Child prostitution, witchcraft, madness
behind Turpin's horrid story
..
Secret shame that sparked family horror
Doctors who examined the children found signs of severe malnutrition.
Napa Valley Man Sentenced To 101 Years In Prison
behind Turpin's horrid story
..
Secret shame that sparked family horror
by Kate Schneider
The Observer
THE depraved world of the notorious Turpin family is set to be exposed in a new documentary on one of the worst cases of child abuse the world has ever seen.
It comes as David and Louise Turpin made a brief appearance in a California court on Saturday morning for an arraignment into the case where they are accused of mistreating 12 of their 13 children.
Channel 9's 60 Minutes (Australia) program will lift the lid Sunday night on the twisted family secret that started a nightmare that somehow managed to remain hidden in plain sight for over a decade.
"It was right up under our noses and we didn't see it," a neighbour tells 60 Minutes in preview footage.
Louise's family were interviewed by the show including sister Teresa Robinette, who is set to spill on the trauma experienced by the sisters when they were young.
Teresa appears in the 60 Minutes segment
"This is a house of horrors, that's where it all began," a teary Teresa says as she is filmed approaching the steps of the home where the sisters grew up.
"She took exactly what we went through and intensified it by like 100 for those kids."
However Louise's brother Billy Lambert tells the show he had no idea all wasn't well in the Turpin home.
"We thought that she had the perfect life, she had the perfect husband," he said.
Billy is the brother of Louise. Picture: 60 Minutes
Teresa previously revealed in an interview with The Sun that their mother Phyllis Robinette let a rich paedophile sexually abuse them as children in exchange for cash.
"Our mum should have been protecting us - but she sold us to a wealthy paedophile," Ms Robinette said. "He would slip money into my hand as he molested me. I can still feel his breath on my neck as he whispered 'be quiet'.
"We begged her not to take us to him but she would simply say: 'I have to clothe and feed you'. Louise was abused the worst. He destroyed my self-worth as a child and I know he destroyed hers too."
David and Louise Turpin. Picture: 60 Minutes
COURT APPEARANCE
David and Louise made a brief appearance at Riverside County Superior Court on Saturday. In a sign they are trying to move on with their lives, the victims asked that their birth certificates, IDs and a camera that was removed from the home be given back to them, ABC 7 reported.
The documents had been taken as evidence in the torture case, and the judge agreed they are no longer needed and will be released back to the children.
It comes more than a month after a judge ruled that there was enough evidence for the duo to stand trial on 88 charges including torture, child abuse and false imprisonment. David also faces one charge of lewd acts on a child.
However, one charge was dropped against David in last month's hearing, when the judge ruled the youngest of the children, aged 2, did not appear severely malnourished.
Defendants David Turpin, right, and wife, Louise pictured at court.
The Turpins are suspected of having treated their children so badly that they now suffering long-term disabilities including stunted growth, after being found emaciated and barely educated.
One of the girls plotted her escape for two years before breaking free of a window, and called authorities to the home.
"I live in a family of 15 people and my parents are abusive," the girl told the dispatcher in a chilling 911 call that was played at a court hearing in June. "They abuse us and my two little sisters are chained up."
The children were discovered filthy and shackled inside the Perris, California house, in dark and foul-smelling conditions.
They were allegedly denied food and toys, and the oldest of the children - aged between two and 29 - weighed just 37 kilograms (81.5 lbs). They were allowed just one shower a year.
Elizabeth Jane Flores wrote a book about her sister.
David and Louise had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges and are being held on $US12 (AUD16) million bail each. If convicted, both face life in jail.
The 13 children were found imprisoned and emaciated in their California home.
'OBSESSED WITH WITCHCRAFT'
A new book by another one of Louise's sister, Elizabeth Flores, detailed how the accused child abuser was obsessed with witchcraft, Satanic rituals and Ouija boards.
"She told me she was messing around with witchcraft. It just really freaked me out," Ms Flores told the New York Daily News in an interview about the book Sister of Secrets.
Ms Flores said her sister was obsessed with the "dark arts" and had even tried to persuade her to join a snake handling festival. "Louise was attracted to that, like women dancing with rattle snakes around their necks."
Turpin's wedding. Why does being married by Elvis impersonator seem appropriate?
Now she wonders if the obsession could have played a part in the child abuse nightmare.
Ms Flores, who hasn't had a "sister relationship" with Louise for about 20 years, also said she noticed her sister changed when she met David, when she was just 15 years old.
She has also previously claimed that she, Louise and their cousins were sexually abused as children by a close family member, with talk of the molestation "swept under the rug".
For Child Sex Abuse
By California News Wire Services
NAPA, CA — A judge Wednesday sentenced a man to 101 years and four months in prison for sexually abusing and committing lewd acts against seven children between 2 and 12 years old between 1990 and 2018, Napa County's top prosecutor said.
The case against Ronald Fryer, 58, began as an indecent exposure incident involving two elementary school children in 2018, Napa County District Attorney Allison Haley said. It led Napa police detectives to uncover decades long sexual abuse of many children in Fryer's life including family members and friends, Haley said.
Fryer pleaded guilty on Sept. 25, 2019 to five counts of forcible lewd and lascivious conduct with a child under 14, four counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 and two counts of possession of child pornography.
Pursuant to a plea agreement, Napa County Superior Court Judge Francisca Tisher sentenced Fryer to 100 years and four months in prison. He also will have to register as a sex offender, prosecutors said.
Stephens Co., Okla., man sentenced to 6 life terms
for child sexual abuse
STEPHENS COUNTY, Okla. (KXII) - A Stephens County man will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars after sexually abusing a child and possessing child pornography.
Matthew Hale, 40, was found guilty in September on 12 counts of possession of child pornography and six counts of child sexual abuse.
Hale received 20 years for each child pornography possession charge, to be served concurrently, as well as consecutive life sentences for each of the six child sexual abuse charges.
Hale is ordered to pay a fine of $12,000.
Stephens Co., Okla.
Self-proclaimed Michigan minister accused of
child sex abuse
by: Barton Deiters
WYOMING, Mich. (WOOD) — A 37-year-old Big Rapids man, who represents himself as an ordained minister, is facing charges of criminal sexual abuse of little girls.
In one case, investigators say the abuse happened nearly 20 years ago in Wyoming. In another, the allegations are from five to seven years ago at separate addresses on Grand Rapids’ West Side. But both incidents have the same M.O.
The suspect is Joseph Allen Cahill, who charging documents say he also went by the name “Timothy Allen Cahill.”
Cahill was ordained in an organization called Word of Faith Apostolic Fellowship International that claims dozens of churches throughout the world, most in Haiti and Rwanda.
According to the organization’s leadership, Cahill has been ordained since 2013, serving in churches out of state that blend Catholicism, Orthodox and the Christian charismatic movement.
There are no churches in West Michigan despite it being based in Kentwood.
According to Grand Rapids investigators who swore out an arrest affidavit in Wyoming District Court, Cahill’s father told investigators that his then 18-year-old son had sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl in 2000 at an apartment in Wyoming near 36th Street and US-131.
Investigators spoke to the alleged victim who told them that Cahill had assaulted her more than 50 times between April 1999 and December 2000.
This information came as police were investigating Cahill for sexually assaulting a girl younger than 13 near Seward Avenue and 11th Street and at apartments near Weston Street and South Division Avenue.
Between 2003 and 2011, he had multiple arrests for things like shoplifting, bad checks, domestic violence and attempted assault with a dangerous weapon.
It is these previous convictions that have Cahill facing a lengthy sentence if convicted. His attorney, Brent Geers, has asked for a psychiatric exam for Cahill.
In an email to News 8, Geers said “by answering ‘how’ and ‘why’ these allegations surfaced, we’re confident that the trial process will firmly resolve Mr. Cahill’s role.”
The judge in Wyoming set a $275,000 bond for Cahill and he is being held at the Kent County Jail.
Former cellmates accused of sexually abusing 6-year-old girl in Springfield, MO
Harrison Keegan, Springfield News-Leader
Two men have been accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a 6-year-old girl in Springfield.
According to court documents, the girl was interviewed at the Child Advocacy Center in October, and she disclosed that she had been inappropriately touched by 38-year-old James Harper and 40-year-old Shawn Martin.
The allegations include statutory rape and the girl being subjected to other sexual acts by the men.
The victim was first known to Harper, who gave Martin — his former prison cellmate — access to the girl, according to court documents.
Both men were interviewed by Springfield police and court documents say they admitted to inappropriately touching the girl.
Martin allegedly told police he felt like he had a license to sexually abuse the girl since the girl had kept quiet about the abuse she had previously endured from Harper.
I have to admit that if it wasn't for prison, some men are so profoundly stupid that they probably couldn't survive 40 years.
Court documents say both Martin and Harper have prior convictions for sexually abusing different children.
Martin is being held in the Missouri Department of Corrections. He has been charged in this case with statutory rape, statutory sodomy and enticement of a child. He faces a possible life sentence if convicted.
Harper has not yet been charged in this case, but he's being held in the Christian County Jail, where he's charged with molesting a different child.
Polynesian nanny convicted of all counts in childhood abuse of Utah rabbi
By Annie Knox, KSL |
SALT LAKE CITY — A nanny accused of abusing an Orthodox rabbi throughout much of his childhood in his family’s Salt Lake City home has been found guilty as charged.
After roughly two hours of deliberation on Friday, a jury returned guilty verdicts against Alavina Fungaihea Florreich, 70. She faces up to life in prison for the five counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony; and two counts of forcible sex abuse, a second-degree felony.
Florreich showed little emotion as she was handcuffed Friday and led out of the courtroom, pausing to briefly speak to family members. Outside the courtroom, Rabbi Avrohom “Avremi” Zippel embraced his father — also a rabbi — as both men sobbed.
Prosecutors argued Friday in 3rd District Court that Florreich, now 70, made sure the encounters where she touched the child inappropriately — or he touched her — went undetected at the time, yet admitted to some of them in an interview with Salt Lake City police last year, insisting she was simply responding to the child’s curiosity.
“It’s clearly a huge imbalance of power in this case,” prosecutor Donna Kelly said in her closing argument. “This is a child who was very sheltered. Even as a small child, he was particularly vulnerable.”
Rabbi Zippel, the eldest of six siblings, was homeschooled and raised in a deeply religious family, Kelly said. He originally feared he might die as punishment for participating in the encounters and “has been honest to a fault” about how he sometimes sought out the contact and took steps to prevent anyone from finding out, Kelly told jurors.
Florreich’s defense attorneys argued that in reality, it’s just the opposite.
They said Rabbi Zippel saw an opportunity to become a star of the #MeToo movement and deceived those around him for years before making a delayed report to police that alleged hundreds of instances of abuse from age 8 through his teen years.
“The reason that he came forward is because he wanted to be a #MeToo celebrity,” Florreich’s attorney, Chad Steur, said, noting the rabbi came forward publicly as a victim in a Deseret News article in February.
“Believe me now,” Steur continued. “That’s what he’s saying: ‘Believe me now.’”
That's quite typical of abuse survivors who have no voice because no-one is listening until they get to court. That'a why it is so important for abuse victims to have their day in court.
Steur needled the police investigation and questioned the reliability of a 2018 phone call taped by police in which Florreich tells the rabbi over a poor connection that she remembers some of their interactions.
There was nothing sexual involved in his client’s decision to touch the boy at times, he said, emphasizing that Florreich was “trying to survive.”
”Does she have that intent to gratify his sexual arousal? She has the intent to maintain her employment, first of all.”
Odd way to show it! The lawyer might have been better to approach her defence from the idea that she was born and raised in Tonga where there seems to be a much more relaxed attitude toward sex, possibly even with children, though I don't know that for sure.
Sentencing is scheduled for January 13.
Virginia teacher’s assistant gets prison
in sex abuse sting operation
By Associated Press ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A man who worked as a substitute teacher and teacher’s assistant at two Virginia elementary schools has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for trying to entice a child to engage in illegal sexual conduct.
The Justice Department said in a news release that 21-year-old Monis Irfan, of Springfield, was sentenced on Friday to 150 months in prison followed by 20 years of supervised release.
Irfan pleaded guilty in July to charges stemming from an undercover police investigation. Authorities say Irfan communicated online with a Fairfax County police detective posing as the father of a 7-year-old child, who was fictitious.
The Justice Department says Irfan repeatedly told the detective he wanted to have sex with the child. Irfan was arrested when he drove to meet the detective.
Texas girl said tears were her only way to cope
with sexual abuse
Trish Choate, Wichita Falls Times Record NewsA counselor told a six-man, six-woman jury Tuesday in 30th District Court that she notified Child Protective Services after a depressed 13-year-old girl told her that she had been sexually abused by a male relative.
The girl "reported he started touching her three months ago, and the only way she could cope was crying," Chapman testified, referring to session notes from Sept. 6, 2016.
Manrique is accused of sexually abusing two girls, beginning in 2010 when the older girl was about 14 and in 2016 when the younger girl was about 13, according to court documents.
A nurse practitioner referred the younger girl to Chapman for counseling, Chapman testified. She assessed her for depression Aug. 24, 2016, and then the girl opened up to disclose the sexual abuse on Sept. 6, 2016.
"She seemed like she felt relieved to talk about what was going on," Chapman told the jury.
Chapman testified that she is legally bound to report abuse and notified CPS through a hotline on the same day she found out about it. Chapman has not counseled many child victims of sexual abuse, but geriatric clients have told her about the lifelong impact of it, Chapman told jurors.
Manrique remained in Wichita County Jail Tuesday on $2.1 million in bonds, according to online jail records.
Court documents filed by prosecutors before the trial indicate a pattern of sexual abuse of the youngest victim in which Manrique touched her chest and her bottom at night, hurting her.
During one incident, the 13-year-old was in the living room, attempting to shield her chest from him by putting her dog in front of herself, according to court documents filed by the prosecution. But Manrique moved the dog and touched her in appropriately, according to court documents filed by prosecutors.
During forensic interviews of the younger girl, detectives learned of a second possible victim, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Now in her early 20s, the second victim provided detailed information of multiple acts of sexual abuse during the summer between her eighth- and ninth-grade school years in 2010 when she was about 14 years old, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
The case against Manrique involves two dozen varied allegations. They include one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child, victim under 14, in 2016; 10 counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child in 2016; six counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact in 2016; and seven counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact in 2010, according to court documents.
Va. middle school teacher caught at Mexico border faces new child sex charges
by WJLA
FAIRFAX, Va. (ABC7) — A Fairfax County middle school teacher who was arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border last month trying to flee the country after being charged with having sexual relations with a minor is now facing new charges.
Fairfax County Police say Snell was arrested in Texas at the El Paso airport after trying to leave the country.
Police say parents contacted the school after finding inappropriate text messages from Snell to their teenage child. When Snell found out about the investigation, he fled, police say.
In October, Snell was charged with taking indecent liberties with a child by a person in a custodial relationship. Police would not confirm, though, whether the victim was one of Snell's students.
In a statement released Tuesday, November 19, police say a second teen has been identified as a victim and Snell is facing an additional felony charge of taking indecent liberties with a child by a person in a custodial relationship.
Snell remains held without bond at the county’s Adult Detention Center and the investigation continues.
Pharr, Tx., man gets 65 years in prison for
child sexual abuse
According to a news release, the child was 10 to 11-years-old at the time of the attacks.
“We will continue to go after the perpetrators of these heinous crimes,” said Criminal District Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez in the news release. “All children have the right to be protected from violence, exploitation, and abuse. If you suspect child abuse, please speak up for the child and report it.”
Lopez was sentenced to 35 years on the first count, 20 years on the second count, and 10 years on the third count, of which he will serve consecutively. He was sentenced by Judge Rose Guerra Reyna of the 206th state District Court.
God bless you Judge Rayna!
Texarkana pastor wanted for sexual abuse of a child,
police say abuse began when girl was 12
Police say Logan Wesley III has made it known
he will not turn himself into authorities.
Author: Matthew Copeland
According to police, Logan Wesley III began sexually abusing a girl when she was 12 years old. The abuse lasted for several years.
Police say others say they were molested by Wesley since the original allegations became public.
Police say Wesley has made it known he will not turn himself into authorities.
If you have any information on the whereabouts of Wesley, you are urged to call Texarkana police at 903) 798-3116.
Former Texas educator on trial in 25-y/o
child sex abuse case
By TOMMY WITHERSPOON wacotrib.com
Testimony is set to begin Wednesday morning in the trial of a former Irving high school dean charged with sexually abusing a teenage boy 25 years ago while he was a graduate student at Baylor University.
Shawn Douglas Risener, 48, was arrested in 2017 after a 38-year-old man, in a report delayed by 23 years, told police Risener abused him from 1994 to 1996, beginning when the man was 14.
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| Looks like a Person of Interest |
Prosecutors Sydney Tuggle and Will Hix and defense attorney Lex Johnston, of Fort Worth, almost ran out of options for potential jurors Monday during jury selection after about 40 on the panel of 61 said they would not consider probation as punishment if Risener is convicted in the case.
To be selected for the jury, panel members must agree to consider the full range of punishment. Risener, who was working as dean of the Jack E. Singley Academy, an Irving ISD high school, when he was arrested, would be eligible for probation and face a maximum 20 years in prison on each count if convicted.
While 23 years is an unusually long time for an alleged victim to wait before reporting sexual abuse, there is no statute of limitations in child sex abuse cases that bars prosecution after a specified time period.
It's not actually an unusually long time. It's quite close to normal for a lot of CSA survivors.
After the jury was seated Monday evening, Risener declined to enter a plea in the case, so Judge Ralph Strother entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf. Opening statements in the case will start at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Risener was working on his master's degree at Baylor in film and digital media and living with a family in McGregor when the alleged abuse occurred, officials said.
According to court records, two elders from Risener's church at the time reported to investigators in 2017 that Risener admitted to abusing one of the victims years before. The alleged victim told authorities Risener also abused another boy at the time when he was 12 or 13.
The alleged second victim reported Risener touched him improperly during a game of truth or dare in April 1993, according to court documents.
Trial set for Rock Hill, SC, church volunteer accused of attacking boy in secret sex room
BY ANDREW DYS
YORK, SC
A trial against a Rock Hill man whom police and prosecutors say abused a boy in a secret sex attic is expected to start Wednesday, court officials said.
Julio Andres “Andy” Castillo was arrested in March 2016 on criminal sexual conduct against a child and lewd act charges after a boy told Rock Hill police of the abuse, officials said in court Tuesday.
Castillo was a volunteer at Episcopal Church of Our Saviour in Rock Hill. Church officials shut down his ministry and banned him after his arrest.
The incidents happened between 2005 and 2009 in Castillo’s house attic, according to indictments read in court Tuesday during jury selection.
The Herald does not name victims in sex cases.
The trial is being held at the Moss Justice Center in York. Visiting South Carolina Circuit Court Judge G. Thomas Cooper Jr. is presiding.
Castillo is represented by Jack Swerling, one of South Carolina’s most well-known and experienced defense lawyers. Swerling, who has practiced law for more than 40 years, has appeared on several television programs, according to Swerling’s website.
Swerling sought to keep photos of the attic from the 2016 investigation out of the trial.
“There is no way that anything that is nine years old, 10 years old, would not be stale,” Swerling argued in pre-trial motions. “There is no way those things would be relevant years later.”
So why try to hide them?
Prosecutor Erin Joyner said in previous hearings Castillo tied the boy during sex acts in Castillo’s attic. Castillo knew the boy through his close relationship with the boy’s parents, according to pre-trial motions in court Tuesday.
Joyner argued Tuesday the attic is important evidence. Joyner said Castillo engaged in massages then sex acts with the minor child.
Cooper allowed the search warrant materials into the trial.
Pre-trial motions and arguments were held Monday and Tuesday. Opening statements and testimony are expected to begin Wednesday.
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