Nebraska middle school teacher pleads no contest to attempted sex assault of a teenager
LORI PILGER Lincoln Journal Star
A former Pound Middle School industrial arts teacher and Husker football player on Monday agreed to a plea agreement in a case involving sexual contact with a 15-year-old girl.
Sean Applegate, 41, pleaded no contest to attempted sexual assault in the first-degree and child abuse. He will face up to 25 years in prison when he's sentenced in September.
At the plea hearing Monday, Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Charles Byrd said it happened during the summer of 2013, after the girl's sophomore year of high school. Last year, she reported it to police.
Byrd said on April 13, 2017, the woman, then 19, wore a recording device and confronted Applegate, with investigators listening, about the sexual acts he did to her when she was 15 and 16.
"The defendant apologized to her and told her it was wrong because of her age at the time," the prosecutor said. "He stated he would be in trouble if she told anyone about what he did and told her he was 'in love' with her when they engaged in those sexual acts."
Police arrested Applegate that same day. He was a teacher at Pound at the time and had worked there for 10 years.
Lincoln Public Schools immediately placed him on administrative leave when they learned of the arrest. His last day of employment at LPS was April 24, 2017, a school district spokeswoman said Monday.
Byrd amended the charge from first-degree sexual assault of a child, which carried a possible punishment of 20 years to life. Lancaster County District Judge Andrew Jacobsen asked Applegate if the plea agreement was an agreeable way to resolve these matters. He said it was.
Applegate, a Husker football player from 1996-99, is out of jail on bond awaiting sentencing. He said he is working as a construction foreman now.
Texas Pastor Arrested on
Child Sexual Assault Charges
Another day, another Pastor shames himself, his church, and God
By Sam Fowler
COLEMAN, TX-- The Pastor of It’s a Challenge Church in Brownwood was arrested on charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child and indecency with a child, the Brownwood Bulletin reports.
Fernando Hernandez, 50, was arrested on Friday in Coleman on Brown County warrants according to the report. Hernandez was booked into the Coleman County jail and freed on a total of $50,000 in bonds.
Texas Ranger Jason Shea filed a report with the Brown County Courthouse in which Hernandez said he never sexually assaulted anyone.
According to the complaint, District Attorney Michael Murray’s office made Shea aware of the allegations on June 9. Brownwood police were made aware of a possible sexual assault roughly six months earlier on Nov. 23 and Hernandez was identified as the suspect.
The Brown County Child Advocacy Center then made contact with Child Victim No. 1 a week later.
The victim said Hernandez “put his hands down her pants” and touched her. The victim was allegedly told to be quiet because her assailant would go to jail. She also said it happened more than once.
A second victim came forward and accused Hernandez of the same behavior and that he exposed himself. Shea was made aware of the second victim on July 18.
Shea went to the suspects house on July 24. The suspect told Shea his attorney advised him not to speak to him and that he never sexually assaulted anyone.
Authorities believe there could be more alleged victims. Anyone with more information is encouraged to contact Shea’s office at 325-641-0746.
Florida man hid from sex abuse charges
for 26 years in Mexico
Authorities have arrested a 72-year-old Southwest Florida man after he spent 26 years on the run in Mexico from child sex abuse charges.
Earl Jay Slaton went missing after a warrant was issued for his arrest in 1990. According to a release, Slaton's family had not heard or seen him since his alleged crimes.
The Lee County Sheriff's Office and US Marshals Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force found that Slaton had been living with his new wife in a small village 400 miles west of Mexico City.
Mexican officials deported him to Los Angeles after it was discovered he had illegally entered their country. He was transported back to Lee County on Sunday.
Slaton is currently in jail without bond on charges of sexual battery on a victim under 18 and aggravated child abuse.
Florida man gets 7-year prison sentence for
sharing child sex abuse videos online
By Dan Scanlan
A 28-year-old Jacksonville man was sentenced to seven years in prison after child sex abuse videos were shared online, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Jason James Neiheisel, found guilty in April by a federal jury, was also ordered to serve a 5-year term of supervised release and register as a sex offender, prosecutors said. A federal jury found him guilty in April 2018.
The case began in early 2017 when an FBI task force investigating people using the internet to trade child pornography found a host computer in Jacksonville that was offering child sex abuse videos for distribution, according to evidence and testimony presented during Neiheisel’s trial.
The task force agents downloaded 48 videos from a computer using the internet address at Neiheisel’s Jacksonville apartment, several showing young children being sexually abused, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Agents interviewed Neiheisel at his home on April 11, 2017. He said he had used a file-sharing network to download child pornography, prosecutors said. He told the agents he had been doing that for “a while,” and enjoyed the “thrill of the hunt” to see what kind of child pornography he could find, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
A forensic examination of his computer confirmed he used it to access a file-sharing network to make the child pornography videos available to anyone who requested it, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Former Dover Air Force Base reservist
pleads guilty in child rape case
By: Randall Chase, The Associated Press
DOVER, Del. — A former Dover Air Force Base reservist has pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree rape after impregnating a 14-year-old girl.
Thirty-four-year-old Staff. Sgt. Byron White entered the plea Thursday, averting this week's trial. Sentencing is set for Sept. 13.
A former Dover Air Force Base airman has agreed to plead guilty to charges involving the alleged sexual abuse of a teenage runaway.
An investigation began in December after someone complained on a Division of Family Services hotline. White was arrested at the military base in February on nine counts of third-degree rape and continuous sexual abuse of a child. Authorities said White had been in a sexual relationship with his victim since May 2017.
He was the fourth Dover airman to face child sex abuse charges in the past year.
More sexual abuse charges filed against PA pediatrician - 29 victims
By Becky Metrick rmetrick@pennlive.com
A Johnstown pediatrician already facing sexual abuse charges filed earlier this year is now facing more charges for incidents related to 29 victims dating back to the 1980s.
Dr. Johnnie Barto, 70, was charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, mulitple counts of aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault and endangering the welfare of a child, according to a release from Attorney General Josh Shapiro's Office.
Barto is already incarcerated on charges related to other assaults, and his medical license is suspended.
The release states the newest charges stem from abuse dating back to the '80s, and includes male and female victims, most of which were between the ages of 8-12.
One infant girl was 2 weeks old when Barto sexually assaulted her, causing her to cry out in pain, according to the release. Another girl was 21 months old when Barto repeatedly assaulted her, touching her in medically inappropriate ways.
These assaults were committed in an examination room at Laurel Pediatric Associates of Cambria County, as well as other local hospitals in Cambria County, the release states.
Investigators believe Barto either waited for parents to leave the exam room or used his own body as a shield to block parents from seeing his assault on the victims, the release states. He would also claim the assaults were part of a standard medical exam.
Many of his victims were groped, and sexually touched in ways that were "unarguably inconsistent" with any standard medical protocol, according to the release. Some girls would come in with the flu or migraine headaches, and he would touch them sexually, not wearing gloves.
"Barto used his position of authority as a pediatrician - the family doctor everyone relied on to treat and heal their children - and abused it to feed his own, sick sexual desires," Attorney General Josh Shapiro said at today's press conference with Richland Township Police Chief Michael Burgan and members of his prosecution team according to the release. "Our agents and Richland police continued interviewing young victims - some assaulted by Barto as recently as January - and older victims as well, who came forward and told of being assaulted by Barto years ago in his office, when they came as young children, seeking his care."
Shapiro thanked the people who came forward and shared their experiences with investigators.
"I have a message for these courageous individuals, and for any person or institution that believes they can get away with sexually abusing children and covering it up," Shapiro said. "We will pursue every allegation of child sexual abuse wherever we find it - in a doctor's office, in a school or church - and we will hold child sexual predators accountable for their crimes under Pennsylvania law."
The Office of Attorney's special hotline for the Barto case is 412-565-7680. Victims or families can also call Richland Township Police at 814-266-8333. The case is being prosecuted by Senior Deputy Attorney General Simquita Bridges.
Appeals court says childhood sex-abuse lawsuit against ‘Deadliest Catch’ star can proceed
By Agueda Pacheco-Flores
Seattle Times staff reporter
Seattle - A three-judge panel of the Washington State Court of Appeals has ruled that a civil trial can proceed in a lawsuit alleging Sig Hansen, a star of the reality TV show “Deadliest Catch,” sexually abused his estranged daughter Melissa Eckstrom.
Hansen had argued that a finding during a 1992 custody hearing that no abuse took place precluded his daughter’s personal-injury lawsuit; however, the panel of appellate judges disagreed.
The court, in an opinion published Monday, found that the case isn’t a repeat of the 1992 litigation, which focused on whether Hansen could have visitation rights with his daughter after his estranged wife accused him of molesting the child. The visitation court at that time found no abuse had occurred. According to the record, Hansen and his daughter have never reconciled.
“The suit between the parents addressed Hansen’s right to have residential time with his daughter, whereas Eckstrom now raises a claim of personal injury damages,” the judges wrote in a nine-page ruling.
The appellate court also outlined that because Eckstrom, who is now an attorney, was not named as a party in the 1992 child-visitation case.
“The interest now asserted by Eckstrom is to receive monetary compensation for the damages she has allegedly suffered, ” the court documents say. “This is different from the Marriage of Hansen matter, where her interest was in being protected from sexual abuse.”
Washington’s case law also says that litigation can’t be stalled if it’s found to be unjust against the person requesting repeat litigation. The state Court of Appeals found it would be unjust to deny Eckstrom’s case to move forward.
“At the time, she was too young to testify, too young to understand the nature of the legal proceeding,” the document says. “We conclude Eckstrom is not [prevented from suing] by the earlier finding that Hansen did not abuse her. She is entitled to her own day in court to try to prove that he did.”
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