Lisa Marie & Ex Both Investigated For
Child Sexual Abuse
By Radar StaffIt was worse than anyone knew.
Lisa Marie Presley used her own children as “bait” by trying to capture her ex on camera abusing them, her former husband Michael Lockwood claimed in shocking court documents exclusively uncovered by RadarOnline.com.
As part of a 2016 child services investigation, Lockwood also alleged his wife coached the girls to say he had touched them inappropriately. In interviews, the case social worker claimed both girls “had said their father touched them,” but also noted their mother “was trying to get them to say father had done so.” In another interview, both children denied he had ever touched them.
But Presley insisted to have found “disturbing photos” of their now 10-year-old twin daughters on her ex’s computer. A social worker described the “most disturbing” pictures, which included photographs of the girls in the bathtub. According to the documents, it later emerged that Presley was in the bathroom when most of the photos were taken.
The Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services filed a case on July 7, 2016 which investigated both Presley and Michael Lockwood for alleged sex abuse and domestic violence — and Presley for substance abuse.
According to the court documents, Presley’s behavior threatened to leave their daughters “at serious risk of physical harm.”
But in court, both parents denied ever abusing their daughters, and the investigation was dismissed in 2017 due to lack of evidence. No criminal charges have ever been brought against either parent.
When contacted by Radar, Lockwood maintained he has never acted inappropriately around his children, while a source close to Presley noted she has been sober for two years.
Years later, the nasty divorce between Presley and Lockwood still continues.
The former couple is still fighting over custody of the twins, who were recently ordered to undergo mental health evaluations as part of the case.
Who? The children were ordered to have psyche evals? They probably need them after the behaviour of their parents. But, I suspect, the parents need them too.
Sex coach and student involved with Russian billionaire Deripaska get suspended sentence in Thailand
A Thai court has ruled that a sex coach and a female student linked to Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska should receive suspended sentences and be deported to their home countries for hosting illegal sex-training courses.
The ruling, which came after Aleksandr Kirillov and Anastasia Vashukevich pleaded guilty at the Thai trial, seems to have brought a conclusion to their brush with the Asian country’s law.
Kirillov, better known as Aleks Leslie, and Vashukevich, better known as Nastya Rybka, became instant international celebrities in February last year, after becoming entangled in Russian politics.
Rybka wrote a book about her attendance at parties hosted by Deripaska, the Russian aluminum and energy tycoon, detailing sex escapades and personal habits of the host and other attendees. She was careful not to name anyone, however. Her accounts were largely unknown to the public until prominent Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny noticed them.
Navalny, whose political activity is based on criticizing Russian officials and exposing alleged corruption, seized the opportunity to highlight Deripaska’s friendship with a senior official in the Russian government. He said this proved a corrupt connection between the two.
The businessman dismissed the scoop as sensationalized nonsense and successfully petitioned a court to order the ‘investigation’ to be banned in Russia for violating his privacy. He also filed and won a civil lawsuit against Rybka and Leslie, who retold her stories as evidence of his lesson’s usefulness, for disclosing details about his private life, winning about $8,000 from each in damages.
Leslie poses as a sex coach that can train a woman how to seduce wealthy men, and Rybka was used as a living success story. The two initially tried to capitalize on their newfound fame. However, they soon got into trouble in Thailand, where Leslie held one of his training courses.
A total of eight people were arrested for what the Thai authorities initially considered a prostitution ring. While in jail, Rybka publicly appealed to the US government, offering to share what she knew about Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election – secrets she presumably learned on board Deripaska’s boat – in exchange for bailing her out. This led nowhere, however, as is the case with many Russiagate stories.
The charges against the “sex educators” were eventually downgraded from those carrying a jail term of up to 10 years to mere labor-law violations. On Tuesday, a Thai court sentenced the eight defendants to time served in pre-trial detention and suspended terms, as well as ordering their deportations, an RIA Novosti correspondent reported from the court house. It is believed that Leslie will now go to Russia, while Rybka will return to her home nation of Belarus.
Ex-Expos, Rangers pitcher John Wetteland
charged with child sex abuse
I confess to having been a Montreal Expos fan for several years. It was only after the league cheated them out of an opportunity to play in the World Series that I gave up on Major League Baseball entirely.
charged with child sex abuse
I confess to having been a Montreal Expos fan for several years. It was only after the league cheated them out of an opportunity to play in the World Series that I gave up on Major League Baseball entirely.
Associated Press
DENTON, Texas — Former Montreal Expos pitcher John Wetteland has been charged in Texas with continuous sex abuse of a child under age 14.
Denton County jail records show the 52-year-old Wetteland was arrested Monday and freed on $25,000 bond.
Authorities have not released details of the investigation into the Texas Rangers Hall of Famer.
The Associated Press was not able to contact Wetteland or his attorney to ask for comment. The Denton County district attorney’s office hasn’t returned a phone message requesting details.
Wetteland was MVP of the 1996 World Series with the New York Yankees. The All-Star closer was 48-45 with 330 saves and a 2.93 ERA from 1989-2000, also playing for Montreal and the Dodgers.
Kaillie Humphries says she's filed harassment complaint with Bobsleigh Canada
'It can happen to anybody,' the 3-time Olympic medallist says
Devin Heroux · CBC Sports
Kaillie Humphries is breaking her silence about why she isn't competing in bobsleigh this year.
Speaking exclusively to CBC, Humphries revealed she has filed a harassment complaint with Bobsleigh Canada.
Humphries did not reveal what type of harassment she is alleging.
This is the first time in Humphries's career she's not competing. She's a two-time Olympic champion and was named the 2014 Lou Marsh Award winner as the top athlete in Canada. She says after every season she takes time to evaluate how the year went. When she started to critically look at last season, she realized something went really wrong.
"I worked very closely with a sports psychologist, somebody who I personally had sought out and who has helped me. I talked to a psychologist every single week [and] we broke down last season," she said.
"I can no longer be silenced because of other people's actions. And I spent all last year doing that without knowing that that's what I was doing. It feels really bad. It feels really wrong. You're not truthful."
Humphries says this has been one of the most challenging times in her life, as she continues to train, wondering when she might return to competition at the completion of the investigation. There is no timeline for that to happen at this point. She says she will not return if changes aren't made.
Above all, Humphries says she needed to come forward with this, not only to help rectify her situation, but make it easier for others to come forward as well.
"It can happen to anybody. And that's true. And that was part of my decision for bringing this claim forward," Humphries said. "I'm strong enough to go through this process. I'm strong enough to stand up for what's right."
She's under no illusions about just how big of a step it is to move forward with this harassment case.
"A lot is at stake. For me personally. My entire career is at stake, who I am personally. I'm risking everything to be in this position," she said. "It's not something I take lightly. So yeah, for me personally there's a lot at stake."
BORDEAUX, FRANCE | FORMER FRENCH SWIMMING CHAMPION ON TRIAL FOR CHILD SEX ABUSE
ZEESHAN AHMADBORDEAUX, France— A former French swimming champion is on trial in southwest France for the alleged rape and sexual abuse of young boys and adolescents during the decade he ran an ice hockey club in northern France.
Leroyer, who turns 61 on Tuesday, is accused of sexually abusing five boys ages 6-14 and raping one of them when he managed the ice hockey club in Rouen from 1986 to 1996.
His alleged victims, now in their 30s and 40s, listened silently as the court heard that Leroyer befriended the boys’ parents and allegedly molested them at their homes or during sleepovers at his house.
The court president said some of the evidence drew a portrait of Leroyer behaving like a “predator” who “wove his web” around boys’ families, befriending parents to get access to their children.
That's what predator paedophiles do.
Leroyer was a French national backstroke champion during the 1970s but an injury kept him out of the 1978 world championships. He later worked for French swimming apparel maker Arena.
The child rape charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, while child sex abuse is punishable by a jail term of up to 10 years. The verdict is expected on Wednesday.
Alex Salmond facing 14 charges including attempted rape, adamantly denies allegations
Former First Minister of Scotland denies charges
© Reuters / Russell Cheyne
Salmond was arrested and charged in Scotland yesterday after voluntarily going to the police station to be questioned on the allegations, but was not held in custody overnight. The former SNP leader, who hosts a show on RT, was also charged with two counts of indecent assault and one count of breach of the peace.
In a statement after appearing in court on Thursday, Salmond denied the allegations and said he was “innocent of any criminality.” He said that given that proceedings were underway in the current case, he was unable to comment further other than to say he refuted the accusations and would defend himself “to the utmost” in court.
“I’ve got great faith in the court system of Scotland. I’ve got recent cause to have great faith in the court system of Scotland,” he said.
Salmond was referring to a separate legal case which he won against the Scottish government over the handling of an investigation into the complaints against him. In that case, the court found that the inquiry had been "tainted with apparent bias."
Weinstein's new legal team boasts defenders of
high-profile clients
Lawyers who once defended Rose McGowan, Aaron Hernandez
and others join team
The Associated Pressand others join team
Harvey Weinstein is charged with raping an unidentified female acquaintance in 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on a different woman in 2006. (Julio Cortez/Associated Press)
Weinstein's four new lawyers all have experience defending high-profile clients, including Casey Anthony, former sports stars Aaron Hernandez and Kobe Bryant and, in a strange twist, one of Weinstein's own Hollywood accusers.
Two of the attorneys, Jose Baez and Ronald Sullivan, represented actress Rose McGowan last year in a Virginia drug case. McGowan, who pleaded no contest last week, was among the first of dozens of women who came forward to accuse Weinstein of sexual assault.
The pair join Bryant's former lawyer Pamela Robillard Mackey and ex-Manhattan prosecutor Duncan Levin in representing Weinstein on what's shaping up to be a modern version of the "dream team" that secured an acquittal for O.J. Simpson at his 1995 murder trial.
The quartet of lawyers replaces Benjamin Brafman, a tactical and pugnacious New York City defence lawyer who had been by Weinstein's side since he was arrested and paraded out of a Manhattan police station last spring.
Weinstein's former lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, left the movie producer's rape case weeks after failing to get the charges dismissed. (Seth Wenig/Associated Press)
McGowan, who's not involved in the criminal case, blasted the involvement of her former attorneys as a "major conflict of interest."
"I knew there was shadiness going on behind the scenes," the Charmed star told the Daily Beast. "This is why my case didn't go to trial — my instinct was my lawyers had been bought off."
"I thought Harvey would get to them behind the scenes and I wouldn't have fair representation," McGowan added.
Actor Rose McGowan calls the involvement of her former lawyers a 'major conflict of interest.' (Paul Sancya/Associated Press)
"We were pleased to represent our former client, Ms. Rose McGowan, in a matter unrelated to Mr. Weinstein's current charges," the lawyers said. "After consultation with ethics counsel, we are certain no conflict of interest exists. We wish Ms. McGowan well with all her future endeavors."
Weinstein, 66, is charged with raping an unidentified female acquaintance in 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on a different woman in 2006. A conviction could put him in prison for the rest of his life.
Brafman and Weinstein said in a statement last week that they had "agreed to part ways amicably." Their split came a month after they lost a hard fought bid to get his sexual assault case thrown out.
Brafman and Weinstein are due in court Friday for a judge to formally sign off on the lawyer swap.
Jose Baez successfully defended Casey Anthony, the Florida woman who was acquitted of killing her young daughter in 2011.
(Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/Associated Press)
High-profile clients
Baez, perhaps the best-known name on the new legal team, first gained fame for representing Anthony, the Florida mom whose televised trial in 2011 ended in an acquittal on charges accusing her of killing her young daughter.
Baez and Sullivan successfully defended New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez against murder charges in 2017. Hernandez, in prison for a 2015 murder conviction, killed himself five days later.
Mackey, who's based in Denver, represented Bryant when the former basketball star was accused of raping a 19-year-old at a Colorado resort in 2003. The charges were dismissed when prosecutors said the accuser was no longer interested in testifying.
Ronald Sullivan, left, successfully defended New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez with Baez against murder charges in 2017. ((WHDH-TV/Associated Press)
In a statement released through a Weinstein spokesman, Mackey said she is thrilled to work with her friends, Baez and Sullivan, and "as they said, Harvey Weinstein is innocent and we are here to exonerate him."
Weinstein denies all allegations of nonconsensual sex.
"Mr. Weinstein steadfastly maintains his innocence in this matter and we are looking forward to assisting Mr. Weinstein in his defense," Baez and Sullivan said.
The Manhattan prosecutor's office declined comment.
Pamela Mackey represented former basketball star Kobe Bryant who was charged with rape. The charges were eventually dismissed. (Ed Andrieski/Associated Press)
French child rape case is another lesson
about sports abuse
Leroyer gets 12 years in prison
Vincent Leroyer, former swimming champion and ex-manager of one of France's most successful ice hockey clubs, sits on a chair during a break in proceedings during his trial for child rape and sexual molestation at the Bordeaux courthouse, southwestern France, on Jan. 22, 2019.
By JOHN LEICESTER | Associated Press
BORDEAUX, France — The victims' parents regarded him as a family friend, unaware of the tortures he was inflicting on their children behind closed doors.
His past glories as a champion swimmer helped lull admirers into thinking that Vincent Leroyer was reliable, someone to look up to. Yet the truth, finally aired at his trial in southwest France this week for raping and sexually assaulting children, was that the ex-elite athlete — like other notorious sports officials and coaches — was using his position to brutalize young people.
The success of the championship-winning ice hockey team Leroyer managed also lent him an aura of prestige. It helped him to carry out and hide his abuses, spread across a decade in the 1980s and '90s, on boys aged six to 14. The 61-year-old was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years imprisonment on five counts of child sex abuse and one of child rape. His victims, now in their 30s and 40s, hugged after the verdict was pronounced.
In the greater scheme of things, Leroyer is a sporting nobody. The court in Bordeaux heard how injuries derailed his swimming career in the 1970s before he could compete for France on the world stage in his specialty discipline, the backstroke.
Still, Leroyer's three-day trial highlighted how, in the wrong hands, the lure and power of sports can act as poison. That lent this case relevance for all those engaged, near and far, in sports today.
Success in sports, as an athlete and administrator, opened doors that otherwise likely would have remained closed to the single man riddled with insecurities and with no family or children of his own.
It gave him access to kids, the most naïve and, by extension, most vulnerable admirers of sporting success.
And it helped him mystify parents who were grateful to have such a "friend," a sports insider who not only could get match tickets for their hockey-playing kids but who also offered to transport them here and there and let them sleep over after late-night games. It was at his apartment near the ice rink, on a sofa bed, that some of the assaults took place.
"We talk of sport being a family. Well, here, there was a wolf in the family," said the father of two of Leroyer's victims, both men in their 30s who have wrestled with addiction, unstable relationships and other blockages to a happy life since they were systematically abused.
Because Leroyer committed his crimes decades ago, in the Normandy town of Rouen, it would be easy to think that his trial, which barely made national news even in France, offered little in the way of lessons for parents, kids or those involved in sports today.
But Leroyer's victims specifically asked that the proceedings be held in open court because they feel their suffering could help inform others. If the destruction of their childhoods can spare others, then perhaps their pain might take on some glimmer of meaning.
And methods Leroyer employed to befriend families and abuse their children are by no means unique to Rouen or to France.
Former rugby player Sebastien Boueilh, who crisscrosses France delivering classes on how to combat pedophilia in sports and sharing his experience as a victim of child sexual abuse himself, says predators typically target families' vulnerabilities.
"In a group of 20 kids, they'll target the kid whose parents are separating or who don't have the time," Boueilh, who was not involved in the Leroyer trial, said in a phone interview. "When they have everyone's trust, they go after the child."
In Leroyer's case, he wormed his way into families with marital difficulties and where fathers were often absent for work; families where his offers to help, to take kids to games, for burger meals, on holiday and even to tuck them in at night, were gratefully accepted, out of trust or necessity.
One father told the court "it helped us out" when Leroyer offered to keep his son overnight after taking him to see hockey matches, not knowing the boy was being assaulted, abuse that left him an insomniac from age 11 and later led to battles with addiction.
The father with two sons who were abused said the Rouen Hockey Club's success, with five national championships during Leroyer's tenure as manager from 1986-1996, contributed to lower their guard.
"We had stars in our eyes," he told The Associated Press in an interview during a break in the hearings. "In any other situation, I'd never have let this happen."
In summing up the case against Leroyer for the jury, prosecutor Martine Cazaban-Pouchet said: "It helped the families to have someone who said, 'I'm available.'" She had asked for a prison sentence of 12 to 14 years.
Without trust, there would be no grassroots sports: parents wouldn't let kids out of the house, depriving them of rich and rewarding relationships with adult coaches, and there'd be no carpooling, so sports clubs wouldn't tick.
"There are many, many more good volunteers than predators," Boueilh notes.
Rules to protect your children
Still, he says families should protect themselves by never allowing kids to go back to the house of an adult coach or sports official. Parents should insist kids come straight home from events. And kids should always sit in the back, out of reach of the driver's hands, he says.
Advice that perhaps, just perhaps, might have helped thwart Leroyer and prevent the damage that endures for his victims.
"You have to be paranoid," said the father of two victims in the AP interview. "Our only error was to have given him our trust and to never have thought to ourselves that we would be manipulated."
That's one of the points of this blog - to reveal the extraordinary amount of child sex abuse that occurs and that paedophiles are often the friendliest, most helpful person in your social circle. Trust no-one with your children!
Bryan Singer Could Still Make Millions Directing A Major Movie Despite Sex Abuse Allegations
It appears Millennium Films has no problem with child sex abuse
Patrick Stewart, Bryan Singer and Ian McKellen pose at the 'No Man's Land' & 'Waiting For Godot' Opening Night after party at the Bryant Park Grill on November 24, 2013 in New York City. Bruce Glikas / Contributor / Getty Images
By PAUL BOISDespite the bombshell report in The Atlantic on Wednesday detailing multiple allegations of sexual abuse against minors for nearly two decades, Hollywood director Bryan Singer could still be making millions by directing another major motion picture.
According to Business Insider, the "Bohemian Rhapsody" director is still expected to helm the "Red Sonja" reboot for Millennium Films, which, ironically enough, tells the story of a sexual assault survivor.
"Red Sonja's Marvel Comics interpretation was loosely based on 'Conan the Barbarian' creator Robert E. Howard's Red Sonya character," reports Business Insider. "Her origin has been retold throughout her comic-book history, but when she first debuted, her family was killed and she was raped by a gang of mercenaries. She is then given enhanced combat skills by a goddess to carry out her revenge."
A movie based on the character was released in 1985 starring Brigitte Nielsen as Sonja and Arnold Schwarzenegger in his iconic role as Conan.
The explosive report on Wednesday profiled four new allegations of sexual abuse against Bryan Singer, the most disturbing of which came from Victor Valdovinos who claims that Singer molested him while on the set of "Apt Pupil" when he was just a 13-year-old boy.
"He takes us to the back area, which was kind of closed off. Like, this is the whole locker room they’re doing their stuff over there, and I was back here, in the towel, with no shirt and no clothes on, sitting on one of the locker-room benches. Bryan’s like, ‘Just hang out here. It’s going to be all day. Don’t worry," Valdovinos told The Atlantic.
"Every time he had a chance—three times—he would go back there," Valdovinos said. "He was always touching my chest." Eventually, the director allegedly reached under the child's towel to masturbate him.
"He did it all with this smile," Valdovinos claimed. "I was frozen. Speechless. He came back to where I was in the locker room throughout the day to molest me."
The Atlantic report noted that Millennium Films still hired Bryan Singer to direct "Red Sonja" despite having recently been fired from the Oscar-nominated "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the multiple sexual assault allegations that were trailing him.
"Singer continues to enjoy the benefit of the doubt in Hollywood," wrote the report's co-authors Alex French and Maximillian Potter. "This fall, Millennium Films signed Singer to direct Red Sonja, an adaptation of a sword-and-sorcery comic book, for a reported $10 million. (Asked why Singer was hired despite the allegations against him, a Millennium publicist said, 'I am afraid the response is ‘unavailable for comment.’)"
The Hollywood Reporter announced in September of last year that Singer negotiated a hefty fee of $10 million to direct "Red Sonja."
"In December, Bryan Singer was sued by a man who claims the Bohemian Rhapsody director raped him when he was 17 years old," reported THR. "But Millennium Films is willing to take a chance on Singer, hiring him to direct a 'female-empowered' remake of Red Sonja. A knowledgeable source tells The Hollywood Reporter that Singer is negotiating for a payday of up to $10 million, a stunning figure given that there appeared to be no studios gunning for his services amid a risk-averse climate."
"Red Sonja" reportedly has a $70 million to $80 million budget. Should Millennium Films keep Singer on board, the movie could start shooting this spring.
Millennium Films deserves to go down! How disgustingly inconsiderate of abused children. Maybe someone there doesn't have a problem with child sex abuse?
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