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Bipartisan bill aims to tackle rampant child porn sharing
on Pentagon computers

© Pixabay / David Mark

Congress is weighing up a bipartisan bill to crack down on the sharing of child porn on Defense Department computers after a watchdog group found the Pentagon’s network ranked among the top US ISPs for sharing the vile content.

“The notion that the Department of Defense’s network and Pentagon-issued computers may be used to view, create, or circulate such horrifying images is a shameful disgrace, and one we must fight head on,” Abigail Spanberger (D-Virginia) said in a statement on Tuesday as she and co-sponsor Mark Meadows (R-N. Carolina) introduced the End National Defense Network Abuse (END Network Abuse) Act in the House.

The Defense Criminal Investigative Services (DCIS) will receive training in how to root out and successfully prosecute those using Defense Department equipment to access and trade child porn under the new legislation. The bill also integrates DCIS into a “multi-jurisdictional task force” with “federal, state, and local law enforcement,” social services, and child protection groups to help victims of child sexual exploitation – and to roll back the tide of filth engulfing Defense Department networks.

Congress has known for at least a decade that child porn trading on Defense Department computers was a problem. Immigration and Customs Enforcement identified 5,200 people “subscribed to websites that were known to contain child pornography” during 2008’s Project Flicker investigation, including hundreds of individuals “affiliated with” the Defense Department, some of whom even used their government email addresses and military post boxes to register on the offending websites. Worryingly, dozens possessed some form of security clearance. 

While a handful of the offenders caught in Project Flicker received jail sentences, thousands more – up to 80 percent of those identified in the ICE report – did not, as “combating child pornography was not one of DCIS’ investigative priorities,” Spanberger and Meadows lament. This investigative blind spot leaves the Pentagon vulnerable to “blackmail, bribery, and other threats,” should employees with high security clearances become compromised through their weakness for child porn or other illicit activities conducted over Defense Department computers.

The Defense Department’s network ranked 19th out of 2,891 internet service providers for peer-to-peer trading of child porn in 2018, according to the National Criminal Justice Training Center, suggesting the problem has only gotten worse in the 10 years since Project Flicker wrapped up.

That puts them in the top 0.6%! How disturbing! I's also disturbing that the Pentagon has not seen this as a problem, both in terms of security, and in terms of character of military personnel.

A Senate version of the END Network Abuse Act was introduced in May by Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). While neither chamber of Congress has set aside dates to discuss the measure, sponsors plan to pass it “both as individual bills and as amendments” to other bills, according to the Hill. Representatives TJ Cox (D-California) and Anna Eshoo (D-California) have also signed on to the House bill as co-sponsors.

Child sexual abuse charge against S.C. Marine colonel dismissed by military appeals court

By: Shawn Snow
Marine Corps Times

Col. Daniel H. Wilson prepares to fire an M590 shotgun May 24 in the Central Training Area during a friendly marksmanship competition. (Cpl. Adam B. Miller/Marine Corps)

A Marine colonel serving five years in prison for a child sex abuse conviction may get a reprieve after an appellate court tossed the central charge against him and sent the case back to the original court for resentencing.

The unanimous opinion cited problems with the child victim’s testimony and a lack of other witnesses in their reasoning.

On Monday, a military appeals court dismissed with prejudice a charge of child sexual abuse against a Marine Col. Daniel Wilson and remanded the case for a rehearing on sentencing — meaning Wilson could soon be released from prison.

The dismissal with prejudice means that prosecutors cannot recharge Wilson under the same charges he faced in his original trial. It makes the ruling a form of final judgement.

The Appellate Government Division — which represents the U.S. before the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals — could ask the appeals court to reconsider its decision.

Wilson is serving a 66 month sentence following his September 2017 general court-martial conviction of child sexual abuse, among other charges.

The Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals — in its opinion — said it was “not convinced” of Wilson’s guilt of the child sexual abuse charge “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The military appeals court cited “inconsistent” statements presented during the trial from the then-6-year-old alleged victim, which the the court described as “wholly irreconcilable.”

I wonder how many 6 y/o witnesses appear before military courts? I wonder if those on the bench have ever experienced a child sex abuse case, or have ever had any training in what to expect from a child survivor of sexual abuse? 

The alleged victim “was inconsistent in non-trivial ways that cannot solely be attributed to her young age,” the court said in its opinion.

No, but can it be attributed to the probability that she was sexually assaulted? Do these guys have any idea what sexual assault does to a child? It certainly doesn't appear to be the case.

Moreover, the court argued in its opinion that government “presented no physical evidence and no corroborating eyewitnesses who saw or heard signs of abuse.”

The alleged victim’s “statements are the only evidence of the appellant’s guilt," the court wrote in its opinion. 

The appeals court cited inconsistent statements from the alleged victim regarding the number of times the abuse occurred.

The court explained that it can’t “discern” how the alleged victim “contends the appellant touched her, when he did so, or how many times she contends the abuse occurred.”

The alleged victim said at the trial and during a July 2016 forensic interview that the abuse occurred only once, according to details in the court opinion. When asked a third time, the alleged victim responded “Maybe like six times,” the court opinion detailed.

Though the court said that it is not “clear” — due to a “poorly worded" question — whether the alleged victim was answering that she sat on Wilson’s lap six times or was “inappropriately touched” six times.

The court also argued that the alleged victim’s statements were not “consistent about the type of contact she alleged the appellant made with her body."

The mother of the alleged victim testified that her daughter told her that Wilson “rubbed her vaginal area.” The appeals court said the alleged victim “never made that disclosure” at trial or during the forensic interview.

“She has variously described that the appellant repositioned her up his chest, ‘pushed it,’ was ‘doing it strangely,’ making the most serious allegation at trial — agreeing that the appellant ‘put his fingers inside of her in some way,’" the appeals court wrote in its opinion.

A footnote in the court’s opinion noted that charge sheets against Wilson did not specify whether the contact with the alleged victim’s genitalia “was either direct or through the clothing, nor does it specify what part of the appellant’s body touched” the victim.

The court also argued that the vast expert testimony in the fields of child psychology, maltreatment, and forensic interviewing did “nothing to resolve our genuine misgivings with the evidence.”

Wilson was originally hit with 24 charges to include unauthorized absence, rape, rape of a child, sexual abuse of a child, battery and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.

He was convicted at a September 2017 general court-martial (2nd story on link) held aboard Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, for a charge of sexual abuse of a child on diverse occasions, six specifications of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman and one specification of unauthorized absence.

Wilson was fired after a very brief stint in 2016 as a liaison officer for the Marine rotation in Darwin, Australia. The Marine colonel was convicted for six instances of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentlemen stemming for misconduct during the Darwin deployment.

According to details in the appeals court opinion, Wilson made an “inappropriate comment” to another Marine colonel’s wife, asked a Marine captain to “provide a revealing photograph of his wife;” and showed said explicit picture to an Australian commander, during his brief stint in Australia.

Allegations of child sexual abuse stemmed from Wilson’s interactions with a Marine major, his wife and their three female children aboard Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, spanning June 2016 to July 2016.

Wilson was accused of raping, sexually abusing, licking and striking the then-6-year-old; licking and striking the alleged victim’s twin sister; and for offering alcohol to all three children, according to details in the court opinion. The third child was 10 at the time.

Wilson was only convicted of sexual abuse of one of the children, and was acquitted of the other offenses.

Wilson also was charged with and convicted of unauthorized absence following details that came out allegations the Marine colonel sexually and physical assaulted an adult woman in his North Carolina home and during a trip to Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina, between December 2016 and January 2017, according to details in the court opinion.

Those allegations highlighted that Wilson was away from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, without approved leave. Wilson was acquitted of the physical and sexual assault allegations, but he was convicted for unauthorized absence.

The military appeals court decision reverses the conviction on the count of child sexual abuse, but does not reverse the other convictions. The appeals court has sent the case back to an “appropriate convening authority” for a rehearing on sentencing.

The U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Armed Forces is the highest appeals court for the military, but is limited to hearing cases regarding questions of law — making it unlikely that the government can appeal the recent decision. Wilson’s case before the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals hinged primarily over factual sufficiency.

“Alternatively, if a rehearing on sentence is impractical, the convening authority may approve a sentence of no punishment,” the court wrote in the conclusion of its opinion.

Wilson could soon walk free pending the outcome of a request for reconsideration of the court’s opinion.

An online vigilante group that targets sexual predators may have contributed to a sailor’s death

Is this another pedophile suicide?

Jeff Schogol

Task & Purpose

Investigators are looking into whether a sailor killed himself after an activist group posted a video of him online that purportedly showed him trying to solicit a minor, Task & Purpose has learned.

Task & Purpose is withholding the sailor's name while the investigation into his death is ongoing.

Navy Department officials declined to comment until the investigation is complete.

Based in San Diego, the private group CC_Unit – short for "Creep Catcher Unit" – uses decoy accounts to pose as children on dating apps and then makes videos confronting people who respond that they want to have sex with minors, said the group's founder, who goes by the alias "Ghost."

"I've always been a big fan of Chris Hansen and 'To Catch a Predator,'" Ghost, who declined to give his real name, told Task & Purpose. "I always grew up with girls that have been victims of sexual abuse and abuse in general. Now that I'm a bit older – I'm 21 – I can actually make a difference, make a change."

But CC_Unit does not coordinate these stings with law enforcement, so none of the people they "catch" are arrested on the scene, Ghost said.

However, some of the group's Instagram followers do reach out to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and police about the people shown in his videos.

In the sailor's case, Ghost said he pretended to be a 14-year-old boy and then agreed to meet the sailor in a mall parking lot. Ghost sent Task & Purpose screenshots that purportedly showed texts with the sailor, who allegedly offered Doritos to lure the person who he thought was a minor into his car.

Ghost also provided a video which he says shows him walking up to the sailor in the mall parking lot. The sailor quickly drove away.

Officials confirmed to Task & Purpose that the sailor had been interviewed by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service about the incident caught on video prior to his death.

While Ghost acknowledges that the video may have been a factor in the sailor's death, he said he doesn't feel responsible for it.

"I feel like he definitely had other issues going on besides just the catch," Ghost told Task & Purpose. "I've caught other military dudes and they didn't take their own lives."

Of the more than 50 people whom CC_Unit has caught on video, five have been service members, including the sailor who died, said Ghost, who livestreams the encounters and then posts them online after editing them.

Besides the now-deceased sailor, I Marine Expeditionary Force confirmed that two Marines featured in recent CC_Unit videos are being investigated by NCIS: Lance Cpl. Joseph Ortiz, who is in a video posted on May 24; and Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Nathaniel Sears, who is featured in a video posted on April 29.

Ortiz was questioned on June 26 and released to his command as the NCIS investigation continues, according to I MEF. Charges have not been filed but he has been placed on legal hold.

Sears, with 1st Marine Logistics Group, is currently in pretrial confinement at the Camp Pendleton Brig after charges were preferred against him on May 1, a statement from 1 MEF said. He is expected to be court-martialed on charges of attempting to commit a sexual act upon a child and solicitation to produce and distribute child pornography.

The Navy was unable to verify whether a man featured in a video posted online on June 21 is a sailor. The man, who thought he was meeting a 13-year-old girl, claimed to be a Navy reservist stationed overseas.

Ghost said he is still editing the video of the fifth service member, which has not yet been posted online.

The incident with the sailor who may have killed himself shows the ethical and legal pitfalls that arise when private citizens play the role of police.

CC_Unit has two goals in livestreaming and posting videos of the encounters with people who think they are meeting children for sex: To scare the people who respond from seeking out minors again and to let the general public know about alleged pedophiles.

"Many of my followers know a lot of the people that I catch," Ghost said. "A lot of the supporters, they say: 'Oh my God; this guy has been really creepy towards me in the past' …'This guy has tried to make moves on me in the past and I was a minor.'

"Ninety percent of these guys are going to repeat again but I feel like it will be better just for them to be exposed so people are aware and they can avoid this person in public if they see them."

But these types of stings can actually make it harder for police and prosecutors to bring criminal charges against the people caught on video, said San Diego-based attorney Stefano Molea.

Private citizens may not follow the rules for preserving evidence and recording conversations that police use, and that could pose problems for investigators, said Molea, whose law firm handles sex crimes cases.

"On a public policy basis, I don't think that law enforcement agencies want to encourage vigilante justice," he said. "They don't want to encourage private citizens to take the law in their own hands and to try to do criminal investigations. So, that's partly why a lot of these investigations that these vigilante groups do, where they have 'evidence,' doesn't end up with criminal charges every single time."

It can also be very dangerous when civilians act as if they were police, he said.

"I think that if we set up a system where we encourage private citizens to investigate crimes and we empower them in that way, I think that's a slippery slope," Molea said. "I think that creates a significant danger that people are going to go too far. People are going to take the law into their own hands – and then not just investigate, but also put themselves in a situation that could create violence and conflict."

For his part, Ghost insists he is not a vigilante because his goal is to spread public awareness about pedophiles. He said he does not take the law in his own hands by hurting the people whom he confronts.

"What I do is: I strictly go there, videotape and it and then post it," Ghost said. "I think of myself as an activist, not a vigilante."

Two Palm Desert, CA, men arrested on child sexual abuse and child porn charges

Two Palm Desert men were arrested for alleged crimes involving children, the sheriff’s department announced Tuesday.

Deputies were alerted on Friday to an allegation of sexual abuse of a child that occurred in the 74000 block of Scholar Lane, Riverside County sheriff’s Sgt. Albert Martinez said.

An investigation led to the arrests that afternoon of 28-year-old Devin Daniel Lujan, who was booked on suspicion of oral copulation of a minor under the age of 10, and 31-year-old James Anderson, who is accused of distribution of child porn and indecent exposure, Martinez said.

Lujan and Anderson were released Saturday after posting bail of $55,000 and $30,000, respectively.

Lujan is scheduled to be arraigned on Aug. 26, while Anderson’s arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 28, both at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.

Salisbury, MD, man convicted in child sex abuse case

Rose Velazquez, Salisbury Daily Times 

A Salisbury man accused of sexually abusing a child has been convicted following a two-day trial.

The Wicomico County State's Attorney's Office says 52-year-old Darrelled Westley was found guilty Tuesday, June 25, of sexual abuse of a minor, as well as related offenses.

In June 2018, prosecutors said he sexually abused a child younger than 13 years old.

The judge in the case has ordered a pre-sentence investigation to be completed before Westley's sentencing takes place.

20 Years After Sexually Abusing Child,

Texas Baptist Leader Will Go to Jail

BY HEMANT MEHTA

Among the many stories involving child sexual abuse among leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, one of the more disturbing ones was made public last July (9th story on link).

Anne Marie Miller revealed that when she was 16, in 1997, she was assaulted by then-25-year-old Mark Aderholt, who worked for the International Mission Board, the SBC’s missionary arm.

It wasn’t until 2005 that she realized how serious the crime was. (Frequently, abuse victims don’t realize they’re being abused until they’re much older and able to see the incident(s) from a different perspective.) Still, Miller alerted the IMB… only to watch them do nothing. They didn’t report Aderholt to authorities. They also allowed him to resign in 2008 on his own terms, which meant he could work with other SBC churches without raising any red flags. (He found work at another Southern Baptist church two months later. His résumé included references from IMB.)

Eventually, Miller told the authorities herself. Instead of counting on the church to do the right thing, which they were clearly never going to do, she took matters into her own hands. It wasn’t until this past April (in 2019!) that the IMB finally asked people who knew Aderholt if they had any more information about his abusive behavior.

It only took them 12 years. And one courageous survivor. And all kinds of awful publicity.

Earlier today, Aderholt finally pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault causing bodily injury.

The downside is that his punishment seems relatively minimal compared to the trauma he caused Miller.

The judge placed Aderholt on 24 months of deferred adjudication, a form of probation that will not leave a conviction on his record if he successfully completes the term. He was also ordered to spend 30 days in jail beginning Tuesday evening and to pay a $4,000 fine. He prohibited Aderholt from having any form of contact with Miller.

Aderholt, in a pinstriped suit and yellow tie, came to the bench and faced Miller as she read a statement. Flanked by her husband and mother, she spoke through tears as she described how he allegedly started sexual contact with her and then broke her trust — in people and in God. It was the first time she had seen him face-to-face in 22 years.

“Your lies have no more power,” Miller said from the small, fifth-floor courtroom, staring at Aderholt. “This is the end, Mark.”

“What you did to me made me want to kill myself many times,” she said, her voice nearly a whisper, wiping her eyes with a tissue. “I even tried once a few years ago, but I couldn’t figure out how to work the gun.”

Miller said on Twitter earlier today that, while it was a “lesser charge,” she finally got to hear him admit his guilt.

Logan, UT man suspected of sexually abusing

18-m/o girl after therapist calls police

by: Jennifer Gardiner

LOGAN, Utah (ABC4 News) – A 27-year-old man was arrested last week after allegedly telling his therapist about recent incidents where he inappropriately touched an 18-month-old girl.

According to charging documents, Andrew J. Oakeson of Logan, was charged on Monday with one count first-degree felony sodomy of a child, two first-degree felony counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and one count class A misdemeanor lewdness of a child.

Documents state police were contacted on June 29, by Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS), on a report of child abuse. The report disclosed that Oakeson told his therapist about a recent inappropriate touching a 1.5-year-girl.

The therapist told him to expect authorities to contact him at a later time. When police contacted Oakeson, he agreed to meet at the police department for an interview.

Once at the department, police said Oakeson (told) them he had been viewing child pornography and also touched a toddler inappropriately.

Oakeson described four incidents around February of this year where he sought out child pornography at least two times each day.

On another occasion in late March, Oakeson said he was around the girl, whom he held a position of trust over, when he pulled off the child’s diaper and touched her inappropriately. He said it happened again in late June.

Oakeson was taken into custody and transported to the Cache County Jail. A background check on Oakeson shows he has no criminal history in Utah. - Not yet!

Illinois Christian school k-teacher, Pastor's wife,
charged with sex assault, child porn solicitation

BY TRIBUNE MEDIA WIRE

BURBANK, Ill. -- An Illinois kindergarten teacher is facing charges after being accused of engaging in sexual conduct with two underage students.

Shannon Griffin, 49, a teacher (at) Jordan Baptist School, was taken into custody Monday and charged with sexual assault and solicitation of child pornography.

Investigators said Griffin sent nude pictures and videos of herself to a high school junior and requested he do the same.

The alleged conduct began in 2013 and continued through March of this year, according to the Cook County Sheriff's Office.

Griffin is married to the pastor of Jordan Baptist Church.

The couple have three daughters, two who teach at the school, according to the school’s website. The school teaches about 100 students grades pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services also has an ongoing investigation into multiple allegations of abuse.

Griffin was also charged with grooming and distribution of harmful materials.

On Wednesday, a judge set Griffin's bond at $750,000. Her attorney said the family will try and raise the $75,000 needed to get her released.