Lots of Disturbing Stories on Today's USA PnP List

Texas library apologizes for hiring sex offender
to dress in drag & read to kids

©  Global Look Press / Timothy L. Hale

The Houston Public Library has apologized to parents after a man who volunteered to read to kids during "Drag Queen Storytime" turned out to be a sex offender charged with assaulting a child. What are the odds?

Albert Alfonso Garza – a volunteer drag queen associated with the Houston Public Library program, who performs as Tatiana Mala Nina – was charged with child sex assault on an eight-year-old boy in 2008, according to Mass Resistance, a group that has protested the Drag Queen Storytime program.

The library admitted they had hadn’t run a background check on Garza and issued a statement saying they are very sorry and promising never to do it again, though some protesters want more than an apology.

"If they had done their job and due diligence, if they had said wait...maybe it's not a good idea to have a sex offender who at 200 pounds and 5-foot-11 assaulted an 8-year-old boy!" said Tracy Shannon, a member of Mass Resistance.

"No participant is ever alone with children, and we have not received any complaints about any inappropriate behavior by participants at storytimes," the statement, cited by media, read, assuring parents that the library is taking "appropriate action" to ensure all other participants are "verified." 

The library declined to elaborate on whether participants are normally subjected to a criminal background check, or what "verification" entails, but assured parents that "this participant will not be involved in any future HPL programs."

"Appropriate action is being taken to ensure every participant in every program is verified to ensure similar incidents cannot happen in the future," they added.

In January, a gun-toting protester previously banned from the library was arrested after refusing to leave the premises as staff prepared for the monthly Drag Queen Story Hour event. 

The program launched in 2017 at the Montrose branch, ostensibly to teach children "to embrace gender diversity in themselves and in others" and has met with considerable resistance from locals, including lawsuits, petitions, and protests.

The program is aimed at children far too young to even think about gender issues. Exposing them to drag queens is in itself child abuse and politically correct madness. That it is allowed to happen in a politically conservative state like Texas is inexplicable.

4 child sex abuse convictions tossed over disputed theory by NJ Supreme Court

And many more may follow from this distressing ruling

by David Porter, Associated Press

NEWARK, N.J. — A 2018 state Supreme Court ruling that cast doubt on a theory of child sexual abuse can be used retroactively to reconsider potentially dozens of previous convictions, an appeals court ruled Wednesday in throwing out four such convictions.

The Supreme Court's ruling last August in the case of a defendant identified by the initials J.L.G. limited prosecutors' use of child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome, a theory developed in the 1980s that seeks to explain behaviors among alleged victims. Those behaviors include feelings of helplessness, keeping the abuse secret and recanting allegations about abuse after they're made.

The Supreme Court concluded that not all aspects of the theory are well-defined or scientifically proven, and that expert testimony about those aspects should not be introduced as evidence. Prosecutors can present expert testimony on delayed disclosure of abuse, providing a jury is given specific instructions about the testimony.

J.L.G.'s conviction wasn't reversed, as the Supreme Court concluded it was based on overwhelming evidence unrelated to the expert testimony.

40 more cases could be thrown out


The four defendants whose convictions were reversed Wednesday each had filed appeals by the time of the J.L.G. ruling. The state has estimated at least 40 more cases could be affected, according to the appeals court.

Courts can apply a new ruling retroactively by weighing certain factors, including the effect on the court system and whether it raises serious questions about the accuracy of previous guilty verdicts.

It was appropriate in this case, the three-judge panel wrote, "because it would afford defendants relief from unfair convictions, while not unduly burdening the criminal justice system.

"These cases demonstrate the risk, even before J.L.G., that CSAAS testimony could impair the fact-finding process, and unfairly tip the balance against a defendant charged with sexual assault of a child."

The panel reasoned that if a jury hears expert testimony that “delayed disclosure, inconsistent statements, and retraction may be behaviors exhibited by a truthful child sex abuse victim,” defense attorneys are hampered in their ability to test a victim’s credibility on cross-examination and defendants’ right to confront their accusers is undermined.

People accused of child abuse, or child sex abuse, should have no right to confront their accuser. It's revictimization! While it may be fair to the accused, it certainly is not to the victim. Courts have to find a better way of dealing with child abusers. 

All aspects of CSA Accommodation Syndrome are true, even if they have never been proven scientifically. The science is way behind on this issue, and, of course, it is the children who will suffer because of it.

I wish courts were as concerned for the rights and well-being of children as they are for the rights of criminals.

Washington State preschool teacher charged
with 9 child sex offenses

BY DENVER PRATT
The Bellingham Herald

A former Bellingham preschool teacher pleaded guilty last week to nearly two decades of sexual abuse of a now 24-year-old man.

Ronald Lynn Guier, 41, pleaded guilty March 11 to one count of second-degree child molestation and one count of first-degree incest. Guier also entered an Alford plea, where he admitted a jury would likely find him guilty but still maintains his innocence, for one count of third-degree child rape, according to Whatcom County Superior Court records. The plea is still a conviction.

Guier was originally charged with two counts of first-degree child rape (domestic violence), two counts of first-degree child molestation (domestic violence), two counts of indecent liberties (domestic violence), two counts of first-degree incest, one count of second-degree rape (domestic violence) and one count of tampering with a witness, court records state.

On April 6, 2018, Guier wrote his wife a note confessing that he took advantage of the boy’s mental health vulnerabilities and had been sexually abusing the boy since he was 7, records state.

Guier’s sentencing has tentatively been set for April 22. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors are recommending an exceptional sentence above the standard range for Guier’s crimes, and asking for 20 years in prison, with three years probation. Guier also will have to register as a sex offender, court records show.

Guier was a paraeducator and preschool teacher at Roosevelt Elementary School and previously worked at Blossom Childcare and Learning Center in Bellingham.

He was hired in 2014 and had been teaching in Roosevelt’s special education preschool program since January 2018, according to a previous story in The Bellingham Herald.

Guier was placed on administrative leave and resigned April 23, according to Bellingham Public Schools spokesperson Dana Smith. The police investigation didn’t involve Bellingham Public School students, according to the previous story.

Former investigator with a South Carolina Coroner's Office arrested for child sexual assault

Matthew Ablon 

SPARTANBURG COUNTY, SC (FOX Carolina) - A former investigator who worked for the Spartanburg County Coroner's Office is in jail on a handful of sexual assault charges involving minors.

50-year-old Kip Dwayne Teal, of Lyman, was booked into the Spartanburg County jail on March 20 on six different counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor. Of those six, three are 3rd-degree charges for sexual interaction with a minor between the ages of 14 and 16, while the remaining three are 1st degree charges for sexual conduct with a minor under age 11.

Spartanburg County coroner Rusty Clevenger confirmed to FOX Carolina that Teal was indeed formerly employed with the office, but that Teal did not work any cases once Clevenger learned of the allegation. Clevenger also notes Teal resigned as a result of misuse of county property, and tells us Teal was a former police officer with other local departments prior to working with the coroner's office.

Teal also was charged for contempt of family court.

Oregon man arrested for encouraging child sexual abuse

MEDFORD, Ore. – A Medford man was arrested for sharing images of child sexual abuse online.

The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said in January of 2019, deputies were made aware of an investigation into the sharing of multiple images of child sexual abuse. The suspect in the case was identified as 54-year-old Medford resident Jeffery Andrew Ford.

On March 27, detectives and a SWAT team arrived at Ford’s home in the 300 block of DeBarr Avenue and arrested him for encouraging child sexual abuse.

They needed a SWAT team?

Anyone with further information about the case is asked to call 541-774-6168.

Florida man charged with ‘horrific’ sexual battery on child

By Kathy Leigh Berkowitz
The Ledger

WINTER HAVEN, Fla — After a four-month investigation that started in Winter Haven and ended in Knoxville, Tennessee, a 37-year-old man was arrested for sexual battery on a child under the age of 12. 

Winter Haven Police Department arrested Manuel Tavis McGhee, charging him with two counts of sexual battery on a child under the age of 12; charges, they say, stem from repeated sex abuse on two children when McGhee lived in Winter Haven.

The mother of one of the victims, identified as Victim A, notified police in late 2018 that her daughter told her she had been abused by McGhee.

In an interview with investigators, the 15-year-old said she had been abused from age 5 to 11, according to the police.

The girl revealed “extremely horrific and explicit details of the abuse she incurred from the age of five,” according to a forensic interview with police.

Additionally, she told investigators her brother, identified as Victim B, who is a couple of years older, had endured the same type of abuse during those same years.

In 2013, two separate reports about McGhee were made to the Lakeland Police Department, involving Victim B and two other alleged victims in Lakeland that year. Both incidents were reported and investigated but formal charges were ultimately dropped, according to the WHPD investigation.

During those Lakeland investigations, officers then had reported that McGhee said he had been accused of similar acts in 2006 while stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina with the U.S. Army.

In that case, McGhee had been charged with 15 counts of sexual battery on a child but the case was ultimately dropped by the U.S. Army, which had requested to prosecute the case instead of local authorities, “due to a lack of evidence and McGhee’s denial of all allegations,” WHPD spokeswoman Jamie Brown said in a press release.

Good grief!

“The incidents were very similar to the incidents that occurred in the Winter Haven case,” she added.

Based on McGhee’s history of allegations, Victim A and Victim B were interviewed in December.

Victim B said the abuse started when he was 8 or 9 years old in North Carolina. The description of the abuse mirrored what Victim A reported, noted Brown.

Victim B also told police that the abuse continued in Lakeland and Winter Haven.

Regarding the 2013 allegation by Victim B, he told investigators recently he was afraid of what McGhee would do to him if he shared details. But by the time Victim B spoke to Winter Haven police, Victim B disclosed the details because McGhee had moved away and he said he didn’t feel threatened any more.

WHPD detectives followed the North Carolina allegations and met with a Georgia woman identified as a victim in those reports.

This woman said that when she was nine years old McGhee had abused her, and the pattern was identical to the other victims that were interviewed, according to WHPD reports.

A sibling of this victim also detailed abuse in a separate interview with Winter Haven detectives, according to a WHPD media release.

Based on the totality of the statements made by numerous victims across multiple agencies, Winter Haven detectives obtained a warrant to arrest McGhee. He was taken into custody in Knoxville and is awaiting extradition back to Florida.

“I can say one thing — that I am so proud of our detectives and their tenacity to ensure that there are no more children that this monster can hurt,” said Winter Haven Public Safety Director Charlie Bird. “The path of emotional and physical destruction he caused is reprehensible and we will do everything within our power to make sure he will never be able to hurt another child again.”

It's a pity the appropriate authorities didn't have that attitude in 2013 or 2006. A lot of horrific suffering could have been avoided.

Idaho man pleads guilty to sexual exploitation of a child

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - A 31-year-old Rigby man pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexual exploitation of a minor child.

Joseph Lavern Harris was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pocatello, Wednesday.

According to court records, on February 26, 2018, state investigators responded to allegations of child abuse (2nd story on link) at a residence in Jefferson County, Idaho, where Harris resided.  

A subsequent investigation discovered Harris had produced child pornography using a minor child. 

Investigators obtained a search warrant for Harris’s electronic devices and discovered images of the sexual abuse taken on Harris’s phone.

In court, Harris admitted he used, persuaded, and coerced the minor child to take part in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of such conduct.

The charge of sexual exploitation of a minor is punishable by 15 to 30 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and a term of supervised release of 5 years to life.

Sentencing is set for June 18, 2019, before U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Pocatello.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations in Idaho Falls and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

Washington State mom failed to report sex abuse

of young daughter by stepdad, brother

by KOMO News 

BLACK DIAMOND, Wash. - The mother of a 13-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted for years by her stepfather and half-brother has been arrested and charged with failure to report child abuse, court documents show.

The case originally unfolded in December 2017, when the girl disclosed the sex abuse to a school friend, who in turn told authorities. Detectives came to the school and interviewed the girl, who told them that her stepfather and her 17-year-old half-brother had been sexually assaulting her since she was 8 years old, according to the case file.

The girl reported having sex with both the stepfather and her brother separately, as well as having group sex with both at their Black Diamond residence beginning sometime in 2013, court records show.

The girl also told detectives that she had reported the abuse to her mother in September 2017. The girl said her mother also knew that a condom had broken while her brother assaulted her, and that her mother became enraged and instructed the stepfather to take the girl to the drug store for a morning-after pill, court files show.

The victim ended the interview by telling detectives that her mother was going to be mad at her for telling their "secret."

Detectives then interviewed the mother, who admitted that her daughter told her that the stepfather "may have touched her," according to court documents. The mother then moved out of the house with her daughter, but brought the girl back to the Black Diamond residence on several occasions to attend family dinners, according to the court file.

The mother was then arrested for investigation of rendering criminal assistance, but the King County Prosecutors Office refused to charge her and she was released. The stepfather also was arrested for investigation of child rape, and a search warrant was executed at the Black Diamond home.

Meanwhile, the half-brother was treated as a victim in the case. Both he and the girl were placed in protective custody.

Four days later, the girl disclosed that her uncle also had attempted to molest her as well, but that was foiled when another family member showed up and the uncle fled to another room to avoid being caught. He was later charged and pleaded guilty to communicating with a minor for immoral purposes, court files show.

In July 2018, Black Diamond police were contacted by a new King County prosecutor who has been assigned the case against the stepfather, and she requested the half-brother be arrested and charged with one count of first-degree child rape. The brother later pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree child molestation, according to court records.

In November 2018, sex toys seized during the search of the Black Diamond home were sent to the state crime lab, and the girl's DNA was found on multiple toys.

On March 15, 2019, detectives learned that the stepfather had pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree child rape and one count of first-degree child molestation. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 3.

The new prosecutor also issued an arrest warrant for the girl's mother, for failure to report child abuse. The mother was booked into jail, and on Wednesday pleaded not guilty in Black Diamond Municipal Court. The judge set bail at $20,000.

The woman is a candidate for worst mother of the year award. Arrrrgh!

Texas woman indicted in continuous sex abuse of child

By TOMMY WITHERSPOON 

Waco Tribune

A McLennan County grand jury indicted a 31-year-old Waco woman Wednesday on charges she sexually abused a 13-year-old boy multiple times starting in March 2015 and continuing almost three years.

The grand jury indicted Aerial Monique Simon on one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony, and one count of indecency with a child by contact, a second-degree felony.

Seagoville police alerted Mart police after a family member reported to them and CPS that the boy accused Simon of abusing him, according to an arrest affidavit.

"Throughout the investigation, the child told a very detailed, horrifying, but consistent story of sexual abuse to CPS, law enforcement and counselors," the affidavit states. "The child couldn't remember all the time frames of these sexual assaults. However, he did remember an incident of this sexual abuse happening (at a Mart residence) when he was younger than 11 years old."

CPS reported the boy touched a younger family member in a sexual manner in 2009, potentially "an early-on indicator of sexual abuse by Simon," but no action was taken at the time, according to the affidavit.

Simon failed three polygraph tests, the affidavit states.

"Simon was evading us after the polygraph was done and she tried to threaten the (victim's) family in attempts to scare or discourage the victim's father from pursuing charges," Mart Police Chief Paul Cardenas said after Simon's arrest in January.

If convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child, Simon faces from 25 years to life in prison without parole. She faces up to 20 years in prison on the indecency charge.

WYOMING CITY COUNCILMAN SENTENCED FOR CHILD SEX ABUSE

ASSOCIATED PRESS 

GREEN RIVER, Wyo. (AP) — A former city councilman in southwest Wyoming was sentenced to five years of probation for sexually abusing a child.

Allan Wilson, 57, was sentenced last week after he pleaded guilty in December to second-degree sexual abuse of a minor below the age of 13.

According to court documents, the boy told authorities that Wilson had inappropriately touched him in 2011 while staying in a camper at a cabin property and again in 2013. The cases were later combined.

Wilson was elected to the Green River City Council in November 2014 after retiring as the director of the city's Parks and Recreation Department.

Sweetwater County prosecutors say Wilson's guilty plea will not be entered if he successfully completes his probation.

Seriously? You can do that? Why would you? Is this fair to the victim?

West Texas man arrested for distribution of child porn, sexual abuse of a child

Author: Sandy Rojas

ABILENE, Texas — Abilene Police have arrested Jordan Hickox-Kistler, 24, under suspicion of distribution of child pornography and for allegedly sexually abusing a child under the age of 14.

According to a release from the Abilene Police Department, on March, 27, its Cyber Crimes Unit executed a search warrant at a south Abilene apartment complex and arrested Hickox-Kistler.

An investigation revealed he was using a social media application to share multiple images of child pornography. During the investigation, detectives learned Hickox-Kistler was allegedly sexually abusing a young child.

He has been is charged with second-degree felony possession of child pornography with intent to promote; first-degree felony sexual abuse of a child: victim under age 14; and Class B possession of marijuana.