Disgraced NY AG used campaign cash
to defend against sex abuse claims
This is the guy who filed a lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein
Schneiderman, in better times © Reuters / Brendan McDermid
Former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman used funds from his reelection campaign to pay for his legal defense during an investigation into allegations he slapped, choked, and otherwise abused multiple women.
Schneiderman, who portrayed himself as a champion for women and gallant #MeToo supporter while in office, resigned suddenly last May, hours after reports from four women claiming he’d slapped or choked them surfaced in a New Yorker article. It was the ultimate irony for the state AG, who had filed a lawsuit seeking better compensation for the women accusing Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault and misconduct earlier that year.
Using campaign funds to pay for legal defense does not break any rules in New York, as long as it involves matters related to an elected official’s duties. Responses to the revelations – reported by AP, based on Schneiderman’s own campaign finance reports – have not been kind to the fallen prosecutor.
“What a luxury to be able to assault women who donated to your campaign and then use the money to defend yourself,” said Michelle Manning Barish, a Democratic activist who accused Schneiderman of abusing her while they were dating in 2013. She was horrified to find out he’d paid for his legal defense out of the contributions of women like her, saying: “That money was given in good faith by donors who expected Mr. Schneiderman to help women.”
Schneiderman made his last payment to law firm Clayman & Rosenberg LLP in December, for a total of $339,710, a month after a special prosecutor closed the investigation without filing charges. The ex-AG did release a somewhat equivocal statement afterward, declaring he accepted “full responsibility for my conduct in my relationships with my accusers, and for the impact it had on them.”
One could say Schneiderman got his money’s worth, dodging charges for a sum amounting to less than half his re-election committee’s spending in the eight months following his resignation. He also continued to rent a Manhattan office and pay employee wages.
“Once the committee has honored all its commitments, the remaining funds will be donated to worthy and appropriate causes, consistent with the law,” a spokeswoman for Schneiderman said. The committee did refund about $1.5 million in contributions, but still has about $6.5 million in the bank. Barish called on donors to demand that the rest is given to charities for battered women and abuse survivors.
Spending campaign cash on legal defense
is almost an institution in New York politics
Spending campaign cash on legal defense is almost an institution in New York politics. Both former State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R) and former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D) spent millions of campaign dollars fighting corruption charges in recent years, though they were both eventually convicted.
“The system is a scandal,” said Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group.
Texas man sentenced to 55 years in prison
for child sexual assault charges
By LouAnna Campbell, lcampbell@tylerpaper.com
A Gladewater man pleaded guilty and recently was sentenced to 55 years in prison on five child sexual abuse charges, according to Smith County judicial records.
Joseph Rodriguez, 39, was arrested and booked into the Smith County Jail on July 9.
Rodriguez was charged with two counts of sexual assault of a child with conditions, two counts of indecency with a child through sexual contact with conditions and one count of indecency with a child exposure with conditions, according to jail records.
Colorado Springs police arrest man for child sexual
abuse cases that may stretch back 35 years
By: LeighAnne Coleman, KRDO
Police are investigating a man accused of multiple sex crimes against children that took place over the last three decades.
The Colorado Springs Police Department was dispatched to the 900th block of East Fountain Boulevard on December 12, for a preliminary investigation. When they arrived at the scene, the Colorado Springs Police Department's Crimes Against Children's Unit was called with accusations of a 67-year-old man coming in sexual contact with a juvenile victim.
That man was later identified as Joseph Davis of Colorado Springs. Davis is currently in custody for sexual assault on a child.
After an investigation, detectives determined Davis was also sexually abusing other children inside the home. It's abuse that stretched back to at least 35 years.
According to police, Davis has lived near a local school, community center, and park that was frequently visited by juveniles. Detectives are now asking the public to come forward with any information they may have regarding these cases.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Colorado Springs Police Department at (719) 444-7000. You can also contact the Crime Stoppers Tip Line at (719) 634-STOP.
NY man arraigned on sex abuse, child porn charges
Jeremy Casey, 24, of Lancaster, was arraigned on one count of sexual abuse in the first degree, a class “D” felony, one count of sexual abuse in the second degree, a class “A” misdemeanor, and two counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child, class “E” felonies, according to Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn.
It is alleged that on July 4, 2018, the defendant subjected two underage victims to sexual contact. During the investigation into these allegations, several images of child pornography were found on the defendant’s cell phone.
Casey is scheduled to return at 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, for a felony hearing. If convicted on all charges, he faces a maximum of seven years in prison.
Flynn commended the investigative work of Detective Robert Cornell and Detective Lieutenant James Robinson of the Lancaster Police Department.
Maryland man gets 420 years for 'horrific'
child sexual abuse of 2-4 y/os
by Associated Press
BALTIMORE (AP) — A Maryland man has been sentenced to 420 years in prison for a series of sexual assaults on three girls who were between 2 and 4 years old when they were targeted for abuse.
U.S. Attorney Robert Hur described Kyle Thompson's assaults on the young children as "horrific."
The 33-year-old Burtonsville man took video recordings of his assaults, which occurred from May 2015 to January 2017. Court filings say the commercial HVAC technician had gained the trust of the youngsters' mothers.
An affidavit filed in the case says Thompson could be seen on one video assaulting a child who was restrained on a bed and crying for her mother.
Thompson was sentenced Wednesday. He was convicted in September on 18 counts of producing child pornography.
Florida sex offender ‘Dr. Love’ is
jailed again in sexual abuse of child
By Dan Scanlan, Florida Times-Union
A 62-year-old registered sexual offender with the nickname “Dr. Love” is back behind bars charged with sexual battery of a victim younger than 12, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
Thomas Andrew Carswell of 5278 Commonwealth Ave. also was charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of someone that age and is ineligible for bail since his Jan. 25 arrest, according to court records.
Details are limited due to the nature of the charges. But the Florida Department of Children and Families was recently informed that the person disclosed sexual abuse from October 2011 and February 2013, according to the arrest report.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement records state Carswell was charged with sexual battery of a victim younger than 12 in 2001 in Miami and failing to register as a sexual offender in 2009 in Broward County. He is listed as living at the Commonwealth Avenue address in the FDLE sexual offender website at offender.fdle.state.fl.us.
Oregon babysitter pleads not guilty to
encouraging child sex abuse
By Jim Ryan | The Oregonian/OregonLive
A Portland babysitter has pleaded not guilty to accusations of encouraging child sex abuse, prosecutors say.
The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday that a 25-count secret indictment against Stacy Lee Curtiss had been unsealed. He’s accused of developing, duplicating “and/or” distributing recordings of sexually explicit conduct involving a child, the agency said, citing court records.
He’s also accused of having a recording of someone engaging in sexual conduct with an animal, prosecutors said. He’s pleaded not guilty to each of the charges.
The district attorney’s office said Curtiss, 33, worked as a babysitter.
NO, no, no, please mothers, don't let men babysit your children.
The agency didn’t specify whether the accusations against him are connected to his work as a babysitter. A Portland police spokesman declined to release additional information, citing the ongoing court case and investigation.
Curtiss faces 10 counts of first-degree encouraging child sexual abuse, 14 counts of second-degree encouraging child sexual abuse and a single count of encouraging the sexual assault of an animal.
He’s being held in the Multnomah County Detention Center.
The district attorney’s office said anyone who has information about Curtiss is asked to call 503-823-0400.
Pennsylvania restaurateur charged with
sexually assaulting child
by Katie Park, The Inquirer
The owner of a Montgomery County gastropub sexually assaulted a boy for months in attacks that took place in the restaurant’s office, authorities said.
Abraham Maman, 28, the inspiration behind the East Norriton restaurant Roots, was charged with statutory sexual assault, false imprisonment, and related crimes. According to court documents, the sexual abuse took place at the restaurant on West Germantown Pike.
Beginning last May, Maman, of Lansdale, brought the boy, whose age authorities did not disclose, into the restaurant’s office and groped him, according to an affidavit of probable cause for his Jan. 10 arrest. The boy told him to stop, investigators said, but he continued, at one point offering the boy $100 if he would allow him to perform a sex act. Authorities did not say how the two were acquainted or how the victim came to be at the restaurant.
The boy’s parents reported the assaults to East Norriton police on Dec. 10, according to the affidavit.
Maman was initially held in the Montgomery County prison on $500,000 bail. At a preliminary hearing Tuesday, bail was reduced to $250,000, and he was later released.
South Dakota police chief gets sweetheart deal
in two child sexual abuse cases
Arielle Zionts Journal
A former Whitewood police chief was sentenced this week in Butte and Lawrence counties after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a minor girl.
Ben Koens, a 69-year-old from Belle Fourche in Butte County, was sentenced Monday in Belle Fourche to the maximum punishment of 15 years in prison for having sexual contact with a minor under the age of 16, court records show. Five years of his sentence will be suspended if he meets certain conditions, including paying fines and fees, not contacting his victim and participating in treatment programs.
Koens was sentenced Tuesday in Deadwood in Lawrence County to 10 years in prison for the same type of crime, records show. The two sentences will be served at the same time and once Koens is released, he must register as a sex offender.
The victim was the same person in both cases, court records show. The incident in Butte County allegedly occurred between Aug. 1, 2015, and May 31, 2018, when the girl was between the ages of 9 and 12. In Lawrence County, the sexual contact allegedly occurred between 2014 and 2015 when the girl was between 8 and 10 years old.
As part of the plea deals, prosecutors dropped four counts of first-degree rape against a child under the age of 13, court records show. Those alleged rapes, two in each county, occurred during the same time periods as the sexual contact. If Koens had been found guilty of the rape charges, he would have spent at least 15 years and up to life in prison for each count.
Instead he gets concurrent sentences and will likely be out in 10 years. What a sweetheart deal!
Koens admitted to a detective that he first had sexual contact with the girl in the basement of a Spearfish home, according to a motion by the Butte County prosecutor. He admitted that similar incidents occurred in Butte and Lawrence counties.
In September 2011, before any of the abuse allegedly occurred, Koens was fired from his position as the Whitewood police chief. The mayor at the time said she felt she had no choice but to fire him but did not say why.
There's "no reason" to think that Koens committed similar sexual abuse when he was police chief, John Fitzgerald, state's attorney for Lawrence County, previously told the Journal.
Former NY State school employee charged with rape
by Tanner Jubenville, WHAM
Webster, N.Y. – A former employee of the Webster Central School District has been charged with two counts of rape.
Kali Watkins, 42, was arraigned Wednesday on first and second-degree rape charges.
"Whenever you hear about something like this, it’s disturbing, it’s concerning," said said Assistant District Attorney Meredith Vacca. "You trust teachers, you trust coaches, you trust principles, to keep their kids safe."
Not if you're smart! There are teachers, coaches, or custodians on this blog almost every day.
Webster Police said an investigation into Watkins began in December 2017 after being notified of a sexual abuse disclosure. Police say the Webster School District has been cooperative with the investigation throughout.
Watkins was employed as a special education teacher at Webster Schroeder from August 2015 through his termination in December 2017. He had served as an athletic coach in prior years and during his time as a special education teacher. He served as the school's Varsity Football coach from 2010-2017, the Junior Varsity Girls Basketball coach from 2008-2017 and the Varsity Football offensive coordinator from 2006-2010.
The district says, in November 2017, it was made aware of concerns about Watkins’ conduct with students and staff, and he was placed on leave. He was fired the following month.
The district said it was alerted to an unrelated criminal allegation shortly after Watkins was placed on administrative leave. The district immediately alerted the police department. Following their investigation, police referred the case to the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office.
Watkins was arraigned Wednesday in County Court. On the first-degree rape charge, Watkins is accused of engaging in sexual intercourse by forcible compulsion. On the second-degree charge, he is accused of raping a child under the age of 15.
Bail was set for $20,000 cash bail or $40,000 bond.
When asked if Watkins had been back to the school since he was fired, Webster School District Superintendent Carmen Gumina replied, "He is a parent, and there have been times he’s been watching his child."
But Gumina insisted schools are safe. "All of our policies are in place is with safety at the forefront," said Gumina.
Investigators are not releasing many details on the case at this time. The District Attorney’s Office says it believes the alleged crimes took place between 2016 and 2017. They encourage anyone who thinks they have information on the case or thinks they may know of additional victims to call Webster Police or 911.
"Whenever parents hear about something like this, it's disturbing, it's concerning," said Assistant District Attorney Meredith Vacca. "And I would urge all parents out there to just take this opportunity to talk to your children, talk to them about not only about what's appropriate or inappropriate, but also, talk to them about the importance of telling you right away if something bad happens to them."
His next court appearance for a motions hearing is scheduled for April 9. A trial is tentatively scheduled for mid June.
Oregon man arrested after child pornography images found on phone left in Starbucks bathroom
FOX 12 Staff
NEWPORT, OR (KPTV) - A Newport man was arrested Monday on several counts of sex abuse after police say child pornography images were found on his cell phone.
Officers responded to a Starbucks in Newport after someone found a cell phone in the bathroom and reported they saw images on it that were consistent with being child pornography. A witness was able to describe the man who left the phone.
Police said while an officer was at the Starbucks, a man who matched the witness description, identified as Martin Shane Lafever, entered the business and asked staff about the cell phone he left in the bathroom.
The officer contacted Lafever who said that it was his phone that was found in the bathroom.
According to police, Lafever denied any knowledge of the images on his phone.
Police said Lafever consented to a search of his phone. The officer found images depicting child pornography and internet search terms relating to child pornography during the search.
According to police, Lafever admitted to using the internet search terms, but denied any knowledge of the images. He later admitted to having the images on his phone after more images and videos were found.
Lafever then told the officer that images had loaded and saved themselves on the phone.
I'm guessing, he's not a rocket scientist?
Former Texas teacher’s charge evolves to Sex Abuse Of Child Continuous: Victim Under 14
By Mike Taylor
CENTER POINT, Texas (TexasBreaking.com) – According to Kerr County public court records, Russell Lynn Berry’s charge has evolved from Indecency with Child by Sexual Contact to Sex Abuse of Child Continuous: Victim Under 14.
Berry was employed at the Center Point ISD Elementary School until he was accused and reportedly admitted to touching a first-grade student in an inappropriate manner.
Berry has remained in the Kerr County Jail since he was extradited from Bexar County Jail to Kerr County Jail in early November.
He has two pre-trial dates set for April 4, 2019, and May 2, 2019, with a trial date scheduled for May 28, 2019.
With Berry’s new indictment on January 14, his bond increased to $75,000. Berry remains in the Kerr County Jail.
FIRST ARTICLE – NOVEMBER 7TH, 2018
CENTER POINT, TX – A Center Point Independent School District elementary school teacher was arrested Wednesday, November 7th, and charged with Indecency with a Child by Sexual Contact.
Kerr County Sheriff, Rusty Hierholzer, released a press release late this afternoon that stated, “On November 2, 2018, Center Point Independent School District (CPISD) Superintendent Cody Newcomb contacted the Kerr County Sheriffs Office and requested assistance with investigating complaints against a first grade teacher whom he identified as 36-year-old Russell Lynn Berry.”
“CPISD placed Berry on administrative leave pending the results of an investigation into allegations of inappropriate contact with his female students.”
“Sheriffs Office Investigators conducted interviews with students who indicated inappropriate touching by Berry. Berry was also interviewed and confessed that he did in fact touch a student at CPISD in a sexual manner and that he had done so at a previous place of employment.”
“Berry has been employed with the CPISD during the 2017-2018 school year and at the start of the 2018-2019 school year. Mr. Berry was employed previously with the Northside Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas and they were notified of his confessions”
“Kerr County Sheriffs Office Investigators were able to gather enough evidence to charge Berry with the Offense of Indecency with a Child by Sexual Contact.”
“Berry was arrested by the San Antonio Police Department On November 7, 2018, at approximately 1:30 PM after he was released from a San Antonio area hospital.”
This is developing. As more information is gathered, this article will be updated.
SECOND ARTICLE – NOVEMBER 9TH, 2018
UPDATE 8:48 AM: Berry has been transferred to the Kerr County Jail. His bond remains at $50,000 and his charge is listed as Indecency W/Child Sexual Contact.
ORIGINAL: Russell Lynn Berry, the 36-year-old Center Point ISD elementary school teacher accused of Indecency with a Child by Sexual Contact, sits in the Bexar County Jail with a bond of $50,000.
Kerr County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer said that on November 2nd, Center Point ISD Superintendent Cody Newcomb requested their assistance to investigate a complaint against a first-grade teacher.
Sheriff officers conducted interviews with students who had indicated improper touching by Berry, according to a November 7th press release.
“Berry was also interviewed and confessed that he did indeed touch a student at CPISD in a sexual manner and that he had done so at a previous place of employment”
Berry’s previous place of employment was Northside ISD in San Antonio.
Community members have asked why Berry was hired in Center Point if he had inappropriate contact with students at another school district.
CPISD Superintendent Cody Newcomb addressed this issue in a press release on November 7th, 2018.
“Prior to his 2017 employment at Center Point ISD, Mr. Berry passed a Federal Bureau of Investigations criminal background check, which is part of our district’s hiring requirements.”
“There were no other reports of potential misconduct or suspicious behavior prior to the inquiry we received on November 1.”
”As soon as Mr. Berry was placed on administrative leave, the District initiated an investigation with the assistance of Center Point ISD’s Chief of Police, Jimmy Poole.”
CPISD Superintendent Cody Newcomb also stated, “If you have any questions or want to share any information related to Mr. Berry’s time in our schools, please contact my office, a campus administrator, or local law enforcement. You may also use the Crime Stoppers hotline at (830)896-8477 to anonymously make a report.“
Berry was arrested in San Antonio on November 7th and is expected to be transferred to the Kerr County Jail unless he is able to post bond.
Trial of Brookville Behavioral Health co-founder accused of child sexual assault begins in PA
By Elaine Haskins ehaskins@thecourierexpress.com
BROOKVILLE — The trial for Glenn Edward Tetro, 57, of Summerville, who is accused of sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl over a four-year period, began Tuesday before Jefferson County Judge John H. Foradora.
Tetro, co-founder of Brookville Behavioral Health, is charged with 43 counts of rape (4th story on link) (felony 1), 86 counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse (felony 1), nine counts of statutory rape (felony 2), 34 counts of statutory sexual assault (felony 2) and 43 indecent assault charges (misdemeanor one).
In his opening statement, Jefferson County District Attorney Jeff Burkett said evidence and testimony at the trial will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Tetro sexually assaulted the victim from 1994 to 1998, when she was between the ages of 6 to 10. Charges were filed against Tetro on March 1, 2018.
“She was subjected to things that no child should have to bear,” Burkett said.
In his opening statement, Tetro’s attorney, Matthew Thomas Ness, of Worgul, Sarna & Ness, Criminal Defense Attorneys, LLC in Pittsburgh, argued that the commonwealth’s evidence does not show his client is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt for three core reasons:
Why did the victim wait 20 years to tell anyone in law enforcement?
The first time the allegations were brought to the legal system’s attention was in 2011 when Tetro and the victim’s mother were in the midst of a “bitter” divorce/child custody battle.
Tetro will take the stand in his own defense and tell the jury that he never molested the victim.
The victim testified that Tetro and her mother married when she was approximately 6 years old and they moved to a home in Summerville. She characterized their relationship as “normal” and that he treated her like a daughter.
“I loved him like he was my father,” she said, noting that he made her feel special. She admitted that sometimes she became jealous of her mother like when he took her mom on their honeymoon. She said she was happy when her younger sister was born in 1998 and she got some “alone time” with Tetro while her mother was in the hospital.
The victim, emotional at times, admitted that there were aspects to her relationship with Tetro that were not right – testifying that he sexually assaulted her multiple times at their home. She testified that she had memories of four specific incidents that took place in the “TV room when the sun was shining” or in her bedroom when he tucked her in at night.
The victim said she “felt programmed” to touch him and perform sex acts on him “whenever we sat on the couch.” She also said he would perform sex acts on her.
She stated that after her sister was born when she was approximately 10 years old the sexual acts stopped.
She testified that Tetro told her, “Honey, we can’t do this anymore.”
The victim testified that the first time she told her mother about the incidents was years later after learning about sex education in a high school health class. She said they were taught how abstinence was important and that it was important to wait until marriage. It was then she said she realized her stepfather had touched her inappropriately. She said she went home and told her mother, who started asking questions.
“I emotionally shut down,” she said.
Brookville Behavioral Health Services
When the victim’s mother later took her and her siblings to the former Days Inn in Brookville so that they could be alone and asked more questions about what the victim had said about Tetro, the victim testified that she still didn’t talk about it because she was afraid of breaking up her mother’s marriage and that her younger sisters would hate her and not believe her.
In 2008, the victim’s mother filed for divorce. In 2011, during a custody evaluation, the victim said she was interviewed by a doctor, who she told about the sexual assaults.
“I thought I would be able to finally be set free. I thought that was my chance but nothing happened,” she said. “Absolutely nothing.”
In August 2017, the victim said she sought counseling from PASSAGES Inc. She said she discovered that being a victim of sexual assault she needed to come forward before she turned 30 years old.
“I wanted to be strong for my daughters ... that they could be strong no matter how high someone is in the county,” she said.
She testified that she waited so long to come forward because she was “trying to work up the courage.” She said she was afraid to come forward because Tetro was an influential person in the county and “there were rumors he knew the judge and district attorney.”
However, with the help of her husband, she said she found the strength to come forward and her husband called the state police in Punxsutawney to report the sexual assault.
The jury listened to two telephone calls that the victim, while wearing a wire, had with Tetro in February of 2018 during the police investigation. The jurors could hear Tetro telling the victim that he hopes she knows he loves her and he’d do anything to make it go away.
At one point in the conversation, Tetro can be heard saying, “Remember that night I said sorry we can’t do this anymore. Young ladies don’t do this. I want you to grow up to be a beautiful young lady.”
In a phone call, the victim asks Tetro if he loved her or was it just a sexual thing. He tells her, “It was a sexual perversion.”
Under cross examination by the defense, the victim was asked about what she or her stepfather were wearing, what time of day it was, where her mother was and how the sexual acts started or stopped but she testified that she couldn’t recall. She denied that her decision to come forward had anything to do with influencing the custody case between her mother and Tetro in 2011. Ness also noted that the victim came forward again in 2017 at the height of the “Me Too” movement.
The victim’s mother testified that nothing stood out between her husband and the victim’s relationship during the time of the allegations.
Second person arrested in horrific Iowa
child sex abuse case
by Alonso Reyna
BLOOMFIELD, Iowa - A horrific case of sex abuse in Bloomfield, Iowa, has landed a second person in jail.
Bloomfield Police Chief Shawn Armstrong told KTVO on Wednesday that his department has charged Kendra Hoover, of Bloomfield, with 14 felony counts.
Those charges include seven counts of Neglect of a Dependent Person and seven counts of Child Endangerment.
Hoover was the live-in girlfriend of Steven Crook Jr. when he was charged with dozens of federal counts of sexual exploitation and child pornography.
He was taken into custody after video evidence of him sexually assaulting a minor child was discovered.
In December, Crook pleaded guilty to four federal counts of sexual exploitation. He will be sentenced in April.
Armstrong told KTVO that the charges against Hoover are directly related to Crook’s actions.
Hoover’s case hasn’t been posted to Iowa Courts Online yet, but Armstrong says she is being held on $200,000 bond.
Bloomfield man pleads guilty in child sex case
by KTVO News Desk, Wednesday, December 19th 2018
DES MOINES, Iowa — A Bloomfield, Iowa, man has pleaded guilty to sexual exploiting a child.
Steven Crook Jr. entered the plea in a federal courtroom on Tuesday afternoon.
Online court records show that Crook pleaded to four separate counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Child.
In the court documents, Crook told the court that he was happy with his lawyer and understood the consequences of his plea.
Crook faced a 33- count indictment. The remaining charges were dropped as part of the agreement.
He was arrested earlier this spring and accused of repeatedly raping a young female.
At the time of his arrest, law enforcement indicated there was recorded evidence of the attacks.
The plea agreement has been sealed so it's not clear how much jail time Crook is facing.
Why?
Next up in the case is an April 10 sentencing hearing.
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