60 year sentence for child sexual abuse
Patrick Johnston , Times Record News 
Moon, from Burkburnett, TX, will be formally sentenced once he is extradited from Oklahoma.
A jury on Tuesday determined the punishment for Joe David Moon will be 60 years in prison after finding him guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child on Monday..
Moon is currently in the Cotton County, Okla. Jail for skipping the closing arguments in the trial Monday. He was absent from the 30th District courtroom Tuesday when the punishment was assessed. He will be formally sentenced by Judge Bob Brotherton once he has been extradited from Oklahoma.
"We're pleased with the jury's verdict," said Stephen Rancourt, an assist district attorney in Wichita County and lead prosecutor in the case. "I think it sends a strong message to the community that when we get these types of cases, juries aren't going to tolerate this kind of behavior.
"They are going to send a strong message to the community that if you harm a child or you abuse a child, we're going to do everything we can to hold those people accountable and juries are going to take them seriously."
During the punishment phase of the trial, the prosecution called an investigator with the Wichita County District Attorney's Office to testify. He said he found Moon playing a penny slot machine at Kiowa Casino around 10:30 or 10:45 a.m. Monday, which was shortly after Brotherton issued a warrant for Moon's arrest on bond forfeiture.
The defense presented the jury with a certified copy of Moon's military service.
The jury of eight men and four women spent about two-and-a-half hours deliberating before assessing a punishment of 60 years in prison and a $10,000 fine on the count of aggravated sexual assault of a child. They also set punishment at 15 years in prison and a $5,000 fine on each of two counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact.
At the formal sentencing, Brotherton will determine if the punishments will run concurrently or consecutively.
"The entire case – and these cases are so difficult – they all come down to the testimony of the victims," Rancourt said. "These girls clearly had to struggle with what happened to them, what this defendant did to them and, ultimately, the jury believed beyond a reasonable doubt they were credible and their testimony was real. It is their hard work that sealed the defendant's fate."
North Alabama woman indicted on sodomy, sex abuse allegations involving young child
A north Alabama woman accused of having sexual contact with a young child has been indicted on three felony charges by a Morgan County grand jury.
A suspect is indicted if a grand jury determines prosecutors have enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial. An indictment is a formal notice of charges against the defendant.
Morgan County District Attorney Scott Anderson announced the indictments this week.
The victim and his parents filed a report with the Morgan County Sheriff's Office on June 27 about the alleged incidents that occurred at Strong's home in the Valhermoso Springs community, said Sgt. Blake Robinson, of the Special Victims Unit.
A person can be charged with first-degree sodomy if he or she engages in deviant sexual intercourse with a person who is younger than 12, according to Alabama law.
Strong was released from Morgan County Jail on $60,000 bail. A court date hasn't been set in the case.
If convicted, Strong faces up to life imprisonment on each of the sodomy charges and up to 20 years on the sex abuse charge. She also would be required to register as a sex offender.
Child sex abuse lawsuit settled against church
Written by Seth Gordon, Oregon Local News
Unnamed plaintiff alleging he was sexually abused between 1987 and 1991 settles out of court
PORTLAND — Aside from references made to former Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends youth superintendent Bruce Bishop in the religious denomination’s public records, not much was known about the allegations of child sex abuse made in a civil lawsuit filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court in July 2015.
It appears no new information will come to light after the suit was settled out of court in April and no additional details have been made public.
Newberg Friends Church, the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends Church, the Friends Church Extension Fund and the Northwest Yearly Meeting Foundation were the remaining defendants in the case after the Evangelical Friends Church International Council and the Evangelical Friends Church North America were dismissed.
The plaintiff, who is referred to in court documents only as “A.J.,” was represented by the Portland law firm Kafoury and McDougal, which declined to comment on the case, citing that the plaintiff was no longer their client and therefore its attorneys could not speak on his behalf.
Karen Vickers of Mersereau Shannon in Portland represented the four remaining defendants and said she was not allowed to comment on the case. Interim Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends superintendent Retha McCutchen also declined to comment.
The suit was filed July 17, 2015, five days before the plaintiff’s 40th birthday, which represents the statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases in Oregon. The attorney for the plaintiff indicated that it was filed in Multnomah County because it allows filing by initials in some cases to protect privacy.
The suit alleged Bishop engaged in 12 specific sexual activities with A.J., including directing him and other male youths to be naked together in Bishop’s presence, and participating in disgusting acts in his presence.
Bishop has not responded to attempts to reach him for comment after the suit was filed.
The legal claims of the suit, which sought $4 million in noneconomic damages, as well as economic damages, loss of earning capacity and legal costs, included sexual exploitation and abuse and/or battery of a child, breach of fiduciary duty, intentional infliction of distress and negligence.
Bishop was not named as a defendant, but rather three of the charges were “respondeat superior,” meaning that the church and denomination were responsible for Bishop’s actions because they were done in the course of his employment.
According to the minutes from the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends’ annual conference in July 2010, Bishop was terminated “after information came to light regarding an improper relationship between Bruce and a minor in 1991.”
The minutes from 2010 state that Bishop “immediately confirmed the allegations when confronted,” and that then NWYM superintendent Colin Saxton and staff investigated whether there might have been others, but at that time indications pointed to the “1991 relationship” being an “isolated incident.”
Information from later conferences, however, indicate that the plaintiff may not have been Bishop’s only victim.
Man indicted on more child sex abuse charges
MICHAEL GOOTQUEENSBURY — A Level 3 sex offender already facing charges for allegedly molesting a young boy was indicted Tuesday on new charges involving other victims.
A Warren County grand jury handed up 12 new charges against 37-year-old Daryl A. Tucker of Schroon River Road, who had been indicted in April on 13 counts, including two of predatory sexual assault against a child, for allegedly molesting a boy over a period of five years.
“The new indictment has 12 counts that relate to three separate child victims, all of whom were known to the defendant,” said Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan.
Tucker is now accused of molesting a 9-year-old child during the summer of 2014 and also in 2015, an 11-year-old victim during the winter of 2015 and another 9-year-old victim during the winter of 2015.
Tucker was charged with four counts of predatory sexual assault against a child, one count of course of sexual assault against a child, three counts of course of sexual conduct against a child, one count of sexual abuse and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
Tucker was arraigned in Warren County Court on Wednesday and remanded without bail to the Warren County Jail. His attorney, Garfield Raymond, is dealing with a medical issue and he was given a temporary attorney at the arraignment.Tucker is due back in court on Nov. 16 at 11 a.m. for a status update on the case.
The top counts of the indictment are punishable by 25 years to life in prison.
Tucker was first arrested in early April. The abuse began when the child, with whom Tucker was acquainted, was 10 years old. Tucker was arrested later that month on additional charges after another victim came forward, stating that he had been abused by Tucker over a five-year period.
Tucker spent 8 years in state prison after being convicted of course of sexual conduct in 1999 for repeated sexual abuse of four boys between the ages of 5 and 11, according to Post-Star archives. Tucker lived in Thurman at the time and the victims told police that he took them into wooded areas, physically assaulted and sodomized them. He threatened to kill one boy if he told anyone about the abuse.
After being released in 2006, he was classified as a Level 3 sex offender — the highest level and most at risk for re-offending.
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