This Week's Catholic Pervs and Paedos List > Pope to jump into the fire in Portugal; Syracuse (NY) Diocese settling for $100 Million

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Pope Francis to visit Portugal, a country facing a reckoning

over child sex abuse in the church

Antonio Grosso tears up after reading aloud the letter his daughter wrote him saluting his courage when he publicly recounted his story of sex abuse by members of the church

By Euronews  with AP  •  Updated: 28/07/2023 - 09:52

The pontiff is expected to meet victims of historic abuse as he visits Lisbon for an international Catholic youth rally.

When a panel of experts read aloud some of the harrowing accounts they had collected from victims of child sex abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church, the country’s senior bishops squirmed in the auditorium's front-row seats.

During a live television broadcast, the experts reported in February that at least 4,815 boys and girls had been abused since 1950, most aged 10 to 14.

Senior Portuguese church officials had maintained there had been only a handful of cases. Their response was so clumsy victims were inspired to form Portugal's first survivor advocacy group to press for compensation.

Now, Pope Francis will wade into the quagmire of Portugal’s reckoning with clergy abuse when he arrives in Lisbon next Wednesday to participate in World Youth Day, the international Catholic youth rally. 

While there is no mention of the scandal on the pontiff’s official agenda, he is expected to meet with victims.

Portugal is the latest country to confront decades of abuse by priests and cover-ups by bishops and religious superiors. 

The hierarchy has flip-flopped over the possible — and unresolved — issue of payment of reparations. It has balked at suspending active members of the clergy named in the report.

Anne Barrett Doyle of BishopAccountability.org, a US group that maintains an online archive on abuse in the Catholic Church, said Portugal's bishops had expected the independent commission would help them restore trust by revealing the history of abuse and cover-up while allowing them to “apologize, give assurances of reform, and move on.”

“Their plan backfired terribly,” she said. "With its finding of nearly 5,000 victims and its startling claim of accused priests still in ministry, the commission turned out to be more independent than the bishops bargained for.”

Faithful hold a vigil of silence and prayer for the victims of sexual abuse by the Catholic Church, outside the 16th century Jeronimos Monastery in Lisbon, in February.AP Photo/Armando Franca, File

Church authorities at first argued possible reparations were a matter for the courts. 

Lisbon Cardinal Manuel Clemente and other officials also remarked that under Portuguese law, the perpetrator is liable for any compensation payments — not the institution.

Note, the Catholic Church works under local laws when it is to its perceived advantage, ignoring God's Law and moral responsibility.

By April, the church had softened its position, saying it didn’t rule out reparations. It promised to “make help available” for victims and said if convicted perpetrators couldn’t pay, the church would. Officials have not elaborated on those plans.

However, Clemente also claimed the Independent Committee for the Study of Child Abuse in the Catholic Church, a group of experts set up by Portuguese church authorities, had handed the church just a list of names of alleged abusers not backed up by evidence. That comment irked the experts, who said they took pains to ground their findings and provide supporting documentation.

Also, church authorities said active clergy named as alleged abusers could be suspended from duties only after due legal process. Officials, under public pressure, later suspended four of the two dozen priests in the report.

Victim speaks out

Abuse victim Antonio Grosso says he was sexually abused at a former religious shelter for boys in Fatima in the 1960s.

Fatima is world famous village where the Virgin Mary allegedly appeared to three Portuguese girls. It's curious that Mary would appear in a village named for the daughter of Aisha, Mohammed's child bride. It's still a matter of great debate what she might have said to the girls. Apparently, it wasn't helpful in the matter of priests and Bishops sexually abusing children.

He said he and others were so hurt by the church’s response they created a lobby group, called the Silenced Heart Association, to help victims obtain reparations. The group also provides psychological support and pro bono legal aid.

Grosso’s journey has taken him from would-be priest studying as a child at a Portuguese seminary to co-founder of the first church sex abuse victim association in Portugal. As a child, he says, he enjoyed Mass so much that he re-enacted it at home.

But between the age of 10 and 12, studying away from home, Grosso says he was sexually abused first by a priest and later by a Franciscan friar.

For 10 years he never spoke to anyone about what had happened. As a teen, he had episodes of “rage, humiliation, shame,” he says. Only as a young adult did he begin to broach the subject with friends. He told his girlfriend, who became his wife. They had two daughters.

When Grosso publicly recounted his story in a 2002 magazine interview, having felt encouraged to do so by revelations of church sex abuse emerging around the world, his then 27-year-old daughter Barbara sent him a letter. He has kept it folded up in his wallet for the past two decades. The letter salutes his courage and tells him his daughter is proud of him. Reading it aloud, he tears up.

He feels moved to act now because the church reacted with “contempt” to the torment of victims and is still trying to cover up the truth. He would like to see Pope Francis speak about the issue while in Portugal.

The church in Portugal has apologised for the abuse. It is working with Portugal’s main victims’ support association and is establishing procedures and tailoring its responses to sex abuse in the church. Staff at the World Youth Day are receiving specific training on how to prevent and spot abuse.

The problem, however, extends far beyond Portugal, says Barrett Doyle.

Portugal’s reckoning lags behind what has already happened in the United States, Australia, France and Germany, she said, but is on a par with the church responses in Spain and Poland and most countries in South America, Central America, and Africa.

“In other words, and sadly, the Portuguese hierarchy is not an outlier; it’s representative,” she said.

Syracuse Diocese Paying Sex Abuse Survivors $100 Million—

Largest Settlement Since 2007

Ty Roush, Forbes Staff

Jul 27, 2023,04:30pm EDT

TOPLINE The Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse, New York, agreed to pay sex abuse survivors $100 million as part of its bankruptcy settlement Thursday, the latest payment by the diocese to survivors and the largest single settlement the Catholic Church has agreed to in the U.S. since 2007.

The Diocese of Syracuse agreed to pay sex abuse survivors $100 million. GETTY

KEY FACTS

The settlement—which requires court approval and a creditor vote—would be paid out to the 387 people who have filed 411 claims of sexual abuse in the diocese, Bishop Douglas Lucia announced Thursday.

Of the $100 million, the diocese will pay $50 million, parishes would contribute $45 million and the remaining $5 million would come from other diocesan entities, Lucia said.

The diocese previously paid $11 million to 79 sex abuse victims in 2019.

CRUCIAL QUOTE

“I can tell you as shocking as the settlement amount may seem to leaders of our own parishes and other Catholic entities, more appalling and heart-rending to me is the pain and mistreatment experienced by the survivors of child and adult sexual abuse at the hands of those they could trust,” Lucia said.

TANGENT

The settlement is the largest since 2007, when the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego agreed to pay nearly $200 million to 144 people. Other settlements have been paid out by other dioceses to victims of sexual abuse in recent years, including a $55 million settlement by the Diocese of Rochester, New York, in November and an $87.5 million settlement by the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey, last April. In 2018, the Diocese of Brooklyn agreed to pay four victims $27.5 million. Similar settlements were reached in the 2000s, including an $85 million settlement by the Archdiocese of Boston in 2003 and a $100 million settlement by the Diocese of Orange, California, in 2005.

BIG NUMBER

$660 million. That’s how much the Archdiocese of Los Angeles paid 508 people who accused priests of sexual abuse in 2007, the largest abuse settlement by the Catholic Church.

The Diocese of Syracuse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020, after 38 people filed lawsuits against the diocese alleging sexual abuse by priests. The lawsuits came a year after the diocese released a list of 57 sexually abusive priests, including 38 who had died. More lawsuits have been filed against New York-based dioceses in the last year, after Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) temporarily suspended the statute of limitations for claims of sexual abuse.

Erin's Law > Keeping your Children from Danger

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Erin's Law - Watching the Kids

1 d  · 

I sat in my bedroom today booking travel for an upcoming work trip when one of my daughters appeared at the door. “Mom can we go inside Lauren’s house?” I quickly responded “No!” She left my room and went back outside to tell her sisters. Minutes later my middle daughter appears. “Mom can we please go inside Lauren’s house? We want to play with her barbies.” “I already told your sister no.”  “Bring your barbies outside and play with them in the yard with your friend.” “But mom it’s so hot outside.” “The answer is no. It’s not up for discussion.” They knew coming inside our house was not an option with their one year old brother napping. She disappears and I go back to working. Ten minutes passed and now my youngest daughter is at my door. Her older sisters were making one last effort to see if I would change my mind. “Mommy please can we go! We promise we won’t watch TV or play video games at her house.” That was not why I was saying no. They were now testing my patience by asking me for a third time and not taking no for an answer the first time. I became frustrated and had a talk with all of them that if they asked me again they would have to come inside and say goodbye to their friends. I returned to my bedroom and sat there thinking would my answer have been different if I didn’t experience the abuse I lived through at my best friend's house. Mom guilt consumed me. The house they wanted to go to the mother works and the Dad is home watching the kids daily. 

There is no way I would let my children be in the home of a friend's house with just a male present. I know that some of you may be quick to point out women can be abusers too but it is far more common that it is men.  I trust very few men and not about to take any chances with my children. 

It sounds innocent my children wanting to play at their friend's house with their barbie dolls but I was doing exactly that at their age and suffered horrific abuse. Playing in the home of my best friend during the day with only her uncle in the home watching us while her mom worked. We were in her bedroom playing with barbie dolls. When her uncle saw the chance when my friend left the room he slipped in and locked the door. Suddenly a fun afternoon of playing with barbie dolls turned quickly to terror. Suddenly I found this man on top of me silencing my screams with his hand as he raped me. I could tell you the color shirt he wore, the shoes I was wearing, and the threats he told me to keep me silent. The abuse didn’t end there. There was many more terrifying evil moments with this monster including an incident in the dress I am wearing below. 

I know the days like today will come again around play dates and sleepovers and the answer will always be the same. Some may argue I shouldn’t punish my kids because of terrible things from my childhood and live a life in fear of all the bad things that can happen. I will say this I would rather my children be in therapy one day for all the playdates and sleepovers they missed out on then what I have spent years in therapy reliving. Something tells me they will not be scarred from this. These girls of mine have been on many playdates in the homes of friends without me. Just as long as mom is present I am okay with it. Never judge a person's decisions when you haven’t walked in their shoes. I am confident most would be making the same decisions I am around this if they lived through my childhood.  And if you don’t agree with me please do me a favor and at least talk to your kids about personal body safety before sending them off to play dates and sleepovers. 🙏🏻 ❤️

The naivety of the young girls to not sense any danger resulted in their persistence. Erin, however, sensed danger from the man being home alone with his children. I frequently beg parents to not put their preschool kids in a daycare where there may be a man, or men, present. And, also, to not employ male babysitters for their kids. My suspicions go back to the feeling that men are not naturally inclined to be babysitters. Those who chose to work in that field are, in my humble opinion, suspect of unnatural attractions to children.

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This Week's Global Pervs and Paedos > Female Genital Mutilation Camp Videoed in Guinea - Once removed

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But for the three following short paragraphs, this is a reproduction of an article from France24. Blogspot has removed this post because it doesn't meet community standards. I guess that means community standards allow for the torture of children. Either that or Blogspot can't tell the difference between someone who is trying to save children and someone who is trying to abuse them. After 12 years you would think they would know the difference.

Female Genital Mutilation is a form of child sexual abuse prevalent in the Sahel and parts of Asia. It is outlawed in most countries but the law is almost never enforced, even in Western countries. 

For the children, it is a nightmare beyond their worst imaginings, and it has repercussions on their health for the rest of their lives. All too often the procedure is done with primitive tools, without anesthetic, and in unsanitary places. 

Children have no voices, except to cry for all they are worth. This insanity occurs primarily in Muslim countries but not entirely. It must stop! We need more people to speak up about it and pressure primitive countries to stop trying to improve on God's creation at the expense of torturing children.

Video documents female genital mutilation camp in Guinea

The video shows four little girls, one in tears, in what is referred to as a “camp for genital mutilation" in Conakry. Our Observer says that this is the first time a video of one of these places has emerged. While genital mutilation is banned in Guinea, it is still widely practiced. In the wake of the video’s release, activists, including our Observer, have mobilised and authorities have responded to the pressure by opening an investigation into the matter. Authorities have made one arrest and are still searching for other suspects.

Issued on: 27/07/2023 - 15:59
5 min

Screengrab of a video filmed in Conakry in July 2023 which shows four little girls in a camp for genital mutilation. © Observers/ TikTok

Text by:Corentin Bainier

France24

The video, which lasts just under a minute, shows four little girls sitting on the ground, in a row. One of them is crying, seemingly writhing in pain. There are also two adult women present – one of them elderly. Text in French appears on the screen reading “My mother worked hard this morning”. The person filming the video says practically the same phrase in Soussou at the start of the video – though she says “today” instead of “this morning”.

“Don’t cry, sit on the ground, be good,” the woman in black says in Mandinka to the little girl who is crying. 

“Look, the littlest girl isn’t crying, it is the oldest who is crying and she is also trying to cry as loud as possible,” says the woman in red to the same little girl, this time speaking Fula.  

We are only publishing an excerpt of the video. We’ve blurred the faces of the children and the two women.

“What gall to publish that”

The video was posted on TikTok the week of July 17. Negative comments immediately flooded the post and the entire account was quickly deleted. However, at least two women made copies of the video. 

Fafoune Konaté, who runs the TikTok account “Mme Diakité”, who has a lot of followers in Guinea, republished an excerpt of the video on July 19, featuring her commentary facing the camera. 

When contacted by our team, she replied:

The feeling that I had watching it… it was so strong. This little girl who was crying… I didn’t think that I would see that in the 21st century, I thought that mindsets were starting to shift. What gall to publish that. 

I underwent genital mutilation myself and it is something that you live with until you die. I was immediately traumatised seeing that.

A Guinean who lives in France – and wanted to stay anonymous – also saved an excerpt of the video, which she published on Snapchat. 

“This brought back horrible memories,” she said. “I published this video in a group for young mothers and a lot of people reacted. They insulted me and some people said that these women have the right to do what they want." 

“There’s no doubt that this video was filmed in a camp for genital mutilation”

Kadiatou Konaté is the president of the Club of Young Women Leaders in Guinea, an organisation that works to prevent genital mutilation and forced marriage.

There’s no doubt that this video was filmed in a camp for genital mutilation, even if we can’t say for certain that it was filmed right after a mutilation. 

The girls are dressed in a way common for these camps. The colors might vary, but the style is the same — tops fastened at the back, then pagnes and scarves tied in their hair. Moreover, the way that the girls are all lined up on the floor is common, too – in these camps, all the girls undergo the process together.

Often, these camps are held during vacation at the home of a woman who will carry out the mutilation. She might have a dozen children there and they might stay up to a month. The woman feeds them and “instructs” them in traditional values like keeping your mouth shut and only speaking when you are given authorisation. However, sometimes there are lessons on good values for human relationships. 

Read moreThe fight to end female genital mutilation in Guinea during summer break

People and organisations who had seen the video contacted Guinea's Office for the Protection of Gender, Children and Morals (Oprogem). 

Authorities arrested one person suspected of sharing the video in the town of Kindia. An investigation into the matter is ongoing, Dadou Camara, the prosecutor at the Kindia lower court, told our team. 

“According to the statement made by the person arrested, the video was filmed in Conakry,” he said. “We are keeping the person in custody because we have not yet located the women responsible for carrying out the mutilations. This video is a first, it is shocking, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

 

"Parents must understand that you can teach children traditional values without genital mutilation”

Genital mutilation has been banned in Guinea since 2008 but instances of the practice have not decreased, according to NGO Plan international. More than 97% of women have undergone this practice, according to the NGO. Kadiatou Konaté, of the Club of Young Women Leaders, explains: 

We mobilised because we want to at least prevent the people who make these kinds of videos from just uploading them online. The justice system has sentenced people in the past for carrying out mutilations but, often, people are given conditional sentences – often because the accused are elderly. But from our point of view, this is actually because there is still too much tolerance.

There are several reasons why genital mutilation is carried out. That could be for cultural reasons or tradition – some people say that their grandparents did it, people think they should do it. There could be economic reasons because it is a source of revenue for the people who carry it out. It can be related to ideas of dignity and honour. It’s also related to the desire of a patriarchal society to control the sexuality of a growing girl. 

Some people think that it will limit the risk of teen pregnancies. Some people think that husbands don’t like women who aren’t mutilated… People always find a way to justify their behaviour. 

Parents must understand that you can teach children traditional values without genital mutilation, because mutilation is abhorrent.

I do think that the number of genital mutilations is decreasing. It seems like the people who are doing it are hiding it and aren’t doing it in the open. More and more, people are realising that this practice can’t continue. 

Approaching Sodom > Cycling separates Trans from Girls; Bloomberg hires Pedo apologist to trash 'Sound of Freedom'

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Cycling's governing body bans female transgender athletes

from competing in women's events

Female transgender athletes who transitioned after male puberty will be prohibited from

women's events in all categories of cycling, the sport's governing body said on Friday.

Issued on: 14/07/2023 - 15:33

Modified: 14/07/2023 - 15:43

Text by: NEWS WIRES, 1 min

David Lappartient, president of the International Cycling Union (UCI) attends a news conference at the

World Cycling Center in Aigle, Switzerland, June 3, 2022. © Denis Balibouse, Reuters

The International Cycling Union (UCI)'s president David Lappartient said the federation "has a duty to guarantee, above all, equal opportunities for all competitors in cycling competitions".

The new rules, which come into force on July 17, follow similar rulings by other Olympic sports such as athletics.

"The UCI would like to reaffirm that cycling - as a competitive sport, leisure activity or means of transport - is open to everyone," Lappartient said in a statement.

But the current state of scientific knowledge does not guarantee such equality of opportunity between transgender female athletes and cisgender female participants, he added.

"As a precautionary measure, (it is not possible to) authorise the former to race in the female categories," Lappartient added.

The UCI said it was open to changing these rulings in the future as scientific knowledge evolves.

To this end the UCI will begin discussions with other members of the international sporting movement on the co-financing of a research programme aimed at studying changes in the physical performance of highly-trained athletes undergoing transitional hormone treatment.

Last year top British women's cyclists threatened to boycott events after 22-year-old Emily Bridges, who was dropped by the British academy programme as a male rider, attempted to join the women's omium team.

(AFP)

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He/Him Leftist Who Calls Pedophiles a ‘Stigmatized Group’

Trashes Sound of Freedom

JUL 26, 2023 12:00 PM BY BOSCH FAWSTIN

Noah Berlatsky, who proudly wrote about how his bisexual wife came out as non-binary and his daughter as trans, was hired to trash the movie, Sound of Freedom, for Bloomberg. A movie which takes on the horror of child kidnapping and child rape is a movie that Berlatsky wants to stop people from watching.

This creature tweeted that “pedophiles are essentially a stigmatized group”, and that “people hate them.” People. Not him.

Journalist Andy Ngo has revealed that Berlatsky is a former spokesman for a “M.A.P.” (Minor Attracted Persons) advocacy group, Prostasia. This is a sick, twisted rat who naturally writes for the usual leftist rags, including The Washington Post, NBC Think, Independent, and The Atlantic, and spends an inordinate amount of time projecting onto the right all of the evils of the left.

To quote him is to damn him, and to draw him is to damn him. I can’t recall the last time I wrote about and drew such a sleazy character. He has claimed that most child trafficking victims are not coerced. And keep in mind that those who hire this lowlife to write for them have No problem with his understanding of and sympathy for pedophiles, which damns them as well.

Berlatsky is the poster boy for leftists who hate the very idea of a movie taking on the kidnapping and rape of children, a movie which their attempt to bury has helped make it the great success that it is.

What is a business media doing trashing a movie that's about rescuing kids from torturers? Or, any media for that matter. Bloomberg is chronically ill and deserves to be boycotted for this.

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BC updates policing standards about sexual abuse victims, though children not mentioned

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It's good to see that the BC government is being proactive in this area. How effective it will be is another question. But at least they are doing something, which is more can be said of Canada's Trudeau government, which hasn't done a thing on sexual abuse or child sexual abuse in its 8 miserable years.

Speaking of children, they are not mentioned in this article, not once. Child sex abuse is the worst atrocity in the world today, and it is also the most ignored. Children have no voice, they don't vote, they don't buy newspapers, and they suffer for it in silence.

B.C. government announces new programs, police standards

for sexual assault

Farnworth: changes will help survivors be treated fairly and shielded from further harm

THE CANADIAN PRESS

Jul. 24, 2023 2:40 p.m. 

 

 

The British Columbia government is updating sexual assault policing standards to ensure more effective investigations and improved outcomes for survivors.

The province announced Monday that it’s committing to providing stable annual funding to 68 sexual assault programs across B.C., while it sets new standards for police to collaborate with victims services workers during investigations.

Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth said survivors deserve to be treated fairly after going through trauma and shielded from further harm, and the new standards and programs will “empower” those people.

“The standards promote police co-ordination with health services and community supports,” Farnworth said. “They require supervisory oversight to make sure investigations are responsive and impartial, and a review of closed cases to improve future investigations or informed training moving forward.”

The province said the funding for the new programs kicks in this month, while new policing standards coupling investigators with victims services workers will begin next year, applying to all B.C. police officers.

Angela Marie MacDougall, executive director of Battered Women’s Support Services, said in an interview that the new funding is welcome, but questioned whether the new standards touted by the province will have any effect on policing culture.

In a statement released after the announcement, MacDougall’s organization said only six per cent of sexual assaults get reported to police “due to fear and mistrust of the criminal legal system.”

“Given the widely documented, systemic issues of racism, misogyny, homophobia, and unaccountability in the culture of policing, particularly the RCMP, will these standards alone be enough?” the statement said.

MacDougall said that one of the biggest issues for sexual assault survivors is dealing with front-line patrol officers who are essentially the “gatekeepers” who decide whether to forward for further investigation.

She said the long-standing problem for sexual assault survivors is having their claims dismissed as being “unfounded” and not properly investigated by police.

MacDougall said many police forces have been shown to have “serious problems within their organizational culture and how they respond to victims of sexual assault.”

She said the Kelowna and Prince George detachments of the RCMP have come under fire for their handling of sexual assault investigations, and her organization hears consistently from survivors that they don’t believe police will adequately investigate their cases.

The RCMP began a review of its sexual assault complaints after a Globe and Mail investigation in 2017 reported police classify an average one in five sexual assaults as unfounded, and since then it has reopened hundreds of files and laid dozens of charges.

In Kelowna that year, the detachment received 70 reports of sexual assaults, but dismissed more than 40 per cent of them as “unfounded,” Statistics Canada data shows.

Farnworth said the new B.C. policing standards include a review of closed cases, and will involve “supervisory oversight” of investigations to make sure officers are impartial and “trauma-informed.”

The B.C. government says it now kicks in $54 million a year for crime victim support services and programs, more than 470 of which deal with violence against women and sexual assault survivors.

MacDougall said police forces have a year to implement the province’s new standards, and whether they end up following them is an open question.

“There already were expectations that police would follow proper investigative practices around sexual assault, but they didn’t, so now they’re being told to,” she said. “The question is, will they follow through?”

This Week's USA Pervs and Pedos List > Three Toddlers in Disturbingly Disgusting Home; Father and Son charged with gay familial child sex abuse; 28 pervs arrested, 19 kids rescued; An Evil Thing

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‘There’s poop everywhere’: Police react with disgust – spitting and gagging

– as child sexual abuse investigation leads to house of filth and horrors

in bodycam footage

COLIN KALMBACHER, Jul 8th, 2023, 2:24 pm

Law and Crime

Handprints of feces adorn the high wall of a bedroom shared by two children in Oklahoma.

(Stillwater Police Department)

“Handprints of s––– all over the entire room. Your feet just stick to all the s––– in there,” an officer in Oklahoma explains to other members of law enforcement. “That’s the nastiest house I’ve ever been in.”

That house, ridden with filth and more-present dangers to human life, was recently discovered amid a child sexual abuse investigation. Now, three adults are facing child neglect and sexual assault charges.

This week, Law&Crime obtained body-worn camera footage documenting the inside of the residence in Stillwater, in the Sooner State, where three children were recently able to escape.

“The foul odor inside was unbearable,” Stillwater Police Detective Sgt. Sherae LeJeune wrote in an affidavit filed late last month. “The air was thick and musty, which made breathing difficult. We could not complete the walk-through without taking breaks outside for fresh air. I noticed there actually was carpet in the living room. It was saturated with so much urine and feces and walked all over that it was smashed down to a hard surface. My boots stuck to the flooring.”

The footage continues to show the inside of the doublewide trailer; a cat scurries across the floor; a sheet is tacked to a wall, and household objects are piled up among the common rooms. And then, an officer opens the door to a child’s bedroom.

Trails of feces can be seen smeared all over various walls – high, low, and in-between. A pink-and-purple Minnie Mouse sheet is tacked up in the bedroom – covering a massive hole in the drywall. A series of smaller holes are also visible. A dog can be heard whinnying off-camera.

“There were no toys in the room,” the affidavit says. “The walls were smeared with feces. It was obvious the children smeared the feces because of the size of the handprints. Some of the smears reached up to the ceiling on the west wall.”

Authorities say the room was shared by a 4-year-old girl and a 1-year-old boy.

Steven Zackariah Kittle, 35, was arrested in March on one count of child sexual abuse. In June, he was charged with two counts of child neglect. His wife, Lindsey Nichole Pratt, 26, and his mother, Robin Jean Kittle, 59, were each arrested on three counts of child neglect.

In another clip provided to Law&Crime by the SPD, Kittle is arrested on the sexual assault charge. The defendant’s mouth goes agape as the arresting officer explains why he is being handcuffed.

According to police, Steven Kittle admitted during a later interview with two detectives that he sexually assaulted the 4-year-old girl while the 1-year-old boy watched, on multiple occasions, in January.

In the footage, one of the officers responds to a complaint about law enforcement harming the carpet inside the ramshackle residence.

“Is this what you’re talking about, cleaning up the carpet?” the officer says in response. “I mean, there’s poop everywhere.”

The video shows an officer, at one point, rushing out of the home – graphically spitting and gagging due to the unbearable smell.

Officers with the SPD were originally investigating the child sexual assault claim against Steven Kittle. That investigation led an SPD officer and a state child welfare agent to visit the family’s trailer. There, authorities said they found three children, three adults, six dogs, and three cats living in wretched squalor.

The children were taken into the custody of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services.

“Their social and verbal skills were lacking for their ages,” the sergeant wrote in her affidavit, saying the two older children “communicated by pointing and grunting.”

“They still used pull-ups and were not potty-trained due to no guidance and inconsistent access to a bathroom,” the affidavit went on. “They showed signs of nutritional deficiencies and food scarcity. [The youngest child] had deformities in both legs, and a dead roach was removed from her ear canal.”

Steven Kittle is detained on $150,000 bond in the Payne County Jail. He has a preliminary hearing slated for Aug. 31. His wife and mother were being detained on $30,000 bond.

Son of father accused of sexually abusing adopted sons,

charged with sexual assault of sibling

By Mycah Hatfield KTRK

Monday, July 24, 2023 5:36PM

Avshalom Cohen is now charged with the alleged sexual abuse of younger adoptive siblings months after his father was arrested for abusing six sons.

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- Months after a 39-year-old man was charged with several counts of sexually abusing his adopted sons, his eldest son was also charged with sexual assault of a younger sibling.

Avshalom Cohen, 22, is charged in Harris County with two counts of sexual assault. Both counts list the same victim.

ORIGINAL REPORT: Adoptive father of 9 charged after teen calls podcast alleging yearslong sex abuse

Avshalom is Hayim Cohen's eldest adopted son. Hayim Cohen is facing 11 charges of sexual misconduct with six of his nine adopted boys.

28 arrested, 19 children rescued after months-long operation

targeting child sex abuse on internet in Montgomery County

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas – More than 20 people were charged and 19 children who had been sexually abused or exploited were rescued during a months-long operation targeting the distribution of child sexual abuse materials on the internet, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.

A total of 28 people from 17 states were charged with crimes related to the sexual exploitation of children.

Over the last 12 months, detectives with the Montgomery County division of the Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force monitored chat groups on a popular social media app. The suspects were identified as participants in various group chats dedicated to distributing child sexual abuse material. Authorities said most of the suspects posted illicit images to the groups, and some of them were deemed administrators of the groups and controlled who could access the groups.

Utilizing advanced investigative techniques, detectives were able to identify and locate the individuals involved, even though they were from other states. Detectives worked with authorities in those states to arrest the suspects.

Operation: Hydra was spearheaded by the Montgomery County Precinct 1 Constable’s Office, along with the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office. The operation was supported by Montgomery County Constables’ Offices Precinct 2, Precinct 3, Precinct 4 and Precinct 5, the Conroe Police Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Marshalls Service, and the Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

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‘An evil thing’: Couple accused of chaining 18-year-old to bed,

forcing her to have sex during month-long kidnapping

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – A man and woman have been charged with kidnapping after an 18-year-old woman was allegedly chained and zip-tied inside of a house for one month and sexually assaulted in north Harris County, according to Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman.

Jose Reyes, 31, and Jaqueline Macias, 29, were arrested in the 6900 block of Foxmont Lane. A hearing officer set his bond at $100,000 and hers at $50,000 on Monday afternoon.

Deputies initially said the teen met Reyes, who gained her trust, and lured her to his house while Macias was there.

After additional interviews Monday, the investigation revealed that the 18-year-old moved to the home to further a relationship with Reyes, but once she got there and realized he was in a relationship with another woman, she tried to leave, a Precinct 4 source told KPRC 2.

That’s when she was allegedly held captive for approximately 30 days and sexually abused repeatedly. According to court documents, she was chained to a bed and forced to have sex.

When Reyes and Macias left briefly on Sunday night, the teen found a way to get out of her restraints, climb through a bedroom window and escape.

She knocked on the doors of houses in the neighborhood, until she got the attention of a neighbor who called 911. Deputies and the paramedics were called.

The suspects returned to the house about 10 minutes later and were arrested, Herman said. He called the case an “evil thing.”

“She did everything that she could, all her fibers she could bring to her strength to get out of her restraints,” he said.

Macias’ public defender said in court on Monday that she and Reyes share a 2-week-old child. As a bond condition, the hearing officer removed the no contact order between the two suspects.

Pending medical tests, more charges are possible against the suspects.

Both are expected back in court on Tuesday.

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The Perverted Lives of the Rich and Famous > Japan's biggest talent agency investigated by UN group; ABC Reporter James Meek pleads guilty to CSAM

..

U.N. group begins probe of alleged Japan talent agency sex abuse

Visit brings global scrutiny to accusations in the entertainment industry

A TV screen in Tokyo broadcasts a report on the death of Johnny Kitagawa, founder of Japanese talent agency

Johnny & Associates, on July 10, 2019.   © Kyodo

ALICE FRENCH, Nikkei staff writer

July 24, 2023 14:04 JST

TOKYO -- Experts from a United Nations working group arrived in Japan on Monday to begin their review of the country's business and human rights record, which will include an investigation into multiple accusations of child sexual abuse against the late Johnny Kitagawa, founder of Japan's biggest talent agency.

The Working Group on Business and Human Rights traveled to the country at the government's invitation, and their investigation brings international scrutiny to an issue of major domestic interest in Japan while highlighting questions of how Kitagawa managed to operate with impunity for decades.

The group's visit follows a string of allegations by former J-pop idols and trainees, some of whom claim Kitagawa assaulted them as many as 40 times during their time at his agency, Johnny and Associates, commonly known as Johnny's. Some victims were in elementary school at the time of the alleged abuse.

The U.N. working group, founded in 2011, consists of five human rights experts and operates as part of the U.N. Human Rights Council's Special Procedures. It is mandated to visit two countries per year.

According to the group's website, its first Japan trip -- from July 24 to Aug. 4 -- will involve discussions with government officials, businesses and civil society groups on a range of human rights concerns related to business and workplace settings. Kyodo News Agency has reported that the group will meet with Kitagawa's alleged victims.

Anonymous allegations of sexual assault against Kitagawa first appeared in the Japanese magazine Shukan Bunshun in the 1990s, but the issue remained largely unreported by mainstream media and overlooked by J-pop fans until this year.

Since Kitagawa founded the agency in 1962, it has propelled some of Japan's most well-known male idol groups, including SMAP and Sexy Zone, to stardom. The recent claims of abuse, prompted by the release of a BBC documentary in March, span from the 1950s to 2016, three years before Kitagawa died at age 87.

Former Johnny's idols, from left, Kauan Okamoto, Yasushi Hashida and Akimasa Nihongi present a petition calling for a revision of Japan's child abuse law to ruling and opposition parties on June 5.   © Kyodo

A representative for the working group declined Nikkei Asia's request for comment on the contents of its investigation, but said that the purpose of the visit was to "promote responsible business conduct" in line with the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The principles require businesses to provide "access to effective remedy" for victims of human rights abuses.

The group's findings will be presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council in June 2024, where other member states will make recommendations on how Japan can improve human rights in the workplace.

Fans and alleged victims of Kitagawa have criticized Johnny and Associates for failing to provide sufficient support to those affected by the scandal. The agency's president, Kitagawa's niece, Julie Keiko Fujishima, issued a statement in May offering her "deepest apologies" to the victims and saying the company had established an internal "compliance committee" to investigate the allegations.

Human rights experts have cast doubt on the efficacy of the committee. "I do not think the [compliance committee] is sufficient for a case of this severity," Sakon Kuramoto, a lawyer specializing in business and human rights, told reporters on July 21. "This sort of problem really requires an independent investigation."

Rights advocates hope that the U.N. visit will spur Japanese companies to implement measures to prevent future abuses. "We are hopeful that the working group will make concrete recommendations to both the Japanese government and the private sector" on "rigorous human rights due diligence" and "remediating harms," Teppei Kasai, Asia program officer at Human Rights Watch, told Nikkei Asia.

In response to the Kitagawa scandal, Japan's government agency for children and families has held three meetings since June 13 seeking to bolster measures to prevent child sexual exploitation. The country's child abuse prevention law currently only covers abuse by parents or guardians, not employers or third parties.

Masanobu Ogura, cabinet minister for child-related policies, told reporters last month that he was "proceeding with discussions with a sense of urgency."

Having never heard of this UN Working Group before, I don't have a lot of confidence in its ability to counter the abuse of children in Japan, but I sincerely hope they will be very effective. 

I'm very encouraged by the Japanese government for having the humility and the courage to confront this issue. I wish they had done it while Kitigawa was still alive, but he probably had too much influence to allow that to happen.

Ex-network investigative journalist pleads guilty to

child sexual abuse material charges

FILE - This image provided by the Alexandria (Va.) Sheriff’s Office, shows James Gordon Meek in his booking photo on Jan. 31, 2023, in Alexandria, Va. Meek, a former investigative journalist for ABC News pleaded guilty Friday, July 21, 2023 to federal child pornography charges.

(Alexandria Sheriff’s Office via AP)

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

BY MATTHEW BARAKAT

Published 8:57 AM PDT, July 21, 2023

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A former investigative journalist for ABC News pleaded guilty Friday to federal child sexual abuse material charges.

James Gordon Meek, 53, of Arlington, Virginia, admitted during a plea hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria that he illegally possessed and transported images of child sexual abuse. He covered national security issues for the network until he resigned last year.

Court papers indicate the investigation began when the FBI received a tip from Dropbox about videos showing the sexual abuse of children in an account associated with Meek.

As part of a plea agreement, Meek admitted he used an iPhone to exchange the illicit materials, including a video showing the sexual abuse of an infant, during a chat session with two other individuals.

An FBI affidavit indicates that agents founds dozens of child sexual abuse images and videos when they searched Meek’s home last year, going back to at least 2014.

The affidavit says evidence was also seized showing Meek used Snapchat and other apps to pressure minors into sending him sexually explicit images, and that Meek sometimes portrayed himself as a girl in some of those communications. Those allegations are not explicitly referenced in his plea deal.

Meek’s lawyer had unsuccessfully argued that the evidence was obtained illegally and should have been tossed out. The plea deal preserves Meek’s right to pursue an appeal to have the evidence dismissed.

Failing a successful appeal on the search-and-seizure issue, Meek will be sentenced in September and faces up to 40 years in prison, though a maximum sentence is unlikely. One of the charges carries a five-year mandatory minimum.

Meek joined ABC News’ Washington bureau as an investigative producer in 2013. He previously worked for the New York Daily News and also served as senior counterterrorism adviser and investigator for the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security.

Meek’s abrupt resignation and the FBI search of his home prompted erroneous speculation last year that he had been targeted for his work as a journalist.