Legislative session ends without reform to laws for PA child sex abuse victims
Child-buying, Texas, sex abuser back on streets
Another year wasted! Another disgraceful display of pork-barrel politics that governs in the interest of the governors rather than those they govern.
With the end of the legislative session this week, efforts to reform child sex crime laws have failed again. Victims say they will take up the fight in January. (Sean Simmers | ssimmers@pennlive.com)
By Ivey DeJesus | idejesus@pennlive.com
In recent years, at least four major grand jury investigations have urged Pennsylvania lawmakers to reform the statute of limitations as one of the remedies to the decades-old sexual abuse of thousands of children at the hands of Catholic priests.
In the wake of each report, lawmakers have toiled to do as much.
Seriously? I suspect many lawmakers have toiled more so to prevent any meaningful reform. PA and NY legislators are disgraceful and ought to be ashamed of their incredible selfishness.
As of Wednesday, each of those legislative efforts in the General Assembly have failed.
The state Senate met for one last time on Wednesday to tend to formalities: electing caucus leaders and hearing farewell speeches from lawmakers who are retiring or were voted out of office.
But the months-long efforts to craft a legislative tool by which victims could bring old cases to court was put to rest.
The latest legislative session, which saw the release of the summer’s grand jury report into widespread clergy sex abuse in Pennsylvania, has adjourned with no action taken on the four recommendations handed by state investigators.
One key recommendation focused on providing a two-year window for victims to file lawsuits in cases that have gone beyond the statute of limitations. Under Pennsylvania law, victims of child sexual abuse must pursue criminal cases by the age of 50 and file lawsuits by the age of 30. Lawmakers have agreed on eliminating the age requirement for criminal cases but have clashed over allowing victims in decades-old cases to sue.
“It’s disappointing for victims,” said Rep. Mark Rozzi, the Berks County Democrat who has become the poster face for reform.
“They’ve been waiting for so long and the fight is so real,” said Rozzi, himself a victim of clergy sex abuse. “It’s such a struggle for so many victims...to have the Senate fail us once again shows the power of the Catholic Church and the insurance federation.”
Jennifer Kocher, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre County, said the Senate remains committed to addressing all four of the grand jury’s recommendations.
Kocher on Wednesday said the Senate is looking at “different alternatives for being able to provide (a two-year window).”
“We’ve never shied away from saying that we would consider a constitutional amendment or anything along those lines," Kocher said. "I think that all kinds of those things are on the table at this point.”
The battle in Harrisburg
The final weeks of the outgoing session this fall played out amid heightened calls from victims and advocates for reform.
This time around, Pennsylvania had been thrust at the center of the global conversation on clergy sex abuse with the release this summer of the findings of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury.
The grand jury, which found widespread historic sexual abuse of children at the hands of priests and the cover-up by church officials, specifically called for a change in the laws that determine the accessibility of the courts for victims.
Jurors laid out four concrete recommendations aimed at ensuring such abuse never happened again:
The elimination of criminal statutes for child sex abuse
Creation of a two-year window for civil action
The enactment of new laws that specify that confidentiality agreements do not cover conversations with law enforcement
The clarification of penalties for continuing failure to report child sex abuse
Other than a handful of cases, the majority of abuse cases documented by investigators fall outside the statute of limitations.
But the most recent showdown to reform the law culminated in October. Last month, one measure - Senate Bill 261 - contained some but not all of the bullet points laid out in the grand jury report. The bill failed to garner enough support.
Senate leadership came under fierce attack by opponents and victims when a proposal emerged that would have barred victims from suing churches or dioceses. Under the proposal, victims would have to limit their lawsuits under the retroactive window to individual perpetrators.
Victims held on to a thread of hope, however, that lawmakers - which had recessed for the midterm election - would reconvene this week and vote on Senate Bill 261.
Given that the Senate traditionally does not take up legislation in lame duck sessions, the hope had little chance.
Kocher, however, signaled the Senate’s willingness to continue to work in the upcoming session.
“We want to try to move forward with eliminating the criminal statute of limitations on child sex crimes,” she said. “We want to move forward with all of those good things in the bill and if we can get to the four recommendations from the grand jury we’re still committed to taking a serious look at that.”
Victims say they intend to come back in January at the start of the new legislative term with equal - if not invigorated - resolve.
“We are going to go for the window,” said Rozzi, referring to the two-year retroactive window component that has largely been the sticking point in recent years in reforming the statute of limitations. “I know we have the votes in the House.”
after parents win lottery
Registered sex offender Jason Wayne Carlile was being held at the Wichita County Jail, facing one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of 14. He previously served time for buying a 15-year-old girl and has a separate conviction for indecency with a child.
The 47-year-old had been held in the jail since December 2017, but he was bailed out this week on a $100,000 bond after his parents won $15.25 million on the lottery, the Times Record News reports.
His trial is scheduled to begin next month and he has pleaded not guilty. During the latest hearing in the case, prosecutors argued he is a flight risk because he now has access to a large sum of money.
They noted that he previously fled to Mexico when charges were pending in his cases. He was only caught because he had to receive medical treatment following a motorbike accident, the local newspaper reports.
Because of this, the judge placed restrictions on the predator. Court documents say he must surrender his passport to prosecutors, he must wear a GPS monitor, and he has been handed a daily curfew from 7pm to 10am. He must also stay in Wichita County and live at an apartment in Wichita Falls.
In 2007, Carlile was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to buying a teenage girl for $3,000. The child’s mother was also convicted and sentenced to three years behind bars.
Would you bail your son if he was a known pedophile? Would you put more young girls at risk for your son?
New Jersey stalker put video camera
in woman's shower
Alex N. Gecan, Asbury Park Press in woman's shower
LAKEWOOD - Police have arrested a man they believe stalked a woman for three years and installed a video camera in her shower — in part because the woman herself fought back with surveillance videos of her own.
Shortly before noon Tuesday, members of the Lakewood Civilian Safety Watch (LCSW) contacted police about "a possible burglary in progress," according to a prepared statement from police Lt. LeRoy Marshall. Police went to a Pawnee Road home where they found and arrested Farkas "without incident."
Police surmised that Farkas "had been stalking the female victim for approximately three years," Marshall wrote. "On three separate occasions, Farkas illegally entered the victim's residence."
Police believe Farkas entered the woman's home on Monday "and installed a small camera in her bathroom facing the the shower," Marshall wrote Tuesday. "The victim located the video recording device, which prompted her to install surveillance cameras in the home last night."
On Tuesday morning the woman was watching a live feed from her own cameras "when she observed Farkas burglarize her residence once again," Marshall wrote. "She alerted her husband and the LCSW, who in turn contacted the police."
Police Detective Michael P. Cavallo led the investigation with help from officers Jason R. Yahr and Kevin M. Bell, Marshall said. The High Tech Crimes Unit from the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office and crime scene investigators from the Ocean County Sheriff's Office also worked on the investigation.
"Special thanks to LCSW for their prompt notification to the Police Department," Marshall wrote.
Texas jail employee arrested on child sex abuse allegations
By MARK REAGANThe Texas Department of Public Safety arrested a Carrizales-Rucker Detention Center employee on Nov. 9 and charged the man with continuous sexual abuse of a child.
DPS Spokesman Lt. Johnny Hernandez said the arrest was made in a joint investigation with the Brownsville Police Department and referred media inquiries to the BPD.
As of early Tuesday afternoon, Trevino was still being held at the county jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond.
Court records associate a Los Fresnos address with Trevino and indicate that Magistrate Judge Fabian Limas Jr. issued an emergency protective order in the case.
Reno Man Found Guilty of 17 Counts of
Child Sexual Abuse
The Washoe County District Attorney's Office says a Reno man will be sentenced next January after being convicted last week on 17 counts of child sexual abuse.
Authorities say in July 2017, a 14-year-old girl reported that she had been sexually abused for the past five years and an investigation led them to Fluckiger.
Detectives arrested 55-year-old Jeffrey Lynn Fluckiger after searching his home and business.
Prosecutors said Fluckiger recorded some of the incidents with the victim.
Colorado Springs man accused of child sexual assault, police seek other victims
By: Hanna Knutson COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Colorado Springs police arrested 57-year-old Daniel Armstrong in connection to sexually assaulting a child several years ago.
The investigation culminated with Crimes Against Children detectives obtaining a search warrant for Armstrong's arrest, charging him with sexual assault on a child and sexual exploitation of children. Despite their efforts, detectives were unable to locate and arrest Armstrong.
On July 7, 2018, CSPD learned Armstrong was arrested in Douglas, Kansas. While Armstrong remained in custody, detectives continued to develop information indicating Armstrong may have sexually assaulted other juveniles.
This secondary investigation lead to authorities obtaining a warrant for Armstrong's arrest, charging him with sexual assault on a child. The warrant was executed on Armstrong in mid-September 2018 while he was still being held at the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center.
Anyone with information or is a witness to this investigation is asked to call CSPD at (719) 444-7000; or if you wish to remain anonymous, you may call Crime Stoppers Tip line at (719) 634-7867.
Wisconsin man appears in court on charges
of child sexual assault
JUNEAU — A 39-year-old Watertown man made his initial appearance in Dodge County Circuit Court on Monday after being charged with sexually assaulting two teenage girls while they were staying over at someone’s home.
Lord appeared before Court Commissioner Steven Seim and was placed on a $1,000 cash bond. As conditions of his bond, he may not have contact with the alleged victims or any minor girl.
According to the criminal complaint, a 16-year-old girl reported the assault last summer to Watertown Police. The girl told police that on the night of the incident, the two girls were sleeping on the floor in a finished basement area in a family member’s home. Lord, who was also staying at the home, returned from a night out and began touching her. She said she left the area to sleep in a different area of the house. The other girl, who was 9 at the time, remained sleeping in the room. The girl said a while later, the other girl also came up stairs and said that Lord had inappropriately touched her as well.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 3.
Iowa man charged in sexual abuse of 8 y/o boy
Times staffA man was booked into the Scott County Jail Tuesday morning after police say he sexually abused an 8-year-old in Eldridge in September.
Bond was set at $25,000 cash-only. He has a preliminary hearing Nov. 21. A $15,000 cash-only warrant was issued for Corbin by the Scott County Sheriff’s Office in October. According to an arrest affidavit filed in Scott County District Court, the incident happened around 11 p.m. Sept. 7 in Eldridge.
Corbin fondled the child, who was lying on a bed playing on an electronic device, according to the affidavit.
The child's father observed Corbin put the child's legs in his lap and place his hand by the mid-section of the child underneath a blanket, according to the affidavit.
When confronted by the child’s father, Corbin said he was fixing something on the electronic device, according to the affidavit.
Right, 'cause you always do that under a blanket!
He was questioned at the scene and said that he did not touch the child in an inappropriate way, according to the affidavit.
'Punished' for being sexually abused in PA:
Jehovah's Witnesses' culture of cover-up
Jehovah's Witnesses' culture of cover-up
One Survivor's Story
Mike Argento, York Daily RecordSarah Brooks was 17, riding in her dad’s pickup, when she told him.
She had always been a daddy’s girl, she said. She was a tomboy growing up, playing with the boys, and later, when she could wield a wrench, working on cars with her dad. After some detours in life, she would work as a welder. She liked working with her hands, and she and her dad were close.
It was hard to tell her dad. She knew what had been happening to her was wrong. She knew that it needed to stop. She felt deep shame and deep guilt. She was the victim, but still, she felt that what had happened to her was her fault, that she was a horrible, dirty person. She knew there would be consequences. The people who did those things to her had warned her not to tell, they said that if she did, she would be ruining lives and that nobody would believe her and that she would be the one to suffer in the end.
Still, she needed to tell. It was wrong. Something had to be done. So, she told.
Sarah told her dad that Joshua and Jennifer had sexually abused her over a period of months, starting when she was 15. Joshua was Joshua Caldwell, a friend from church. Jennifer was Jennifer McVey, married to Sarah’s brother and having an affair with Caldwell. Caldwell was 12 years older than Sarah; McVey, six. Sarah had been working for the couple cleaning out houses that were in foreclosure.
She had met them through their church, the Yorkana Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and thought that working for them would be safe and good, the church being a close and cloistered community.
Sarah Brooks and her family attended Yorkana's Kingdom Hall in Hellam Township. When Sarah was 15, she started to be abused by members of the faith, leading her down a dark path. She suffered with depression and anxiety, and tried to kill herself twice.
(Photo: Ty Lohr, York Daily Record)
Her family had lengthy history in the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The church, and its community, was their life. They had little contact with the outside world, staying with their own, save for going door-to-door to convince others that their religion was the one and true path to salvation in these, the final days of human history.
When they arrived home, her father told her to go to her room while he discussed what she had told him with her mother. Her parents called two of the elders of the church – the Jehovah’s Witnesses doesn’t have professional clergy, leaving the shepherding of the flock to appointed elders, members of the congregation – who came to the house and questioned Sarah.
They sat in the living room – Sarah, her parents and the two elders, who happened to be Caldwell’s father-in-law and brother-in-law – while the elders interviewed her, asking her questions about what had happened, making her provide details of the most shameful and intimate secrets she had been warned not to divulge. She told them about the sexual games they played in the work truck and at job sites. She told them about Caldwell and McVey coming to her home and abusing her, separately and together. She told them everything. They went over it again and again, making her tell them, again and again, about what happened.
It felt like she was dying, Sarah recalled. As she was interrogated, she had a sinking, heavy feeling in her stomach. She was terrified.
“I don’t know if there’s a word to describe it,” she said, telling the story recently on the deck of her home in southern York County. "Everything was so fresh and raw, and they kept making me repeat it and repeat it and repeat it.”
She felt terrible, humiliated, embarrassed, shamed. At the end of it, she still felt terrible, but at least she felt that she had done the right thing, that the abuse would stop and that the elders would give her justice by punishing her abusers.
She was the victim. She would be OK, she thought. She trusted her church would do the right thing.
She was wrong.
‘A recipe for child abuse’
As the attention of the world focused on the sexual abuse scandal involving the Catholic Church, there was another scandal brewing in a considerably smaller faith group, the Jehovah’s Witnesses. It follows many of the same themes – mostly, holding the reputation of the organization over the regard for the well-being of victims – that have been exposed in a number of such scandals, from the Vatican to the Boy Scouts to the Penn State football program to USA Gymnastics, a conclusion drawn from resolved criminal and civil court cases and interviews with survivors of abuse and former members of the church.
“They believe that they are separate from the world,” said Mark O’Donnell, a former Witness from Baltimore who has researched cases of child abuse in the church and has published a number of articles about abuse under the pen name of John Redwood. “They control every aspect of their members’ lives.”
And being separate from that world means, in cases of child sexual abuse, not cooperating with authorities when such cases come to light, he said, choosing instead to handle them within the walls of the Kingdom Hall.
In instances in which cases are referred to secular law enforcement, resulting in the issuance of a search warrant, the Jehovah’s Witnesses are reluctant to turn over notes and records of meetings with abuse victims, making it more difficult for authorities to investigate such cases.
And in some cases, the victims of abuse, in addition to facing repeated questioning by church elders, were punished themselves, their punishment announced to the congregation.
“It’s a very closed society,” said Barbara Anderson, a former researcher for the Jehovah’s Witnesses who has cataloged numerous cases of child sexual abuse within the church. “They want to keep everything inside.”
Like the Catholic Church, there is, I believe, a culture of rape in Jehovah's Witness cult. Read the definition here and see if you agree:
Rape culture is a sociological concept for a setting in which rape is pervasive and normalized due to societal attitudes about gender and sexuality. Behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming, slut-shaming, sexual objectification, trivializing rape, denial of widespread rape, refusing to acknowledge the harm caused by sexual violence, or some combination of these. Wikipedia
You can continue reading the excellent report in the York Daily Record.
Indy Police conducting internal investigation related to USA Gymnastic sex abuse case
WTHR.COM STAFFAn Indianapolis Metro police child sex crimes investigator is at the center of an internal probe that's linked to the USA Gymnastics scandal.
That probe will help determine what IMPD child abuse investigator Bruce Smith knew about allegations and the departmental response.
Despite reportedly admitting friendship with a gymnastics top official, Smith denies any wrongdoing.
He will remain on the job during the internal investigation.
Michigan investigation nets online
child sexual-abuse suspect
BY JAMES GEMMELL, DETROIT, Mich. — A Michigan State Police task force out of Grand Rapids began online, undercover conversations with a child sexual-abuse suspect earlier this fall. MSP says that has resulted in formal charges being read this week against Nicholas Thaier Mukhtar, a 29-year-old Detroit resident.
A search warrant later was executed at the suspect’s Detroit home on November 9th, “and devices and evidence pertaining to the investigation were located. Mukhtar was arrested at the scene.”
MSP says the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office charged Mukhtar with two counts of distributing child sexually abusive material, two counts of possessing child sexually abusive material, two counts of communicating with another to commit a felony, and two counts of using a computer to commit a crime.
Mukhtar was arraigned on November 11th in 36th District Court, and bond was set at $75,000.
There are many resources available to parents to assist in keeping children safe online. The NCMEC provides a comprehensive list of resources on their website . If you have information regarding possible child sexual exploitation, report it to the CyberTipline.
Police Arrest Nevada Man on
Child Sexual Assault Charges
Sparks Police say they have arrested a 35-year-old Sparks man on multiple charges of child sexual assault and minor lewdness.Police say they started investigating the suspect, Nathanial Rhodes in September. Rhodes was then arrested on Halloween.
If you have any information, call Sparks Police Detectives at 353-2225 or Secret Witness at 322-4900, or text your tip to 847411. Your information will remain anonymous.
The investigation remains ongoing.
I'm guessing he's not exactly a Rhodes Scholar.
Tennessee man sentenced to 178 years in prison
in child sex abuse case
Author: WBIR Staff
Marvin D. Bullock was sentenced Tuesday. He was convicted by a Campbell County Jury.
He had been charged with more then 50 counts of CSA. (5th story on link)
He was convicted of five counts of rape of a child, five counts of rape, three counts of sexual battery by an authority figure, one count of solicitation of sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, one count of aggravated sexual battery, and one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child over a two-day trial on June 25, 2018, according to the 8th Judicial District Attorney General's Office.
Idaho man married homeless woman
to sexually abuse her daughter
This is, unfortunately, not a one-off. This happens more often than you would believe. Pedophiles will go to extraordinary lengths to get at children.
Associated Press
BOISE - A Boise man who had more than 30,000 child pornography files and used his wife's daughter to produce child pornography has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The Idaho Press newspaper reports that 29-year-old Justin Anderson received the sentence Tuesday in Fourth District Court.A jury in July convicted Anderson of 28 criminal counts that included lewd conduct with a child, sexual abuse, and sexual exploitation.
Prosecutors say Anderson married a homeless woman in what appeared to be a ploy to sexually abuse her five-year-old daughter.
Judge Deborah Bail says she rarely imposes life sentences, but Anderson presented such an extraordinary risk that such a sentence was needed to protect children.
Good for you, Judge.
Anderson declined to speak at the sentencing hearing.
Old Kentucky Man Arrested for Child Pornography and Sexual Abuse
By Editor, The Meade County Messenger
On Wednesday, November 7, Kentucky State Police (KSP) Post 4 detectives executed a search warrant at a residence in Brandenburg that lead to the arrest of a 81-year-old man.
Apparently, messages are very brief in Meade County.From Elizabethtown News-Enterprise
With assistance from Brandenburg police, KSP executed a search warrant Wednesday at the residence of Floyd Collins on Park Lane. He subsequently was arrested and charged with 20 counts of possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor and first-degree sexual abuse of victim younger than 12 years of age.
Collins was lodged in the Meade County Detention Center.
The investigation by KSP Post 4, which is ongoing, has been underway for four months, according to a KSP news release issued Friday evening announcing the arrest.
Iowa City Police arrest man on charges of sexual abusing a 3 y/o girl
Hillary Ojeda, Iowa City Press-CitizenIowa City Police arrested a man after he allegedly sexually abused a three-year-old girl, Nov. 13.
Police say the child was taken to the hospital for testing, where evidence was collected and DNA results showed Harrison's DNA on the child's underwear and body.
The report says Harrison has a prior conviction for lascivious acts with a child in Polk County on May 2, 1996.
He obviously didn't get any smarter in 22 years.
He is being held at the Johnson County Jail and his bond has not yet been determined.
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