Special prosecutor to investigate 'every corner' of Michigan State University
By Jason Hanna, CNN
(CNN) A special prosecutor will investigate Michigan State University "from the president's office down" over how former MSU sports physician Larry Nassar could have sexually abused girls and young women for nearly 20 years without university action, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said Saturday.
The investigation began last year, Schuette's office said, but the scope and makeup of the probe wasn't announced until Saturday.
"My department ... will find out who knew what and when, who took action, who failed to take action, what did or did not happen, and what should have happened," Schuette said at a news conference in Lansing.
"No individual and no department at Michigan State University is off-limits."
Larry Nassar was sentenced to decades in prison Wednesday.
Allegations of ongoing sex abuse against Illinois caregiver
RANTOUL — A Rantoul man accused of repeatedly sexually molesting a child in his care is expected to be criminally charged Monday.
Isaiah Allen, 55, of the 1600 block of Symington Road, was arrested Friday night on preliminary charges of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child.
Rantoul police Sgt. Rodney Sullivan said police learned on Friday that a young girl who was in Allen's care told a relative that he had sex with her on as many as 20 occasions since about summer of 2016 up to about a month ago.
An interviewer trained in questioning child sex victims talked to the child on Friday, Sullivan said.
Based on that interview, police felt they had enough information to arrest Allen.
Sullivan said Allen admitted to engaging in sex acts with the child.
Allen was expected to make a bond court appearance Sunday and be formally arraigned on Monday.
Alabama man charged with child molestation;
victim told school officials about abuse
By Ashley Remkus aremkus@al.com
A Huntsville man was arrested after police investigated claims he inappropriately touched a child, authorities said.
Benjamin Scott Pigg, a 42-year-old, is held in the Madison County Jail with bail set at $25,000. He's charged with sexual abuse of a child younger than 12, records show. The charge is a class C felony that's punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a lifetime on the sex offender registry.
An investigation began this past October when the victim told a school official about being molested by Pigg, according to Huntsville police. Lt. Michael Johnson said school officials told police about the disclosure, and the child was interviewed by forensic specialists. Police said the victim and Pigg are relatives.
After further investigation, police got warrants for Pigg's arrest. He was taken into custody earlier this week. Further details are being withheld to protect the victim's identity.
Another Alabama man arrested for
child sex abuse, child porn
By Times Staff
A Boaz man was arrested and charged with child pornography and sexual abuse, according to Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin and Investigator Brandi Fuller.
Cody Night Helton, 29, was arrested Wednesday and charged with 10 counts of possession of child pornography and one count of sexual abuse of a child less than 12 years old.
Helton allegedly sexually abused a 10-year-old female beginning in October 2017. The abuse was reported by a family member. During the investigation, more than 250 photos of child pornography were discovered on his phone. Additional charges are expected as the investigation is ongoing.
Helton is in the Etowah County Detention Center on $500,000 bond. Investigators thanked the James M. Barrie Center for Children for their help with the investigation.
Accused Idaho child molester pleads guilty
By Keith Kinnaird
SANDPOINT — A Sandpoint man accused of lewd conduct and other child sex abuse offenses pleaded guilty to rape on Friday.
Dustin Oneal Walden entered the plea as part of a pretrial settlement agreement, court records show. The plea was entered during a pretrial conference in 1st District Court.
After the hearing, Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall said he is recommending a 15-year prison term, the first five years of which would be fixed.
The state and the defense seek to bind the court to the agreement, which would essentially guarantee that the sentencing recommendation would be adopted by the court.
Judge Barbara Buchanan advised the defense that there was no obvious reason she could not bind herself to the pact, but said she didn’t want to commit until she had a chance to review a pending psychosexual evaluation, according to court documents.
If the court ultimately declines to bind itself to the agreement, Walden would be free to rescind his plea and proceed to trial in 1st District Court.
Walden, 38, was originally charged with lewd and lascivious conduct, sexual abuse of a minor under the age of 16 and rape. He was accused of engaging in sexual contact with a girl from 2003 to 2013, when she was between the ages of 3-13, a criminal complaint alleges.
The alleged victim told Sandpoint Police that Walden had groomed her for years by exposing her to pornography and an escalating degrees of sexual abuse, according to a probable cause affidavit that has since been stricken from public view.
Walden waived his right to a preliminary hearing last month and pleaded not guilty to the charges late last year.
Walden was prosecuted for lewd conduct in Boundary County in 1998, but the charge was reduced to misdemeanor battery as the case neared trial, according to the Idaho Supreme Court Data Repository.
It would seem he not only knows how to manipulate children but prosecutors as well. Guaranteed 5 years in jail for a man who has been sexually abusing children for 20 years is a pathetic excuse for justice.
Ex-Iowa teacher charged in child sex case again arrested
SIOUX CENTER, Iowa (AP) - A former northwest Iowa fifth-grade teacher (from a Christian school) charged with multiple acts of sex abuse (11th story on link) and released on bond last November is back behind bars on new charges.
Sioux City television station KTIV reports that 36-year old Curtis Van Dam was arrested Friday morning at his Sioux Center home on a federal warrant charging him with sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child pornography.
Van Dam has already pleaded not guilty to 146 Iowa counts, including 73 counts of second-degree sexual abuse.
His trial on the state charges is set to for March 6.
Police say the charges stem from incidents involving numerous children over four years and that the crimes occurred at various locations, including Sioux Center Christian School, where Van Dam worked.
Former Maryland substitute teacher
charged with child sex abuse
By JESSI STICKEL jstickel@somdnews.com
A 22-year-old Waldorf man and former Charles County Public School substitute was arrested and charged with child sex abuse after students reported inappropriate behavior and contact with him in November of 2017.
On Jan. 25, Charles County Sheriff’s officers arrested Noble Maurice Miller, 22, of Waldorf, after a Charles County grand jury indicted him on charges of sexual abuse of a minor and solicitation of a minor.
According to the sheriff's office, the incidents occurred during the 2016–17 school year and during the fall of the current school year while Miller served as an instructional assistant and then as a substitute teacher at Henry E. Lackey High School.
"The substitute, [Miller], was removed from [Lackey High School] on Nov. 9, 2017, after two students reported he made inappropriate gestures to them," Dr. Kimberly A. Hill, Superintendent of CCPS, stated in a letter to parents and staff.
"Immediately following the reports, [Miller] was prohibited from working at any Charles County public school. The reports were turned over to the Charles County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Social Services for investigation."
"During the investigation, a third student reported inappropriate contact with Miller. The charges involve inappropriate behavior that took place outside of school. The indictment charges Miller with sex abuse of a minor and sexual solicitation of a minor," Hill stated in the letter.
The allegations were reported in November 2017 to the Charles County Sheriff’s Office by the Charles County Board of Education.The case was presented to the Grand Jury on Jan. 19, during which Miller was charged in a sealed indictment. The indictment was unsealed Jan. 25 during a court proceeding. Miller is being held at the Charles County Detention Center without bond, according to the sheriff's office.
Miller was hired by CCPS as a temporary instructional assistant at Lackey High School in 2016 and became a substitute teacher in January 2017. During his employment, Miller worked at Lackey, La Plata, North Point, St. Charles, Thomas Stone and Westlake high schools, Theodore G. Davis and General Smallwood middle schools, and William A. Diggs Elementary School, according to Hill.
Hill advised in the letter that CCPS completed a background check on Miller; he also completed fingerprinting, orientation, training and background checks with the state and the FBI, and no criminal history was found.
"We continue to encourage both students and staff to report any inappropriate behavior they witness or experience," Hill stated in the letter. "Staff have completed Darkness to Light’s Stewards of Children training that focuses on how they can help to identify and prevent child sexual abuse. We commend the students who came forward to report what they felt was inappropriate contact from an adult. We encourage staff to support our children and urge them to speak up when they are uncomfortable in any situation."
Hill also stated that CCPS encourages parents to talk with their children and report anything inappropriate.
Oklahoma man arrested for child sexual abuse
Jessica Lane | CNHI News Oklahoma
CHICKASHA, Okla. — A Tuttle man was jailed on Wednesday for alleged child sexual abuse to a child under the age of 12.
Jimmy Ray VanBuskirk is accused of sexual molestation, exposing his genitals to the child and forcing the child's head into his shorts, according to an incident report.
VanBuskirk allegedly molested the child multiple times at a Tuttle residence, according to the report.
When he was questioned by investigators, VanBuskirk allegedly admitted to touching the child's genitals on one occasion, the report said.
In the State of Oklahoma, child sexual abuse to a child under the age of 12 may result in a penalty of imprisonment for not less than 25 years an no more than life imprisonment and a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $5,000.
Federal jury convicts 2 in nationwide child
porn ring that live-streamed abuse
15 perverts were charged and sentenced to a total of 273 years in prison.
2 of the perverts died before sentencing; 2 still to be sentenced
By Matt Miller mmiller@pennlive.com
Two men could be facing the rest of their lives in prison after a federal jury in Harrisburg convicted them of conspiring in a massive child-sex exploitation ring that spanned the nation.
William Staples, 57, of Harrodsburg, Ky., and Dylan Heatherly, 34, of Lemon Grove, Calif., were found guilty of multiple charges regarding the distribution of child pornography through an on-line site that its users incorrectly thought was private, U.S. Attorney David Freed reported Friday. Heatherly's lawyer, Robert Daniels, said his client and Staples were acquitted of one charge of publishing pornography and that the jury deadlocked on a second such charge for Heatherly.
Staples and Heatherly, who are awaiting sentencing by U.S. Middle District Judge Yvette Kane, are among 15 people nabbed in the ring, including two midstate men. Most of the other offenders have pleaded guilty. Two have died since being charged.
"The prosecution of the 15 individuals in this case, many of whom were responsible for the reprehensible sexual abuse of a 6-year-old child on a live-streaming, video-conferencing platform, resulted in 15 fewer child predators on our streets," said Acting U.S. Attorney General John P. Cronan.
Investigators said that from April 2014 and May 2016, the ring members shared child porn involving children and infants on a video conferencing site they set up specifically for that purpose.
In July 2015, they live-streamed the sexual abuse of the 6-year-old, who was rescued by police the next day after the molestation was discovered by a detective constable of the Toronto Police.
William Augusta, the 21-year-old Carlisle-area man who was recorded abusing that boy was arrested, and a grand jury investigation ensued.
Freed said the case "provides a stark reminder that criminal who would harm and exploit our children in the most devastating ways know no boundaries; local, state or national."
And certainly they know no moral boundaries.
Augusta pleaded guilty to multiple counts involving the production of child porn. Kane sentenced him to 60 years in federal prison. Augusta also is serving a 45- to 90-year state jail sentence imposed by a Cumberland County judge after pleading guilty to rape of a child.
Another central Pennsylvania man, Franklyn Molina, 35, of Shippensburg, pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiring to advertise child porn and receiving that type of pornography. He is serving a federal prison sentence of 16 1/4 years.
Scott Lane, 34, of Manhattan, N.Y., the former executive director of donor relations and fundraising programs for Pace University, also pleaded guilty to participating in the ring. He is awaiting sentencing by Kane.
Others who pleaded guilty in the case and the punishments they received from Kane are:
Matthew Fensler, 25, of Phoenix, Ariz., 35 years in prison.
David Sewell, 31, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 35 years in prison.
Moises Marquez, 30, of San Diego, Calif., 30 years in prison.
Jason Bolden, 47, of Duluth, Ga., 30 years in prison.
Casey O'Dell, 34, of Albuquerque, N.M., 40 years in prison.
James Reese, 59, of Des Moines, Iowa, 20 years in prison.
Paul Stamm, 56, of Cincinnati, Ohio, 30 years in prison.
Ed Westbury, 64, of Lufkin, Texas, 6 1/2 years in prison.
Two other defendants, Christopher Wehr, 45, of Duluth, Ga., and Bruce Edgecombe, 69, of Harvard, Ill., died before being brought to trial.
The charges stemmed from a probe involving North Middleton Township police, the Toronto police, Homeland Security Investigations, the Kentucky Attorney General's Office and the High Technology Investigative Unit of the Justice Department's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.
N Carolina teen arrested on child sex-abuse charges
BY JOE JOHNSON jjohnson@heraldsun.com
A teenager from Orange County was arrested on Saturday and charged with multiple sex offenses.
Alamance County deputies arrested Chad Michael Ward, 16, of Efland on Saturday, according to multiple media reports. Ward faces two counts of statutory sex offense with a child and three counts of indecent liberties with a child.
Authorities said Child Protective Services started investigating a case involving alleged child abuse in September 2017. Investigators said two girls had been the victims of sexual offenses.
Deputies with the Sheriff’s Office Special Victims Unit also began investigating, which led to the suspect’s arrest.
Ward was being held in the Alamance County jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.
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