Finally Funds (Held Up in Congress for Over a Year) for Testing Deplorable Rape Kit Backlog

Kym Worthy (centre) at the announcement of a $35m fund for rape kit testing

Testing old and forgotten rape kits has not been a priority for US police, but a surprising number of arrests and prosecutions across several major cities working on their backlog has advocates hoping other police departments will finally tackle their own untested caches.

When Detroit prosecutors and state police toured a large storage warehouse in 2009, they made a startling discovery - more than 11,000 untested rape kits, each representing a report to the police and a lengthy hospital visit to collect evidence.

Armed with a large grant by the National Institute of Justice, prosecutors and Detroit police have now completed testing of 2,000 of those kits and are in the process of testing another 8,000.

The testing, as of October, has produced more than 750 DNA matches to a national database managed by the FBI known as Codis.

Investigations of these matches are ongoing, but so far the Wayne County prosecutor's office - which includes Detroit - has produced warrants for 23 alleged rapists and convicted 14 of them, with three awaiting trial.

The office, run by the county's top prosecutor, Kym Worthy, has also identified 188 serial rapists from the processed kits who have committed crimes in 27 other states.

Detroit is not alone, however. Amid a reinvigorated call to test the estimated hundreds of thousands of rape kits in police storage across America, other US cities are also seeing dramatic results - a high number of previously unidentified serial rapists and dozens of unsolved cases going to prosecution.

In Cleveland, which has submitted all of its 4,300 kits for testing, police have opened more than 1,800 investigations, with more than 1,000 still in progress. The local prosecutor's officer has indicted 231 people, a third of whom had at least one previous rape conviction.

More than 50 people have been arrested so far from ongoing investigations after officials in Houston completed testing 6,600 kits.

Memphis, which is only part way through its more than 12,000 backlogged kits, has opened 243 investigations, indicting 36 people.

And a new effort in Colorado saw 24 Codis matches from the first 150 kits tested, according to local media.

Such results suggest other cities and states may have thousands of new cases sitting on their shelves.

No 'rational reason'
A push for testing backlogged rape kits began with New York City, which cleared 17,000 kits between 1999 and 2003.

But successful rape kit processing in New York, and later Los Angeles, did not spark a nationwide movement, despite improved DNA tests and millions of offender profiles to search against in Codis.

"You have capacity and ability, and yet jurisdictions were not sending their rape kits in for testing," says Sarah Tofte of the Joyful Heart Foundation, which advocates for rape kit backlog testing.

Tofte says many police departments don't see the value in testing old kits when resources are often tight.

DNA testing capability has improved greatly,
and the FBI's DNA database now hold millions of profiles

She says backlog results are "very sobering" for cities that considered these cases not worth testing.

"It's really shown many jurisdictions how many initial assessments they made were not the correct ones.

"It always surprises me a little bit when they're always so sure exactly what is in that rape kit backlog," she says.

Many police departments across the country do not test kits in non-stranger rape cases where the victim and suspect were known to each other and consent - not identifying the suspect - is the main issue.

Rape kits were also not sent for testing when victims who made the report decided not to pursue prosecution or could not be found again.

But some of these cases show very little investigation on the part of police.

"It wasn't like there was a rational reason to not pursue," says Dr Rebecca Campbell, a researcher at Michigan State University who studied the results and case files from 1,600 Detroit kits.

Looking back at those police files, Campbell says, there was a "widespread" attitude of not believing the victim, and only doing minimum investigation on the cases, many just including the initial police report.

Tofte says police and prosecutors across the US have "struggled to adopt a really comprehensive approach to rape investigations", including failing to do a thorough investigation on the suspect instead of simply scrutinising the victim's report.

Billy Bingham was convicted in part because because of a previously untested kit

In one case from the Detroit backlog, a 12-year-old boy had told police in 2005 he had been sexually assaulted by a man who offered him money to clean out his basement.

The boy gave a detailed description of the man who attacked him and pointed out the man's house to police as he went to the hospital.

But the case never went forward, closed as "victim refused to prosecute" after a few attempts at contacting the boy and his family on the phone failed.

The kit was never sent for testing - until seven years later. The DNA matched Billy Bingham, a convicted sex offender living at the address the boy had pointed out.

The boy, now a young man, testified at the trial, and Bingham was sentenced to at least 40 years in prison.

Statute of limitations

Because of the limited funds, many cities have prioritised cases at risk of passing out of the statute of limitations, but Dallas is starting with the most recent "old" cases - from 2011 - in part because Texas laws will not prevent them from "losing" any cases after 1996. The belief is that victims will simply be easier to find and cases easier to investigate the more recent the crime.

But Dallas is not yet testing rape kits outside the statue of limitations for cases with DNA evidence.

Whether to test rape kits too old to be brought to trial is a challenging decision. Tofte and Worthy are among those who believe it is worth it. Positive DNA matches on such cases may help in prosecution of other cases, especially if the suspect in a current sexual assault case can now be linked to a previous crime, even if they will never be charged separately.

Positive matches can also be used as factors in parole board hearings if the suspect is already in prison.

But given the use of additional resources, there is also the risk that police find out who a suspect might be but cannot do anything about it. Or regardless of a statute of limitations, a DNA profile is not associated with a specific person.


Delayed investigation
Even if attitudes about the value of rape kits change, however, the money may not be there.

Sgt Amy Millis, who runs Dallas's sex assault crimes unit, says her city had a desire to test their backlog but had been stalled until now because of funding.

"This is an extremely expensive endeavour," Mills says, citing not only the costs of testing the kits but "additional investigators, additional court personnel, prosecutors … advocates and counsellors to help people who are reopening old wounds".

As Millis suggests, a successful match in only the beginning.

Advocates say every aging rape kit should be tested -
regardless of whether a case can be brought to prosecution

"The case still needs to be fully investigated like it should have been fully investigated when this first happened," Wayne County prosecutor Worthy says. "You put a case together the old-fashioned way."

Part of that process is contacting the victim - in person - and telling them there is new information in their case. Investigators need to speak to the victim to make sure any DNA sample found is not from a consensual partner. Then they ask if they want to move forward with a prosecution.

Sometimes, prosecutors make "John Doe" indictments when they find DNA matches across multiple cases but the identity of the person is not known, allowing them to pursue the cases if they enter Codis separately.

Cleveland has made dozens of these indictments based off their own backlog. Twenty-two of Memphis' 36 indictments are John Does.

"For me the worst case scenario is we run the profile of a number of these kits and we find out we got a serial rapist … but he hasn't been caught ever," says Tammy Kemp, a Dallas prosecutor who will be in charge of any Dallas backlog cases.

"So we'll have a number of women who may have been raped by the same person, but we still don't know what his identity is."

In the wake of these results, laws about how sexual assault kits are treated are changing.

As of next year, Michigan will join California, Texas and Illinois as states that require testing of every single sexual assault kit, no matter the circumstances.

Cleveland has sent all of their 4,400 untested kits for DNA analysis

Results from Cleveland's backlog Cleveland's full rape kit testing results

As of mid-November, 2,985 tests out of a total of 4,400 have been completed

Total investigations assigned: 1,859
In progress: 1,162
Investigations closed

Sent to prosecution: 252
Cases previously resolved in court: 286
DNA was from consensual partner: 42
Suspect's death: 25
Insufficient evidence: 48
Statue of limitations expired: 12
Indictments

John Doe or unknown male: 89
Dismissed by court or prosecutor: 14
Guilty by jury: 16
Hung jury: 1
Not guilty: 7
Guilty plea accepted: 44

Funding for rape kit backlog testing has been stuck in Congress for over a year, but last month New York City prosecutor Cyrus Vance Jr announced a new $35m (£22m) fund - taken from a forfeiture payment in a financial case - for counting and testing kits.

"I think it's going to be interesting to see what comes out of the woodwork - when they are offered a very concrete opportunity for help," Tofte says.

But new funds for rape kit testing or mandating new kits to be tested will not improve failures of investigation, she adds, saying the backlog represents cases where police do not "really comprehensively investigate the sexual assault cases that are reported to them".

"You're not going to be able to resolve that by just requiring them to test everything."

Worthy believes cities that are just starting to come to grips with the size of their backlog and whether to test all kits should not shy away from the challenge.

"Put your issue out there and own it." she says. "[Don't] make excuses saying it didn't happen on my watch or these are old … because those can still yield very valuable evidence… Own it, and bring justice to these victims."

Sensational Claims by Virginia Roberts About Prince Andrew When She Was 17

Prince Andrew and Virginia Roberts at age 17

The American who alleges she had sex with Prince Andrew at an “underage” orgy today claims he licked her toes while sharing a bath.

She also describes how the two then romped in a bedroom, saying: “It wasn’t like rape. But it wasn’t like love either. It was more like, ‘I’m getting my business done’.”

The intimate details have emerged following the lodging of a bombshell lawsuit in Florida in which she claims she was pimped out as a sex slave at the age of 17 to the Duke of York by his billionaire paedophile banker friend Jeffrey Epstein.

I think the term 'sex slave' is a bit of hyperbole here. There doesn't seem to be any account of coercion. It appears she didn't even know she was going to be paid. If that is so, it qualifies her for something less than an underage hooker.

She also says that after the first of three alleged encounters with the Duke, which ended with the orgy, she was paid £10,000 in cash by Epstein.

There is no suggestion that Prince Andrew thought she was underage at any time or was being pimped by his pal as a sex slave or that he knew she had been paid.

The 29-year-old woman’s sensational claims, filed in a court last Tuesday, refer to her only as Jane Doe #3.

But in an interview she gave to a National Enquirer journalist in March 2011 she identified herself as married mum-of-three Virginia Roberts and provided a graphic account of her supposed time with Andrew.

Buckingham Palace last night vehemently denied the claims.

A spokesman said: “It is emphatically denied that HRH The Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. The allegations made are false and without any foundation.”

Virginia claims the first time she met the Duke, 54, was when she ­accompanied pervert Epstein on a six-week trip to Europe and North Africa in 2001.

While in London they reportedly visited the billionaire’s friend, Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of disgraced tycoon Robert Maxwell.

Little has been revealed about the events that took place in London – where she would have been over the legal age for sex. But Virginia’s interview provides alleged details of how she was seduced by the Prince.

After Andrew allegedly arrived at Maxwell’s flat, Virginia says the prince was asked to guess her age.

“Ghislaine played one of her favourite guessing games,” Virginia claims.

“She asked Andrew how old he thought I was, and he guessed 17 and they all kind of laughed about it, and Ghislaine made a joke that I was getting too old for Jeffrey.”

Later on Virginia claims she and Andrew went for dinner then on to Tramp nightclub.

Recalling the evening, she claimed: “He got me a cocktail from the bar and then asked me to dance. He was groping me. He touched my breasts and my ass.

“He was not my type, but I’d been trained not only to not show my emotions but to do what was wanted. After about an hour and a half, we drove to Ghislaine’s.”

Young Andrew

She claims she started undressing and the Prince undressed too and they both got into a bath.

“He started licking my toes, between my toes, the arches of my feet. And then we went into the bedroom and he proceeded to make love to me, so to speak. He wasn’t rude.

“But it wasn’t like love either,” she said. “It was more like, ‘I’m getting my business done’.”

In the morning, she said Ghislaine – who denies the claims against her – told her, ‘You did well. He had fun’.”

It was shortly after this point that Roberts said she was paid money by Epstein.

A photo said to have been taken at the time showed Andrew standing in his shirtsleeves with an arm round Virginia’s bare midriff.

Her next meeting with the Duke was at Easter that year when she says she was ordered to Epstein’s mansion in New York.

Once inside she claims she was told to escort Andrew to a room used for “erotic massages”. She said they had sex on the massage table.

She alleges she was summoned to have a third and final encounter with Andrew at an orgy on Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands.

She claims she flew there with Jeffrey and Ghislaine and seven Russian girls and that they were told to assemble in a big cabana.

She says when she walked in, Andrew and Jeffrey were sitting in chairs.

She said: “Jeffrey directed us with hand gestures to start undressing and then we were instructed to start kissing and touching each other. Jeffrey and the prince were laughing and then they stripped and I performed a sex act on Andrew. There was a dinner the next day and then Andrew was gone.”

Virginia was 15 when she met Epstein. She was working as a changing room assistant at a club in Palm Beach, Florida, owned by Donald Trump.

She alleged she was approached by Maxwell who offered her the chance to work for a wealthy “gentleman” who needed a travelling masseuse.

Prince Andrew

The teenager then visited banker Epstein’s nearby mansion where she said she was told to strip and straddle his naked body. She claims he paid her £130 a time for what he called an “erotic massage”. Virginia’s legal action comes as part of a long-running sexual abuse lawsuit against Epstein.

She alleges in court papers that she was used as a “sex slave” by the convicted sex offender between 1999 and 2002 and on certain occasions “forced to have sexual relations with this prince when she was a minor”.

It is disputed she was a minor when she claims to have had sex with the Duke. Andrew and the disgraced banker had been long-standing friends.

The 61-year-old billionaire once stayed for a weekend party at Sandringham, and was a guest at the Queen’s birthday party in 2000 at Windsor. In 2001 he holidayed with the Prince in Thailand, when Andrew was snapped surrounded by topless women on a yacht.

But in 2008 Epstein was convicted of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution and jailed for 18 months.

Despite the conviction and to the huge embarrassment of Buckingham Palace it failed to stop the Prince visiting his friend in New York following the disgraced banker’s release.

The pair were spotted strolling through Central Park together, sparking anger which eventually may have led to Andrew stepping down from his role as Britain’s trade envoy.

However, last week was the first time he has been named in a court document. It is alleged he took part in sexual activity with one of the young women claimed to have been ­trafficked by the American. Epstein served just over a year in jail before being released.

It later emerged the 61-year-old had secretly reached a non-prosecution deal months before his conviction with the US Justice Department that spared him a heavier punishment. Wonder how much that cost him?

Claims against the Duke of York by Jane Doe #3 came in her bid to join three other women as part of a lawsuit against US prosecutors for violating their rights.

Ghislain Maxwell

In the lawsuit Maxwell is alleged to have helped Andrew’s “abuse” of the girl, after helping Epstein to convert her “into what is commonly referred to as a “sex slave”. Maxwell has denied the claims. Last night Prince Andrew was holed up in a luxury Swiss ski chalet in the posh village of Verbier. The Prince is on a family holiday along with ex-wife Fergie.

Their daughters Beatrice and Eugenie are believed to be there with friends. As Andrew remained unseen, a Harvard law professor named ­alongside the Duke of York in the Florida court documents said the woman who has made claims against them “should not be believed”.

Alan Dershowitz told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “My only feeling is if she’s lied about me, she should not be believed about anyone else.”

Sexually Explicit Facebook Posts 'Completely Unacceptable' - Bioethics Chair, Dalhousie U

The misogynistic and sexually explicit Facebook posts by a group of male Dalhousie University dentistry students are "completely unacceptable," says one of four professors who recently went public about filing a formal complaint with the school.

Professor Françoise Baylis, along with Jocelyn Downie, Brian Noble and Jacqueline Warwick, allege some of the Facebook comments amount to threats of sexual assault and acts of sexual harassment.

Françoise Baylis, Canada research chair in bioethics and philosophy at Dalhousie University, is one of four professors who issued a formal complaint about the Facebook group postings. (Courtesy Government of Canada)

"It's 2015, it's completely unacceptable that you would think you could get away with saying that, let alone thinking it," said Baylis.

Francoise Baylis

"And to put in on paper, to think that it's something that's funny, to think that you're sending that message out for other people to think of as humourous or entertaining, [it's] completely unacceptable."

The professors' complaint urges the university to suspend students who actively participated in any of the offensive posts on the 2015 DDS Gentlemen's Club Facebook group. The professors say that action is warranted under the university's Code of Student Conduct to ensure the safety of students and staff in the program, as well as patients at its dentistry clinics.

Baylis, Canada Research Chair in bioethics and philosophy, told CBC News on Sunday that the university should have made the decision to suspend the male students before classes resumed this week — and said there is still time for that to change.

"There are still a few hours before tomorrow morning. I think it's still within the realm of possibility that the university could have an interim suspension."

Baylis said the suspension would allow the matter to go through the university's disciplinary committee to determine appropriate action.

'Unexplained delays'

Baylis said the professors initiated the complaint so that no student would have to come forward publicly, and as an addition to the restorative justice process chosen by the university.

She said the complaint was not submitted anonymously, but the group asked for confidentiality.

"To be perfectly frank, originally we had not intended for this to be public. We had intended to follow the process as we understood it at the university in submitting the formal complaint and allowing it to go through the steps that are necessary," Baylis said.

The professors came forward because there have been what the group called in a statement "unexplained delays" in processing the complaint, and the professors were worried the condition of confidentiality was responsible for the delay.

"And so we officially consented for our names to be disclosed if that were the problem."

The professors haven't received an answer from the university as to whether that was the case, Baylis said.

Postings about 'hate sex'

In an email to CBC News, Dalhousie's director of communications Brian Leadbetter responded to the professors' decision to make their complaint public.

"In December, we advised that Dalhousie will have our preliminary assessment of the formal complaint filed on December 22 completed in early January. We fully expect to share that update this week."

The dentistry faculty at Dalhousie came under fire after CBC News received screenshots of sexually explicit posts on the Class of DDS 2015 Gentlemen Facebook page.

In one of the posts, male students in the group voted on which woman they'd like to have "hate sex" with and joked about using chloroform on women.

Some people are upset about the restorative justice process that has been chosen, instead calling for harsher penalties for those alleged to have made the comments.

I wonder if the juvenile behaviour of the 'gentleman's club' can be traced to marijuana usage. I have made the point several times on my other blog that I believe regular marijuana use causes a cessation in mental and emotional maturity. That people get stuck in the era in which they start regular use of pot.

I also have stated that I believe the 'culture of rape' in North American universities has to do with the ready availability of pornography to adolescent boys. Is it possible that we are witnessing both effects in Dalhousie's Dental School? Are the 'gentlemen' stuck in adolescence both in their views of girls and their expression of those views?

Military Runs as Boko Haram Seize Last Town in Northern Borno State

A Nigerian soldier on patrol in Baga last year

The militant group Boko Haram has seized a town and key multinational military base in north-eastern Nigeria, officials and eyewitnesses say.

A senator in Borno state said troops had abandoned the base in the town of Baga after it was attacked on Saturday.

Residents of Baga, who fled by boat to neighbouring Chad, said many people had been killed and the town set ablaze.

Baga, scene of a Nigerian army massacre in 2013, was the last town in the Borno North area under government control.

It hosted the base of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), made up of troops from Nigeria, Chad and Niger.

Set up in 1998 to fight trans-border crime in the Lake Chad region, the force more recently took on Boko Haram.

Boko Haram attacks towns and villages on an almost daily basis, abducting people including young boys and girls, BBC Africa analyst Mary Harper reports.

The military, which includes Western advisers and surveillance, seems incapable of dealing with the problem, she adds.

Map of Nigeria showing the town of Baga in Borno state

'Helter skelter'
Residents who fled to Chad said they had woken to heavy gunfire as militants stormed Baga early on Saturday, attacking from all directions.

They said they had decided to flee when they saw the multi-national troops running away.

Maina Maaji Lawan, senator for Borno North, told BBC World Service civilians had run "helter skelter" - "some into the forest, some into the desert".

Communications with the town were cut off and exact information about casualty numbers could not be confirmed, he said.

"We are very dispirited," the senator added.

Confirming that the military had abandoned the base, he said people's frustration knew "no bounds" over the apparent fact that the military had not fought back.

"There is definitely something wrong that makes our military abandon their posts each time there is an attack from Boko Haram," the senator said. Gee, ya think?

Goodluck Jonathon's promise to destroy Boko Haram is off to a modest start. The last government controlled town in northeast Borno state should have been an impenetrable fortress, but instead, it's so weak that the military abandon the civilians and run for their lives.

The Nigerian military, like the government, is utterly inept, corrupt, and incapable of protecting its people, or completely indifferent to their fate. They did not make one single attempt to retrieve the Chibok girls, or any of the hundreds of other women and children kidnapped by Boko Haram. It is now too late to save them, they have been integrated into the militant gang of murderers and rapists.

Boko Haram is consolidating its hold on much of Borno state and there seems to be nothing anyone can do about it. The military appears to have done more harm than good in Borno.

Goodluck Jonathon, Abubaker Shekau - leader of Boko Haram,
anxious family after kidnappings from Chibok school

Military massacre

In April 2013, at least 37 people were killed and 2,275 homes destroyed in Baga by troops hunting Boko Haram fighters who had attacked a patrol, Human Rights Watch reported.

The New York-based organisation accused soldiers of engaging "more in destruction than in protection".

Before Saturday's attack on the town, the area was already a stronghold of Boko Haram, which has been waging a bloody insurgency to create an Islamic state since 2009.

More than 2,000 people were killed in militant violence last year in the north-east.

Days before the attack on Baga, suspected Boko Haram militants kidnapped about 40 boys and young men in a raid on the remote Borno village of Malari.

War on Christians in Libya - 3 Dead 20 Abducted Past 10 Days - by Religion of Peace

Libya has been plagued by instability as rival groups fight for control of the country

Masked gunmen in northern Libya have kidnapped 13 Coptic Christian workers from Egypt, just a week after seven others were abducted.

Eyewitnesses in the city of Sirte said suspected Islamist militants went to a residential compound late at night and asked to see identification papers.

Christians were then separated from the Muslims before reportedly being handcuffed and kidnapped.

It is the latest in a series of attacks on Egyptian Christians in Libya.

One witness said 15 masked gunmen went from room to room in the residential complex at about 02:30 local time (04:30 GMT) on Saturday morning.

"They had a list of full names of Christians in the building. While checking IDs, Muslims were left aside while Christians were grabbed," Hanna Aziz told the AP news agency.

Mr Aziz said he survived because he heard his friends screaming and didn't open his door. "I am still in my room waiting for them to take me. I want to die with them,"

All of those taken are believed to be men.

Libyan cities of Tripoli, Benghazi and Sirte and Egypt's capital Cairo

The incident came just a few days after seven other Coptic Christians from Egypt were reportedly abducted at a fake checkpoint in Sirte as they tried to leave the city.

There was also an attack on the home of an Egyptian Coptic doctor in Sirte in early December, in which he and his wife were killed. Local reports said the couple's daughter was also found dead after being abducted. The daughter was 18 years old, and I'm sure she went through Hell before being murdered. The abductors did leave her two younger sisters behind, thank God.

Libya is home to a very large community of both Muslim and Coptic Egyptians, with most working in the construction sector.

Coptic church near Misrata, Libya

The country has been plagued by instability and infighting since the toppling of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Rival militias now control most of the country including the two largest cities, Tripoli and Benghazi, and Sirte has become a safe haven for Islamist fighters.

Month-Long Nightmare of Rape for Japanese Student in India

Protesting the Culture of Rape in India

Five men have been arrested in India charged with kidnapping and repeatedly raping a Japanese student.

Police in the eastern city of Calcutta say the assaults took place over a period of more than a month from 23 November and in at least two locations.

They say an organised gang is suspected of targeting single women tourists.

Increasing numbers of rape cases are being reported and highlighted in India, prompting widespread outrage.

Pallav Kanti Ghosh, a Calcutta police commissioner, told BBC Hindi that two of the men - said to be brothers - approached the 23-year-old victim as tourist guides after she arrived in the city and checked into a hotel in an area popular with foreign tourists.

"One of the men spoke very fluent Japanese," he said.

"They said: 'We are guides and want to take you sight-seeing.'

"They took her to Digha [a beach resort in West Bengal state] on 23 November. There they sexually assaulted her and robbed her of 76,000 rupees [£1,200] using her ATM card."

She was then taken to Bodh Gaya, the holiest site of Buddhism and a major pilgrimage and tourist centre.

BBC map of Digha, Bodh Gaya and Varanasi in India

"There, the men handed her over to other gang members," Mr Ghosh said.

The woman was held captive for several weeks and the assaults continued, he said.

The conditions she was kept in were deplorable and she became very sick, so in late December her captors put her on a bus to the city of Varanasi from where she managed to travel to Calcutta, lodging a complaint via the Japanese consulate on 26 December.

Mr Ghosh said three of the men were arrested near Bodh Gaya and two in Calcutta. The Hindustan Times newspaper said some were held after their mobile phone calls were intercepted.

He said police were searching for other members of what he called an organised gang, several of whom are reportedly proficient in Japanese.

Sexual violence in India has been in the spotlight since a student was fatally gang-raped on a bus in Delhi two years ago.

That and other cases have prompted a domestic and international outcry.

Other foreign women targeted by gang-rapists include a Swiss cyclist assaulted in central India in 2013 and a Danish tourist attacked in Delhi a year ago.

Rape laws have been toughened in response to the crimes but correspondents say this has failed to act as a deterrent.

My question in all this is, did her parents report her missing? Did her hotel report her missing? If so, was anybody looking for her? If not, why not?

Miami Children's Emergency Room Pediatrician Charged with Rape, Child Sex Abuse

A pediatric emergency room physician formerly employed at Miami Children’s Hospital has turned himself in to police in North Carolina to face felony charges that he allegedly sexually assaulted a 15-year-old boy while on vacation in the Tar Heel state in July, according to police and news reports.

Tar Heel state is North Carolina. I know, it's the first time I heard it too.

Robert Kemp Crockett III, 62, surrendered at the Brunswick County Jail the week of Dec. 8 after a warrant was issued for his arrest, reported Star News Online. He was released on $50,000 bail.

Robert Kemp Crockett III

Crockett, who has lived in Coral Gables for nearly 20 years, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

According to the investigation report and arrest warrant issued by the Ocean Isle Beach Police Department, the alleged sexual assault occurred in the victim’s home on July 30 and 31. The incident was reported on Aug. 20.

The report describes the assault as “inappropriate touching” of the victim and notes that Crockett used his hand as a personal weapon, but does not provide further detail.

Crockett’s former employer, Miami Children’s Hospital, issued a written statement indicating that he no longer sees patients there.

“This physician is not currently employed by Miami Children’s Hospital,’’ said Jennifer Caminas, a spokeswoman. “His medical staff privileges were suspended pending the outcome of the investigation. The hospital is an advocate for children and takes this matter very seriously.”

Crockett had been employed at Miami Children’s since at least 1989, where he served as director of the hospital’s emergency department.

Star News Online, which covers the Wilmington, N.C., area, cited the Ocean Isle Beach police chief as saying that Crockett was in the area on vacation during that time, and that the incident with the boy was not prearranged.

Felony charges against Crockett include indecent liberties with a child, second-degree sexual offense and statutory rape. He is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 2.

According to Crockett’s physician license on file with the Florida Department of Health, he began practicing medicine in the state in 1982. Crockett’s online profile does not show any disciplinary actions against him in the past 10 years.

A graduate of the Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, he also is licensed to practice medicine in that state.

Mom Makes Child Porn With Her Daughter, Dad Lies To Cops About It

I should start a list of 'great American families'. This one would make the list.

PERRY, Box Elder County, Utah — Investigators say the father of a child whose nude photo was allegedly taken and sold by the child's mother lied to them about his knowledge of the abuse.

Brian Dean Raehal, 55, was charged on Dec. 23 with obstructing justice, a second-degree felony, and failure to report abuse, a class B misdemeanor.

Detectives believe Starla Rae McCabe, 45, of Perry, photographed and sold nude photos of her grade school-aged child. She was charged in December with 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.

In March, a relative discovered nude photographs of the child on the child's Nintendo DSI, according to a search warrant affidavit. Three days later, the child was interviewed by the Division of Child and Family Services and told a caseworker that McCabe had taken "loads" of pictures of the child "without any clothes on," the affidavit states.

The child told investigators that the "mother would then show the pictures to men," according to the affidavit. The child also said the mother "printed the pictures and sold them to people for $100," another court document states.

The Nintendo was turned over to the Garland City Police Department, which turned it over to the Box Elder County Sheriff's Office in November. Nineteen pornographic pictures were found on the Nintendo, police said. So, why are there only 10 charges rather than 19 against the mom?

McCabe, who has a history of drug abuse, was interviewed by detectives on Nov. 26. She told investigators she took pictures of her child's genitals to show the child "what it looks like," then declined to answer other questions about the photos, a detective wrote.

Raehal, the father of the child, "lied to a detective about his knowledge regarding the detective's investigation into an aggravated child sex abuse case," charging documents state, and "also failed to report the allegation of the sexual abuse to authorities, when the victim disclosed it."

A preliminary hearing for Raehal on the two charges is scheduled for Monday. A preliminary hearing for McCabe on the exploitation charges is scheduled for Jan. 12.

Prince Andrew One of the Celebrities Named in Sexual Abuse of Underage Girls

Prince Andrew

Buckingham Palace has denied "any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors" by Prince Andrew, after he was named in US court papers.

A woman named him in documents she filed in a Florida court over how prosecutors handled a case against financier Jeffrey Epstein.

She claims that between 1999 and 2002 she was forced by Epstein to have sex with the prince when she was a minor.

The palace said it would not comment in detail on the legal proceedings.

But a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: "This relates to long-standing and ongoing civil proceedings in the United States, to which the Duke of York is not a party.

"As such we would not comment on the detail. However, for the avoidance of doubt, any suggestion of impropriety with under age minors is categorically untrue".

The woman says she was forced to have sexual relations with the prince in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island owned by Epstein.

Former friendship
The accusation is contained in a motion filed in a Florida court this week, which is part of a lawsuit over how federal prosecutors handled the case of Epstein.

The court document, first reported on by Politico Magazine, alleges: "Epstein also sexually trafficked the then-minor Jane Doe (a name used in US legal proceedings for people with anonymity), making her available for sex to politically connected and financially powerful people.

"Epstein's purposes in 'lending' Jane Doe (along with other young girls) to such powerful people were to ingratiate himself with them for business, personal, political, and financial gain, as well as to obtain potential blackmail information."

Prince Andrew is one of three well-known men named in the court document who it alleges had sexual relations with the woman.

BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt said the documents related to "a long-running, complicated legal action which began in 2011".

"What these court documents do which hasn't been done before is that an unnamed woman alleges she was forced to have sexual relations with Prince Andrew when she was a minor, three times in three different locations," he added.

The prince has previously been criticised for his former friendship with Epstein, who was convicted of sex offences in 2008.

The pair were photographed meeting in December 2010, after the tycoon had served an 18-month prison sentence for soliciting a minor for prostitution, and the prince had also visited Epstein at his Florida home over the years.

Jeffrey Epstein

The prince stepped down as the UK special representative for trade and investment in July 2011 after 10 years in the role.

From the Independent

Reports in the US media say many of the A-list celebrities broke off any links with the former maths teacher after his arrest and conviction of having sex with an underage girl whom he had solicited. His arrest followed an 11-month undercover investigation at a Florida mansion that Epstein used.

In 2008, he pleaded guilty to a single charge of soliciting prostitution and was handed a 18-month jail sentence. He served 13 months in jail and was obliged to register as a sex offender. A 2011 report in the New York Post said that he celebrated his release from jail and his return to a property he maintains in New York with Prince Andrew.

The Independent names Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker as having received free flights to Africa on Epstein's jet. It makes no claim that either were involved in sexual escapades arranged by Epstein. Nor does it claim that Bill Clinton was involved in 'sexcapades' with Epstein, but it does say that - 
Bill Clinton flew on multiple occasions to Epstein’s private Caribbean island between 2002 and 2005 as he developed his philanthropic post-presidential career.

According to the Guardian, the document alleges:

Between 1999 and 2002, the woman and three others were repeatedly sexually abused by Epstein, who also “loaned her out” to other rich and famous men.

The men named include Prince Andrew and Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor. But they are not named as parties to the claim, meaning that have been unable to respond to it.

The woman making claims against Prince Andrew was 17 at the time. She is known as Jane Doe 3 in the document and asked the Guardian to stay anonymous

She claims to have met Epstein when she was approached by Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of Robert Maxwell and Epstein’s close friend.

Maxwell is then alleged to have helped Epstein convert the girl into a “sex slave”, abusing her in a number of international locations.

Ghislain Maxwell

The document is a motion against the prosecutors who handled Epstein’s case, rather than against Epstein or any of the other men named. It is an application to allow two more of alleged victims, referred to as Jane Doe 3 and Jane Doe 4, to be able to join the civil action. Jane Doe 3 is the woman who has made the accusations against Prince Andrew.

Man Employed at Gates Estate Charged With Possession of Child-Rape Pornography

An engineer employed at the home of Bill and Melinda Gates has been charged with possession of child porn after he was discovered to have more than 6,000 images depicting rape and sexual abuse.

Rick Allen Jones, 51, of Seattle, allegedly had thousands of images stashed on his home computer, according to court documents this week.

According to prosecutors, the engineer had shared the images using his Gmail account. 

Jones worked for Bill and Melinda Gates
at their waterfront home in Medina, Washington

Investigators were able to identify some of the children in the images, according to Kiro TV.

Police began to investigate Jones in 2013 after tracking him down from a sordid image which was posted online.

According to Seattle PI, the image showed the sexual exploitation of two young boys.

Cops went to look for him at his home in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle in March.

Jones was finally tracked down to his workplace at the tech billionaire's $147-million-dollar, waterfront estate in Medina, Washington.

Jones' home in
Ballard, Seattle

He was interviewed in a security office at the estate by detectives, according to Seattle PI.

While he was being interviewed, police went into his home with a search warrant and found more than 6,000 child porn images. 

Among the horrific images, were photographs showing the rape of a boy around the age of ten and the rape of a girl of the same age.

None of the alleged crimes took place at the Gates' home. The Microsoft founder has not released a statement on the allegations against Jones.

It is not clear if he is still employed at the mansion.

Jones has not been jailed but was ordered to stay away from children, according to reports. He is due to appear in court in the coming days.

This unfortunate report doesn't tell us whether Jones took the photos of the rapes or down-loaded them. If the former is the case, then he should not be out on bail. If the answer is not known, then he should not be out on bail until it is.