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37 arrested for child sex crimes, human trafficking during
‘Operation Broken Hearts’ in Arizona
By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor
Monday, February 22, 2021
Demonstrators in Keene, New Hampshire, gather at a "Save the Children Rally" to protest child sex trafficking and pedophilia around the world, on September 19, 2020. | AFP via Getty Images/Joseph Prezioso
In a multi-agency undercover mission called “Operation Broken Hearts,” police in Arizona announced the arrest of 37 people accused of child sex crimes and large-scale human trafficking.
“Throughout the operational period, officers and undercover detectives placed ads on websites and apps which are commonly sought out by suspects seeking illegal sex acts with children. These suspects solicited and/or brokered deals for various sex acts and were subsequently arrested,” Phoenix Police Department said in a statement Friday.
The Phoenix Police Department partnered with the police departments of Mesa, Tempe and Chandler, as well as Homeland Security Investigations and the Attorney General’s Office for Operation Broken Hearts.
Those arrested as part of the sting operation, in which the suspects solicited sex acts with undercover officers, are between the ages of 21 and 66. Most are from the Phoenix area, according to KIRO 7.
The operation was part of a nationwide effort to eliminate human and sex trafficking as dozens of children were rescued in the last year.
In December, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office announced that 17 illicit massage parlors — two in Columbia, six in Kansas City, three in Lee’s Summit/Blue Springs, five in St. Louis and one in Branson — were evicted or shut down in the Show-Me State.
This month, Schmitt’s office announced the rescue of eight victims of human trafficking, including a two-year-old and an infant, through a joint operation with several law enforcement agencies that include the FBI and the U.S. Marshals.
The “unprecedented success” of the joint operation “should send clear a message to traffickers: you are not welcome in Missouri, and you can’t hide any longer,” Schmitt said in a statement.
“Human trafficking is a global scourge that affects millions every year, including right here in Missouri,” he added.
Last October, Schmitt announced the launch of the “Hope Initiative” to check human trafficking by targeting illicit massage businesses.
In January, a human trafficking investigation led by the FBI, called “Operation Lost Angels,” recovered 33 missing children, eight of whom had been sexually exploited, in California.
For the operation, which began Jan. 11, the FBI worked with more than two dozen law enforcement and non-governmental partners “to identify, locate, and recover missing children, particularly those who have been or were suspected of being sexually exploited and/or trafficked.”
Of the underage victims recovered, eight were being sexually exploited at the time of recovery, the agency said in a statement at the time.
“Two were recovered multiple times during the operation while on the 'track,’ a common term used to describe a known location for commercial sex trafficking,” the statement explained. “It is not uncommon for victims who are rescued to return to commercial sex trafficking either voluntarily or by force, fraud, or coercion.”
In the 2020 report on U.S. Government efforts to combat trafficking in persons, the State Department warned about “the increasing number of people vulnerable to exploitation by traffickers due to the instability, isolation, and lack of access to critical services caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“The effects of COVID-19, as with other catastrophic events, are disproportionately impacting communities suffering from systemic or generational inequality — the same communities traffickers often prey upon,” the report said.
The FBI also revealed recently that its caseload for trafficking-related crimes, for both sex and labor, had increased significantly in the past several years. In 2020, the agency started 664 human trafficking investigations across the country, arresting 473 people.
Last August, the U.S. Marshals announced the rescue of 39 missing children in an operation in Georgia. At least 25 missing children were rescued last year through an operation in Ohio. Last October, the Department of Justice disclosed the rescue of 27 missing children in Virginia.
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Former Wichita cop, school employee pleads no contest
to molesting boys in 2011, 2012
BY AMY RENEE LEIKER
FEBRUARY 19, 2021 04:50 PM,
Former Wichita police officer and former Wichita public schools safety supervisor Alex Robinson sits in a Sedgwick County courtroom next to his attorney, Steve Mank, during his preliminary hearing in 2015. (April 29, 2015) TRAVIS HEYING FILE PHOTO
A former Wichita police officer, ex-Wichita public schools employee and local youth organization volunteer who was awaiting trial on charges accusing him of molesting underage boys on Friday pleaded no contest to one count of indecent liberties with a child and two counts of aggravated indecent solicitation of a child, the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office said by email.
Alex O. Robinson, 58, will be sentenced April 13 before District Judge David Kaufman, the DA’s office said.
The crimes Robinson has been convicted of involve three victims who were abused in Wichita in 2011 and 2012, according to the email. Robinson’s plea comes just days before his scheduled jury trial, which was set for Monday.
Robinson’s defense lawyer did not immediately respond a message seeking comment late Friday afternoon.
Robinson, a 22-year veteran of the Wichita Police Department, was working for Wichita Public Schools as its safety services supervisor when he was arrested in January 2013. He came under police scrutiny after a man came forward with accusations that Robinson had molested him repeatedly after they met through the Boys & Girls Club when the man was 11 or 12. Other victims surfaced following the arrest.
Robinson was an officer at the time of some of the alleged assaults, The Eagle previously reported. He also had been serving on the board of directors of youth-mentoring program Real Men, Real Heroes but resigned in the wake of the sex abuse investigation.
Prosecutors say in court filings that Robinson “was recognized as a pillar of the community, helping shape the lives of young people in Wichita” and “used these relationships to meet, befriend, and ultimately sexually assault multiple young boys.” The reported assaults occurred at locations including Robinson’s home and at a youth organization’s camp. He met the victims through friends and youth mentoring programs.
All of the victims knew Robinson was a police officer and described him as “an authority figure in their lives,” prosecutors say in the court filings, but each feared “what he would do if they told anyone about his behavior.”
Before Friday’s plea, Robinson had been facing 10 criminal charges in Sedgwick County including aggravated criminal sodomy, aggravated indecent liberties with a child and indecent liberties with a child. The allegations tied to the charges stretch over 12 years, starting in 2000, and involved boys aged 11 to 14.
The plea comes nearly seven years after Robinson was formally charged in part because he also was charged and convicted in a Colorado child sex abuse case that was reported shortly after the first victim came forward in Wichita. Robinson was sentenced to prison in the Colorado case in 2016 and served several years there before he was transferred back to Wichita last May.
Calif. Man convicted of 10 counts of child sexual molestation
stemming back to 1993
By: Veronica Morley, 23ABC
Posted at 1:52 PM
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The Kern County District Attorney's Office announced the conviction of a man for 10 counts of child molestation against three victims stemming back to 1993.
A Kern County jury found defendant Gilbert Arizmendez Barriga guilty of 10 counts of child sexual molestation, including lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14 years, continuous child sexual abuse, oral copulation with a child 10 years old or younger, sexual penetration of a child 10 years old or younger, and sexual intercourse with a child 10 years old or younger.
According to the DA's Office, Barriga was related by law to all of the victims, who ranged from ages 8 to 12-years-old during the times of the abuse.
The DA's Office said the crimes began with one victim in 1993 until 1996. Another victim was molested from 2006 to 2010 and the third victim was molested from 2010 to 2011, according to the DA's Office.
The molestation was discovered in August of 2017, when the victims came forward to report the abuse.
Sentencing is set for March 18 before Superior Court Judge John Oglesby. Barriga faces a potential life sentence and mandatory sex offender registration.
Former U.S. Air Force Member Sentenced for Receipt of Child Pornography
DOJ
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Virginia man who was dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force was sentenced today to seven years in prison for receiving images of child sexual abuse and failing to maintain his sex offender registration as required.
“Bryson Miller not only accessed and retained thousands of videos and images of child sexual abuse from the dark web, but he also failed to update his sex offender registration while employed in a position in which he interacted with children,” said Raj Parekh, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Protecting society’s most vulnerable and innocent members—including children—is a top priority for EDVA and the Department of Justice.”
According to court documents, Bryson McNeal Miller, 40, of Alexandria, received a substantial amount of child pornography over the course of several years by accessing sites on the “dark web.” Miller retained thousands of these videos and images of child sexual abuse on various electronic devices in his possession. Additionally, Miller failed to maintain an accurate record of his employment with the Virginia sex offender registry, in that Miller failed to inform authorities that he was employed at a northern Virginia martial arts studio where some of his students were children. Miller was required to register as a sex offender due to a 2006 conviction for possession of child pornography while Miller was serving in the U.S. Air Force.
Raj Parekh, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and James A. Dawson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office Criminal Division, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton. Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Schlessinger prosecuted the case.
The FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, composed of FBI agents and local, state, and federal partners, investigated the case.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:20-cr-200.
Stanley Patrick Weber, ex-IHS doctor, loses South Dakota appeal
in child sex abuse case
Traci Rosenbaum
Great Falls Tribune
Former Indian Health Service (IHS) doctor Stanley Patrick Weber has lost his appeal in the South Dakota case where he was convicted of abusing boys on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation 30 years ago.
Weber was also convicted for similar crimes in Montana and lost his appeal in that case, as well.
South Dakota’s U.S. District Court was the first to bring charges against Weber. The investigation led to more victims coming forward from the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.
A Montana judge sentenced Weber to 18 years in prison, and a South Dakota Judge gave him five consecutive life sentences. Weber appealed both cases.
He lost his Montana appeal in 2020, and his South Dakota appeal was denied Feb. 10 — exactly a year later.
According to court documents, Weber claimed South Dakota’s District Court erred when it denied his motion to suppress and abused its discretion when it admitted testimony from three witnesses at his trial. He made similar claims on his appeal in Montana.
“We are unconvinced by Weber’s arguments that the testimony in question was unfairly prejudicial,” the court paperwork stated.
Weber’s trial and conviction led to an external investigation into IHS’s policies, procedures and practices to determine if the organization adequately protected its patients from sexual abuse.
The Office of the Inspector General released a summary of IHS’s policy changes as a result of the review, but the agencies involved in the review at first refused to release its full contents.
Both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for the full review, a fight they won in January.
The Tribune has requested the review from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The request is still under consideration.
Following Weber’s convictions, three men who claim Weber sexually abused them filed a complaint against the U.S. Government and IHS. The complaint alleges the U.S. violated an 1855 treaty with the Blackfeet Nation designed to protect Native Americans “…against depredations and other unlawful acts which white men residing in or passing through their country may commit.”
That case is currently in settlement negotiations, and a status report on those negotiations is due on or before March 8.
Lawsuit alleges N.J. foster child program ignored pleas
from abused teen
Joseph P. Smith
Vineland Daily Journal
BRIDGETON – A lawsuit alleges the New Jersey Department of Children and Families' staff members ignored complaints from a teenager that his foster parent was sexually abusing, but would not return the boy to his mother.
The lawsuit, filed in Bridgeton on Jan. 28, charges the department and the foster parent as defendants. Court records show the department was served with notice but so far not the foster parent.
The suit levies two charges of negligence against the state. The foster parent is accused of assault and the intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
The abuse allegedly took place from 2004 into 2006. The plaintiff now is 32 according to the lawsuit filed by Andrew J. Thomson, an attorney with Edelstein Law in Philadelphia.
“It’s a total predator thing where he starts lavishing him with gifts,” Thomson said. “But it just escalates from there.
“It happened a while back,” the attorney said. “But, I mean, he’s had a rough life. If there’s any way to make it right, we’re going to do that.”
The lawsuit states that the teenager was “groomed” to be receptive to sexual advances and sexual contact was initiated when he was 15 years old. That escalated to forced sexual acts, it alleges.
The lawsuit alleges the boy and his mother alerted department staff, but they refused to remove him from the home. Thomson said his client, identified in court documents as "J.J.", finally went to police with his story.
“Immediately after this report, Department of Children and Families dismissed J.J. from foster care and discharged him to his mother in November 2016,” the lawsuit states.
Thomson said the foster parent was charged but the case was downgraded to a municipal court matter, based on court documents. The foster at the time of the court case was listed as a Landisville resident.
The Daily Journal sent an email to the state Office of the Attorney General about the case. A spokesman on Thursday said the office had no comment.
The Department of Children and Families said Thursday it also could not comment.
"State and federal laws of confidentiality prevent the Department from commenting on client matters," spokesman Jason Butkowski responded. "In addition, the department cannot comment on any pending matters of litigation."
Well, at least there is that much.
Bridgeton, NJ
Flint Township man accused of burning, abusing
girlfriend’s 2-year-old
February 19, 2021
Author: Wire_Services
FLINT TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WJRT) – A 23-year-old Flint Township man is facing up to life in prison, accused of abusing his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter.
Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said the mother came home from work last week to find her daughter covered in burns. He said the woman’s boyfriend, Leonard Dortch, told her he left the hair dryer on while cooking in another room.
The couple tried to treat the burns themselves, but Leyton said they took the little girl to Hurley Medical Center when they weren’t healing.
“The emergency room physician and the other expert physicians at Hurley don’t believe that’s what happened,” he said. “They believe that some hot liquid was put on the child, causing these burns.”
Leyton said physicians found the 2-year-old also had a number of other injuries a physical exam, including a fractured wrist, bleeding on her brain and bruises on several internal organs. He believes Dortch also is responsible for that abuse.
The 23-year-old is charged with first-degree child abuse and torture, which carries up to life in prison if he is convicted.
Leyton believes the little girl will survive her extensive injuries.
Thank God! But at what cost?
Mothers, please be more diligent about the men you allow into your life, for you are allowing them into your children's life as well. Don't risk your children with guys you don't know extremely well.
Bryan, Tx man gets 20-year sentence for child sex abuse
Eagle staff report
Feb 27, 2021
A Bryan man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday on a child sex abuse charge.
Court records show he was also sentenced to 180 days in the Brazos County Jail after pleading guilty to a resisting arrest charge and duty on striking an unattended vehicle, a year in the county jail on an evading arrest charge, and eight years in prison on an unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon charge.
Court records show that in 2009, Gutierrez was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and manufacture and delivery of a controlled substance.
Police: NH man charged with alleged distribution, possession
of child sex abuse images
Courtesy Nashua, New Hampshire Police Department
Jordan Frias
NASHUA, N.H (WHDH) - Police in New Hampshire have arrested a man who they say was wanted for being in possession of child sexual abuse images and for distributing them.
The department received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children earlier in the month regarding the exploitation of children on a social media chat application, police said. After further investigation, Payeur was identified as a suspect.
A search of Payeur’s home turned up an electronic device which contained child sexual abuse images, according to police.
Payeur was ordered held on preventative detention and will be arraigned in Hillsborough County Superior Court South on Monday, officials said.
Two arrested for possession of child sexual abuse imagery
in Madera County, Calif
Saturday, February 27, 2021 8:34PM
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Two men are in police custody after images of children being abused were found in their homes.
Officials received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding the possible possession of abuse imagery in the suspect's home.
Detectives searched their near Ellis and Fairview and found those claims to be true.
Both Pelayo and Hill have been booked into the Madera County Department of Corrections for felony possession of child sexual abuse imagery.
Accused Florissant, Mo serial rapist now charged with nearly
30 sex abuse crimes
From staff reports Feb 27, 2021
By Kim Bell St. Louis Post-Dispatch
CLAYTON — County prosecutors on Friday filed a superseding indictment that includes 28 sexual abuse charges against a Florissant man.
Yocco first turned himself in to police in 2019 when he was facing nine counts of sexual abuse. Ten more felony counts were added about a month later.
Police said in 2019 that Yocco used social media to lure victims, the youngest of whom was 13. He would ply them with alcohol, police said, then rape them, including when they were unconscious.
Yocco's next court date is set for March 24, according to court records.
#1 Candidate in the Dirtiest ol' man of the year, so far:
Additional sex abuse charges for Baker City, Ore man
By Chris Collins ccollins@bakercityherald.com
Feb 26, 2021 Updated Feb 26, 2021
Another eight crimes related to the sexual abuse of a Baker County child have been added to a list of 30 others a Baker City man originally was charged with in December 2019.
The Baker County Sheriff’s Department cited Bill David Gonyer, 74, on a warrant charging him with the original 30 crimes and the eight new ones on Friday, Feb. 19, at a motel in Baker City where he is being held because of health issues.
The new crimes include four counts of first-degree encouraging child sexual abuse and four counts of second-degree encouraging child sexual abuse. Those charges are related to child pornography discovered on Gonyer’s computer during the course of the investigation, said District Attorney Greg Baxter.
The pornography doesn’t involve the child who is Gonyer’s alleged victim.
Gonyer has been staying at a motel in Baker City since December 2020 when Judge Matt Shirtcliff granted a motion by Gonyer’s attorney, Damien Yervasi of Baker City, seeking Gonyer’s conditional release from custody.
Gonyer is paying for the cost of the motel. There is no charge to the county for his housing accommodations, said Ashley McClay, Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman.
Gonyer had been held at the Baker County Jail since Jan. 8, 2020. He first was arrested on the child sexual abuse charges in Idaho where he was receiving medical care. Baker County authorities worked with Idaho law enforcement officers to arrest Gonyer. He was held at the Ada County Jail from Dec. 28, 2019, until being extradited to Baker County in early January 2020.
In addition to the new charges, Gonyer originally was indicted on these crimes related to the sexual assault of a girl younger than 14 who was known to him:
• Two counts of second-degree sexual abuse, a Class C felony.
• Six counts of third-degree sexual abuse, a Class A misdemeanor.
• Two counts of second-degree unlawful sexual penetration, a Class B felony.
• Two counts of contributing to the sexual abuse of a minor, a Class A misdemeanor.
• One count of first-degree rape, a Class A felony.
• One count of second-degree rape, a Class B felony.
• One count of third-degree rape, a Class C felony.
• One count of luring a minor, a Class C felony.
• One count of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct, a Class A felony.
• Six counts of felon in possession of a firearm, a Class C felony.
The conditional release was sought to allow Gonyer to obtain ongoing medical treatment at the Veterans Hospital and from other designated health care providers, according to court documents. Conditions of the release require Gonyer to wear an ankle monitor to allow staff at the Baker County Jail and Parole and Probation office to track his movements.
He also must maintain contact with Yervasi and waive extradition if necessary. And he has been ordered to inform Parole and Probation and the jail when he has to travel for medical treatment, court records state.
Gonyer is accused of 15 separate crimes that carry mandatory minimum sentences upon conviction in Oregon. A first-degree sexual abuse conviction, of which Gonyer faces five counts, carries a mandatory minimum 75-month (6 years, 3 months) sentence; second-degree unlawful sexual penetration (two counts), 75 months; first-degree rape (one count), 100 months (8 years, 4 months); second-degree rape (one count), 75 months; first-degree sodomy (one count), 100 months; second-degree sodomy (one count) 75 months; and using a child in display of sexually explicit conduct, one count, 75 months.
The first 25 counts are alleged to have taken place between May 1, 2019, and Dec. 20, 2019.
The firearms were found on Gonyers’ property at 35002 Stices Gulch Road when Sheriff’s Office deputies conducted a search there on Dec. 24 after learning about the accusations of sexual assault of a minor.
Gonyer is a registered sex offender. He was convicted of the felony crime of sexual abuse in Clackamas County in 1999 and is prohibited from possessing firearms, the indictment states.
Gonyer, who was living at Gladstone at the time, was sentenced to 75 months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of first-degree sexual abuse involving a girl younger than 14, court documents state. That crime took place in February 1998.
Gonyer also pleaded no-contest to two more counts of first-degree sexual abuse in Clackamas County, according to the court records. The second count in the case took place in February 1998 and involved a boy younger than 14. The third count, involving another girl younger than 14, happened in March of 1991.
Gonyer received a second 75-month sentence for the 1998 crime involving the boy, that ran concurrently (at the same time) as the first sentence. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, which ran consecutive to the 75-month prison term (one after the other) for the third crime. He also was ordered to complete 10 years’ post-prison supervision upon release from prison.
The 75-month prison terms are mandatory minimum sentences under Oregon law. The 18-month sentence was based on the law prior to the enactment of Ballot Measure 11, which was approved by Oregon voters in 1994, according to the court record. Ballot Measure 11 established mandatory minimum sentences in Oregon for 16 violent and sex crimes.
Wow! With his record, why did he keep getting minimum sentences, and why was the sentence for abusing the boy run concurrently with his previous assault? At the very least, they should never have stopped monitoring him.
Two Albertville, Ala men charged with child sex abuse
By ELIZABETH SUMMERS The Reporter
Feb 26, 2021
According to Albertville Assistant Police Chief J.T. “Butch” Cartee, the Department of Human Resources received the initial complaint, leading to a joint investigation between DHR, the Child Advocacy Center and Albertville Chief Detective Eric Farmer.
Winfrey was released the same day after posting a $50,000 bond.
Cartee said both cases were similar in that they began with a complaint to DHR and ended with a joint investigation by DHR, CAC and APD. However, the cases are not connected, Cartee said.
Due to the sensitive nature of the charges, no additional details will be released.
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