Teacher, Prison Guard, Netflix on P&P List Today

Teacher arrested for sex with students - California
Prison guard arrested for indecency with 5 y/o - Texas
Man could face life for child sex abuse and exploitation - Utah
Girl sues Netflix & documentary maker for revealing her ID - Colorado

Teacher, 40, and his former student girlfriend, 22, accused of sex with two younger girls

By Chris Spargo For Dailymail.com

A high school teacher has been arrested for allegedly engaging in sexual relationships with two former students. 

Gary Bettencourt, 40, of Turlock, California is accused of having a relationship with one victim, 17, from early 2015 until she graduated last June at Pacheco High and another student over the course of two years when he worked at Los Banos High ten years ago.

The most recent victim has also accused Bettencourt's girlfriend, 22-year-old Devyn Egan, of molesting her as well. Egan was formerly a student of Bettencourt's in high school.

Trouble: High school teacher Gary Bettencourt (left)  of Turlock, California is accused of having a sexual relationship with two students while his girlfriend Devyn Egan (right) is accused of molesting one of the victims

Details: The pair allegedly had a relationship with one victim, 17, from early 2015 until she graduated last June at Pacheco High (above)

Prosecutors filed charges against the couple on Monday according to ABC, and believe that there could possibly be more victims.

'Throughout the investigation, we received several pieces of evidence which included social media. We recovered information from computers so we were able to tie some information to our second victim,' said Los Banos Police Chief Ray Reyna.

'Their charges involve unlawful sexual acts with a minor, lewd contact, and several other charges related to that type of conduct.'

Reyna later added; 'We believe there are more victims, and the detectives are working to identify them through the social media communications.'

Drugs and alcohol also played a part in these relationships according to the Merced Sun-Star. 

Dr. Steve Tietjen, the superintendent for Los Banos High where Bettencourt worked from 2002 to 2010, said; 'It's very disturbing. You hope that it never happens during your career, and when it does, it's like a punch in the stomach and it's a betrayal of the profession.'

Bettencourt, who had been on unpaid leave since September when these accusations first became public, is now on unpaid leave and being held with Egan at Merced County jail.

Los Banos, CA

Telford guard quits job amid child sex abuse investigation

By Field Walsh TXK Today

Allegations of child sexual abuse led a Bowie County man to quit his job as a correctional officer with the Barry Telford Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice last month.

Michael Avis, 31, resigned his position mid-January. He is currently being held in the Bowie County jail following an arrest for indecency with a child by contact, court records show. Bail is set at $100,000.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Avis was babysitting a 5-year-old girl on Christmas Eve while her mother was out shopping. The girl told her mother of the alleged abuse days later and allegedly told staff at the Children’s Advocacy Center in Texarkana that it wasn’t the first time Avis touched her inappropriately on top of her clothing.

If convicted of indecency with a child by sexual contact, Avis faces two to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.

The Barry Telford Unit is located in New Boston, Texas

Smithfield man arrested for downloading child porn now faces child sex abuse charges

by Will Feelright, Cache Valley Daily

LOGAN — A 43-year-old Smithfield man, previously arrested for downloading child pornography, now has been charged with multiple counts of sexually abusing a child.

Daniel Stapley appeared in 1st District Court Monday morning. Judge Thomas Willmore scheduled a preliminary hearing for February 23, when state attorneys will present their evidence in the three cases. At that time, the judge will determine if the defendant will be bound over for trial.

Stapley was originally arrested after investigators received evidence that he was accessing images of child porn over the internet. Deputies served a search warrant to his parent’s home, where he was currently living in the basement. They seized his smart phone and took it as evidence. He was later charged with seven counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.

On February 6, Stapley was arrested while out on bond. State attorneys filed four new charges against him, including aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony, sex abuse of a child, a second-degree felony, dealing in materials harmful to a minor, a third-degree felony and a misdemeanor of lewdness involving a child.

During Monday’s court appearance, Judge Willmore ordered Stapley to remain in jail on a new bail of $40,000.

Stapley could face up to life in prison if found guilty.

Girl sues Netflix and documentary producer for using her image and name in film about child sex trafficking

By Amanda Ulrich For Dailymail.com

The 14-year-old wears a cheery red shirt with her hair tucked behind her ears, a baby in her arms.

A series of similar photos flick past in the documentary: the girl with the baby, peering down at her child protectively, the duo together in front of a white board filled with upcoming activities.

These seemingly innocuous pictures, featured in the 2013 Netflix movie 'Tricked', have been at the center of a sensitive legal battle between the entertainment streaming service, the company that produced the documentary - Three Generations - and a victim of sexual abuse from Colorado.

The girl in the photos, referred to simply as 'Jane Roe' in court documents, sued Netflix and Three Generations for using her real first name and personal photos in the documentary, which highlights the inner workings of human trafficking and prostitution across the country. The original filing asked for damages in excess of $100,000.

Now, DailyMail.com has learned that Jane Roe has dropped the case against Netflix - but not Three Generations - in a move that would suggest some sort of agreement was worked out between the parties. 

When DailyMail.com asked Jane Roe's attorney Ahson Wali if there was a settlement involved, he said: 'We had to make a strategic decision,' and would not comment further. 

The documentary is still streaming on Netflix.  

In a Netflix documentary titled 'Tricked', Sergeant Daniel Steele of the Denver Police Department gives details about the criminal case against Jane's abusers and how he came to know the then 14-year-old

Steele (pictured here with Jane and her daughter) said in the film: 'Of course she's going to go back to what she's used to,' insinuating that Jane had returned to prostitution

Now at least 18 years old, Jane and her attorneys argued in court documents  that because she was the victim of a sexual crime, her name and identity should not have been released to the public.

They claimed that none of her private information or history was available from any public source before the documentary was filmed.

In August of 2016, Jane realized she was a focus of the documentary when a relative told her about the film. 

Sergeant Daniel Steele of the Denver Police Department, one of the investigating officers in the case, is filmed giving details about the criminal case against Jane's abusers and how he came to know the young teenager. 

'We'd had a girl that my wife and I were mentoring named [Jane], who was actually the same age as my eldest daughter,' Steele said.

'[Jane] was 14 years old and she started living with her mother, who was a drug addict, and mom decided that it would be a good idea to have her daughter start performing sex acts on local drug dealers to get drugs for free.'

Eventually, she was taken out of the custody of her mother and placed in the foster care system. Steele hoped Jane, and her infant daughter, would be able to 'succeed' and 'move on' from her tough upbringing by being a part of his family.

Steele said: 'We welcomed Jane into our home, she spent Christmas with my family. I cared a lot for her.

'For some reason, there's a lot of animosity between social services and the police department. There was distrust from the start of me, what my motivations were. We were told what was best for Jane was not to be with us.

'I mean she was a kid, and she's been trounced on her whole life and treated like s**t her whole life, and of course she's going to go back to what she's used to.

'I tried to save her and I couldn't save her, and coming to the realization that you can't save all of them is hard. There's always at least one, and it's really hard when you try to do everything you can for them and they still fail.

'If she called me today and said, "Hey, I messed up, and I got involved in this environment," I will go help her. If she was locked up again, I would go visit her again,' Steele said in the film, choking up at several moments.

Despite Steele's emotional testimony, Jane said she suffered 'tremendous humiliation' after watching the documentary. Her full name was used in the final credits, along with the series of photos. 

'The statements that Steele made were not only false and defamatory [referring to Jane 'going back to what she was used to', i.e. prostitution], but Plaintiff's name and identity were of a private nature. Plaintiff was a victim of sexual crimes as a minor,' court documents filed by Jane's attorneys stated.

Jane goes on to describe how the film has affected her personally

'Having my identity and personal details exposed in the documentary Tricked has caused me severe anxiety and grief. I fear further public disclosure of my identity and the abuse I suffered as a minor.

'I believe that the publicity of these allegations will cause me to be re-traumatized and endure the same emotional turmoil I originally experienced as a victim of these crimes. The thought causes me severe stress and anxiety.

'I fear the possible impact on my daughter if the details of my abuse become public. My daughter is not old enough to understand what happened to me, and I fear my daughter will learn of what happened to me from some other source.

'I fear that my daughter will endure significant emotional distress if she learns of the way in which I was victimized as a child. 

'I am currently a stay-at-home mother, but someday would like to obtain an education and a career. I fear that I will not be able to obtain employment if the information revealed in Tricked becomes more widely known to the public,' Jane wrote. 

In other scenes of the documentary, Steele is shown arresting various pimps accused of abusing women and gathering evidence with other police officers. Several named former prostitutes also give their own personal take on the damaging industry.

In the lawsuit agaist Three Generations, Jane Roe is  seeking actual damages, emotional distress damages and all legal fees in a trial by jury. 

DailyMail.com has decided not to disclose the name of the victim.