Below is a remarkable excerpt from a post by Lori Handrahn. A link to the full post is at the bottom. In it she lists a lengthy rogue's gallery of University professors and administrators, many of whom are respected, award winning professors, who have been caught accessing child pornography of varying degrees of perverseness.
Many are before the courts now. Some have already plea bargained and escaped with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. As you read the reports compare the sentencing to similar crimes you may have read about on the blog, the difference is astounding. It appears the justice system has seriously preferential treatment for the highly educated as though they weren't just as much a scumbag as a taxi driver or janitor.
Lori also reveals a little of her own story in the post.
American University President Seeks Sex with Day Care Children
by Lori Handrahan
In 1990, American University’s president, Richard Berendzen, was calling day cares seeking sex with children when he contacted Susan Eva Allen; a mother operating a home-based day care whose husband was a detective with Fairfax County Police Department. A search warrant was obtained.
Susan Allen recorded more than 30 hours of conversation with Berendzen. He asked Susan Allen if “she and her husband included their children in sex” and begged to have sex with Susan Allen’s children. He told her he masturbated while talking with her and offered to procure a child for her to use as a “sex slave.”
Time Magazine 7 May 1990
The Washington Post, Judy Mann, 8 May 1990
He “described going to sex slave auctions in Chicago and Detroit,” bragged about his abuse of children, his child porn collection, the four year old girl who was his “sex slave” and strapping his wife to a wheel in their basement.
Reported by The Washington Post’s Patricia Davis and Rene Sanchez 25 April 1990; Page A01
Professor Berendzen never spent a day in jail nor has he yet been investigated for child sex crimes.
The Washington Post, Judy Mann, 8 May 1990
In what appears to be clear obstruction of justice, American University protected Berendzen, his career and financial security.
Conspiracy to commit child rape and possession of child pornography are not “administrative” issues. These are criminal matters and must be prosecuted as such. There is no statute of limitation for child sex abuse crimes at the federal level. Professor Berendzen could still be and should be investigated.
The Personal is Political
This is personal for me. I was wrongly terminated from my position as a professor at American University when my publications calling for an end to impunity for child porn related crimes started gaining attention.
Articles like Enable the Fight Against Child Porn, To Catch Government Workers With Ties to Child Porn, Call the IRS, or Executive Branch Porn Problem and television interviews like Impunity for US Government Workers Using Child Porn always seemed to provoke a negative reaction from the president’s office. My dean was told none of my publications about ending impunity for child porn would be posted on the school’s website. The president’s office told American University’s media department not to “pitch” me for media interviews.
At the time, I was solely focused on US government employees involved in the illegal trade of child sex abuse images and videos, otherwise known as child pornography. I did not know about American University’s own history of protecting professors who were accused of committing crimes against children. After my contract was terminated, a colleague met me for lunch, off campus, and told me about Richard Berendzen.
Read Lori's blog here. Be aware that there is a little, very graphic language in a few of the reports.
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