Honor Killings in Gaza You Won't Find in the New York Times

The Unmentioned Murders of the Middle East

First One Through

Honor killings have a sad history throughout the Muslim world. Many families deliberately and systematically kill wives and daughters if there is any suspicion of the women bringing “dishonor” to the family. The cause of such shame may come from actual or feared adultery, refusal to marry a designated spouse, or even dressing inappropriately. The cultural rationale for the honor killings is that by murdering the offending women, honor is restored to the families.

Gaza and the West Bank are similar to other parts of the Muslim world regarding the reasons for honor killings. However, the recent spike in the number of killings in the territories has been very dramatic and atypical. In 2011, there were five such murders in the territories. The number of homicides jumped to 13 in 2012, and doubled again to 27 in 2013. In just the first two months of 2014, 8 honor killings were reported by Palestinian media sources, a pace that would have put it on course for nearly doubling again.

By comparison, in Afghanistan an estimated 150 women are killed each year in honor killings. Afghanistan has over eight times the population of Gaza and West Bank, and 18 times Gaza alone. Therefore, on a proportionate basis, the Palestinians now kill twice as many women in honor killings as Afghanistan (or over three times as many if one only counts Gaza where most of the murders take place).

Adding insult to these horrific murders increasing popularity, was the lax way such murders were treated in Palestinian courts. According to the Palestinian Law (Article 340), the killers were not subject to any punishment.

“He who discovers his wife or female relative committing adultery and kills,
wounds or injuries one or both of them is exempted from any penalty,
and he who discovers his wife, or one of his female ascendants or descendants
or sisters with another in an unlawful bed and he kills, wounds or injures one
or both of them, benefits from a reduction of penalty.”

The terrible jump in honor killing of women in Gaza and the West Bank did not make it to the pages of The New York Times. The courts absolution granted to the murderers was not a subject that the Times decided to cover. In 2011. In 2012. In 2013. In 2014.

The closest the New York Times came to an article about the Palestinians’ disregard for a woman’s life in the territories was in an article by Jodi Rudoren in October 2012. That article was about a particular women’s rights advocate. While one would imagine some specifics about the lack of women’s rights and a review of honor killings being covered in such an article, there was barely any mention.

There was no description of honor killings
No report on the increasing number of killings
No review of Palestinian Law absolving the murderers

Instead, Roduren chose to describe the difficulty of a specific woman acting as a rights advocate in Gaza (as opposed to the hardship all women face in Gaza). Of course, according to Roduren, the main source of the hardship was Israel:

““psychological siege” imposed by a combination of Israeli restrictions on travel and trade”
“lost a personal battle last month when Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a petition by her and three other women to study in the West Bank.”
“the resistance of the Israeli occupation as a priority,”
Israeli court ruled, 2 to 1, against the four women
“Israeli warplane hit an apartment building”

So what does a reader take-away from the New York Times?

While the New York Times occasionally covered stories of honor killings in Afghanistan or Pakistan, it never covered those killings in Gaza, despite the greater prevalence in Gaza.

When the paper had a chance to describe the honor killings in Gaza in an article about a woman’s rights advocates, it opted not to do so.

The thrust of the sole article on the morbid topic laid most of the blame on Israel, as opposed to the Palestinians themselves

Hooray New York Times. You gave a pass for Muslim misogyny and murder meted out by Palestinians. Absolution of the Arab sins came from Jews just across the Green Line.

It would be much more convenient for the left-wing fringe if Israel bordered Pakistan and Afghanistan as well, so they could blame Jews for the entire reprehensible ritual.

Dangerous Violent Sex Offender Released to Society Murders Young Girl

Raymond Lee Caissie​, a high-risk sex offender who was released from prison last year after serving 22 years for a violent sexual assault, has been charged with the murder of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada teen Serena Vermeersch.

Caissie, 43, made a brief court appearance today on a charge of second-degree murder.

Raymond Lee Caissie

Serena Vermeersch, 17, killed in apparent random attack
Surrey teen's death 'suspicious,' police say

Metro Vancouver's Integrated Homicide Team announced the charge at a news conference Monday, but then refused to release the suspect's name because of a publication ban.

However, CBC News has determined the ban under Section 517 of the Criminal Code, which relates to publication of evidence in a bail hearing, does not preclude the release of his name.

Police said Caissie was arrested Saturday in Vancouver.

Caissie was released from prison in June 2013 after serving more than 20 years for the violent sexual assault and unlawful confinement of a 21-year-old Abbotsford museum worker in 1991.

At the time of his release in 2013, Surrey RCMP issued a statement warning  the public of a “high-risk sexual offender” loose in the community.

Raymond Lee Caissie

I reported on this guy in January, 2014.

Police released this photo of Raymond Lee Caissie after he was charged in 1991 with a sex attack on a museum employee. (Matsqui Police Department)

"Caissie has maintained a varied pattern of offending, having offended both violently and sexually, in both an opportunistic and impulsive manner," the RCMP said in the 2013 news release. “He is to be supervised by the Surrey Probation Office and is being monitored by the Surrey RCMP."

At Monday’s news conference, police reiterated that the teen's death appeared to be a "random crime of opportunity." They also said evidence collected at the scene supported the theory that she was murdered.

Vermeersch, 17, was reported missing by her mother on Tuesday morning when she didn't come home after going out the previous night.

Serena Vermeersh

Her body was found Tuesday night in the 14600 block of 66 Avenue near a set of railroad tracks in Surrey's East Newton neighbourhood.

Police have not released the cause of death.

Surrey RCMP Chief Supt. Bill Fordy said nothing angers him more than this type of loss. Me too. There has to be a way of keeping degenerates like this away from the public. There should be some clause in the sentencing requiring him to be no longer dangerous to society before he is let loose back into it.

"Serena should be at Sullivan Heights [her school] having a laugh with classmates and thinking about graduation. Sadly that is not the case," he said. "These types of crimes galvanize our community and touch them in an incredible way."

Staff Sgt. Jennifer Pound said investigators would still like to talk to the driver of a grey or silver Dodge three-quarter-ton pickup with a full canopy seen leaving the area about an hour before Vermeersch's body was found.

She said the driver is not a suspect, but a person of interest, who, investigators feel, might be able to provide valuable information to the investigation.

Pervert Round-up #3, Not Just Americans

Having spent 11.5 hours driving yesterday and being slow setting up my computer today (I don't have  laptop), here are a bunch of items that have hit the news in the past few days:

Four alleged members of a paedophile ring have appeared in court accused of sex offences after an investigation into historic child abuse at care homes across North Wales.

From left, Roy Norry, Neil Phoenix, David Lightfoot and Edward Huxley
appeared in court today accused of child sex abuse

Former local radio DJ Roy Norry from Connah’s Quay and three other men appeared at Mold Magistrates Court today for the first time.

A fifth accused man, Mark Granger, aged 63, failed to attend court and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

The men were charged following an investigation by the National Crime Agency codenamed Operation Pallial, into allegations of past abuse in the care system in the region.

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From the Des Moines, Iowa Register
A Des Moines man has been sentenced to no more than four years in prison after striking a deal with prosecutors over allegations he sexually abused children at an in-home day care.

David Glenn Smith, 49, received the sentence Friday after entering an Alford plea in April to five counts of indecent contact with a child. An Alford plea means defendants don’t admit guilt but agree that evidence is strong enough to convict them. 

The abuse occurred at a day care operated by Smith’s wife. She wasn’t charged and police don’t believe she was aware of any abuse.

Police learned of the abuse after a child at the day care told a parent. The day care has been closed.

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From The Times of India

KANNUR, India: With the arrest of a jeep driver — who allegedly molested a 16-year-old national handball player at Vayakara under Peringome police limits on Friday — there is increased concern over the safety of minor girls as well as the future of such cases.

Police said the girl suffered serious injuries after she jumped out of a moving jeep when the vehicle driver tried to molest her near Cherupuzha on Friday. She was coming back from a school to which she was trying to get plus one admission under sports quota.

A certificate was missing when the girl reached the school and she had hurried back home to collect it when the driver misbehaved with her.

Though many such cases were recently reported in the district, none of them has reached the trial stage apparently owing to the delay in investigation.

It was in February that P Govindan Namboothiri, teacher of Perinthatta ALP School, was arrested by Peringome Police on the charge of sexually abusing students.

Though police claim that the investigation is going on, a charge-sheet is yet to be filed and the accused has already got bail.

In Peralassery Orphanage sex scandal in September 2012, in which more than 20 minor girls had filed complaints against orphanage secretary Ahamed A N for sexually abusing them, the chargesheet was filed only last week and the accused is out on bail. Though police attribute the delay to the complexities in the case, there is apprehension that this is likely to help the accused, directly or indirectly.

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Delaware Online:

GEORGETOWN, Delaware – Eric Bodenweiser, the former GOP state Senate candidate, took the stand Thursday to deny he’d committed child sex abuse in the late 1980s, categorically saying all of his accuser’s testimony about the alleged offenses was false.

In about an hour of testimony, Bodenweiser said a Ford Mustang his accuser, now 37, remembered him owning as early as 1987 wasn’t purchased until January 1989. His accuser testified he had spent time with Bodenweiser’s daughter on the bus to Frankford Elementary School in the late ‘80s.

But Bodenweiser said his daughter never attended that school and produced records showing she was bused to a Christian school in Seaford.

And Bodenweiser, 55, of Georgetown, directly rebutted the accuser’s statements that he had forced the boy, at the time aged 10 or 11, to take part in oral and anal sex dozens of times between 1987 and 1989.

“That would be false,” he responded as his attorney Joe Hurley summarized the accuser’s different claims.

Bodenweiser testified he did allow the accuser to view adult movies inside his house three or four times in 1991, when the accuser would have been 13 or 14 years old. He said he found the teenager in his home looking at Playboy magazines Bodenweiser owned.

When Bodenweiser was indicted on more than 100 child sex abuse charges in October 2012, it ended what had been a promising bid for the 19th District Senate seat. He had beaten the Republican incumbent in the primary in September 2012.

The accuser has said the possibility of Bodenweiser becoming an elected officials prompted him to come forward and detail the alleged abuse.  Hmmmmmmmm!

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Matt Sandusky Founds Charity Supporting Survivors Of Child Sex Abuse

Matt Sandusky, the adopted son of Jerry Sandusky, has founded the Peaceful Hearts Foundation, a charity that supports survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

Matt Sandusky

The Peaceful Hearts Foundation’s mission is to “provide survivor-informed advocacy for the elimination of childhood sexual victimization and trauma.”


Matt alleged he was abused by Jerry as a child during his father’s trial in June 2012. After supporting his father at the trial’s onset, Matt contacted police after hearing the testimony of Victim 4 and was to be a surprise witness during the trial if Jerry took the stand himself, which never happened. Jerry has denied the allegations, although Matt reached an undisclosed settlement agreement last summer after suing Penn State.

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The Telegraph and Argus, Bradford, UK. 

Bradford is a city in north central England very near Leeds.

Man found guilty of six charges in Bradford child sex abuse trial

A 41-YEAR-old man has been warned he faces a "very long sentence" after being convicted of six of seven charges of sexually abusing two schoolgirls.

Paul Wilkinson, of Broadstone Way, Holme Wood, Bradford, was found guilty of one charge of rape, two of attempted rape and two of sexual assault.

He gave no reaction as he was also found guilty of an additional charge of taking indecent photographs of a second child.

But Wilkinson was found not guilty of one charge of rape by the jury at Bradford Crown Court today.

He will now be sentenced at Bradford Crown Court on Wednesday, July 30.

Judge Neil Davey QC told Wilkinson: "You have been convicted of extremely serious offences by the jury. You will receive a very long sentence of imprisonment on July 30."

Earlier during the week-long trial, the judge directed the jury to find Wilkinson not guilty on one of the rape charges and a new alternative offence of attempted rape was substituted.

Wilkinson, who used to work for Cash Converters in Bradford, previously told the jury he had no sexual interest in the girls.

The trial heard when cross-examined by Ian Howard, prosecuting, Wilkinson said he began collecting pornography after becoming depressed.

He kept the indecent photos of the girl in a file on his computer, hoping that because they were of a real person they would jolt him back to reality.

Mr Howard alleges Wilkinson undressed the girls before sexually abusing them at different addresses in Bradford, when one was aged nine or ten and the second ten years old.

Wilkinson was accused of raping the first girl, sexually assaulting her and trying to rape her again, all on one occasion. The Crown said that some years later, he attempted to rape the second girl and sexually assaulted her.

He also denied an allegation from the first girl he took indecent photos of her while she wore a pink skirt. When questioned by his barrister, Tina Landale, Wilkinson said taking the sexual explicit photographs was a "spur of the moment thing".

He said: "I took a few photos and I deeply regret my actions. I am disgusted by my actions." So are we!

He will next appear at Bradford Crown Court on July 30 for his sentencing.

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Phoenix, AZ (KPHO)

Phoenix police arrested two men on Thursday morning, accused of sexually abusing young boys dating back 30 years.

Police said former Boy Scout leader William “Bill” Challberg, 65, and a man he lives with, Julian Mendoza, 51, are accused of sexually abusing several boys during a 20-year period from 1983 to 2003.

Police said the five victims who are now in their 20s to 40s were between the ages of 9 and 16 when the alleged assaults happened. One of the victims was a Boy Scout at the time.

Bill Challberg

The Youth Protection Adviser at the Boy Scouts of America contacted police in October of 2013 after reviewing the records of volunteers who had been removed from their positions.

They came across Challberg’s file and saw that a Scout had accused him of sexual abuse in 1986.

The Phoenix Police Department’s Family Investigations Bureau Crimes Against Children has been investigating since the fall and said they’ve identified at least five separate victims who were all interviewed. Detectives said all victims recounted sexual abuse, sexual assault, drugs, pornography and sexual exploitation.

They believe the crimes happened at several locations, but, that most occurred at Challberg’s house in Phoenix.

One victim told investigators Challberg abused him on a city bus that Challberg operated as a bus driver for Veolia Transportation. I thought that only happened in India.

Both suspects are being booked into the Fourth Avenue Jail. Challberg faces 26 charges and Mendoza faces 15 charges related to sexual crimes against children.

Phoenix police are asking anyone with information to call them at 602-262-4543 or Silent Witness at 1-800-948-6377.

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The Frederick News-Post

Former Frederick, Maryland, Keys pitcher arrested in Vancouver, Washington on child sex abuse charges.

A former pitcher for the Frederick Keys baseball team (a High-A class minor league team) has been arrested on child abuse and sex offense charges, dating back to his time on the team in the late 1990s, the Frederick Police Department said.

Eric Meredith Estes, of the 14000 block of Seventh Avenue Northeast, in Vancouver, Washington, was awaiting extradition Thursday to Frederick, Lt. Clark Pennington said.

Accusations were made in 2007 that Estes touched and engaged in inappropriate contact with a 13-year-old boy between April and September 1997, police said. An investigation at that time was suspended because of lack of probable cause, Pennington said. 

The case was reopened after Vancouver police contacted Frederick police with new information. The Clark County, Washington, Sheriff's Office also assisted in the investigation, police said.

Estes, who was 25 at the time, lived with a host family when he was playing for the Keys, Pennington said. The alleged victim, who was not identified because he was a child at the time, lived in the home.

Estes was a right-handed pitcher for the Keys in 1997. He has coached baseball and worked as a social studies teacher in Vancouver since 2004, school district spokeswoman Pat Mattison told The Frederick News-Post on Wednesday.

Mattison said there had been no complaints about Estes during his 10 years working for the system. In addition to coaching baseball at the district's Skyview High School, Estes is listed on the school's website as its boys golf coach. He coached the school's baseball team to the state's 4A championship in 2013, Amanda Richter, a district spokeswoman, said Thursday.

U of Ottawa Men in Trouble Again - Hockey Suspended

OTTAWA, Canada — The University of Ottawa has suspended its men’s varsity hockey program after allegations surfaced that multiple members of the team sexually assaulted a young woman in Thunder Bay last month. Thunder Bay is at the head of Lake Superior.

The incident, involving a Lakehead University student, was reported to the school by a third party on Feb. 24, the University of Ottawa said Monday.

News of the suspension comes at the same time as the university is embroiled in another controversy involving its student federation and inappropriate sexual comments made by elected student representatives.

Four students have resigned from the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa board after their sexually explicit Facebook conversation about the federation’s female president, Anne-Marie Roy, was made public.

University of Ottawa

The University of Ottawa said it reported the incident to police the day after being made aware of the allegations and said it would co-operate fully with any police investigation. The Thunder Bay police sexual assault unit is leading the investigation.

The police force also issued a news release Monday saying it was investigating a “third party complaint of a sexual assault,” meaning the complaint was not made by the alleged victim.

Sources told the Citizen the allegation was made by a friend of the victim, who is not a player on the Gee Gees hockey team.

The incident is alleged to have occurred in Thunder Bay on the weekend of Feb. 1 — the same weekend the U of O Gee-Gees were in town to play Lakehead University Thunderwolves. The hockey team played two evening games in Thunder Bay against Lakehead on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 — weeks before the allegations were shared with the U of O.

Ottawa police said they were aware of the incident. Thunder Bay police said Ottawa’s force will assist in any followup their investigation might need.

The school said it was conducting its own review, but in a move condemning the alleged “serious misconduct” it suspended all men’s varsity hockey play in the interim.

“The incident occurred several weeks ago. The university is deeply concerned that senior management was only informed about these allegations on February 24, and then by a third party. This will be among the matters examined in the review,” according to the statement.

Patrick Charette, the university’s director of corporate communications, held a brief news conference Monday afternoon, where he read the school’s previously released statement and answered a few questions in English and French.

Charette would not comment on the nature of the allegations, referring reporters to police. Nor would he comment on how many of the team’s players were alleged to have been involved. The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees’ website lists a roster of 26 players on its men’s varsity hockey team.

According to Charette, the university notified police and it was at their request, he said, that university officials did not communicate publicly about the incident until Monday.

When asked about what the alleged incident says about how serious the university takes violence against women, Charette said: “This is a matter that we take very seriously. This is our top priority. It is now, I'll bet.

“This is serious allegation. You will also appreciate that there’s all kinds of legal rights, including privacy rights of all innocent parties involved. This is why I’m not going to comment any further,” Charette said before returning inside the university’s administration building.

Child Porn Investigation Leaked, Minister Fired, German Government in Disarray

It was a difficult start to Chancellor Angela Merkel's third term. Coalition negotiations with the Social Democrats (SPD) following last fall's election proved challenging, with several weeks going by before Merkel's conservatives were finally able to come to terms with their center-left partners. And then the chancellor cracked her pelvis on a ski trip over New Year's.

Still, as 2014 began, the chancellor -- and the country at large -- was optimistic that the business of actually running the country could finally take center stage. Reimagining German foreign policy, introducing dual citizenship, fixing the problems with the country's turn toward renewable energies: There is plenty to do.
Now, though, the back burner is suddenly full. Over the weekend, Merkel was forced into an unwanted cabinet shuffle and her government is quickly sinking into a morass of mistrust, suspicion and backbiting. An investigation into recently resigned SPD parliamentarian Sebastian Edathy on suspicions that he possesses child pornography has reached the highest levels in Berlin -- and it is driving a wedge between Merkel's coalition partners.

Chancellor Angela Merkel

On Tuesday evening, leaders from Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, the Christian Social Union (the Bavarian sister party to the CDU) and the SPD are to gather in Berlin in an effort to pick up the pieces. It won't be easy. Prosecutors in Berlin announced on Tuesday that they were opening a preliminary investigation into the minister who resigned, Hans-Peter Friedrich of the CSU, for revealing confidential information regarding the Edathy investigation while he was interior minister last year. The man who made his indiscretion public, Thomas Oppermann, is the SPD's floor leader in parliament. Accusations of duplicity are flying.

The trigger for the meltdown, Edathy, 44, was seen as one of the SPD's rising stars. The son of an Indian father and a German mother, Edathy was a renowned workhorse, often turning down social engagements so that he could put in a few more hours in the office. He made a name for himself recently with his competent chairmanship of the parliamentary inquiry into the NSU neo-Nazi terror cell. Indeed, this fall he was expecting to land a state secretary position or even a cabinet posting.

The call never came. Several years ago, in the course of a child-pornography investigation, Romanian police came across the name of Azov Films, a company based in Toronto that had apparently been purchasing videos from a supplier in Romania. In 2011, Canadian authorities raided the company and the ensuing investigation, known as Operation Spade, ultimately turned up 45 terabytes of data including information on Azov Films customer base. Among the names of those who had ordered from the company was one Sebastian Edathy from Germany.

Sebastian Edathy

German authorities at the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) were informed late last summer, including detailed information regarding what Edathy had apparently ordered from the company. The SPD politician is alleged to have bought a total of 31 photo sets and videos. The products allegedly show mostly naked boys aged nine to 14, but no sexual activities. The BKA initially determined that the material was not prosecutable.

Still, investigators know from experience that consumers of the kind of films purchased by Edathy often have more explicit material in their possession. As such, his file was forwarded on to the public prosecutors' office in his home city of Hannover.

The timing, from Merkel's perspective, could not have been worse. Just as Edathy's file was making its way to Hannover, she was in the early stages of coalition negotiations with the SPD. It was a concern for Friedrich as well. In Merkel's last government, he was the interior minister and had been informed by the BKA after last September's general election of the Edathy investigation. He realized that if word of the investigation were to get out, the SPD would suspect Merkel's conservatives of planting the story to gain a leg up in the talks. To preclude such questions, he took aside SPD head Sigmar Gabriel during an early round of talks on Oct. 4 and told him that his party's rising star could be in trouble.

The move was not good for Edathy's career. It was the reason that the SPD leadership never turned to him with a senior position in the new government. As it turns out, though, the step proved just as damaging to Friedrich's own career. Passing along details of an ongoing investigation is a no-no. And on Friday, he was forced out of Merkel's new cabinet as a result, paving the way for Christian Schmidt, also of the CSU, to take over the agricultural portfolio.

Friedrich's slip-up came to light last week in a statement released by Oppermann, in which the SPD floor leader wrote that Gabriel informed him and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, foreign minister in Merkel's new government, of the problems facing Edathy. Though Oppermann has since claimed that he cleared the statement with Friedrich before releasing it, Friedrich has denied elements of the statement. He has, however, confirmed that he informed Gabriel. On Tuesday morning, he told German public broadcaster ZDF that "it was my duty to do so. I can't understand how anyone could see it differently."

It is difficult to overstate the degree to which the incident has weakened Merkel's coalition. Many conservatives believe that Oppermann knew that his statement could cost Friedrich his job. The SPD floor leader also called the BKA to confirm the investigation into Edathy, thus giving the impression that he was meddling with the judiciary and opening him up to accusations that he sacrificed Friedrich so as to deflect attention from himself. Trust between the two coalition partners, in short, has evaporated completely.

Meanwhile, the SPD has a problem all of its own. The party has distanced itself from Edathy, even taking initial steps to throw him out of the party. "Irrespective," Gabriel emphasized in a statement on Tuesday, of whether the material in Edathy's possession was illegal under Germany's child pornography laws, the party is "horrified and stunned by these actions and by the behavior of Sebastian Edathy."

And yet, many suspect that Edathy knew that investigators were on his heels well before they finally raided his home and office on Feb. 10. SPIEGEL this week reported that Edathy's lawyer had been calling around in the weeks prior to the raid in an effort to determine the status of the investigation. On Monday, Lower Saxony's former interior minister, Heiner Bartling, said in an interview that Edathy himself had told him that an informant had tipped him off. Who the informant was remains a central question in the ongoing affair. Nobody has yet explicitly blamed anyone within the SPD for being the leak, but the fact that it can't be ruled out is not helping matters.

Edathy himself denied having knowledge of the investigation in an interview with SPIEGEL. But when investigators arrived in his apartment, they found plastic splinters that experts believe to be the remains of a destroyed hard drive. Edathy says the remains come from a hard drive he destroyed containing confidential documents relating to the NSU investigation. Yet authorities also found confidential papers in his possession, leading them to doubt his claim. They also believe that Edathy destroyed the hard drive shortly before their arrival. In addition, Edathy last week registered his work computer, issued to him by German parliament, as having been stolen. How remarkably convenient. 

Still, despite the standstill to which the Edathy affair has brought Merkel's government, there are at least some politicians this week who are focused on legislation. Several have demanded that the sale of images of naked children -- of the type Edathy is thought to have purchased -- be banned. "The Edathy case clearly shows that there is a legal loophole," Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig, the German government's commissioner for child abuse issues, told the daily Die Welt this week. It is, he added, a loophole that needed to be closed. "When images of children are created to satisfy the sexual interests of adults, this must be made punishable by law." Amen!

Woody or Dylan: Whose Story to Believe?

Excellent opinion piece by Kimberly Dark, Huffington Post. Speaks to the believability of victims or alleged victims of child sex abuse. 

There are no new allegations against Woody Allen and yet, the story of his family is once again the subject of public debate. Dylan Farrow wrote an open letter to Allen's fans published in the NYT blog on February 1. She gives a first person account of being sexually abused by Allen, telling her mother, being questioned by authorities and dismissed by the public. She tells of experiencing panic and pain at the public's adoration of her abuser, and of her concern over his access to other children.

Much of the online kerfuffle is focused on how no one can know what happened, and therefore, her view of events must be dismissed. These logical non sequiturs in public opinion about the two parties in question are a lesson in how women's stories are dismissed, men are protected and how often "we don't know" comes to mean, "she's wrong."

Dylan Farrow

Woody Allen

 One of the more popular articles, for instance, by Allen's film-biographer and friendly acquaintance, Robert Weide, casts doubt on Farrow's story using a variety of tangentially related facts that lead the reader to a spurious conclusion. For instance, the addition of doubt about whether Allen and Mia Farrow's son Ronan is actually the product of "infidelity" between Farrow and the late Frank Sinatra is utterly irrelevant to the question of child sexual abuse. It assumes a monolithic agreement to monogamy that has not been established. It places decisions about sex within adult relationships against the decision to sexually abuse a child as though they are related or equal or... something. This logic mash-up is common -- discredit one or more of the participants and dismiss the argument. Most readers don't even know what's happening there; they just know something doesn't "feel right" about Dylan Farrow's story after reading Weide's article.

This is the stuff we're great at: scooping up any stories that support a view we already hold. I mean "we" as in, the general public, media, law, including me and you and any commentator on public issues. We have to put forth effort to create and discern logical arguments.

If it's true that we can't know, and assuming that both parties have reasonable credibility as sane adults, let's look at what's likely. Child sexual abuse is extremely common. While actual rates are difficult to determine because of vast under-reporting, at least 1 in 5 women were sexually abused as children.

A huge majority of abusers are men and children living with non-biological parents are far more likely to be abused. See this story for confirmation.

Further, Dylan Farrow's account is very common. The alleged abuse seemed so "normal" and routine. The trauma she suffered included self-abuse and eating disorders. These responses are especially common among survivors who were not believed or not well-supported in healing. Lastly, the rate of false accusations about child sexual abuse is under ten percent. Of these, only a handful of accusations are made by the victim -- as in Dylan Farrow's case -- rather than by a caregiver.

Statistically speaking, it's far more likely that Woody Allen abused his daughter, as she says.

So, the question is, why are so many people -- including those like Robert Weide who have a connection to Allen but no experience with the incident in question -- so quick to disbelieve Dylan Farrow's story and to amass doubt-inducing anecdotes to do so? The combination of rape culture/victim blaming and our cultural comfort and ease with faulty logic are to blame.

Certainly, it's tough to believe something terrible about someone whose work and personality are well loved. The state of Connecticut also found insufficient evidence to arrest Woody Allen back in 1993 when the case was being investigated. This is often true with criminal investigations of child sexual abuse -- it takes a lot to "prove" that a child is telling the truth if there were no witnesses.

Perhaps more significantly, we've all been trained to believe, since childhood, that sexual predators are true crazies, deviants, and the stranger in the black sedan cruising the playground for victims. We've all been trained to believe -- despite massive evidence to the contrary, that attractive or employed or smart or famous men are less likely to be pedophiles. We've all been trained to make excuses for men and to support and protect their abilities to make a living and maintain a good reputation. We see this again and again in cases like the gang rape in Steubenville, Ohio last year where news stories focused on the boy's reputations being ruined rather than the victim's experiences. This was true even in a case with witnesses and recorded evidence.

Rather than rushing to decide whom to believe, without questioning our own socialization, stories like Dylan Farrow's should be carefully analyzed for their consistency with other stories like them. We may come to see that our cultural inability to stop child sexual abuse lies in how we treat its victims, how unquestionable abuse feels to many victims and how quickly we move to defend perpetrators who seem "normal" or indeed, laudable. Then we can begin to question the status quo in men's entitlement to the sexualization of children.

Follow Kimberly Dark on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Kimberly Dark

He Said, She Said - Woody Allen, Dylan Farrow

Woody Allen is again denying he molested adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow and is calling ex-partner Mia Farrow vindictive, spiteful and malevolent in an open letter published online Friday by The New York Times.

The 78-year-old filmmaker says Dylan Farrow's open letter published last week by The New York Times includes "creative flourishes that seem to have magically appeared during our 21-year estrangement."

"Of course, I did not molest Dylan," writes Allen. "I loved her and hope one day she will grasp how she has been cheated out of having a loving father and exploited by a mother more interested in her own festering anger than her daughter's well-being."

Woody Allen's adopted daughter Dylan Farrow renews molestation claim

Allen was investigated for the alleged molestation, but was never charged. A team of child abuse specialists from the Yale-New Haven Hospital, brought in to the case by prosecutors and police, concluded that Dylan Farrow had not been molested.

"Now it's 21 years later and Dylan has come forward with the accusations that the Yale experts investigated and found false," Allen said.

At the time of the breakup of their 12-year relationship more than two decades ago, Mia Farrow accused Allen of molesting Dylan Farrow. Allen has consistently denied the abuse allegation.

Their split followed the discovery of an affair between Allen and the adopted daughter of Mia Farrow, Soon-Yi Previn, when Previn was 19 or 21. (Her official date of birth is uncertain.) Allen and Previn married in 1997 and have two adopted daughters.

"I still loved (Dylan) deeply, and felt guilty that by falling in love with Soon-Yi I had put her in the position of being used as a pawn for revenge," Allen said.

The "Annie Hall" and "Blue Jasmine" director again claims in his open letter that seven-year-old Dylan Farrow was coached by Mia Farrow.

"Not that I doubt Dylan hasn't come to believe she's been molested, but if from the age of seven a vulnerable child is taught by a strong mother to hate her father because he is a monster who abused her, is it so inconceivable that after many years of this indoctrination the image of me Mia wanted to establish had taken root?" Allen said.

In a statement made to The Hollywood Reporter late Friday, Dylan Farrow called Woody Allen's op-ed "the latest rehash of the same legalese, distortions, and outright lies he has leveled at me for the past 20 years."

She wrote that Mia Farrow was not the one who brought criminal charges — "in fact, it was a pediatrician who reported the incident to the police based on my firsthand account." She also stated that the prosecutor found probable cause to prosecute Allen, but decided against it to protect what they called "the child victim."

In her letter last week, Dylan Farrow said that in 1992 at the family's Connecticut home, Allen led her to a "dim, closet-like attic" and "then he sexually assaulted me." She didn't specify Allen's actions, but described other abusive behaviour.

Allen said in his letter he believes Mia Farrow concocted those details, and they were inspired by the song "With My Daddy in the Attic."

"Does the letter really benefit Dylan or does it simply advance her mother's shabby agenda?" Allen said. "That is to hurt me with a smear. There is even a lame attempt to do professional damage by trying to involve movie stars, which smells a lot more like Mia than Dylan."

In his letter, Allen recounts several anecdotes to call Mia Farrow's integrity into question. He also addressed the claim by Mia Farrow that her ex-husband Frank Sinatra could be the father of son Ronan Farrow, not Allen.

Ronan Farrow - no chance this is the birth son of Woody Allen

"Even if he is not Frank's, the possibility she raises that he could be, indicates she was secretly intimate with him during our years," said Allen. "Not to mention all the money I paid for child support. Was I supporting Frank's son? Again, I want to call attention to the integrity and honesty of a person who conducts her life like that."

Say what? You who had an affair with your other adopted daughter while married to Mia, calling her integrity into question? How utterly hypocritical!

The 28-year-old Dylan Farrow, now married, currently lives in Florida under another name. Her letter caused an uproar, reawakening a case more than two decades after it made headlines.

"For 20 years, I have never wavered in describing what he did to me," she said Friday in the statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

Some have challenged Dylan Farrow's account, most notably her 36-year-old brother, Moses Farrow. He told People magazine this week that "of course" Allen didn't molest Dylan Farrow, which she called "a betrayal."

Allen said his open letter "will be my final word on this entire matter and no one will be responding on my behalf to any further comments on it by any party."

He ended the letter by saying, "Enough people have been hurt."

Messages left by The Associated Press for Dylan Farrow, Mia Farrow and Ronan Farrow were not immediately returned.

Two Pedophiles and Murderers Just Keep Appealing Their Convictions

Two paedophiles have launched another legal challenge against their conviction for murdering a woman and dumping her body at sea.

William Lauchlan, 37, and Charles O'Neill, 51, killed Allison McGarrigle in Largs in 1997 as she planned to report them for abusing a boy.

Allison McGarrigle

The 39-year-old's body has never been found.

The Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh heard that the new challenge was over a "prejudicial question".

At their original trial, a police officer describing efforts to trace Mrs McGarrigle after she went missing in 1998 said - in answer to a question from judge Lord Pentland - that he thought she was dead.

Lawyers for the two men claim the question, which prosecutor Dorothy Bain QC had "pointedly" not asked, made the trial unfair.

They said the police officer was not an expert witness and should not have been asked to give an opinion on the "proof of life" report.

Defence QC Gordon Jackson, for Lauchlan, told appeal judges: "One feature of this case was whether the lady was dead at all."

Mr Jackson said part of the defence case was that Mrs McGarrigle was still alive.

"It was a hugely prejudicial question which usurped the jury function and should not have been allowed at all," he said.

Mr Jackson also argued that prosecutors had relied on supposed comments Lachlan had made to others about disposing of Mrs McGarrigle's body to convict him of murder.

He said that in Scots law there was no such thing as "an accessory after the fact" and that even if Lachlan had a hand in dumping the body, that did not make him a murderer.

Mr Jackson claimed Lord Pentland had not explained that issue properly to the jury.

Solicitor advocate John Carroll, for O'Neill, told Lady Paton, sitting with Lady Clark and Lord Philip, also claimed that the police search for Mrs McGarrigle had not been thorough enough.

Rothesay, Isle of Bute

Mrs McGarrigle met O'Neill and Lauchlan in 1994 after moving to Rothesay, Isle of Bute, following a split from her husband Robert.

The Isle of Bute is in southwest Scotland along the coast of the Firth of Clyde. Largs, where she was murdered, is across the Firth on the mainland.

She was introduced to them by the boy they went on to groom and abuse.

During a court hearing in 2010 it emerged that she lived in fear of the men and had threatened to tell police about their abuse of the child.

She was reported missing by her husband in 1998 and legally declared dead seven years later.

The trial heard of a violent row in June 1997 when Lauchlan pushed Mrs McGarrigle as she yelled: "I know what you are up to and I will make sure I see what is coming to you."

The trial heard she was never seen again and O'Neill later boasted: "She is feeding the fishes."

O'Neill and Lauchlan

Lauchlan is serving a minimum sentence of 26 years and O'Neill a minimum sentence of 30 years for her murder.

After the trial in 2010 it emerged that they were predatory paedophiles with convictions for sex assault and rape of children.

They offered their services as babysitters, particularly to women with drink problems to gain access to their victims.

The appeal judges will give their decision in writing at a later date.

Both men have already complained that trial judge Lord Pentland was biased and had an appeal rejected by the Supreme Court in London.

They also have outstanding appeals against sex abuse convictions.

No doubt these are two saints who have just been misunderstood. Pfft!

Jamie Carillo's Teacher-Abuser is Charged with 16 Counts of Sexual Assault and Abuse

A FORMER teacher who was accused of sex abuse by an ex-student on YouTube has been charged with 16 counts of sexual abuse.

Andrea Cardosa, 40, was charged with five counts of aggravated sexual assault on a child and 11 other counts of abuse, California prosecutors said.

Jamie Carillo

The shocking case against Cardosa first case came to light after a now 28-year-old Jamie Carrillo posted a video on YouTube showing her making a call to confront Cardosa, her high-school basketball coach, about the alleged sex abuse that she claims began when she was 12.

Carrillo said that she chose to publicly reveal the alleged crimes against Cardosa because she believed that a statute of limitations - with the abuse allegedly taking place more than 13 years ago - would prevent Cardosa from being criminally charged, the New York Daily News reports.

But according to the Riverside County District Attorney's office, because the five counts of aggravated sexual assault on a child carry potential life sentences a statute of limitations does not apply.

The video posted by Carrillo was sent to the Alhambra Unified School District, where Cardosa was working as an assistant principal. Officials referred the case to police, and Cardosa resigned.

The video was viewed nearly 1 million times just days after it was posted on YouTube, and a second alleged victim later came forward.

Andrea Cardosa Jamie's teacher and abuser

A $5 million warrant has been issued for Cardosa's arrest, the district attorney's office said. If Cardosa is convicted, the five aggravated sexual assault charges could carry a life sentence, the statement said.

Fifteen of the counts stem from allegations of abuse against Carillo, and one stems from abuse allegations related to the second woman.

Another Child Sex Assault Charge Against Scout Leader

A former Riverview, New Brunswick, Canada, scout leader is facing a fourth charge of indecent assault after another alleged victim came forward.

David Wolfe, 68, who now lives in Halifax, was not present in Moncton provincial court on Tuesday when a sentencing date was expected to be set on the other three charges against him.

The matter has been adjourned without plea until Feb. 14.

Wolfe may also be sentenced on that day, depending on his plea and whether a victim impact statement is required from the latest alleged victim.

Wolfe previously pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent assault involving young males in the Moncton area between 1964 and 1967.

He was scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 6, but his defence lawyer was sick and unable to attend court.

Now, ,a fourth person has come forward, accusing Wolfe of sexually abusing him between 1962 and 1964, at or near Port Elgin.

Codiac Regional RCMP charged Wolfe in 2012 after the first victim, Richard Dutkiewicz, went public with his story.

Dutkiewicz said he was repeatedly assaulted by Wolfe in the mid-1960s, when Wolfe was an assistant scout master. He went to police after he saw an investigative series by CBC News on sexual abuse within Scouts Canada.

Wolfe's two other victims came forward a short time later.

The investigation by CBC-TV's The Fifth Estate revealed that scout leaders abused about 340 children from the 1940s until present. These would only be the ones we know about.

It also found that Scouts Canada kept a "confidential list" of pedophiles barred from the organization and had also signed confidentiality agreements with child sex abuse victims.

About two months after the documentary aired, Scouts Canada issued a blanket apology to any former scouts who had been sexually abused by the group's volunteer leaders.

The youth organization also announced it had hired an outside company to review its past records and appointed an expert panel to examine whether its current child protection policies are working.

US Senate Aide Facing Child Porn Charges Hangs Himself

A former senior US Senate aide who was arrested on child pornography charges last month was found dead after hanging himself, authorities have said.

Jesse Ryan Loskarn, 35, was chief of staff to Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee until his arrest in December.

He was accused of possession and attempted distribution of child pornography.

Loskarn was living with his parents and wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet while awaiting trial.

"For everyone involved, this is a sad and tragic story from beginning to end," Mr Alexander, a Republican, said in a statement.

Mr Alexander sacked Loskarn after his arrest. A rising star in Republican politics on Capitol Hill, Loskarn had been Mr Alexander's chief of staff since 2011.

Loskarn's family members called police after finding him unresponsive in his parents' basement on Thursday, the Carroll County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

Prosecutors alleged in court documents that Loskarn made several purchases from a website offering child pornography DVDs between November 2010 and March 2011.

He was also accused of offering illicit files for download from his home computer.

Investigators with the US Postal Service searched his home last month and found a portable hard drive that contained at least 200 videos of child pornography, prosecutors said in court filings.

Loskarn had faced up to 20 years in prison on the charges.

Female Quebec Teacher Convicted of Sexual Exploitation of Minor

Tanya Pontbriand, a former Rosemere, Que., high school gym teacher, has been found guilty of sexual assault and two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.

Pontbriand was accused of having a relationship with a 15-year-old student, who told police he and Pontbriand had more than 200 sexual encounters between 2002 and 2004. She was 32 years old when the encounters began.

Tanya Pontbriand

Pontbriand was charged in 2008 with sexual assault and two counts of sexual exploitation, to which she pleaded not guilty.

During the trial, her lawyer called the former student a liar and a manipulator, saying he withheld details from police and at the preliminary hearing about his sexual relationship with Pontbriand.

In his decision, which is more than 150 pages long, the judge said there was a profound inequality between Pontbriand and the victim.

Pontbriand is scheduled to be back in court on May 8​. 

Conservative MP wants to Bring Rape back to the Criminal Code

A Conservative MP from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, wants to bring the charge of rape back into the Criminal Code.

Rob Anders announced earlier Monday his intention to present a private members bill that would revive the old Criminal Code charge and also seek mandatory sentences for anyone convicted of that crime.

However, not everyone feels the charge needs to be revived.

"Unwanted penetration is not the only form of sexual violence that is harmful and hurtful," said Danielle Aubry, executive director of Calgary Communities Against Sexual Abuse. "I think focusing just on that is a mistake."

Until 1983, it was possible to be convicted of the charge of rape. Parliament then rolled that offence into the more encompassing charge of sexual assault.

At the time, it was thought the stigma surrounding a rape charge prevented many victims from coming forward and that a shift to the broader category of sexual assault could help criminalize a greater variety of hurtful sexual behaviours.

Rob Anders

New charge led to lighter sentences: Anders

Anders says changing the charge to sexual assault affected sentences and that convicted rapists aren't being adequately punished.

“What it wound up doing is having rapists get time that gropers would get and so the average sentencing right now is two years in terms of what these people serve," he said.

Aubry agrees there are big problems with how the justice system sentences sex crimes.

She says the issue of short sentences for sex crimes is "shameful" and, in that regard, she does agree with Anders on the need for stiffer sentences for convicted rapists.

"We need to have some leadership that is going to give the message that it's unacceptable for a two-year sentence for sexual assault," said Aubry.

Likely to face constitutional challenges

Anders wants anyone convicted of rape to serve a mandatory minimum of eight years in prison for a first offence and 10 years for each subsequent conviction.

“I ideally would have liked to have seen rapists get 20-years mandatory minimum but because of what we anticipate in constitutional challenges, we decided to go with eight and 10 because it was well within inside the penalties for manslaughter.”

University of Calgary law professor Chris Levy said he does not like the bill's chances of surviving constitutional challenges.

“The degree of fairness involved is highly questionable and this is what's got a lot of the mandatory minimum sentences into trouble," said Levy.

Anders says he will introduce the bill later this month.

On a separate note, a number of Calgarians also came forward earlier this month saying they will challenge Anders for the Conservative nomination ahead of the next federal election. 

Woman Confronts Her Teacher-Abuser Who Confesses then Resigns

Update Jan 25, 2015 - Andrea Cardosa pleaded guilty today to the sexual abuse of Jamie Carillo and another former student.

The video at the link below is incredibly moving. The audio quality is not very good but good enough to hear the one F-bomb in this 9-minute clip.

A Victorville, Calif., woman who posted a YouTube video accusing her former middle school teacher of sexually abusing her for several years has identified herself and forced the resignation of the teacher.

The video, posted Friday, got more than 165,000 views, media reports said.

It shows the woman — since identified as Jamie Carillo, 28 — talking by phone with her former teacher, Andrea Cardosa, and confronting her about alleged abuse that took place when Carillo was 12.

The former teacher, who hasn't denied the accusations, resigned as vice-principal at Alhambra High School later the same day, the Pasadena Star-News reported on its website.

The abuse is alleged to have taken place at a middle school in Riverside, Calif. All of the communities are near Los Angeles.

School officials said Cardosa resigned after an interview with administrators, the Star-News says.

Carillo, who now has children of her own — including a daughter of about 12 — told a news conference she had previously told no one about the abuse, the Star-News said. Her concern was that the teacher might abuse other children.

Carillo said she had been threatened by Cardosa at the time. "She told me that she would embarrass me in front of my friends and family, and tell them I'm a lesbian and that I did stuff with her," the Star-News reported Carillo as saying.

Andrea Cardosa

Carillo is expected to launch a civil action against her former teacher, since the statute of limitations on the offences involved appears to have passed, media reports said.

Carillo's lawyer, David Ring, said the former teacher had been investigated by both school and law enforcement authorities in 1999 amid rumours of abuse, but there were no arrests, charges or disciplinary action, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The teacher was allowed to resign with a positive recommendation, the lawyer said.

Please, you who pray, pray for Jamie to find closure to this episode in her life; to find forgiveness in her heart, and peace in her life.

Child Sex Traffickers Mistakenly Released on Bond in Miami

Due to a paperwork error, two people charged with forcing a 13-year old runaway into prostitution and working at a strip club were mistakenly released from jail on bond.

The suspects were returned to jail the next day.

Marlene San Vincente, 22, and Vilbert Jean, 37, were originally charged with the trafficking of a minor and other offenses. A third suspect, 18-year old DeWayne Ward, was also charged. He never bonded out of jail, probably because he was unable to come up with the money.

To specify that the charges against the trio involved a person under the age of 15, Miami Police originally charged the suspects under a specific subparagraph of Florida’s human-trafficking law. Under that subparagraph, the suspects would not have been eligible for bond.

But that subparagraph, represented by a single letter on arrest forms, was scratched off by someone — it’s unclear who. So the suspects became eligible for bond.

They were released on Tuesday and returned to jail on Wednesday, according to prosecutors.

San Vincente, Jean and Ward were arrested on Monday and charged with forcing a teen to have sex for money and later to dance nude at Club Madonna in Miami Beach.

Vilbert Jean and Marlene San Vincente 

According to police:

The girl, identified as D.J. in a search warrant, had run away from home on Dec. 10. She was immediately picked up by a man identified only as A.P., who took her to a Miami home where San Vincente, Jean and Ward lived.

D.J. was expected to pay to stay at the home. On one occasion, she had sex with a man for $80. But she refused to prostitute herself, so San Vincente arranged for the girl to dance with her at Club Madonna in Miami Beach. D.J. performed on at least five nights under the name “Peaches.”

The club owners said they have no record of the girl working there. No kidding!

All of the money D.J. earned was taken by her pimps, police said. She knew Jean kept an AK47 assault riffle, and Ward once threatened her with a .40 caliber pistol if she “got away,” police said.

D.J.’s mom found her in the area of North Miami Avenue and 55th Street on Jan. 6.

Sandusky Appeals for Pension Reinstatement

Jerry Sandusky described his career and retirement from Penn State by video link as testimony began on Tuesday in a hearing into whether he can get back the retirement benefits he lost after being convicted of child molestation.

The proceeding at the headquarters of the State Employees' Retirement System in Harrisburg involves the pension he earned while working for decades as a Penn State assistant football coach.

From a prison in southwestern Pennsylvania, Sandusky began by describing his career at Penn State and talks with school administrators about a possible continuing role with the university around the time of his 1999 retirement.

His wife, Dottie, was in the hearing room for a proceeding that could last several days.

Sandusky said he decided to retire in 1999 because of an early retirement incentive that would boost his pension.

'It was an opportunity financially to be in a more secure position by retiring at that time,' Sandusky testified.

He lost a $4,900-a-month pension in October 2012, the day he was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison for 45 counts of child sexual abuse. The decision also precluded Dottie Sandusky from collecting benefits.

The State Employees' Retirement System (SERS) ruled that his convictions for involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and indecent assault fell under Pennsylvania's Public Employee Pension Forfeiture Act. Sandusky had opted to participate in the state-sponsored retirement system while at Penn State, which is a 'state-related' university, but he was not a state employee.

At the heart of the dispute is whether Sandusky's ties to the university after his retirement, including some payments, made him a 'de facto' Penn State employee while committing the crimes in question.

His lawyer has argued he was not and that his employment contract was not renewed after the forfeiture law took effect in 1978 so its terms do not apply to him. 

Sandusky attorney Charles Benjamin has said Penn State made only six payments to Sandusky between 2000 and 2008, and three of them involved travel costs. The other three were speaking fees of $100, $300 and $1,500.

In a December 9 filing, Benjamin also argued that Sandusky did not fit the definition of 'school employee' under the forfeiture law.

'No reported case in the history of Pennsylvania jurisprudence has ever applied a ''de facto'' employee analysis to deny someone his retirement earnings, and SERS should not bow to political pressure and 'mob rule' to deny claimant his retirement earnings,' Benjamin wrote.

In recent weeks, there was a dispute over the SERS witness list, which included two former Penn State administrators facing allegations of a criminal cover-up about Sandusky, former athletic director Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz. A SERS lawyer said at the start of the hearing that both men asserted their Fifth Amendment rights not to testify.

There is currently no trial date set for Curley and Schultz, who are being prosecuted in the Dauphin County Courthouse, about two blocks from the SERS headquarters.

It likely will be several months before the hearing examiner, Michael Bangs, produces his written recommendation to the retirement system board. If the board rules against Sandusky, he may appeal to Commonwealth Court.

What on earth is the Commonwealth Court? It sounds so British. According to Wikipedia:

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania is one of two Pennsylvania intermediate appellate courts. The Superior Court of Pennsylvania being the other. The Commonwealth Court is limited to appeals from final orders of certain state agencies and certain designated cases from the Courts of Common Pleas involving public sector legal questions and government regulation.

Suspect in Rape of 15-year-old had Charges Dismissed in August Attack

The young woman from the Northwest Side of Chicago had stopped paying attention to the news. Ever since last summer, she didn't want to hear it.

But a friend told the 24-year-old woman to take a look Sunday. So she did. And she saw the face of Luis Pantoja, the man who made headlines after police accused him of the December sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl.

Luis Pantoja

He’s the same man prosecutors accused in August of raping the 24-year-old woman in an alley. That attack allegedly happened less than a mile from the scene of the brutal assault on the 15-year-old.

The 24-year-old woman told the Chicago Sun-Times, in Spanish, that she reacted Sunday with these words: “Wow. My God. No, it can’t be.”

Cook County Judge Laura M. Sullivan dismissed on Sept. 17 that woman’s case against Pantoja for lack of evidence. But it’s part of the startling criminal history of the Belmont-Cragin man, which began to reveal itself after prosecutors charged him during the weekend with attempted murder, aggravated battery, aggravated criminal sexual assault and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon.

His alleged 15-year-old victim in the new case was found bleeding in the snow at about 8 a.m. Dec. 17, 21/2 hours after police believe she was attacked. She was found in a backyard in the 2400 block of North Long. She was shoeless, all but unconscious, and her pants had been yanked off.

The man who found her stated, "“Everybody knows she was in really bad shape. She’s doing better. Her and her family are taking it day-by-day, but we can only keep her in our thoughts and hope she improves.”

Pantoja, 25, who is deaf and goes by the nickname “Silent,” is being held in that case without bail, pending a bond hearing Tuesday.

Pantoja’s criminal record goes back to 2005 and includes charges for drugs, theft and disorderly conduct. He was sentenced in 2008 to six years in prison for failure to report an accident causing death and possession of a stolen vehicle. That conviction was key, because police said it placed Pantoja in a federal DNA database used to connect him to the Dec. 17 assault.

But the aunt of the 24-year-old woman allegedly raped in the early morning hours of Aug. 15 said the 15-year-old girl might never have been assaulted in December had last summer’s charges against Pantoja stuck.

“The police did their work,” the aunt said. “The problem was the judge that threw the case away.”

The 24-year-old victim and her aunt each spoke to the Sun-Times, in Spanish, on the condition their names wouldn’t be used. Judge Sullivan, meanwhile, did not respond to messages left by the newspaper seeking further explanation for her ruling.

Pantoja is accused in a police report of grabbing the 24-year-old woman by the arm at about 1:30 a.m. Aug. 15, pulling her into an alley and raping her. The records show she was treated and released at Our Lady of the Resurrection Medical Center.

The 24-year-old told the Sun-Times she met Pantoja once while walking home. She said he followed her and spoke to her with hand signals and mouth movements.

The next night, she said he asked her to go to his house to meet his mother. She said she declined, but he insisted, and she accompanied him to his house where his grandmother was home. She said they talked in his room and he showed her photos of his young son. She said he insisted on kissing her so much that she let him do so, but she eventually got mad and left.

Afterward, she said she was assaulted between two buildings. Her aunt said the 24-year-old woman was hit in the mouth and her pants were ripped. When the assault ended, the 24-year-old woman said she ran to her aunt’s house.

Later, the 24-year-old woman said she picked Pantoja out of a lineup. Police reports show he was arrested Aug. 27, and Sullivan dismissed the case for lack of probable cause three weeks later.

Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the Cook County State’s Attorney, said the judge was presented with evidence, including testimony from the alleged victim, during a preliminary hearing. She also said a rape kit was submitted for testing in the case, but that wouldn't necessarily have come up in court.

The aunt of the alleged 24-year-old victim said her niece is still in therapy. And the 24-year-old woman said Monday she didn't understand at the time why the case against Pantoja was dropped.

“The bad thing was when we were in court and they didn't do anything,” the 24-year-old said.

“That’s what hurt me,” she said. “They took me as a liar.”

After admitting what she admitted to, one can hardly think she is a liar - not very bright might be more accurate. It's a shame, assuming the man's guilty of both rapes, that he wasn't incarcerated with the first, than the second would not have happened. Please pray for these two girls.