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North Carolina boy found locked in a freezing dog kennel
is seen in a CAGE as a baby - years before
He was erased from family photos and sent to 'live outside' by his cruel father, stepmom and aunt
The child was found locked in a freezing kennel on October 19 in Lexington, North Carolina, with no shoes
He was in the care of his father and stepmother, Jonathan and Sarah Starr, and Sarah's aunt Shelley Barnes
The boy vanished from Sarah's proud social media pages in February after the birth of his half brother
Until then, he'd lived what looked like a happy childhood in a blended family in California and North Carolina
The family lost their home in Paradise, CA, in the brutal 2018 wildfire that torched the entire area
He moved to North Carolina with his father, stepmother and her aunt afterwards, away from extended family
DailyMail.com can reveal harrowing photos of him in a dog cage as a toddler which foreshadowed his future
Starr and his wife remain in custody on $100k bonds; Barnes, a convicted felon, is held on a $300k bond
By JENNIFER SMITH, CHIEF REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 13:54 EST, 11 November 2022 |
Read the full story at the Daily Mail.
California child molester sentenced to 610 years in prison
Travis Edward Martin, a repeat offender, sexually abused a child
between the ages of 4 and 6
By Andrea Vacchiano | Fox News
US Published November 10, 2022 2:31am EST
A child molester in Southern California was sentenced to 610 years in prison on Tuesday, after being found guilty of molesting a child from the ages of 4 to 6 years old.
Travis Edward Martin, a Santa Paula resident, sexually abused a child in Ventura County and Orange County from 2019 to 2021.
The abuse began when the child was 4 years old and continued until 2021. Martin was found guilty on all counts and special allegations on October 3.
The 37-year-old was initially charged with seven counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child.
Travis Edward Martin was found guilty of abusing a child from the time they were 4 years old in 2019 until 2021. (Ventura County District Attorney's Office)
Martin was also charged with one count of using a child for the production of pornography and one count of possessing child pornography.
According to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office, the perpetrator was previously convicted of child molestation before the most recent case.
"We are pleased with the jury’s verdict and the judge’s sentence in this case, which accurately reflects the harm caused by the defendant’s horrific crimes," Supervising Deputy District Attorney Rafael Orellana, who prosecuted the case, said in a statement.
"The 610 years to life sentence will serve to protect our community and demonstrates that there is zero tolerance for the sexual abuse and exploitation of children," the statement added.
Missouri man who killed 9-year-old son convicted of sex crimes
involving ex-wife's underage relatives
Dawan Ferguson was charged in 2019 with first-degree murder in his son's death
after prosecutors found inconsistencies in his 911 call
A Missouri dad who was convicted last month of killing his 9-year-old son in 2003, was convicted Wednesday of sex crimes involving underage girls, including one whom he impregnated. Twice, apparently.
A St. Louis County jury found Dawan Ferguson guilty of multiple sex crimes involving his ex-wife’s underage relatives, St. Louis' FOX 2 reported.
The victim, now 26, testified that she tried to get an abortion but was unsuccessful. Ferguson reportedly impregnated her a second time, but the victim terminated the pregnancy.
Ferguson told the jurors Wednesday the child had found a used condom he had masturbated into and used it to impregnate herself, the Riverfront Times reported.
Last month, Ferguson was found guilty of first-degree murder of his son, Christian, who disappeared on June 11, 2003 and was never found, FOX 2 reported.
Ferguson claimed his son, who was special needs, was kidnapped after thieves stole his 1999 Ford Expedition while his son was supposedly inside. Prosecutors charged him in 2019 after finding inconsistencies in his 911 call.
Ferguson’s sentencing on the child sexual assault charge is scheduled for September 16.
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At least 269 K-12 educators arrested on child sex crimes
in first 9 months of this year
74% of the arrests involved alleged crimes against students
By Jessica Chasmar | Fox News
Nearly 270 public educators were arrested on child sex-related crimes in the U.S. in the first nine months of this year, ranging from grooming to raping underage students.
An analysis conducted by Fox News Digital found that from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, at least 269 educators were arrested, which works out to roughly one arrest a day.
The 269 educators included four principals, two assistant principals, 226 teachers, 20 teacher's aides and 17 substitute teachers.
At least 199 of the arrests, or 74%, involved alleged crimes against students.
The analysis looked at local news stories week by week featuring arrests of K-12 principals, assistant principals, teachers, substitute teachers and teachers’ aides on child sex-related crimes in school districts across the country. Arrests that weren't publicized were not counted in the analysis, meaning the true number may well be higher.
Only 43 of the alleged crimes, or 16%, did not involve students. It is not known whether another 10% of the alleged crimes involved students.
Men also made up the vast majority, with over 80% of the arrests.
There are an estimated 3.2 million public school teachers in the country, meaning the arrests compiled by Fox News Digital make up only 0.0084%.
"The number of teachers arrested for child sex abuse is just the tip of the iceberg — much as it was for the Catholic Church prior to widespread exposure and investigation in the early 2000s," Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "The best available academic research, published by the Department of Education, suggests that nearly 10% of public school students suffer from physical abuse between kindergarten and twelfth grade."
"According to that research, the scale of sexual abuse in the public schools is nearly 100 times greater than that of the Catholic Church," he said. "The question for critics who seek to downplay the extent of public-school sexual abuse is this: How many arrests need to happen before you consider it a problem? How many children need to be sexually abused by teachers before you consider it a crisis?"
Many of the arrests in Fox News Digital’s latest analysis involved especially heinous allegations.
Eugene Pratt, a former principal, elementary school teacher and coach who taught at-risk youth in multiple Michigan public schools, is accused of sexually assaulting at least 15 boys and young adult men over the course of several decades. (Genesee County Sheriff's Office)
Eugene Pratt, 57, a former principal, elementary school teacher and coach who taught at-risk youth in multiple Michigan public schools, was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct in August. He is accused of sexually assaulting at least 15 boys and young adult men during his education career spanning several decades.
Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson, whose office is investigating Pratt, told ClickOnDetroit in August that sexual predators often put themselves in a supervisory position so that they have easy access to victims.
"When you see positions that he held that involve being a principal, school administrator, counselor, GED coordinator, and even after he taught, where he was arrested last week out of New Paths, as a driver, as a transport officer," Swanson said. "Individuals like Eugene Pratt put themselves in positions of authority over others in order to act on their prey and to find and identify vulnerable people."
Anthony Mattei, 59, a middle-school teacher in the Allen Independent School District in Texas, was charged in August with two counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact. The district has since put Mattei on administrative leave and launched an investigation after it was revealed he had been permitted to return to the classroom following an investigation into misconduct allegations in April, Texas Scorecard reported.
Stephen Kenion, 56, who taught self-defense classes to Baltimore City Public School students, was arrested last month after being accused of impregnating a 14-year-old former student and having sexual relationships with multiple minors back to 2009, including an 8-year-old student. He’s been charged with perverted practices, second-degree rape, numerous counts of second-degree assault and various sex offenses, CBS News reported.
Stephen Kenion, who taught self-defense classes to Baltimore City Public School students, was arrested last month after being accused of impregnating a 14-year-old former student and having sexual relationships with multiple minors back to 2009.
Stephen Kenion, who taught self-defense classes to Baltimore City Public School students, was arrested last month after being accused of impregnating a 14-year-old former student and having sexual relationships with multiple minors back to 2009. (Baltimore Police Department)
In another startling development in August, four current or former Plymouth Public School educators in Connecticut were arrested in connection with an investigation into alleged child sex abuse by a fourth-grade teacher, 51-year-old James Eschert.
A principal and three staff members at Plymouth Center School were charged with failure to report abuse, neglect or injury of a child or imminent risk of serious harm to a child after students allegedly complained about misconduct by Eschert and nothing was done.
Eschert was arrested in January on five counts of risk of injury to a child and two counts of fourth-degree sexual assault, Law & Crime reported.
The Fox News Digital analysis comes several months after the U.S. Department of Education released a report in June titled "Study of State Policies to Prohibit Aiding and Abetting Sexual Misconduct in Schools," which analyzed state policies prohibiting "passing the trash," or allowing suspected sexual abusers to quietly leave their jobs to possibly offend again in a different school district.
A bipartisan provision of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which was originally proposed by Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, requires all states receiving federal education funding to enact laws prohibiting the practice of "passing the trash."
The Education Department’s report, however, found that laws against the practice are varied across the states, and that while all states require prospective employers to conduct criminal background checks on educators, and most states — 46 — require fingerprinting, only 19 states require employers to request information from an applicant's current and former employers.
Moreover, only 14 states require employers to check an applicant’s eligibility for employment or certification, and only 11 require applicants to disclose information regarding investigations or disciplinary actions related to sexual abuse or misconduct.
The Department of Education last released a report on the topic in 2004, which claimed that nearly 9.6% of students are targets of educator sexual misconduct sometime during their school career.
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Utah Psychologist Faces Six New Charges Linked to
‘Ritualistic Child Sex Abuse’
More than 150 victims and witnesses have come forward since police investigation
began in early 2021
By Allan Stein
November 10, 2022
The Epoch Times
A former Utah psychologist accused of “ritualistic sex abuse” involving children faces six new felony charges after a second adult victim came forward with testimony decades after the alleged assaults occurred.
On Oct. 17, David Lee Hamblin, 68, pleaded not guilty in a district court in Sanpete County, Utah, to six additional counts of aggravated child sex abuse stemming from an investigation by members of the Utah County Sheriff’s Office’s (UCSO) special victims unit.
Detectives arrested Hamblin in late September on seven other child sexual abuse-related charges from a separate case. Those charges include first-degree felony rape of a child, aggravated abuse of a child, and lewdness involving a child.
A Utah County Sheriff's Office cruiser sits parked at the public safety complex in Spanish Fork, Utah,
on June 27, 2022. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)
Since his arrest, Hamblin has remained incarcerated without bail in the Utah County jail.
Authorities refuted earlier claims that the alleged incidents involved satanic ritual abuse reminiscent of the “Satanic Panic” that swept across Utah in the 1980s.
“This investigation is about child sex abuse and child sex trafficking. Now, we have two cases we’ve been able to move forward on. You never know where it’s going to lead you,” said Sgt. Spencer Cannon, the sheriff’s office public information officer.
Cannon said that more than 150 people have contacted the department with information after a press release went out on May 31 announcing the investigation that began in early 2021.
Cannon said Hamblin’s name came up as investigators pursued leads with the help of multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI. “It was during that investigation that his name came up. He’s on our radar now,” he said.
One victim, a woman now in her 40s, told detectives she was 6 or 7 years old when Hamblin allegedly began molesting her in the mid-1980s.
“The victim’s family resided in the same neighborhood as David [Hamblin],” according to Hamblin’s booking statement in September.
“The victim stated she would regularly play with David’s children and had been babysat [sic] on a number of occasions by David.”
A second witness was 4 or 5 years old when the alleged assaults occurred during “therapy sessions” at Hamblin’s home in Spring City in the early 1990s.
Those allegations led to six additional felony charges against Hamblin.
“The victim also described that Hamblin administered religious blessings during some of the therapy sessions,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Investigators said the victim tried to alert authorities but wasn’t taken seriously given Hamblin’s “standing” in the community as a therapist and as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
After multiple alleged incidents of sexual abuse “under the guise of therapy sessions, the victim was no longer required to attend those sessions,” the sheriff’s office said.
The victim expressed fear that Hamblin would “cause the victim injury” should the abuse come to light.
“Investigators have corroborated this victim’s statements with other witnesses.”
Cannon said of the people who contacted the department many were victims, witnesses, or people who knew of victims.
“Not all the cases are focused on Mr. Hamblin,” Cannon told The Epoch Times.
Given the lack of physical evidence, these cases are challenging to prosecute years after they occurred, but “we’ll keep following up” with new information,” he said.
“I know [other] cases that are further along. I would anticipate more charges coming, but exactly when, I don’t know.”
As a licensed therapist in Provo, Hamblin faced charges that he sexually abused a male patient in 2012. However, the Utah County Attorney’s Office dropped those charges, and Hamblin had his therapy license revoked in Utah.
“Through this investigation, it has been reported that [Hamblin] continues to perform ‘therapy’ under the guise of ‘healing circles’ and upon information and belief, the abuse may be ongoing,” the sheriff’s office said regarding Hamblin’s arrest in September.
“David Hamblin is a threat to the children and citizens of Utah County,” he alleged.
There is no statute of limitation for sexual abuse cases in Utah.
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