#MeToo McKayla Maroney's Story
‘I thought I was going to die’ – US Olympic champion gymnast
on doctor’s ‘systematic sexual abuse’
McKayla Maroney © Brian Snyder / Reuters
US gymnast McKayla Maroney, a part of the London 2012 winning squad, has claimed she suffered ‘systematic sexual abuse’ at the hands of disgraced former US team doctor Larry Nassar.
Inspired by the #MeToo movement, a campaign encouraging women to speak up to share their experiences of sexual harassment, Maroney decided to reveal her own story of abuse, which she claims began when she was 13.
In a Twitter post published on Wednesday, the former vaulter claimed Nassar sexually abused her for 7 years, from the Texas training camp when she was just 13 up to her retirement from professional sport in 2016.
“It seemed whenever and wherever this man could find the chance, I was ‘treated,’” Maroney wrote. “It happened in London before my team and I won the gold medal, and it happened before I won my silver.”
The former gymnast said the “scariest” abuse took place in the lead-up to the 2011 World Championships in Tokyo, where she won two golds – in the team and vault finals.
“For me, the scariest night of my life happened when I was 15 years old. I had flown all day and night with the team to get to Tokyo,” Maroney wrote.
“He’d given me a sleeping pill for the flight, and the next thing I know, I was all alone with him in his hotel room getting a ‘treatment.’"
"I thought I was going to die that night.”
Maroney helped the US women’s squad to take their maiden Olympic team gold in London by vaulting an immaculate Amanar in the team final.
She had been the favorite to clinch an individual apparatus title, but fell on her second vault and finished second to Romania’s Sandra Izbasa.
Nassar, who worked for nearly 30 years as the US gymnastics team doctor, is now in prison awaiting trial in Michigan after admitting possessing child abuse images.
He signed an agreement to plead guilty to child pornography charges on condition he will not be prosecuted for alleged sexual abuse cases.
The scandal came to light when Jamie Dantzscher, a member of the US 2000 Olympic squad, filed a lawsuit against USA Gymnastics and Nassar last fall in which she claimed the former team doctor systematically harassed the gymnasts.
Testimony on Nassar’s crimes led to the resignation of USA Gymnastics head Steve Penny in March, following an investigation by the Indianapolis Star that uncovered 368 cases of alleged sexual abuse over the past 20 years.
368 cases and all he is being tried for is child porn???!!! Seriously! If Nassar ever get's out of jail it will be an absolute disgrace for the US Justice system.
There is a dire need for a Congressional Inquiry into all sports where children are at the mercy of coaches and others. Congress doesn't seem to get that this is going on everywhere and in every sport.
Judge to rule on victim statements' admissibility in gymnastics child sex abuse case
By JOSH TOLENTINO
SYCAMORE – A DeKalb County judge could rule Nov. 8 on whether victims' statements will be allowed in the case against a former gymnastics instructor accused of sexually abusing girls at Energym.
Joseph R. Hannon, 22, formerly of the 1700 block of DeKalb Avenue, has been charged with predatory criminal sexual assault of a child involving more than one victim, and if convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Hannon was arrested Dec. 7, 2016, on allegations that he inappropriately touched a 9-year-old girl at the gym, where he worked, on Nov. 25, 2016, an incident police said was caught on video.
Prosecutors filed more serious charges related to a second victim, another 9-year-old girl, later that month, and additional charges were filed Feb. 16 after investigators conducted more victim sensitive interviews. There are six alleged victims, all of them girls younger than age 13 who were students at Energym.
First Assistant State's Attorney Stephanie Klein petitioned for four statements made to counselors with the Children's Advocacy Center to be allowed.
Hannon’s bond was originally set at $1 million, but then raised to $2.25 million after the additional charges were filed in February. Hannon, represented by public defender Chip Criswell, remains in custody at the DeKalb County jail, and would have to post $225,000 bail to be released.
“If his bond is still a million dollars, it might as well be 20 million dollars,” Criswell said. “He’s not going to post it.”
Hannon pleaded not guilty to all charges on March 14. The prosecution's motion for the statements to be allowed will go before Judge Philip Montgomery at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 8.
Hannon was on felony probation for an October 2013 drug case when he was hired at Energym in September 2015. Energym owner Andy Morreale has said Energym did not conduct a background check on Hannon before he was hired.
Morale, Hannon and Energym are also being sued by the family one of Hannon's alleged victims, who is represented by Douglas Tibble and Elizabeth Bacon of Naperville-based law firm Brooks, Tarulis & Tibble LLC.
The lawsuit is seeking at least $50,000 and includes nine separate charges, including failure to protect a minor from attack, consumer fraud, and negligence of infliction of emotional distress, hiring, and supervision.
“Parents who enroll their kids at Energym don't have any idea,” Bacon said. “If the worst happens, there won’t be any coverage for kids' therapy. It’s insult to injury. There’s nothing for these kids in terms of insurance proceeds to help them going forward.”
Young Mexican Man Sentenced To Life For
Sexual Abuse Of A Child
McKINNEY (CBSDFW) – A Collin County judge sentenced a Mexican national to life in prison without the possibility of parole for continuous sexual abuse of a child.
24-year old Cruz Daniel Feliciano-Salinas was apparently living in the country legally and staying with a family in McKinney when he began abusing the child. Officials say he spent years molesting a young girl until she turned 8-years-old. He threatened her if she told anyone.
Shortly after Salinas returned to Mexico, the girl told her mother about the abuse. Salinas was later arrested when he tried to re-enter the US.
Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis says there’s a good chance that if Salinas had not left the country the crime against the child would have continued.
“This courageous child ensured that this vile predator can never harm another child,” said Willis.
The jury returned a guilty verdict and Judge Carmen Rivera-Worley assessed punishment of life in prison without the possibility of parole for continuous sexual abuse of a child.
McKinney, TX
Pennsylvania man pleads guilty to
2nd child sexual abuse
By Myles Snyder, ABC27 News
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – A Dauphin County man with a previous child sexual abuse conviction is going back to prison after pleading guilty to molesting a young girl.
Jason Startzman, 42, of Lower Paxton Township, entered the plea Tuesday to counts of aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, corruption of minors, and unlawful contact with a minor, District Attorney Ed Marsico’s office said.
Startzman is accused of indecently touching the girl in April 2016. She reported the abuse to a school resource police officer the next school day.
Startzman is in Dauphin County Prison on $150,000 cash bail, with sentencing scheduled for Jan. 18.
In 2013, Startzman was ordered to serve 20-40 months in state prison after he pleaded guilty to indecent assault of a person less than 13 years old, according to court records.
18 Years in prison for 3-years of child sex abuse
A Jamaica, Queens, NY man is going to prison for up to 18 years to life — six years for every one year he sexually assaulted a little girl, starting when she was 7.
The sentence faced by Shaking Jones, 36, was announced Tuesday by the office of Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Jones had been convicted last month of predatory sexual assault against a child, first-degree course of sexual conduct against a child and endangering the welfare of a child following a three-week jury trial.
First-degree course of sexual conduct against a child is committed when an adult engages in two or more acts of sexual conduct that include at least one act of intercourse, oral sex, anal sex or aggravated sexual contact with a child less than 13, and does so over at least three months. Predatory sexual assault against a child is a higher charge encompassing any one of several sex crimes.
Jones had been dating the victim’s mother. The assaults started Aug. 1, 2012 and went on until July 2015, the DA said, when the girl told an adult cousin what was happening.
Brown said the sentence was more than deserved for a “frightening ordeal of sexual violence that went on for years.”
Former Texas pastor pleads guilty in child sex case
Pastor who?
Claire Kowalick, Times Record News
A former Henrietta pastor and teacher accepted a plea bargain and pleaded guilty Monday to child sex abuse in the 97th District Court.
Robert Todd Davis, 51, was sentenced to eight years deferred adjudication after his plea on one count of sexual abuse of a child younger than 14.
The 97th District Attorney’s Office confirmed Thursday morning that the Davis case was closed and he had accepted the plea offer, which includes registering as a sex offender for 10 years.
A jury trial was scheduled to begin Tuesday but Davis accepted the deal Monday before the trial started.
Davis turned himself in to the Archer County Jail in May 2016, after a warrant was issued for his arrest. His bail was set at $250,000 and he was released on bond the same day he turned himself in.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office said they began an investigation on Davis after an outcry from the victim. The investigation was turned over to the D.A.’s office in February 2016.
The incidents charged in the indictment against Davis happened between May 2009 and May 2013. The allegations included one act of sexual penetration and two acts of indecency with a child.
Davis was employed at Henrietta Junior High School as a science teacher but left the school in 2011.
He was also employed with Wichita Christian School as a high school Bible teacher and was one of their cross-country coaches. The school confirmed he was no longer employed there in 2016, according to a previous Times Record News article.
Davis was a pastor at the Henrietta Church of Christ prior to the warrant in 2016. The church’s website no longer lists him as a minister or pastor.
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