Wisconsin high school coach charged with
sexually assaulting baby-sitter
By MIKE LONGAECKER | Forum News Service
HUDSON, Wis. — An assistant Hudson High School girls basketball coach was placed on unpaid leave from the school district amid sex-related charges filed this week in St. Croix County Circuit Court.
Louis J. French, 42, was charged Tuesday with first-degree child sex assault, repeated sexual assault of a child, using a computer to aid in a sex crime and causing a child to view sexual activity.
Hudson School District spokeswoman Tracy Habisch-Ahlin said French had coached the JV-2 program — the freshman girls team — since October 2016. He was placed on unpaid administrative leave in the wake of the investigation, Habisch-Ahlin said.
The case involves sexual abuse of a teenage baby-sitter, according to a criminal complaint.
Hudson Police Chief Marty Jensen said Tuesday there is “no indication right now” that any students or players were abused. However, he urged anyone who might have additional information about French to come forward to police or school officials.
“If you know something, give us a call,” Jensen said. “Our hope is that this was an isolated incident.”
Officers spoke with the victim’s father, who said his daughter baby-sits for French and his wife. She was supposed to baby-sit that night for French. The father said he found her hurting herself and asked what was going on. The girl responded that French had been sexually assaulting her since she was in the fifth grade. The most recent incident had occurred about two weeks ago, the father learned.
In a follow-up interview with a detective on Monday, the girl said the contact began about two years ago with inappropriate comments at his house. The behavior later escalated to repeated molestation, she reported.
French’s behavior, the victim told the investigator, also included arriving home early from work, then intentionally leaving a bathroom door open so she could see him showering. She said he also sent her sexual recordings of himself over the social media app Snapchat.
The victim’s parents turned over an explicit Snapchat message the girl received Saturday from French. A staged response was sent in order to see how he replied. He responded within a minute with a photo of his genitalia.
Police arrested French on Monday during a traffic stop in Hudson. A St. Croix County sheriff’s investigator attempted to interview him and asked if he knew why he’d been jailed. After he said he didn’t know, the investigator showed him a copy of the Snapchat photo he’d sent Saturday.
“He then sighed and requested an attorney,” the complaint states. A criminal background check by the district turned up “nothing” on French, Habisch-Ahlin noted.
St. Croix County Circuit Judge Scott Needham set French’s cash bond at $50,000. Prosecutor Erica Ellenwood requested $100,000, arguing the potential prison exposure and fines facing French could be motivation for absconding. She noted that he had recently visited family in Tijuana, Mexico.
Public defender Brian Smestad countered that French had “never been in any trouble whatsoever” and that there were no indications he was a risk to offend while on bond.
Needham concluded his risk would be low, but noted that the maximum sentence upon conviction would effectively place French in prison for life — a comment that appeared to prompt French, clad in an orange jail jumpsuit and shackled at the arms and ankles, to lower his head.
French was seen choking back sobs, sighing and laying his face on the defendant’s table before the brief hearing concluded.
A preliminary hearing in the case was set for 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
Judge disallows alleged victim's testimony in
Texas child sex abuse case
By TOMMY WITHERSPOON
A Waco man acquitted of sexually abusing a child last year won another legal victory Tuesday after a judge disallowed the testimony of a second alleged victim.
Timothy Glen Bodie, 44, was set to stand trial Tuesday in Waco's 19th State District Court on charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child.
However, his attorneys, Russ Hunt and Michelle Tuegel, filed a motion to dismiss the indictment against Bodie or to suppress the testimony of the alleged victim, arguing she testified at Bodie's first trial last year and the jury obviously did not believe either one of the alleged victims.
Strother did not dismiss the case, but he did grant the motion to suppress the alleged victim's testimony, leaving prosecutors with no apparent case for the time being. Prosecutors Hilary LaBorde and Evan O'Donnell are expected to appeal the judge's ruling to Waco's 10th Court of Appeals, court officials said. Neither returned phone messages Tuesday.
In fact, Strother practically invited them to appeal the decision, saying he would be curious to know what the three-judge intermediate appellate panel thought of the ruling. Strother then skipped over Bodie's trial on Tuesday's court docket and Bodie, who has worked for more than 20 years at a major Waco manufacturing plant, left the courthouse with Hunt and Tuegel.
A 19th State District Court jury found Bodie not guilty of abusing another girl after a trial in January 2016. While that trial was underway, prosecutors sought the current indictment against Bodie, which named him in the alleged sexual assault of the second victim in 1997.
The alleged victim in the most-recent indictment, who is now in her late-20s, testified during Bodie's first trial last year that he abused her. Both alleged victims are members of Bodie's ex-wife's family, and Hunt and Tuegel argued at trial that the accusations were false and a product of bitterness spawned by the divorce.
The attorneys argued the case should be dismissed or the woman's testimony should not be allowed under a doctrine known as collateral estoppel, which prevents parties from re-litigating issues.
"It's not the same thing as double jeopardy," Tuegel said. "We were arguing that one of the issues has already been litigated and decided by a jury and they shouldn't be able to litigate that issue again because a jury has already basically made a decision on it.
"Both complainants testified at the first trial, and the state argued that you can't walk him unless you believe both girls were lying. The state made that an issue and the jury did not agree with them and we argue they shouldn't get another bite at the apple."
In the case set for trial Tuesday, the alleged victim made the allegations against Bodie in 2000, but he was never arrested. Records show Bodie passed a polygraph test and Waco police closed the case as unfounded. The alleged victim is a former employee of Bodie's ex-wife.
Bodie was not arrested in the second case until after the indictment midway through the first trial, Tuegel said. "We question the timing of an indictment on a case that was 16 years old and one in which he was never arrested," Tuegel said. "It's a unique issue. It won't come up every day. But it's not academic when people's lives are on the line. He risked everything. He testified he didn't do it and one jury has already said they didn't buy (the alleged victims' testimonies)."
Utah man charged with unlawful sexual conduct after 6th victim comes forward
NADIA PFLAUM/Standard-Examiner staff
SALT LAKE CITY — A sixth victim has come forward with allegations that a Murray man had illegal sexual contact with him when he was under the age of 16.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill on Aug. 11 charged Weston Ray Kubbe, 38, with six counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a 16- or 17-year-old for acts that allegedly occurred between March and November 2016.
Kubbe was the suspect in an Amber Alert on Oct. 10, 2016, after an 11-year-old South Ogden boy was reported missing. The boy was found in a Murray park and Kubbe was arrested later that day. He was booked on one count of child kidnapping, two counts of soliciting, seducing or luring a minor by the internet or text and two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child.
After news outlets covered the alleged kidnapping and arrest, more victims emerged.
“When you look at the cases, what the information reflects is that after a case or two was reported and filed and then publicized, other victims recognized the name,” said Blake Nakamura, chief deputy in the Salt Lake County prosecutor’s office. “In one instance, one victim was even recently contacted by Kubbe through the internet. When they recognized his name and read the stories his name was mentioned in, which are stories of sexual assault, they felt compelled to bring their own information forward.”
In the most recent case involving the sixth alleged victim, South Jordan Police said a teenager reported meeting Kubbe online on a site for homosexual casual encounters. On four separate days, Kubbe picked the victim up from his home in South Jordan and took him to his home in Murray, where the alleged sexual contact occurred, according to charging documents.
As to the other victims, Kubbe is charged with:
Four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor
Two counts forcible sodomy, one count object rape, one count forcible sexual abuse
Two counts of child kidnapping, two counts of exposing a minor to a controlled substance, four firearms charges
Two counts of child kidnapping, two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, one count of sodomy on a child and one count of enticing or soliciting a minor by internet or text
Kubbe is next scheduled to appear in Ogden’s 2nd District Court on Sept. 28.
Man exposes himself to woman, child behind
Kentucky library
MIDDLESBORO, Ky. (WYMT) - A man is charged with sexual abuse and indecent exposure after police say he masturbated in front of a woman and child behind the Middlesboro library.
According to an arrest citation, Richard Ely exposed himself and masturbated in front of a woman and a two-and-a-half-year-old child. The woman did not know Ely, but was able to pick him from a photo lineup immediately, police said.
Ely was arrested just after school dismissed for the day. There are typically children in the area around that time, police said.
Ely is charged with sexual abuse and two counts of indecent exposure.
W.Va man pleads guilty to sexual abuse of 8-year-old
BY ALEX LANG
The Dominion Post
MORGANTOWN, W.Va — A man pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of an 8-year-old and faces five to 25 years in prison.
Matthew Long pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual abuse during a hearing in front of Monongalia County Circuit Court Judge Phillip Gaujot on Aug. 29.
Monongalia County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Stephen Fitz said the child told social workers of an incident that happened in a Brockway Avenue residence. The victim said she was staying with a relative at the residence and Long also lived there. She said Long touched her in inappropriate areas.
Police spoke to Long who told them that the 8-year-old flirted with him. He also said he kissed her and touched her in private areas.
Man sentenced to over 28 years for producing / distributing child porn in Tennessee
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.- On August 29, 2017, Carson Nathan Martin, 38, of Knoxville, Tennessee, was sentenced by the Honorable Thomas A. Varlan, Chief U.S. District Judge, to serve 345 months in prison for producing child pornography. Following his release from prison, Martin will be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for the rest of his life and required to register with the sex offender registry in any state in which he resides, works, or attends school.
Martin pleaded guilty in March 2017 to federal charges stemming from his use of a minor female to make pornographic videos and pictures and his distribution of those depictions to others via the Internet. Investigators with the Massachusetts State Police discovered depictions of the of the sexual abuse of the minor that Martin had made and alerted investigators with the Knoxville Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (KPD-ICAC) that someone in the Knoxville area was circulating child pornography. A search of Martin’s residence resulted in the seizure of evidence confirming that he had been sexually abusing the minor and recording the abuse on his cellular telephone. He was arrested and has been in custody since the search of his residence.
This investigation was conducted by KPD-ICAC and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Morris represented the United States.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
Victim in Oregon High School sex abuse case speaks out
Medford. Ore. — The victim in the Jeffrey Zundel sex abuse case wants to raise awareness about sexual assault. She’s releasing the words she spoke to her former teacher in court, in hopes of encouraging other victims of sexual assault to come forward and speak out about their abuse. In an email to NBC5 News she says she realizes releasing her statement she could impact the community in a positive way by bringing awareness to sexual assault, specifically from the victim’s perspective.
“Since the Spring of 2015 I have mourned the loss of a part of myself that I can never get back, a part that Jeff Zundel has stolen from me. Jeff has robbed me of my privacy, time, energy, sense of security, self-confidence, intimacy, and my worth.
My senior year of high school, a year perfumed with the pungent gossip of my own sexual assault, was suppose to be the best year of my high school career. It was suppose to prepare me in being the best college student I could be. Instead, I spent my time isolated, mentally and emotionally unavailable. There was no way for me to put a hold on time in order for me to piece my life back together, I had no choice but to continue my life as it fell apart behind the scenes. I watched as my closest friends pulled away from me because my life had become too much for them. I should have been enjoying my last year in high school, but instead I lived in fear of my peers discovering I was the victim. Fear and shame began to consume me. I constantly felt the fear of not knowing if the legal system would right the wrongs committed against me.
Continuously this trial has been rescheduled, and each time I had to relearn my own worth. The continued postponements demonstrated that my life, the victim’s life, was forced to conform to the life of the man that raped me. Rather than accepting responsibility for his actions, Jeff Zundel dragged my family and I through two years of unnecessary anguish. I have waited too long for a jury to render a judgment thereby validating the crimes Jeff Zundel committed against me. Today I find some relief in knowing that after painfully waiting for my abuse to be acknowledged, Jeff Zundel will be admitting his guilt.
Jeff has taken advantage of the likelihood that I would shrink myself smaller to accommodate the livelihood of his future, when he has never considered accommodating mine. Jeff has prolonged the judicial process in hopes that I would surrender to the abuse and manipulation he has put me through. For two years Jeff has insisted that he did not groom, manipulate, exploit, or sexually assault me. For two years he has failed to take accountability and fully acknowledge his actions.
There was a time I admired Jeff. I looked up to him because of his life experiences and perceived intelligence. Jeff made me believe I could trust him. He convinced me that he was a safe person I could confide in. Jeff exploited my trust and used it to fulfill a sick fantasy. Jeff wanted me to fix him, to heal his deep emotional wounds. He told me I was destined to fill the void in his heart. Jeff disregarded my humanity and placed his selfish desires above my well being and for that I have lost all respect for him. I realize he is a small, weak, coward, who preys on young women to provide him with the love he felt he did not receive as a child.
Now, I would like to address every stranger who ever questioned the validity of my allegations and all of the students at my high school who chose to sit around and gossip about which girl they thought might of been sexually assaulted. I know it must be very difficult to conceptualize that men in positions of power, men we look up to and idolize are not without flaw. When we discover that these men are flawed we must hold them accountable no matter how much good they have done. To everyone who insisted Jeff Zundel was innocent without any factual or meaningful evidence, you are a part of the problem. You are just one of the many reasons why women do not come forward when they experience sexual assault.
Looking back, I placed a lot of shame around being a victim. After two years I have come to understand that there is nothing shameful about being a victim of sexual assault. If I could say anything to survivors of sexual assault, I would say, there is nothing shameful about what you’ve endured, the only thing shameful are the wrongs the abuser committed against you. Do not let them silence you, as you are far more powerful than the abuse you have experienced. You are resilient.
With time I began to recognize the resilience within myself. I have become someone who is purposeful in my intentions to heal, recover, learn, and grow. My advice to Jeff Zundel, is to discover a form of healing that is not to the detriment of young women.”
Zundel, a former Crater High School teacher, pleaded guilty August, 25th, 2017 to two counts of sex abuse and 1 count of official misconduct. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and 3 years supervised probation on the official misconduct charge, and 5 years supervised probation on the sex abuse charges.
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