PA man arrested for sexual abuse of 6 & 7 y/o boys
By Myles Snyder, ABC27 News
GAP, Pa. (WHTM) – A Lancaster County man is accused of sexually abusing two young boys at his home last week.
John E. Franciscus, 67, of Gap, is charged with attempted rape of a child, unlawful contact with a minor, indecent assault, and corruption of minors.
State police in Lancaster said the charges stem from an incident Friday that involved a 6-year-old boy and a 7-year-old boy.
KY man sentenced to 20 years for child sex abuse
Written by Michael BowlingMURRAY, KY (KFVS) -
State police say a man was sentenced to years in prison after pleading guilty to sex abuse charges in Calloway County.
Joseph A. Lawrence of Murray, Kentucky appeared in Calloway Circuit Court on Nov. 6 and pleaded guilty, according to Kentucky State Police.
Police say his plea agreement included pleading guilty to five counts of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of first-degree sodomy in return for a 20-year prison sentence.
Lawrence is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 6, 2018 in Calloway Circuit Court.
State Police say Lawrence was wanted for allegedly sexually abusing a child under 12 years of age. They found him at around 8:30 pm on Saturday, May 13 on Peach Orchard Road.
A standoff lasted for around five hours before officers arrested Lawrence.
An investigation showed Lawrence had engaged in several sexual encounters with minors between 2014 and 2016.
KSP Post 1 was assisted in the initial investigation scene led by the KSP Special Operations, KSP Special Response Team, and Calloway County Sheriff's Department.
64 y/o caregiver from Alabama charged with sexually abusing a 7 & a 9 y/o
LAWRENCE COUNTY, Ala. — Lawrence County Sheriff’s Investigators have charged 64-year-old Johnny Allen Harwell, of Trinity with three sexual offenses after they say he had inappropriate sexual conduct with a seven-year-old and nine-year-old.
Investigators say they charged him after looking into allegations that he was sexually abusing the two girls he was providing afternoon childcare for at his residence.
Parents - please don't leave your children with male caregivers!!!!!!!!!
The Trinity man is charged with two counts of sexual abuse of a child less than twelve years old, two counts of sexual abuse first degree and one count of sodomy first degree.
Harwell was booked into the Lawrence County Jail and has since been released after posting a $105,000 bond.
New Jersey man sentenced for child rape porn distribution
Suzanne Russell
A North Brunswick, NJ man has been sentenced to three years in state prison for distributing child pornography on the internet.
Johnny Sims, 64, was sentenced Monday by Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Benjamin S. Bucca Jr., sitting in New Brunswick, according to Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino.
Sims was charged following an investigation by the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau and the New Jersey State Police Digital Technology Investigations Unit.
On Aug. 21, Sims pleaded guilty distribution of child pornography, a second-degree crime.
Sims will be required to register as a Megan's Law sex offender and will be subject to parole supervision for life. As part of the August plea, Sims admitted to knowingly using internet file-sharing software to make files containing child pornography readily available for any other user to download from a designated “shared folder” on his computer.
Police found numerous videos of child pornography, including child rape videos, on Sims' computer.
“Those who share child pornography online share in the brutal exploitation of innocent children by promoting and creating a market for these vile materials,” Porrino said. “Offenders like Sims directly motivate those who sexually abuse children to create child pornography, and they perpetually re-victimize the children whose images can never be erased from the internet.”
“We want offenders who collect and distribute child pornography online to know that we’re monitoring them,” Division of Criminal Justice Director Elie Honig said. “We have the technology and the will to detect their file-sharing activity, identify them and send them to prison.”
A detective from the New Jersey State Police Digital Technology Investigations Unit was investigating individuals using file-sharing software to share child pornography on a peer-to-peer network on the internet when he identified a computer that was being used to share child pornography.
The detective downloaded two videos of prepubescent girls being raped and molested by adult males from a shared folder at an address that was traced to Sims’ North Brunswick home.
Detectives from the Division of Criminal Justice assisted by the North Brunswick Police Department executed a search warrant at the residence on June 10, 2016, when they arrested Sims and seized his computer. A forensic examination of the computer revealed more than 20 videos of child pornography, a majority of which were located in a shared folder set up by Sims.
Porrino and Honig urged anyone with information about the distribution of child pornography on the internet — or about suspected improper contact by unknown persons communicating with children online or possible exploitation or sexual abuse of children — to contact the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force tip line at 888-648-6007.
North Brunswick, NJ
Jason McLean ordered to pay $2.5M in Children's Theatre case in Minnesota
The former owner of the Varsity Theater and Loring Pasta Bar didn't show for court hearings and has fled to Mexico, according to attorney.
By Rohan Preston Star Tribune
A Hennepin County judge has entered a default judgment of $2.5 million against former Minneapolis restaurateur Jason McLean for sexually abusing a student at the Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) in 1983.
The judgment was made in one of five sexual-abuse lawsuits filed against McLean, a former CTC actor and teacher, after he failed to show for court dates.
Attempts to reach McLean on Monday were unsuccessful.
Molly Burke, an attorney with Jeff Anderson & Associates, which represents all five of the plaintiffs, said McLean has fled to Cabo San Lucas in Baja California, Mexico.
“He’s on the run, but we’re looking at what we can do in Mexico” in terms of seizing his assets, said Burke.
Earlier this year McLean sold his two businesses in the Dinkytown neighborhood, the Varsity Theater and the Loring Pasta Bar. According to the plaintiff’s lawyer, the Varsity was sold for $2.5 million while the Loring had a property-tax valuation of $1.5 million.
“In Baja, he’s been going around telling real estate agents that he’ll pay for property with cash,” said attorney Burke. “He has a sale pending on a $1.5 million house.”
Twin Cities lawyer Jon Hopeman, who represented McLean when the initial suits were announced, said Monday that McLean is no longer a client and that he does not know who represents him.
McLean was served with the lawsuit in Oakland, Calif., where he owned a now-closed restaurant, the Loring Cafe, and another called Small Wonder.
The suit, filed by an unnamed Jane Doe, alleges that “in multiple instances McLean inflicted harmful, offensive and unpermitted sexual contact” during the late summer and fall of 1983, when she was 15 to 16 years old and he was a 29-year-old teacher.
“We are concerned that McLean still continues to pose a serious risk of harm, and we will continue to do whatever it takes to make him accountable to the women he harmed as children, even if it means chasing him to the ends of the earth,” said plaintiff’s attorney Jeff Anderson.
The suits were filed under the Minnesota Child Victims Act, which extended the statute of limitations on old cases of abuse to facilitate legal action against the Catholic Church and clergy, but was subsequently used to bring civil suits in the 1970s-80s sexual abuse scandal at CTC.
Suits also have been filed against the theater and its co-founder, John Clark Donahue, who in 1984 pleaded guilty to molesting three boys who were students at the theater and served 10 months in jail.
In a statement Monday, Children’s Theatre said it “has been fully cooperating in this process as we want to see justice done for anyone who has suffered abuse as a child.”
After incidents first came to light in the 1980s, the theater instituted a set of practices to keep children safe, including background checks on staffers; a ban on socializing with children outside of official activities; and a “rule of three” requiring that no staff member or volunteer be alone with a student in a private space. It also requires staff members to report any suspicion of abuse or neglect.
Alabama city council member arrested on more
child sex charges
By Cassie Gibbs cgibbs@southeastsun.com
Daleville City Council Member Marvin Wise has been arrested for possession of child pornography, according to Police Chief William "Willy" Powell.
Wise, 61, of Daleville, was previously arrested on Oct. 18 on several child sex charges, including second-degree rape, second-degree sodomy, enticing a child and two degrees of sexual abuse.
Wise's second arrest occurred on Monday, Nov. 6.
Wise has been out of jail since Oct. 19 on a $60,000 bond associated with his previous charges. Conditions of his release are that he has no contact with the victim, and he must reside in the Level Plains area.
His preliminary hearing for these charges was continued to early December.
Wise has served on the city council since 2015. He is still considered an acting city council member unless he is found guilty or resigns from the position.
Wise serves as a member of the Daleville Water and Sewer Board. He has also served as a past president for IAM Local Lodge 2003 from 2013 to December 2015, according to the organization's website.
Wise has also served as chief inspector over Daleville voting polls for a number of years.
Court date set for former Alabama cop accused of
child sex abuse
By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor
COLUMBIANA – A 32-year-old former Birmingham police officer who is facing allegations he sexually abused an Alabaster child is set to appear in court in early 2018, after his case was recently continued in Shelby County Circuit Court.
Joshua Richard Herbinger, who lists an address on First Place in Pleasant Grove and listed an address in Alabaster when he was arrested, originally was scheduled to appear in court for a hearing in front of Shelby County Circuit Court Judge William Bostick on Nov. 6, but his hearing was continued until 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 8, 2018.
In September 2015, Herbinger was indicted on four felony counts of sexual abuse of a child younger than 12 and one felony count of first-degree rape.
Herbinger had been a Birmingham police officer for about nine years before he was terminated from the position on Oct. 24, 2014.
The Alabaster Police Department arrested Herbinger on Oct. 20, 2014, and charged him with the first-degree rape charge after an alleged incident involving an adult victim, according to Alabaster Police Chief Curtis Rigney.
When Herbinger was arrested on Oct. 20, 2014, he was out on bond for four counts of sexual abuse of a child younger than 12, which were brought against him by Alabaster police on Oct. 9, 2014.
According to Rigney, the child sex abuse charges came after a female student in Alabaster notified her school resource officer of the allegations.
According to his arrest warrants, Herbinger’s charges stemmed from multiple incidents between Jan. 1, 2011 and Oct. 7, 2014, during which he allegedly “touched (the victim’s) privates.”
Sexual abuse of a child younger than 12 is a Class B felony, and is punishable by up to 20 years in prison upon conviction. First-degree rape is a Class A felony, and is punishable by up to life in prison upon conviction.
Former WA ice cream shop owner sentenced with
child sexual assault
REBECCA WHITE, Evergreen news editor
Dennis Cox, 59, former owner of Baskin-Robbins in Pullman, pled guilty to three charges of child sexual assault Friday.
Cox was charged in July for child rape and molestation after the victim reported sexual abuse at Baskin-Robbins, his home and his cabin to the Pullman Police, the Evergreen previously reported.
Cox was sentenced to over four years in prison, three years of supervision by the Department of Corrections, $800 in fines and must register as a sex offender, according to a news release from the Whitman County Prosecutor’s Office.
Former California Correctional Deputy’s child sexual abuse hearing delayed again
EUREKA – The preliminary hearing for a former Humboldt County Correctional Deputy accused of nine counts of child sexual abuse has been delayed for a second time.
Cory Jordan Fisher Sr is accused of sexually abusing three boys under the age of fifteen over a period of twelve years from 2005 to 2017.
Fisher entered a not guilty plea and a hearing to determine if sufficient evidence existed to hold the 30-year-old for trial was set for Monday.
But what the deputy district attorney described as a fairly significant amount of discovery was recently provided to the Public Defender’s Office. Fisher’s attorney needed more time to review that information.
Judge Wilson found good cause to continue. The preliminary hearing is now set for January 11th of next year.
Ten years in prison for Illinois pastor who
sexually assaulted girl
Ted Gregory Contact Reporter
Chicago Tribune
A Bolingbrook man who sexually assaulted a girl repeatedly from 2002 through 2004 was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday.
Fred Mack Jr., 65, was a family friend and pastor who assaulted the girl, now in her 20s, on multiple occasions between September 2002 and July 2004, Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow said. The crimes occurred when the girl was around the age of 12.
She reported the assault to Bolingbrook police in 2016, while working in a dance production that dealt with sexual abuse.
“This woman showed remarkable courage coming forward years after she was assaulted by this predator,” Glasgow said in a prepared statement.
The victim testified that Mack molested her on as many as 100 occasions when the two were alone. Mack told investigators that he’d molested the girl on fewer than 25 occasions.
A jury on Aug. 23 convicted Mack of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child. On Monday, Judge Carla Alessio Policandriotes imposed the sentence.
Glasgow said Mack’s conviction should encourage other adult victims to report sexual assaults that occurred years earlier when the victims were children.
“These are often difficult cases to prove,” he said. “But the General Assembly has given us latitude with the statute of limitations so that predators who counted on the vulnerability and silence of their underage victims can still be held accountable.”
The statute of limitations on filing child sexual assault charges, which Illinois lawmakers have extended several times, now stands at 20 years after the victim turns 18, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Not bad, but should be closer to 40 years.
Long Island man sexually abused 7-year-old girl
By Ellen Yan
A Copiague man was convicted Monday of sexually abusing a 7-year-old girl in March, the Suffolk District Attorney’s office said.
Luis Saravia, 46, faces up to 7 years in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 6 on first-degree sex abuse and endangering the welfare of a child, authorities said. He had been arrested March 20, according to online court records.
PA Commissioner Resigns From Board Amid
Child Porn Charges
RADNOR TOWNSHIP, Pa. (CBS) — A Delaware County commissioner facing child porn charges has resigned on Monday, CBS3 has learned.
Radnor Township Board of Commissioners President Philip Ahr was arrested last month (5th story on link) on several counts of child pornography possession and distribution charges for images that depict children as infants engaged in sex acts with adults.
On Monday, Ahr resigned as commissioner effective immediately. Ahr stepped down as president last month.
Investigators say Ahr uploaded and shared images of suspected child pornography through a Yahoo Messenger account. According to police, Ahr used Yahoo Messenger to “sext” with unknown individuals, which involved sexual talk about children.
The investigation began after Yahoo flagged the messages.
“We charged him with multiple counts of child pornography,” said Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan.
According to the criminal complaint, Ahr used screen names like “Daddy X” and “Daddy XX” to visit chat rooms that cater to pedophiles. He sent and received images of young children — some 2 to 4 years old.
Ahr told detectives that had been “sexting” online with people and that the purpose of the chats was sexual in nature, police say. “The Radnor residents are safe. It is everybody’s responsibility to keep our children safe,” said Radnor Township Police Superintendent William Colarulo.
Police say Ahr told detectives that during one of these conversations, an unknown person sent him about one dozen child pornography images of girls who Ahr estimated to be approximately 13 years old. Some of the images involved female children engaging in sex acts with adult males, said investigators.
Detectives say they found multiple chat logs between Ahr and individuals, dating back to 2013, in which Ahr shared and sought graphic images and videos of children in sexual positions, bondage and engaged in sex acts with adults. According to investigators, Ahr’s collection was mainly comprised of prepubescent girls under the age of 10 years, but also included infants and toddlers.
Police say a portion of the images and videos depicted sadomasochistic sexual abuse, and children being sexually abused by animals.
In October, the 66-year-old was charged with child pornography possession and child pornography dissemination, sexual abuse of children, and criminal use of communication facility, all third-degree felonies.
Polygamist with Utah connection and his 4 wives detained in Mexico murder investigation
By Mark Stevenson | The Associated Press
Mexico City • Prosecutors in northern Mexico say they have detained wanted U.S. polygamist Orson William Black Jr. and his followers and are investigating whether Black was involved in the death of three American youths whose bodies were found at a ranch in September.
The arrest of Black on Sunday — along with four of his wives, a woman described as “a concubine” and about 20 Americans without proper documents — marks the end of the fundamentalist sect leader’s long, strange period on the lam.
Few thought the trail to finding him would end in bloodshed.
The prosecutors’ office in the border state of Chihuahua says Black, 56, was captured in an area largely populated by Mennonites and is under investigation for the deaths of three Americans aged 15, 19 and 23 on Sept. 10.
In keeping with Mexican legal practice, the office identified the victims by their first names — Robert W.B., Jesse L.B. and Michael B. — and suggested they may have all carried the last name Black.
Prosecutors did not say why Black was a suspect in the deaths, but suggested the victims may have been members of his religious group. Black was a member of polygamous The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints but split from that group in the 1980s. The FLDS began after the mainstream Mormon church disavowed polygamy in 1890.
Black was charged in 2003 in Mohave County, Ariz., with two felony counts of conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor and three felony counts of sexual conduct with a minor. Black fled before he could be prosecuted.
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office filed the charges and alleged Black married two girls underage. One of the counts, according to a 2003 article by the Phoenix New Times, refers to one of the children conceived by an underage brides was a boy born in December 1998 and named Robert William Black. It was unclear Monday whether he is one of the murder victims.
As for the deaths found near Black’s Mexican hideout, prosecutors’ curiosity was piqued when members of the sect didn’t claim the youth’s bodies.
California teacher charged with sex crimes against young children; held on $16M bail
By MATTHIAS GAFNI and RICK HURD | Bay Area News Group
WALNUT CREEK — Prosecutors charged a Walnut Creek science teacher on Monday with multiple counts of sexual assault of two young children, arranging to meet a child for sex, and possession and distribution of child pornography, the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office said.
Walnut Creek Intermediate School teacher Michael Bartel was charged with 16 counts, involving multiple sex offenses against a boy and girl under the age of 10. He is in custody at Contra Costa jail in Martinez on $16 million bail and is expected to appear in court Tuesday.
Bartel, 33, of Martinez, was arrested Friday after a week-long investigation by Martinez police who learned he had made been making statements about molesting children to people online, according to prosecutors. Bartel was arrested during a traffic stop at about 1:30 p.m. Friday at Danville Boulevard and Camille Lane in Alamo.
Walnut Creek police searched Bartel’s classroom at Walnut Creek Intermediate on Friday afternoon and notified the school of the arrest. Later that day, investigators also searched Bartel’s home in Martinez.
Prosecutors said there is no evidence linking Bartel to abuse of students from his classroom currently or in the past.
Charging documents show that Bartel is accused of molesting and sexually assaulting the boy between May 2016 and this month, and the girl between July 2015 and this month.
On Nov. 3, Bartel arranged to meet a boy under 14 years old for lewd purposes and went to the arranged meeting place at the arranged time, according to the court documents. In the last month, prosecutors allege he distributed child pornography and on the day of his arrest investigators found him in possession of child pornography.
Letters sent by school district superintendents in Walnut Creek and Martinez districts informed parents Friday of Bartel’s arrest. Bartel was a substitute teacher in the Martinez Unified School District during the 2013-14 school year, and has taught at Walnut Creek Intermediate since 2015.
“It is always of great concern when one of our own is accused and arrested,” Walnut Creek School District Superintendent Marie Morgan wrote in her letter to parents. “Not only do we recognize the breach of trust it implies, but it also heightens the level of concern for student safety that undergirds everything we do.”
According to Morgan, Bartel has been removed from the classroom and placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the legal proceedings. Anyone with information relating to the arrest can call the Martinez Police Department at 925-372-3440 or Senior Inspector Darryl Holcombe with the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office at 925-957-2263.
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