Hundreds of child sex crimes investigated locally each year in 1 county in Wisconsin
Millions nationally
GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) The case of an Arkansas man arrested in Brown County for the sexual assault of a baby has outraged many people.
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| Derek Gates |
While it's the kind of crime that's hard to fathom, child advocates, and even police, say sexual assaults of children happen more often than we think -- hundreds of times a year.
With that prevalence, they say there are key lessons for parents, especially when it comes to believing their child could be a victim. Investigators and child advocates stress any child, from any background, could be victimized.
Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin says, last year alone, it worked with 343 children who were sexually abused, just in Brown County.
If you were to extrapolate 343 children for every county and equivalent in the USA, it would equal more than 1 million children being sexually abused in America in 2016. But I'm guessing that Brown County's population of about 260,000 people is on the low side compared to most counties in US. In fact, the average county has a population of more than 100,000; 4 times that of Brown County. Consequently, we could make the assumption that the number of children being treated for sexual abuse each year in the US is very close to 4 million. And, of course, those are only the ones we know about.
Green Bay Police handled 81 incidents of some sort of child sexual assault in 2016.
The problem is clearly not going away. Willow Tree Cornerstone Child Advocacy Center, where child victims are interviewed in a comforting and safe environment, had four children through that center just by noon Tuesday.
"You don't hear about these cases as much because nobody wants to hear about them," says Green Bay Police detective Cassie Pakkala.
But investigators and child advocates say everyone, especially parents, needs to hear about them to make their children safer. Not only that, they say parents need to talk with their kids to make sure they feel comfortable telling them anything, they need to believe the child when they do.
"It's human nature to not want to believe your child was abused by your husband or your boyfriend or your dad or your brother. You want them to be lying, right? You want it to not be true," says Sue Lockwood, Director of the Sexual Assault Center and Child Advocacy Center. "That's probably the most disturbing thing in my work is when we have a child come to us and it's very clear to us that their parent doesn't believe them. It's very disheartening."
Pakkala's job is to help those children through what most of us would consider one of the most challenging, yet important jobs there is. "Some of them don't know the words or can't explain. Some are too young to sit still, but some provide an awful lot of detail," she says.
Green Bay Police work so many cases of child sexual assault, that is all Pakkala and another detective do every day.
"A lot of times, these children, they have no reason to be talking about topics that are so mature, so adult, so sexual in nature. You look at them, and they're in second grade and they shouldn't have had that exposure, even with television," says Pakkala.
Family Services says most cases of abuse happen by someone the victim or their family knew and trusted.
"A lot of times they groom parents first, and so the parents like this person, know this person, trust this person," says Lockwood. "And then they groom the child and get the child in their good graces. And so the child has also now seen that their parents like this person, know this person, so that also decreases the likelihood of them telling, because they think mom and dad won't believe them."
The key is believing a child, letting them tell what happened and then contacting police.
Lockwood says offenders will pick kids they think are vulnerable, neglected or don't talk with their parents. Those tough conversations can go a long way to preventing or stopping abuse.
"Children shouldn't have to protect themselves. It's our job to do that," adds Lockwood.
Inmate distributed child porn while in Tennessee prison;
sentenced to 23 years
By Donna Smith/The Oak RidgerWARTBURG, Tenn. — A convicted child sex offender has been sentenced to another 23 years in prison for possessing and distributing child pornography on his cellphone — while serving time in the Morgan County Regional Correctional Facility in Wartburg.
They have cell phones in prison? Crazy!
Grippe was serving an eight-year sentence — for his 2012 conviction on possessing images depicting minors engaging in sex — when his cell at the Morgan County prison was searched and a cellphone was confiscated. The release stated that 161 images and 38 videos of child sexual abuse were found on the phone — including material involving children as young as infants.
“Additionally, the forensic search revealed conversations regarding sexually abusing children that Grippe had with other individuals using a phone application called KIK messenger,” the release stated. According to an online download site, Kik Messenger is a mobile app that allows the user to chat with friends one-on-one, start or join group chats, share photos or video, and video chat with other people.
Grippe’s phone was listed in court records as “contraband,” meaning that Grippe had the phone in the prison illegally, a U.S. Attorney’s Office spokeswoman said in reply to The Oak Ridger’s questions.
Grippe pleaded guilty to the charges in January 2017.
An investigator with the Knoxville Police Department Internet Crimes Against Children task force received two “Cybertips” from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in August 2016. The Cybertips stated that a Google account user attempted to upload files containing images of child sexual abuse.
The resulting investigation revealed that an email address associated with that Google account belonged to Grippe, the release stated. More Cybertips from the National Center rev
Indian snowshoer indicted on sex abuse charge
in upstate NY
By CHRIS KNIGHT - Lake Placid News
SARANAC LAKE - An Essex County grand jury has indicted Tanveer Hussain for allegedly having inappropriate contact with a 12-year-old Saranac Lake girl.
The grand jury returned the indictment Wednesday against the 25-year-old from Kashmir, India, charging him with one count of first-degree sexual abuse, a felony, and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, according to a press release Essex County District Attorney Kristy Sprague issued this afternoon. Saranac Lake village police had arrested Hussain on the same charges on March 1, two days after he competed in the World Snowshoe Championships at Dewey Mountain Recreation Center.
"Hussain is alleged to have subjected a 12 year old female to sexual contact and engaged in inappropriate conversations with said child during the time he was in Saranac Lake," Sprague wrote.
The girl told police that on the night of Feb. 27, two days after the snowshoe race, Hussain kissed her twice with an open mouth and groped one of her breasts.
Hussain has previously denied the charges and declined a plea deal that would have let him return to India because he wants to clear his name. For the past five months, Hussain has been living in the home of village Trustee Rich Shapiro and his wife Lindy Ellis, who bailed him out of the Essex County Jail, awaiting the next court proceedings in the case.
Hussain's lawyer, Brian Barrett of Lake Placid, said this afternoon that he hadn't heard about the indictment until this reporter told him about it. He said was disappointed that Sprague announced it in a press release before notifying him.
"This is all about the press," Barrett said. "That's what this whole case is all about."
An indictment is when a grand jury, a specialty jury of citizens who handle multiple cases, decides there is enough evidence to proceed to trial.
An arraignment date in Superior Court has not yet been set, Sprague said. Judge Keith Bruno is set to preside over the case.
Hussain's arrest earlier this year made headlines around the world. He and his manager, Abid Khan, had fought to get to the World Snowshoe Championships, and the local community had fought to get them here.
The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi initially denied their visa applications. Some people thought that decision had to do with President Donald Trump's executive order barring travel into the U.S. from seven foreign countries - even though India wasn't one of them - since the visa denial happened the same weekend the order was issued. U.S. officials later said the denial had no connection to Trump's executive order. They reportedly feared Hussain and Khan might not return home due to a lack of "strong ties" to their home country.
Village Mayor Clyde Rabideau reached out for help from New York's senators, Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, who contacted the embassy in New Delhi. Hussain and Khan were later told they could reapply for visas and were eventually approved to travel here.
When they arrived in February, they got a celebrity welcome. Rabideau hosted a reception for them in the village offices. They were given free lodging at the Porcupine Inn bed and breakfast. Restaurants offered them free meals. Local residents donated more than $1,600 on a crowdsourcing website the mayor started to cover some of their travel expenses.
The day before the snowshoe races, Hussain and Khan met with Saranac Lake Middle School seventh-graders, who had written letters on their behalf to Schumer and Gillibrand. They fielded questions from the group and showed them a series of winter recreation videos filmed in Kashmir. The girl who later alleged Hussain abused her was in the audience.
She told police Hussain kissed and groped her at the Porcupine, where she had gone to see him. In a separate statement to police, the girl's mother said she saw Facebook messages from Hussain on her daughter's phone that indicated the two had "made out" and that Hussain had touched the girl's breasts.
Khan previously told the Enterprise the girl had followed him and Hussain around in an affectionate way during their stay in Saranac Lake. Khan said Hussain told him the girl tried to make an advance on him that night at the Porcupine, but he turned her away.
Shapiro has said he's seen the Facebook messages between the girl and Hussain. He hasn't been willing to provide them to the Enterprise because the case is still pending, but he claims many of them were written by a friend in India who texted back to Hussain how to respond. Shapiro also claims Hussain made no admission in the messages that he touched the girl inappropriately.
In late April, Barrett asked Bruno to change his client's bail conditions so he doesn't have to stay in just Essex and Franklin counties. He wanted Hussain to be able to travel to a Kashmiri community in New York City that could support him. Barrett said today that the judge denied his request for a bail modification.
Former N Dakota tribal leader's wife pleads guilty
for not reporting child sex abuse
CAROLINE GRUESKIN Bismarck Tribune
The wife of a former Cannon Ball leader has agreed to plead guilty to failing to report the child sexual abuse of which her husband was convicted in April.
Rhonda Krein Fool Bear signed a plea agreement Wednesday. The document said she did not tell law enforcement after the girl disclosed to her that she was being sexually abused by Robert Fool Bear Sr.
Krein Fool Bear, who was then a teacher at Solen High School, was mandated by law to tell authorities about the alleged abuse. In exchange for the plea, the U.S. attorney's office agreed to drop a second charge alleging that she lied at Fool Bear's jury trial.
Court documents filed by the prosecutor allege that Krein Fool Bear lied at trial when she said that, after learning of the alleged abuse, she told a colleague, who may have called the victim's school. Krein Fool Bear is the person who made an anonymous call to Standing Rock High School, documents allege. That phone call is what started the investigation that ended in Fool Bear's conviction.
Krein Fool Bear's attorney, Jackie Stebbins, declined to comment on the case.
Krein Rhonda Fool Bear faces a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a $5,000 fine. She is set for a change of plea hearing on Oct. 16 and sentencing on Jan. 16 before Chief Judge Daniel Hovland at the federal courthouse in Bismarck.
Her husband was convicted in April on four felony counts, including child sexual abuse and incest. The prosecution alleged he repeatedly raped a girl over a period of at least four years, beginning when she was 10 years old. Fool Bear maintained his innocence at trial.
The former district chairman of Cannon Ball is scheduled for sentencing on Sep. 21 before Hovland. He faces a minimum of 30 years in prison. In a recent memorandum, the U.S. attorney's office recommended that he serve life.
"(The victim) may never have the opportunity to live a normal life because of the abuse imposed upon her by Fool Bear; as such, Fool Bear does not deserve the opportunity to reclaim his normal life," Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Delorme wrote in the filing.
Right on!
Montana man pleads guilty to child porn possession
Seaborn Larson, Great Falls Tribune
A 42-year-old man on Tuesday pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography that was discovered by investigators in January at his Great Falls home.
Manuel David Orozco changed his plea in federal court on Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Johnston. U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris will set a date for Orozco's sentencing hearing.
Orozco was initially charged in Cascade County District Court before his case was elevated to the federal level in June.
In January, Orozco's IP address appeared in an investigation pursued by agents of the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, who were seeking individuals downloading child pornography files from the internet.
Agents searched Orozco's home on the 200 block of 17th Avenue South on Jan. 30, according to district court documents. Upon their arrival, agents seized his computer, a cell phone, an SD and a thumb drive. Charging documents state Orozco told investigators the computer was his and he had used file-sharing software to download porn, but not child pornography. He shortly after stopped speaking with police and requested a lawyer.
In U.S. District Court in Great Falls on Tuesday, Orozco entered a guilty plea, in accordance to a deal signed with prosecutors on July 17, in which federal prosecutors agreed to recommend his offense level be dropped two levels. The agreement isn't binding, and Morris can still hand down a maximum 20-year sentence in federal prison.
According to court documents, agents found more than 600 images on his computer, containing images of children involved in sexual acts, and in some cases under 12 years old.
Orozco, father of a 10-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter, said Tuesday he had suffered from depression after his wife died in 2007. In early 2016, he said he spent a month in a Bend, Oregon, institution where he was treated for depression.
"After I lost my wife, I really haven't been OK, I guess," he told Johnston.
Orozco has previously been convicted of sexual abuse of children in Oregon in 2010. When he was 37, he was convicted of statutory rape of a 16-year-old old girl, as well as attempted sexual abuse with another girl in the same case. For those charges he spent 30 months in Oregon prison and completed his supervised release program.
Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Thomas Bartleson told Johnston on Tuesday prosecutors have not yet discovered any victims in the case who are seeking restitution. If any come forward, however, Orozco owes any victims a mandatory minimum restitution of $10,000.
Ohio man sentenced in child sex case
Craig Shoup,
FREMONT - A Fremont man who allowed a Bellevue man access to raping two minor children was sentenced Tuesday to three years prison after pleaded guilty to felony tampering with evidence and child endangerment charges.
David LaValle, 41, clad in an orange jail jumpsuit and shackles, hung his head as Sandusky County Prosecutor Tim Braun detailed the incident in which LaValle and his wife, Heather LaValle, allowed Kenneth Jordan, 68, to sexually abuse the two children in exchange for Jordan paying the LaValles' household bills.
While addressing the court, LaValle said he was sorry and that he loved the children whom he allowed to be raped by Jordan.
"I'm deeply sorry and I don't know if they can ever forgive me," LaValle said. "I ask the court to please forgive me for everything."
LaValle's attorney, Chris Fiegl of Fremont, asked Judge John Dewey of Sandusky County Common Pleas Court for compassion in sentencing LaValle, saying his client does not have a prior criminal record and is a low risk for re-offending in the future.
"He has accepted full responsibility and he is going to have to live with that," Fiegl said.
After LaValle spoke, Dewey addressed the 41-year-old Fremont man. "I'm afraid the damage is done," Dewey said. "Your apologies are a bit empty."
Dewey then sentenced LaValle to three years in prison.
LaValle will not have to register as a sex offender, but Dewey said LaValle will be placed on five years of post-prison release control. "You did it for profit and you should be punished," Dewey said.
LaValle's wife, Heather, 38, will be sentenced at 11 a.m. Aug. 9 in Sandusky County Common Pleas Court after pleading guilty to tampering with evidence and child endangerment charges.
Jordan, who pleaded guilty to rape charges, was sentenced July 18 to eight years in prison by Dewey.
Only 8 years for 'raping' two, or three, little children? Why? It was rape!
Braun said the case against Heather and David LaValle did not ascend to human or sex trafficking charges, calling the case "borderline" for those charges. Braun said the children were sexually abused under the LaValles' watch, but said Jordan agreed to pay household bills for the LaValle's in exchange for "alone time" with the children.
Had the LaValles knowingly sent the children to Jordan for sexual favors, Braun said the case could have ascended to human sex trafficking charges. "Mr. LaValle put children at risk knowing he was profiting from his relationship with Mr. Jordan," Braun said.
Fremont Police Detective Jason Kiddey began investigating the rape case against Jordan last September and said several key pieces of evidence seized during a December raid led to the Lavalles and a subsequent search of their Stillwell Avenue home.
Several hard drives, storage devices and cell phones were seized during the search and sent to the Perrysburg Police Department to be examined for possible child pornography.
Kiddey said three juveniles were identified as victims of Jordan, two of whom were linked to David and Heather LaValle.
An iPhone belonging to a juvenile was confiscated in January that authorities believe contains child pornography.
Victims' advocate Deb Wells said she met with both minor girls who were raped by Jordan and said the older girl, now 13, is exhibiting more problems stemming from the sexual abuse sustained. The other victim linked to the LaValles is 10 years old.
Wells told the court that the 13-year-old victim "was able to tell me some of the things and how they happened."
California softball coach linked to
child sex crimes arrested
By Paola Baker
VICTORVILLE — Authorities placed a Victorville softball coach behind bars Monday after linking him to the sexual abuse of a teenage girl on his team.
Armando Felix, 42, was arrested after an “extensive joint investigation” connected him to repeated sexual abuse of an underage girl in 2013 and 2014. San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department officials stated Felix, who is also a federal correctional officer, reportedly met the victim while coaching her softball team.
Authorities launched an investigation on July 20 after receiving information that Felix had sexually assaulted the girl “on several occasions” in Victorville. The repeated sexual abuse began when the victim was 15 years old, authorities said.
Together with agents from the Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General and detectives from the Sheriff’s Department Crimes Against Children Detail (CAC), the investigation led to Felix’s arrest on Monday.
Officials said the Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General worked with CAC detectives as Felix is employed as a federal correctional officer. Felix has been a softball coach for several years, officials said, and investigators are releasing Felix’s booking photo as there is the possibility of additional victims.
Felix was arrested on suspicion of child molestation, oral copulation with a person under 16 and penetration with a foreign object of a victim under 16. He remains in custody at the Adelanto Detention Center in lieu of $100,000 bail, booking records show, and is expected to appear in court Wednesday.
Anyone with information related to this investigation, or other victims, is urged to contact Detective Jacob Gault, Crimes Against Children Detail at 909-387-3615. Persons wishing to remain anonymous can contact the We-Tip Hotline at 1-800-782-7463 or online at www.wetip.com.
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