Two NYC Cops Accused of Raping a Teen in Custody
Got Probation, Not Jail Time
The case prompted New York to pass a law prohibiting police officers from having sex with someone in custody
By EJ DICKSON 
Edward Martins, left, and Richard Hall, center, former New York Police Department detectives who were accused of raping a woman in a police van. They received probation as a result of a plea deal.
DAVE SANDERS/The New York Times/
Two former NYPD detectives who were accused of raping an 18-year-old girl in custody on a marijuana possession charge have reached a plea deal that will ensure they don’t have to serve any jail time.
Eddie Martins and Richard Hall were accused of raping the Brooklyn woman in the back of a police van after they arrested her for marijuana possession in 2017. The woman claimed that they repeatedly sexually assaulted her in the back of a police van while she was in handcuffs. In their defense, the officers claimed that the sex was consensual, though they resigned from the department shortly after they were accused.
At the time the woman accused the officers of assault, there was no law prohibiting officers from having sex with someone in custody, though the law did prohibit corrections officers and parole officers from doing so. Last year, the state legislature voted to pass a law classifying a police officer having sex with someone in custody as rape in the third degree, a law that came about in large part as a result of the Brooklyn case.
How pathetic that they needed to pass such a law. Good grief!
Although Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez wanted the two to serve jail time, a judge agreed to the plea deal, which requires them to receive five years probation.
“These defendants engaged in a shocking abuse of power which they finally acknowledged,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “While I would have preferred to see them serve prison time, they are no longer members of our police department and with today’s plea are convicted felons.”
Initially, Martins and Hall were charged with rape, sexual assault, and kidnapping. In March, however, those charges were reduced to official misconduct and accepting a bribe, due to what Gonzalez said were inconsistencies in the victim’s testimony.
In response to Martins’ and Hall’s plea bargain, the lawyer for the victim, Michael David, said it was “outrageous,” and that he planned to advocate for a civil rights investigation into the case.
“It’s sending the worst message to victims of police sexual misconduct in America, that police could kidnap someone, rape her, and throw her on the street, and get away with it,” he told Politico.
Alleged child victim of Wyandotte Co., Ks, deputy
testifies she's been abused since age 6
testifies she's been abused since age 6
BY KATIE BERNARD
At a news conference Tuesday, Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark A. Dupree Sr. announced charges filed against a sheriff's deputy. The deputy, Michael E. Mastel, is accused of sexually abusing a child. Sheriff Don Ash also spoke. BY GLENN RICE | MONTY DAVIS
The 14-year-old alleged victim of a Wyandotte County Sheriff’s deputy, who is charged with child sex crimes, testified Friday.
Michael Edward Mastel was charged in April with rape, aggravated criminal sodomy and three counts of sexual exploitation of a child.
The alleged victim was a child known to Mastel through his personal life.
The charges stem from incidents beginning in 2011 and continuing until 2018. The victim testified that she had been abused since she was around six years old.
According to testimony from the alleged victim and a Kansas City, Kansas, police detective who worked the case, Mastel regularly raped the child and touched her inappropriately, once forcing her to perform oral sex.
Both testified at a preliminary hearing in the Wyandotte County Courthouse on Friday.
During the police investigation of the conduct, the detective said, three inappropriate photos of the child were found on a phone used by Mastel. The child testified that Mastel had begged her to allow him to take the photos.
She said she reported the conduct to her sister-in-law last year before going to the police and the Sunflower House children’s advocacy center.
In the months before reporting the sexual abuse, she said she had been interviewed at the Sunflower House about physical abuse from Mastel but denied sexual abuse at the time.
Mastel did not testify at the hearing.
His next hearing is scheduled for September 13.
Wyandotte Co., KS
Marion Co., Io, man arrested on child sex abuse charges
Posted By: Bob Leonard
A Marion County man has been arrested on child sexual abuse charges. On August 30th, 2019, Deputies from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Pella Police Department, arrested 29-year-old Trevor Lowe. The arrest comes as the result of an investigation into child sexual abuse allegations brought to the attention of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office in July of 2019.
Trevor Lowe is charged with three counts of Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree, a class B Felony. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation with assistance from the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation and Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Lowe is being held at the Marion County Jail with no bond.
Marion Co., IO
‘He broke my family.’
Kiln, Ms, man sentenced on 7 counts of child sex abuse
BY BRITNEÉ DAVIS
Sun Herald
A 69-year-old man has been sentenced to prison on seven counts of sexual battery and molestation of a minor who was under the age of 13 at the time.
Alex Jackie Pearson, of Kiln, will spend 45 years behind bars without parole or early release, according to a news release from District Attorney Joel Smith’s office.
The investigation began in October 2016 when a relative of the victim contacted the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office to report sexual abuse. The victim’s mother reported she found a “sexual device” in the girl’s bedroom.
A Hancock County investigator reached out to Hope Haven Child Advocacy Center for a forensic interview with the child, which led to a search warrant and other evidence, according to the release.
The girl testified Pearson committed “multiple sexual acts on her” over a two-year period. Her counselor also testified that the behavior disclosed by the victim aligned with that of sexual abuse.
Investigators also searched for other potential victims. They found a woman who testified that Pearson abused her in a similar way more than 20 years ago.
Pearson tried to bribe one of the witnesses prior to trial, Smith said, but he was rearrested for bribery and the attempt was used against him in court.
During sentencing, the initial victim’s mother said,
“He broke my family. He broke my trust and heart.
Alex took my daughter’s innocence.”
Circuit Judge Chris Schmidt also shared some words before the sentencing.
“I can’t understand what would cause a person to do such evil acts to a child. There are no more reprehensible and immoral acts. She will be forever changed. I can’t change that, but I can sentence you,” Schmidt said.
Smith praised the courage of the victim. “The bravery exhibited by this young lady and the diligence of the investigator led to today’s jury’s verdict,” he said.
This case was prosecuted by assistant district attorneys Chris Daniel and Alison Baker.
Judge finds East Amherst, N.Y. man guilty
of child sex abuse charge
By Keith McShea
The Buffalo News
An East Amherst man was found guilty of a child sex abuse charge Friday following a bench trial before Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case, according to the Erie County District Attorney's Office.
Tariq Nawaz, 48, was found guilty of predatory sexual assault against a child, a felony, as well as endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, following a nearly four-week bench trial.
Prosectors said that Nawaz engaged in two or more acts of sexual conduct in the Town of Amherst over a period of three months. It is further alleged that the defendant knowingly acted in a manner likely to be injurious to physical, mental or moral welfare of a child less than 17 years of age.
Nawaz faces a maximum of 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced at 2 p.m. Oct. 7. He remains held without bail. Judge Case issued an order of protection on behalf of the victim.
Army Specialist Gets 75 Years In Illinois
Child Sex Abuse Case
By Amie Schaenzer, Patch Staff
OAK BROOK, IL — A former army specialist who earned the trust and respect of an Oak Brook family he lived with for two years all while, unbeknownst to them, sexually assaulting their young child has been sentenced to 75 years in prison, prosecutors said Thursday. The sentence was handed down after a DuPage County jury found Andrew Hui, 40, guilty on 12 counts of predatory criminal sexual assault and one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
He will be required to serve 85 percent of the 72-year sentence on the predatory criminal sexual assault charges and 50 percent of the three-year aggravated criminal sexual abuse charge, DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement.
That would leave him in his late 90's when he's released. He should be safe by then.
Hui has been in custody since his arrest in May 2015.
Authorities said Hui sexually assaulted the girl on multiple occasions starting in April 2011 and continuing through June 2013 while living the girl's family at her home in Oak Brook. The girl was 7 years old when the sexual abuse began, and she testified against Hui during his trial, the Chicago Tribune reports. Hui claimed the girl was curious about sex, saying the acts were consensual.
The girl eventually told her father about the sexual assaults, and he reported the abuse to the Oak Brook Police Department.
Berlin credited local investigators,and the DuPage County Children's Center for their work on the "extremely disturbing case."
"For more than two years, Andrew Hui repeatedly sexually assaulted his young victim just to satisfy his own sick sexual desires," Berlin said "What is particularly disturbing in this case is that Mr. Hui was an Army Specialist and as such was trusted by the victim's family and looked up to and admired by his victim. He repaid the trust and admiration placed in him by sexually assaulting his young victim time and time again."
Vermont man reaches new plea in child sex abuse of 6 y/o
Associated Press
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont man whose initial 60-day sentence for sexually abusing a child prompted a nationwide outcry has reached a deal to plead guilty in a possession of child pornography case.
Mark Hulett, of Ferrisburgh, was charged in May. The plea deal filed Tuesday says the court may impose a 10- to 20-year sentence.
In the previous case, Hulett pleaded guilty to charges he had sexual contact with a girl over four years beginning when she was 6. He was sentenced in 2006 to 60 days.
Hulett wasn't eligible for sex-offender treatment in prison. I guess not, he wasn't there long enough to brush his teeth.
Judge Edward Cashman said the best way to ensure public safety was to remove him so he could receive treatment.
After rules were changed so Hulett could receive in-prison treatment, Cashman resentenced him to at least three years.
Syracuse, NY, man arrested for Wayne County
child sex abuse
WOLCOTT, N.Y. (WHEC) -- A Syracuse man faces charges of predatory sexual assault against a child in Wayne County.
Deputies said that Christopher Fahrson, 51, had sexual contact with a child younger than 13 years old over a course of three months. According to investigators, the crime began in January 2010.
Deputies said that the abuse happened at a home in the village of Wolcott.
A judge issued an order of protection for the victim.
Deputies said that the investigation into the case is ongoing.
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