5 y/o sexually abused in library - Utah
7 y/o sexually abused by pensioner - Oregon
Chronic abuser of 2 girls gets 55 to life - California
Child sex abuse suspect turns himself in - Oklahoma
Police searching for brutal abuser Pete Valdez - Texas
5th Navaho sues LDS church for historic abuse - Utah
Man Arrested in Child Sex Abuse Case at
West Jordan library
Public helped identify the subject through media
By Marcos Ortiz, Jenn Gardiner good4utah.com
UPDATE: Police in West Jordan have arrested 26-year-old Troy Sickler after the public helped identify him through surveillance photos shared through media outlets.
West Jordan Police Detective J.C. Holt issued a press released saying their department responded to several tips that came into their office Friday night. The suspect was successfully identified and after police questioned Sickler, he was arrested and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on felony sex abuse of a child and felony child kidnapping.
West Jordan library
ORIGINAL STORY:
WEST JORDAN, Utah (ABC4 Utah) - A five-year old boy was sexually molested inside the restroom of a library. It happened Wednesday at around 1 p.m. at the West Jordan library.
"The little boy disclosed to his sister what happened and their mother was notified immediately and the mother contacted us," said Detective J.C. Holt with West Jordan police.
Police were able to obtain an image of the suspect through the library's surveillance cameras. Police describe him as a male, wearing camouflage clothing, blue jeans and dark shoes. They believe the suspect frequents the library and surrounding area.
"We believe they were in the bathroom for several minutes," said Holt. "There were no other patrons that went in and used the restroom."
The restroom is located inside the library. It's a few feet away from an information center where someone is stationed. A wall does block the employee stationed at the information center from seeing the actual bathroom doors.
"Definitely in a situation like this we will be looking at how things occurred, when they occurred and what we can do at our end to prevent this from happening in the future," said Sollis.
Police said it is rare for a sexual predator to commit a crime at a public location. But he said the boy's family is hoping the suspect is arrested.
Prison for Oregon City man in child sex abuse
Roy Allen Richard sentenced to 10 years
KOIN 6 News Staff
OREGON CITY, Ore. — A 64-year-old Oregon City man will spend the next 10 years in prison for sexually abusing a 7-year-old.
Roy Allen Richards was convicted earlier this month on 10 counts of 1st-degree sex abuse. The initial investigation by the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office began July 13, 2016.
Authorities turned the case over to Oregon City police, since the crimes happened there.
Richards’ 10-year term means he must spend at least 6 years 3 months in prison.
Oregon City, OR
Anaheim man gets 55 to life for years of
child sex abuse
By PAUL ANDERSON / City News Service
SANTA ANA – An Anaheim man was sentenced Friday to 55 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting two underage female relatives multiple times over several years.
Joel Guerrerojasso, 36, was also ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregg Prickett rejected the defendant’s request to have some of the punishment run concurrently. The defendant “took advantage of a special position of trust” and the “victims were particularly vulnerable,” the judge said.
God bless you Judge Prickett!
Guerrerojasso was convicted Dec. 28 of two counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a minor younger than 14, and one count each of lewd acts on a child ages 14 or 15 and forcible oral copulation, all felonies. Jurors also found true sentencing enhancements for multiple victims.
The oldest girl turned 17 just as the defendant was arrested in September of last year, according to Deputy District Attorney Mena Guirguis. The other girl was 12.
The older girl “remembers her (relative) molesting and abusing her since she was 8 years old,” Guirguis told jurors. “It started when she was in the third grade … and it never stopped.”
By the time she was in seventh grade, the defendant was also showing the girl pornographic videos on his phone while encouraging her to engage in sexual activity, the prosecutor said.
Guerrerojasso would corner the girl when her mother was not around and even threatened to have her quinceanera party canceled if she didn’t comply with his sexual demands, Guirguis said.
He “held that (party) hostage” unless the girl would escalate the sexual activity, the prosecutor said.
When Guerrerojasso was arrested, he confessed to trying to have sex with the two girls, Guirguis said.
The younger victim denied “anything happened” when first questioned by social workers and police, Guirguis said. Last August, however, investigators interviewed her again and she “finally disclosed that she, too, was molested by” the defendant, Guirguis said.
Defense attorney Jay Moorhead conceded that his client may have been guilty of some of the crimes, but not all of them. He told jurors at the onset of the trial to “listen to inconsistencies, vagaries as to times, places and details” when the girls testified.
Moorhead acknowledged his client made a “full confession” to police but added, “Keep in mind the interview is done in English” and the defendant speaks “broken English.”
Child Sexual Abuse Suspect Surrenders
To Tulsa Police
BY: NEWSON6.COM
TULSA, Oklahoma - The suspect in a child sexual abuse case surrendered to police, just hours after police turned to the public for help in finding him.
They were looking for Bobby Dale Roberts, 36.
Tulsa County prosecutors charged him with two counts of child sexual abuse on Wednesday, January 25, 2017. Police say since then Roberts left his Tulsa home, abandoned his car, turned his cell phone off and not returned to work.
Family members either did not know or refused to say where he was, police said.
Police said he surrendered late Friday afternoon.
Police search for man suspected of causing serious injury, sexual abuse to child
Esther M Hackleman , Corpus Christi Caller-Times
Corpus Christi Police are searching for a 31-year-old man wanted on suspicion of causing injury and sexual abuse to a child.
Pete Valdez has two warrants for his arrest. One warrant is for injury to a child causing serious mental deficiency or impairment, and the other is for continuous sexual abuse of a child with a victim under age 14, according to a news release.
Valdez was described as 5 feet 3 inches tall, weighing 121 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. He has a tattoo on his chest of the words “Isaiah” and “Zoey.” Valdez's last known residence was a home on the 2500 block of Mary Street.
Those who wish to provide information on the man may anonymously call Crime Stoppers at 361-888-8477 or go online at 888TIPS.com. Information that leads to an arrest may earn the caller a cash reward, according to the release.
5th Navajo sues Mormon church for alleged
child sexual abuse
Associated Press
FILE - In this June 7, 2016, file photo, Judy Larson who was raped by a Catholic priest in Detroit when she was 10, lends her support to other victims of abuse during press conference in Salt Lake City. A fifth person has filed a lawsuit against the Mormon church accusing religious officials of not doing enough to protect Navajo children from sexual abuse in a now defunct church-run foster program that placed thousands of American Indian children with Mormon families. The new lawsuit was filed Wednesday, Jan 25, 2017, in Navajo Nation court by a woman who says was sexually abused as a teenager over a three-year period from 1968-1971 by her foster father at a house in Spanish Fork, Utah. She says was 15-years-old when the abuse began. (Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, FIle)
SALT LAKE CITY — A fifth person has filed a lawsuit against the Mormon church accusing religious officials of not doing enough to protect Navajo children from sexual abuse in a now defunct church-run foster program that placed thousands of American Indian children with Mormon families.
The new lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Navajo Nation court by a woman who says was sexually abused as a teenager over a three-year period from 1968-1971 by her foster father at a house in Spanish Fork, Utah. She says was 15-years-old when the abuse began.
The woman, who is identified as I.R. in the lawsuit, said she reported the abuse to her caseworker and asked to be placed in another home but nothing happened. She said the abuse ended when her family took her home.
The woman has suffered from emotional and physical problems as a result of the abuse, the lawsuit alleges.
The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they were sexually abused.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints declined comment on the new case.
Previously, church lawyers have pointed out that families volunteered to participate in the program and a large number never reported any problems.
No criminal charges were filed in the decades-old allegations. The people being accused are associated with host families, not church leaders.
The lawsuits say the children were sexually abused between the 1960s and early 1980s in the Indian Student Placement Program, which put thousands of Navajo children in Mormon foster homes in Utah, Idaho and New Mexico.
The lawsuits are being handled in the Navajo Nation court after a federal judge in Utah denied a request from Mormon church lawyers who wanted the cases to stay in a federal court in Salt Lake City because the allegations do not involve any abuse on tribal land.
Lawyer Billy Keeler, representing the victims, says he expects more lawsuits in the future from other victims.
Thousands of American Indian children participated in the church program from the late 1940s until it ended around 2000.
The church didn’t give an official reason for closing the voluntary program, though church officials say it may have been linked to better educational opportunities for American Indians and increased sensitivity to Native cultures.
Children participated in the Indian Placement Program at a time when the church believed it had a duty to restore the heritage of American Indians.
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