Pennsylvania man who admitted raping a child
seeks to withdraw guilty plea
By Carl Hessler Jr. MontcoCourtNews
NORRISTOWN — Just days before his sentencing hearing, a Worcester man filed court documents indicating he wants to withdraw his guilty plea to charges he sexually assaulted an underage girl on multiple occasions while she was in his company at various locations in Philadelphia and Montgomery County, including Plymouth, Elkins Park and Whitemarsh.
Abram Cornell Johnson, 34, of the 1400 block of North Wales Road, through his lawyers, filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea in Montgomery County Court on Monday.
Johnson was scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 2 after he pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges of rape of a child, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse of a child and sexual assault in connection with incidents that occurred between 1998 and 2016 when the victim was between the ages of 4 and 22.
Good grief! 18 years starting from age 4!
“The defendant now seeks to withdraw his guilty plea and have the matter scheduled for trial. The defendant maintains, as he has since his arrest, that he should be found not guilty of some or all of these charges,” defense lawyer Matthew Sedacca wrote in court papers.
It’s unclear if Judge Leonard N. Zito, a senior judge from Northampton County, will hold a hearing on the request. An out-of-county judge was assigned to preside over the case because Johnson is known by a member of the Montgomery County bench.
Under state law, judges have the discretion to permit defendants to withdraw a guilty plea at any time before the imposition of a sentence, Sedacca argued.
Previously, Zito allowed Johnson to remain free on bail pending the sentencing hearing. Johnson had to surrender his passport as a condition of bail. Zito also ordered Johnson to have no contact with the victim or her family.
Johnson potentially faces decades in prison on the charges.
Is this just a way to delay the inevitable? Is he assuming that he will continue to remain free on bail until the trial is concluded?
After Johnson’s guilty plea, Assistant District Attorney Erika Lyn Wevodau indicated she’d seek at least a 10-year mandatory prison term that is available under law to prosecutors for the charge of rape of a child. Wevodau argued the multiple incidences of abuse and the longevity of the abuse warranted a lengthy prison sentence.
Is she serious? 10 years for 18 years of rape starting as a toddler? Maybe 10 years for each year of rape would be more appropriate.
An investigation began in December 2016, when a woman reported to the Plymouth Township Police Department that she had been sexually assaulted by Johnson over the course of several years at various times while she was in his company.
The woman told detectives that at the age of 4 she resided in Philadelphia and that Johnson, who knew her family, sexually assaulted her and raped her on at least one occasion while he was at her home, according to the criminal complaint filed by Plymouth Detective Joseph LaPenta III.
The victim reported that between the ages of 6 and 14 she resided at another Philadelphia residence and that Johnson sexually assaulted her “over a hundred times” when he visited that residence during those years, court papers indicate.
The victim told detectives that when she was between the ages of 14 and 16 her family lived in Elkins Park and she said Johnson “would figure out when no one would be home” and visit her. The victim claimed Johnson also occasionally took her to his Blue Bell residence at that time and sexually assaulted her there, according to the arrest affidavit.
Other sexual assaults occurred while the victim was living at a Plymouth residence when she was between 16- and 18-years of age and later at her Whitemarsh residence, detectives alleged.
During the December 2016 investigation, the victim consented to an intercepted phone call with Johnson and prosecutors approved the wiretap after determining the victim’s consent was given freely and voluntarily, according to court documents. That recorded call between the victim and Johnson occurred on Dec. 15, 2016, court documents indicate.
“During the conversation, Johnson admits to having sexual relations with (the victim) while she was a teenager, but later said the sexual assaults began when she was seven years of age,” LaPenta alleged.
“Johnson repeatedly apologizes for his actions during the entire conversation. Johnson goes on to state his past actions have done damage and admits to starting something and not stopping it,” LaPenta alleged in the arrest affidavit.
Tennessee man sentenced for possessing
child porn in federal prison
The Associated Press
CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — A federal prison inmate from Knoxville, Tennessee, already serving time for trafficking in child pornography has received another lengthy term for possessing child sex abuse images and videos inside the prison.
Federal prosecutors in New Jersey say Charles Wesley Bush received a 10-year sentence Monday, a term he will serve after his current sentence is completed. The 38-year-old Knoxville, Tennessee man had pleaded guilty in May.
Prosecutors say Bush was among several Fort Dix inmates who used contraband cellphones and removable storage cards to share child porn. Six other inmates have pleaded guilty to similar charges.
Bush admitted having a memory card with 2,471 images and 95 videos of child porn, some of which depicted prepubescent children. He also admitted using a smartphone to view and possess child porn.
He in prison after being sentence on child pornography charges in federal court in Knoxville in August, 2013. Bush was indicted in October, 2012, and pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Knoxville in March, 2013.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, authorities learned about Bush because he was distributing child pornography through the Internet. A check of his computer showed there were more than 200 images of child porn and 299 video files of child porn.
The FBI investigated the case Knoxville case.
Wisconsin man charged with child sexual assault
Beloit Daily News
JANESVILLE - A Janesville man has been charged for an alleged sexual assault of a child under the age of 16, according to a Rock County criminal complaint.
Eric M. Mongeon, 33, is charged with two counts of sexual assault of a child under the age of 16 for alleged incidents that occurred in September of this year, the complaint said.
Mongeon was convicted in 2014 of being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to court records. He faces maximum penalties of $100,000 in fines and 40 years in prison for both assault counts.
An Esteemed NY Doctor, Child Sexual Abuse Claims
and a Hospital That Knew for Years
By Christina Goldbaum
For almost 30 years, parents sought out Dr. Reginald Archibald when their children would not grow. They came to his clinic at The Rockefeller University Hospital, a prominent New York research institution, where he treated and studied children who were small for their age.
He also may have sexually abused many of them.
The hospital sent a letter last month to former patients of Dr. Archibald asking about their contact with him. Ten days later, on Oct. 5, it posted a statement online saying it had evidence of the doctor’s “inappropriate” behavior with some patients and that it first had learned of credible allegations against him in 2004. The letter went out to as many as 1,000 people, said a former patient who spoke with a hospital administrator.
Dr. Archibald, an endocrinologist who spent most of his career at Rockefeller, died in 2007. His son, Larry, declined to comment. “This doesn’t make any sense to me,” he said.
The New York Times spoke with 17 people, most of them men, who said they were abused by Dr. Archibald when they were young boys or adolescents. Most of them learned of the possibility of other victims for the first time when they received the letter. A few, however, said they had filed complaints with the hospital or authorities in the past, but their allegations were not investigated.
“To know that they knew about this in 2004 and didn’t reach out to people, it’s absolutely outrageous,” said Matt Harris, now 58, a former patient of Dr. Archibald.
The men all described similar experiences with Dr. Archibald, who would tell them to disrobe when they were alone in his examination room. He would masturbate them or ask them to masturbate, sometimes to ejaculation.
The doctor took pictures of them, while they were naked, with a Polaroid camera, and measured their penises both flaccid and erect, the men said.
Their stories paint a picture of an esteemed doctor who wielded great authority with parents desperate to help their children and patients too young to know the difference between legitimate medical practice and molestation. The alleged abuse would have occurred in an era in which few safeguards existed for those patients.
“You are robbed of knowing what’s real and what’s not real. That’s the real cost of this thing,” said Mr. Harris, who, like many of the patients who spoke with The Times, has talked to a lawyer.
In response to questions from The Times, the hospital said in a statement Thursday that after the letters were sent, it heard from many former patients alleging abuse. The hospital said it has set up a fund to provide counseling for the victims.
“We are appalled to hear those accounts of Dr. Archibald’s reprehensible behavior. We deeply regret pain and suffering caused to any of Dr. Archibald’s former patients,” the statement read.
A hospital spokesman declined to answer questions about when the hospital first learned of the allegations and why it did not try to contact a wider array of former patients earlier. In its earlier statement, the hospital said that in 2004, it received an allegation of “impropriety” during Dr. Archibald’s physical examinations, which it did not specify.
The hospital said it informed the Manhattan district attorney’s office, the state office that oversees medical conduct and a federal research agency. It also hired Debevoise & Plimpton, a law firm, to investigate. The inquiry turned up two additional reports dating to the 1990s.
Earlier this year, separate allegations against Dr. Archibald were reported to the hospital, which again hired Debevoise & Plimpton. “Based on its investigation, the law firm concluded that some of Dr. Archibald’s behaviors involving these patients were inappropriate,” the statement said.
The hospital said it has scrubbed Dr. Archibald’s name from its web pages and rescinded his emeritus status.
The possibility of a large number of victims could pose a serious financial threat to the research institution. Under current New York law, the statute of limitations for victims to sue the hospital has long passed.
But a proposed change to the law, supported by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, would lengthen the statute of limitations for filing criminal charges and civil suits in child sexual abuse cases, and crucially, create a one-year window in which all victims could sue, regardless of when the abuse happened. The
legislation has been held up in the State Senate and is vigorously opposed by institutions, including the Roman Catholic Church, which has argued that the one-year window could lead to catastrophic financial damage.
NY State Senate works for the Catholic Church, their insurers, the Boy Scouts and their insurers, and for themselves. They certainly are not the least concerned about the thousands of people sexually abused as children under the Catholic or Boy Scouts umbrella. And they will not be the least concerned about Dr Archibald's victims.
Dr. Archibald worked as a doctor, researcher and professor at The Rockefeller University Hospital from 1941 to 1946 and again from 1948 to 1980. He kept his affiliation with the institution, as an emeritus, until 1987.
His former patients remembered him as avuncular and authoritative, with white hair as he grew older. They also remembered his strange methods. Their allegations suggest a pattern of sexual abuse from the 1950s through the 1970s among patients as young as 6 and as old as 17.
Michael Manfre, now 57, recalled Dr. Archibald asking him to masturbate when he was about 12 years old and then doing it himself. “Keep trying,” Mr. Manfre, of Massapequa, N.Y., remembered Dr. Archibald saying, encouraging him to ejaculate.
Mr. Harris, who now lives in Port Washington, N.Y., said that during a visit in the 1970s, the doctor massaged the area between his testes and anus, asking if it felt good.
Many of Dr. Archibald’s patients were short for their age, and their parents worried about the teasing and shame they might experience in school if they hit puberty years behind their peers.
Dr. Archibald was known as a growth specialist who administered hormones, such as testosterone, which he hypothesized could help spur puberty and increase the height children would reach. To better understand children’s growth and create a control group, he often had siblings come to the clinic, former patients said.
Taking measurements of boys’ genitals when doctors were concerned about delayed puberty was considered normal until the 1980s or 1990s, said Dr. Howard Markel, a professor of medical history at the University of Michigan. But doing so when they were erect, asking them to masturbate, particularly while the doctor was present, was not considered acceptable, even at that time, he said.
Nearly every victim remembered having to strip naked, stand against a wall and hold their palms out facing forward while Dr. Archibald took photographs. One patient provided a copy of a release signed by that person’s mother giving Rockefeller permission to photograph her child “for the advancement of medical science.”
At least two articles published by Dr. Archibald contain pictures of naked boys in the stance described by these victims. One of those articles also contains close-ups of the boys’ genitals.
While almost every alleged victim said the abuse occurred in the doctor’s examination room, one described a dark encounter far away from the hospital. A 58-year-old Brooklyn man said he believed Dr. Archibald raped him on a trip to the doctor’s Canadian summer home.
The former patient, who asked to be identified only by his first name, John, because of the nature of the alleged assault, said Dr. Archibald watched him masturbate during examinations at the hospital. But one summer, when he was about 13, the doctor convinced his parents to let John accompany him to the house.
One of Dr. Archibald’s former neighbors in Pelham, N.Y., who visited the lake, recalled that every year Dr. Archibald would take a young boy to help prepare the wooden cabins for his family’s visit.
John said Dr. Archibald tried to shower with him at a motel on the two-day trip to the house but he ran out of the bathroom. Once they arrived, John said, he believed Dr. Archibald drugged and raped him. He angrily insisted on being taken home, he said.
Dr. Archibald spent only two years of his career away from Rockefeller when, in 1946, he took a job at Johns Hopkins University.
It is unknown how many children participated in Dr. Archibald’s studies.
He maintained records of an estimated 9,000 patients who visited him and other doctors at Rockefeller, according to one victim who said she met with a hospital official and three attorneys representing the hospital in September.
That victim said those attorneys and Dr. Barry Coller, the hospital’s physician in chief, told her that the hospital sent letters to more than 1,000 former patients they were able to identify and locate.
The hospital would not comment on how many former patients received a letter.
Six more child sex abuse charges for Louisiana teacher
By: Jonathon Freeman
BOSSIER PARISH, La. (KTAL) - The Bossier Parish elementary school physical education teacher who was arrested last week on child sex crimes has been charged with six additional sex crimes involving six children.
On Friday afternoon, Bossier Sheriff’s Office detectives charged Aubrey “Perry” Norcross, 47, with four counts of molestation of a juvenile and two counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile. He remains incarcerated in the Bossier Maximum Security Facility where he faces a total bond of $2,000,000.
“Our detectives are continuing a thorough and detailed investigation in this child sex abuse case that has impacted our community,” said Sheriff Whittington. “While I know it’s painful for these young victims and their families to come forward and tell their stories, I commend them for their bravery in the midst of this difficult time. This perpetrator is behind bars, and they can begin their own healing process.
“The support our detectives are receiving from the educators and leadership at Bossier Parish Schools and the incredible professionals at the Gingerbread House is phenomenal,” said Sheriff Whittington. Bossier detectives are conducting interviews with other young people and family members, and Sheriff Whittington encourages anyone who was sexually abused by this man to please contact the Bossier Sheriff’s Office at (318) 965-2203.
“We will not rest until all victims are heard,” stressed Sheriff Whittington.
Norcross also faces a lawsuit along with the Bossier Parish School Board.
The lawsuit says the school board failed to train teachers and employees about awareness and recognition of sexual misconduct by other employees. They also say school agents should have known about what they call Norcross 'corrupt behavior' and the school district failed to protect students from him. There was not a specific amount of money asked in the lawsuit. The lawsuit says the Bossier School Board is responsible for all medical expenses, pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life.
The school district issued a statement saying they can't comment on pending litigation.
Bossier Parish, LA
Man charged with child sex abuse gets
12-month sentence in New Hampshire
Michael Mortensen
LACONIA — A local man, accused of sexual activity with a child, was will spend at least 10 months in confinement after pleading guilty in Belknap Superior Court Friday.
Justin Thomas, 22, of 72 Batchelder St., in Laconia, pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a minor and possession of a sex abuse image.
On the endangerment charge, Judge Gillian Abramson sentenced Thomas to 12 months in the House of Correction with two months suspended on condition of seven years good behavior. On the sex abuse image charge, Abramson handed down a 3½- to seven-year sentence with all the time suspended, also on condition of seven years good behavior. The suspended sentence will begin once Thomas is released from confinement.
According to court records, Thomas allegedly used the internet in 2016 to lure a then-12-year-old girl to meet him and and then enticed her to perform various sex acts while he recorded them visually.
As part of his sentence Thomas is required to submit to sex offender assessment and treatment. He will also be on probation for two years after he is released, and will then have to register as a sexual offender.
As part of the negotiated plea, the Belknap County Attorney’s Office decided not to prosecute Thomas on five other counts of possession of child abuse images, another count of endangering the welfare of a minor, and a charge of using a computer to pursue an opportunity to commit sexual assault.
RN, nursing assistant (Mother & Daughter) enter pleas in PA child sexual abuse case
By John Beauge
Special to PennLive
WILLIAMSPORT -- A registered nurse and a certified nursing assistant pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct charges in a case in which they were accused of failing to report sexual activity involving youngsters.
Arlene Poust, 58, and daughter Tiffany Marie Poust, 23, both of Williamsport, were immediately sentenced Friday by Lycoming County Judge Marc F. Lovecchio. Each was placed each on six months' probation and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service.
They have had their nursing licenses suspended, although Tiffany Poust no longer works in that field, the judge was told.
Each was facing more serious charges but District Attorney Kenneth Osokow said there was a significant issue whether some of them were applicable. He said he offered the plea agreement to avoid the possibility of an appeal if they were convicted of those charges.
Requests to place them an accelerated rehabilitative disposition program were denied, he said
The charges that were dismissed following sentencing were based on the Pousts, due to their jobs, being required by law to report allegations of child abuse.
The Pousts were charged after parents of 5- and 3-year-old girls said they failed to report sexual activity that boys ages 14 and 6 had with the girls and 4 -year-old child.
Charging documents alleged that the Pousts were aware of the sexual activity, which occurred in early November 2015 in a small camper and playhouse in Williamsport's East End, but did not report it.
The two Pousts and Thomas Post, 69, were initially all charged with endangering the welfare of children. The charges against Thomas Poust, later were withdrawn.
The two women also were charged with failure to report suspected child abuse. Arlene Poust's failure to cooperate was the basis of a charge of obstruction in child abuse cases, police said.
The 14-year-old boy was charged as a juvenile with rape, police said.
The parents of the two girls in 2016 pleaded guilty to simple assault charges for attacking Tiffany Poust because she had not reported the abuse.
Would have been nice to know why the Pousts failed to report.
Tennessee man arrested on murder,
child sex abuse charges
News Courier
A man who told cops he accidentally shot and killed his wife in January was arrested Friday on warrants after a grand jury indicted him on murder and sexual abuse charges, according to the Limestone County Sheriff's Office.
On Jan. 25, Athens Police officers responded to a shooting in the 2000 block of Levert Avenue. They found 35-year-old Cheryl L. Holt dead in a living room from a gunshot wound. Chief Floyd Johnson told The News Courier at the time that Holt's husband, later identified 30-year-old Thomas Edward Green, admitted to accidentally shooting Holt.
LCSO investigators received a report April 11 from the Limestone County Department of Human Resources accusing Green of inappropriate sexual contact with a 3-year-old family member, according to Public Information Officer Stephen Young. Young said the incident occurred at Green's residence in Elkmont.
"Green was interviewed about the complaint, and he admitted to having the child in his home around the time investigators believed that the incident occurred," Young said. "... Green has not had any contact with the child since the allegations came to light."
Young said the cases were presented to a grand jury last week. Green, whose address is now listed as 9 Franklin Road in Ardmore, Tennessee, is being held in the Limestone County Jail on one count of murder and one count of sex abuse of a child under 12. Bond is set at $45,000.
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