Teacher of the Year; 2 Dirty Old Men Lead Today's USA Pervs and Pedos List

Former North Carolina teacher of the year pleads guilty to 59 sex crime charges

By Alex Guarino

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - A former New Hanover County teacher accused of dozens of sex crimes against his students pleaded guilty Tuesday morning.

***Warning: This story contains explicit sexual content.***

Michael Earl Kelly, 50, entered guilty pleas to 59 charges, including sexual exploitation of minor, indecent liberties with a student and indecent liberties with a child on Tuesday. Kelly was sentenced to 17.6 - 31.25 years in prison for the crimes.

Kelly, who was a science teacher at Isaac Bear Early College High School, has been behind bars since his initial arrest in February 2018. The investigation into Kelly began after a suspicious parent alerted authorities about inappropriate text messages they found between their child and Kelly.

As investigators started looking into the case, they found close to 20 victims, some as young as 14 years old. Some of Kelly’s charges date back to 2003 when he was a teacher at Laney High School.

The court’s findings

New Hanover County Assistant District Attorney Connie Jordan explained to the court what a jury would have found if the case had gone to trial.

“He pled guilty straight up. He pled guilty to everything that he’s charged with. Sentencing was obviously up to the judge and the judge sentenced him to a little over 17 and a half to 31 and a half years in prison,” Jordan said.

Jordan revealed Kelly had a private Snapchat group with some of his students. In that group, students exchanged pictures of their private parts. Kelly would also send snapchat pictures.

Search warrants revealed Kelly had exchanged over 250 explicit text messages with one victim, and at least 1,000 text messages with students at Isaac Bear Early College High School.

It is against school policy to communicate with students via text message or social media. Kelly admitted he knew about the policy when questioned by investigators.

One victim said Kelly gradually normalized sexual talk in his class. Kelly sent that victim a pornographic video of another student. Kelly also exposed his penis to this victim.

Jordan spoke in detail about Kelly’s inappropriate communication with his students. In addition to the Snapchat group and text messages, Kelly tried to set up meetings with students outside of school.

Kelly also invented games with students, one called “the waiting game,” where students would receive points for exposing their private parts to one another. They would receive one, two, or three points based on “creativity.” Jordan noted that by the end of a fall semester, Kelly had received 70 points.

Kelly’s most serious charge

Jordan also talked at length about what she called Kelly’s most serious crime. He was charged with a felony for engaging in a sexual act with a child under the age of 16.

The charge stems from when Kelly arranged sexual acts with a student in the Watson College of Education on the UNCW Campus. Kelly had a student record him performing oral sex on the minor in a bathroom. Kelly was careful to conceal his identity with a hat and ensure the minor was not in the video.

Kelly posted the video to an explicit website. Both Kelly and the victim received $50 for the video.

WECT has reached out to UNCW about this incident. A spokesperson for the university said they had no comment.

Kelly told another victim about a website where he would post videos of himself masturbating with a mask on in exchange for $50. He even told one victim how to post videos online and make money.

Much more on this horrible story can be found at WECT6.

Supreme Court reinstates convictions of

Albuquerque man for child sexual abuse

  SANTA FE – The New Mexico Supreme Court today reinstated convictions of an Albuquerque man for molesting his stepdaughter over several years beginning when the girl was in grade school.  Here is a statement from the Administrative Office of the Courts:

In a unanimous opinion, the Court reversed a Bernalillo County judge’s decision to vacate most of Jesse Lawrence Lente’s convictions because they violated constitutional protections against punishing someone multiple times for the same crime. Lente was convicted in 2002 of 26 counts of sexual crimes against a child. Five of those convictions were left in place by the district court judge’s ruling in 2017. Several convictions for non-sex crimes, including bribery of a witness, also remained.

The Supreme Court concluded there was no double jeopardy violation because the vacated convictions represented separate criminal acts and the stepdaughter’s testimony at trial provided enough specificity to support Lente’s convictions of multiple sex crimes.

In an opinion written by Chief Justice Judith K. Nakamura, the Court said the case against Lente “does not include ‘carbon copy’ counts, i.e., identically worded charges that are in no way differentiated from one another.”

Lente was sentenced to 236 years in prison. After exhausting his state court appeals, he filed a post-conviction habeas corpus petition that led to the district court’s decision vacating most of his convictions. Prosecutors appealed that decision.

The case raised legal issues about evidence in “resident child molester” cases. Lente began abusing his stepdaughter when she was seven or eight years old and continued until she was 11 or 12 years old. She testified that the abuse occurred two to three times a week.

“These cases generally involve defendants who have regular access to and control over children whom they sexually abuse in secrecy over long periods of time,” the Supreme Court said. “The child victims in these cases are usually the sole witnesses of the crimes perpetrated and, because of their age and the frequency of the sexual abuse to which they are subjected, cannot provide detailed accounts of the abuse but only generalized accounts of frequent sexual contact with the defendant.”

The district court determined that the stepdaughter’s testimony “was too generic and insufficient to support Lente’s multiple convictions,” the Supreme Court said. “Her testimony, the district court concluded, could support only one conviction for each type of sex-abuse crime Lente perpetrated, and therefore, Lente’s multiple convictions violated double jeopardy.”

The Supreme Court disagreed, and in its written opinion clarified “the principles courts must utilize when evaluating the sufficiency of the evidence presented in resident child molester cases.”

In Lente’s case, the Court concluded that the stepdaughter’s testimony described the criminal acts with “sufficient specificity” for the jury to differentiate between the various sex offenses and to support each of the convictions.

Tigard, Ore., man arrested on child sex abuse charges

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Authorities have arrested a Tigard man child sex abuse charges.

KOIN-TV reports Louis Howard Johnson was arrested this week at the Greenburg Oaks Apartments where he works, according to Tigard police.

Investigators say Johnson sexually abused multiple victims who were all minors at the time. Police say the abuse happened about 15 years ago and that there he may be more victims since he worked at various rental properties that gave him access to residents and children.

Johnson was indicted and booked into the Washington County Jail on six counts of unlawful sexual penetration and seven counts of sexual abuse.

Elgin, Ill., man charged with sharing videos

of 2 y/o child's sexual abuse, torture

Sun-Times Media Wire

ELGIN, Ill. -- An Elgin man is accused of distributing multiple videos of children being sexually abused and tortured.

David C. Vogt, 32, was charged with five counts of reproducing child pornography and five counts of possessing child pornography, according to the Kane County state's attorney's office.

On June 13, a detective allegedly discovered five videos being downloaded from Vogt's computer, prosecutors said. Each video allegedly depicts an adult sexually abusing a child, possibly as young as 2 years old, and subjecting them to torture.

Vogt is being held at the Kane County Jail on $500,000 bail, the state's attorney's office said. If he posts bond, he is not allowed to use the internet or have contact with anyone younger than 18 and must surrender his passport.

If convicted of all felonies, Vogt faces a sentence of as many as 150 years in prison, the state's attorney's office said. He is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 1.

That seems about appropriate!

Texas educator accused of child sex abuse

taught at McKinney middle school at the time

By Tom Steele, Dallas Morning News

A North Texas educator has been arrested on a charge of child sex abuse.

Kirby Glynn Smith, 50, was booked into the Collin County jail Tuesday on one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child. He remained in custody Wednesday, with bail set at $100,000.

McKinney police said the arrest came after a boy reported abuse. They did not release any other details about the charge.

At the time of the alleged reported abuse, Smith was a teacher at Cockrill Middle School in the McKinney ISD, police said. He is currently the assistant principal at Van Alstyne Middle School.

Van Alstyne ISD Superintendent David Brown wrote in a letter to parents that Smith has been placed on administrative leave and is not allowed on any district property. He said his district was cooperating with authorities.

Police said they did not know of any other potential victims. Anyone with information about the case may call police at 972-547-2710.

2 allege sex abuse in lawsuits against Boy Scouts

in Montana

Phil Drake, Great Falls Tribune

A man who was a member of a Boy Scout troop sponsored by the Malmstrom Air Force Base Kiwanis is suing the Boy Scouts of America, alleging he was sexually abused by a troop leader in the 1980s.

The man, known as M.B. in his lawsuit filed Wednesday in the Montana 8th Judicial District Court in Cascade County, was joined in another lawsuit by a man identified as M.M., who is also suing the Scouts. He was in Troop 26 out of Hamilton that was sponsored by the Elks Club, according to court documents.

The defendants named in the court filings include the Boy Scouts of America and the nonprofit Great Falls-based Montana Council, Boy Scouts of America.

The defendants named include the Boy Scouts of America and the nonprofit Montana Council, Boy Scouts of America. (Photo: Tom Pennington, Getty Images)

M.B., who was born in 1968 and still lives in Montana, alleges he was sexually abused by Boy Scout Troop 190 leader George C. Deblois from 1980 to 1985. He said that Deblois served as a surrogate father because M.B.’s father was in the military and often deployed. The lawsuit alleges Deblois molested M.B. in Deblois' car as they were going to and returning from scouting events, hiking and campaign trips and at the Deblois’ home.

Dumas said Deblois was never charged or convicted. Efforts to locate Deblois for comment Thursday were unsuccessful.

Both men say the Boy Scouts and Montana Council were negligent and committed fraud. They failed to supervise the men who abused the two plaintiffs and did not enforce proper child protection policies despite notice of child sexual abuse. 

M.B.'s suit claims the Boy Scouts breached their duty to use reasonable care. It asks for general, special and punitive damages, plaintiffs costs and other relief the court deems just and equitable.

In the other filing, M.M., who was born in 1957 and now lives in Oregon, alleges he was sexually abused from 1968 to 1971 by his Scout leader Clare Conroy. The suit states the Boy Scouts failed to properly train and supervise Conroy.

It states the plaintiff reported Conroy to other adult Scout leaders around 1970. They did not terminate him and Conroy remained a Troop leader until 1984 and continued to abuse the plaintiff. Conroy died in 1993.

Gilion C. Dumas, Portland, Ore., based attorney representing the plaintiffs, said Montana recently changed its statute of limitations for adult survivors of child sexual abuse. She said the new law extends the deadline for filing a civil action for child sexual abuse to age 27 or three years.

Good grief! 3 years? Why bother?

She said in a news release the law opens a “window” for claims earlier prohibited. Under some circumstances, even if a claim is time barred under the previous deadline, survivors have a window until May 7, 2020 to bring a claim.

“It is well-documented that child abuse survivors rarely report the abuse while it is happening and often do not report until well into adulthood, after they realize the long-term effects of the abuse on their lives or finally feel safe enough to report,” Dumas said.

Most of us well after we turn 27.

Other attorneys for the plaintiffs include Bozeman attorney James P. Molloy and Ashley L. Vaughn, who practices with Dumas.

Dumas represented three women who finalized a settlement with the Boy Scouts in August. The women claimed they were sexually assaulted by an adult Scout leader nearly 40 years ago when they were members of a Kalispell Explorer post.

The suit was filed in 2011. The terms of the settlement, reached during mediation, are confidential.

New charges filed against Orem, Ut., man

after third alleged victim comes forward

By Gephardt Daily

OREM, — An Orem man charged in August (8th story on link) with multiple counts of abuse and lewdness involving children now faces additional charges after a third alleged victim has come forward.

Lincoln A. Gygi, 31, now faces four new charges of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and two new charges of lewdness involving a child.

The new charges bring Gygi’s total charges to 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony; and 12 counts of lewdness involving a child, a class A misdemeanor.

The alleged victims were two males and one female. All reports were delayed.

In the case filed this week, the abuse of the male victim allegedly happened in the approximate 2003-2004 time period, the charging document says. At that time, the victim was at 7 or 8 years old, and he was at least 10 when the abuse ended, the statement says.

Gygi was approximately 16 to 19 at the time, the charging documents say.

“(The) victim disclosed that defendant was viewed as a mentor in the neighborhood and children would frequent his home in Orem to play games,” the statement says. “Defendant began inviting victim to play alone with him. Defendant would ‘lure’ victim in with the offer of playing with certain toys.

“(The) defendant then began asking victim to play ‘dares’ with him.” The dares began with touching underwear in the dresser of Gygi’s sister, and progressed to a wiggling game that lasted until the boy’s clothes came off, the statement says. Naked touching then occurred, it says.

In the case filed in August, the charges filed stemmed from incidents from about three years earlier, involving a boy and a girl, reported to be 9 and 8 at that time.

The female victim told officers that Gygi had “dared” her and the boy “to take their clothes off and run around naked. (She) said this occurred more than once.” She also said that Gygi had dropped his pants and underwear, and had her touch is penis.

Gygi was transported to the Orem Police station and interviewed, and confirmed he knew he was there to discuss the alleged abuse because the male victim had warned him a month earlier.

Post Mirada, “Lincoln said he felt bad that he and (the two victims) had engaged in ‘dares’ or ‘challenges’ which involved all of them taking off their clothes and running around naked.” Gygi said it occurred between 10 and 20 times, the charging document said.

He also confirmed lying on a bed, naked, with the girl, with skin-to-skin contact on three occasions. Gygi said he had told the female victim touch his penis, and he confirmed her vague memory of him touching her vagina.

Gygi said the abuse went on for about a year, and that a third child was present on one occasion.

Okmulgee, Ok., pensioner arrested for child sex abuse

By Kelsy Schlotthauer Tulsa World 

A 75-year-old Okmulgee man was arrested after he was accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation announced Thursday.

Lester "Larry" Lay, 75, was taken into custody on sex abuse charges for allegedly assaulting the underage girl when she was visiting his grandson over the summer, according to a news release.

OSBI agents arrested Lay on Tuesday, after the week before he admitted to committing various sexual acts on the child, the release states.

Lay was believed to be familiar with the girl, and had walked her home from a residence on North 280 Road before. The night of the assault, his grandson had gone inside to sleep. 

The girl went back inside the residence to get her phone that was charging, and Lay followed before reportedly sexually abusing her, the release states.

The girl reported the incident to authorities and criminalists matched Lay's DNA to the DNA found during the girl's medical examination.  

Lay remains booked in the Okmulgee County jail on a $100,000 bond, the release states.

Albertville, Al., pensioner guilty of child sex abuse

TAYLOR BECK The Reporter 

GUNTERSVILLE — Walter Richard Rives, 77, of Albertville, was found guilty of sexually abusing a child less than 12 years old.

A jury of 13 men reached the verdict after deliberating for less than one hour Thursday morning inside the Marshall County Courthouse in Guntersville.

Rives was arrested and charged with sexual abuse of a child less than 12 years old in 2015, according to the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office inmate database. The victim is Rives’ great-great niece; she was 7 years old at the time of the incident, which is believed to have happened in 2014.

Trial began with opening statements and a testimony from the victim Tuesday afternoon. The Marshall County District Attorney’s Office is led the prosecution. Attorney Mark Hopper led the defense. Judge Chris Abel presided.

Before trial began, Rives pled not guilty.

During opening testimonies, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Bray said the case boiled down to “motive and opportunity.” She said Rives had motive due to his past.

In 1985, Rives was put on trial after being charged with first degree sodomy of a girl that was 8-10 years old. Despite Rives’ admission to abuse of the girl in a separate dependency hearing, Bray said a mistrial was ordered — the reason is unknown.

In March of 1986, Bray said, Rives pled the charge down to a misdemeanor. Rives was not registered as a sex offender, according to Bray. She said a second case of alleged sex abuse of a child was later reported against Rives, but charges were not presented.

During the defense’s opening statement, Hopper said it was important for the jury to separate Rives’ history from the current case. “What we are here for today is what happened to [the victim of the present case]” Hopper said. “Not what happened decades ago.”

Shortly after opening statements, the now 13-year-old victim took the stand to testify against Rives.

She said she could not remember every detail of what happened more than six years ago, but she definitively remembered Rives abusing her.

According to the victim, Rives would take her out for a ride on his 4-wheeler, and then stop once away from the house. Then, she said, he would abuse her. She said her cousins would ride on the 4-wheeler with them occasionally, but the abuse only happened when Rives and the victim were alone.

She could not remember if similar incidents happened in other locations. She also couldn’t remember how many times it had happened.

When she eventually told her mother what was happening, it was only by accident. The victim said she didn’t understand that what was happening was bad, only that it was uncomfortable.

The mother, who also testified, said her daughter revealed what was happening when they were talking about who she enjoyed staying with the most. The family lived on the same street as Rives and other family members, and the victim regularly stayed with them.

While she said she enjoyed staying with one family member, the victim told her mother she didn’t like staying at Rives’ home. That’s when the mother learned of the alleged abuse.

During her testimony, the mother claimed she had no knowledge of Rives’ history of alleged abuse. In fact, she said the family was on good terms before the incident was brought to light — she said there was no reason to fabricate a lie about Rives. The family thought of Rives as another grandparent.

Witnesses related to Rives past alleged abuse cases testified Wednesday. Closing arguments were made Thursday morning before the jury decided the case.

A sentencing hearing for Rives will be held Jan. 6, 2020. Being found guilty, Bray said Rives could be sentenced 10-20 years in prison.

Although the defense requested Rives be placed in immediate custody following the trial, Abel ordered him to remain on bond until the sentencing hearing.

Jury Convicts Minnesota Man of

Child Sexual Exploitation Offenses

(STL.News) – A man who traveled from Minnesota to Iowa to have sex with minors was convicted by a jury on Wednesday, October 30, 2019, after a three-day trial in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

Terrance Nordwall, age 50, of Faribault, Minnesota, was convicted of attempted sex trafficking of children, attempted enticement of minors, and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

The evidence at trial showed that, in March and April of 2019, Nordwall exchanged text messages with a man who he believed was a “pimp” with a 14-year-old girl and a 15‑year‑old girl available.  The man was actually an undercover law enforcement officer.  Nordwall agreed to pay the pimp $200 for a half hour with the two girls, and he drove to the Cedar Rapids area, where he met law enforcement officers.

Sentencing before United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams will be set after a presentence report is prepared.  Nordwall remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing.  Nordwall faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of life imprisonment, a $750,000 fine, $15,300 in special assessments, and supervised release for 5 years to life following any imprisonment.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the Iowa State Patrol, and the Hiawatha Police Department.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.  For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

Charges filed on Naples, Fla., man after

family member records sexual abuse

By: WFTX Digital Team

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. -- An East Naples man is facing felony child sexual abuse charges after a family member secretly recorded the crime on a cell phone.

According to the Collier COunty Sheriff's Office, an investigation determined that he was sexually abusing a child.

46-year-old Manuel DeJesus Serrano is charged with three counts of lewd and lascivious molestation on a victim under 12.

According to reports, once the victim disclosed the abuse to her sister this week, the sister put an iPhone in the room where the abuse was taking place and set it to record.

When detectives were called to the scene they reviewed the video and Serrano was arrested. The iPhone was taken into evidence.

Following his arrest Wednesday a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer was placed on Serrano. ICE lodges detainers on individuals arrested on criminal charges when ICE has probable cause to show they are removable aliens.

Once Serrano has satisfied his local criminal charges he will be released into ICE custody.

Jury Convicts Jacksonville, Mo., Man For Possessing

Child Sex Abuse Videos And Images

(STL.News) – A federal jury has found Jason Ryan Fain (38, Jacksonville) guilty of possessing videos and images depicting the sexual abuse of young children.  He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison followed by a potential life term of supervised release.  A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to the testimony and evidence presented at trial, on January 9, 2017, an officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) responded to a citizen complaint at a Jacksonville residence where Fain resided.  The officer recovered a USB thumb drive belonging to Fain.  A subsequent search of the thumb drive revealed 3,614 images and 7 videos depicting the sexual abuse of young children, together with “selfie”-type photos depicting Fain.  On October 27, 2017, Fain was arrested in Youngstown by investigators from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.  During an interview, Fain admitted that the thumb drive belonged to him and that it contained “hundreds” of pornographic images of children that he had obtained from the internet.

A forensic analysis conducted by the FBI confirmed that Fain’s thumb drive had accessed a particular file-sharing network on the internet.  The device also contained a document that advocated the legalization of child pornography possession.

This case was investigated by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

This is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood.

Campaign to End Child Marriage in the U.S. Runs into Some Surprising Opposition

Don't know how you can have a conversation about child marriages and not mention immigrants or Islam, but, here it is...

Genevieve Meyer was just 15 years old when her 42-year-old neighbor put his hand on her thigh. She knew at the time that it didn't make sense — he was more than twice her age and had already been married a couple of times. But the man was persistent, complimenting her long blond hair and pointing out that she looked much older than her age. "It just progressed into more inappropriate behavior," she said. 

It wasn't long before her mother took notice. She called the cops and claimed that the older man was assaulting Meyer. The police arrested him. But he managed to make bail.

That's when her mother, who Meyer said suffered from mental illness, had a sudden change of heart. 

"My mom told me that this was my fault," explained Meyer, who is now 39. She reasoned that Meyer had seduced the man. If they didn't fix the situation, he could lose his job, his children, and spend the next decade of his life in jail. 

In California, where Meyer lived at the time, sex with anyone under the age of 18 constitutes statutory rape, regardless of whether or not the younger party has consented. 

But her mother saw a solution: "She suggested we get married." Doing so would render the relationship legal, allowing her neighbor to avoid statutory rape or child sexual abuse charges. While sex between an adult and a minor is a crime, marriage would make the same activity legal. It would also rid Meyer's mother of the responsibilities of parenting. 

"I didn't really believe that I could get married at my age," said Meyer. But within a month, on May 11, 1995, she wed her neighbor and charges against him were dropped.

Across the country, more than 200,000 minors were married between 2000 and 2015, according to marriage records obtained from 41 states. In the United States, marriage laws are regulated at the state level. Forty-eight states still have legal loopholes that allow youth under the age of 18 to marry. Those exceptions include youth with legal emancipation, parental consent or judicial approval. In many instances these loopholes are used for the older partner to avoid statutory rape charges. 

In 87% of child marriages, the minor is a girl; 86% of the time she is marrying a legal adult. Based on these numbers, advocates argue that the vast majority of marriages with minors would otherwise constitute statutory rape.

"In 38 states, what would otherwise be considered felony rape becomes completely legal once a marriage license is handed out," said Fraidy Reiss, the founder and executive director of Unchained at Last, an advocacy group dedicated to ending forced and child marriage in the United States. Sexual predators have an incentive to marry their victims in order to avoid prosecution and possible jail time. "We're creating a mockery of statutory rape laws," Reiss said.

The laws on both the legal age of marriage and statutory rape vary by state. In California, where Meyer lived, there was no minimum age required for marriage, meaning a child of any age could wed provided they had parental approval and sign-off from a judge. In Meyer's case, the latter proved a challenge. "It took some effort to state-shop and figure out which states it could happen in," said Meyer. Eventually she travelled with her soon-to-be husband to Mississippi, where the courts didn't object. 

California has since amended its laws. In 2017, state Senator Jerry Hill, a Democrat, introduced legislation to ban marriage under 18 without exception. 

But he was met by opposition, surprisingly, from groups traditionally associated with the left. The ACLU Northern California chapters, along with the Children's Law Center of California, opposed the bill, claiming estimates of the scale of the problem were overblown. They cited Los Angeles County, where just 44 petitions for marriage by a minor we made in 2017 out of a population of 10 million. The groups argued that the new law would strip youth of their right to form their families and eliminate one of the only pathways to exit the foster care system through emancipation.

Of course, escaping foster care is hardly a good reason to get married, but I'm sure it happens regularly.

A version of the legislation eventually passed, but without any age restrictions. While there are stricter protocols for court oversight, a minor of any age can still marry in California.

There is a federal law stating that if one party is under age 16, and the parties are four years apart in age, then a sex offense has occurred. "It's not called statutory rape, but that's effectively what it is," explained Jeanne Smoot, senior counsel for policy and strategy at the Tahirih Justice Center. But for the law to be enforced the crime must occur where federal criminal jurisdiction applies, such as in the case of the Jeffrey Epstein, who was arrested earlier this year on federal charges for sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York. (Epstein died behind bars in August.)

Advocates argue that the only way to end the statutory rape loophole is to end child marriage in all 50 states. Changes to state laws governing marriage across the country have been remarkably swift. Last year Delaware became the first state to completely ban marriage under the age of 18, without exception. New Jersey followed shortly thereafter. In total, eight states have raised the age of marriage to legal adulthood, either requiring couples to be at least 18 at the time of the wedding or to be emancipated minors — a  complex process where the courts recognize a minor as a legal adult based on evidence that they can support themselves without their former legal guardian. 

Today, Genevieve Meyer lives in Indiana, where she is working hard to change the laws in the state. Currently, Indiana allows minors as young as 15 to get married, provided they have parental approval and judicial consent. Meyer wants to see that practice come to an end.

"You know, most parents make good decisions when they come to their kids. They nurture them, they provide them with what they need, they enrich their lives, they want the best for them. But that's not the case for all parents, so we need to have laws in place to protect children when their parents don't — not loopholes for them to be exploited."

Another area where the madness of adults causes pain and suffering for children.

Horrific Child Sex Trafficking Story Among Today's USA Pervs and Pedos List

Teen girl taken by mother's ex-boyfriend in Virginia

Amber Alert Issued

By Nicholas Sakelaris

An Amber Alert has been issued for 14-year-old Isabel Shae Hicks, who has been missing since Monday.

Police believe she was abducted from her Bumpass, Va. home by 33-year-old Bruce William Lynch.

Photos from Louisa County Sheriff's Office/Facebook

(UPI) -- An Amber Alert has been issued for a 14-year-old girl missing from Bumpass, Va. since Monday.

The Louisa County Sheriff's Office said they believe the girl, Isabel Shae Hicks, was abducted from her home by her mother's ex-boyfriend, 33-year-old Bruce William Lynch. A felony abduction warrant has been issued for Lynch. Police believe he may have taken her across state lines.

It's not known whether Isabel went willingly or was taken. The FBI joined the investigation Saturday.

Isabel is described as a white female, 4 feet 11 inches tall, 120 pounds with straight blonde hair and blue eyes, the sheriff's office said in a Facebook post. She was abducted in the early morning hours of Oct. 21.

Lynch is 5 feet 11 inches tall, 195 pounds with brown hair, brown eyes, cross tattoos on both upper arms and a tattoo of Bruce on the top of his back.

Isabel was last seen by her sister in their shared bedroom. But when the sister woke up in the morning, Isabel was gone and they immediately called police.

Lynch had recently had "suicidal ideations" and may be in the possession of a 9mm handgun, the sheriff's office said. He's considered armed and dangerous. Camping gear was reported missing from Lynch's home.

Lynch is driving a silver-blue 2003 Matrix Toyota with a Virginia license plate.

"Information received appears they may be traveling out of state and staying in areas where they could camp," the sheriff's office said.

Her brother, Blake Saylor and her parents joined authorities in a news conference Thursday begging for her safe return.

"We miss you very much and we want you to come home," Saylor said. "I love you forever ... I just need my best friend back."

Porn Company Owner, Employees Charged With
Sex Trafficking

The company is already going through a civil trial after 22 women accused Girls Do Porn of hiring them to shoot porn under false pretenses

By EJ DICKSON, Rolling Stone

The owner and three employees of Girls Do Porn, the porn company accused of lying to and coercing women into shooting content for them, were arrested and charged with sex trafficking on Thursday.

According to an FBI press release, Girls Do Porn owners Michael Pratt, along with chief videographer Matthew Wolfe, administrative assistant Valerie Moser, and male performer Ruben “Andre” Garcia, were charged with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion. Garcia, Pratt, and Wolfe were also charged with sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion. If found guilty, they face a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The charges are separate from an ongoing trial in San Diego Superior Court, in which 22 women are accusing the company of recruiting them to shoot porn under false pretenses. In their suit, the women claim that they were told that they were being hired for modeling jobs, for which they would be paid $5,000, and were not informed that they would be making pornographic content until they arrived on set. During testimony earlier this week, Moser, who spoke on behalf of the plaintiffs, said that Pratt instructed her not to tell recruits the name of the company, telling her to call it “Plus One Media” instead.

The women allege that the producers coerced them into shooting porn by telling them that the videos would only be distributed privately to individual buyers overseas, and that the content would not appear online. The women claim that the footage was then uploaded to the tube site Pornhub, and that they were subject to doxxing and harassment as a result. The suit alleges that Girls Do Porn benefited tremendously off exploiting the women, with its websites generating about $17 million.

In response to the initial complaint against the company, Pratt denied the charges, saying through his attorney that the plaintiffs had “failed to exercise ordinary and reasonable care on their own behalf,” and thus had no right to claim damages. He also attempted to stall the trial by declaring bankruptcy in January, writing in a text message that “as soon as i bankrupt the business they [the plaintiffs] are ******.” Last month, he fled the country and is officially considered a “fugitive” by the FBI.

Hundreds of millions of viewers!!!

Last July, Pornhub, which has positioned itself within the adult industry as something of an advocate for sexual education and informed consent, told Motherboard that it had removed the videos featuring the plaintiffs from its website, as well as some of the branding associated with Girls Do Porn. Yet as of this writing, Pornhub still hosts Girls Do Porn content, which has generated hundreds of millions of views. In response to questions from Motherboard about why it continued to host the content despite the allegations against the company, Pornhub vice president Corey Price wrote that “not all of the Girls Do Porn videos are being accused of improprieties,” and that the company felt that removing the videos mentioned in the lawsuit “was the appropriate course of action for right now.” Pornhub did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.

Upstate NY  pensioner gets jail, probation for

sexual abuse of child

By W.T. ECKERT

CANTON — A Gouverneur man who sexualy abused a child last summer was sentenced to a split sentence of jail and probation Tuesday in St. Lawrence County Court.

Gary L. Mashaw, 73, of 1941 Route 812, sentenced to six months in the St. Lawrence County jail with 10 years of probation for his Sept. 9 guilty plea to felony first-degree sexual abuse in a plea deal with the district attorney’s office.

The indictment charged on or about the summer of 2018 in the town of Gouverneur, Mashaw subjected a 9-year-old child to sexual contact.

But at the time of his plea, Mashaw told the court that the child was 8 and that he touched the child’s vagina, over her clothing, for his own sexual gratification.

Mashaw took the plea on the eve of his scheduled trial in order to avoid a fate decided by jury.

According to the Dec. 14 state police arrest report, the incident took place at 12:14 p.m. on Sept. 28 in the town.

The plea deal also satisfied a remaining misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child charge in the indictment. He will have to register as a sex offender and pay fines, fees and surcharges.

Officials in court at the time of the sentencing Tuesday said the judge said Mashaw was being investigated on possible new charges, however, the details were not available.

Although there is a 10 year probation sentence, if he violates that probation, Mashaw could face to up to seven years in prison with three years of post-release supervision. A no-contact order of protection was issued in favor of the child.

St. Helens High School, Ore., kept teacher on despite sex harassment findings, allowed repeated sexual abuse of student, suit alleges

By Maxine Bernstein | The Oregonian/OregonLive

St. Helens High School track coach and social studies teacher Kyle Jarred Wroblewski got his first reprimand for inappropriate behavior with female students in April 2008 – for being “too touchy” and running his hands through girls’ hair to giving shoulder massages and helping a girl stretch during practice, according to school records.

His principal ordered him to have no further physical contact with students.

New complaints arose the next year. The school district found he had sexually harassed more girls: He was caught privately texting one student, talking with another student about the “missionary” sexual position and arranging to meet a third student alone on school grounds on a weekend.

The district suspended him without pay for three days.

“The punishment fits the infraction,’” St. Helens High School Principal Nanette Hagen wrote to the coach then. “You have been guilty of serious misconduct. … Your behavior is strictly forbidden by state and federal law as well as the District’s policies.”

But the school district’s punishment fell far short, a new federal lawsuit alleges.

It allowed Wroblewski to go on to groom a 16-year-old St. Helens High School junior on his track team in 2017 and sexually abuse her repeatedly on the school grounds and at his home over seven months until his arrest in May 2018.

St. Helens police arrested Wroblewski at his home, where he had taken the day off from teaching to meet with the student and sexually abuse her, her lawyers say. In August, Wroblewski was sentenced to four years and two months in prison after pleading guilty to five counts of second-degree sexual abuse of the underage girl.

“Despite multiple notices and warning signs known to the District that indicated that their teacher Wroblewski posed a threat to the health and safety of children enrolled in the District, the District did nothing to warn, protect, or report,’’ attorneys Stephen Crew and Peter Janci wrote in the suit.

The sexually abused teenager, graduated from St. Helens High last spring and is now 18.

The suit names the St. Helens School District, the school board, the superintendent, high school principal and guidance counselor.

They did nothing to intervene even though Wroblewski’s inappropriate relationship with the teen student was discussed widely throughout the school and reported by another student to numerous school officials by January 2018, the suit alleges.

More to this story can be found on the Oregonian.

Denver lacrosse club founder headed to trial on

child sexual assault charges

I apologize for this story, but didn't want to leave it out. If it makes more sense to you than it does to me, please send me a deciphered copy.

By ROSHAN 

Herald Publicist

A Denver man who leads a big youth lacrosse group is scheduled for trial subsequent week on youngster sexual assault costs.

Robert Gormley, 57, is charged with intercourse assault of a kid by an individual able of belief a sample; and intercourse assault of a kid by an individual in place of belief sufferer age 15 to 18, in response to courtroom information. Gormley pleaded not responsible to each costs.

Whereas Gormley is the founding father of Denver Lacrosse Membership, a Denver Police Division arrest affidavit doesn’t point out his affiliation with the membership and doesn’t point out his alleged crime entails a lacrosse participant.

A trial is scheduled to start Monday.

On Nov. 30, 2018, Denver investigators contacted the sufferer who earlier that day had disclosed allegations of sexual abuse to a faculty trainer, in response to the arrest affidavit.

Gormley had massaged the woman, together with touching her naked buttocks beneath her underwear, after giving her driving classes, the arrest affidavit mentioned. He carried out comparable massages at the very least 5 instances on the woman’s house, beginning when she was 14, the affidavit mentioned.

Gormley, who was reached Monday evening by phone, mentioned: “The allegations are false.” He declined additional remark.

I suspect ROSHAN wrote this in his native tongue, whatever that may be, and translated it by Google. Apparently, this is an Indian publication!

Man assaulted child at Centre Co., Pa., farm

where previous abuse took place

BY BRET PALLOTTO

A Taylor Township farm is again at the center of a sexual assault case, with state police filing charges Monday against a Port Matilda man accused of assaulting a foster child there in 2005.

Cameron Weaver, 39, is accused of sexually assaulting a then 7-year-old girl who was a foster child at 331 McMonigal Lane. His adopted brother, Elijah Weaver, was convicted this year of sexually assaulting two girls at the farm in 2015 (See story immediately below).

The girl told Centre County Children and Youth Services she was sexually assaulted by Cameron Weaver while she lived at the farm as a foster child. The CYS report was shared with police in February, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed Monday.

Weaver called her into his room on two occasions in 2005 when nobody else was in the house and molested her, police said.

“Don’t ever tell anyone. I will lose my whole family,” the girl reported Cameron Weaver said, according to court documents.

Cameron Weaver was interviewed by police in March. He did not remember the incident after an officer told him about the allegations, according to police, but said, “Why would I pick her? Of all the kids, why any of them?”

Cameron Weaver, a Penn State maintenance utility worker, called a physical plant co-worker to discuss the interview, according to the affidavit.

“I don’t know what the big deal is; it was only one time,” the employee reported Cameron Weaver said. “How am I supposed to know? There were over 200 kids in foster care at my parent’s (house).”

He was placed on leave Tuesday, university spokeswoman Lisa Powers said. “The university is aware of these deeply disturbing allegations against an employee, and will take appropriate action,” Powers said. “... Because personnel matters are considered confidential, we cannot comment further.”

Cameron Weaver was charged with one felony count of aggravated indecent assault of a child and one misdemeanor count of indecent assault of someone younger than 13.

He was arraigned Monday by District Judge Allen Sinclair, who released him on $100,000 unsecured bail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 6.

Jury delivers verdict for Port Matilda man

accused of child rape

BY BRET PALLOTTO

JULY 02, 2019 

A Port Matilda man was found guilty Tuesday of raping and sexually abusing two girls multiple times at a Taylor Township farm.

Nine women and three men deliberated for nearly five hours before convicting Elijah Weaver, 20, of six counts of child rape, 10 felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, six felony counts of aggravated indecent assault of a child and six felony counts of indecent assault of a child.

He was found not guilty of one felony count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.

Two pre-teen girls disclosed in November that Weaver sexually abused them. He admitted to sexually abusing the girls during a December interview with state police at Rockview, according to a criminal complaint filed by the agency.

First Assistant Public Defender Deborah Lux denied the charges during her closing argument Tuesday, saying his statements to police were the result of “leading questions” and the girls were “coached to say more than what happened.”

“These children must be Meryl Streep if the defense wants you to believe this was an act,” Assistant District Attorney Megan McGoron said during her closing argument. “There was no reason for them to make this up.”

During the interview with state police trooper Michael Brown and Cpl. Scott Rossman, Weaver initially denied that he assaulted the girls. He later told police he was previously warned about where he put his hands on the girls, McGoron said.

Weaver then speculated it was another man who commit the abuse before ultimately confessing, McGoron said. “His confession lines up pretty squarely with what they said,” McGoron said. “He devastated these girls. He devastated this family.”

Elijah Weaver, 21, was sentenced in August to 30-60 years in state prison. A jury in July convicted him of six counts of child rape, 10 counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, six counts of aggravated indecent assault of a child and six count of indecent assault of a child. He was acquitted of one count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse after a two-day trial.

Bombshell $10M suit claims two NYC hotels

turned a blind eye to child sex trafficking 

By Andrew Denney and Gabrielle Fonrouge

NY Post

Econo Lodge at 1000 Baychester Avenue in the Bronx, Zack Seckler

A 10-year-old girl was raped, tortured and beaten as she was sold for sex at two Big Apple motels while staff turned a blind eye to her obvious abuse, a bombshell $10 million lawsuit filed Tuesday claims.

The suit, filed in Brooklyn Federal Court and the first of it’s kind in New York, claims Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and Choice Hotels Corporation were complicit in the girl’s abuse by operating franchises that chose “to ignore the open and obvious presence of sex trafficking on their properties.”

The plaintiff, who is now a woman in her twenties and was only identified by the initials “S.J.”, claims she was sold for sex as much as 15 to 20 times per day at a Howard Johnson in Jamaica, Queens, operated by Wyndham, and an Econo Lodge in The Bronx, operated by Choice Hotels, between 2006 and 2009 when she was between the ages of 10 and 13, the suit states.

S.J. had met her trafficker shortly after she escaped from a foster home where she was being sexually and physically abused, the suit says, adding she’d entered into foster care after her father was caught molesting her.

“S.J.’s trafficker took advantage of her vulnerability by preying on the young girl’s normal desire for attention and approval and gaining her trust by taking her out for meals and shopping trips, and offering her life advice and the promise that she could be a part of their family,” the suit states.

The vast majority of sex trafficking victims were sexually abused as children, multiple experts have told The Post.

Once the girl’s trafficker, a 25-year-old man, gained S.J.’s trust and took her virginity, he forced her to service his clients, telling her “how you make ‘Daddy’ happy, is by making [them] happy,” the suit states.

For the next three years, the trafficker would put a “paper bag” over S.J.’s head and ferry her to the Econo Lodge and the Howard Johnson where she’d spend days at a time being raped by clients non-stop, the suit states.

The trafficker would always pay for the rooms in cash and when he didn’t have money for rooms at the Econo Lodge, he allowed hotel staff to rape his victims “in lieu of his payment for the rooms,” the papers show.

There was even a bowl of free condoms displayed at the Econo Lodge’s front desk the victims would use when they ran out, the suit states.

S.J. claimed in the lawsuit there was “constant and voluminous” foot traffic in and out of the rooms and “numerous used condoms” were left “scattered across various surfaces” at the end of each motel stay, which should’ve indicated to staff obvious criminal activity was happening.

Further, the suit states staff at both of the motels allowed the abuse to happen by failing to call law enforcement and ignoring obvious warning signs displayed by S.J. and the pimp’s other victims such as clear physical abuse, diminished personal hygiene, lack of luggage, submissiveness and inappropriate attire.

Wyndham and Choice Hotels have both signed on to the Tourism Child-Protection Code of Conduct created by the leading anti-trafficking policy organization End Child Prostitution and Trafficking (ECPAT-USA), according to the suit and ECPAT.

The code of conduct outlines six steps companies can take to prevent child sex trafficking such as establishing policy and procedures against sexual exploitation of children and training employees on how to recognize trafficking is occurring.

Choice partnered with ECPAT in 2010 and Wyndham in 2011 — after S.J.’s abuse occurred — but still don’t mandate their franchises to implement the training the way other chains do, sources familiar with the hotels said.

“The hospitality industry plays a crucial role in the sex trade. The trope of the ‘no-tell hotel’ is certainly not a new one,” the lawsuit states, adding 45% of all sexual exploitation in New York City happens in hotels.

“Every day thousands of hotel employees witness manifestations of sex trafficking and commercial exploitation. Thus, the hospitality industry has the greatest reach to prevent, identify and thwart sexual exploitation where it is most likely to occur.”

Stillwater, Ok., man charged with two counts of

child sexual abuse

By Tanner Holubar 

Stillwater News Press

     

A Stillwater man, Michael Phillip Kurtanic, 36, was charged Monday in Payne County District Court with two counts of child sexual abuse, according to court records.

A written affidavit states that Payne County Sheriff’s deputies learned of a possible case of child sexual abuse on Wednesday, and observed forensic interviews with two children at the Saville Center on Friday. One child is 12 and the other was under 12 at the time of the alleged abuse.

Both victims said they had been abused in a rural Payne County residence by Kurtanic, who began living with the family in 2017 and recently moved from the residence in June 2019.

During the interview, one of the children said they had been taken to a separate room after Kurtanic said the child was in trouble. The affidavit reads Kurtanic removed his clothes and made the child perform sexual acts. The child also detailed other incidents where Kurtanic made the child perform lewd acts on him.

Kurtanic allegedly told one of the children that he would shoot the child if anybody was ever told about the abuse that had taken place. Kurtanic also made one of the children perform sexual acts on nearly a daily basis for months, and Kurtanic would threaten the child to comply, according to the affidavit.

Deputies took Kurtanic into custody on Friday and he was transported to the Payne County Sheriff’s Office. He initially denied any inappropriate sexual contact, but, according to the affidavit, later admitted that the children had watched him touch himself while watching pornography.

The two felony counts of child sexual abuse both hold a punishment of not less than 25 years nor more than life imprisonment, and by a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $5,000. Kurtanic appeared in court on Tuesday and the matter was set for Nov. 5.