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Ex-gynecologist accused of sexually abusing dozens of
female patients faces new charge
Graham Kates
Mon, July 19, 2021, 3:36 PM
Federal prosecutors added a new count against a former gynecologist accused of sexually abusing patients, days after saying that investigators found child pornography on a laptop seized in the case.
Robert Hadden, a former Columbia University doctor, is now facing seven counts in connection with alleged abuse of six adult patients and one minor. Prosecutors also allege in the indictment that Hadden assaulted "dozens of female patients, including multiple minors" between 1993 and 2012, though Hadden is not facing charges for those additional allegations.
Prosecutors claim Hadden, for the purpose of engaging in illegal sexual activity, "enticed and induced" individuals to travel interstate by "causing victims to return to appointments with him to be further sexually abused."
Each of the seven federal counts carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Hadden, who agreed in 2016 to plead guilty to two state charges of criminal sex acts in the third degree and forcible touching, has also been accused in civil lawsuits of sexually abusing dozens of patients.
The new count, which was filed July 14, alleges Hadden abused another former patient during appointments in 2008 and 2009.
Hadden entered not guilty pleas to the original counts in the case, and Hadden's attorney, public defender Deirdre von Dornum, told CBS News in an email that he will also plead not guilty to the new count during an arraignment Tuesday.
In a letter to the court on July 8, the government said FBI investigators found child pornography on an Apple iBook laptop seized during its investigation. A U.S. Attorney said during a July 12 court hearing that the computer was seized in August 2020 from the home of Hadden's deceased father. The iBook is among dozens of electronic devices seized in the case.
Upstate man arrested on child sex abuse material, officials say
WYFF 4
Updated: 4:47 PM EDT Jul 20, 2021
GREENVILLE, S.C. —
An Upstate man has been arrested and charged with child sexual abuse material, according to South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson.
According to Wilson, investigators received a CyberTipline report that led them to Williamson.
Investigators said Williamson possessed child sexual abuse material. Williamson was arrested on July 18 and has been charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, third-degree, Wilson said.
This felony offense is punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment, Wilson said.
According to Wilson, Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Greenville Police Department made the arrest.
Titusville sex offender sentenced to 20 years for illicit videos depicting children
J.D. Gallop
Florida Today
A 28-year-old Titusville man was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison Monday after earlier pleading guilty to distributing videos and other material that depicted child sex.
Jeffery Stephen Heck was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Carlos E. Mendoza in Orlando, several months after entering a guilty plea for distributing child sexual abuse material. Heck also was ordered to 10 years' supervised release and to register as a sex offender once he leaves federal prison.
He also cannot have use of a smartphone, court records show.
The case began on June 18, 2020, when the FBI Tampa Division office received a tip from Milwaukee agents that someone from the Titusville area was engaged in a KiK social media account used for trading child pornography.
One of the videos found by agents showed prepubescent child victims engaged in sex acts.
Federal agents secured a subpoena for Heck’s IP address. Agents then moved to place Heck under surveillance but discovered that he moved to South Carolina in March 2020.
Agents then went undercover and reached out to Heck in a chat room. Heck told the undercover agent that he had material but was looking for new items.
“I have a couple things. I don’t do much with girls under 12 now,” he wrote, records show.
He was later arrested.
Agents also did a forensic check of Heck’s telephone, unearthing old texts and photographs. Heck pleaded guilty in April, 2021.
Tiverton man's arrest on child molestation charge
underscores growing problem in RI
Laura Damon
Newport Daily News
TIVERTON — How a 13-year-old Pennsylvania girl ended up in a Tiverton basement this month, the alleged victim of child molestation, underscores an issue that’s existed in Rhode Island for years and brings to light topics like victim-blaming.
Angela Kemp, director of prevention and special projects with Day One, cited data from Kids Count: there were 186 cases of child sexual abuse in Rhode Island in 2020; 177 in 2019, 207 in 2018, 169 in 2017 and 152 in 2016.
Of the 2020 figure: “I would note here that the avenues for reporting incidents of abuse/neglect were lessened during COVID (kids not physically in school), so this number is likely even more under-reported than we usually imagine,” Kemp said in an email.
Day One is the only agency in the state organized specifically to deal with issues of sexual assault as a community concern.
The girl who was found by police in the Tiverton basement was transported to Hasbro Children’s Hospital for an evaluation. The 19-year-old Tiverton man that police found with her was arrested on July 7 and charged with first-degree child molestation.
Tiverton police said a preliminary investigation revealed that the man and the girl met online, and the man "picked her up at her home in Pennsylvania approximately one week earlier. The two stayed at several locations before arriving in Rhode Island on or (around) July 4,” police said in a press release.
The girl “may not even be aware of ways she was groomed or coerced,” Kemp noted.
While the police press release says investigators believe both the alleged victim and the alleged perpetrator “misrepresented her age,” Kemp said in an email “(the) responsibility to confirm age should be on the adult, who chose to travel interstate with someone he didn’t know.”
Police added that “(the) matter remains under investigation including whether the juvenile female was being held against her will.”
“Whether she was ‘held against her will’ or not, she is a 13 (year-old) child multiple states away from home and likely worried about how her actions will be judged by the adults around her,” Kemp said. “Perpetrators often use these kinds of fears to control their victims emotionally.”
How did something like this happen?
For more on this story please visit Newport Daily News.
Boston Nanny Accused of Sending Child Sexual Abuse Images,
Was Active on Care.com
Tanner Stening
masslive.com/TNS
Jul 20th, 2021
BOSTON-Authorities are reaching out to parents with caretakers who may have had contact with a Boston nanny, accused of sending and receiving images of child sexual abuse, on Care.com, a platform that connects users with “trusted caretakers,” according to Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins.
Stephanie Lak, 36, of Roxbury, admitted to receiving and sending about 100 files of child sexual abuse material and to talking about the abuse online with other social media users, investigators said previously. She was arraigned in the Roxbury Division of Boston Municipal Court in April on charges of possession of child pornography and distribution of material of a child in a sex act.
Judge Debra A. DelVecchio had set cash bail at $5,000 with a series of conditions, including to stay away from children under the age of 18 and have no employment involving childcare.
Investigators say Lak was active on sittercity.com, an online marketplace for nannies and sitters. They now say she also had profiles on Care.com, using the names “Stephanie Lak” and “Stephanie Germaine” as recently as 2019.
Authorities previously found messages from Lak in which she identifies herself as a nanny. In a virtual conversation, Lak encouraged a caregiver from Minnesota to harm children in his care, volunteering to help him do so, Rollins’ office said.
In March, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children contacted the Boston Police Department’s Crimes Against Children unit and reported that eight separate images of child sexual abuse were being trafficked over an IP address in Roxbury. The center had received a CyberTip from MediaLab/Kik that a user had uploaded and shared files believed to be child sexual abuse material, according to the statement from Rollins’ office.
Investigators continue to review Lak’s employment history, social media, and other communications.
“This individual flew under the radar, gaining the trust of parents in order to gain access to children,” Rollins said. “While she is not now charged with physically abusing any of the children she cared for, we continue to investigate whether any of these children were harmed in any way.”
Rollins added that families who worked Lak have “access to information, guidance, support and resources.”
Authorities are urging parents and guardians whose children have had contact with Stephanie Lak to email Lakinvestigation@fbi.gov, and provide “your name and best contact information to have a member of the investigative team contact you.”
Breesport, NY man sentenced to prison after admitting to
felony child sex crimes
Jeff Murray
Elmira Star-Gazette
A Chemung County man implicated in multiple sex crimes involving minors will spend 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to two felonies.
Chemung County Judge Richard W. Rich Jr. this week handed down the sentence against Lawrence Campbell, 48, of Breesport, after Campbell in April pleaded guilty (4th story on link) to charges of first-degree course of sexual conduct against a child and first-degree sexual abuse.
Campbell was originally charged in three separate indictments with 13 counts of various child sex crimes. The charges involved five different child victims, two of whom are now adults and three of whom are still children.
The accusations related to sexual abuse that was alleged to have occurred between 2002 and 2016.
The Chemung County Sheriff's Office started investigating allegations against Campbell in December 2018, after three girls were allegedly sexually assaulted in 2015, when two of them were 4 years old and the other was 5.
The sheriff's office charged Campbell in November 2019 with one count of felony first-degree rape, three counts of felony first-degree criminal sexual act and five counts of felony first-degree sexual abuse.
In February 2020, the sheriff's office filed additional charges against Campbell, including predatory sexual assault against a child, course of sexual conduct against a child and second-degree rape, all felonies, along with a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child.
The additional charges were lodged after a new victim came forward and said Campbell had sexually abused her on several occasions over the course of about 11 years while she was a child.
Under the plea agreement, Campbell will also serve five years of post-release supervision and will be required to register as a sex offender.
Campbell has been in custody at the Chemung County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail since his arrest.
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