Kentucky man charged with sexually abusing child
for 2 years
Michael Lynn Rodemeyer, Sr., was charged Thursday with two counts of felony second-degree sexual abuse and one count of felony third-degree sexual abuse.
He's accused of sexually abusing a child over a two-year period in Hampton and rural Franklin County, the Hampton Police Department said in a statement.
Rodemeyer was transferred to the Hardin County Jail after his arrest.
He remained incarcerated in the facility in Eldora on a $200,000 bond Friday.
The charges were requested by Hampton police and Franklin County sheriff's deputies. The departments were assisted by the Department of Human Services and the Child Protection Center.
Hampton, KY
Delaware man faces 50 years in prison for raping, impregnating teen
A Laurel man who raped and impregnated a teenage girl faces a minimum of a 10-year prison sentence with the possibility of 50 years in prison, officials said Friday.
On Dec. 15, Omar Cameron pleaded guilty to second-degree rape, second-degree sexual abuse of a child by a person in position of trust, supervision, or authority, fourth-degree rape and endangering the welfare of a child, according to a Department of Justice release.
Cameron repeatedly raped a juvenile girl for a lengthy period of time, ending in early 2017, according to a release, when one of the rapes caused the girl to become pregnant.
After the girl's mother learned of the pregnancy, she reported it to the authorities, and Cameron was arrested.
DNA testing confirmed Cameron was responsible for impregnating the victim.
Detective Tyler Brian of the Laurel Police Department led the investigation and arrested Cameron while Deputy Attorney General Casey L. Ewart prosecuted the case, assisted by Administrative Specialist Angelique Waters and Social Worker Carla Ennals.
A sentencing date for Cameron is pending.
Illinois mom's boyfriend rapes daughter and her friend, both under 12
BLOOMINGTON — One of two adolescent girls raped by a 43-year-old Bloomington man testified Tuesday about an incident that reportedly took place during a 2014 birthday party sleepover in the basement of a Bloomington home.
The girl was the first witness in the trial of Cristian Aranda on predatory criminal sexual assault and criminal sexual abuse charges. Aranda is a former volunteer soccer coach at Normal West High School.
Assistant State's Attorney Jacob Harlow asked the victim about "the bad thing that happened" as she slept with several other guests at the overnight party. When asked to identify Aranda as the man who sexually assaulted her, the child pointed toward the suspect but did not look directly at him and described his clothing, saying, "a white shirt."
In his opening remarks, Harlow said details of the attacks were disclosed after one of the girls told a friend who reported the incident to her parents about two years after the incident.
The second victim "was caught between a rock and a hard place" because she was acquainted with the suspect and felt she should keep quiet about the assault, said Harlow. She disclosed the assault after the first child's accusations were made, said the prosecutor.
Defense lawyer Joshua Rinker told jurors that "what this case is really about is the inconsistencies" between the version of events from the two girls and a third child who also was at the party.
Aranda was eventually found guilty and sentenced...
BLOOMINGTON — A former volunteer soccer coach was sentenced to 32 years in prison Friday for predatory sexual assault of two minor girls during a sleepover at the home he shared with the mother of one of the victims.
Girls were under 12
Cristian Aranda, 43, was convicted in April of sexually assaulting two girls who were both under 12 at the time of the incident.
In handing down the sentence, Associate Judge William Workman told the defendant that Sept. 20, 2014, "should have been a night of celebration for (the girls) but you came into their life and turned that party into a nightmare."
The emotional trauma of the sexual assaults "won't just be erased from their minds," the judge told Aranda.
Assistant State's Attorney Jacob Harlow asked for a 28-year sentence on the felony charges, arguing that Aranda took his girlfriend's daughter shopping for an engagement ring for her mother after the attack. The child suffered the burden of keeping the molestation a secret for some time because she did not want to devastate her mother, said Harlow.
"The trauma the children endured "goes way beyond physical injuries," said the prosecutor.
Illinois man guilty and sentenced for several sex acts
on a 9-10 y/o girl
DECATUR – After deliberating for about 20 minutes, a jury convicted 36-year-old Ryan C. Morell of two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, for multiple sex acts he committed with one child in 2015.
The victim, who was 9 and 10 years old at the time Morrell coerced her into sex acts, said she was “excited and glad” when she heard the verdict in the last row of the gallery, then burst into tears. In the hallway a short time later, a reporter saw her raise both fists in triumph, then give a signal of two thumbs up.
“I'm glad I saved my sister and my brother will grow stronger through this,” said the adolescent victim, whose testimony Monday in the three-day trial was a key element in the state's case.
Assistant State's Attorney Kate Kurtz presented 10 witnesses, including Morell's mother, who testified that her son told her after he was arrested that the girl initiated the sexual contact with him.
Morell, who has been free on bond since two days after his arrest, testified Wednesday that he was not involved in sex acts with the girl. After he was convicted, his bond was revoked, he was handcuffed and escorted back to the jail.
The DNA evidence was another key element leading to Morell's conviction. Forensic scientist Jennifer Acosta-Talbot of the Illinois State Police crime laboratory, testified that there were 24 semen stains found on a pink blanket. One of those stains was tested, and forensic scientist Dana Pitchford said it matched Morell's DNA profile.
The victim had testified that her pink blanket was covering Morell during some of the incidents.
Under direct examination by his attorney, Todd Ringel of Bloomington, Morell testified that the semen found on the girl's pink blanket was there because he used the blanket to wipe himself off during acts with an adult. Under cross-examination by Kurtz, he could not recall one specific incident when that occurred.
The victim testified that Morell caused her to commit sex acts with him five times, beginning the summer before she entered fourth grade.
“It was gross,” she said.
She spoke clearly under direct examination by Kurtz about how the incidents occurred and how she finally decided to tell a child relative, then an adult.
The victim said she overheard Morell talking to her mother, but he did not tell her mother what had happened between them. “He didn't mention everything that happened,” the victim said. “I was kind of confused.”
She asked her grandmother if “it was normal” to engage in that kind of behavior with an adult.
“Why hadn't you told an adult before that?” Kurtz asked.
“Because I wanted to see if it was normal before I did anything,” the young girl replied.
The girl's grandmother testified that she told her about the incidents, then “she started to cry.” Her granddaughter told her she had remained silent after the first four incidents, but then it happened again the previous night.
The grandmother called her husband, who called the girl's mother at work. That day the incidents were reported to the police.
In her closing argument, Kurtz said the girl made up her mind on Aug. 19 to tell an adult. “She knew it was time to tell,” Kurtz told the jurors. “She knew something was not right.”
After the verdict, the girl's mother said she was grateful justice prevailed.
“I'm grateful for all of the support, and my daughter is the strongest person I know,” she said. “I prayed for God's will, and that's what I got.”
Morrell sentenced
Decatur, Ill (WAND) – Ryan Morell, 36, of Bethany has been sentenced to two 4-year sentences in Macon County for aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
Morell stands convicted of abusing a girl in Blue Mound when she was 9 and 10 years old. Morell asked the court for a new trial. The request was rejected.
Morell was sentenced to 4-years on the first count. He was sentenced to an additional 4-years on the second count. The sentence will run consecutively which means he must serve the first sentence before starting to serve the second term.
He will also have to serve 2 years of mandatory supervised release and register as a sex offender.
Life without parole for Texas immigrant for 'despicable' child sex abuse
A Denison man who was originally from El Salvadore showed no emotion Wednesday as State District Court Judge Rayburn Nall Jr. sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Jurors took approximately 30 minutes to convict Jorge Geovany Hernandez of continuous sexual abuse of a child. Hernandez, who has spent a year in the Grayson County Jail on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold, had also been indicted on charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child.
An ICE hold means the federal agency tasked with enforcing immigration laws believes that individual to be an undocumented immigrant or that the crime the suspect is accused of is a deportable offense, even if the immigrant is documented.
In a recorded interrogation, Hernandez told Denison Police Detective John Watt the older of the two little girls seduced him into the acts he committed against the children.
Prosecutors Britton Brooks and Matt Johnson had elected to try him on the top count he faced, the continuous abuse charge, in hopes of seeing him spend the rest of his life in prison, Brooks said earlier in the week. That plan seemed to have worked Wednesday morning.
“Anybody that has the audacity to sexually molest two sweet little girls deserves nothing less than life in prison without parole,” Brooks said speaking of Hernandez, who Brooks characterized as “a monster.”
“The evidence showed that Jorge Hernandez committed the most despicable acts that, in my 10 years, I’ve ever seen committed against a child,” Brooks said.
Brooks said the life-without-parole sentence is about protecting children from Hernandez for the rest of his life. Johnson said there is proof that people like Hernandez don’t lose the urge to abuse children just because they get caught and sent to prison.
Johnson said there is proof that people like Hernandez
don’t lose the urge to abuse children just because they
get caught and sent to prison
“That’s what the sex offender therapy and treatment program that the state has is kind of designed around is those (recidivism numbers),” Johnson said.
He then thanked Nall for handing down the maximum sentence possible in the case.
“It sends a very strong message to the community that child molesters are going to get caught,” Johnson said. “They’re going to go to prison for a very long time if they do this to a child. And it also sends a good message to the victims out there that they will be believed if they come forward and tell the truth, and they can get justice."
Denison, TX
PA man sentenced in Delaware for sex abuse of 5 y/o girl
A 35-year-old Chester man was sentenced to slightly more than 9 to 18 years in a state prison last week for sexually assaulting a young girl in late 2014.
Delaware County Court of Common Pleas Judge Anthony Scanlon also ordered Harry Cottman Jr. to stay away from the victim, comply with sex-offender rules for parole and probation and follow any treatment recommendations in evaluations.
A jury deliberated for about two hours after a trial in January before convicting Cottman on charges of aggravated indecent assault of a child, indecent assault of a person less than 13 years old and endangering the welfare of a minor.
The victim, now 8 years old, testified via closed-circuit television that her mother was showering one morning in late 2014 when the assault occurred.
“I came downstairs and he got on top of me … on the couch,” the girl said. “He put his hands in my pants.”
The victim told Assistant District Attorney Ryan Grace that Cottman assaulted her. The jury also heard three taped interviews conducted with the girl by Delaware County Children and Youth Services and the Child Advocacy Center, in which the victim said Cottman had kissed her mouth, chest, arms, legs, toes, and buttocks.
Dr. June Elcock-Messam, of Media Pediatrics, said she conducted an examination of the child Dec. 18, 2014, and discovered a small laceration on her vaginal area. Elcock-Messam said the girl was initially hesitant and described the assault mostly through a series of hand gestures, indicating Cottman used his hands to touch her vagina and buttocks. The victim told Elcock-Messam that he had hurt her in doing so.
Cottman denied ever touching the girl inappropriately during trial and said he barely touched her at all because he was fearful that some accusation could be made just from general contact.
Cottman claimed the girl was jealous of his closer relationship with his own biological children and that the victim’s father had previously vowed to gain full custody as part of “a bigger jealousy.”
Harry Cottman Sr. reiterated at sentencing April 10 that there was a larger plot involving a man that his son had beaten up. He noted Cottman had a decent management job and that he had brought him into his church.
Cottman also said he had a position of trust at his job and several people working under him, adding that he has two daughters at home who miss him.
Defense attorney Steve Leach asked the judge to merge the two assault charges for the purpose of sentencing and sought a lengthy probationary detail.
Grace argued the two charges referred to two separate incidents – the touching and the kissing – and sought a sentence of 11 to 22 years with 10 years of probation. He said child sexual assault is “one of the worst things that a human being can do.”
Scanlon agreed with Grace on both points before rendering his sentence, noting there is “nothing more heinous” than the sexual abuse of a child.
The Sexual Offenders Assessment Board found Cottman does not meet the criteria for a sexually violent predator, but he will have to register as a sexual offender for life.
Polygraph fail gets Florida man arrested for
child sex abuse
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office reports 25-year-old Joshua Ellington is accused of sexually abusing a young child.
According to police, the victim spoke with the Child Protection Team and gave a history of sexual abuse by the suspect which consisted of digital penetration.
Police say Ellington went to the police station to take a polygraph test and failed when asked about digitally penetrating the victim.
Ellington was arrested and transported to the Pre-Trial Detention Facility.
California man get 92 years for sexual abuse
of several girls aged 4-7
A man has been sentenced to 92 years in state prison for sexually abusing six girls over a span of 26 years, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.
A jury convicted Martin Ruiz Sanchez, 53, in February of three counts of lewd acts upon a child, two counts of child molesting and one count each of continuous sexual abuse, oral copulation or sexual penetration with a child 10 years old or younger and forcible lewd acts upon a child, the district attorney’s office said in a released statement.
Prosecutors said Sanchez sexually molested six girls, between the ages of 4 and 7, from 1989 to 2015. During Sanchez’s trial two additional victims testified about him sexually assaulting them as well, prosecutors said.
In 2015, one of the victims contacted police in San Antonio, Texas, which sparked the investigation into Sanchez.
He was arrested in Stockton in September 2015.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Tammy Chung Ryu also ordered Sanchez to register as a lifetime sex offender.
Uncle kidnaps and sexually assaults 9 y/o neice
The Tennessee man who vanished last year with his niece after plucking her out of school, leading to a nationwide search to bring the little girl home, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison, officials said.
Gary Simpson, 58, entered an Alford plea on Monday in Hawkins County Criminal Court to especially aggravated kidnapping and to aggravated sexual battery in the May kidnapping of 9-year-old Carlie Trent, his niece through marriage, the Kingsport Times-News reported.
An Alford plea is tantamount to a guilty plea, but is not an admission of guilt.
The second charge had been reduced from rape of a child to spare the victim from having to testify in court, Attorney General Dan Armstrong told the Times-News. A charge of aggravated sexual battery pertaining to events that occurred prior to the kidnapping was dismissed, as it also would have required the little girl to testify, Armstrong said.
"We felt comfortable making that offer just to keep Carlie from having to testify," he told the newspaper, explaining that the higher and additional charges would have done nothing to increase Simpson’s sentence.
On May 4, Simpson went to Carlie’s school and told officials that her father had been in a bad accident, saying he needed to bring her home and that she probably wouldn’t be in school the next day, authorities said.
Simpson had parental permission to pick Carlie from school as he and his wife of 34 years, the sister of Carlie’s father, previously had custody of the little girl while her father was in jail.
“He’d go out of his way for me; he didn’t give any clues he’d do this,” Carlie’s father, James Trent, told InsideEdition.com at the time. “I’ve known that man the majority of my life.”
Carlie’s kidnapping triggered a nationwide Amber Alert, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Marshals Office assisted in the hunt for Simpson.
The pair was found by a civilian search party on May 12 in a rural area, where they had been camping in Simpson’s van.
While searching the van, police reportedly recovered a checklist of sexual acts that Simpson planned to perform on his victim, the Times-News reported. Simpson allegedly admitted to investigators that he had completed a few of the items on the checklist, prosecutors said.
"At the bottom of the list was a threat that if anyone was told what they were doing, they would both die along with several people who were close to the child,” Armstrong said in court.
Simpson declined to make a statement during his plea hearing.
Carlie Trent's father and mother attended the guilty plea, along with agents from the TBI, Rogersville police, the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office and the attorney general investigator, the Times-News reported.
Officials said Simpson’s sentence of 25 years must be served at 100 percent, meaning he will probably remain in prison until he is 82 years old.
Hawkins Co., TN
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