Former Tallahassee piano teacher arrested on
child sex abuse charges
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A former Tallahassee piano teacher accused of sexually abusing a child in an after-school program has been arrested.
Jeffrey William Henry, 52, is accused of committing sexual battery upon a child from the years 2007 - 2011 when the child was between the ages of 5 - 9 years old.
The abuse is alleged to have taken place while the student was receiving piano lessons at the School of Arts and Sciences at 3208 Thomasville Road in Tallahassee.
The Tallahassee Police Department said the agency is working closely with the School of Arts and Sciences and Stubb’s Music Center to review records and collect evidence.
The probable cause affidavit says Henry performed sexual acts in front of the child, touched her inappropriately and showed her pornographic images.
Such incidents may number more than 100, according to documents.
The victim only described the abuse to her mother in July of 2016 when her mom was trying to talk to her about bad people that may try to hurt her, the affidavit said.
The mother then sent an anonymous letter to the School of Arts and Sciences that said Henry had molested her child and urged the school to fire him. After receiving the letter, the after-school program director told investigators, the school stopped allowing Henry to provide lessons.
In an interview with investigators, Henry, arrested Wednesday, was asked what should happen to someone convicted of molesting a child.
Initially, Henry said he had no opinion. But when pressed, according to the probable cause affidavit, he said that "the person should 'probably go to jail. Then they should get some counseling.'"
He is charged with sexual asault of a victim under age 12 and with lewd and lascivious behavior on a victim less than age 16.
TPD investigators are asking people who believe they were victims of Henry to call them at (850) 891-4200.
Foley man found guilty of first degree sodomy,
sexual abuse of a child under 12
On Aug. 9, Kenneth Pitisci, 77, was found guilty of sodomy in the first degree and sexual abuse of a child less than 12 by a Baldwin County jury.
Because Pitisci was over 21 and the victim was six years old or less at the time of the offense, the sentence enhancements require that he be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
The trial began Monday, Aug. 7 under Circuit Court Judge Jody Bishop and was prosecuted by Child Sex Crimes Assistant District Attorney Matt Simpson.
Simpson said many agencies and organizations came together to help bring the case to a successful close, including the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, the Cobb County Georgia Police Department, SafePath Child Advocacy Center in Marietta, Ga., CAREHouse in Baldwin County and the investigators and victim service officers with the Baldwin County District Attorney’s Office.
“Prosecuting this case was a true team effort,” Simpson said. “The victims' family in this case are pleased with the verdict and are happy to have this process over."
The sentencing hearing for the case is set for Sept. 21.
Newly ordained priest arrested for alleged sexual abuse of teenage girl in New Jersey
Nurek allegedly put his hand under a girl's skirt and touched her buttocks, officials said. The girl is between 13 and 16 years old.
He allegedly told the child, "You're sexy," the Daily Record reports.
Nurek came to the U.S. in 2015 from Poland, and was ordained to the priesthood on July 1 of this year, according ot the Diocese of Paterson.
He was set to begin his assignment this month at St. Catherine of Siena in Mountain Lakes, N.J., the diocese said. But that has been "concluded" in the wake of his arrest.
Additionally, the diocese said, Nurek has been placed on administrative leave and his faculties have been revoked.
"The Diocese is deeply saddened by the charges filed against Rev. Nurek and offers its prayers to everyone involved, especially the minor who has come forward," the Diocese of Paterson said in a statement.
Nurek's international criminal history background check was completed on Oct. 17, 2014, and was clear, the diocese said. The following year, he completed a Protecting God's Children anti-abuse program and signed the Diocesan Code of Pastoral Conduct.
Monroe man sentenced to prison for
child sex abuse, meth charges
LILLIAN SCHROCK Corvallis Gazette-Times
A Monroe man should spend more than six years in prison for sodomy and drug delivery charges, a Benton County Circuit Court judge ruled Wednesday.
Marcos Romualdo Salgado pleaded no contest to one count of second-degree sodomy in accordance with a plea agreement with state prosecutors. The charge stemmed from allegations Salgado sexually abused a child younger than 12 between the years of 2012 and 2014.
“The act of sodomy in the state’s opinion in regards to a very young child is one of the most horrendous acts by an adult against a child,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Ryan Joslin said.
Salgado, who was shackled and wore black and white striped prison scrubs, spoke little during the hearing and communicated with the aid of a translator. Salgado’s attorney, John Rich, said his client denies the sexual abuse allegations but did not wish to go to trial and risk a higher sentence. A plea of no contest in Oregon still results in a conviction of the crime.
Judge Locke Williams sentenced Salgado to six years and three months in prison and three years and nine months of post-prison supervision. Salgado must also pay $800 in restitution to the ABC House, a child abuse intervention center in Albany, and register as a sex offender.
Also during the hearing, Salgado pleaded guilty to three counts of delivering methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of a school. Joslin said Salgado was a “regular deliverer of substantial amounts of meth into this community.”
Williams sentenced Salgado to five years and nine months in prison on the drug charges, but the sentence should be served at the same time as the sexual abuse case, he ruled.
Lovely! So selling meth to school kids is a freebie! Good grief! Plea deals!
Rich said Salgado will likely be deported from the United States when he is released from prison.
Atoka County man arrested in child sex abuse case
By KXII-TV
ATOKA, Okla. (KXII) -- Deputies arrested Brandon Dean Nelson on Monday, charging him with six child sex crimes.
Nelson is being held in jail on a $1 million bond.
Investigators said the abuse happened at a home near Atoka over a course of several months.
Officers say the two boys that Nelson knew came forward about the abuse.
Athens man, 74, gets 10 years for child sexual abuse
Jean Cole
A 74-year-old Limestone County man has been sentenced to serve 10 years in prison after being convicted on two counts of sexual abuse of a child under age 12, an official said.
Jimmy Wayne Messer, of 20137 Rosie Road, Tanner, was sentenced Wednesday on the charges in Limestone County Circuit Court, said Limestone County District Attorney Brian Jones.
“We are very pleased with the outcome in Messer and hope that the victims can continue to heal and take comfort in this resolution,” Jones said Thursday.
Messer pleaded guilty to having sexual contact with two victims, Jones said. The abuse occurred Jan. 1, 2015, and June 1, 2016, court records show.
In accordance with the plea agreement, Circuit Judge Robert Baker sentenced Messer to 10 years on each count, with the sentences to run concurrently, Jones said.
Messer was first arrested June 30, 2016, by Limestone County Sheriff's Investigator Emily Lewter.
Pa. man charged with child sex abuse in Steuben County
Jeff Murray
A Bradford, Pennsylvania, man has been charged with child sex abuse and other crimes following a joint investigation by authorities in Pennsylvania and New York.
New York State Police arrested David Emerson, 61, of Bradford, and charged him with first-degree sexual abuse, a felony, along with second-degree unlawful imprisonment, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child, all misdemeanors.
Pennsylvania State Police and McKean County (Pennsylvania) Child Protective Services also took part in the investigation.
Authorities allege that Emerson engaged in sexual contact with a child less than 17 years old during a camping trip to New York.
Emerson was arraigned in Town of Howard Court and committed to the Steuben County Jail. He will reappear in court at a later date.
Steuben Co., NY
Closing arguments to be given in child-sex trial
Amanda Purcell
Columbia-Greene Media
HUDSON — The jury is expected to begin deliberations today in the trial of a Columbia County man who is accused of sexually abusing two teenage boys — one in Hudson in 2014, the other in Greenport in 2016.
The third day of the trial began Wednesday with testimony from Hudson Detective Sgt. David Miller, who was recalled to the witness stand to testify about a videotaped police interview between him and the defendant, Matthew Halstead.
Halstead, 24, is accused of engaging in sodomy and oral sex with a boy younger than 13 when Halstead was 18, and with a boy younger than 17 when Halstead was 21.
He was charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual act, a class B felony, in connection with a single, alleged incident involving the 12-year-old. He also was charged with three counts of third-degree criminal sexual act, a class E felony, in connection with an alleged incident involving a 15-year-old.
Halstead has pleaded not guilty to all five counts of the indictment. The class B felony charges carry a possible sentence of 8-1/3 to 25 years in prison, Columbia County Judge Richard Koweek said.
In an audiovisual tape recording of a police interview from June 28, 2016, Halstead told Miller he went to the police station to discuss the mother of the alleged younger victim.
“I haven’t seen her (the mother) in two years,” Halstead said on the tape. “I don’t see her. I don’t speak to her. You guys showed up to my friends’ work (place), and I’ll be damned if you show up to my work.”
Halstead and the alleged victim’s mother became friends when he was 21 and he needed a place to stay. The mother offered Halstead room at her home, rent-free, if he would drive her wherever she needed to go.
Good grief! Mothers, please be much more selective who you let into your house when you have young children. Arrrrrrgh!
Halstead lived with the woman for a little more than a month in 2014, between April 1 and May 6, or until the time of his misdemeanor conviction, he testified.
“Nothing between me and this kid happened,” he said in the video. “Nothing happened, period. [The alleged victim] is lying — absolutely lying.”
Halstead said that the most he did with the younger alleged victim was “walk to the grocery store and buy a bag of chips.”
The mother of the younger victim made accusations because she wanted Halstead to serve jail time and was jealous of his ability to make more money legally than her, Halstead said in the video.
“When a child is sexually abused, they don’t see it like that. When they make a disclosure statement it’s because they want to,” Miller said on the video. “I don’t think you raped him, but I think something happened.”
Following the detective’s testimony, Assistant District Attorney Ryan Carty questioned psychologist Dr. Eileen Tracy, who testified as an expert in the field of child-sex abuse.
Tracy said she has testified in approximately 550 trials across New York State about child sex abuse. She has interviewed and written several academic papers on victims of sexual assault since 1988.
Tracy testified why she thinks some children have trouble reporting abuse. The younger alleged victim disclosed two years after first denying the incident when questioned by investigators in 2015.
Denying the incident at first and disclosing later is not uncommon, Tracy said. “Boys have more hurdles to climb to be able to let it out,” she said about boys reporting instances of sexual abuse.
It’s more common for children to not report right away, she said. Between 6 and 16 percent of cases are reported immediately, she said.
Abusers often prey on children who are developmentally disabled, quiet or have a bad home life, she said.
After Tracy testified, the defense called its first witness, hair salon manager Tanya Testos.
Testos testified about the dates of Halstead’s employment, which began April 1 and ended in October after Halstead was dismissed because of a matter relating to missing money, she said.
Sexual acts involving the other victim allegedly occurred between Feb. 1, 2016 and May 1, 2016 at the hair salon and Halstead’s mother’s apartment in Greenport, Testos testified. The older alleged victim testified that he reported the incident on Oct. 7 after seeing Halstead in the newspaper.
Testos testified that there were cameras in the salon and other adjoining rooms but there was no camera in the back room, where the abuse of one of the teens allegedly occurred.
Halstead wrapped up the testimony for the defense.
Halstead repeatedly testified that he did not touch either boy. He also testified he never met or saw the older alleged victim until he appeared in court Tuesday.
O’Brien questioned his client about the Facebook post he wrote in response to the younger alleged victim’s mother that read, “Tell your son to keep his **** out of my mouth.” Halstead admitted he wrote the post and said he wrote it out of “aggravation.”
Halstead did not admit to the alleged abuse when he was questioned by police, Halstead said.
Hudson, NY
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