Trial begins for Penn State Pres Spanier - Pennsylvania
Wichita Falls senior charged with CSA of 5 & 7 y/o - Texas
60 year sentence for Harlingen pedophile - Texas
Salvation Army sued for hiring known pedophile - So. Carolina
Vegas Christian group home leader charged with CSA - Nevada
130 sentence recommended for CSA victim's godfather - Missouri
Birmingham man charged with 1st degree sodomy - Alabama
Ex-Penn State president now on trial in Sandusky child sex abuse scandal
Prosecutors say Spanier's failures after hearing Sandusky
to continue to abuse boys
The Associated Press 
Former Penn State president Graham Spanier walks to the Dauphin County Courthouse in Harrisburg, Pa., on Monday. Spanier faces charges that he failed to report suspected child sex abuse in the last remaining criminal case in the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal. (Matt Rourke/The Associated Press)
Prosecutors preparing to lay out their case against Penn State's former president say two of his ex-top lieutenants are among those who could take the stand.
Opening statements are scheduled to get underway Tuesday in the long-delayed criminal trial, in which Graham Spanier faces charges of child endangerment and conspiracy for how he handled child sex abuse complaints about Jerry Sandusky more than 15 years ago.
The two sides will make their openings after four alternates are chosen for the jury. On Monday, seven women and five men were chosen for the main jury panel after questioning of prospective jurors was done in secret.
The attorney general's office's witness list includes two former Penn State officials who took plea deals last week – former vice president Gary Schultz and former athletic director Tim Curley.
It also includes a former Penn State lawyer, the onetime head of a charity for children founded by Sandusky, police and someone described only as "a confidential witness." Another potential witness is Mike McQueary, a graduate assistant coach who reported seeing Sandusky shower with a boy in 2001.
The trial is expected to last about a week.
Spanier was forced out shortly after Sandusky, a longtime assistant football coach, was charged with child molestation in 2011.
Spanier, 68, faces felony charges. Schultz and Curley had faced identical charges before they pleaded guilty last week to a single misdemeanour count of child endangerment, and await sentencing.
The charges stem from their handling of the 2001 report from McQueary that Sandusky had apparently molested a boy in a team shower. Prosecutors say their failure to report that to authorities allowed Sandusky to continue to abuse boys and also endangered others.
Spanier has said that Curley and Schultz characterized the incident in the shower as horseplay and not any form of child abuse. He denies any wrongdoing. Sandusky was convicted in 2012 of sexually abusing 10 boys and is serving 30 to 60 years in prison. He insists he's innocent.
Perez faces new child sexual abuse charge
Patrick Johnston , Times Record News
A Wichita Falls man set to begin his trial next month on six counts of child sexual abuse is facing an additional charge.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin April 10 for Antonio Parra Perez, 68, in the 89th District Court. He now is indicted on four counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and three counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact in connection with two victims, ages 5 and 7.
Perez was arrested Monday evening by Wichita Falls police on a felony county warrant for a sealed indictment on the fourth count of child sexual assault, which was added by a re-indictment of the case last week by a grand jury.
According to court documents:
On June 5, 2014, detectives with the WFPD were contacted by Child Protective Services about possible sexual abuse by Perez on two children in his home.
During a forensic interview at Patsy's House, a 5-year-old girl said Perez would take her downstairs at his residence and touch her inappropriately and perform other sexual acts. A 7-year-old girl said Perez would take her to his downstairs bedroom or computer room, lock the door and perform sexual acts with her.
The investigators said both victims gave several specific details of different acts of sexual abuse they wouldn't know about at that age if they hadn't experienced them.
No information was available Tuesday afternoon about the new count of aggravated sexual assault.
Harlingen Man Sentenced in
Child Sexual Abuse Case
HARLINGEN - A 27-year-old Harlingen man will spend more than half a century in prison for sexually abusing a child.
Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz said the Rio Grande Valley Child Exploitation Investigations Task Force caught Kevin Kaster downloading child pornography.
During the investigation, detectives also uncovered the abuse of a child.
Kaster was convicted and sentenced to 60 years for continuous sexual abuse of a child and 20 years for indecency with a child with sexual contact.
He will not be eligible for parole and will have to serve every day of his sentence.
Well, I think he can abandon plans for a post-prison career. That should keep a few children safe.
Salvation Army accused of hiring a
known sexual predator
Attorneys in Charleston, S.C. have filed two separate lawsuits on behalf of unnamed plaintiffs alleging that the local Salvation Army knowingly hired a sexual predator who proceeded to abuse them.
According to the suit, filed in Charleston County court by the firm of attorney Mullins McLeod, the two Jane Does were “repeatedly sexually assaulted over the course of approximately five years starting at the age of four years old while attending Sunday school and childcare at The Salvation Army’s (highway) 61 location in Charleston, South Carolina.”
According to McLeod’s firm, the charitable organization hired confessed child sex abuser Armando Gonzalez despite him allegedly having “a documented criminal history of sexually assaulting and abusing minor children.”
Such a hiring would be in violation of state law.
“No childcare facility may employ a person, engage the services of, or knowingly allow a person in the childcare facility during normal hours of operation, who is required to register under the sex offender registry act,” states the S.C. Code of Laws (§ 63-13-1010).
“My firm has spent over a year researching this billion-dollar organization in preparation to file this lawsuit,” McLeod said in a statement announcing the action. “We believe we will prove the organization and its officers’ conduct is very different than what they portray to the public.”
In fact, McLeod claims the Salvation Army has “a long, checkered past of sexual abuse within its ranks.”
As does virtually every large organization where children are cared for. This is why a Congressional Inquiry is long overdue! Where children are gathered, there you will find perverts and pedophiles.
According to a statement released by the Salvation Army of Charleston, the organization took immediate action when it was first informed of the allegations – and continues to “refine” its safety practices.
“Upon hearing the report, the Salvation Army corps officer immediately contacted law enforcement and encouraged the family to seek medical attention at the local hospital,” the organization said in a statement. “In addition, The Salvation Army immediately banned the accused church member and family from Salvation Army properties and programs pending the outcome of the police investigation. The Salvation Army fully cooperated with law enforcement as they investigated the matter.”
The organization further stated that Gonzalez was “a member of The Salvation Army church but was never employed by The Salvation Army nor did he serve as a Sunday School teacher.”
Former Las Vegas foster parent faces charges
of child sexual abuse
By RACHEL HERSHKOVITZ
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
A former Christian mentorship group leader is suspected of sexually abusing a foster child in his care, Las Vegas police said.
Grant William Claycomb, 51, faces four counts of molestation and one charge of sexual assault of a child younger than 14, the Metropolitan Police Department said.
According to police arrest reports, the abuse occurred from June to November 2015. Claycomb denied the allegations, the report said, but declined to take a polygraph test.
The report said Claycomb has fostered about 60 children in his home over several years. How many years was not specified.
Both Claycomb and his wife lost their licenses as foster parents in November 2015, Clark County spokesman Dan Kulin said.
Claycomb has been booked at Clark County Detention Center, where he is being held without bail. The Las Vegas church affiliated with the Royal Rangers, an international organization committed to Christian mentorship, has suspended Claycomb from working as a leader, the arrest report said. Metro redacted the church’s name and location.
KC man convicted of child sex abuse should get 130 years, Clay County jury says
BY GLENN E. RICE
A Clay County jury has recommended that a man convicted of first-degree sodomy and child molestation be sentenced to 130 years in prison.
Jurors convicted Alfredo Campos-Larios, 55, of Kansas City following the criminal trial held last week in Clay County Circuit Court.
The criminal charges stemmed from incidents that happened between July 17, 2013, and Sept. 7, 2014, and involved a child younger than 14 years old.
The case was among dozens handled by the Kansas City Police Crimes Against Children Unit. An internal review found that the unit had “severely mishandled” 150 criminal cases involving child sex abuse, rape and molestation.
That prompted the Police Department to launch a wide-ranging internal review that resulted in the suspension of seven of the unit’s eight detectives tasked with investigating child sex abuse. Those detectives were later reassigned to the department’s patrol division.
The internal review has not been completed.
Clay County prosecutors said Campos-Larios was a longtime friend of the child’s family and was considered to be the child’s “godfather.” Campos-Larios used the trust he gained with the family over a 25-year period to gain access to the child and commit the sex crimes, prosecutors said.
The personnel records of the detectives who investigated the Campos-Larios case were sealed.
Campos-Larios is scheduled to be sentenced on May 5, according to court records.
Man indicted on child sex charges in Shelby County
By Carol Robinson AL.com
A Birmingham man arrested last year has now been indicted on felony child sex abuse charges.
A Shelby County grand jury issued the three count indictment against 36-year-old Shane Edwin Gable earlier this month, but those records weren't made public until Tuesday. Gable was arrested last summer and has been jailed since Aug. 2016 with bonds totaling $270,000.
He is charged with one count of sexual contact with a child under the age of 12 and two counts of first-degree sodomy. According to court records, the sexual contact happened on May 1, 2016 and Aug. 17, 2016.
The first-degree sodomy charges stem from "deviate sexual intercourse" that happened between May 2016 and July 2016, the records claim.
No trial date has yet been set.
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