Oregon man gets 10 years in prison for sexually abusing, sodomizing 9 y/o girl
Whitney Woodworth, Statesman Journal
A Salem man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday after he was convicted of sexually abusing and sodomizing a 9-year-old girl.
Daniel Slight, 28, was also convicted of two counts of first-degree encouraging child sex abuse.
He was arrested in February on suspicion of sexually abusing a young girl known to him.
According to court documents, Slight told a girlfriend he had been sexually abusing the girl since she was an infant. She also told police she had seen nude photos of children on his computer.
Following testimony by the victim, her mother and a Salem police detective, a Marion County grand jury indicted Slight on five counts of first-degree sexual abuse, two counts of first-degree sodomy and two counts of attempted first-degree sodomy.
He was later charged with three counts of encouraging child sex abuse by duplicating sexually explicit recordings involving child sexual abuse.
First-degree sexual abuse and first-degree sodomy are Measure 11 offenses. Each requires a mandatory minimum sentence of six years and three months.
Slight was previously convicted of resisting arrest in Marion County in 2011 and, in 2010, he was sentenced by a Douglas County judge to jail after being convicted of three counts of recklessly endangering another person, DUI and tampering with physical evidence.
Slight lodged a conditional guilty plea for one count of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of sodomy. He pleaded no contest to two of the child pornography charges. The remaining counts were dismissed.
Marion County Judge Sean Armstrong sentenced Slight to 10 years in prison Thursday. Most of the sentences for each charge will run concurrently.
Why? Judge Armstrong, why concurrent sentences. Does he sound like the kind of guy who is going to benefit from incarceration and come out a nice, law-abiding citizen? He won't! He'll come out and rape another child! Why do you want to hasten that?
San Diego lawsuit seeks documents about alleged Junior Theatre sex abuse
A San Diego Junior Theatre performance of "Pippin" last summer (Courtesy photo)
David Garrick
A new lawsuit demands that San Diego release documents that it allegedly has showing a pattern of sexual assaults by adults on children at San Diego Junior Theatre, which is funded partly by city hotel tax revenue.
The lawsuit says San Diego hasn’t properly complied with requests seeking such documents under the California Public Records Act, contending the city has illegally withheld some documents and too aggressively redacted information in others.
Attorneys for the city say in court filings that they have sound legal reasons for withholding some documents and redacting others, noting that city officials are still in the process of complying with the latest records request they received.
The lawsuit, filed in late November on behalf of a man whose children were part of the theater until recently, says the city should err on the side of full disclosure if there is any ambiguity whether a document should be withheld.
“The privacy interests of individuals, and any theoretical interest of the City or San Diego Junior Theatre in keeping attorney work product related to child abuse confidential, are vastly outweighed by a strong public interest in knowing whether government officials and their contractual agents have committed serious misconduct by abusing children in their charge or hiding, failing to report or preventing others from reporting child abuse,” the lawsuit says.
The legal action was filed seven months after former Junior Theatre teacher Eric von Metzke pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in April and was sentenced to three years in prison.
Von Metzke, then 35, pleaded guilty to two counts of sex with a female under the age of 18.
The lawsuit includes a sentencing memo from the office of then-District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis that the suit says shows multiple people at Junior Theatre were aware von Metzke had inappropriate relationships with young girls, including a teacher who apparently didn’t tell any superiors.
On that basis, the lawsuit contends there are “no doubt” many documents the city has failed to produce that could shed light on who knew about the abuse, when they knew and what they did or didn’t do about it.
The lawsuit also suggests the theater’s board was aware of misconduct and that it would be illegal for board members not to report such alleged incidents to law enforcement because they are “mandated reporters” under state penal code.
The Junior Theatre’s contract to use city-owned facilities officially designates the city as the party responsible for handling records requests related to theater documents.
Valenti’s requests seek all records and documents since the beginning of 2012 related to child abuse or suspected child abuse at the theater, including investigative reports related to tips or warnings received by officials.
The requests also seek records or investigations related to improper student-teacher relationships, including sleepover parties and teachers socializing with students outside of programmed activities.
The city has provided some documents in response, but attorneys for the city say in court filings that many of the documents requested don’t exist.
They say others are exempt from disclosure by government codes that protect either the privacy rights of theater personnel or that protect the legal advice received by theater officials. City officials rely on those same codes to justify redactions to some documents.
San Diego Junior Theatre is a 70-year-old nonprofit billed as the oldest continuously running children’s theater program in the country. It operates in city-owned facilities in Balboa Park and received nearly $100,000 in city hotel tax revenue as a subsidy this budget year.
Sex-abuse suspect heading to Minnesota to face music
Buster Thompson
Robert Messersmith said he’s ready to return to the Midwest to face allegations he sexually abused children there.
During Messersmith’s Friday morning court hearing, the 75-year-old Inverness man and his local attorney, Eric Evilsizer, told Circuit Judge Peter Brigham they will waive any further hearings to contest the Minnesota governor’s warrant for Messersmith’s extradition.
Since his arrest by local deputies in November, Messersmith decided not to waive his extradition, forcing authorities to await Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton’s warrant, which was delivered to Florida in late December and presented to Messersmith on Friday.
According to the warrant, Messersmith is charged with soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct, fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct and three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.
If convicted as charged, Messersmith could be sentenced to up to 85 years in state prison, according to Minnesota’s state statutes.
“We would waive further hearings on this matter to allow Mr. Messersmith to get to Minnesota to fight these charges as quickly as possible,” Evilsizer told Brigham, who ratified Messersmith’s extradition.
“You are hereby remanded to the state of Minnesota,” Brigham informed Messersmith, who will be in the custody of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office.
Messersmith, using a crutch to support an injury to his foot, gave his wife a kiss goodbye before being escorted back to the Citrus County jail.
Brigham said he will allow Evilsizer until Monday to file a civil action — or habeas petition — to challenge the legitimacy of his client’s warrant.
If Evilsizer decides to not file a petition before Brigham’s 72-hour deadline, the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office will arrange a pickup date for Messersmith with the Hennepin County sheriff, according to Sgt. Lee Carey, of CCSO’s Judicial Services Division.
Carey said if a petition is filed in time, Messersmith will be brought back for a future court hearing.
Messersmith’s charges are tied to his alleged sexual abuse of several boys in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, where Messersmith lived before moving to Inverness in 2014.
Messersmith, who has prior convictions in child sex-abuse cases from 1975 and 1989, is alleged to have committed these crimes just prior to moving to Inverness. Police in Brooklyn Center were notified of the allegations in August 2015.
Iowa DHS looking into sex offender's arrest near daycare
By Josh Scheinblum, KCRG-TV9
DUBUQUE, Iowa -- Iowa Department of Human Services is now looking into the repeat arrest of a sex offender for coming too close to a Dubuque daycare.
Mercy Medical Center in Dubuque confirmed it had spoken with DHS officials regarding the arrests of Joseph Simon near the Mercy Child Development Center. It expects a report by the end of the day Monday on the center's handling of the incidents.
In 2011, Simon pleaded guilty to assault with intent to commit sex abuse. He paid two boys so he could perform sex acts on them. Just days ago, police arrested him for violating the restriction zone around Mercy Child Development Center. A criminal complaint notes the center's staff saw Simon taking pictures of an area where children were present and notified police. Officers found pictures and videos on Simon's phone.
Police also arrested Simon in August for a similar offense. Iowa law makes it illegal for registered sex offenders with crimes against children to come within 2,000 feet of a playground, school or daycare.
Matt Highland, a spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Human Services, the agency that licenses daycares, tells I9 it could not comment on the specific case but added that similar instances could warrant an inquiry.
"The allegations would appear to meet the criteria for legally defined child abuse and the Department would have responsibility and would take corresponding actions when such concerns are brought to our attention," said Highland in a written statement.
Court documents show staff saw Simon taking photos in an area where children were present. Investigators found pictures and video on Simon's phone he admitted he took. Court documents also show Simon's wife works at the daycare, Mercy says her employment there ended last August.
Mercy Medical Center's director of marketing told KCRG in part, "At no time did the person in question enter the child development center or have any contact with children. Mercy staff immediately reported the incident to the Dubuque Police Department."
Former HIV+ MD school employee enters guilty plea to sexually abusing more than 40 children
By JESSI STICKEL jstickel@somdnews.com
A former Charles County Public School track coach and instructional assistant entered a guilty plea today of child sexual abuse to more than 40 children.
On Jan. 5, Charles County State’s Attorney Tony Covington (D), held a press conference at the Charles County Sheriff's Office Headquarters to announce the plea of Carlos Deangelo Bell, 30, of Waldorf, just days before his scheduled trial was to begin Jan. 8.
Covington said that Bell's guilty plea was entered in the Charles County Circuit Court in front of Judge Amy Bragunier at noon. Bell pled guilty to 27 counts, which included eight categories of charges: sexual abuse of a minor, second-degree sexual offense, third-degree sexual offense, attempted transmission of HIV, second-degree assault, solicitation of a minor and display of obscene matter to a minor. These 27 charges carry a maximum of 294 years in prison; however, Covington said that an agreement has been made that Bell will be sentenced no more than 190 years.
The final victim count was 42; however, only 34 of those victims have been identified. The victim's ages range from 11 to 17 years old when the events took place.
"I've never seen anything this violent, I just haven't seen it, and I hope to God I never have to see it again," Covington said.
Bell's sentencing date is scheduled in Charles County Circuit Court for March 28. Covington said between now and then, a pre-sentence investigation, along with a psycho-sexual mental evaluation of Bell will be completed, which will be available to the judge for sentencing.
Covington said that to his understanding, Bell will be pleading guilty to the federal charges against him on Jan. 23, which do not overlap the charges within Charles County.
"When we got this case, I really had two goals when we saw the magnitude of what was going on here, and that was to ensure that the court had the opportunity to sentence Carlos Bell to life in jail. There's no death penalty in Maryland anymore, there's not a life without parole for these types of charges, so we had to have enough years, where realistically, if he's sentenced to the maximum sentence under this agreement, 190 years, the likelihood is that he will spend the rest of his life in prison.
"The other goal, just as important, probably more important, quite frankly, was maintaining the privacy [and] anonymity of the young victims of this case.
"We tried to [reach] an agreement that alleviates [victims having to testify] and we were able to do so, [while keeping a significant sentence]," he said.
"I've been a police officer in this county for 25 years, and this is perhaps one of the most horrendous crimes I've ever seen. Carlos Bell was in a position of trust to our young people, and he misused that trust to violate the most vulnerable people in our community — our children," Charles County Sheriff Troy Berry said.
"Thanks to outstanding work of Det. Higgs, as well as our Special Victims Unit, our Criminal Investigative Division and our school resource officers and many other staff played a vital role in bringing forth the necessary evidence to bring this case to a successful closure," Berry said.
According to the New York Post, Bell is HIV positive.
Charles County, MD
An Oregon teacher will spend one year in prison for encouraging child sex abuse
By: The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A former Oregon special education teacher who pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree encouraging child sexual abuse has been sentenced to one year in prison.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that 40-year-old Andres Caputo was sentenced Thursday for sharing child pornography with others on the internet.
Investigators say Caputo shared hundreds of photos and videos of child pornography with unknown people, but that none of the children were McMinnville students.
Investigators also said Caputo didn't create any of the pornography.
Caputo worked for the McMinnville district from 2010 to 2016.
Defense attorney Steven Sherlag said Caputo resigned from teaching after investigators found that he had shared child pornography in April 2016.
New Orleans man accused of sexually abusing
10-year-old girl repeatedly
By Emily Lane elane@nola.com,
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
A Hollygrove man was booked in the New Orleans jail this week after a 10-year-old girl early last year told her counselor and then detectives, a forensic interviewer and a doctor he sexually assaulted her several times over a two-year period, the man's warrant states.
An arrest warrant for Michael Vanwhalraven, 46, sworn in April 2017 by New Orleans Police Detective Bianca DeIrish, states the girl told her counselor Vanwhalraven "touches her 'down there,'" and that the most recent sexual assault occurred Feb. 12. The counselor told police the girl disclosed that the sexual abuse had been ongoing since she was 8 years old. A forensic interviewer at the Child Advocacy Center spoke to the girl, and she described abuse that occurred two days before at his home on Apricot Street, as well as another instance of abuse two weeks prior.
Vanwhalraven was booked on one count of first-degree rape of a victim under age 13, four counts of sexual battery and two counts of molestation of a juvenile. WGNO reported on Dec. 14 that Vanwhalraven was arrested by U.S. Marshal's Office in Modesto, Calif., on the warrants out of New Orleans and would likely be extradited to Louisiana. A California TV reporter tweeted about the arrest on Dec. 14.
It appears from court records Vanwhalraven was booked into the Orleans Just Center jail Sunday (Dec. 31). Orleans Magistrate Commissioner Jonathan Friedman found probable cause to hold him on all the charges and set his bond at a total of $200,000. He appointed the Orleans Public Defender's Office, which typically does not comment on open cases, to represent Vanwhalraven as long as he remains in jail.
After a forensic interview, the girl also underwent a medical exam by a doctor at the Audrey Hepburn Care Center at Children's Hospital, which provides care to victims of child abuse, who found the girl "provided a clear history of sexual abuse... by Michael Vanwhalraven." The doctor found the abuse involving several forms of contact, including penile-vaginal contact, the warrant states. The girl disclosed she was told, "not to tell Mommy, when it first happened about once a week for the past two years." During the medical exam, the girl wrote that the touching had been "going on for two years and I don't like talking about it."
Felony child predator charges announced against police chief in Armstrong County
HARRISBURG — Attorney General Josh Shapiro today announced charges against Michael W. Diebold, Leechburg Chief of Police in Armstrong County, for unlawful contact with a minor and criminal attempt to commit involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, first-degree felonies.
Diebold, 40, of Forks Church Road, Leechburg, was arrested for soliciting sex from an undercover agent from the Attorney General’s Office posing as a 14-year-old girl online.
“This case is particularly heinous because the perpetrator is a public official, sworn to serve and protect the community,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said. “We have a zero tolerance policy for the sexual abuse of children and my office will prosecute any offender to the fullest extent of the law, no matter who they are.”
The undercover agent told Diebold he was an underage female child on multiple occasions. Diebold sent inappropriate pictures to the undercover agent and solicited the agent for unlawful sexual contact. He then made plans to meet the undercover agent.
Upon arriving at the designated meeting location in Westmoreland County earlier today, Diebold was taken into custody without incident by agents with the Child Predator Section. Processing of Diebold’s arrest is ongoing. This case will be prosecuted by Senior Deputy Attorney General Chuck Washburn.
“Thanks to the hard work of the agents and prosecutors in our Child Predator Section, one more predator is off our streets,” Attorney General Shapiro said. “We are working relentlessly to get every perpetrator out of our communities and to keep Pennsylvania’s children safe.”
Suspected child predators can be reported by calling the Child Predator Hotline at 1-800-385-1044. Individuals who suspect an online predator or abuse can also send anonymous tips by texting PAKIDS + YOUR TIP to 847411.
Utah Sheriff’s deputy arrested on
child sex abuse charges
By Gephardt Daily Staff
UTAH COUNTY, Utah, — A deputy with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office was arrested Friday on multiple child sex abuse-related charges out of Maricopa County, Arizona, according to a news release from the UCSO.
Gerald Salcido, 63, is in custody, with extradition charges pending.
The UCSO was contacted by officials in Maricopa County on Friday in regard to a felony warrant for Salcido.
“Courts in Arizona have an open case against Salcido for charges including multiple counts of sexual conduct with a minor and at least one charge of molestation of a child. All of these charges are felony charges,” the news release states.
The Arizona court set bail for Salcido at $75,000.
Salcido previously was employed with another police agency and has been a sheriff’s deputy with Utah County for 14 years.
He is currently on unpaid administrative leave.
According to the news release, “The charges in Maricopa county stem from allegations before Salcido was employed with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office. Orem Police assisted in this case and arrested Salcido and booked him into a jail outside of Utah County.”
Utah Co., UT
South Carolina man charged with child sex crimes
Mike Ellis, Independent
A 47-year-old Anderson man has been charged with sexual crimes including fathering a child with someone with mental health issues through force or coercion as well as separate child sex offenses.
Peter Augustus Tanner, 47, admitted to fathering a child with a female, according to warrants from the Anderson County Sheriff's Office. The warrants do not give the age of the female but describe her as having mental health challenges and the pregnancy was the result of an attack.
The warrant also says Tanner admitting to parenting the child in a recorded interview. Sexual battery is alleged to have happened multiple times between 2009 and 2012.
Tanner is charged with third degree sexual conduct for that accusation and he is separately charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor under the age of 11.
The warrants allege that the abuse in that case happened between 2010 and 2014 and the abuse was disclosed during a recorded forensic interview.
Tanner was charged in December. The initial police report was taken in 2014 and a second report was filed in September after a complaint by a Department of Social Services employee.
Good grief! It took 3 years for the police to act?
Illinois man charged with criminal sex assault of a child, sex abuse
By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN
WOODSTOCK – A Woodstock man accused of sexually assaulting a girl younger than 13 has been arrested on multiple felony charges, according to a news release from Woodstock police.
Daniel W. Pollet, 35, of the 1400 block of Commons Drive, Woodstock, was charged Wednesday with predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and aggravated criminal sexual abuse, according to the release.
If convicted of the most serious charge, Pollet could face six to 30 years in prison.
Officials from Centegra Hospital – Huntley informed the Woodstock police of a sex assault allegation involving a child younger than 13. After a preliminary investigation, a member of the Woodstock Police Department’s Investigation Division, the McHenry County Child Advocacy Center and the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office met to interview the victim.
The child told officials that the suspect had sexually assaulted her on numerous occasions, police said. The victim knew Pollet, and he was not a family member, Woodstock Police Chief John Lieb said.
Pollet was arrested Wednesday at the Walworth County Courthouse in Wisconsin. He had been at the courthouse for a separate incident and remains in custody at the Walworth County Jail. He will be extradited to Illinois, police said.
Walworth County District Attorney Zeke Wiedenfeld said that he did not know why Pollet was in court Wednesday, but said he was not appearing on a criminal matter. Walworth County court records from Thursday list a Clinton, Wisconsin, address for Pollet.
No comments:
Post a Comment