Chicago Tribune report finds 500 cases of sexual abuse, rape in CPS schools over 10 years
By Sarah Schulte
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Hundreds of Chicago Public Schools students have been sexually abused by CPS employees over the past ten years, according to a Chicago Tribune report published Friday.
In an article titled, "Betrayed," Tribune reporters detailed more than 500 reports of sexual abuse and rape at CPS schools over the last decade. The report drew from police, public and confidential records.
CPS CEO Janice Jackson sent a letter to all parents of CPS students, detailing steps that are being taken to protect students.
"I'm a parent, I'm a woman this is unacceptable to me," Jackson said.
Tribune reporters spoke to several former CPS students, who said they were abused by coaches, security guards and teachers.
In some cases, teachers and principals who heard reports of abuse failed to notify police or the Department of Child and Family Services. Such reports are required under Illinois' mandated reporter law.
"We are going to train everybody again top to bottom, every principal, teacher paraprofessional, individuals who work with students, we want to make sure everybody is crystal clear on their responsibilities as a mandated reporter," Jackson said.
Jackson said CPS will conduct random background checks on current employees as well as applicants. A former Assistant U.S. Attorney will also do a top-to-bottom analysis of CPS's sexual abuse policies and procedures.
As a precaution, all CPS employees accused of sexual assault will be removed from schools immediately rather than waiting to see if the evidence is credible.
"Parents need to have the confidence we have the structures in place to prevent this from happening," Jackson said.
Representatives from parent group Raise Your Hand said they were horrified by the report and called for schools to have more social workers and counselors.
"I know school is about academics, but we need to be really looking out for our kids in their social and emotional needs," said Jennie Biggs of Raise Your Hand.
According to Raise Your Hand, CPS cut dozens of social workers and school counselors over the last few years.
Man accused of sexually assaulting 8 and 9 y/o girls
arrested in Oklahoma
BY STEPHEN ENGLISH AND MITCH MITCHELL
LAKE WORTH, TX
A man accused of sexually abusing two girls when they were 8 and 9 years old was apprehended in Oklahoma on Thursday, Lake Worth police said.
Isaias Garcia Jr., 44, of Lake Worth faces two charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child, two charges of indecency with a child and one charge of continued sexual abuse of a child, the department said in a post on its Facebook page.
His bond is set at $80,000.
The two girls, now 13 and 14, told a relative that Garcia had been touching them in their private places while their mother ran errands or was away from home at work, according to a probable cause arrest warrant affidavit.
Maryland man charged with sex abuse of a minor
Dan Dearth
A Washington County man is accused of inappropriately touching a preteen girl.
Luther Eugene Giffin, 60, of Resh Road, is charged with sex abuse of a minor and sex abuse of a minor as a continuing course of conduct.
Washington County District Court Judge Mark D. Thomas set Giffin's bond at $50,000 Friday during a hearing. Giffin previously was held without bond at the Washington County Detention Center.
Thomas ordered that Giffin stay away from the alleged victim and other children unless he is supervised by an adult. In addition, Giffin was ordered to wear a GPS device.
The Washington County Sheriff's Office wrote in court documents that Giffin inappropriately touched the girl over the course of several months in Washington County.
Deputies said the girl told a Washington County Child Protective Services investigator that Giffin touched her more than 10 times.
Giffin initially denied to detectives that he touched the girl, but he later admitted to touching the girl 10 to 15 times when he believed she was asleep, investigators wrote in the documents.
His preliminary hearing is set for June 27.
Resh Road, Wash. Co., MD
Virginia Man Sentenced To Prison For Child Pornography
A Fairfax man was sentenced today to five years in prison for downloading videos depicting the sexual abuse of children.
According to court documents, Gabriel Lin, 25, used a peer-to-peer file-sharing network to search for and download child pornography videos. Lin also stored more than 600 videos and 10,000 images of children being sexually abused on electronic devices in his residence. Some of this material depicted children as young as infants and toddlers.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Nancy McNamara, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle P. Reynolds prosecuted the case.
Texas man, a former police officer, gets life sentences
for sexually abusing 9 y/o girl
for sexually abusing 9 y/o girl
LLANO — A Llano County jury handed a former police officer two life sentences May 31 after he was found guilty of molesting a 9-year-old girl while on a family trip, according to court testimony.
424th Judicial District Judge Evan Stubbs presided over the three-day jury trial, held in the Llano County Courthouse.
Billy Joe Roush, 70, of Kingsland was accused of sexually assaulting the girl in the spring of 2017 while the two were riding in a travel trailer while it was being pulled down the road by the girl’s family.
Since the location of the alleged incidents could not be determined, state law allows for the county of residence for the accuser or the accused to conduct the jury trial. In Roush’s case, counselors agreed to hold court in Llano County, where the defendant lived at the time.
During the trial, the accuser, now 11, and another accuser, an adult who was a child at the time of the defendant’s assault on her, both testified against Roush.
In the sentencing phase, three additional accusers surfaced, two of whom are now adults and the other a child to make statements against the defendant.
Other allegations involved inappropriate comments made to at least three of the alleged victims and an incident in which one alleged victim was forced to view pornographic material.
The defense also introduced information about Roush, including his past police and military service as well as him raising his two sons.
The jury, comprised of seven men and five women, deliberated for more than six hours to reach a guilty verdict on two charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child and deliberated 45 minutes to recommend two life sentences, which the judge stacked so Roush must serve the first life sentence before the second begins.
“Every citizen is entitled to a vigorous defense. That’s exactly what we gave Mr. Roush and did everything we could to defend him,” said defense attorney Austin Shell of Shell and Shell Associates law firm.
Another child sexual abuse case is pending against Roush in Madison County.
Maryland Man Goes to Prison for Child Sex Abuse
The second Salisbury man sentenced for child sex abuse
in as many days.
By Kye Parsons
SALISBURY, Md.- A Salisbury man convicted of child sex abuse has been sentenced to 17 years behind bars.
Richard Nathaniel Jones, 36, of Salisbury, received a total sentence of 35 years, with all but 17 suspended when he appeared before Wicomico Circuit Court Judge Donald C. Davis late last week. Jones will be required to register as a sex offender for life upon release.
A Wicomico County jury in March 2017 convicted Jones of sex abuse of a minor as a household member and related offenses.
Jones fled while out on bond following his conviction in March 2017 and remained at large for nine months. Jones was finally taken into custody in November 2017 by a member of the Regional Fugitive Task Force.
Utah man on parole arrested for sexual abuse
of two young kids at birthday party
By: Jenn Gardiner MOAB, Utah (News4Utah) A Moab man currently on parole was charged Friday with two counts of sex abuse of a child for an incident that police say occurred at a birthday party over Memorial weekend.
According to charging documents Kenneth Sherman, 59, was at a birthday party when a woman noticed one of the children at the party, a 5-year-old girl, was very upset. The girl's mother said she could not get the girl to settle down so she took her and the girl's 7-year-old brother home.
At home, the girl told her mom that Sherman had touched her and kissed her and that he had touched her brother in his privates while he was sleeping. The mother then called the same witness at the party to advise her of what had happened. The owner of the home confronted Sherman and the witness told police an altercation broke out and police were called.
Police said several witnesses told them Sherman was visibly intoxicated and one witness had seen him in the room with the two children and when they walked in he got up suddenly and acted strangely.
Sherman was arrested after police conducted an interview with witnesses and the young girl. The young boy told police he was asleep and does not remember anything.
During his interview with police, Sherman told them the witness had "instructed" the girl to make up the allegations and he didn't know what they were talking about. He refused to speak with police further and requested an attorney.
Sherman is currently on parole for a felony DUI conviction involving a 2-year-old unrelated female who was with him. Charging document state Sherman was also accused of kidnapping the girl, but because of "complications in the case and the lack of a disclosure of sexual abuse by the child", that portion of the charges was dropped.
Good grief!
Sherman was booked into the Grand County Jail on two charges of 2nd degree felony sex abuse of a child.
Texarkana, Ark. man accused of child sex abuse
By Field Walsh
A Texarkana, Ark., man is facing three felony charges in connection with the alleged sexual abuse of two female relatives.
Boswell has been charged with second-degree sexual assault in that case. If found guilty, he faces five to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $15,000. Boswell posted a $25,000 bond in April.
After the teen came forward, an adult female relative of Boswell’s disclosed that Boswell “started messing with her” when she was around 7 years old and Boswell was living in Horatio, Ark., and later Dierks, Ark. The adult relative told investigators Boswell continued to molest her after Boswell moved to Miller County when the woman was an 11-year-old.
Boswell is charged with rape and sexual indeceny with a child in that case. Sexual indecency is punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine up to $10,000. Boswell faces 10 to 40 years or life in prison if convicted of rape.
Boswell was arrested a second time in May and posted a second $25,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court in Miller County later this month.
19 y/o charged with sexually abusing a minor in NY state
By Michael Woyton, Patch Staff |
HYDE PARK, NY — State Police have arrested a Hyde Park man on accusations of giving alcohol to and sexually abusing a minor. Police said Jason A. Rugar, 19, of Hyde Park, was charged with third-degree aggravated sexual abuse, a felony, and endangering the welfare of a child and first-degree unlawful dealing with a child, misdemeanors.State police received a complaint May 17 about possible sexual abuse in the Town of Hyde Park. An investigation found that Rugar sexually abused a child who was younger than 14, as well as provided the victim with an alcoholic beverage, police said.
Rugar was arraigned in the Town of Hyde Park Court and sent to the Dutchess County Jail in lieu of $5,000 bail or $10,000 bond.
An order of protection was requested on behalf of the victim, and it was granted by the court.
A NY father and son were arrested for separate incidents
of child sex abuse
By Michael Woyton, Patch Staff | NEWBURGH, NY — State police arrested a father and son in Newburgh for separate alleged incidents of sex abuse. The Troop F Orange County Child Abuse Unit said Jose Alfredo Enriquez-Sanchez, 29, of Newburgh, was arrested after a joint investigation with the Orange County Child Protective Services for first-degree sexual abuse, a felony, and third-degree sexual abuse and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, misdemeanors.
Police said the investigation was into the sexual abuse of a child who was under 13 years of age and a child under 17 years old.
Enriquez-Sanchez was arraigned in the City of Newburgh Court and sent to the Orange County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail or $50,000 bond.
During the same investigation, police said it was determined that Enriquez-Sanchez's father — Jose Alfredo Sanchez, 45, of the same address in Newburgh — also abused another child under the age of 13.
Sanchez was charged with two counts of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.
He was arraigned in the City of Newburgh Court and sent to the Orange County Jail in lieu of $15,000 bail or $30,000 bond.
Illinois Upward Bound tutor facing child sex abuse charges
By CHRISTOPHER HEIMERMANSYCAMORE – The former Upward Bound tutor accused of criminal sex abuse of a child younger than 17 and enticing a child younger than 16 posted $5,000 Friday to be released from the DeKalb County Jail.
Court records show Leanos-Macias posted $5,000 about 2 p.m. Friday afternoon. He told Judge Philip Montgomery during a bond hearing Thursday that he planned to use student loans to post bail.
Leanos-Macias, a former tutor of DeKalb High School students through Kishwaukee College’s Upward Bound program, was arrested Wednesday on a warrant with $100,000 bond attached.
Reasoning that Leanos-Macias has no criminal history, Montgomery reduced bond to $50,000, and Leanos-Macias said he could post $5,000 bail with the loan funds. Montgomery ruled that Leanos-Macias will be fitted with an electronic home monitoring bracelet, and that he have no contact with minors.
According to a news release from DeKalb police, a victim younger than 17 said Leanos-Macias had picked up the minor, who does not live in DeKalb and whom Leanos-Macias had met on the Grindr app, at his residence May 12 and brought him to his apartment in the 800 block of Edgebrook Drive, where the minor said he was sexually assaulted and driven home by Leanos-Macias the next day.
What was he doing on Grindr? I wonder.
Another minor, younger than 16, came forward Tuesday and told police he’d met Leanos-Macias on another app, Hornet, and that they’d had conversations over a 10-day span that included Leanos-Macias trying to convince the minor to engage in sexual activity.
According to the Northern Illinois University directory, Leanos-Macias is a graduate teaching assistant in the sociology department, and also is listed as a student. Montgomery ruled that the electronic home monitoring bracelet will allow Leanos-Macias to go to work and classes, should he be allowed to by NIU.
DeKalb police investigators have reason to believe that there may be more victims, according to a news release. If you have information about this investigation or information about other potential victims, call the DeKalb Police Department at 815-748-8400 or Crime Stoppers at 815-895-3272. You can also call the crisis line through Safe Passage, which serves sexual abuse victims in DeKalb County, at 815-756-5228.
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