abused children from a London church choir.

Police in Malaga said the pensioner was detained in Benalmadena on Monday under a European Arrest Warrant.

Benalmadena is a city of over 60,000 located on the south coast of Spain (Mediterranean) in Andalusia.

They said it is claimed Mr Brown was involved in a paedophile ring which operated between 1970 and the late 1980s.

Mr Brown is alleged to have picked his victims from a choir and committed a string of sex crimes against them.

He was responsible for providing transport for youngsters aged six to 14 at the time of the alleged abuse.

Muslim Clerics Call for Caning of Police Officer for Child Sex Abuse

Banda Aceh. Police in Aceh have named one of their own members a suspect in the alleged sexual abuse of at least two young girls, as clerics in the staunchly conservative province demand a stiff punishment for the alleged perpetrator.

Aceh is the province in Indonesia so badly hit by the devastating tsunami of December 2004. Banda Aceh is the capitol city of the province and is located on the northwest tip of the island of Sumatra. It has a population of over 200,000, and is largely very conservative Muslim.

The officer, identified only as M., a brigadier with the Aceh provincial police, was arrested on Tuesday in Banda Aceh and accused of the sexual abuse of two girls, aged 6 and 9 years.

Sr. Comr. Moffan Mudji Kafanti, the Banda Aceh Police chief, told the Jakarta Globe that his office was questioning the suspect and would charge him under the 2002 Child Protection Law, for which he could face up to 15 years in prison and Rp 300 million ($26,100) in fines if convicted.

Banda Aceh

 The case came to light last week after children’s rights activists alleged that the officer had sexually assaulted at least five children and attempted to assault several more.

Moffan said that the parents of four of the alleged victims had allowed their children to undergo medical tests, and that two of the children appeared to show signs of having been sexually abused.

He confirmed the families’ claims that the abuses had taken place in Banda Aceh’s Meuraksa subdistrict between late March and early April. The families had filed a report with the police on April 14.

Police have already questioned seven people as witnesses in the case.

Islamic clerics have denounced the alleged abuses, calling on the police not to show any favorable treatment in their processing of the suspect. Awesome!

Grand Mosque of Banda Aceh

Teungku Faisal Ali, the head of the provincial chapter of Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s biggest Islamic organization, said the police needed to be transparent in their handling of the case, particularly in light of threats reportedly made against the victims’ families by unknown groups after they went public with the allegations.

“The investigation into this shameful case should not be covered up,” said Faisal, who is also a deputy chairman of the Aceh Ulema Consultative Assembly, or MPU Aceh.

He said the perpetrator should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, and recommended the use of Shariah charges in addition to the criminal charges that the suspect now faces.

“What this person did was savage, especially considering he’s a police officer. He should have been protecting the people,” Faisal said. “He should be caned in public, according to Shariah law, to serve as an example to others that children should be protected and not abused.”

Under Aceh’s newly passed Shariah criminal code procedures, child abuse is punishable with up to 400 lashes of the cane and up to 33 years’ imprisonment. Even more awesome!

Illiza Sa’aduddin Djamal, the interim mayor of Banda Aceh, also called for the perpetrator to face the harshest punishment possible.

She said she believed that he may have abused many more children than the five who had already come forward.

“It’s very possible that the other victims are outside Banda Aceh, and I’m sure that he abused others elsewhere. That’s why I’m calling on any members of the public who haven’t done so to come forward and report any suspicions of child abuse,” Illiza said.

The case comes at a sensitive time for the country, which is gripped by the drama unfolding over the alleged rape of a 6-year-old boy at the Jakarta International School. (See post immediately below). That case has already resulted in the closure of the school’s kindergarten campus and threats of lawsuits by the victim’s family. Two janitorial staff have been arrested and charged in the case, while dozens more are being investigated.

School Sex Abuse Scandal has Indonesia Looking at Toughening Legislation

Unfortunately, it seems to almost always take an international incident to get politicians motivated enough to actually change legislation. Let's hope and pray that they will act quickly on this one and not miss the opportunity, lest it repeat itself.

A sex abuse scandal at one of Indonesia's most prestigious international schools has sparked a heated debate about the failure to protect youngsters in the country and prompted calls for harsher punishments for paedophiles.

Accusations that a six-year-old boy was sexually assaulted by cleaning staff (several cleaning staff) at the nursery of the Jakarta International School, a favourite with the capital's expatriates and wealthy Indonesians, sparked widespread anger this month.

 A second child has since come forward claiming to have been assaulted at the nursery, which the government has now ordered to be closed, and the school has also disclosed it used to employ an American teacher who was suspected of being a paedophile.

Police have arrested six cleaners contracted from an outside company over the recent abuse accusations, one of whom has committed suicide, and the school has pledged to co-operate with the investigation.

Beyond public anger over the alleged abuse at the elite school, the scandal has focused attention on a subject previously little discussed in Indonesia: the high incidence of child sex attacks, particularly in schools.

The national commission for child protection says it received around 3,000 reports of sexual abuse of minors in 2013, double the figure from 2008, with some 30 per cent of cases in educational institutions.

Commission member Seto Mulyadi said the figures were the tip of the iceberg. "Many cases still go unreported because victims' families feel ashamed." In fact, most cases go unreported. That's true in any country, but more so in Indonesia than some others.

There has been much soul-searching in the national media on the subject following the Jakarta case, with commentators demanding that more action be taken to guarantee the safety of youngsters. The Jakarta Post newspaper said in an editorial that the controversy had raised the question of "how safe our children are, including at reputable schools". It added: "Law enforcers, educators and parents alike still have much to do to guarantee the safety and welfare of our children."

Tim Carr, Head JIS

Media have also focused intensely on other sex abuse stories in the wake of the scandal, such as one involving a six-year-old girl allegedly assaulted by a policeman in Aceh province, on western Sumatra island.

The child's mother initially said she felt too "ashamed" to report the matter but when accusations surfaced the policeman abused a second girl, she decided to go to the police. The accused officer has since been arrested.

The maximum sentence for a child sex offender in Indonesia is 15 years in jail and a fine of up to US$26,000, but most who are convicted typically receive only three to five years in jail, campaigners say.

The debate sparked by the Jakarta case has led to calls for tougher punishment and politicians have started discussing increasing sentences for people who sexually assault youngsters.

"The sentence should be increased to 20 years in prison at the minimum and a maximum penalty of life imprisonment," said minister Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar, whose portfolio includes child protection. Now that's getting serious, but I doubt it will ever come to pass.

Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar

Senior education ministry official Lydia Freyani Hawadi added the case was a "golden opportunity" to improve checks on people applying to become teachers at schools.

Adding to the sense of crisis at Jakarta International School, news emerged last week that William James Vahey, a 64-year-old US citizen described by the FBI as a "suspected serial child predator", taught at the institution for a decade, until 2002.

There have been no allegations that Vahey, who committed suicide last month when his then employer discovered a thumb drive containing graphic images of boys, carried out abuse at the Indonesian school. Did he organize any field trips? It's extremely unlikely that he did not commit and child sex abuses in those ten years since he admitted that he had been abusing boys all his life. Also, the manner in which he abused the boys, by putting them to sleep with pills first, means that most kids would not even know that they had been abused.

The institution's head, Tim Carr, has insisted in media appearances that the school is committed to child protection. The school says it has strengthened security and improved its child protection measures.

While there is hope that something good may come out of a horrible case in the form of stronger legislation to protect children, activists say for many youngsters across Indonesia, it is already too late.

Children who have been abused "develop esteem problems, become withdrawn, have problems studying, and may be so disturbed that they grow up modelling the same behaviour as their perpetrators", said the child protection commission's Mulyadi.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post

It Took 3.5 Years for Sussex Police to Frame a Case Against Pedophile

A teenager who was jailed for 49 sexual offences involving 13 boys could have been prosecuted earlier, a report has said.

Christopher Mancini, 19, from Hurstpierpoint, was jailed for 18 years in January for abusing the boys between 2005 and 2012.

Christopher Mancini

A serious case review published by West Sussex County Council has highlighted missed opportunities and delays.

The council and Sussex Police said weaknesses had been acted on.

The report said that until October 2012, there was a lack of evidence for police to be able to progress a criminal investigation.

But it added: "It may be that this would never have been possible to obtain, but the chances of detecting and prosecuting [Mancini] earlier would have been enhanced if all the investigations had been timely and child-focused."

Mancini was convicted of 34 sexual offences involving 10 boys following a trial at Lewes Crown Court in October.

Twenty-four were of causing or inciting sexual activity, five were of sexual assault, four were of making indecent images of children, and one was of rape.

Mancini had also pleaded guilty before the trial to 15 offences of sexual activity with a child, involving three boys.

The report said that between May 2009 and October 2012, social services and police received a number of allegations of sexual abuse against Mancini, who was under 18, from children in a Sussex village.

"It was not until late 2012 that the police obtained a high standard of evidence," it said.

"Within children's social care the view was that this was a police responsibility, whilst the social workers concentrated on the safety of children within the family and the needs of identified children.

"The police confined themselves to the role of criminal investigation: the officers concerned appeared to become blinkered by the lack of a substantive allegation, and did not consider how to progress matters on an intelligence-led basis, disclosing to others where necessary, both internally and externally, to mitigate risk."

Annie MacIver, head of children's social care at West Sussex County Council, said: "This was an appalling crime for which Mancini is now serving a very long prison sentence.

"Staff were confronted with the unusual set of circumstances and since the investigation we have instituted changes in working practices that have strengthened our processes.

"We accept there were practice shortcomings and will take the recommendations on board as we work to ensure our response in these circumstances is as good as when dealing with allegations of abuse in the home."

Det Supt Paul Furnell, of Sussex Police said the force accepted the findings and recommendations, and the weaknesses (identified?) in the report had been acted on.

"This was an unusual and difficult case for our officers and social workers," he said.

"But communication between agencies was not as effective as it should have been and this meant that we did not grasp the complex and challenging reality of what was happening with the young offender and his young victims early enough."

While it's hard to accept that many boys were molested several times because of the inept investigation, the delay did allow Mancini to be charged and sentenced as an adult. So, ultimately, more kids will be spared his perversion.

Campus Culture of Rape Addressed by White House Report - but Not Well

(CNN) -- The Obama administration has taken another step in its effort to combat rape on college campuses with the release of a new report.

The White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault produced the 20-page report. The task force, including Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, spent the last three months talking to "thousands of people" and compiled a number of very specific recommendations:

More data: The task force wants to know more about the scope and scale of the problem. The report cites a statistic from the National Institute of Justice that one in five women experience rape or attempted rape in college but say the group needs to know more.

This year, the task force is pushing schools to use its tool kit in 2015 to survey their campuses. By 2016, the task force will be reporting. The report said "we will explore legislative or administrative options to require the schools to conduct a survey."

Victims need more: In 2011, the administration first alerted schools about their responsibilities to victims of sexual violence. The administration said that under Title IX schools had to address sexual violence in order to provide equal access to education. But schools have struggled with that. In the past three years many have been publicly cited for failing to live up to these standards.

Most recently, the Department of Education announced that Tufts University "failed to comply with Title IX" in the way it handles sexual assaults. The school wrote it was "surprised and disappointed" with the finding, adding it was "deeply committed to the safety and well-being of our students."

So now the administration is getting more specific. The importance of having confidential advocates is now emphasized. This point clarifies what had been confusing for many, namely that not everyone on college campuses has a duty to report.

"In recent years, some schools have directed nearly all their employees ... to report all the details of an incident to school officials," the report said, "which can mean a survivor quickly loses control over what happens next." That's a critical issue for many advocates who emphasize the importance of returning control to survivors.

The administration calls for further training for those who deal with sexual violence on college campuses.
"Insensitive or judgmental comments -- or questions that focus on a victim's behavior (e.g., what she was wearing, her prior sexual history) rather than on the alleged perpetrator's -- can compound a victim's distress," the report notes.

On the enforcement side, the report calls for new models for investigating and adjudicating cases on campus and for a pilot program aimed at rehabilitating offenders.

Tuesday, the White House unveiled a new public service announcement encouraging men to help women who are in danger of being sexually assaulted. The PSA features several Hollywood stars, including Steve Carell and Seth Meyers and will air in movie theaters beginning in May.

Transparency: One of the biggest problems with sexual violence on college campuses is that no college wants to admit it has a problem. Parents don't want to send their children to a school where data shows more sexual crimes occur, that could ding rankings and potentially cause problems with donors.

Paradoxically, advocates say, those schools that have high numbers may actually be taking the problem seriously. That's because they have robust systems in place that allow for students to file complaints. Now the government wants to centralize all that data on NotAlone.gov.

Accountability: It won't just be numbers on NotAlone.gov. The administration will also put forms online making it easier for students to complain if their school fails to live up to the other obligations. Many of the Department of Justice and Department of Education investigations over the years have resulted from student complaints.

So what does this all mean? According to Know Your IX, an organization that seeks to educate college students about Title IX rights, it's a good step, but more is needed.

"These changes will mean little until Title IX enforcement is finally given teeth," the organization said. Know Your IX said the administration is reluctant to use the best leverage it currently has, namely pulling a school's federal funding.

"The agency has never once sanctioned a school for sexual violence-related violations of Title IX," the organization said.

Unfortunately, all these recommendations address rape after-the-fact. I see nothing here that will cause any significant reduction in the culture of rape on campuses. In fact, I believe it will continue to escalate. 

As stated before - I believe strongly that this problem is being fed by the easy accessibility of pornography to adolescents. Until we find a way to keep pornography from our kids, or, better still, eliminate it entirely, the attitude of teen boys and young men will continue to reflect the value of women and girls as being merely toys for men to amuse themselves with.

Unique T-shirt Worn by Suspect in McCann Abduction Never Sold to Public

A detective has made a break-through just days before the seventh anniversary of the three-year-old going missing in Portugal.

Her parents Gerry and Kate were last night said to be “heartened” by the revelations.

New witnesses claim the No 1 suspect, a serial child sex attacker who operated for years in the Praia de Luz area where Madeleine vanished, was wearing a beer logo shirt.

Peter Bleksley, a founding member of the Metropolitan Police’s undercover unit, has discovered that the T-shirt bearing a “Super Man” logo from Portuguese drinks company Super Bock was a rare item not sold to the public.

It was in fact given away to a handful of loyal customers at just a couple of bars in the Algarve.

The burgundy top, with a distinctive white circle on the back, was described by the families of two of his victims in Vale de Parra and Praia da Gale.

Thanks to this vital new evidence, the net is closing on the “pot-bellied” man police believe is responsible both for Madeleine’s disappearance and several other sex attacks.

A new image of what she may look like now has been released.

A source close to the investigation said: “Fresh evidence which has come to light is helping detectives narrow down the lists of suspects considerably.

“There were once potentially hundreds of suspects but this has been reduced to just a handful – with one prime suspect.

“Everyone is very confident the suspect will be found soon."

“It goes without saying that any information about these unusual T-shirts – or anyone wearing them – could be vitally important to helping us finally solve this case.”

Friends of Kate and Gerry McCann, both 45, claimed last night the couple were upbeat that the news raised “fresh hopes” that Madeleine could be found.

Ex-Scotland Yard detective Mr Bleksley, who has spent much time investigating the case in Portugal, said: “We know that some victims said the man smelt of stale alcohol and tobacco and that he had a pot belly, so that would suggest he was a regular drinker or may have worked in a pub or restaurant.”

Next Saturday it will be exactly seven years since Madeleine went missing as her parents dined at a nearby tapas bar.

Kate will appear on ITV (UK), on Thursday when morning favourite Lorraine Kelly, 54, interviews her.

Dublin Man Sent for Trial on 50 Counts of Child Sex Abuse

The defendant, who is in his 50s and cannot be identified for legal reasons, is facing 50 charges, including allegations he sexually assaulted one girl on three occasions and that he induced another girl into making pornography.

The man is also accused of engaging in a sexual act with a child under the age of 17 and was served with a book of evidence when he made his second appearance at Dublin District Court today.

Judge Cormac Dunne noted the DPP had consented to the accused being returned for trial on indictment.
Judge Dunne made an order sending him forward for trial to the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court where he will face his next hearing on May 23rd.

The judge also gave him the standard warning that if he intended to use an alibi in his defence he must inform the prosecution, including the relevant names and addresses, within 14 days.

The man, who has has not yet indicated how he will plead, was accompanied to the hearing by his solicitor Michael Hennessy, and he replied “yes, judge”.

Under the terms of bail, he has to sign in at a north Dublin Garda station two days each week. He has already surrendered his passport but cannot apply for duplicate travel documents and the Department of Foreign Affairs has been notified of this condition.

He is facing 40 charges relating to exploitation of a teenage girl contrary to Section 3 of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998.

One sample charge states that on a date unknown between December 1st, 2008 and March 21st, 2011, both dates inclusive, at a place within the State, he is alleged to have sexually exploited a named child by inviting, inducing or coercing her to engage in the production of child pornography.

Another sample charge under this legislation states that he is accused that on a date in March 2011, at a place unknown, he sexually exploited her by inviting, inducing or coercing her to engage or participate in a sexual, indecent or obscene act.

In seven other charges it is alleged that he engaged in sexual acts with a child aged under 17 on dates in 2011, Contrary to Section 3 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act, 2006.

He is also accused of three counts of sexual assault of another girl which allegedly occurred: at two locations in Dublin in March and June 2007, and at a location in a Co. Donegal town in the same year.

230 Nigerian Schoolgirls Still Missing - Some Taken Abroad, Some Used as Slaves

Some of the schoolgirls abducted by suspected militant Islamists in northern Nigeria are believed to have been taken to neighbouring states, a local leader has told the BBC.

Pogo Bitrus said there had been "sightings" of gunmen crossing with the girls into Cameroon and Chad.

Some of the girls had been forced to marry the militants, he added.

Mr Bitrus said 230 girls were missing since militants attacked the school in Chibok, Borno state, two weeks ago.

The Islamist group Boko Haram has been blamed for the night-time raid on the school hostel in Chibok town. It has not yet commented on the allegation.

Boko Haram in English means, "I'm afraid of little girls with books!"

Girl's hostel, from where they were abducted

 Mr Bitrus, a Chibok community leader, said 43 of the girls had "regained their freedom" after escaping, while 230 were still in captivity. This is a higher number than previous estimates, however he was adamant it was the correct figure.

The students were about to sit their final year exam and so are mostly aged between 16 and 18.

"Some of them have been taken across Lake Chad and some have been ferried across the border into parts of Cameroon," he told the BBC.

Mr Bitrus said there were also reports that the insurgents had married some of the girls.

"We learned that one of the 'grooms' brought his 'wife' to a neighbouring town in Cameroon and kept her there," he told the BBC.

"I'm crying now as community leader to alert the world to what's happening so that some pressure would be brought to bear on government to act”

"It's a medieval kind of slavery," he added.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau first threatened to treat captured women and girls as slaves in a video released in May 2013.

It fuelled concern at the time that the group is adhering to the ancient Islamic belief that women captured during war are slaves with whom their "masters" can have sex, correspondents say.

One of my fears is that some of the girls may be trafficked, or sold into sexual slavery.

Mr Bitrus said everyone in the community felt as though their own daughters had been abducted.

Men were "braving it out", but women were "crying and wailing", he said.

"Whether it is my niece or whoever it doesn't matter. We are all one people," Mr Bitrus told the BBC.

"That's why I'm crying now as community leader to alert the world to what's happening so that some pressure would be brought to bear on government to act and ensure the release of these girls."

The government has said the security forces are searching for the girls, but its critics say it is not doing enough. Note, all the girls who have escaped did so on their own. Not one girl has been rescued!

Boko Haram has staged a wave of attacks in northern Nigeria in recent years, with an estimated 1,500 killed in the violence and subsequent security crackdown this year alone.

Please pray for these girls who are stuck in a living nightmare with no end in sight. Pray for rescuers, please.

Hidden Secrets: Sexual Abuse and the Hidden Children of the Holocaust

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In honour of that I present some research into the sexual abuse of Jewish children who were hidden from the Nazis during WWII. They were the lucky ones, except some were not so fortunate.

Jewish children who lived in hiding generally were treated well by their rescuers. But not all youngsters had such experiences. Because they could not turn to local authorities for help or were afraid of being turned out, some children had to endure physical or sexual abuse by their “protectors.”

Studies conducted in the Netherlands estimate that more than 80% of the hidden children interviewed were treated well by their rescuers, while 15% were occasionally mistreated, and some 5% were treated badly.

Read the inspiring story of a Dutch Christian family who sheltered a Jewish family during the war.

A new study conducted at the Haifa University reveals that Holocaust survivors who suffered sexual abuse during World War II were much more traumatized by molestation than by any other of the horrifying experiences they went through during that period.

The study, the first ever to focus on the subject, is set to be presented next Sunday in the framework of a conference to mark the international Holocaust Memorial Day at the university.

Prof. Rachel Lev-Wiesel, who conducted the research, said that although the survivors experienced other traumatic events during the holocaust, including the loss of parents, physical abuse and hunger, the memory of sexual abuse remained etched in their minds more than anything else.

"This abuse still causes incessant thoughts on the subject and nightmares," Lev-Wiesel said.

The study consists of interviews with 22 men and women in Israel and the United States, who were willing to share with the researcher stories about the abuse they underwent during the war.

Lev-Wiesel said that some people who offered to take part in the study were rejected, because she believed they would not be able to cope with the burden of memories and the self-exposure involved with the interview.

The average age of the interviewees stood at 68 years, and Lev-Wiesel said all have told their story with clarity and precision, in contradiction to how people usually speak of a traumatic event.

This is proof, Lev-Wiesel said, that the survivors retell the story in their heads over and over again, reliving the past daily.

All the survivors interviewed for the study have spent the war years on the run from the Nazis, some at hiding in the houses of Christians, others moving from place to place with the partisans, an easy prey for menacing adults along the way.

According to Prof. Lev-Wiesel, this fact does not eliminate the possibility similar incidents took place at ghettos as well.

In some of the cases revealed in the study, the abuse was carried out by relatives or other Jews, which alleviated the trauma and embarrassment among survivors.

 In one of the cases the abuser was a man who helped smuggle children from one place to another, in another it was a father who sexually abused his daughter, and in several other incidents – mothers who molested their sons.

Prof. Lev-Wiesel stressed that situations of stress and war do not create pedophiles, but that they enable such people to operate more freely.

Downloading Child Abuse 'Manuals' to be Made Illegal in UK

Downloading manuals containing guidance about how to groom children for sexual abuse is to become a criminal offence, the government has said.

Good on you, PM. This should be happening in every country. Is there something you can do to help make it happen?

It is unclear how many documents meant to assist paedophiles exist online or how often they are downloaded.

But the National Crime Agency has found examples during its investigations, which have included advice on grooming victims and evading capture.

The government measure is set to feature in the Queen's Speech.

Laws similar to those used for terrorist publications could be introduced

Details of how the law might be changed are yet to be announced, but it is thought ministers will amend the Obscene Publications Act 1959 to close the legal loophole.

But the government may put in place measures similar to those that outlaw training manuals which could be used by terrorists, and have led to prison sentences of up two years in some cases.

Prime Minister David Cameron told the Sunday Times: "It's completely unacceptable that there is a loophole in the law which allows paedophiles to write and distribute these disgusting documents.

"I want to ensure we do everything we can to protect children - and that's why I am making them illegal."

The move came as it emerged that a paedophile teacher drugged and abused up to 60 boys as young as 10 at a private school in London.

US national William Vahey, 64, who taught history and geography at Southbank International School between 2009 and 2013, committed suicide last month as FBI agents closed in.

Shadow home office minister Diana Johnson said it was right that such manuals be banned, but criticised the government for not going "far enough or fast enough" to prevent online child abuse.

"The fact that online guides for abusing children are currently legal shows how ill-suited current legislation is for protecting children online," Ms Johnson said.

"At present online abuse is increasing while the number of arrests is falling."

She said the government should make online abuse a priority for the National Crime Agency, and that it should look at the broader issues of the regulation of dangerous online content.

NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless also said more needed to be done - and quickly - to tackle online child sex offenders.

"The government must ensure police have the investigative capacity to infiltrate and disrupt the networks of offenders hidden online, so these disgusting criminals are brought to justice," Mr Wanless said.

"Some Quite Extreme Cases of Abuse" Expected as Royal Commission Heads West

Former child migrant tells harrowing tale of abuse as royal commission heads to Western Australia

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will begin two weeks of hearings in Western Australia on Monday.

The focus will be on four institutions run by the Christian Brothers: the Bindoon Farm School, St Mary's Agricultural School, St Vincent's Orphanage Clontarf and Castledare Junior Orphanage.

John Hennessey, who migrated to Australia as a child, is one of a number of men set to give evidence.

Mr Hennessey was 10 years old when he was taken from his orphanage in Bristol, England, in the mid-1940s and sent to Western Australia.

He says the commission will open old wounds.

"I remember one day - it was a Sunday - these three Christian Brothers came to the hall and the nuns told us the Brothers are looking for children to go to Australia," he said.

"They said 'You go to Australia - kangaroos will take you to school, there's fruit everywhere'. We were only little kids and this was music to our ears."

A group of child migrants sent from Britain to Western Australia

Mr Hennessey was among a group of children shipped to Fremantle and then taken to Bindoon, about an hour north of Perth.

"I remember Brother Keaney, he was a big man dressed in his black habit. He said: 'Welcome. We're going to make men of you, we don't want you to be little girls'," he said.

 In those days, we were little kids, we didn't know what paedophilia was.

"The place was half built. Now you look at it, I can't understand why nobody checked out where we were going."

The boys were forced to help construct the property's Spanish-style buildings with their bare hands.

But Mr Hennessey says hard labour was not the worst of it, with savage beatings and sexual abuse making Bindoon a living hell.

John Hennessey was sent to Bindoon
as a child where he suffered abuse.

"In those days, we were little kids, we didn't know what paedophilia was," he said.

"You'd go to bed at night time fearing that someone was going to come to your bed and pick you up.

"We used to go to confessions and tell them all sorts of things. And we didn't know that the priest also was a paedophile."

Mr Hennessey was emotional as he recounted a particularly brutal beating he believes caused the stutter he has lived with ever since.

He said he was confronted by Brother Keaney in the dining hall after sneaking into his vineyard and stealing grapes.

"He lashed out with his walking stick, it had a metal bottom to it, and he belted me over the head and what have you," he said.

"Then he stripped me, put me over a chair and nearly flogged me to death.

"Abuse and bullying was just the norm."

The royal commission will spend two weeks in Perth listening to the stories of victims from the four children's homes.

The commission's chief executive, Janette Dines, warned some of the evidence presented would be particularly severe.

"These stories are probably quite well-known to people in Western Australia because the Christian Brothers institutions have been the subject of a number of inquiries," she said.

"Certainly, from what we're aware, the stories of physical and sexual abuse are very confronting, and there will be some quite extreme cases of abuse put before the royal commission."

The Christian Brothers apologised to West Australian victims in the 1990s and reached an out-of-court settlement with some of them.

The Christian Brothers are a disgrace to the name Christian. Their sordid debauchery and decidedly unchristian character has been documented all over the world from Canada to Ireland and to Australia.

Ms Dines said the Perth hearings would look at that response, as well as the way the State Government handled complaints and compensation claims.

"This is the first time that the commission has really specifically gone into redress," she said.

"It can do so very effectively through this case study because there are so many different schemes featured.

The body set up by the Catholic Church to respond to the commission says it is expecting horrific stories of abuse and has called for full transparency.

"It's incumbent on the Christian Brothers to come forward again and explain themselves, to make sure the truth is revealed and demonstrate to the community the sincerity they hold for the victims," said Francis Sullivan, the chief executive of the Truth Justice and Healing Council.

"Whether it's the Christian Brothers or the State Government or any other element in how this was handled - how the legal, civil actions were handled - it all needs to be revealed."

Mr Hennessey campaigned for the royal commission and says it was important for victims like himself to come forward.

He was reunited with his mother when he was 57 and spent six years with her before she died.

"She'd been told I died at birth," he said.

"I never told her of my childhood days because I thought it was enough what she went through and it would break her heart.

"I'm doing this for my mother. If I can only save one child from what I went through, it's all worthwhile.

"We will be washed clean but forever tortured. There's no way out of that one."

Please pray for strength and courage for the witnesses as they come forward to testify. Also, please pray for the so-called 'Christian' Brothers to be open and honest and act with integrity. That they will stop dishonouring the name they are so good at trashing.

International Pervert, Vahey, Fed Boys Cookies Laced with Sleeping Pills

London: A paedophile teacher abused up to 60 boys at a leading private school after plying them with Oreo cookies laced with sleeping pills, it was claimed yesterday.

William Vahey, 64, is said to have held a ‘cookie race’ at bedtime in which children as young as 10 were encouraged to eat as many as they could, unaware they had been drugged. Once the pupils passed out, some were sexually assaulted.

Details of the calculating schemes of the predator emerged as the extent of his offending became clear Saturday.

FBI investigators said more than 100 potential victims had come forward since news broke yesterday that the married American had taken pictures of himself attacking up to 60 sleeping students from the elite Southbank International School in Westminster during class trips abroad between 2009 and 2013.

The sickening images depicted children aged ten to 14 at the international school, where he taught history and geography and led trips to Jordan, Nepal and Venezuela.

Another 30 children, who also appeared to be unconscious or asleep when the assaults took place, were pictured from other schools he worked in during a 40-year career spent teaching at 10 American international schools in nine countries.

Southbank Int'l School

 Southbank International School, which is favoured by diplomats and foreign executives, has 758 pupils and charges fees of GBP25,000 a year.

Vahey committed suicide at a motel in the US last month as the FBI were poised to investigate a USB memory stick containing the graphic images of naked children dating back to 2008.

The father of two plunged a knife into his chest two days after confessing that he had abused boys throughout his life using sleeping pills.

Police later removed items from his £1.8million (Dh11 million) apartment in Maida Vale, west London, where he is alleged to have kept large amounts of sleeping pills.

Vahey 1986

Vahey 2013 and 2004

On Saturday a British mother of two, whose teenage sons went on seven school trips with Vahey, said he used to hand out Oreo cookies and tell pupils that they could be the lead character in his bedtime story if they won the cookie race.

The mother, who did not wish to be identified, said he “groomed” pupils and parents: “The boys would sit around and were handed Oreos. He would tell them to go and he would drop his hand to start the race.

“Then the first one who had the Oreo, the higher up they would be in the story and so on. He would have been able to split the Oreos apart, ground up the stuff and sprinkle it in the middle.” The mother was once a friend of Vahey and his wife Jean, 66, who is the executive director of the European Council of International Schools. For how long, I wonder?

An FBI affidavit obtained by the Daily Mail showed how he catalogued the abuse by time and location in folders on a USB memory stick entitled “Panama trip”, “Costa Rica trip” and “Basketball trip” and “Spring 2013”.

The document says: “These images depict minor males in various states of undress... The minor males appear to be asleep, unconscious or possibly drugged.”

Vahey, who left Southbank International last year, was only caught after a housekeeper at a school he moved to in Nicaragua stole a memory stick containing the vile images.

She was sacked but later passed the USB stick to administrators at the American School in Managua, who dismissed Vahey after recognising his hand in the images.

In 1970, while studying for a teaching degree, Vahey was jailed for 90 days after pleading guilty to molesting boys at a swimming pool where he was working as an instructor in California.

He was required to register as a sex offender for life, but after graduating from college in 1972 failed to sign the register. Can't believe it's a voluntary thing.

In 2010 an inspection report had warned of a weakness in staff vetting measures at Southbank International, but Sir Chris Woodhead, chairman of the governors said that it was “irrelevant” in Vahey’s case as he was not on the sex offender’s register.

Sir Chris said there had never been a complaint against Vahey, although there was one incident where a boy was ill on a trip and Vahey took the boy into his room to look after him. A school investigation subsequently found “nothing untoward”.

McCanns Still Believe - No Death Certificate for Madeleine

Seven Years Later: Madeleine McCann’s Parents Refuse To Apply For Death Certificate, Holding Out Hope For Daughter’s Return.

The seventh anniversary of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is fast approaching but her parents have not given up hope she’ll be found.

Under British law, Jerry and Kate McCann could can now apply for a Certificate of Presumed Death for their daughter who went missing on May 3, 2007 from a resort in Portugal where the family was vacationing.

Encouraged by new leads into her kidnapping now being worked by Scotland Yard, the couple has no intentions of requesting the certificate though. The little girl’s grandmother Susan Healy tells the Daily Mirror “she could be found.”

Added a spokesman for the grieving parents, “Kate and Gerry are fully aware of the declaration of death. They still believe that Madeleine is alive and are not applying for a certificate proving she is dead. That is the last thing on their minds.”

Considering the quality of police work  done by the Portuguese and the road-blocks preventing Scotland Yard from investigating directly, there is reason to hope. Like the families of those on board Malaysia Flight 370, there is no giving up hope until at least some evidence has been found to infer what happened.

Please pray for Kate and Gerry. Most marriages fail in circumstances like this - please pray that they continue to be strong for each other. And please pray that some resolution will come soon - preferably, Maddy found alive and well. God is big enough to do that!

Illinois School Bus Monitor Charged with Child Sex Offences

COLLINSVILLE, Illinois. (KSDK) – A 76-year-old school bus monitor faces charges of sex abuse and exploitation of a child, according to Collinsville police.

Thomas Hartsoe

Madison County State's Attorney charged Thomas Hartsoe, of Fairmont City, with felonious aggravated criminal sex abuse and sexual exploitation of a child Friday.

According to police, Collinsville School District Unit 10 reported a complaint of inappropriate contact between Hartsoe, who is employed by First Student, and a student. After an investigation, with cooperation from the bus company and school district, police identified Hartsoe as a suspect.

Hartsoe is being held in Collinsville Police Department with bond set at $200,000.

No further information about the specific incident was immediately available.

Collinsville is a city of about 26,000 across the Illinois state line and 12 miles from St Louis, Missouri.

Police continue to investigate and are looking for other potential victims or witnesses involving Hartsoe. If you have any information, you're asked to contact Detective Bud Jeremias at 618-344-2131 extension 5275 or CrimeStoppers at 866-371-8477.

More Ammunition for Cops Investigating Historical VIP Child Sex Abuse Ring

A probe by the Sunday People and investigative website Exaro uncovered evidence the tape is believed to be among a batch of films seized and handed to MI5.

Gateway: Port of Dover where the video was seized

A former Tory cabinet minister was pictured in a video allegedly featuring child sex abuse, it has been claimed.

The tape is believed to be among a batch of films seized by customs officials and handed over to MI5, reports the Sunday People.

No details about it have ever been made public. But the customs officer who seized the haul is said to have identified the ex-minister in the footage.

However, he declined to say whether or not the politician was participating in the alleged child abuse.

A probe by the Sunday People and investigative website Exaro has ­uncovered evidence that the cassette was ­confiscated at Dover in 1982.

A seizure notice shows a customs ­officer took custody of three 8mm films, three video cassettes and an order form.

The notice said the items were “seized as liable to forfeiture upon the grounds that the said goods are indecent or ­obscene articles”.

Friends of the customs officer, now retired, have confirmed he told them this week that he recognised the minister in the film – but would not say anything else after his former bosses reminded him he had signed the Official Secrets Act.

This week the officer was too frightened even to open his front door, and said he was unwilling and unable to comment.

He said: “I am bound by all these regulations until I die.”

The existence of the video is likely to be seized upon by Operation Fernbridge cops investigating claims of a historical VIP sex abuse ring.

Amsterdam: The tape came from Holland

They are understood to have already spoken to the ex-minister about another video that places him at a sex party involving teenage boys three decades ago.

Now they are expected to speak to the customs officer.

The video was seized at Dover’s Eastern Car Terminal along with other child pornography.

It was being brought into Britain from Amsterdam by Russell Tricker, a British-born businessman based in the Dutch capital. He was held for two hours and officials confiscated the tape.

The customs officer then passed the case over to senior managers at Customs and Excise – since reorganised as part of HM Revenue and Customs.

They took no further action against Mr Tricker, and are understood to have passed the tape to MI5.

The seizure notice gave brief details of some of the material, showing one of the videos was titled “GB10”.

A child abuse victim has told Exaro that this video showed boys, some of them “runaways”, who could be ­“ordered” by paedophile clients.

Another video was called “Amsterdam Tramway Museum” and featured images of boys from elsewhere in Europe who could be procured by perverts.

The video started with a few minutes of train footage before turning to ­pornographic images of boys.

Mr Tricker confirmed he was stopped by customs officials when travelling through Dover as a passenger in 1982. But he claimed he did not know what was inside the sealed packages. That's it then. He must be telling the truth - we all carry sealed packages across international borders without knowing what's in them, don't we?

He said: “I have nothing to hide. I was asked to take some brown envelopes to England. They were seized by Customs. I did not know what was inside them.”

Mr Tricker said a business associate had asked him to take the packages into the country and then post them to an address in the UK. And did we get the business associate's name? What business was he in?

Asked whether he was aware of claims that an ex-minister and child sex abuse featured on one of the videos, Tricker denied any knowledge of the content.

“They were just confiscated, and I was allowed to continue my journey. They detained me for two hours,” he said.

Mr Tricker confirmed he was convicted of a child sex offence in the Netherlands in 1992 and jailed for two-and-a-half years, but said he was cleared on appeal and released after five months.

His lawyers were able to show that the boy concerned had carried a false ­identity card and had pretended to be above age, Mr Tricker said. Good grief!

The boy was later shot dead in Amsterdam, he said.

“It is a sad story,” he added.

Tricker denies being a paedophile but confirmed he was a personal friend of Peter Glencross, who was commercial manager of Spartacus International.

At the time, Spartacus International was used to attract new members to the Spartacus Club, an underground network for paedophiles.

Can't Sue Elmo for Child Sex Abuse - Curious Ruling by US Court of Appeals

The U.S. Court of Appeals has dismissed sex abuse suits against Kevin Clash, the puppeteer best known as the voice of Sesame Street's Elmo.

The appeals court concurred with a previous ruling from July 2013, agreeing with a lower court's decision to dismiss the lawsuits.

In late 2012, three individuals accused 53-year-old Clash of sexually abusing them more than 10 years ago, while they were minors.

After the allegations emerged, the Emmy-winning Sesame Workshop puppeteer — who had voiced the high-pitched, fuzzy red character Elmo for 28 years and been featured in the hit 2011 documentary Being Elmo — resigned from his job.

"I am resigning from Sesame Workshop with a very heavy heart. I have loved every day of my 28 years working for this exceptional organization. Personal matters have diverted attention away from the important work Sesame Street is doing and I cannot allow it to go on any longer," he said at the time.

Clash also denied any wrongdoing and stated that any past relationships he had were between consenting adults.

Last July, a judge in New York ruled that the three claims fell out of the state's statute of limitations. The plaintiffs subsequently brought their cases up to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

The appeal court's decision, made April 2, said the plaintiffs failed to provide any reason why they were unable to discover their injuries prior to 2012. Really?!! Are you serious? They have to have a reason for not discovering their injuries until now? It was 30 years later before I realized that I had been sexually abused as a child, and there is no way I could have explained that when I did.

But surely, US Court of Appeals judges are familiar with repressed memories evident in most child sex abuse cases. Now all of a sudden the victims have to explain why their memories were repressed? I sure hope they take this to the next level, and I sure hope those judges get some awareness training in child sex abuse - it appears they are woefully ignorant.

A separate lawsuit, filed in Pennsylvania by Clash's first public accuser in 2013, is pending.

Amy, Child Porn Star Seeking $3.4m in Restitution

The notices arrive almost every day. They tell a young woman named Amy, as she is called in court papers, that someone has been charged with possessing child pornography. She was the child.

“It is hard to describe what it feels like to know that at any moment, anywhere, someone is looking at pictures of me as a little girl being abused by my uncle and is getting some kind of sick enjoyment from it,” Amy, then 19, wrote in a 2008 victim impact statement. “It’s like I am being abused over and over and over again.”

Next month, the Supreme Court will consider what the men who took pleasure from viewing Amy’s abuse must pay her.

Images of Amy being sexually assaulted by her uncle are among the most widely viewed child pornography in the world. They have figured in some 3,200 criminal cases since 1998.

Amy is notified through a Justice Department program that tells crime victims about developments in criminal cases involving them. She has the notifications sent to her lawyer. There have been about 1,800 so far.

Her lawyer often files a request for restitution, as a 1994 law allows her to do. Every viewing of child pornography, Congress found, “represents a renewed violation of the privacy of the victims and repetition of their abuse.”

Amy’s losses are in most ways beyond measure, but some of them can be calculated in dollars. She has found it hard to hold down a job. She needs a lifetime of therapy. She has legal bills. Her lawyers say it adds up to about $3.4 million.

The question for the justices is how to allocate that sum among the participants in the sordid marketplace for pictures of her.

Doyle R. Paroline

One of those men is Doyle R. Paroline, who was caught with 280 images of children, including toddlers, being sexually abused. Two of the pictures were of Amy.

The 1994 law allows victims of child pornography to seek the “full amount” of their losses from people convicted of producing, distributing or possessing it, and Amy asked the U.S. District Court in Tyler, Texas, to order Paroline to pay her the full $3.4 million.

Paroline said he owed Amy nothing, arguing that her problems did not stem from learning that he had looked at images of her. Amy’s uncle, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his crimes, bore the brunt of the blame, Paroline said, but was ordered to pay Amy just $6,325.

He added that Amy’s “problematic behavior,” including drinking and troubles at work and school, could have sources other than her “sexual abuse history.”

Paroline was sentenced to two years in prison, but the trial judge, Leonard Davis, did not order him to give Amy anything. The link between Amy’s losses and what Paroline did, Davis said, was too remote.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in New Orleans, disagreed and awarded Amy the $3.4 million she sought. Paroline should pay what he could and seek contributions from his fellow wrongdoers if he thought it too much, the court said, relying on the legal doctrine of “joint and several” liability.

“Among its virtues,” the appeals court said, “joint and several liability shifts the chore of seeking contribution to the person who perpetrated the harm rather than its innocent recipient.” Like that's going to work!

In the long run, Amy would not receive more than she deserved. But neither would she have to chase hundreds of men, many of them penniless, for the fractional shares of her misery that they caused.

Paroline said the ruling was deeply unfair. “An award of $3.4 million against an individual for possessing two images of child pornography is punitive and grossly disproportionate to the offense conduct,” he told the Supreme Court. Requiring him to seek payment from his fellow sex offenders, he added, “would create a procedural nightmare.”

Amy’s lawyers countered that it should not be her burden to pursue her abusers over “decades of litigation that might never lead to a full recovery.”

She has received restitution in 180 cases so far, she told the justices, and has recovered a little more than 40 percent of her losses.

The Justice Department took a middle ground before the Supreme Court, saying that Amy deserved something from Paroline, but that $3.4 million was too much. The right amount, the department’s lawyers said, was “somewhere between all or nothing.” Well that really narrows it down. Good job Justice Dept.

They did not specify what Paroline’s share might be, saying the trial court should decide. Amy’s lawyers said they feared that a strict mathematical allocation of responsibility, with each offender paying an equal share, could lead to individual awards of “about $47.”

Emily Bazelon interviewed Amy for an article that ran in The New York Times Magazine in January, before the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. She sounded hopeful.

“If I win, that will set everything up for people like me, and that would be so amazing,” Amy said. “I don’t even think there are words for it.”

We certainly hope and pray you win and recover all the proceeds that you need and deserve. This could potentially be a game changer for child pornography.

Six Deviates Arrested in Child Sex and Pornography Ring

Six men were charged today in a lurid sex-abuse ring that reached from Montgomery County more than halfway across the country to Oklahoma.

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, lies just north of Philadelphia, and Buck County lies to the east of Montgomery County.

Each of the men exchanged nude videos over the Internet or engaged in sex acts with a 14-year-old boy identified as Victim No. 1 at a variety of locations in Bucks and Montgomery Counties, according to court papers.

The investigation was launched when the boy's parents found "inappropriate material" on the boy's electronic devices in October and notified Limerick Township police, said Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman.

"This is the type of case where there is significant potential for other abuse victims," said Ferman. "We encourage anyone who might know of other victims to contact us immediately."

Federal  prosecutors filed additional charges against four of the men Apr. 23.

At least five additional underage victims were allegedly targeted by one of the men, according to the District Attorney’s office.


Matthew Krapf, 43, of Collegeville, was arrested Nov. 2 as he departed his home to allegedly meet Victim No. 1 for sex. A search of Krapf’s home turned up thousands of images and videos of child pornography, many of which Krapf allegedly produced himself, Ferman said.

Investigators found evidence of Krapf having sex with four other young teens and exchanging images with a fifth going back to 2005. Krapf was charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, and a myriad of child pornography counts. On Jan. 23, federal prosecutors also charged Krapf on a slew of child porn counts. Krapf is being held on $1 million bail.

Jason “Scotty’ Becktold, 42, of Oklahoma City, another member of the ring, allegedly coerced Victim No. 1 to conceal a camera in the victim's school locker room to record other boys in various states of undress. In addition, Becktold allegedly sent Victim No. 1 underwear through the mail and directed him to make sexually explicit images for him, according to the indictment on federal charges. He was arrested Feb. 3 in Oklahoma, according to a federal indictment.

Christopher Steele, 33, of New Castle, Delaware, was arrested Dec. 13. Steele allegedly traveled to Montgomery County to have sex with Victim No. 1. Investigators allegedly found numerous images of child porn on Steele’s computer and cell phone, according to Ferman. He is charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, disseminating explicit material to a minor, corruption of a minor and other counts. He is being held on $1 million bail.

Paul Gavin Britton, 45, of Dover, Del., was arrested Jan. 10 at his home in Delaware. Investigators said he also traveled to have sex with Victim No. 1. Britton, who was in a long-term relationship with Steele, committed suicide Feb. 6, prosecutors said.

Mark “Wilco” Wilczopolski, 22, of Birdsboro, allegedly exchanged nude images and videos with Victim No. 1. He was arrested in February, charged with disseminating explicit materials and other counts and indicted this week on federal charges.

Glenn Kriczky, 58, of Birdsboro, also exchanged images and videos with Victim No. 1 and was charged similarly and released after posting $10,000 bail.

 “The greatest responsibility of law enforcement is to protect our most vulnerable citizens,” said Ferman. “Keeping children safe is our number one priority.

"This case highlights the dangers our children face when communicating with strangers online. An unfortunate reality of our world is there are adults willing to manipulate and exploit vulnerable youth for their own base motives." Amen!