Foxes in the Henhouse > Mass. teacher arrested for CSAM; Florida lawyer pleads guilty to child sex tourism; Utah Judge arrested for CSA

 

Needham teacher accused of uploading child sex abuse videos, posing as teen online

"Law enforcement has no reason to believe that any High Rock or Needham Public Schools students were involved or harmed in any way," Superintendent Daniel Gutekanst said

A middle school teacher in Needham, Massachusetts, has been arrested on child pornography charges, accused of uploading scores of videos depicting the sexual abuse of children as young as three.

Michael Ciccolella, an Ashland man who's been suspended from teaching at High Rock Middle School, is also accused of posing as a 13-year-old online, prosecutors said in Framingham District Court Friday, as he was arraigned on charges of possessing child pornography, distributing obscene material and distributing material depicting a nude child.

A not guilty plea was entered on Ciccolella's behalf. Prosecutors had asked for bail of $100,000, and Ciccolella's attorney $5,000, but Judge Michael Callahan set it at $500,000.

"Law enforcement has no reason to believe that any High Rock or Needham Public Schools students were involved or harmed in any way," Superintendent Daniel Gutekanst said in a statement.

Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673, and Massachusetts provides this list of statewide and resources for sexual assault survivors.

Ashland and state police arrested Ciccolella Thursday night at a home on Spyglass Hill, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Ashland Chief of Police Cara Rossi said. Their investigation remained ongoing as of Friday.

In court, a prosecutor explained that the investigation began with images uploaded to the messaging app Kik "that system that contained sexually explicit material including abuse of children," depicting adults raping children, some in situations involving bondage, between the ages of about 3 and 12.

The device that uploaded the images, 168 videos, was traced to Ciccolella's house. The prosecutor noted that some of the videos have not previously been identified by investigators before, suggesting they "may have been homemade."

Ciccolella shook his head in apparent disbelief and disagreement at that comment.

The teacher also allegedly sent more than 5,000 messages on an app while posing as a 13-year-old who was interested in school, theater and soccer — prosecutors had noted that Ciccolella is also a soccer coach, and said he'd admitted to investigators that he'd posed as a teenager online.

Ciccolella is due back in court on March 27.

After Ciccolella's arrest, Needham schools Superintendent Gutekanst said in a message to the community, the teacher, who's been with the district since 2008, was immediately placed on leave and banned from district property. Counseling will be provided to students and staff and more resources shared with families to help support their kids.

"The safety and wellbeing of our students is always the district's top priority, and we will cooperate with all law enforcement agencies as the investigation continues," he wrote. "Due to the disturbing nature of the charges, we encourage families to speak with their children and reassure them that they are safe at school."

After Friday's hearing, his 19-year-old son Jordan Chicolella, who told reporters he was there to support his family and that his father had never abused him, was asked if he thought his father did what he'd been accused of.

"I'm going to leave that up to the court," he said.

Former Tampa attorney gets 9 years in prison for child sex abuse in Cambodia

Prosecutors say Rugh James Cline, 44, 

paid four children to engage in sex acts with him

A former Tampa attorney was sentenced this week to nine years in prison after federal prosecutors say he sexually abused four children in Cambodia.

Rugh James Cline, 44, was accused of traveling to Cambodia in 2019 and paying four children there to engage in sex acts with him “on multiple occasions,” according to court documents and a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. When Cline was arrested, investigators also found a laptop containing “hundreds of images of child sexual abuse material,” the news release states.

Rugh James Cline is seen in this photo taken by Cambodian police after his arrest there in 2019. [ Cambodian National Police ]

Cline graduated from the University of Miami School of Law in 2010, according to Florida Bar records, and is not eligible to practice law in Florida because of outstanding fees. The Bar launched an investigation after his arrest, and a spokesperson said Friday that the investigation is ongoing.

Cline pleaded guilty to one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place, court records show. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed seven other counts of the same charge, as well as a count of possession of child pornography.

Box Elder County judge arrested on multiple child sex abuse charges

BRIGHAM CITY, Utah — A judge in Box Elder County has been arrested and faces multiple child sex charges after evidence allegedly shows that he distributed and received child sex abuse material online.

Kevin Robert Christensen, 64, was arrested Thursday following an investigation by the FBI's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. Christensen is currently listed as a judge with the Box Elder County Justice Court overseeing cases involving Class B misdemeanor offenses and lower crimes.

According to the arrest documents, the FBI was informed on Feb. 28 of someone communicating online with others about "sexually abusing children, sexually exploiting children, and enticing children."

In a November chat recovered from Christensen's online account, the judge believed he was speaking with a 13-year-old girl and engaged in sexually graphic conversation, and also sent a video of an adult male performing a sexual act. Following more sexually explicit conversation, Christensen allegedly told the child that the chat was "merely fantasy."

During another chat in September, Christensen engaged in more sexually graphic conversations with someone who said they were a 16-year-old girl.

The arrest documents added that there was evidence that Christensen "communicated with multiple underage people online. In other chats with adults he expresses sexual interest in young children and solicits [Child Sexual Abuse Material] from those people." He allegedly claimed in chats to have sexually abused children with whom he was related,

"The position of trust he holds in the community and the actions he undertook while in this position significantly undermine the confidence of the community in the legitimacy of the criminal justice system," the report said.

Christensen, who was appointed to the Box Elder County court in May 1996, was booked into the Davis County Jail following his arrest. He faces several charges, including enticing a minor and attempted sexual exploitation of a minor.

Box Elder County has placed Christensen on administrative leave without pay.

Box Elder County