Nurse pleads not guilty in neurosurgeon CSA case
Swim club worker charged with operating camera in girl's washrooms
Degenerate arrested in prison for selfi-videos of child rape
A father & son arrested for child porn
18 y/o girl arrested for molesting a 4 y/o in her care
Lewis-McChord soldier gets 20 years for video of him raping child
Sheriff arrests several youth detention workers for CSA
Nurse Emily Stephens pleads not guilty
KSBW Amy Larson
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. —
Emily Joy Stephens made her first appearance in a Santa Cruz courtroom Friday as she pleaded not guilty to eight counts of child sex abuse.
The 30-year-old nurse was extradited by Watsonville police from an Arizona jail to Santa Cruz County Wednesday night.
Stephens, Santa Cruz brain surgeon James Kohut, and Dominican Hospital nurse Rashel Brandon are accused of sexually abusing children who are less than 10 years old.
Stephens ' defense attorney, Brian Worthington, objected to a prosecutor's request for the judge to increase her bail from $500,000 to $6 million.
Stephens, Kohut, and Brandon are all scheduled to return to court September 6 for a bail hearing.
The case against the two nurses and neurosurgeon shocked the local medical community.
Watsonville Police Chief David Honda said, "This is a disturbing and complex case."
The Watsonville Police Department's investigation began when Brandon's husband found a tape in his Watsonville home showing his wife and Stephens committing graphic sex acts against three young children, according to the arrest warrant. Brandon's husband immediately went to police with the tape, the warrant says.
Honda said the tape was recorded in March 2017 inside a Scotts Valley hotel room.
Police Capt. George Zamora said, "I can tell you it's very disturbing. I have not seen a case like this in my career. It's very sad."
James Kohut
The investigation uncovered evidence that Kohut preyed on children for two decades, prosecutors said. The 57-year-old man wanted to create taboo "sexual families," by impregnating women and raising a child in a sexually-charged environment, court documents state.
Kohut had extramarital affairs with 43-year-old Brandon and Stephens, and children were abused during some of the sexual encounters, according to an arrest warrant served by the Pima County Sheriff's Department on Stephen's house in Arizona.
Seven children were taken into protective custody.
If convicted of the charges against them, Brandon, Stephens, and Kohut are facing life sentences. For now, they remain locked in the Santa Cruz County Jail.
Rashel Brandon
Earlier this summer, Judge John Salazar and Judge Samuel Stevens granted Kohut a $6.45 million bail over strong objections from Assistant District Attorney Steven Moore. Moore argued Kohut should not receive bail because he's a flight risk, a suicide risk, and represents an ongoing danger to children.
The wealthy neurosurgeon's financial assets are frozen because his wife, Karen Kohut, filed for separation in June.
Brandon's bail is set at half a million dollars.
Central Texas man charged with possessing, distributing and producing child pornography
Defendant is a former swim club employee where covert cameras were positioned inside a girl’s locker room
SAN ANTONIO – Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested a central Texas man Thursday for allegedly sexually exploiting children.
Kenneth Lee Briggs, 43, from Kyle, Texas, was arrested after a criminal complaint was filed in federal court on Aug. 16. On Thursday, he made his initial appearance in U.S. Magistrate Court in Austin, Texas.
According to the criminal complaint, in November 2016, HSI Austin special agents received information from the Kyle (Texas) Police Department (KPD) that Briggs was potentially involved in possessing, distributing, and producing child pornography. That same month, KPD executed a state search warrant at a residence in Kyle, Texas, belonging to Briggs. During the execution of the warrant, KPD officers seized numerous electronic storage devices believed to contain child pornography. KPD then transferred to HSI all the seized material. HSI’s forensic examination revealed videos depicting what appeared to be the inside of a girl’s locker room. HSI special agents also determined that the footage was taken at a local swimming pool facility located in the Cedar Park, Texas, area, where Briggs had worked previously. Briggs is suspected of installing covert cameras at the swim facility to obtain the images.
Briggs, who remains in federal custody, is scheduled for a detention hearing Aug. 22 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Lane in Austin.
If convicted, Briggs faces a minimum of five and up to 20 years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine.
This investigation was conducted under HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 16,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2016, more than 2,600 child predators were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 800 victims identified or rescued.
HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. From outside the U.S. and Canada, callers should dial 802-872-6199. Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196.
Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.
For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI’s Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page. HSI is a founding member of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.
New child-sex charges lodged against inmate
By Austin L. Miller
Woman found videotape evidence
A man incarcerated for sexually abusing children in two separate counties, including Marion, was re-arrested on charges that he committed a similar offense.
John L. Fullbright has been booked on 20 counts of sexual performance on a child. Fullbright, 32, has been in prison since late February 2016 and is not scheduled to be released until June 2035, state records show.
According to Marion County Sheriff’s Office Master Sgt. Jerry Bevan’s report, in January, a woman said she was working at her Ocklawaha home when her flashlight fell between two floorboards in the attic. The woman said when she pulled up a board, she found video tapes, thumb drives and other computer technology under the floor.
Viewing the videos, she saw what appeared to be a man having sex with a child. The woman said she stopped the video and called the Sheriff’s Office. A deputy went to the home, collected the videos and stored them into evidence.
A few days later, Bevan took the videos from the evidence room and watched them. The video showed graphic videos of a male molesting a little girl.
From his investigation, Bevan was able to contact a woman who knows the child. The supervisor was able to crop the photographs so the woman would not have to see the sexual activity. The woman was able to identify the man as Fullbright and the juvenile.
In late May, Bevan went to Columbia Correctional Institution to interview Fullbright. The detective told Fullbright about the videos and wanted to question him about images seen on the video, but Fullbright declined to talk. Bevan told Fullbright that he was going to get a warrant for his arrest. The warrant was signed by a judge in June.
You need a warrant to arrest a man in prison? Hmmm.
Officials said the repeated sexual abuse against the victim occurred when she was about 8 or 9. The victim is now 12.
Fullbright was arrested by a sheriff’s detective in August 2015 for sexually molesting a 10-year-old girl. At the time, he had been arrested in Levy County for abusing a child. In the Marion County case, authorities said Fullbright had molested the victim on many occasions before it was reported.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement website lists Fullbright as a sexual predator who was convicted in Marion County for attempted sexual battery. He was convicted in Levy County for possession of photo/picture showing sexual performance by a child.
Father, son arrested on child porn charges
GLENSIDE, Pa. -- A father and son from Montgomery County have been arrested for possessing and distributing sexually explicit images of children, District Attorney Kevin Steele announced Thursday.
Harry Ennis, 68, of Edge Hill Road in Glenside, Abington Township has been charged with 100 counts of Sexual Abuse of Children/Child Pornography. His bail was set at $75,000 cash. He failed to make bail and is being held at Montgomery County Correctional Facility.
His son, 29-year-old Patrick Ennis, has been charged with Sexual Abuse of Children/Dissemination. Sexual Abuse of Children/Child Pornography and Criminal Use of a Communications Facility. Patrick was released after posting a $25,000 cash bail.
Authorities say on April 13, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a cybertip report from AOL regarding the uploading of 27 images that appeared to be child pornography.
Officials traced the IP address to the Edge Hill Road address where both Ennis family members live.
Authorities executed a search warrant and found the 27 files were uploaded from a computer in Patrick Ennis' bedroom.
A forensic examination of Harry Ennis' electronics found more than 600 sexually explicit image files and two video files. Authorities determined the files were child pornography.
A joint preliminary hearing for both men will be held on August 24.
Glenside, Abington, PA
An 18-year-old babysitter forced a 4-year-old boy to perform sex acts on her, police say
BY DONOVAN HARRELL
San Antonio police arrested an 18-year-old babysitter for allegedly sexually assaulting a four-year-old boy.
According to KENS5, Esmeralda Marie Medellin was babysitting the child in March when she allegedly performed sexual acts on the child.
Police records say the child told his mother that she also made the boy perform sexual acts on her, according to News4. The boy’s mother called the police immediately.
Results from a DNA test confirmed the boy’s statements, according to News4.
Medellin is now charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child and held on $75,000 bond, according to News4 and KENS5.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 1 in 6 boys and 1 in 4 girls are sexually abused before the age of 18.
According to Darkness to Light, a non-profit child sexual abuse prevention group, 90 percent of victims know the abuser, and about 60 percent are abused by a person the child’s family trusts.
Ex-JBLM soldier raped a 2-year-old child with autism.
Now he's going to prison
by: Stacia Glenn, The News Tribune
A former Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday for videotaping himself raping a 2-year-old child with autism.
Luis Alberto Morales, 42, also will have lifetime supervision after he is released and must register as a sex offender.
Morales pleaded guilty in May to producing child pornography after federal prosecutors dropped a charge of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor.
“This is a horrific crime – words are inadequate to describe the harm done by this defendant,” U.S. Attorney Annette Hayes said in a news release.
Then why did you drop the aggravated sexual abuse of a minor charge? You have video evidence of it. What was your motivation to plea deal? Good grief!
Morales’ estranged wife found videos on his cell phone showing the rape in August 2016 and showed them to Army Military Police, prompting his arrest.
He has remained in federal custody as the case wound its way through court.
Prosecutors said the mother was in the hospital when Morales raped the child.
Youth academy steeped in sex, physical abuse, cover-ups, sheriff says
Three former high-level administrators at Highlands Youth Academy have been arrested, charged with running a program steeped in abusive treatment of youths, cover-ups and illicit sex between staff and detainees.
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER
Some of the youth workers were having sex with the underage boys in their care. Others were smuggling drugs, money, cellphones and porn. A top administrator reportedly sent a kid to the hospital during a violent restraint, bragging: “You gonna learn; this my program.”
But if conditions at the Highlands Youth Academy in Avon Park were not exactly conducive to the rehabilitation of delinquent youths, state juvenile justice administrators were doing little to turn things around. So, on Thursday, the Polk County sheriff arrested three former top administrators, saying the charges appeared to be the only way to clean the place up.
The Department of Juvenile Justice, Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said Friday, “did not provide checks and balances and appropriate oversight. If they did, they would have discovered what we discovered.”
A riot at the Highlands Youth Academy in 2013 left the premises trashed.
Polk County Sheriff’s Office
In a prepared statement Friday afternoon, DJJ said it had taken “significant steps” to improve Highlands since a youth uprising four years ago, including the installation of security cameras, increased staff-to-youth ratios, and $2 million in structural improvements.
“Any assertion that DJJ has not worked to improve this facility’s operations and services is false. We are 100% committed to youth safety and will hold anyone accountable who is not. We have not, do not, and will not tolerate staff who endanger the safety and well-being of youth placed in our care,” the statement said.
“We take every allegation of misconduct at our contracted programs very seriously and DJJ’s Inspector General’s Office is actively investigating the allegations at Highlands Youth Academy. We appreciate the efforts of our law enforcement partners to investigate incidents at Highlands Youth Academy and will work with them to bring a resolution to this matter.”
Highlands Youth Academy has a long and troubled history: On Aug. 17, 2013, a full-scale riot erupted at the compound after a disagreement over what news reports said was a basketball game bet. About 150 law officers, including a SWAT team, were needed to quell the unrest, and 61 boys were arrested, records say. A grand jury in Polk County released a blistering report on the academy on July 14, 2015, expressing “grave concerns” over DJJ’s inability to “intervene, to treat our troubled youth, while protecting the public.”
“We told them at the time, you’ve got to follow the law, appropriately report to [child abuse investigators] and you’ve got to quit doing this stuff,” Judd told the Herald Friday. “They ignored us.”
Judd said juvenile justice administrators seemed “personally offended that we were messing around in their business.”
The sheriff said he dug in his heels that and his detectives have been investigating the 80-bed mental health and drug treatment center ever since. In November 2015, detectives received tips about other “criminal activity,” including sexual abuse, juveniles being beaten by, or beating up, workers — and supervisors covering it all up, a spokeswoman said. The far-ranging investigation that followed resulted in the May 12, 2016, arrest of former youth worker Deidre Baucom on charges of sexual misconduct and contraband smuggling.
Deidre Baucom
Polk County Sheriff’s Office
On Thursday, the department made three additional arrests: Norma Wynn, 56, of Sebring, the program’s former top administrator, on 12 charges of child neglect, failure to report and evidence tampering; Jose Sanchez, 63, of Sebring, a former assistant administrator, on eight charges of child neglect and evidence tampering; and Johnny Hart, 40, of Okaloosa County, another former assistant administrator, on six counts of child abuse, child neglect and evidence tampering.
Though he had been accused in May 2016 of slamming a youth to the floor and then grinding his elbow into the teen’s head and neck, Hart was arrested at another DJJ youth program, the Okaloosa Youth Development Center in Crestview, where he is the program administrator. The youth restrained by Hart suffered injuries to his shoulder, leg and neck, records say.
“We hauled him away from that facility in handcuffs,” Judd said said of Hart.
“The Highlands Youth Academy has been, and likely still is, a mess,” Judd said. “Since the riot in 2013, warning bells have been ringing loud and clear. About the only thing I can tell that [DJJ] has done about it has been to turn the alarm off and circle the wagons,” he added.
In arrest records the department released Friday, the department said DJJ was not alone in concealing wrongdoing.
In December 2015, detectives received an anonymous complaint about multiple female youth workers “having sexual relationships with the youthful offenders” housed at Highlands, the sheriff’s office said. One of the suspects was Deidre Baucom, a youth worker at the time. The previous March, a 16-year-old boy had described having sex with Baucom, now 27, in the bathroom of his dormitory.
The incident, however, remained hidden for months. The 16-year-old wrote a statement detailing Baucom’s misconduct, and gave it to a youth worker, and at least two other detainees alleged similar behavior. A shift supervisor later told detectives that he’d turned the witness statements over to Sanchez, one of the assistant administrators. But when a DJJ inspector asked for any records detailing Baucom’s alleged misconduct, Wynn told her there weren’t any.
“The facility found no truth to the allegations,” the inspector, Lori Hardyman, was told, an arrest affidavit said.
The day she was arrested, May 12, 2016, Baucom “admitted to having sexual intercourse” with the teen, an arrest report says. She is now on probation, and is listed as a registered sex offender in Polk County.
The sheriff’s office’s investigation also turned up “numerous concerns” about another female youth worker, records say. Around August of 2015, a colleague witnessed the worker sitting in the open doorway of a boy’s bedroom. “Her left arm was extended into the door frame, at waist level, and was making a flexing motion,” a report said. When the witness got closer, he “heard the sound of an elastic waistband snapping.”
SINCE THE RIOT IN 2013, WARNING BELLS HAVE BEEN RINGING LOUD AND CLEAR. ABOUT THE ONLY THING I CAN TELL THAT [DJJ] HAS DONE ABOUT IT HAS BEEN TO TURN THE ALARM OFF AND CIRCLE THE WAGONS.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd
Inside the bedroom was a detained boy. The youth later acknowledged the worker had been performing a sex act.
The witness also notified Sanchez about what he saw, and submitted an incident report. But later, Wynn told the witness’ boss “to not document the incident on any other reports, as the incident was closed,” an arrest report says.
The witness was transferred to another unit. The youth worker was returned to her post.
She was never charged “as there was not enough evidence to be able to prove it in court,” said a sheriff’s office spokeswoman, Carrie Horstman. “Although the victim was credible, it was not a prosecutable case. We believe it happened and we believe the victim,” Horstman added.
Another youth worker told detectives that she, too, was aware of the uncharged staffer’s activities, and that they should have been reported and investigated. “Instead, the witnesses were called to a meeting after the incident and were told [by an administrator] ‘if you didn’t visually see anything, don’t say anything about it’,” an arrest report said.
The youth academy “wasn’t reporting what was occurring to DJJ, and DJJ was ignoring the obvious.” Judd said. “They ignored it all.”
Polk Co., FL
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