More Sex-Abuse Charges Filed Against
Gay Illinois Foster Parents
By Suzanne Le Mignot
(CBS) – New charges were lodged Monday against a north suburban couple already accused of committing years of sexual assaults – some of which prosecutors say involved their adopted son and foster son.
In lurid detail, Assistant Cook County State’s Atty. Lorna Amado-Chevlin described sexual abuse that dated back to 2012, shortly after Christopher and Anthony Wheeler of Prospect Heights adopted an 11-year-old boy.
Amado-Chevlin said the couple’s son and foster son were told to bring home friends, who suffered similar sexual assault — often on camera.
Christopher Wheeler allegedly told all of them repeatedly, “What happens in the house stays in the house.”
Prosecutors say someone attempted to erase the videos before a search warrant was executed on their home but experts were able to reconstruct the videos.
Ultimately, when they knew police were closing in, the Wheelers allegedly planned an escape to Mexico with the adopted son. Defense attorney Bob Fox characterized the planned trip as a “vacation.”
Judge Steven Gobel said the Wheelers are “an extreme danger” to any child and ordered them held without bond.
The couple originally was charged in March with abusing three victims. Cash bond had been set at $4 million for Christopher Wheeler and $3 million for Anthony Wheeler. Neither had been able to post it.
So this is, apparently, a gay couple. And this is why I hate gay couples being able to adopt or foster children. Children in foster care have enough troubles.
The Wheelers return to court April 27. The adopted son has been placed with relatives, while the foster son has been placed with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
68 y/o NY State man sent to prison for
attempted child sex abuse
LILLIAN SCHROCK Corvallis Gazette-Times
A Benton County Circuit Court judge sentenced a 68-year-old Albany man to nearly two years in prison Friday for attempted sexual abuse of a child, court records show.
Stewart Robert Parker should spend 22 months in prison, Judge David Connell decided.
Prosecutors charged Parker in May with eight sexual abuse and child endangering charges for alleged incidents between January 2015 and March 2017, according to court records. In accordance with a plea deal with the state, Parker pleaded no contest to endangering the welfare of a minor, a misdemeanor; and attempted first-degree sexual abuse, a felony. The remaining counts were dismissed.
The judge sentenced Parker to 180 days in jail for the misdemeanor charge, which is to be served at the same time as the longer sentence. Parker should be placed on three years of post-prison supervision after being released from incarceration, Connell ordered.
Parker must also register as a sex offender and pay more than $2,000 in restitution to ABC House, the judge decided.
Sex trafficker who lured teenage girls into
prostitution pleads guilty in upstate NY
By Melinda Miller
A Buffalo, NY man accused of luring girls as young 14 into prostitution pleaded guilty Tuesday to a sex trafficking charge and two counts of promoting prostitution.
What about the underage part? What about the child trafficking and prostitution? Were those freebies?
Derek Harris, 23, of Buffalo used Internet sites to find customers for the sex trafficking operation he ran out of the Boulevard Inn Motel on Niagara Falls Boulevard in Amherst. Prosecutors said Harris set up the sexual encounters online and by cellphone and then collected the money from his female victims, who ranged in age from 14 to 19 years old.
Harris was scheduled to go to trial later this week on six felony charges in connection with the case, and Assistant District Attorney Ryan Haggerty previously said there was an “incredible amount” of evidence against him.
The young victims came forward with information, Haggerty said, and prosecutors also were able to obtain statements from numerous patrons of Harris’s illegal operation.
District Attorney John J. Flynn called sex trafficking with young women and children a scourge on the community.
“These criminals prey on the vulnerabilities of their victims – whether it’s age, or addiction, or poverty — and exploit these vulnerabilities for their own financial benefit,” Flynn said in a statement.
He praised the work of the Amherst Police Department and the Human Trafficking Task Force in the case.
Harris had been arrested before, in 2013, when he was 18, on charges of child sexual abuse after allegedly recording himself having sex with a 15-year-old and posting the images online.
Now he faces up to 25 years in prison when sentenced by Justice Christopher J. Burns on Nov. 28.
Upstate NY man charged with child sex abuse
A Buchanan man is accused of sexually abusing a child.
Police say Nelson Fernandez, 33, was fondling himself when he grabbed a child in the middle of the street.
Officials say the incident happened last week outside a home on 6th Street in Cortlandt.
He is charged with forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child. He was remanded to the Westchester County Jail in lieu of $2,500 cash bail or $10,000 bond.
Former Maryland Police Officer Pleads
Guilty to Sexual Abuse of a Minor
Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County announced that on Wednesday, October 18, 2017, former District Heights Police Officer Clyde Douglas Parks, Jr., 48 of Waldorf, entered a guilty plea in front of Charles County Circuit Court Judge Amy J. Bragunier to the Sexual Abuse of a Minor.
On May 24, 2017, the Charles County Department of Social Services received a mandatory report of child sexual abuse involving Parks. The report was then screened by Child Protective Services and sent to the Charles County Sheriff’s Office for investigation.
Detectives from the Charles County Sheriff’s Office made contact with the victim who revealed that over the course of approximately two years she was repeatedly abused by Parks. The abuse included Parks showing the victim pornographic material and Parks engaging in repeated sexual acts with the victim without her consent. The abuse began when the victim was approximately 8 years old and continued for approximately two years.
The abuse came to light some 10 years later when the victim was interviewed in May of 2017.
During the course of the investigation, Parks admitted to the sexual contact as described by the victim. The maximum sentence for Child Sexual Abuse is 25 years incarceration.
A sentencing hearing is set for January 10, 2018.
Former Police officer sentenced for child sex abuse
in northern California
By Ukiah Daily Journal staff
Former Ukiah police officer convicted of grand theft, David John Richard, was sentenced this month to 16 years in state prison for the continuous sexual abuse of a child, which he pleaded guilty to in September.
After hearing from the prosecutor, the young girl’s mother, and the defense attorney, Judge John Behnke gave Richard the 16-year sentence and ordered the maximum $10,000 fine, the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office reported. The money collected from the fine will go to the California Victim Compensation Board fund, which helps pay the bills and expenses of violent crime victims.
Richard may not earn more than 15 percent in custody credits during his prison term. When eventually released on state parole supervision, many years down the road, he will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office investigated, and Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth Norman prosecuted.
Oregon man brought back from China to face
child sex abuse charges
Associated Press , KGW
HILLSBORO, Ore. (AP) - Authorities say a man accused of sexually abusing children in Oregon has been found in China and returned to the United States.
The Washington County Sheriff's Office says 41-year-old Toby Mendenhall was booked into the county jail Tuesday. Bail was set at $2.5 million.
Detective Mark Povolny says an investigation of Mendenhall began more than a year ago and a warrant for his arrest was issued on Dec. 2, 2016. The U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Task Force discovered that Mendenhall was in Shanghai, and worked with Chinese authorities to return him to Oregon.
Mendenhall faces charges of sex abuse and sodomy. Court records list the initials of three victims - all girls.
Detectives believe there may be additional victims. Anyone with information on Mendenhall and his interaction with children is asked to call detectives at 503-846-2500.
He has yet to appear in court or be assigned an lawyer.
Illegal Immigrant Charged in Alleged
Sexual Abuse of Minor in Wyoming
by BOB PRICE Casper, WY21
An illegal alien in Wyoming is in a local jail on charges of allegedly molesting a pre-teen girl. An exam by a sexual assault nurse reportedly confirms injury to the child.
Police in Casper, Wyoming, arrested Hugo Mendoza-Cora, 36, and charged him with two counts of sexual abuse of a minor (a third-degree felony). District Attorney Michael Blonigen’s office requested a $100,000 bond be set because of the nature of the offense and the fact that the suspect is an “undocumented immigrant.” After Mendoza-Cora complained that the bond was “a lot of money,” Natrona County Circuit Court Judge Steen Brown set a much lower bond of $50,000, according to the Casper Star-Tribune.
Law enforcement officers notified U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials after learning Mendoza-Cora is allegedly in the country illegally, K2radio.com’s Nick Learned reported.
The parents of the young girl contacted school officials after she told them about the alleged molestation. School officials immediately notified police who started an investigation.
The girl, born in 2005, told police that Mendoza-Cora touched her genitals and made her touch his. She said he would come into her room at night. She claimed the assaults occurred on multiple occasions over the course of a year..
The girl told the investigators she would wear zip-up pajamas to make it more difficult for him to assault her.
Police brought the suspect in for questioning and he said he did not know why there were allegations of sexual abuse and he never hurt or touched the girl, the local newspaper reported.
Court records show that Mendoza-Cora is a relative of the victim. He has been ordered by the judge to have no further contact with the victim. He is listed as being the owner of H&M Mendoza Painting company.
If convicted on the charges, he could face up to 15 years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Oklahoma Man Arrested On Child Sexual
Abuse Complaints
BY: NEWSON6.COM
CHELSEA, Oklahoma - A Chelsea man is in Rogers County Jail accused of indecent exposure and child sexual assault. Brian Doyle Jr. is being held on a $150,000 bond, according to the Rogers County Sheriff's Office website.
Investigators say a 4-year-old girl Doyle knows told her grandmother he was touching her privates with his privates and making statements that she was making him feel good.
When authorities interviewed him, they say Doyle admitted the child had once touched his privates while he was touching himself and watching pornography.
A week later, a teenage relative came forward and told investigators Doyle smoked meth with her while showing her porn. She said Doyle told her when she turned 18, he could have sex with her, according to Rogers County investigators.
Authorities say that during a recorded interview, Doyle admitted he had a fetish for "father-daughter porn" and watched a lot of it.
Doyle, 34, was booked on October 21, 2017.
