2 Arrests, 1 Manhunt, 2 Prelims Waived, 1 Aquittal - USA Pedophiles Today 10/28/15 Update 1

Tennessee man facing charges of rape of a child & 

sexual battery

Mary M Reeves, 
The Daily News Journal 

Juan Carlos Martinez

A Murfreesboro, Tennessee man is facing multiple charges involving rape of a child and sexual battery by an authority figure.

Murfreesboro police arrested Juan Carlos Martinez, 37, of North Rutherford Boulevard 3 p.m. Monday at the police department.

According to the police report provided to The Daily News Journal, Martinez told officers he started touching the 9-year-old girl months ago. The suspect went into great detail about the extent of the abuse, the report stated. He was charged on four counts of sexual battery by an authority figure and two counts of rape of a child. Officers noted that the investigation is ongoing and other charges may be added. No bond information was provided.

Alabama man held on kidnapping, 

attempted child sex abuse charges

Andrew J. Yawn, 
Montgomery Advertiser 

Timothy Mount

Montgomery, Alabama resident Timothy Mount, 30, was arrested Monday and charged with first degree kidnapping and attempted sexual abuse of a child younger than age 12.

Montgomery Police Department received a disturbance call from the 400 block of East Park Street at about 3:30 p.m. Monday, according to police officials.

Further investigation identified Mount as the suspect. He was then arrested by MPD on Monday.

Mount was taken to the Montgomery County Detention Facility and is being held for a collective bond total of $75,000 ($60,000 for kidnapping and $15,000 for attempted sexual abuse).

POLICE: Alaska man, 35, wanted on child sex abuse 

charges; is avoiding arrest

KTUU Staff

UPDATE: Anchorage police say Thomas Goodwin has been arrested on an outstanding warrant for sexual abuse of a minor. Goodwin is being taken in for questioning and will later be transferred to the Anchorage jail.

Thomas Goodwin

Police are asking for public help in finding 35-year-old Thomas Goodwin who is wanted on sexual abuse of a minor charges. Image courtesy of Anchorage Police Department.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska
Anchorage police are asking for public help to locate an Anchorage man who is wanted on charges related to sexual abuse of a minor and is actively avoiding arrest, police wrote in a press release Wednesday.

Thomas Goodwin, 35, lived with a female friend in Anchorage for about three months in early 2014. The woman had three daughters between the ages of five and 11.

"In June 2015, while the girls were visiting their father at his home, they disclosed the sexual abuse they endured by Goodwin while he lived with them for those few months in 2014," officials wrote. Police were contacted at the time.

A warrant for Goodwin's arrest was obtained this month, on two counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree.

What! It took 4 months to obtain a warrant? I guess Alaska time is way slower than the rest of the universe.

"Goodwin is aware of the warrants and is actively avoiding capture," officials wrote. "Police are concerned there may be more victims."

Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to contact Detective Torres with Anchorage police at 786-8573 or provide an anonymous tip on the Crime Stoppers hotline at 561-STOP.

Downtown Anchorage

Two Pennsylvania men charged in separate child sex abuse cases waive hearings

Jose Luis Perez-Santana

 SCRANTON — Two men charged in separate child sex abuses cases waived their preliminary hearings Tuesday in Lackawanna County Central Court.

Jose Luis Perez-Santana, 32, of Scranton, will go to trial on charges of rape of a child and related counts. Scranton police said he began sexually assaulting a girl, now 16, when she was 10 or 11.

Louis Loney

The Times-Tribune does not name sexual assault victims.

Louis Loney, 57, of Dunmore, will face trial for involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and related counts after Dunmore police said he sexually assaulted a boy for more than a year, starting when the victim was 8.

Both remain in Lackawanna County Prison. Formal arraignments are scheduled for Dec. 11.
— JOSEPH KOHUT

Jurors find California Catholic school worker not guilty 

at child sex abuse trial

By Malaika Fraley 
mfraley@bayareanewsgroup.com

Mia Cummings, 31, of Oakland,
has been acquitted of sexually abusing
a 14-year-old All Saints Catholic
School boy

HAYWARD, California -- Branded a child molester, the former Catholic school employee spent two years in jail, ripped away from her son when he was just 3. But on Tuesday, a jury set the woman free, acquitting her of molestation charges that could have sent her to prison for nearly two decades.

Mia Cummings, 31, of Oakland "wept tears of relief and gratitude" in Alameda County Judge Kevin Murphy's Hayward courtroom as a clerk read consecutive not guilty verdicts, said her attorney David Cohen, who defended Cummings with his Bay Area Criminal Lawyers associate Cherie Wallace.

Cummings was expected to be released from Santa Rita Jail late Tuesday and reunited with her 5-year-old son and her longtime boyfriend.

"This thing ended her career. It ended her life," taking her away from her family and her young son, Cohen said. "I think justice was done here," he said. "We are extremely grateful to the jury for all its hard work and to Judge Murphy for a fair trial. Obviously, the risks were very high."

Hayward, CA

Cummings had been held since her arrest in 2013 on an $800,000 bond. If convicted, she could have been sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Cummings was a well-regarded after-school program assistant at All Saints Catholic School in Hayward for eight years and had a good work record in 2013 when she was accused of sexually abusing a boy over a two-year period beginning when he was 12.

The boy told officials that Cummings performed oral sex on him on numerous occasions on school grounds and in public spots around Hayward. A preliminary hearing judge in 2014 found there was enough evidence to try Cummings on five counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, three counts of oral copulation on a child under 16, and one count each of continuous sexual abuse of a child and contacting a minor for sex.

Cohen said the boy's "story didn't sound right on face and there wasn't enough pieces of evidence to corroborate this crazy story he was telling."

Also, between the time Cummings was arrested and the boy's trial testimony, the boy gave different accounts of what happened, Cohen said. For example, he first reported the abuse started when he was 12, but he later said it started after his 13th birthday.

Some allegations, Cohen said, either didn't seem possible -- such as Cummings allegedly performing a sex act on him in public view by Hayward City Hall -- or could not be corroborated by either school records and witnesses.

"The jury said that the lack of corroboration, coupled with the fact that he himself was unreliable witness, meant that it didn't add up to a criminal conviction," Cohen said.

Hayward, CA

Alameda County prosecutor Chris Infante declined to comment on specifics of the case but said, "We try our best for the victims. We respect the decision by the jury." Cohen said the prosecution's evidence included phone records that showed the boy made "serial calls" to Cummings, all but two of which went unanswered. There was one text exchange and in it the boy referenced a potential meet-up and she called him "sweetie."

The allegations came to light in 2013, when the boy, then 14, showed up at Cummings' former apartment. The resident at the time was an All Saints teacher who called the boy's parents. Cohen said that when the parents questioned whether the boy had a sexual relationship with Cummings, the boy said yes. They took him to a hospital for STD testing and the hospital, a mandated reporting agency, alerted police to the alleged sexual abuse.

"The prosecution asked, 'Why would this kid make these allegations,' " if they weren't true, Cohen said. "We asked, 'Why would someone with a life, a son, a career risk everything?' We don't know what his motivation was but it just didn't work," Cohen said.

According to retired sex crimes prosecutor Dara Cashman, who did not follow the case but was given an overview by this newspaper, the verdict was not surprising considering that the boy gave inconsistent statements and that his allegations could not be corroborated.

"A jury can forgive a 5-year-old for not getting all his facts right, mixing up dates, but they hold an older child to a higher standard," Cashman said.

In such cases, Cashman continued, jurors are less likely to convict without some kind of second element to support the allegations, such as a confession, another victim, or a history of sexual misconduct.

"Jurors tend to not want to believe these things happen," Cashman said. "For them, it's so far out of the realm of experience that they are going to be more skeptical."