Texas man pleads guilty to committing child sex crimes in Choctaw County
CHOCTAW COUNTY, Okla. (KXII) -- A Texas man arrested back in 2015 for child sex crimes in Choctaw County took a blind plea in court Tuesday.
53-year-old Randy Parsons of Waskom, Texas pleaded guilty to one count of sexual abuse of a child under 12 and sexual child abuse.
The abuse allegedly went on for years with a child under the age of twelve.
He is set for sentencing in September.
He faces up to life in prison.
Choctaw Co., OK
Pomona Man Gets 40 Years to Life in Yearlong
Sex Abuse of 5-Year-Old Girl
BY TRACY BLOOM, KTLA
A man was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years to life in prison after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl for more than a year, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Fernando Rodriguez, 57, was also ordered to register as a lifetime sex offender and to stay away from the victim for a decade, a DA’s office news release stated.
A jury convicted Rodriguez on May 25 of two counts each of lewd act upon a child, and oral copulation or sexual penetration with a child under the age of 10, and a single count each of child molesting and distributing or exhibiting harmful matter to a minor, according to the release.
The sexual abuse occurred between May 2013 and July 2014. During that period. Rodriguez molested the child and showed her pornography, prosecutors said.
Police were notified after the victim’s teacher learned of the molestation a year later.
After an investigation, a warrant was issued for Rodriguez’s arrest; he was apprehended 10 days later, and has remained in custody since then.
Judge may nix plea deal for being too light a sentence
(I hate plea deals, but I like this judge)
SPRINGFIELD, MA -- While Derek Lecompte was poised to be sentenced for child rape and sexual exploitation under a plea deal in U.S. District Court on Wednesday, a judge signaled "not so fast" over concerns the agreement may be too light for the crime.
Lecompte, 26, of Greenfield, was charged and convicted in both state and federal courts in connection with befriending a 10-year-old boy, raping him and sharing images with other pedophiles on the internet.
Already sentenced to 15-20 in state prison, Lecompte is facing 15 years federal time, according to officials.
He was convicted of child rape and other crimes in Franklin Superior Court in December and sentenced to 15 to 20 years behind bars. At the same time, investigators sought to charge Lecompte on the federal level for sharing images of the sexual abuse online.
The incidents occurred in 2013 and 2014, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex J. Grant, and the complications of navigating the court system -- including delays, changes in lawyers and other factors -- beleaguered the young victim and his family.
"It just grinds people down," Grant said of the oft-complicated justice system.
The U.S. Justice Department and Lecompte's defense attorney arrived at a plea deal of 15 years in federal prison followed by 15 years of stringent supervised release. Grant told U.S. District Judge Mark G. Mastroianni the case was reviewed by prosecutors locally and in Washington.
"This is what I consider a high-stakes case," Grant said, when Mastroianni began questioning whether the 15-year sentence, designed to run concurrently with his state sentence, was a sufficient punishment.
Concurrent sentences are no punishment at all!
Grant and defense attorney Thomas O'Connor crafted a "C plea," which is considered a binding plea before a judge, as opposed to a "straight plea," which allows a jurist discretion to tinker with sentencing recommendations and allows defendants less certainty.
Under federal sentencing guidelines, Lecompte faces up to 90 years in prison absent the plea deal.
Since being appointed to the bench in 2014, Mastroianni has proven to be a bit of a wild card during sentencing hearings, in that he can be hard to predict, unlike his predecessors.
He has balked at predetermined sentencing agreements before. Just months into his tenure in 2014, he stacked an additional six years onto an agreed-upon sentence for sexual predator David Venetucci, who had raped a woman in front of her son while on the lam as an unregistered sex offender.
In Lecompte's instance, Mastroianni may choose to reject the agreement and allow Lecompte to back out of his plea, or propose an alternative and provide the defendant a chance to accept or reject that.
Both Grant and O'Connor told the judge that Lecompte's case was a confluence of the state and federal justice systems trying to work in tandem, plus a family that wants to "close the chapter on this book" on behalf of their son.
Grant noted that Lecompte was more likely to receive effective sex offender treatment in the federal penal system. Also, avoiding trials would spare the young boy from having to testify on the witness stand.
Juries are also wild cards, the prosecutor said. "There may be a lot of wear and tear on the victim to get to a higher sentence," Grant told the judge.
Mastroianni was not entirely convinced.
"When you measure the seriousness and horror of this criminal behavior, this is very high on that scale," he said.
The judge rescheduled the sentencing for July 24 and said he will issue a ruling on the plea agreement by that date.
Greenfield, MA
Pa. child-sex abuse suspect kills self
in murder-suicide
By Myles Snyder, ABC27 News
GARDENDALE, Ala. (WHTM) – A man free on bail as he awaited a child sexual abuse trial in York County shot and killed his ex-wife and two others in Alabama then took his own life after an hours-long manhunt, authorities said.
Police in Gardenville, Alabama, said 52-year-old Kenneth Dion Lever fatally shot 50-year-old Dana Reeves Lever and her sister, 65-year-old Bonnie Reeves Foshee, and Reeves Foshee’s husband, 69-year-old Don Austin Foshee at a mobile home park Wednesday morning.
Just before 6 p.m., police announced that Kenneth Lever died by suicide in Florida.
Police in Lower Windsor Township confirmed they arrested Lever in 2015 on child sexual abuse charges. Lever, who lived in Milton, Florida, was accused of sexually abusing a young girl for than five years beginning in 2005 and sometimes forcing a young boy to participate.
Court records indicate his trial in York County Court was scheduled for Sept. 11.
Court records in Alabama show Lever had been ordered to stay away from his ex-wife and their juvenile daughter. Dana Lever sought the protective order claiming her ex-husband was stalking and harassing them.
Child sex sting suspects make court appearance, including former youth mentor
by Elise Haas
TRI-CITIES, Wash. – Washington State Patrol's (WSP) Missing and Exploited Children Task force led a sex sting in the Tri-Cities, targeting individuals who wanted to sexually assault children.
Police arrested 26 men accused of showing up at a Richland apartment intending to have sex with young girls and boys. (Full list on link, above).
KEPR Action News made a disturbing discovery that John Scheline, 40, who was arrested in the sting, was the former executive director and a mentor for Ignite Youth Mentoring program in the Tri-Cities.
Officials say he was immediately terminated from his role as a mentor once the Ignite program found out about his arrest.
Court documents say on July 5, 2017 an undercover detective responded to an ad on Craigslist posing as a father offering his 13-year-old son for sexual acts.
WSP reports the ad was originally posted on June 13, 2017 by John Scheline and titled, “Married dad for young host – m4m.”
WSP Trooper reports Scheline discussed having sex, along with other sexual acts, with the undercover cop’s—again, posing to be a father—13-year-old son.
Surveillance units observed Scheline arriving at the predetermined meeting location, according to court documents. The undercover father then sent Scheline the address to a residence in Benton County.
When Scheline arrived at the residence, the undercover son answered the door, Troopers report. Court documents say Scheline turned and left the residence.
Surveillance units followed Scheline and arrested him. Troopers report lubricant was found on Scheline, during the search incident.
Court documents say Scheline told police he had communicated with a father about sex. Troopers say Scheline said he planned to try to have sex with the dad and if the attraction and mood was right he would probably have sexually engaged with the 13-year-old son.
The prosecuting attorney said Scheline was charged with attempted rape of a child in the second degree.
Ignite Youth Mentoring board chair John Inman offered a statement saying:
We have reached out to law enforcement to offer our full support in the investigation. While we are not aware of a single allegation of misconduct during John's employment or mentor match, we wish to be proactive on any request to investigate all of his relationships while connected with Ignite.
Tri-cities, southeast Washington
Registered sex offender pleads guilty in
child sex abuse case
By Michael Hewlett Winston-Salem Journal
A registered sex offender decided to plead guilty to charges he molested a 7-year-old boy on New Year's Eve in 2013 before a trial started in his case.
John Frederic Sabbaghrabaiotti, 48, of Mount Pleasant Drive, entered guilty pleas Wednesday in Forsyth Superior Court to two counts of attempted first-degree sex offense and one count of taking indecent liberties with a child. He had originally been charged with two counts of first-degree sex offense and one count of taking indecent liberties.
Judge David Hall of Forsyth Superior Court sentenced Sabbaghrabaiotti to 20 years to 29 years in prison and ordered that he register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Sabbaghrabaiotti also has to submit to lifetime satellite-based monitoring.
This was the second time Sabbaghrabaiotti faced a trial on the same allegations. In January 2015, a Forsyth County jury convicted him on the same charges. Judge Edwin Wilson of Forsyth Superior Court gave him three consecutive sentences that totalled 83 years and three months to 102 years and nine months in prison.
Sabbaghrabaiotti appealed his conviction to the N.C. Court of Appeals. The appeals court overturned the conviction, ruling that Fulton McSwain of Vantage Point Children's Advocacy Center gave improper expert testimony that the boy, now 10, was sexually abused. The court said that McSwain is not allowed to testify about the credibility of another witness when no physical evidence of sexual abuse has been introduced.
The N.C. Supreme Court denied an appeal by prosecutors for the N.C. Attorney General's Office.
Hall heard pre-trial motions Monday and Tuesday, particularly two motions to suppress a statement from Sabbaghrabaiotti and GPS data since he had been on satellite-based monitoring at the time he was accused of sexually abusing the 6-year-old boy. After a hearing, Hall denied both motions. Jury selection started Tuesday and by the time Sabbaghrabaiotti decided to enter a guilty plea, only two alternate jurors needed to be chosen.
During the first trial, the boy testified that Sabbaghrabaiotti picked him up on New Year's Eve and that the two had gone to Sabbaghrabaiotti's house. Sabbaghrabaiotti was a friend of the boy's mother.
They planned to go bowling. Sabbaghrabaiotti went to the computer to make sure that the bowling alley would be open. The boy said when they were in Sabbaghrabaiotti's bedroom, Sabbaghrabaiotti performed a sexual act on him and touched him inappropriately. Afterward, the boy said, they went bowling.
Sabbaghrabaiotti was on satellite-based monitoring because he had been convicted of two counts of indecent liberties with a child in 2006. He also was accused of molesting a 12-year-old boy during a church youth group meeting.
He's also been convicted of other charges in Massachusetts, including indecent assault and manslaughter.
Beth Toomes and Dan Wanderman of the Forsyth County Public Defender's Office represented Sabbaghrabaiotti. They could not be reached for comment after the hearing.
Questions raised after DC employs
registered sex offender
By: Kristyn Leon
WASHINGTON - A registered sex offender with access to sensitive information involving kids was hired by the District’s Department of General Services. Now, there are questions as to why he was not properly vetted before he was hired by the city.
In a search of the D.C. Sex Offender Registry, it shows Adam Bryant was convicted of "travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and enticing a child."
According to the Washington City Paper, which first reported the story, Bryant was hired by the Department of General Services in February and was just recently fired once his criminal history surfaced.
The Department of General Services is the hub for other local government agencies such as Fire and EMS, the police department and Parks and Recreation.
"I don’t think we want people convicted of child sex abuse to be in a position either to be dealing with children or have access to sensitive information about teenagers and so on,” said D.C. Council-member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3).
District leaders said Bryant's job did not deal directly with kids, but he did have access to sensitive information such as addresses and phone numbers of young children.
When we questioned Mayor Muriel Bowser about Bryant's employment, she said Bryant was not required to go through an extensive background check for the particular position he was hired for. Otherwise, she said he would have been flagged right away.
“There are different levels of background check that go according to a position,” said Bowser. “We have some positions in the government that we call safety sensitive positions. This one wasn’t classified as a safety sensitive position that would get the most robust background [check].”
Cheh, who also oversees the Department of General Services on the council, told FOX 5 this is a wakeup call for the city.
Now the question going forward – is the system itself flawed or does this fall on the people responsible for conducting thorough backgrounds checks?
“The agencies are supposed to identify what they consider their sensitive positions, and then if they are so designated, human resources is supposed to do a criminal background check,” said Cheh. “And then they are supposed to advise the agency what they found about that person and whether the position is a problem or not. I think it kind of did slip through the cracks.”
When we asked Mayor Bowser if they would have ever realized that Bryant is a registered sex offender, she said an employee alerted them and that is when they took precautions.
Some District leaders have questioned just how many other people have "slipped through the cracks" in this case. Although they are not going to go out on a witch hunt on the more than 30,000 employees, they said going forward, they will be more thorough in their hiring practices.
Child sex abuse case delayed due to judge’s death
From CTV Kitchener's Nicole Lampa:
A Waterloo man who admitted to sex crimes involving a child will have to plead guilty again.
A sentencing hearing expected to take place Wednesday for a Waterloo man who has admitted to sexual offences involving a young girl has been delayed.
Rui DaSilva had been arrested in 2016 as part of a Hamilton Police investigation into the case of a seven-year-old girl allegedly advertised for sexual services online.
Court has heard that the advertisement was placed by the boyfriend of the girl’s mother.
DaSilva pleaded guilty to two counts apiece of sexual interference and making child pornography in May.
Since then, the judge assigned to his case passed away.
The plea now has to be presented to a different judge before the case can move ahead.
DaSilva returns to court on July 31 to plead guilty for a second time.
Waterloo, Ontario
S. Calif. man jailed for sex with Oregon girl, 14
Mother called police; girl, man met in social apps
Barney Lerten
BEND, Ore. - A 20-year-old Southern California man was arrested in Bend on several charges Tuesday, accused of traveling to Bend to meet and have sex with a 14-year-old Bend girl at a local motel, police reported Wednesday.
Police were notified by the teen girl’s mother that her daughter was at the Bend Value Inn with a 20-year-old man on Tuesday, said Sgt. Juli McConkey.
Officers went to the motel and met with the teen and her mother, McConkey said. The 14-year-old disclosed that the man, later identified as Patrick Quinten Green, 20, of Hawaiian Gardens, California, had taken a bus from Long Beach to meet her for sexual intercourse, arriving in Bend on Monday, the sergeant said.
Green and the teen said they had met on social media apps and had been texting and sending photos to each other for just over a month, the officer said.
Green admitted knowing she was under the age of 18 and admitted having sex with her in the motel room, McConkey said. He allegedly told police he visited Bend to do some sightseeing and to meet the teen for sex.
The girl’s mother said she’d never seen or spoken to the man, and did not consent for her daughter to be with him.
Green was arrested and booked into the Deschutes County Jail early Wednesday on charges of using a child in a display of sexual conduct, possession of pornographic material involving a child, first-degree encouraging child sex abuse, online sexual corruption of a child, third-degree rape and three counts of third-degree sodomy. His bail totaled $115,000, jail records showed.
“The Bend Police want to warn parents and guardians to monitor their children’s cellphone apps and know who they are conversing with online,” McConkey wrote in a news release.
“It is also suggested that parents and guardians verify with their children where they are going and who they are going to be with, in order to keep them safe,” she added.
Former Hopkinsville Cop Agrees to Plea Deal in Sexual Child Abuse Case
By AP
A former police officer in Kentucky charged with sexually abusing a child has agreed to a plea deal.
The Kentucky New Era reports 33-year-old Ian L. Damber pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree sexual abuse Tuesday and received a 10-year sentence. He'll also be required to register as a sex offender for life.
Special prosecutor Carrie Ovey-Wiggins says she consulted the victim and victim's family before entering into the plea agreement. She says the former Hopkinsville police officer isn't eligible for probation because of the sexual and violent nature of the offense.
Damber was a Hopkinsville police officer from 2013 until 2016. He resigned when allegations were made against him and was arrested Aug. 19. He was represented by public defender Kenneth Root.
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