A 9-year-old girl gets justice when her abuser,
uncommonly, gets prison
Rekha Basu, Des Moines Register
NEVADA, Ia. — Thirty-seven-year-old Chris Moore of Marion County took the witness stand in the Story County Courthouse to read a victim impact statement.
In a firm but tearful voice, he told the 73-year-old man who had sexually abused his daughter: "For 30-some odd years. there was a man that I held more respect for than anyone else. I placed him on a pedestal, not knowing the dark secret that had been withheld from me."
That man was his father, James Moore, who took a plea agreement June 4 to lascivious acts with his 9-year-old granddaughter.
"This monster stole the innocence of my little girl," Chris Moore continued Monday. "She is not the same anymore. Though children know there are evil people, he continued, "it is usually not someone who is supposed to protect them and keep them safe."
Actually, Chris, it is usually someone who is supposed to protect and keep them safe. Most child sex abuse is committed in family.
The hushed courtroom also would hear statements from the 9-year-old, read aloud by a prosecutor, and from her mother, brother and maternal grandfather.
All described a vibrant child who would spring out of bed announcing "It's a beautiful day" but who now fears to leave the house. They spoke of the depression and post-traumatic stress that have had her in therapy for about 10 months.
They recounted how she would hit, kick, scream and cry when she had to go to school her fourth-grade year, and how she had to be literally carried in and handed over to a staff member.
Sometimes her uncontrollable rage and property destruction would land her in a small, cold, empty "quiet room" with a concrete floor. "I hated being in there," she wrote.
Her parents believed their daughter, now 10, from the minute she came into their room the morning after the events of last August. But some of Chris Moore's family sided with his father and distanced themselves from the couple and their daughter when they chose to go to police and file charges.
James Moore's supporters submitted letters to the court describing a devoted Christian, husband, father and grandfather. They noted his military service in Vietnam and Cuba, his help rescuing a man from a burning truck and his charitable donations. Chris Moore's mother, Colette, said her husband "would never drive by a stranded motorist or leave another person in a dangerous situation."
The Rev. Tom Nesbitt of the Ames Cornerstone Church wrote of James Moore: "He is a dear and humble man, greatly broken over what he is accused of and genuinely repentant over any activity that places his Christian testimony, marriage and family relations in any measure of question."
Chris and Lisa Moore (Photo: Special to the Register)
It's bad enough these letters don't mention the victim, and that the last one sidesteps James Moore's admission to a Class C felony. But it is deeply disturbing that anyone could suggest going to church or giving to charity could cancel out molesting a child, or otherwise, try to normalize such aberrant behavior.
Enablers must carry that on their consciences, too. Lisa Moore testified that her husband, Chris, has lost relations with his mother, father and two sisters over this.
Under the negotiated plea agreement, James Moore was to get a suspended 10-year sentence and serve no prison time and would appear on the Iowa sex offender registry. Asked by District Judge Bethany Currie if he had anything to say, he said he was ashamed and sorry and prayed for forgiveness.
After a few more formalities, the judge, who was appointed just last month by Gov. Kim Reynolds, caught everyone by surprise, overriding the plea agreement and imposing an actual sentence of up to 10 years. That left Chris and Lisa Moore jubilant and some on the other side in tears, but declining to be interviewed. "Just say we love him and we support him," said one sobbing woman.
County Attorney Jessica Reynolds said later that it's unusual in her experience for a judge not to follow a plea agreement, but that she supports this decision. Reynolds had seen a plea bargain as a way to protect the child from the trauma of being deposed.
"Child sexual abuse is so horrific, it changes who people are and the course of their lives," she said, adding that based on her experience in three Iowa counties, it is rampant and vastly under-reported. Often the families just keep the child apart from the abuser. But these parents, she said, "did exactly what they needed to do. They believed their child. They reported it. They didn't make excuses."
This column has expressed frustration with Iowa's justice system for letting sex offenders off with no jail time. In federal courts, 98 percent of people charged with child sex crimes go to prison, and serve an average of 139 months. But in Iowa courts, offenders often get probation. And then there is the statute of limitations, which requires criminal charges in child sex-abuse cases to be brought within 10 years after the victim turns 18. While other states have done away with limits, despite documented child abuse cases going back generations, Democrats' proposals to loosen the statute were blocked by the Republican majority in the last legislative session.
Had they passed, this story might have had an even more powerful ending.
In the course of investigating James Moore, reports from the Story County Sheriff's Department show, an investigator interviewed at least four other female relatives who said they, too, had been abused by him as children. One of those was James Moore's biological daughter, Jill Beard, who is estranged from the family because of it.
Now 50, she lives in Missouri, and told me in a phone interview that she left Iowa in her 20s because of the abuse. She told police that began when she was about 8 and lasted till she was 12, and that it included removing her clothes and touching her vagina and putting his penis in her hands. In that police interview last December, she mentioned four other women who had said he did sexual things to them. The report said James Moore had admitted to looking through a window at one girl when she was showering.
But Beard never told anyone until about 13 years ago, when she wrote her parents and grandparents a letter. "It's so ugly. You feel so much shame your entire life," she said. "All the people around you love him so much." Because it was past the statute of limitations, criminal charges could not be brought in her case.
The letter prompted a visit from James Moore's wife, (her stepmother) Colette, "to tell me what a hero I was." It also, according to the police report, prompted Colette to leave James for about six months, when he was supposed to be getting treatment. Beard told me she later ran into her father, who apologized briefly. So Beard wept with joy after getting the call Monday about his sentence.
"I just released 45 years of holding it in," she said.
A niece of James Moore's, Nichole Ledbetter, also told me in a phone interview from her Ohio residence that he abused her multiple times about 30 years ago, when she was in third and fourth grades. She was interviewed by the same Story County investigator in January, who wrote in his report that she said she had told her parents as a child and again in college and in her 30s, but they didn't believe her. Her mother, Carmen, is Colette's sister. Ledbetter told police the abuse consisted of digital penetration, and that she had watched him do the same thing to another girl related to him.
"Nichole recently called Colette, who told Nichole she believed that Jim did abuse her, and apologized," the police report says.
After James Moore's recent arrest, Ledbetter said her parents paid her a visit to say they now believe her. Ledbetter's mother also attended James Moore's plea agreement hearing and sentencing, sitting on Chris Moore's family's side of the aisle.
Ledbetter attributes several failed marriages and a lot of counseling to the abuses.
Had the Iowa Legislature done the right thing last year, other women could have had their day in court. But for now, Beard and Ledbetter savor a gutsy 9-year-old's victory as their own. Maybe this young girl and her parents will serve as examples and beacons of hope to other children and their families to speak up, believe and support your kids, and protect other people's by reporting abuses to police.
And maybe by signaling she means business, this judge will shock others into checking their own responses. Meanwhile, never, ever make excuses for people who prey sexually on children, no matter how much they may pray in church.
Amen! Great column!
Rekha Basu is an opinion columnist for The Des Moines Register.
NY woman alleges sexual abuse by nun in 1955,
as advocates renew call for disclosure
By MICHAEL MROZIAK
The advocacy group representing numerous victims of alleged sexual abuse by local clergy or members of religious orders is again calling on state lawmakers to pass the Child Victim Act. They stood outside an Amherst Catholic school where, one woman alleges, she was subject to a mix of verbal, emotional and sexual abuse in 1955.
J. Carroll Becker joined members of Road To Recovery on the sidewalk in front of Christ The King School in Amherst Thursday morning. Becker, 68, says while enrolled in the school in September 1955 she was subject to a mix of verbal and emotional abuse by Sister Pauline Terese. The intimidating verbal abuse, she told reporters, led her on more than occasion to wet herself.
J. Carroll Becker, speaking in Amherst Thursday, says she was sexually abused by a nun at Christ the King School in 1955. At right is Robert Hoatson, founder and president of Road To Recovery, which advocates for victims of alleged sexual abuse by priests or other religious affiliates. CREDIT MICHAEL MROZIAK, WBFO
On the third occasion, Becker alleges, the nun responded with additional behavior which Becker described graphically.
"She made me take off my underpants and she raped me with a crucifix, saying this will cure me from defiling God's property," she said. "And then she put a pair of her underwear on me and made me sit the rest of the day in class."
Becker added that Sister Pauline Terese would refer to her as "Betty Wetty" and allow the class to call her the same name.
Earlier this year, Becker says she met with Diocesan officials as well as Sister Margaret Mary Kimmins, OSF. She said the meeting went for nearly 90 minutes but was generally discouraging, with a lot of chit-chat, comments by Sister Margaret Mary about her wardrobe and, when asked who the nun represents, extending herself to show her height in what Becker says was an intimidating gesture.
She also suggests the Diocese informed her she would not receive financial compensation but was offered counseling. Becker says she was already undergoing counseling and found the offer inadequate.
The Franciscan Sisters of Allegany issued a written statement Thursday afternoon in response to the accusation: "The Franciscan Sisters of Allegany are aware of the allegations of abuse brought forth against a former member of the congregation. The Sister in question left the congregation in 1982 and has since died.
"The Franciscan Sisters of Allegany are committed to respecting the dignity and well-being of each person. We acknowledge the sacred trust we hold because of our vowed life, and the power, influence, and authority that we hold in our ministerial relationships. We declare unequivocally that abuse of any person is unacceptable behavior and violates the rights of others.
"We are currently following our Congregational protocol to investigate the matter. In order to respect dignity and privacy, we will not comment further at this time."
Road To Recovery founder and president Robert Hoatson renewed calls to the Diocese of Buffalo to reveal all it knows about past sexual abuse. He also called to law enforcers and legislators to act.
"(Erie County) DA (John) Flynn, if this isn't cause for an investigation? Acting Attorney General (Barbara Underwood), if this isn't another reason to investigate?" Hoatson said. "Legislators, haven't you heard enough? It's now time to pass the Child Victims Act."
That proposed legislation, which has now stalled in Albany for a dozen years, would allow adults victimized as children to pursue legal action. Currently, the state's statute of limitations gives victims until the age of 23 to sue.
Two indicted in unrelated Texas
child sex abuse cases
Timothy Chipp, Abilene Reporter-News
A Taylor County grand jury on Thursday indicted a pair of men accused of sexually assaulting children.
Kerry Wayne Sims, 47, of Abilene was indicted on one count each of aggravated sexual assault of a child — stemming from an alleged December 2001 incident — and continuous sexual abuse of a child from a December 2012 report.
Daniel Arnold Tilbe, 57, of Merkel, meanwhile, was also indicted on one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child from a January 2015 incident.
In the 2001 accusation against Sims, court documents say he was originally accused of abusing a 9-year-old girl.
The girl eventually recanted the story, documents said, saying she lied when she told police Sims would undress her in the bedroom and have anal sex with her.
In January 2017, a Abilene Police Department detective re-examined the case and contacted the woman, then 25 years old, documents said.
According to the documents, the victim stated Sims had intercourse with her beginning when she was 6 years old while her mother was at work.
She said Sims would have sex with her one to two times per week, the documents said. She said she recanted the story originally because everyone kept asking about it and she was scared.
Court documents in the unrelated 2012 accusation against Sims say he allegedly made a child rub his penis with her hands.
Sims is being held on $202,000 bond, according to Taylor County Jail records, stemming from a March 1 arrest.
Meanwhile, court documents said Daniel Tilbe was living with several individuals in Merkel when a girl told police "he used to sex me."
The victim told police it happened in 2015.
Tilbe is being held on $100,000 bond after an arrest May 27, Taylor County Jail records show.
Former UCLA Basketball Player Billy Knight
Charged with Child Molestation Before Death
Knight had been charged with sexually abusing a
nine-year old girl before his death
By Joe Piechowski
Former UCLA basketball player Billy Knight, who reportedly killed himself over the weekend, was arrested in Phoenix on June 13 and charged with multiple counts of sexual conduct with a minor, sexual abuse and molestation of a child, TMZ Sports is reporting.
Phoenix news radio station KTAR-FM reports adds that the victim was the 9-year-old daughter of Knight’s ex-girlfriend.
KTAR also mentions how the allegations came about:
The allegations were first made from the victim to a mentor, who told the victim’s mother, who then contacted the Phoenix Police Department.
Knight allegedly admitted to the allegations during a recorded phone call with the victim’s mother and Phoenix police.
According to TMZ, “Knight posted his $100,000 bail and was released from custody in June — but ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device.” Knight was reportedly facing more than 50 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
TMZ also reported that Knight’s ex-girlfriend told police that he “violated the terms of his release by contacting her several times and even appearing at her home.”
Knight was scheduled to appear in court today for a hearing on the charges, according to KTAR.
He'll be appearing in a much higher court, as if suicide is a way to escape the consequences of one's evil.
Nathan Forrest Winters Says Victor Salva’s Sexual Abuse Was ‘Devastating And Apocalyptic’
Charisse Van Horn
Nathan Forrest Winters, former child actor, is talking Hollywood pedophilia and his own account of child sexual abuse by director Victor Salva in a new interview with Bobby Wolfe. Winters has a new movie that is in post-production and is looking for distribution. The film The Babysitter, directed by Connar Frazier, reveals Winters’ first-hand account and experiences being sexually abused by Salva for nearly six years. Salva was ultimately convicted on four counts, completed his sentence, and is now a registered sex offender. He is still a highly favored Hollywood producer and director.
Because that's the kind of people we need steering society. Good grief!
In the interview, Bobby Wolfe asked Nathan Forrest Winters about the movie and what the filming process was like.
Winters responded that he was vulnerable and described being in a hotel room filming for two weeks while reliving Victor Salva’s abuse. The movie is described as a new look at child sexual abuse that reveals, for the first time, what a victim experiences.
Devastating and apocalyptic
Bobby Wolfe was laid back and even joked at times while interviewing Nathan, who also found himself relaxing and laughing at several points throughout the interview.
Things took a more serious tone; however when Bobby Wolfe asked Nathan why he didn’t continue with a career in Hollywood. Nathan Forrest Winters replied as follows.
“Honestly, probably the number one reason, and it just now, kind of hit me as you were asking that question, is the effect of the abuse, and what it did to my self-esteem and my confidence, was devastating and apocalyptic.”
Nathan also spoke about the aftermath of the abuse as he tried to live a normal life, but was bullied and experienced an extreme loss of self-esteem.
Once the media grabbed hold of Nathan’s story, there was no sparing the details even though he was a minor. His name was printed repeatedly throughout early reports and according to Winters, there was no way he could hide from the abuse he endured throughout his early childhood.
Winters went on to say that after the abuse and seeing how Hollywood protects its own, such as Francis Ford Coppola showing support to Salva after his arrest, conviction, and sentencing, he lost any desire he once had to be an actor and in the spotlight.
Jury finds Wyoming woman guilty of
sexual abuse, child endangering
By PERRIN STEIN NEWS RECORD
A 32-year-old Gillette woman has been found guilty of second-degree sexual abuse and child endangering after a three-day jury trial in District Court.
Amber Shields faces up to 20 years in prison and one year in jail for putting a vibrator in a young girl’s underwear and placing the girl in unsafe situations between December 2015 and May 2016.
The charges against Shields came as a result of a police investigation into a man they suspected of sexually abusing the girl.
As part of that investigation, police interviewed Shields, who reported seeing the girl hang out with the man on several occasions. After her initial conversation with the police, Shields became largely uncooperative with the investigation.
The girl later reported to authorities that Shields had placed a small pink vibrator in her underwear and mentioned that she was aware that Shields had seen pornography of her. Comments from both the girl and Shields led to the charges against Shields.
In July 2016, shortly after the girl’s interview with authorities, they seized the man’s computer hard drives and found pornography of the girl.
Shields was taken to jail immediately after the jury delivered the verdict Wednesday afternoon. She has yet to be sentenced.
Lisa Finkey, who represented Shields with Cameron Geeting, argued that Shields should remain free on bond before sentencing because she has no prior criminal convictions, has been compliant and communicative throughout the court proceedings and will remain in the community because her family is here.
However, Campbell County Attorney Ron Wirthwein, who prosecuted the case with Campbell County Deputy Attorney Jonah Buckley, disagreed.
“She has been convicted by a jury of her peers of one of the more serious felonies that one can commit,” Wirthwein said. “Certainly the misdemeanor also carries some weight.”
Based on the danger she poses to the community and the length of the sentence she may face, District Judge Michael N. “Nick” Deegan agreed with Wirthwein.
“This was a clean case as far as I’m concerned, from where I sit,” he said. “The parties were courteous to each other, and the jury made its decision.”
Former LDS Primary teacher accused of child sex abuse appears in Utah court
By: Brittany Johnson
WEST JORDAN, Utah (News4Utah) - A Utah man accused of sexually abusing a female student in his Sunday School class, made another court appearance Thursday morning.
Sean Sund sat quietly inside the courtroom as his defense attorney and prosecutors went before a judge in a scheduling hearing. The hearing lasted about five minutes and was held to get a few things in order before the next hearing.
Sund is facing five felony counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child after an 8-year-old girl alleged that she was sexually abused during a sleepover at his home.
Sund was a children's Sunday School teacher in the West Jordan branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He taught Primary, and police say he frequently had several children at his home for "sleepovers."
How does that happen? How did the school or the church allow a single man to have students sleep over at his home. How incredibly irresponsible!
In court Thursday, Defense Attorney Clayton Simms filed two motions.
One motion was to “prohibit the prosecuting attorney's and the prosecution witnesses' use of the term 'victim' at the time of trial pursuant to the presumption of innocence.”
The defense said the use of “victim” improperly negates that presumption of innocence.
The second motion filed was a request for supplemental discovery. The defense requested the prosecution give them “any evidence which tends to negate the guilt of the defendant…”, “information about the nature of the “Prevent Child Abuse Utah” presentation” at an elementary school which the alleged victim attends, and “any and all audio/video recordings of the alleged victim.”
The next hearing in this case has been scheduled for September 12.
Ex-Pennsylvania teacher, Dover school district
settle sex abuse survivor's lawsuit
Written by Dylan Segelbaum/The York Daily Record
The Dover Area School Board must approve the settlement.
It's set to meet next Tuesday.
Dover, PA -- The Dover Area School District on Wednesday abruptly settled a lawsuit brought by a woman who experienced prolonged sexual abuse at the hands of her music teacher when she was a student.
"The case has been settled to the mutual satisfaction of all parties," said Farley Holt, the woman's attorney, as he stood next to Sharon O'Donnell, the school district's attorney, in the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Harrisburg. "No further comment will be provided."
The school board must approve the settlement. It's set to meet on Tuesday.
The woman, now 29, of Dover, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the Dover Area School District and her former teacher, Matthew Puterbaugh, in 2015. They reached the settlement in the middle of trial, after a jury started hearing testimony in the case.
Puterbaugh, 51, of Dover Township, is serving 15 years in federal prison for production of child pornography. He pleaded guilty in the York County Court of Common Pleas to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and statutory sexual assault for abusing the woman.
He also settled the suit.
"The settlement was in everyone's best interest," said Joseph Green Jr., Puterbaugh's attorney, who declined to go into details of the resolution, as he went into an elevator.
In an interview, Holt said Puterbaugh agreed to pay the woman $50,000. She plans to use some of the money to go back to school.
Puterbaugh must also pay $45,000, in monthly installments of $250 over 15 years. The money -- there's a discount if it's paid earlier -- will be divided three ways and go into college funds for her children.
"This is all he has in his name," Holt said.
Before the case was settled, the woman testified for hours in graphic detail about the sexual abuse, which she said has affected every aspect of her life. She tried to kill herself four times and developed addictions to alcohol, prescription painkillers and heroin -- though she's now in recovery.
Puterbaugh, she said, started to abuse her in fourth grade.
That would make her, what, 9 or 10? Could she be the 4th 9 y/o survivor on today's post?
When she was 13, Puterbaugh impregnated her, the woman testified. She said she was forced to seek an abortion in Maryland. He accompanied her to the procedure under the guise of being a concerned family friend.
The woman testified that she reported the abuse to teachers on two occasions, in 2002 and 2004.
But the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services; York County Office of Children, Youth and Families; and law enforcement authorities were never notified. The abuse continued.
She withdrew from the Dover Area School District in 2005. The woman took online classes to earn her high school diploma.
Northern York County Regional police have said they were never contacted about Puterbaugh until 2013.
Law enforcement eventually uncovered that he'd been secretly recording numerous female students. The pictures and videos, police said, constituted child pornography.
PA mother and son face child sex abuse charges
By: Cody Butler
ARCHBALD, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) A mother and son are facing charges after child sex abuse allegations in Lackawanna County.
Police say Matthew Bryant of Archbald had contact with two young girls over the last year and his mother knew about it.
The criminal complaint is very disturbing.
Authorities say Matthew Bryant, 27, repeatedly abused the girls while his mother, Joan Peterson, did nothing to try and stop it.
He's being accused of having inappropriate contact with two girls between the ages of seven and nine. "It began with us being contacted when the child was taken to a hospital and since that time we have been investigating," said Chief Tim Trently, Archbald Police Department.
Last month, a physician assistant at Moses Taylor hospital reported child abuse and neglect. The seven-year-old alleged in the emergency room she had been touched by Matthew Bryant for a period of a year.
It was later discovered he also made contact with another girl. The allegations took place at a home in Dunmore and Archbald.
Bryant is being charged with aggravated indecent assault of a child, corruption of minors and other related charges.
As for his mother, Joan Peterson’s arrest …
"She knew about some of these allegations and allowed him to still be with the children," said Trently. Peterson is being charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
"Anywhere, anywhere any place… You know. You get them all over the streets, around the neighborhood, your next door neighbor…You don't know anymore," said John Uzialko of Archbald.
Neighbors say they are sickened to hear more and more cases of child sex abuse allegations in their communities.
"It’s terrifying I have grandchildren and I'll tell you right now if anybody rapped my grandkid they would not be going to jail," said Uzialko.
"Definitely inappropriate and him being charged is the most appropriate thing we could do right now," said Trenly.
Police chief Tim Trently says today they're still investigating the possibility of more victims in this case of child sex abuse.
This is a joint investigation with Dunmore and Archbald police departments. Matthew Bryant is being held on $100,000 bail. His mother, Joan Peterson, was released on $50,000 unsecured bail.
Iowa man gets prison time for sex abuse
LEE NEWS NETWORK
A Davenport man convicted in May of sexually abusing a then 4-year-old child in 2016 was sentenced Wednesday to up to 25 years in prison.
Brandon Daniel Ruiz, 27, must serve a mandatory minimum sentence of 17.5 years in prison before he is eligible for parole.
He also must register as a sex offender and was given a lifetime special sentence similar to parole. Before handing down the sentence, Judge Thomas Reidel denied Ruiz’s motion for a new trial.
The Iowa Department of Human Services contacted the Davenport Police Department on Sept. 20, 2016, regarding allegations the child was sexually abused, according to an arrest affidavit.
Police alleged Ruiz sexually abused the child numerous times. He was arrested the following month.
Ruiz had a bench trial in April. Reidel in May found him guilty of one count of second-degree sexual abuse. Reidel acquitted him on six additional counts of second-degree sexual abuse related to the same child.
PA man sentenced to 40 years for
sexual assault of a child
By PA News
Jefferson County man convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child has been sentenced to 40 years imprisonment, Jefferson County Criminal District Attorney Bob Wortham said Thursday.
Rocky LaFleur, 41, was found guilty of the charge Wednesday evening and Judge Raquel West immediately sentenced him to 40 years confinement in the custody of the state Department of Criminal Justice.
Wortham said LaFleur is not eligible for parole.
LaFleur was charged in connection with a Jan. 14, 2017 incident in which a 5-year-old child told her grandmother details of the assault. The grandmother and mother took the child for a forensic exam at Child Abuse & Forensic Services and she was forensically interviewed at The Garth House in Beaumont, where she provided additional details about the abuse.
In a taped interview with investigators that was shown to the jury, LaFleur conceded some details of the child’s accusations were true.
The jury convicted LaFleur of one charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child but found him not guilty of a second charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Beaumont Police Detective Staci Landor was the investigator and the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case.
“The victim’s family was relieved that the community would be safe from LaFleur for the next 40 years,” said Assistant District Attorney Jimmy Hamm.
If LaFleur completes his 40-year sentence, the District Attorney’s Office said, he will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Wisconsin man gets 20-year sentence after pleading guilty to child porn charges
By Jonah Beleckis jbeleckis@gazettextra.com
WHITEWATER
On the eve of a jury trial that could have resulted in a lifelong prison sentence, a Whitewater man agreed Wednesday to a plea deal on child pornography charges.
Michael B. Hoffer, now 60, pleaded guilty to four of 16 counts of possessing child porn, court records show.
Hoffer, who in 2000 was convicted of having sexual contact with a person under the age of 16, had been scheduled for a jury trial Monday in Walworth County Court.
Because of his earlier conviction, he automatically faced a sentence of life in prison without parole if the jury had found him guilty of the 17th charge he faced: sexual exploitation of a child by filming as a persistent repeater.
District Attorney Zeke Wiedenfeld said in an email Thursday that both parties agreed to recommend 20 years in prison and 20 years of extended supervision.
At Hoffer’s final pretrial hearing July 5, his attorney, Melissa Frost, confirmed that they were rejecting the prosecution’s offer for a deal: pleading guilty to the one charge that meant life in prison. The new deal was made official Wednesday, according to online court records.
On June 4, 2017, a woman met with Delavan police to tell them Hoffer’s phone had several pictures of a young child’s private parts, according to a criminal complaint.
Police found on the phone 31 pictures of a young child and one four-second video of the same child.
Hoffer’s sentencing hearing is set for 1:15 p.m. Monday, July 30.
And have they identified the child? Is the child in a safe environment now? Reporters!!!
Judge sentences former ND police chief to life,
then changes his mind
By James B. Miller,
DICKINSON, N.D. -- A former LaMoure police chief convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child in multiple counties was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole on Tuesday, July 10.
In a last second change of opinion late Thursday afternoon, Judge William Herauf, who presided over the case, issued a letter to counsels citing an oversight in his judgement and sentencing.
According to the letter, Herauf expressed the intent of the court to effectively turn the management of Watson’s cases over to the North Dakota Department of Corrections - without restrictions imposed to when they would be able to release him.
While resentencing has not been formally scheduled, the letter said a hearing will be slated for early next week.
In the case that attracted regional attention, James Watson faced charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child in both Golden Valley and Stark counties, as well as gross sexual imposition in Hettinger County in southwest North Dakota. Watson’s arrest came while he served as the chief of police for the LaMoure Police Department across the state in southeast North Dakota.
The case, which involved multiple agencies and three separate county attorneys, was contentious as Watson maintained his innocence throughout – claiming he never sexually abused the victim. Watson’s attorney, Kevin McCabe, argued that the state failed to present a preponderance of evidence which indicated guilt in his client’s case.
Testimony from the victim and the North Dakota Bureau of Investigation detailed multiple instances of forced sexual intercourse Watson had with the victim in exchange for certain privileges.
“It was a very difficult type of case because of the subject matter,” Christina M. Wenko, Golden Valley County state’s attorney said. “We heard 5 days of difficult testimony and multiple hours of video interviews between the victim and police. The jury made their decision, and our focus is always to do right by the victim.”
Herauf originally ruled Watson’s sentences would run concurrent.
Stark County State’s Attorney Tom Henning explained how, under the original ruling and North Dakota law, Watson would serve no less than 30 years, minus any time accrued for good behavior, before being eligible for parole.
Under the original sentencing, Watson wouldn’t appear before the parole board until 2041 with good behavior. He would be 75 years old.
The reconsideration of sentencing could see Watson released sooner if the North Dakota Department of Corrections feels he is no longer a threat.
That would be when he is dead; or maybe after he has had prostate surgery. Can we arrange for him to have prostate surgery?
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