Hacker who leaked nude images of Jennifer Lawrence and Rihanna jailed
Jailed for 8 months! That's just a disgrace! Certainly no deterrent!
© Mark Blinch / Reuters
A man who hacked more than 200 Apple iCloud accounts and shared scores of illegally obtained photographs, including naked pictures of Hollywood actress Jennifer Lawrence, has been sentenced to eight months in jail.
George Garofano stood accused of engaging in a phishing scheme which targeted celebrities between 2012 and 2014. The 26-year old is now expected to spend eight months behind bars after he was convicted of obtaining and disseminating caches of private information.
When the scandal broke, Jennifer Lawrence compared the incident to a “sex crime.”
“It is a sexual violation. It’s disgusting. The law needs to be changed, and we need to change. Just the fact that somebody can be sexually exploited and violated, and the first thought that crosses somebody’s mind is to make a profit from it. It’s so beyond me,” Lawrence told Vanity Fair in 2014.
Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, Kate Upton, Kirsten Dunst, Vanessa Hudgens and Hayden Panettiere were also hit by the hacking scam.
Kate Upton. © Mike Segar / Reuters
Dubbed ‘Celebgate’ by parts of the media, the iCloud swindle involved hackers posing as Apple security staff in order to persuade victims to hand over usernames and passwords.
According to Connecticut prosecutors, Garofano gained access to around 240 accounts, with the 26-year old part of a four-man group that also sold on details for financial gain.
In court, Garofano admitted sending phishing emails. He has now been sentenced to eight months and ordered to perform 60 hours community service upon release. Judge Victor Bolden has ordered Garofano to report to prison on October 10.
Indiana diocese deems 10 ex-priests guilty of
child sex abuse
child sex abuse
By The Associated Press
MERRILLVILLE — A Catholic diocese in northwestern Indiana has released the names of 10 former priests who the diocese has deemed guilty of sexually abusing children.
The Diocese of Gary released the list on Tuesday, the (Northwest Indiana) Times reported. The document also includes the number of allegations made against the priests and the actions taken by church officials. The information is based on diocesan records.
The list didn’t report whether any of the men, seven of whom are dead, ever faced criminal prosecution for their alleged child sex abuse. Richard Emerson, Terrence Chase and George Kavungal are still living and have been removed from public ministry. Emerson had four allegations, Chase had one and Kavungal had six.
The list was made public after a scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report found that about 300 Catholic priests abused at least 1,000 children over the past 70 years. The report detailed sex abuse allegations against Raymond Lukac, who served at the Gary Diocese’s Bishop Noll Institute.
Gary Bishop Donald Hying said the allegations were reviewed by the Diocesan Review Board and Kelly Venegas, the diocesan delegate for sexual misconduct. The board concluded there was insufficient evidence to affirm credibility, Hying said.
“Our local church shares in the universal sadness and anger regarding recent reports of sexual abuse by clergy,” he said. “While we continue to pray for all abuse victims, we also resolutely commit ourselves to zealous vigilance to ensure the protection of all of our children, youth and vulnerable adults.”
Hying said the Gary Diocese’s website has information about reporting allegations and how to get in touch with the diocese’s victim assistance coordinator.
Pittsburgh diocese outs 3 priests on leave
amid new sex abuse allegations
amid new sex abuse allegations
St. Ann in Waynesburg
PITTSBURGH —
The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh said Friday that it had put three priests on leave following allegations of sexual abuse of a minor received in the wake of the state grand jury report on six Pennsylvania dioceses.
One of the priests is active, and two are retired. The diocese said all three have denied the allegations, which are now being handled by the District Attorney's Office.
The diocese said the Rev. John Bauer has been serving in team ministry at St. Ann in Waynesburg, St. Hugh in Carmichaels, St. Ignatius of Antioch in Bobtown, Our Lady of Consolation in Nemacolin and St. Thomas in Clarksville.
Bauer is accused of sexual abuse of a minor in the early 1980s, the diocese said. The allegation was received Aug. 30. The grand jury report included another allegation of misconduct against him that was not substantiated as child sexual abuse.
The Rev. Bernard Costello, who completed his last assignment in 2011 as a temporary administrator at Mary, Mother of the Church in Charleroi, was accused of sexually abusing a minor in the mid-1960s. The diocese said the allegation was received Aug. 22 and was the first that it has received against him.
The Rev. Hugh Lang, who retired in 2006 as the pastor of Saint Therese of Lisieux in Munhall, was accused of sexually abusing a minor in 2001. The diocese said the allegation was received Aug. 27 and is also the first.
The diocese said it would send letters to be shared this weekend at all parishes where Lang, Costello and Bauer have served.
About 60 allegations of abuse have been received since the release of the grand jury report, said the Rev. Nick Vaskov, a diocese spokesman.
"The others that have come in are all those who were named in the report. Whether they are deceased or living, they are not in ministry, so there was a priority to communicate these three at this time," Vaskov said.
In a written statement, Bishop David Zubik said that removing a priest from ministry does not imply guilt. "It is intended to safeguard the course of justice while preserving the rights of everyone involved, including both the person against whom an allegation has been made and the person who made the allegation," Zubik wrote.
Zubik urged anyone who has been harmed by someone representing the Church to call the Diocesan Assistance Coordinator at 1-888-808-1235 or the Pennsylvania state abuse hotline at 1-800-932-0313.
New York State man mulls plea offer in
child sex abuse case
child sex abuse case
By Thomas J. Prohaska
A Lockport man pleaded not guilty Thursday to a batch of child sexual abuse charges dating to 2010, but he also received a plea offer in the case.
David A. Huntington, 79, of Prospect Street, was ordered back to Niagara County Court Sept. 11 to tell Judge Sara Sheldon whether he will plead guilty to two counts of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of second-degree criminal sexual act. Those charges total a maximum of 21 years in prison, although attorneys in the case huddled with Sheldon for half an hour to discuss possible sentences.
Assistant District Attorney Cheryl L. Grundy said the alleged victim was 7 years old in 2010.
Tulsa teen wanted for child sex abuse - on the run
Police are working to track down a teenager wanted for sexually abusing a child he's related to.
Police said Ward was last seen at school last Friday, the same day the Tulsa County District Attorney's office filed charges against him.
18-year-old Ward is wanted on six counts of child sex abuse after a 12-year-old boy confided in a summer camp counselor that Ward abused him.
The victim's mom was called and Tulsa police started investigating right away.
"It takes a lot for a child to disclose something like that, especially when it's against a family member, somebody they know and love, and even trust," said Corporal Mark Kraft.
Police said the sexual abuse started about six years ago and the victim said it happened nearly every day because Ward was his babysitter.
Ward's arrest affidavit said he admitted to babysitting the victim on several occasions at the victim's grandmother's house where the two spent time together in the victim's bedroom.
Corporal Kraft said police aren't aware of any adults knowing the abuse was going on. "Somebody trusted him to watch this innocent child," Kraft said.
The victim said Ward showed him porn and said he wanted to try it. The child said he told Ward he did not want to but that he made him.
The affidavit said Ward would hold the victim down and muffle his mouth, to silence him. It also said Ward admitted to watching porn but denied he let the victim watch it.
"He's a predator. He has a history of it. He's very recently committed the abuse and he's very likely to do it again if he isn't caught," Kraft said.
Police said the victim is now safe with his mother.
If you see Ward, police ask that you do not approach him and call 911 right away.
DA seeks potential victims in Kansas
Christian School child sex abuse
KMBZChristian School child sex abuse
The founder of a Christian school in Shawnee has been charged with three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child under the age of 14. Dennis Creason made his first court appearance on Friday.
Johsnon County DA Steve Howe says they believe there may be more victims and they're asking parents to call Shawnee police.
"If your child has disclosed an inappropriate behavior has occurred while being at the school, we ask that you please call police. If you notice there's a change of behavior in your child, that could be a sign of abuse and we ask that you contact the Shawnee police department," Howe said. "If your child has, or in the future, discloses that inappropriate behavior has occurred, immediately contact the Shawnee Police Department and not do a full interview of your child. For the integrity of the case and the investigation, we ask that you allow the professionals to do that type of approach with your child."
You can reach Shawnee police at 913-742-6685 or by email at crimetips@cityofshawnee.org.
Howe did not offer any specifics about the allegations against Creason or share any details about the allegations came to light during a news conference.
Creason is being held on a million dollar bond.
Wow! That oughta hold him.
Second case of child sexual assault brought against Wisconsin teacher
WISN
Kevin Buelow, 43, was first charged Aug. 23 in a case from 2012.
A second case was filed Friday.
According to the second criminal complaint, Buelow assaulted a girl in the basement of St. Matthias between approximately Sept. 1, 2010, and Aug. 31, 2011.
Man Charged With 178 Child Sexual Assault Counts Extradited From Pa. To Kansas
KDKA-TVABILENE, Kan. (AP) – A 44-year-old man has been extradited from Pennsylvania to Kansas to stand trial on 178 counts of sexually assaulting a child over a decade.
A criminal complaint says the assaults started in May 2005, when the alleged victim was 7 years old, and continued until December 2015 when the child was 17.
The victim’s gender isn’t listed and no details have been released. The Associated Press has requested the affidavit. Millsap’s attorney hasn’t returned a phone call seeking comment.
Abilene is 180 miles west of Kansas City, Kansas.
PA man sexually abused two boys
under the age of 13
under the age of 13
Kaitlin Greenockle, Hanover Evening Sun
A Hanover man was arrested and charged Aug. 30 on multiple charges of child sexual abuse.
Jeremey A. Decker, 39, of the 500 block of Locust Street, allegedly abused two boys under the age of 13 at his home and in his camper at Round Top Campground in Cumberland Township, according to two affidavits filed with District Judge Mark Beauchat.
During a June interview at Adams County Children's Advocacy Center, one boy said that Decker would make him masturbate in front of him on numerous occasions between 2014 and 2017 at Decker's home and campsite, the affidavit states.
The boy, now 12, also said that Decker would watch him shower in the campground bathhouse, sleep in the same bed as him and told him not to tell anyone.
Police spoke with Decker in June. He said he hadn't seen the boy for several years and denied the allegations, police said in the affidavit.
Almost two weeks after police interviewed Decker, they were dispatched to Round Top Campground for a report that Decker sexually assaulted a 13-year-old boy.
The 13-year-old boy was interviewed at the Adams County Children's Advocacy Center and said that he was molested by Decker, the affidavit states.
He said that Decker first assaulted him when he was 12 and would touch him over and under his clothing. The boy also stated that Decker would force him to have oral sex, and he also would sleep in the same bed as him, police said in the affidavit.
The boy said he told Decker to stop, but he wouldn't. He also said the assaults would happen at Decker's Hanover home and at the campsite. Decker also allegedly told the 13-year-old boy not to tell anyone what he was doing, according to the affidavit.
When police tried to set up a second interview with Decker, his attorney declined.
Decker has two sets of charges filed against him, one for each boy.
He was charged with corruption of minors for the first assault and is in Adams County Prison in lieu of $25,000, according to online court documents.
For his second offense, he was charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than 16, indecent assault, corruption of minors and unlawful contact with a minor.
Decker is in prison in lieu of $150,000 bail for the second offense.
He has preliminary hearings scheduled for both sets of charges on Sept. 5. Decker's attorney information is not yet listed.
Texas man sentenced to 495 years in prison
for child sex abuse
By Jon WilcoxOn Friday, which also marked his birthday, a Victoria man received a 495-year prison sentence after jurors found him guilty of sexually abusing two children.
"Those who abuse children sentence their victims to a life of dealing with trauma," said Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Johnson in a written statement, adding, "It is for this reason that high sentences are appropriate."
Cisneros' attorney, Robert Earnest Williams II, could not be reached for comment.
Jurors deliberated for about three hours Thursday night and Friday morning before returning guilty verdicts for multiple counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child younger than 14 years of age, aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child by exposure.
"The members of the jury had to hear a case that was mentally and emotionally taxing, but through it all they remained focused on the relevant evidence and protected their community," Johnson said.
The abused children, who are now 10 and 11 years old, as well as their mother, testified during the trial about a period of abuse that lasted "for at least a couple of years if not more," Johnson said. According to Cisneros' indictment, the crimes occurred from 2014 to 2017.
According to the mother's testimony Tuesday, the woman learned about the abuse when her child made an outcry while the family was driving together.
Cisneros was living with the family and dating the mother at the time, she testified.
Since then, the mother and her children have moved from Victoria. The Victoria Advocate does not identify victims of sexual abuse.
"They wanted a clean slate from everything that happened to them," Johnson said.
Six Indians Among 300 Arrested By US Immigration Authorities, Includes Sexual Abuse Convict
From the Chicago area, ICE arrested a 25-year-old man from India in Champaign, Illinois. He was convicted of criminal sexual abuse on July 30 and remains in ICE custody pending his removal.
Six Indians Among 300 Arrested By US Immigration Authorities, Includes Sexual Abuse Convict Representative image/ Reuters
New York: Six Indian nationals are among over 300 people arrested by American authorities for criminal activities and violating the country's immigration laws during a month-long crackdown across six states.
Federal officers with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested 364 criminal aliens and immigration violators during a 30-day enforcement action across Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Wisconsin.
Those arrested during this operation came from 25 countries, including six from India. Other nationalities included Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and and Ukraine. Of the 364 arrested, 187 had criminal convictions, 16 were women and 346 men and 236 were from Mexico.
From the Chicago area, ICE arrested a 25-year-old man from India in Champaign, Illinois. He was convicted of criminal sexual abuse on July 30 and remains in ICE custody pending his removal.
More than half of the aliens arrested by ERO deportation officers during this operation had prior criminal histories that included convictions for crimes such as assault, attempted murder, burglary, child neglect, child sexual exploitation, domestic violence, drug trafficking and illegal re-entry after deportation.
"This operation targeted criminal aliens, public safety threats, and individuals who have violated our nation's immigration laws," said Ricardo Wong, field office director for ICE ERO Chicago.
Trump administration to reunite migrant families,
but children being abused in care
In this June 17, 2018 photo provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, people who've been taken into custody related to cases of illegal entry into the United States, sit in one of the cages at a facility in McAllen, Texas. (AP)
Julie Watson and Marcos Aleman
Associated Press
The Trump administration is under increasing pressure to speed up the reunification of immigrant families it separated at the Mexican border, following allegations three youngsters were sexually abused while in U.S. custody.
The government of El Salvador said the three, ages 12 to 17, were victimized at shelters in Arizona, and it asked the U.S. to make their return a priority.
"May they leave the shelters as soon as possible, because it is there that they are the most vulnerable," Deputy Foreign Relations Minister Liduvina Magarin said in San Salvador on Thursday.
The U.S. government already is facing heavy criticism over its slow pace in reuniting more than 2,600 children who were separated from their parents last spring before the Trump administration agreed to stop the practice. Most have since been reunited, but hundreds remain apart more than a month after the deadline set by a judge.
Before the Trump administration reversed course, many of the parents had been deported to their home countries while their children remained in shelters in the U.S.
That was just insanity! Good grief!
Attorneys for the U.S. government and the immigrant families discussed how to accelerate the process at a hearing Friday in San Diego in front of U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw, who set the deadline.
Magarin gave few details on the three cases other than to say they involved "sexual violations, sexual abuses." She said her government is ready with lawyers and psychologists to help the families, adding: "The psychological and emotional impact is forever."
"It's unbelievable that children who were fleeing violence here were met in the United States with the worst violence a child could encounter," said Cesar Rios, director of the Salvadoran Migrant Institute.
More information is needed to investigate, the U.S. Department Health and Human Services said in a statement Friday, that adding that "without additional details, we are unable to confirm or deny these allegations took place" at a facility overseen by the Office of Refugee Resettlement. It contracts with nonprofits and other third parties to run shelters for unaccompanied minors arriving at the border.
In trying to reunite families, the Trump administration has put the onus on the American Civil Liberties Union, asking that the organization use its "considerable resources" to find parents in their home countries, mostly Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
The governments of those countries and nonprofit organizations have been trying to locate the families. Those efforts have included posting public notices and putting hotline numbers on billboards in the hope a parent missing a child might see the signs and call.
"Every day that these children are separated and left in government facilities does more damage," said Lee Gelernt, an ACLU attorney representing separated families. "Even if the facilities were palaces, the separation of young children from their parents causes potentially permanent trauma."
The government and ACLU indicated in the hearing Friday that the process should start to speed up.
Gelernt told the judge as many as 200 cases could be resolved in the next week or two. Those include families who want to be reunited in their home countries and those who want to waive their right to reunification and keep their child in the United States to pursue asylum.
The judge also said the administration can expedite cases where families have expressed the desire for the child to be sent back and not worry about it violating a temporary halt on deportations of families seeking asylum.
Justice Department attorney Scott Stewart said the government wants to remove any roadblocks. "There are a lot of folks that want to move forward with reunification," he told the judge.
More than 300 parents who have been deported are waiting for their sons and daughters to be returned to them in their homelands. Many are growing increasingly anxious.
Among them is Evelin Roxana Meyer, whose 11-year-old son, Eduardo Almendarez Meyer, was told this week that he won't be leaving the U.S. until Nov. 27. He has been held at a government-contracted shelter in Brownsville, Texas, since he was separated from his father in early June.
The boy's mother said her husband was told when he signed his deportation papers that his son would be waiting for him in Honduras.
"Now it'll be six months before we see him? Oh my God," Meyer said Friday, crying during a telephone interview from her hometown of La Union. "I don't know why it's taking so long. My son is worried. He tells me, 'More time here, Mommy? Oh, no. Why?' I don't know what to tell him."
Child psychologist Barbara Van Dahlen, founder of Give an Hour, a network of mental health professions that is offering to counsel the separated families, said the reports of abuse are likely to worsen the immigrant parents' anxieties.
"I can't imagine the stress, the anxiety, the terror, if I was separated from my child, and then the thought that possibly some of these kids are being abused," Van Dahlen said. "It would be so debilitating and destructive that it would be hard for some parents to function."
Victim of sexual abuse by firefighters
sues Michigan township, Scouts
By: Barton Deiters CASCADE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — The teen girl who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of a pair of Cascade Township firefighters while working in a mentoring program is suing them, the township and the Boy Scouts of America which initiated the program.
The suit filed Friday includes details from the incidents two years ago that put the firefighters behind bars and led to the oust of the township’s chief and deputy chief.
The girl was 16 when the abuse occurred, and in the suit she is known only as “Jane Doe.” Because she was a teen victim of sexual abuse, 24 Hour News 8 is also not revealing her identity.
Drake and Bell
In June of 2017, Clem Bell and Steven Drake were sentenced to eight months in jail after pleading guilty to child pornography charges for pictures they took and sent the girl.
Bell and Drake met the girl as a result of the Boy Scout’s Explorer program, which put the girl who hoped to become a firefighter at the Cascade firehouse where she would get some training on how real firefighters work.
Instead, she was targeted by Drake and Bell who made lewd sexual advances and entered into a sexual relationship with Drake, a 32-year-old father of two, and Bell, a 51-year-old father of four daughters, one of whom attended school with the victim.
According to court records, Bell’s relationship became more intense as he forbade the girl from seeing boys her age and threatened her if she ended the relationship.
Bell also hired the girl to become his campaign manager in a run for township clerk.
Bell made veiled threats and comments which made Jane believe that he had killed his ex-girlfriend and ex-wife and that he would kill her if she left him, according to the suit.
The suit claims that the township and the scouts failed to train and supervise the firefighters and failed to follow their own rules including limiting her hours at the station where she was the only female there.
The suit claims that other firefighters were concerned about the relationships and reported their concerns to Deputy Fire Chief John Shipley, who allegedly did nothing and would later be fired as a result.
According to the suit, one firefighter forced open a locked door to find Bell and the girl behind it.
The suit says the girl suffered a concussion as a child which caused a slight condition that causes her to have “deep-seated respect for authority figures, and her naivety. Jane had virtually no capacity to resist the advances proposed by Drake and Bell.”
The suit alleged gross negligence and asks for damages, but does not specify how much.
Both Bell and Drake were out of jail after about six months and now continue to live in Kent County according to their Sex Offender Registry entry.
Since the suit was filed on a Friday in Grand Rapids Federal Court, the defendants have not had a chance to see the suit yet, but they have about a month to file a response.
Cascade Twnshp, MI
Texas man faces child sex abuse and child pornography charges following arrest
BY MITCH MITCHELL, mitchmitchell@star-telegram.com
ARLINGTON
An Arlington man was arrested in July and is in jail facing two sexual abuse of a minor charges.
The complaint against Guzman states that he is suspected of possessing a digital file with images of a child who was engaged in sexual conduct and who was younger than 18 when the images were taken.
Information concerning the sexual assault case was not available.
Guzman was arrested on July 27 and is being housed in the Greenbay Unit. Bond on the assault charge was set at $15,000 and bond on the pornography charge was set at $7,500, according to jail records.
Guzman was an administrator and youth football coach at one time with the Arlington Optimist Club, according to a story in the Arlington Voice.
Calls to the Arlington Optimist Club were not immediately returned.
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