Ex-Baylor frat president indicted on 4 counts of sex assault won't go to prison
Caution: Graphic and disturbing details follow
Caution: Graphic and disturbing details follow
By Holly Yan and Tina Burnside, CNN
Even though Jacob Walter Anderson was indicted on four counts of sexual assault, the ex-fraternity president won't spend a single day in prison.
Instead, a plea agreement allowed the former Baylor University student to plead no contest to a lesser charge of unlawful restraint.
That means if the 24-year-old successfully completes three years of deferred probation and pays a $400 fine, his criminal record will be wiped clean of the charge, CNN affiliate KWKT said.
Anderson will have to complete alcohol, drug and psychological treatment plans. But he won't have to register as a sex offender in Texas.
The plea agreement between Anderson's defense team and the district attorney's office in McLennan County infuriated the victim.
"I have been through hell and back and my life has been forever turned upside down," the victim wrote in a letter to her attorney.
"This guy violently raped me multiple times, choked me, and when I blacked out, he dumped me face down on the ground and left me to die. When I woke up aspirating up my own vomit, my friends immediately took me to the hospital."
The victim's attorney, Vic Feazell, was also livid.
"In my 40 years of practicing law, I've never seen a sweetheart deal like this," Feazell said.
Feazell, a former McLennan County district attorney, said he can't understand why a prosecutor would allow such a shocking plea deal.
But Assistant District Attorney Hilary LaBorde said she had good reason to recommend probation instead of a jury trial.
Horror at a frat party
What started as a fraternity party in February 2016 quickly devolved into a nightmare, the victim said.
The woman said she had put down her drink for a few minutes to dance. After picking up her drink again and taking a few sips, "I felt immediately intoxicated, and more so than that, sedated," she said in a statement to police.
"Everything was out of focus and I felt no control over my body. Through this, I noticed Jacob (Anderson) out of the corner of my eye throughout the whole party, following me, behind me, but didn't pay attention because I was aware he had a girlfriend," the victim said.
But Anderson was persistent, she said, and told her to follow him outside. After that, "Jacob pulled down his pants and shoved his penis in my mouth and down my throat, keeping it there even when I gagged multiple times."
In her victim impact statement, the woman said Anderson "repeatedly raped me."
"When he forcefully picked me up and shoved me into a wall to rape me vaginally from behind he calmly and coldly said, 'It's fine. You're fine.' When I tried to pull up my pants or sit he shoved me to the ground and shoved his penis back down my throat and continued to choke me," the woman said.
After being choked, the woman said she blacked out. She later woke up on the ground, face-down in her own vomit.
CNN reached out to Anderson's defense team on Tuesday, but has not received any response. When Anderson walked out of the courtroom on Monday, spared from any prison time, he declined to comment to the media.
Why the plea deal happened
LaBorde, the assistant district attorney, said she worried a jury wouldn't convict Anderson because the prosecutor had recently lost a similar case.
In a letter to the victim and her attorney, LaBorde apologized for not letting them know that a plea deal was in the works before it was reported in the local newspaper. But she said she had good reasons for the plea bargain.
"I've accepted an offer on Jacob Anderson. It's for probation on the charge of felony unlawful restraint not sexual assault -- therefore, he will not have to register as a sex offender," LaBorde wrote.
Therefore, he can go through life raping women without them ever knowing he is a rapist. You are sacrificing who knows how many women for this pathetic deal.
"I realize this is not the outcome we had hoped for or that I had originally offered, but I tried a very similar case to this one last month, and lost."
So, because of your incompetence, you set a monster free. If it was you who tried the previous case, you should be fired! If it was someone who works for you who tried the previous case, you both should be fired. If the DA doesn't fire you, he should be fired.
In that case, LaBorde wrote, she thought the jury "was looking for any excuse not to find an innocent looking young defendant guilty. They engaged in a lot of victim blaming -- and the behavior of that victim and [this victim's] is very similar. It's my opinion that our jurors aren't ready to blame rapists and not victims when there isn't concrete proof of more than one victim."
In the victim's letter to her attorney, she said the prosecutor's explanation was terrible.
"The case she lost is nothing like my case," the woman said. "It sounds like she is agreeing with the [previous case's] jurors that he's too good looking to be convicted, or he only raped one girl, so we will let him go."
CNN reached out to the McLennan County District Attorney's Office on Tuesday, but was told the person handling all media inquiries, Rebecca Akins, was out sick. The DA's office said no one else could help answer media questions.
OMG! The DA's office needs a major overhaul!
'You ... let a rapist run free'
After Judge Ralph Strother agreed to accept the plea deal on Monday, the victim lambasted the court.
"I am devastated by your decision to let my rapist Jacob Walter Anderson go free without any punishment," the woman said.
"Jacob Anderson and all rapists who get away with their crimes will never be cured, never change. If anything they will be emboldened by their power over women and their ability to escape justice and punishment."
She also scolded LaBorde and McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna for not showing up to court.
"If I had the courage to come back to Waco and face my rapist and testify, you could at least have had enough respect for me to show up today," the victim said.
"You both will have to live with this decision to let a rapist run free in society without any warning to future victims. I wonder if you will have nightmares every night watching Jacob rape me over and again."
She also had words for Anderson himself.
"Jacob Walter Anderson, it must be horrible to be you," she said. "To know what you did to me. To know you are a rapist. To know that you almost killed me. To know that you ruined my life, stole my virginity and stole many other things from me."
Discouraging rape victims from reporting
In the letter to her attorney, the woman said she feared what Anderson's lack of punishment would mean for rape victims in the future.
"This is the reason rape victims hesitate to report the crime," she wrote. "I had the courage to report the crime, go through an investigation, wait all these years to testify."
But that chance to testify in front of a jury will never happen. "There's nothing more we can do at this point," her attorney said. "The plea was accepted by the judge."
While there is nothing more to do in the criminal case, a civil lawsuit filed in February is still pending.
Jim Dunnam, who is representing the victim in the civil case, said it will proceed with a list of defendants including the fraternity and Anderson.
In Britain, there is a law that allows anyone to challenge a sentence that appears to be too light. If the challenge is not frivolous, the sentence is examined to determine if it is appropriate for the crime. If it isn't, it can be increased. Maybe the USA needs such a process to keep incompetent DA's from making such pathetic deals.
UPDATE: USA Today
The outcry over a light sentence handed to a former Baylor University fraternity president accused of rape has gotten him banned from his school.
The public outrage spurred nearly 100,000 people to sign a petition supporting the removal of the judge who approved a plea agreement that included no jail time.
Judges are subject to a recall election in California but not in Texas, where the mechanisms for removal don’t include an option for citizens’ action. The four alternatives involve a state commission, the state Supreme Court, the legislature and/or the governor.
Still, former prosecutor and current defense attorney Chris Boscia said Strother isn't safe because enough pressure on elected officials could spur action to get rid of the judge.
Anderson was expelled from the Waco school and enrolled at the University of Texas at Dallas. On Wednesday, after more than 26,000 people signed a petition started by students to bar him from campus, school president Richard Benson complied, saying Anderson’s legal history was not known to administrators when they admitted him. He will still receive his diploma.
Of course he will. We wouldn't want to do anything to disturb his life.
Praised NY Doctor May Have Abused
Over 1,000 Victims
Reginald Archibald, a revered doctor, likely sexually abused more than 1,000 of his child patients at Rockefeller University Hospital.
Patients want to know why Rockefeller University stayed quiet about the assaults even though they began investigating complaints back in 2004. Image: ©Google 2018
Rockefeller University Hospital, formerly the Research Institute, in New York has admitted that former child growth specialist Reginald Archibald most likely sexually abused more than 1,000 victims over what could have been 40 years.
Attorneys representing the abused patients confirmed the number of victims could make this the largest case of sexual abuse by one person in the U.S., reports CBS News.
Patients and relatives of those treated by the praised doctor are questioning why the hospital stayed quiet about the alleged assaults, especially when the doctor died over a decade ago.
They are also looking for Polaroids the doctor would take during examinations, according to Newsweek, however, the photos have not been found in medical records.
“He was revered like a god,” said Matt Harris, a former patient of Archibald. The doctor was known for his work with children who were not developing like their peers.
Officials from Rockefeller University investigated complaints about Archibald’s “inappropriate conduct” back in 2004 and reported it to authorities. However, they found complaints going back to the 1990s.
Victims did not hear anything from the hospital until October of this year (4th story on link) when they sent out a letter to over 1,000 patients requesting information about their experience with Archibald.
Attorney Jennifer Freeman says her firm has received hundreds of calls from victims since the letters were sent and believes “there are a tremendous number of victims out there.”
Granato was eight years old when he was allegedly abused by Archibald.
Victims of sexual assault can experience long-term health consequences including higher blood pressure, insomnia, depression and anxiety.
And about a hundred other symptoms including self-harm and suicide ideation.
Gail Coleman, who was 11 when she began seeing the doctor, remembers being told to stand without clothing as he would take Polaroid photos.
“Those pictures are what has haunted me through the years,” Coleman said. “Every single day I don’t know anything about these pictures and where they are – I am being re-victimized.”
In 2003, she contacted Rockefeller University in hopes of finding answers about her time at the facility. When she got her medical records back, there were no pictures, leading her to believe they were not for medical purposes.
Hospital officials say they are investigating the matter further and “deeply regret [any] pain and suffering caused.”
Many of the victims feel the hospital has been covering up the abuse for years and feel it should take more responsibility. Victims have requested the NY Attorney General investigate the matter as well.
“When something like this happens to you, you’re kind of robbed from hope,” said Harris. “Robbed of trusting people, trusting institutions, trusting humanity.
CBS denies former CEO Leslie Moonves $120M US severance
Long-serving TV executive accused of sexual harassment and assault
Thomson Reuters CBS Corp. said on Monday it will not pay Leslie Moonves a $120 million severance package as the media giant girds for a likely legal battle with its former chief executive, who has been accused of sexual harassment and assault that allegedly took place before and after he joined the company.
The decision to deprive Moonves of his severance and terminate his employment for cause follows a board of directors review of the findings of an investigation into Moonves' behaviour conducted by two law firms, Debevoise & Plimpton and Covington & Burling, hired by CBS.
"We have determined that there are grounds to terminate for cause, including his willful and material misfeasance, violation of company policies and breach of his employment contract, as well as his willful failure to co-operate fully with the company's investigation," CBS's board of directors said in a statement that did not disclose details of the investigation.
A draft report of the investigation was leaked to The New York Times this month. It accused Moonves of destroying evidence and seeking to mollify accusers with promises of jobs at CBS.
Lawyer says conclusions 'without merit'
The report also included more accusations that Moonves advanced the careers of women who had sex with him and more accusers beyond the 12 disclosed in two New Yorker investigations that led to Moonves' forced resignation in September.
Moonves has denied any wrongdoing and has described his sexual encounters as consensual.
Protesters stand outside the site of a CBS shareholder's meeting in New York earlier this month.
(Seth Wenig/Associated Press)
Andrew Levander, an attorney for Moonves, said his client "vehemently denies any non-consensual sexual relations and cooperated extensively and fully with investigators."
"The conclusions of the CBS board were foreordained and are without merit," Levander said in a statement. "Consistent with the pattern of leaks that have permeated this 'process,' the press was informed of these baseless conclusions before Mr. Moonves, further damaging his name, reputation, career and legacy."
Allred calls for compensation
Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents four women who have accused Moonves of misconduct, called on CBS to publicly release the details of the investigators' findings and compensate those with provable misconduct claims.
"The public has a right to know who at CBS was aware of Mr. Moonves' alleged misconduct and when they knew of it," said Allred, whose clients all spoke to the investigators. "Instead of keeping this money and rewarding their corporation for Mr. Moonves' alleged misconduct, they should share these many millions with those who can prove that they are victims."
The CBS board also said investigators found that harassment and retaliation were not pervasive at CBS but found that its policies and practices failed to prevent past incidents.
CBS suspended Charlie Rose, co-anchor of CBS's morning show and 60 Minutes in November 2017 — after several women accused him of harassment and misconduct — and fired him last September. Jeff Fager, 60 Minutes executive producer, was also fired in September after threatening a CBS News reporter investigating allegations of harassment of colleagues.
Investigators did find that the company failed to hold "high performers" accountable for their conduct, the board said. The board said it has retained outside advisers to fix its human resources problems.
Last week, CBS named 18 organizations as recipients of a $20-million donation drawn from Moonves's severance to support eliminating sexual harassment in the workplace.
They will need to retain the other $100m to fight the lawsuits Moonves will bring against them.
PA man charged with child sexual abuse
By: Myles Snyder, ABC27ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. (WHTM) - An Elizabethtown man has been arrested for sexually abusing a child about a decade ago.
Elizabethtown police said an investigation began in October when a person who is now an adult reported that Dunk sexually abused them over a period of several years during their childhood.
Dunk was charged Friday after police said they found "sufficient evidence" in the case. He was placed in Lancaster County Prison after failing to post $100,000 bail.
Illinois man bit boy during sexual assault
TONY REID Decatur Herald & ReviewDECATUR — A Decatur man is facing felony charges after police said he bit a 6-year-old boy during a sexual assault.
A sworn affidavit by Decatur police detective James Knierim said the boy was attacked Sunday evening after asking his mother if he could go for a ride with Park on Park’s golf cart.
“She advised about five minutes later while inside the living room of her house she heard (her son) screaming and she looked out the window and observed both Colby and (her son) on the golf cart in front of the house,” Knierim said.
The crying child told his mother Park had assaulted him and bitten his penis, the affidavit said, and he pulled down his pants to show his mother the wound, which she told police was “bleeding badly.”
The enraged mother said she had yelled and chased after Park, who “immediately took off on the golf cart.”
Her son was later treated in Decatur Memorial Hospital for his injury. He had told his mother Park had promised to buy him candy before assaulting him and then asked him afterward, “Would you please don’t tell your mother?” The boy said he had replied “Yes, I am.”
Macon County Jail records show Park is free after posting $10,000 bail. His bond conditions stipulate he is to stay away from the boy’s home and have no contact with “any minor child.” He is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 13.
NY State man charged with sex abuse of girl
Rome Sentinel
When investigators went to Edson’s residence, they discovered 41.8 grams or marijuana.
On Thursday, Edson was charged with second-degree rape, a class D felony; first-degree sexual abuse, also a class D felony; four counts of forcible touching, a class A misdemeanor; five counts of third-degree sexual abuse, a class B misdemeanor; five counts of endangering the welfare of a child and fifth-degree criminal possession of marijuana, also misdemeanors.
Edson was arraigned in Eaton Town Court and sent to the Madison County Jail in lieu of $25,000 cash bail or $50,000 bond, the law enforcers said.
He’s scheduled to appear in Brookfield Town Court on Dec. 18, authorities added.
Trial Date Set For Upstate NY Man In
Child Sex Abuse Case
WWNY
A trial date has been set for a Brownville man accused of sexually abusing a child.Timothy Ferry will go on trial in Jefferson County Court on January 14.
A grand jury indicted him in July on charges of predatory sexual assault against a child; course of sexual conduct against a child, 1st degree; sexual abuse, 1st degree; attempted rape, 3rd degree.
The charges stem from incidents that allegedly took place between 2007 and 2014 involving a female less than 13, according to the indictment.
Texas radiologist suspended, accused of
sexually abusing young girl
The board said his license was suspended because he "poses a continuing threat to public welfare."
Wilson was arrested by the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office and remains in custody on $150,000 bond. A hearing is set for Dec. 31.
Since the child is a sexual abuse victim and a minor, KPRC2 has chosen not to reveal the child's identity.
Child sex and porn charges for Alabama teen
By Christopher Harress | charress@al.com
 |
| Fox10 News |
Sean Michael Howell was booked in to the Mobile County Jail and faces 10 charges, including two counts of sodomy in the first degree, two counts of sex abuse of a child under 12, two counts of enticing a child for immoral purposes, facilitating travel of a child for sex, transmitting obscene materials to a child, production of child pornography, and possession of child pornography.
Alabama 19-y/o arrested on child porn charges
involving young boys
Posted Oct 11, 2018By Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com
A Birmingham man is being held on $200,000 bond, accused of disseminating child pornography involving young boys.
According to charging documents, Drake on Sept. 26 “did willfully and knowingly, disseminate or display publicly an obscene matter…video depicting a male child under age 12 performing sodomy on another male child under age 12.”
All four charges against Drake are felonies. The case was investigated by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit. Additional details about the investigation into Drake weren’t immediately available.
Former Santa at Wisconsin YMCA accused of
sexual assault of 3-y/o girl
OSHKOSH, WI (WBAY/CNN) - A 75-year-old in Wisconsin, who worked at a YMCA and played Santa there for a number of years, was fired after staffers viewed surveillance video of him reportedly assaulting a 3-year-old girl.
According to a criminal complaint, officers were called to a YMCA in Oshkosh, WI, on Dec. 5. There, childcare supervisors told them a parent saw Adams inappropriately kiss a 3-year-old girl on the mouth.
Surveillance videos showed Adams kissing the girl and sexually assaulting her on multiple occasions in November, court documents say. He also took her to the bathroom numerous times.
"On two occasions, Mr. Adams is observed with his hand having sexual contact with the 3-year-old,” Police Chief Dan Smith said.
When interviewed, Adams told police the girl “was coming at him and kissing him.” Police asked him if he was attracted to children, and he said it was “not an over attraction,” according to the criminal complaint.
Staffers at the YMCA say Adams used to work in the cafeteria but asked to be transferred to the children’s drop-off center, which serves children between the ages of 6 weeks and 7 years, in 2013.
Adams also played Santa at the YMCA for a number of years, according to the complaint.
The YMCA fired Adams and contacted police following an internal investigation.
Police have asked parents to come forward if they have any additional information or concerns, but they say there are no other known victims.
Connecticut Man Charged for Sexual Abuse of Minor
By Rich Kirby, Patch Staff | DANBURY, CT —Police arrested a man following a Special Victims Unit investigation into the sexual abuse of a minor.
Police charged Paris with sexual assault in the fourth degree, two counts of sexual assault in the first degree, two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a minor, two counts of risk of injury to a minor with sexual contact, and two counts of risk of injury to a minor/impairing morals.
The arrest stems from allegations made earlier this year by an adult man that Paris had sexually assaulted the man when he was a child, according to the News Times.
Paris is being held on a $500,000 bond.
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