Uma Thurman adds name to list of Harvey Weinstein accusers
The Stars are Falling
The Associated Press 
Actress Uma Thurman has accused embattled Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of forcing himself upon her sexually and director Quentin Tarantino of making her perform a dangerous car stunt that injured her.
Thurman is quoted in The New York Times on Saturday as saying Weinstein attacked her in London. She says he pushed her down and tried to shove himself on her and expose himself.
'I'm glad it's going slowly — You don't deserve a bullet'
Uma Thurman slams Harvey Weinstein
Weinstein's representatives say he acknowledges making an "awkward pass" but denies physical assault.
Thurman says when she expressed fear about driving a possibly faulty car in Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol. 1, he insisted.
Video shows Thurman crashing into a tree. She says she left a hospital in a neck brace with damaged knees and a concussion.
Tarantino hasn't responded to a request for comment.
Appeal denied for former school bus driver serving time for sex abuse of special needs girls
By: Jenn Gardiner
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4 News) - An appeal was denied for a former school bus driver serving time for 19 felony counts of child sex abuse that happened in 2015.
A jury found John Carrell, 65, guilty on 19 felony counts related to aggravated sex abuse of a child in July 2015 and he was subsequently sentenced to 15 years to life for each count.
Carrell appealed his conviction stating jurors did not have the right instructions when they were told to consider if he took indecent liberties (an offense towards a child when an adult makes sexual advances towards them) with the children.
Carrell also stated there was not sufficient evidence for his conviction.
The court of appeals on Thursday denied Carrell's appeal and said he was not persuasive in his arguments.
The 19 guilty verdicts covered two victims, both special needs girls who rode on the bus Carrell drove for the Canyons School District.
Prosecutors say surveillance video shows Carrel touching the elementary age girls inappropriately.
Carrell will serve all 19 sentences concurrently or at the same time. Arrrrrgh!
Counter-Strike Cocreator Jess Cliffe Arrested
Over Sexual Exploitation Of A Child
By John Diente Tech Times
Just as sexual allegations continue to rock the entertainment industry, a new report concerning the video game industry likewise caught the attention of gamers worldwide.
Jess Cliffe, the cocreator of Counter-Strike, was reportedly arrested under the suspicion of sexual exploitation of a child.
According to sources, KIRO-7, an affiliate of Seattle ABC, published a report that Cliffe was booked into King County Jail but charges have yet to be filed. The bail hearing was supposedly scheduled on Friday and a bond has yet to be declared by authorities along with other relevant details regarding his arrest.
Making It Big
Cliffe cocreated the globally popular team-based shooter together with Minh Le. The duo was reportedly hired by Valve during the development of the popular mod for Half-Life. The game was quite popular among LAN players in general until it was eventually taken online after several upgrades.
The current version of the game is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is one of the biggest online shooters being played all over the world, according to analysts. A source noted that the game recorded over 637,000 concurrent players online recently.
Other games that he worked on include Half-Life 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Portal 2, and Team Fortress 2. He likewise voiced the famous lines in the original mod that announced "Counter-Terrorists Win," "The bomb has been planted," and "Terrorists Win."
Employment Status With Valve
According to a spokesperson for Valve, Jess Cliffe is currently suspended from work. It is unknown if his employment will continue once details regarding his arrest are officially confirmed.
"We are still learning details of what actually happened," the company stated. "Reports suggest he has been arrested for a felony offense. As such we have suspended his employment until we know more," the firm added. He was previously arrested back in 2013 in Seattle over assault claims, which was then later dismissed.
Currently, the authorities have not shared further information about the case. It was not confirmed if an actual child was endangered due to his actions.
Counter-Strike Development
After further development of the original mod, Valve officially released Counter-Strike as a standalone title by the year 2000. Post-launch support and improvements continued until its latest version. Jess Cliffe continued to work for the company while Minh Le finally left in 2006.
State Legislation Details
Meanwhile, according to the state legislature in Washington, sexual exploitation of children can include elements of commercial sexual abuse of a minor or 'depictions of minors engaged in the sexually explicit content,' such as creation, distribution or possession of depictions of child pornography.
California sexual abuse case delayed 30 days
Jean Cole
The arraignment of a California man on charges of sexual abuse, sodomy and rape has been postponed 30 days.
Limestone County Circuit Judge Chad Wise made the decision this week in the case against Julio Cesar Valencia, 66, of 732 E. Evelyn Ave., Sunnyvale, California, who is charged with one count of first-degree sodomy, one count of first-degree rape and three counts of first-degree sexual abuse. He is accused of sexually abusing, raping and sodomizing one of his stepdaughters, as well as sexually abusing her and another stepdaughter and stepson while they were living on Hine Street in Athens during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
“Judge Wise requested both sides file any additional pleadings, briefs, et cetera, within 30 days regarding the pending motion to dismiss we filed,” said Attorney Brett Knight, one of four attorneys representing Valencia.
There are two matters currently before the court in this case — Valencia's arraignment on the charges and defense attorneys' request to dismiss those charges.
An arraignment is usually the first step in a criminal case. During an arraignment, the defendant is asked whether he has an attorney and enters a plea. The court then sets or confirms bail and announces the date of the next proceeding.
However, the court will deal with the requests to dismiss the charges before arraigning Valencia. If charges are dismissed, arraignment is unnecessary.
Court records show Valencia confessed to abusing one stepdaughter during an interview with the Department of Human Resources, but then-District Attorney Jimmy Fry has said the case never made it to his office.
I think we should know why, don't you?
When one of the stepdaughters became an adult and had a child of her own, she contacted Athens Police Department to try to determine what happened to the case. Police Chief Floyd Johnson tracked down the records and the case was sent to District Attorney Kristi Valls, who obtained an indictment against Valencia on different charges. District Attorney Brian Jones took over the case when he first took office in 2011 but had Valencia indicted on different charges.
Although charged during these years, Valencia was never tried.
Some of the charges against Valencia were dismissed because they were based on current law and not on the law on the books at the time the alleged abuse occurred. In March 2017, Wise dismissed the remaining counts of first-degree sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse because the case had lingered so long without going to trial he believed it violated Valencia's Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial.
And we certainly wouldn't want to violate the rights of a child molester! Violating the rights of a child victim for justice.... well, that's not so bad somehow!!!!
Jones took the case back to the grand jury, and they indicted Valencia on the current charges.
Lawyers for Valencia — Knight, Richard Jaffe, Michael Whisonant and Dan Totten — are seeking to have the new charges against their client dismissed. They claim, among other things, that the new charges are based on the same set of facts as the charges dismissed by the court for violating Valencia's right to a speedy trial.
Jones and Deputy District Attorney Jim Ayers Jr. say the new charges are based on incidents of abuse not covered in the previously dismissed indictments.
Man wanted on child sex-abuse charges
nabbed in Texas while crossing into US
Fox News
A border patrol officer inspecting entry documents at Laredo Port of Entry in Texas. (cbp.gov)
Border Patrol agents this week apprehended a Mexican national who was wanted on charges of sexual assaulting a child in Texas, authorities said.
The suspect, identified as Martin Gerardo Perez Garcia, 41, was riding on a bus that was stopped Thursday on the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge as it was crossing into Laredo, Texas, the Dallas Morning News reported, citing U.S. Customs and Border Protection information.
Perez Garcia had been wanted on an outstanding warrant from Dallas County. He was charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child younger than 14 and sexual assault of a child, authorities said.
He was booked into Webb County Jail in Laredo.
Perez Garcia was one of several fugitives in recent weeks (14th & last story on link) who were arrested while crossing the border and charged with similar offenses, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Ohio man behind bars for seeking sex
with children in Kentucky
An Ohio man was arrested for seeking sex with Kentucky children, possessing child pornography and imitating a police officer, Attorney General Andy Beshear and his Cyber Crimes Unit announced.
Beshear said following an investigation by his Department of Criminal Investigations Cyber Crimes Unit, and a January 18 indictment by a Franklin County grand jury, Lester Lee Perine Jr., 35, of Canton, Ohio, was arrested yesterday by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office on five counts.
The charges include three counts of unlawful use of electronic means originating or received within the Commonwealth of Kentucky to induce a minor or engage in sexual or other prohibited activities; distribution of matter portraying sexual performance by a minor; and impersonation of a peace officer, all Class D felonies.
Beshear’s Department of Criminal Investigations cyber investigators opened an investigation after receiving information that Perine was seeking sex with underage children in Kentucky.
Perine is in the Stark County Jail in Canton, Ohio, awaiting extradition back to Kentucky. Canton is located more than 300 miles from Frankfort in Northeast Ohio. Beshear’s office and the Ohio Office of the Attorney General were also assisted by the Canton Police Department.
“I applaud the efforts of our cyber investigators, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and the Canton Police Department for teaming up to deliver justice to someone who is accused of actively seeking to sexually abuse Kentucky children,” said Beshear. “In working with Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office we are helping to ensure children in Kentucky, Ohio and neighboring states are better protected from online predators.”
The work of the Department of Criminal Investigations, Cyber Crimes Unit in the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General, is part of Beshear’s core mission to keep sexual predators away from Kentucky’s families and children.
Over the past two years, the number of arrests, indictments and convictions by Beshear’s cyber investigators has reached historic levels, totaling more than 145.
Through funding from the Child Victims’ Trust Fund, Beshear’s office also works with Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky to help train parents, caregivers, advocates and law enforcement on how to make the internet safer for children and protect children from sexual abuse. Kentuckians interested in supporting the fund can visit icareaboutkids.ky.gov or designate a portion of their state income tax refund by simply checking the box on the return form.
Beshear said that Kentuckians have a moral and legal duty to report any instance of child abuse to local law enforcement or to Kentucky’s Child Abuse hotline at 877-597-2331 or 877-KYSAFE1.
'He's a monster': Man speaks for first time since
Citadel-linked sexual abuse in North Carolina
Another example of how badly needed is a Congressional inquiry into child sex abuse in all institutions where children are gathered
Author: Michelle Boudin, Andie Judson
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The sex abuse scandal rocking the U.S. gymnastics world and Michigan State isn’t the only case of its kind. A Charlotte family is fighting The Citadel over what they say are similar allegations - involving a man currently in prison for molesting 23 boys. For the first time, one of the boys he abused and his mother are speaking out in an exclusive interview with NBC Charlotte.
They were originally referred to in lawsuits as Mother Doe and John Doe to protect their identities. Now, they are breaking their silence.
Their slow-fuming anger has boiled to the surface, causing Lori Love and her son Liam Penland to come forward with their story. The two hope to put a face on what they say is an ongoing problem in an attempt to protect children from abusers and hold powerful institutions accountable.
Growing up pictures show Liam with an infectious smile. Now at 22, that smile is few and far between. Even eye contact isn’t guaranteed.
“Surreal is the only way I know to put it, it didn't feel like real life, almost like I was in a movie,” Liam said.
That illusory day was when Liam realized his secret was out; His mother had learned that her son had been molested by a tennis coach at age 12.
“Liam had denied it when I initially talked to him,” Lori said, holding back tears. “Then I got the phone call and they told me… that Skip had named Liam as one of his victims.”
In 2012, Skip ReVille entered a South Carolina courtroom and pleaded guilty to molesting 23 boys within a decade. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
“I want to make it clear to the victims, the parents of the victims, the schools and organizations where I’ve been, that I am the only one responsible for my actions,” ReVille said in court. “I am the only one guilty of any wrongdoing.”
But Liam and Lori disagree. In fact, they are part of a group of people that have spent years suing The Citadel.
In the early 2000s, ReVille was a cadet at The Military College of South Carolina, known as The Citadel. The esteemed institution also hired ReVille as a camp counselor.
Documents later released by The Citadel show they were aware that a camper accused ReVille of sexually abusing him alongside a few other boys. School officials did not report the allegations to police… no one did.
The camper came forward to his parents in 2007, years after the abuse. His parents, loyal supporters of The Citadel, called the military college directly. The school sent their attorney to interview the family. Transcripts of that interview reveal the camper saying he wanted to make sure ReVille didn't have "a chance to do this to anyone else."
Documents show the lawyer found him believable, but still did not report it to police.
Without any reports of abuse against ReVille, he was free to find employment that revolved around children. He went on to work as a teacher, a coach, a mentor and molest dozens of boys.
“He’s a monster. I don’t know how else to say it,” Liam said. “He couldn’t control his urges but these adults who had nothing to gain by covering for him other than… other than protecting their own reputation.”
Liam, Lori and a small group of others have spent years suing The Citadel in civil courts.
While Liam blames the Citadel, he also feels guilt for the victims that followed his own abuse.
“I feel like I let the people down that were victims after me,” Liam said. “If I feel that, why shouldn’t [The Citadel] feel some sort of responsibility?”
The law has yet to agree with Liam. The court system has repeatedly ruled in favor of The Citadel, saying the school is not responsible for abuse that happened after ReVille left the military college.
“So far the courts have said to The Citadel that (it’s) okay, we don’t like it but you haven’t violated a duty to anybody by violating your own rules, state and fed [sic] requirements and its outrageous public police… but that’s where the courts have left it,” said Attorney Gregg Meyers.
The Citadel, in this case appears to be no better than the enabling Bishops in the Catholic Church who moved pedophile priests around every time they started accumulating complaints of child sex abuse. The movement just provided fresh meat for the pervert priests.
Now the wait is for whether the South Carolina Supreme Court will hear the case.
“I think they’re (The Citadel) are co-conspirators,” Lori said. “I think they allowed (it)… (I) think U.S.A. Gymnastics is going through the same thing right now. It’s not enough that you just move him along, you can’t do that when it comes to children.”
The Citadel’s motto is “duty, honor, respect.” Lori believes the institution has a moral obligation to uphold their own motto and to report child abuse.
“As long as institutions allow this abuse to go on… look how many boys lives were affected,” Lori said.
The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) offers information for parents on how to talk to their kids to avoid sexual abuse -- and what to do if there's suspected abuse.
Oregon man gets 212 years for sexual abuse of girl
Phil Wright East Oregonian
Jeffrey Allen Pierce blinked twice into the camera when he heard Circuit Judge Christopher Brauer sentence him to prison for more than 200 years.
Pierce, 40, a former Milton-Freewater gun shop owner, chose to appear Friday afternoon in the Pendleton courtroom via video from the Umatilla County Jail for sentencing on 36 counts of felony sex crimes.
His victim, now a 17-year-old girl, was there in person with a cadre of supporters surrounding her.
The teen did not speak during the proceeding, but chief deputy district attorney Jacklyn Jenkins delivered impassioned words to the court on her behalf.
“We tell children that monsters and bogeymen are the products of Hollywood or an overactive imagination,” Jenkins said. “But for [name omitted], the monster and the bogeyman were very real. And he didn’t live under the bed. He lived down the hall ...”
Whenever Pierce would leave, Jenkins said, the girl feared the monster’s return. Which he did, over and over again. Jenkins said the girl testified at trial she felt scared and helpless and did not know what to do.
Pierce faced 25 counts of first-degree sexual abuse and 25 of first-degree sodomy when the case went to a jury in January. The state dismissed 14 counts, and the jury convicted Pierce on the remaining 36 — 17 for sodomy and 19 for sexual abuse.
The convictions were unanimous.
Jenkins laid out her sentencing recommendation for the court. The crimes fall under Oregon’s mandatory minimum sentence law: eight years, four months for first-degree sodomy and six years, three months for first-degree sexual abuse. Jessica’s Law for Oregon applied to five of the sodomy counts, requiring mandatory minimums of 25 years because the girl was younger than 12 at the time Pierce committed the crimes. Other factors also enhanced the sentences, Jenkins said, and the state could ask for more than 300 years.
Pierce abused and sodomized the girl from the time she was 7 or 8 until she was around 14. Jenkins said beyond the physical harm Pierce inflicted, the emotional and psychological wounds persist.
“I would ask the court to think of this sentence as the number of days and months and years [the girl] can have some pierce of mind, and maybe more than that, some hope for the future,” Jenkins pleaded. “It is my belief this child is long overdue for both.”
Defense attorney Gray spoke next and recommended a total of 25 years, the least amount of prison time under Oregon law. Beyond that, Gray said, the court could impose concurrent sentences.
Pierce declined to give a statement.
Brauer called Pierce’s behavior “horrendous” as he handed down the sentence. “You absolutely showed no remorse,” the judge said.
Brauer told Pierce he stripped the girl of having a normal life, and it was time the court stripped him of his freedom.
“You’re going to prison for a long, long time,” Brauer said. “I’m sentencing you to 2,550 months. ... That’s 212 ½ years.”
Jenkins said while the girl did not want to make a statement, she wanted to tell the court: “Thank you.”
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