Newark, NJ, man faces child sex charges;
mummified remains found
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEWARK, N.J. — Police responding to a call about child sexual abuse said they found mummified remains and an altar to an unknown deity in the home of a man who is now facing multiple charges.
Robert Williams is scheduled for an initial court appearance Friday. He is charged with crimes including aggravated sexual assault, child endangerment and desecration of human remains.
According to the Essex County prosecutor’s office, Newark police investigated after receiving reports that the 53-year-old Williams had been abusing a 13-year-old child for several months.
Authorities said a search of Williams’ home last Thursday uncovered human remains stuffed in a bin in a closet. Investigators also saw a religious object they believed to be an altar.
It wasn’t clear where the remains came from or whether they had any connection to the alleged sexual abuse.
Neighbors told The New York Times they noticed a strong odor in recent weeks coming from the vicinity of Williams’ apartment on the first floor of a three-family house. Some told the newspaper they regularly saw Williams with children or were warned to keep their children away from him.
Williams was being held in the Essex County jail Wednesday, according to jail records. It wasn’t known whether he had an attorney who could comment on the charges.
Arkansas man takes plea on 114 child sex charges
More than 1600 charges stayed in plea deal
Josh Dooley, Baxter Bulletin
Frank Nance appeared Wednesday in Marion County Circuit and changed his plea to guilty to 114 charges related to child pornography, sexual assault, rape, producing child pornography and sexually grooming children.
Nance, 66, formerly of St. Joe, was sentenced to 68 years in prison. He's already serving 20 years in prison after he pleaded guilty last year to other child pornography charges.
On the latest charges, Nance will have to serve 17.5 years of his latest sentence before he can appear in front of a parole board and request an early release, according to Deputy Prosecutor Chris Carter. At that point, Nance would be 83 years old.
Nance had been set to go to trial on 1,717 felony charges related to child pornography and child sexual abuse, including 18 counts of rape. The affidavit in the case was sealed by Circuit Court Judge John Putman.
However, a motion by Nance's defense attorney to suppress evidence gathered by law enforcement officers sheds some light on the evidence collected in the case.
In the motion, Nance's attorney said law enforcement officers received electronic devices with photos and videos on them showing Nance having sex with children. The attorney argued the items belonged to Nance and were in a home where Nance resided.
The judge ruled against the motion to suppress the evidence and Nance took a plea bargain shortly thereafter. Before pronouncing sentence on Nance during Wednesday's hearing, Judge Putman had Carter recite the facts the state could prove during a trial.
Carter told the judge the state would be able to present hundreds upon hundreds of photos and videos indicating Nance's guilt.
The prosecutor told the judge Nance had groomed the children so well that when similar accusations involving Nance and the same children came to light in 2010, the children all denied any such activities took place.
Of the 1,717 felony charges Nance faced, 1,672 of them were related to child pornography and using a computer to exploit a child. Nance also faced 18 rape charges. Rape is a Class Y felony punishable by 10-40 years or life in prison.
In the plea agreement, the state noted additional evidence seized could have led to the filing of more than 60 additional felony charges.
As part of the plea agreement, Nance forfeited his interest in six acres of property in St. Joe. Money from the sale of the property would be deposited into a trust fund to benefit the victims of Nance's crimes.
This next story is dated October, 2018, but needs to be told:
Arkansas sheriffs arrest Oklahoma man
on rape charge
JOSH DOOLEY | BAXTER BULLETIN
A 26-year-old Oklahoma man, Eric Franklin Poslick, was arrested Friday on charges of rape, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a minor. He was taken to the Marion County jail where he was held in lieu of a $250,000 bond.
According to an affidavit filed in the case, a woman came to the Marion County Sheriff's Office at approximately 7 p.m. Friday night to report she had been raped.
The woman told a deputy she made tea for Poslick. Poslick allegedly got upset because the woman put two tea bags instead of one tea bag in his cup. The accuser said Poslick began screaming at her and calling her names.
The woman told authorities Poslick took her cell phone. Then, she ran from the home with Poslick chasing her. Poslick caught her and tossed her to the ground, the woman told authorities.
A child reportedly witnessed Poslick screaming at her, calling her names and telling her he was going to kill her, kill members of her family and his own family. During this time, the woman said Poslick was holding a large kitchen knife to her throat while sitting on her back and pulling her hair to expose her throat.
The child went and grabbed a small pocket knife and attempted to fight Poslick off his mother. Poslick reportedly shoved the child away and then ripped the woman's clothes off.
He then gathered ropes and dragged the woman by her hair a short distance into some nearby woods. She told authorities that while Poslick raped her, he yelled to the child "This is what you do to stupid (expletive deleted) that (expletive deleted) you off."
Following the woman's report, Poslick was arrested at a Bull Shoals residence without incident and transported to the Marion County jail.
Electronic court records from Oklahoma indicate the alleged victim filed for an order of protection against Poslick at one point. Other court records from Oklahoma indicate a second woman filed for an received an order of protection against Poslick.
If convicted on the rape charge, Poslick faces 10-40 years or life in prison. The false imprisonment charge carries a maximum punishment of 10 years while the aggravated assault charges carries a maximum of six years in prison upon conviction.
Idaho man arrested on suspicion of sexual
abuse of a child was family’s pastor
Michael Katz, Idaho Stateman
BOISE — A Boise man who was arrested Friday on a felony charge of sexual abuse of a child was the pastor for the victim and her family, according to prosecutors.
Bret Welty, 48, was booked into the Ada County Jail following an investigation into an incident of alleged sexual abuse with a 15-year-old that took place on Aug. 9 at 1 a.m. The victim was known to Welty, Boise police said in a press release. He was also charged with a felony count of lewd conduct.
At a video arraignment hearing Monday, defense attorneys said that Welty had previously worked at Calvary Chapel and the Common Ground Bikers Church, and that Welty and his wife were both involved in the ministry.
A website for Hard Rock Revival Church lists Welty and his wife, Kelly, as its pastors. The church is run out of their home on Colonial Drive in Boise, the website says.
According to the prosecution, the victim was staying with Welty’s family for the weekend, as the “family believed that spending time at the pastor’s home would be helpful to her” because of present anxieties. The victim said that Welty entered her bedroom, had her undress and gave her a massage, touching her chest and genitals, according to prosecutors. The incident lasted between 30 minutes and an hour and stopped when Welty’s wife interrupted, they said.
Welty confessed to having “struggled with such behaviors before” but never with someone as young as the victim, according to court documents.
The defense said that Welty is “no longer in ministry” or actively involved in a church, and works in real estate.
Welty’s bond was set at $250,000 and a no-contact order was issued on behalf of the victim and her father. Magistrate Judge Michael Lojek also said that if Welty posts bond, no other people beside Welty’s wife, son and stepdaughter are allowed to move into the family’s residence.
Green Bay high school employee arrested,
faces child sexual assault charges
Haley BeMiller, Green Bay Press-Gazette
GREEN BAY - A Southwest High School employee was arrested Tuesday and faces charges of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy.
Courtney Roznowski, 31, was booked into the Brown County Jail on suspicion of repeated sexual assault of the same child and sex assault of a student by school staff. Formal charges have yet to be filed against her.
Roznowski appeared in court by video Wednesday. A judge ruled there was probable cause for a crime and set a $10,000 signature bond.
The Southwest High School website lists Roznowski as a paraprofessional. District spokeswoman Lori Blakeslee confirmed that Roznowski is an employee but declined to say how long she has worked there.
According to prosecutors, Roznowski told police she met the teenage boy at Southwest last year and began talking with him outside school. The two reportedly met multiple times throughout the summer, and she admitted to having sexual intercourse with him twice. The first time, in July, Roznowski was drunk and couldn't remember having sex, she told police.
A job description provided by Blakeslee indicates a paraprofessional works with a licensed teacher to provide assistance in the classroom. Examples include helping students with learning material and assisting with group activities.
"The district and Southwest High School administration have been made aware of allegations of inappropriate conduct by a support staff member with a student," Blakeslee said in a statement. "In response, the District will be placing the staff member on unpaid administrative leave while the allegations are investigated."
Roznowski is scheduled to appear in court again on Sept. 5.
Daughter sues father for years of rape from age 5,
using NY Child Victims Act
By Mary B. Pasciak,
Buffalo News
For nearly 40 years, Paul Henry Regdos’ daughter said, she has lived with the aftermath of years of sexual abuse and rape by her father that began when she was 5 years old.
It was not until last week — when she sued her father under the state’s Child Victims Act — that something shifted within her.
“This is the most powerful thing I’ve ever done in my life, and also the most embarrassing,” said the woman, now 44. “You know what it means to me? Someone believes that this happened. I’m finally validated.”
The Child Victims Act makes it possible for any survivors of childhood sexual abuse in New York State to sue their abusers and their abusers' employers during a one-year window that opened on Aug. 14, temporarily lifting the statute of limitations.
More than 90% of the cases filed in Western New York thus far, though, have been filed by plaintiffs who say they were abused by a Catholic priest.
But a handful of people who say they were abused are suing relatives, former neighbors and other individuals.
Of the 115 Child Victims Act cases filed in Western New York, only four alleged abusers were not teachers, religious leaders or Boy Scout leaders.
Those cases involve a Maryland man accused of abusing and attempting to rape his 3-year-old niece in Williamsville in 1971; a Florida man accused of repeatedly raping and abusing his friend’s 10-year-old sister in Great Valley in Cattaraugus County in the mid-1980s; and a local doctor accused of molesting an 11-year-old girl he invited into his Hamburg apartment in 1981 to see his newborn baby.
There is more on this story, please visit The Buffalo News.
California man claims he was sexually abused
by Jehovah's Witness elder as a child
By Amy Powell
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A 26-year-old man has filed a lawsuit against the Jehovah's Witnesses organization claiming he was sexually abused as a child.
Kevin Ramirez says he was molested for years by an elder in the San Dimas Spanish Congregation. The alleged abuse started when he was six.
"You are taught to trust these elders with everything," Ramirez said during a news conference. "They are your mentors, they're the equivalent to what a priest would be."
Apparently, in too many ways.
Ramirez says the elder was an unrelated man named Humberto Ramirez.
The lawsuit accuses Humberto Ramirez of using his position to molest several boys in the congregation.
An attorney representing Ramirez, Irwin Zalkin, says the suit targets the governing board of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
He accuses the organization of having a history of abuse, saying they have "a pervasive and a severe problem of child sexual abuse within that organization that they've been covering up for decades."
The Jehovah's Witnesses organization said in a statement that read in part, "Watchtower's stand on the subject of child abuse is very clear: we despise child abuse in any form. Our hearts go out to anyone who suffered as a result of child sexual abuse."
The Jehovah's Witnesses organization said it will not discuss pending litigation, but the organization also says its practice is to always follow the law.
Illinois Man Sentenced To 160 Years For
Sex Abuse of 6 y/o Girl Wins Appeal
William Freund took pictures of the sexual assault of a 6-year-old girl, authorities said, and pleaded guilty to the crimes in 2014.
By Shannon Antinori, Patch Staff
BOLINGBROOK, IL — Five years after he entered a blind plea admitting to four counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a 6-year-old child, a Bolingbrook man has won his fight to withdraw his guilty plea. William Freund, 38, was sentenced to 160 years in prison for the assaults, which prosecutors said he recorded in photos that were discovered by his wife.
Freund entered the guilty plea in October 2014 and has been fighting to withdraw it since March 2015. His motion to withdraw the plea was denied by a Will County judge in June 2018.
But in July, the 3rd District Appellate Court found he pleaded guilty "based on a misapprehension of law," according to Suburban Life. The appellate court found that during Freund's plea hearing, Will County Judge Ed Burmila "erroneously admonished" him that he could not be made to serve the sentences one after the other.
Oooops!
In February 2015, Burmila sentenced Freund to 160 years, 40 for each count of predatory criminal sexual assault. "We can rest assured that William Freund will never take another step as a free man because of the appalling crime he committed against an innocent young girl," State's Attorney James Glasgow said at the time.
On Friday, Freund was remanded back to the Will County jail. His bond is set at $3 million, meaning he would need to post $300,000 to be released, according to jail records. He is due in court Sept. 5 and Sept. 9, jail records said.
Freund was arrested in September 2011 after prosecutors said his wife discovered photographs he'd taken of the sexual assaults on a camera memory card. The assaults took place in 2009, according to authorities.
Washington County, Ore, jury convicts man of
child sex abuse
by: KOIN 6 News Staff
PORTLAND, Ore. — David Scott Houston was found guilty of child sex abuse on Friday.
Houston was found guilty after a child was interviewed by CARES experts and told them that Houston forced her to touch him inappropriately.
The 31-year-old admitted to inappropriate contact with the girl he sexually abused but accused her of initiating it. The jury did not find that credible.
A report was first filed in May 2018 that alerted authorities of possible neglect and sex abuse involving the child. After the Washington County Sheriff’s Office investigated further, the child was taken out of the home she had been living in at the time.
Houston is set to be sentenced on August 29.
Rochester, NY, pediatrician accused of sexually abusing young patient from age 3 to 16
Steve Orr, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
A Rochester-area pediatrician, Dr. Barton W. Kaplan, has been accused in a newly filed lawsuit of sexually abusing a patient in the 1970s and 1980's.
The patient claims he abused her repeatedly over a period of about 13 years, starting when she was 3 years old.
"It’s a terrible situation. It’s impacted my client. She feels she was inappropriately abused under the guise of medical treatment," said Jordan Merson, a lawyer in New York City filed the case Friday evening in state Supreme Court in Monroe County.
The plaintiff's name is withheld in the legal papers, where she is listed only as "Jane Doe."
Kaplan, 77, who still sees patients at Webster Medical Group, did not return a message left for him at his office.
He may be the first practicing physician sued under the Child Victim Act.
A provision of the state law allows old child sex abuse claims to be filed during a one-year period that began Wednesday. More than 400 lawsuits have been filed statewide since the window opened.
The lawsuit against Kaplan alleges that he abused the female patient at his office in the former Northeast Health Center at 905 Culver Road in Rochester. The papers claim he fondled and penetrated the girl with his fingers on every visit to his office during the time period in question.
Asked how the plaintiff could remember events when she was just 3 years old, Merson said "She has a clear recall that ever since she’d been going to this doctor, this happened. This came to her in discussion with her family."
The girl did not inform family members of the abuse at the time it occurred, he said.
The lawsuit also names Strong Memorial Hospital and the University of Rochester Medical Center as defendants, saying Northeast Health Center was affiliated with URMC and that Kaplan operated under the "direction and control" of the medical center.
A spokesman for URMC, Chip Partner, said that Kaplan has never been an employee of the medical center. He has courtesy privileges, as many local physicians do, that allow him to visit patients who are hospitalized at Strong but has never provided care to patients in the hospital.
Partner said the university could find no record that it was ever associated with Northeast Health Center, which no longer is located on Culver Road. The building it occupied was acquired by the university in 2002, long after the alleged abuse by Kaplan, and now houses a UR Medicine care center.
Merson said he does not represent other patients of Kaplan with similar allegations, and has uncovered no evidence that Kaplan has been accused of sexual abuse in the past.
Kaplan's medical license is current and there are no public records of any misconduct allegations against him on the website maintained by the state Department of Health's Office of Professional Medical Conduct.
Merson said, however, that he and his client believe "this was not an isolated incident."
Wyoming man pleads guilty to
sexual abuse of 4 y/o girl and child porn
ZACH SPADT
A Mills man on Wednesday admitted to possessing child porn and sexually abusing a minor.
Appearing in Natrona County District Court, Adam Grant Glazier pleaded guilty to a single charge of sexual exploitation of children and another count of third-degree sexual abuse of a minor.
As part of a plea agreement, Glazier will serve the sentences for each conviction concurrently. No agreement was reached on how long those sentences might be.
The sexual exploitation charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years while the third-degree sexual abuse of a minor charge is punishable but up to 15 years.
Several additional charges in the case were dropped as part of the agreement. On April 30, Glazier pleaded not guilty by reason of mental illness. However, a mental health evaluation found that he was fit to go forward in the case.
On March 7, a Mills police officer was called the Wyoming Medical Center emergency room to investigate a report that a 4-year-old had been sexually assaulted, court records say.
A nurse noted that the victim had injuries on her genitals, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
A Children's Advocacy Project interviewer spoke with the victim who said Glazier touched his genitals to hers. The victim also mentioned that Glazier laid her down and undressed her.
That evening, Glazier voluntarily went to the Mills Police Department to speak to detectives. When a detective asked him about looking at pornography online Glazier said, "[I] invariably seem to get myself in trouble with it because I end up in the darkest recesses of the internet." Glazier then explained he came across a folder with questionably legal pornography, meaning child porn.
Glazier told detectives he downloaded too much child porn to keep track of, the affidavit says.
Sin is progressive! But this creep should not be given a plea deal - the girl was 4 years old! He should not be allowed out of prison before before the child turns 20, if ever!
Odenville, AL, man indicted for sexual abuse of a
9 y/o child at a church in Margaret
WVTM 13 Digital
MARGARET, Ala. —
The St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a 19-year-old Odenville man after his indictment for sexually abusing a young child at a church in Margaret.
The Margaret Police Department requested the sheriff's office to look into allegations of sexual abuse of a nine year old child at the North Valley Church Early Learning Center and after school program where Austin Greenway had been a teacher for two years.
A St. Clair County Grand Jury indicted Greenway for sexual abuse of a child less than 12, and school employee engaged in a sex act with a student under the age of 19.
Greenway turned himself in to authorities Monday. He was been booked into the St. Clair County Jail and released on a $50,000 bond.
He has a court hearing scheduled for October 2.
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