US Gymnastics Olympic Committee sued for CSA - California
Upstate dance teacher pleads guilty to CSA - New York
Child sex sting operation nails 26 from southeast state - Washington
Man with life sentence get new trial on technicality - Texas
19 y/o arrested on 12 CSA charges on 14 y/o girl - Oregon
Male babysitter (I hate that) gets 15 years for CSA - New York
Gymnastics Abuse Scandal: Elite Athlete’s Family
Sue Olympic Committee
by TRACY CONNOR
The sex-abuse scandal roiling the gymnastics world has taken a new turn with the parents of an elite athlete filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Olympic Committee.
The unnamed gymnast's family is being represented by famed attorney Gloria Allred, who is making her first foray into the ever-expanding case, and by John Manly, who has more than 100 clients who say they were molested by former team doctor Larry Nassar.
Nassar is scheduled to plead guilty Tuesday to federal child pornography charges, but he has denied sexually assaulting patients under the guise of pelvic treatments, saying his invasive techniques were medically sound.
He still faces two state trials on sexual assault charges, but his plea agreement says he will not face federal charges for molesting gymnasts — which angered Manly.
"It's important to send a message: When you go the Olympic games and you molest a child, you're going to get prosecuted," Manly told NBC News.
The new lawsuit, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, concerns a gymnast who competed in national and international competitions and trained at the Texas ranch used as a training facility by USA Gymnastics, which oversees the national and Olympic teams.
Nassar sexually abused the gymnast numerous times between 2009 and 2013 at the ranch and other locations, the lawsuit filed June 30 in Los Angeles alleges. It says the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics failed to protect her and other young athletes in their charge.
The U.S. Olympic Committee said it had not been served with the lawsuit and could not comment on the specific allegations. It called the accusations against Nassar "astounding and heartbreaking" and said did not learn of any alleged abuse until it was reported to law enforcement.
"We will support any and all efforts to shine a light on the facts and to identify and address any systemic failures that contributed to the abuse that was suffered by these young women," it said in a statement.
USA Gymnastics said it had just learned of the suit and had no comment. Last month, it adopted a raft of new policies after an internal investigation found a "complete culture change" was needed to make the protection of kids a priority over winning medals.
The scandal broke last summer after an investigation by the Indianapolis Star into USA Gymnastics' handling of sexual abuse complaints over the years. Two of Nassar's accusers came forward, and that opened the floodgates.
He has been jailed in Michigan — he had his practice at Michigan State University — since investigators discovered tens of thousands of pieces of child pornography on his hard drives, including GoPro video that allegedly showed him fondling children in a pool.
He has agreed to plead guilty to three counts: downloading the pornography, possessing it and destroying evidence, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by NBC News. Each count carries up to 20 years in prison, but prosecutors agreed to a reduced, unspecified sentence, according to the document.
Manly said prosecutors and FBI agents met with several of his clients in the last two weeks and told them Nassar would not be charged in federal court with traveling across state or international lines to abuse gymnasts.
He questioned the wisdom of the plea bargain, arguing that the feds had a very solid child-pornography case against Nassar and didn't need to cut a deal with him.
"To get to the Olympic games, you literally give up your childhood and adolescence to compete for your country. And we all owe them a debt," he said. "This is a breach of faith."
Nassar's attorneys had no comment and the U.S. Attorney's office for the Western District of Michigan did not respond to inquiries.
Former Norwich dance teacher pleads guilty in
child sex abuse case
By David Hermanovitch
NORWICH (WBNG) -- Prosecutors say a former dance teacher in the Norwich area could spend a decade behind bars.
The Chenango County District Attorney's office says Travis St. Denny, 28, of Norwich accepted a plea deal Monday in Chenango County Court.
As part of the deal, St. Denny pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal sex act in the second degree and one count of producing obscene materials to a minor.
Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride says St. Denny agreed to serve five years for each criminal sex act charge, or ten years total.
According to McBride, the producing obscene material charge carries a sentence of between one and three years, to be served concurrently during his ten-year sentence.
He will also serve 10 years of post-release supervision, McBride says.
St. Denny was arrested in March following an investigation by Norwich Police Department, which began with an alert from the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment Hotline.
He will be sentenced in September. That's when McBride says St. Denny will be able to ask for a lesser sentence.
Child sex sting in Tri-Cities nets 26 arrests over four days
BY KRISTIN M. KRAEMER
Twenty-six men have been arrested over the past four days for allegedly showing up at a Richland apartment intending to have sex with young girls and boys.
The suspects nabbed in the multi-agency effort range in age from 20 to 70, with 22 of them living in Kennewick, Pasco and Richland.
Officials conduct a news conference Monday afternoon to talk about the child sex sting arrests over the past four days. Bob Brawdy Tri-City Herald
The child sex sting, dubbed “Tri-Cities Net Nanny Operation,” involved undercover detectives using various websites to chat with people interested in having sex with children.
The postings on sites like Craigslist and Backpage.com reportedly generated hundreds of responses. But it was the would-be perpetrators who actually traveled to the apartment who were arrested, according to a Washington State Patrol news release.
The operation was led by the state patrol’s Missing and Exploited Children Task Force, with 45 local, state and federal law enforcement officers and prosecutors participating.
“We realize that this is just a tip of the iceberg,” Trooper Chris Thorson told the Herald. “We collaborated with multiple agencies to capture as many of these sex predators as possible.”
Thorson said officers had been working on the operation for some time, setting up the online ads and communicating with those who responded to see if they were interested in meeting up.
The arrests were made Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. The suspects’ cars were either seized or impounded as part of the investigation, Thorson said.
The crimes investigated include attempted rape, commercial sex abuse of a minor, possessing and dealing child pornography, and communication with a minor for immoral purposes.
Investigators also identified five people who have access to children at risk of being abused, the state patrol release said. Now they’re working to identify those kids and get them appropriate assistance.
“Children are becoming increasingly vulnerable to sexual predators due to the growth of the internet,” WSP Chief John R. Batiste said in the news release. “Thanks to the hard work by our law enforcement and prosecutor partners, we are able to make Washington communities safer for our families.”
This is the eighth Net Nanny Operation in Washington state since August 2015, which have led to 115 arrests and 21 victims rescued.
The men locked up in the Tri-City operation have investigative holds for both felonies and misdemeanors. A few also have Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds.
Prosecutors will review the cases this week and file charges.
Those arrested in the operation are:
▪ Ryan D. Harris, 32, Pendleton
▪ Douglas Arbogast, 70, Pasco
▪ Marco A. Celis-Hernandez, 21, Richland
▪ Andrew L. Sanders, 33, Pasco
▪ John M. Scheline, 40, Pasco
▪ Gabriel Saenz, 41, Kennewick
▪ William J. Barrett, 47, Kennewick
▪ Darren J. Kerbyson, 50, West Richland
▪ James C. Doty, 34, Richland
▪ Yasir M. Majeed, 35, Kennewick
▪ Gregory B. Taber, 65, Pasco
▪ John N. Schouviller, 31, Pasco
▪ Antonio C. Garcia, 21, Richland
▪ Lucas F. Beach, 38, Pasco
▪ Stephen C. Perez, 45, Pasco
▪ Ali Almafoodh, 35, Kennewick
▪ Kyle R. Sickels, 25, Kennewick
▪ Jesus G. Contreras Salgado, 29, Tieton
▪ Dewayne L. Hetrick, 42, Kennewick
▪ Thomas A. Swarers, 69, Kennewick
▪ Jerome G. Williams, 24, Kennewick
▪ James C. Escobedo, 20, Kennewick
▪ Yuriy L. Gulchuk, 35, Kennewick
▪ Jairo Lopez, 20, Yakima
▪ Aaron D. Hagerty, 42, Kennewick
▪ Daniel A. Medina, 20, Pendleton
New Boston man sentenced to life for
child sex abuse to get new trial
By Field Walsh
A New Boston, Texas, man sentenced to two life sentences plus 20 years by a Bowie County jury last August will get a new trial.
Donald Harrell, 61, was sentenced to life on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and to 20 years for indecency with a child by a Bowie County jury. The 6th District Court of Appeals in Texarkana reversed Harrell’s convictions and sentences and sent the case back to the trial court in an opinion released Thursday.
Harrell was found guilty of misconduct with a 9-year-old relative. During Harrell’s trial, the jury also heard testimony from a young neighbor who claimed she was sexually abused by Harrell also. The court of appeals opinion states that 5th District Judge Bill Miller should not have allowed the jury to hear the second girl’s testimony.
At trial Harrell testified under direct questioning by his lawyer that he is impotent, likely from medications he takes for a variety of physical conditions. Under cross examination by the state during his August 2016 jury trial, Harrell testified that he doesn’t currently experience sexual desire.
The state argued at trial that the second girl should be allowed to testify to rebut the testimony concerning impotence and sexual desire. Miller allowed the testimony and the state referred to it during its closing remarks as indicative of Harrell having a pattern of preying on girls of a certain age.
Harrell’s appellate attorney argued that the testimony from the second girl shouldn’t have been allowed because the defense did not put forth a theory which would have made the sexual abuse impossible. The court of appeals agreed, noting that an impotent person can still commit aggravated sexual assault as the offense is defined by law and thus the testimony to rebut the impotence testimony shouldn’t have been allowed.
The court of appeals found as well that the state elicited testimony from Harrell concerning sexual desire, not Harrell’s defense attorney. The opinion refers to case law which establishes that the state can’t call a rebuttal witness to refute testimony the state elicited from a defendant. The opinion also notes that Harrell didn’t claim he lacked sexual desire in 2013 when the sexual assaults were alleged to have occurred.
Salem man arrested on sex abuse, luring a minor a minor, child porn charges
Whitney M. Woodworth , Statesman Journal
A Salem man was arrested on 12 charges involving the sexual abuse, luring and attempting to use a child in a sexually explicit photo or video.
Patrick Finegan, 19, is accused of kissing a girl under the age of 14, attempting to sexually abuse her and attempting to induce her into sexually explicit conduct in June 2015.
According to court records, he also allegedly possessed or viewed child pornography multiple times.
A warrant was issued for Finegan's arrest on May 26, and he was arrested Sunday on five counts of first-degree encouraging child sexual abuse, luring a minor, three counts of attempted first-degree sexual abuse, first-degree sexual abuse and two counts of attempted using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct.
He was taken to Marion County jail and held without bail.
First-degree sexual abuse is a Measure 11 offense and carries a six year and three month mandatory minimum prison sentence. A conviction would also require Finegan to register as a sex offender.
Guilderland Man Sentenced for
Sexual Abuse of Children
By Jaclyn Cangro
ALBANY, N.Y. -- A Guilderland man learned how long he'll spend in prison for having sexual contact with a child Monday.
James Hockenbury, who pleaded guilty to having sexual contact with a child last year, took a new plea deal Monday morning during his scheduled sentencing.
However, it wasn't the plea deal he expected. Judge Peter Lynch denied the original 10-year deal and increased it, giving Hockenbury the option to spend 15 years in prison or take the case to trial. Hockenbury chose the 15-year deal.
The court also heard from two families impacted by Hockenbury's actions. The first said the law does not allow for what she thinks he deserves. The second commented that "no sentence can undo the harm."
According to the impact statements in court, Hockenbury used his role as a babysitter to groom children before touching them inappropriately.
Male babysitters - Arrrrrrgh! People don't leave your children with men!
Hockenbury's prison sentence with be followed by 20 years of supervised release.
"This is one of those cases where you see a predator basically avail himself to every opportunity where he can be around children,” said Albany County District Attorney David Soares.
Hockenbury did briefly speak to the court, saying he was sorry for what happened.
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