Judge chosen to resentence Sandusky in
child sex abuse case
by: Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A new judge is in place to handle the child sexual abuse resentencing hearing for former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday issued an order appointing Judge Maureen Skerda to take over the case.
The previous jurist, Judge John Foradora of Jefferson County, recused himself last month.
A prosecutor and Sandusky’s defense lawyer agreed in a court document that Foradora needed to step aside because of what they called an action in August by the attorney general’s office that was “separate, distinct and wholly unrelated” to the Sandusky case.
The 75-year-old Sandusky’s serving a 45-count conviction, but an appeals court ruled in February that mandatory minimums had been improperly applied.
Skerda is a judge in Warren and Forest counties.
Brain Surgeon Who Allegedly Wanted to Create
‘Sexual Families’ to Molest Kids Is Found Dead in Cell
Another pedophile commits suicide believing that he will escape punishment for his evils. He won't!
By Chris Harris
Authorities are investigating the sudden death of a California neurosurgeon who allegedly sexually abused several children and fantasized about creating “sexual families” by impregnating women and their daughters so he could then molest his offspring.
It is believed that disgraced brain surgeon James Kohut, 59, took his own life on Sunday morning inside his jail cell, according to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s office.
Kohut was awaiting trial on dozens of child sexual abuse counts. PEOPLE was unable to ascertain when his trial was set to begin. Kohut had been in custody since his arrest in May 2017.
Authorities confirm Kohut did not share a cell with any other inmates, and was seen alive not long before corrections officers found his body. An autopsy will be performed on his remains later this week to determine an exact cause of death.
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| Emily Stephens |
Kohut was informed two years ago that he would face additional criminal charges following detectives’ discovery of video evidence allegedly showing him abusing two boys and a girl.
Kohut and two nurses — Rashel Brandon, 44, and an Arizona woman, Emily Stephens, 31, who was Kohut’s girlfriend — were arrested in 2017 on suspicion of running a child-sex ring.
Both women were charged with four counts of child sexual abuse, with Kohut originally facing 11. All told, he was charged with 48 counts. His medical license was revoked a month after his arrest.
Kohut, like Brandon and Stephens, pleaded not guilty to the charges. Both women are awaiting trial and face multiple felony counts.
The charges against Kohut included alleged abuse that authorities contend occurred in 2003, 2014, 2016 and 2017. His lawyer could not be reached.
Prosecutors in court documents alleged that, “for nearly 20 years,” the traveling surgeon displayed “a sexual compulsion, and has solicited victims for decades.”
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| Rashel Brandon |
The state also alleged the “defendant was soliciting mothers to engage in sexual acts with children.”
Among the examples cited, the prosecution referred to a Vermont woman who said she had a relationship with Kohut from 1997 to 2000. “During that relationship, he told her that he wanted to get her pregnant so she could have a child and they could be sexual with that child,” the document alleges.
The allegations continue: “He told her that he was most interested in children between the ages of 6 to 8. He admitted that he had been in a relationship with a woman in Florida who had a 13-year-old and a 4-year-old child. He admitted that he had sex in front of those children, and fondled the 13-year-old. He would explain that he wanted a ‘sexual family.’ He would ask her to recruit friends for him, and he wanted her to call him ‘daddy.'”
Court documents obtained by PEOPLE allege a woman from Australia told investigators Kohut said in 2003 “that he was searching for a woman who he can impregnate, and will then ‘raise their children sexually.’ He then asked [the woman] if she would let him impregnate and raise their child sexually.”
“Defendant told her that if he had a daughter, he would want to impregnate her at the age of 10 and raise that child sexually as well. He also admitted to having sexual encounters with other children in the past.”
“Finally, he asked her to find him children. He wanted her to volunteer as a homeless shelter or do babysitting jobs and find children that she would molest and he would then listen to them over the phone,” the document alleges.
And this lunatic operated on people's brains. Good grief!
Marie Osmond Reveals Sexual Abuse She Suffered As A Child Made Her Think She Was Gay
Lucille Barilla, InquisitrMarie Osmond made a shocking admission on the most recent episode of the CBS series The Talk, where she admitted that the sexual abuse she suffered as a child made her think she was gay. She revealed to her co-stars Eve, Sheryl Underwood, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Sharon Osbourne that she questioned her sexuality after the abuse occurred.
“When I was eight or nine, I actually thought I was gay, and the reason is because I had been sexually abused to the point that men, they made me sick, and I didn’t trust them, I didn’t like them,” she said.
She continued the table discussion, talking about the men in her family.
“Why did God give me all these great brothers and why did He give me this amazing father? And truly, they changed my opinion of men.”
The topic came up as the women discussed an Instagram Live post by singer Miley Cyrus where she spoke about her relationship with singer Cody Simpson, and relayed to users of the social media network that she thought she had to be gay “because I thought all guys were evil, but it’s not true.”
Cyrus experienced a backlash against her comments by supporters of the LGBTQ community who blasted her statements.
I am positive that Cyrus and Osmond are reflecting a consequence of sexual abuse that is much more common that the LGBTQ community would like. Yet, if those people who are horrified at Cyrus' confession were honest, I believe many of them would know that they were abused by men somewhere in their past.
They should accept this rather than fighting it, for it means that men are responsible for their condition. Of course, they don't want to admit that it is a condition.
The 60-year-old entertainer’s surprising admission was reported by Radar Online. She also revealed that she suffered from what she called “body issues” and wondered why she was looking at women, deducing that she must be gay.
This is not the first time Marie has addressed her experience of abuse. In her book, Behind the Smile: My Journey Out of Postpartum Depression, Marie revealed that she kept the secret for many years. It was only when she was older and had her own family that she told her loved ones what had happened to her. She has never publicly named her alleged abuser.
Breadth of Peterborough United's child sex abuse review questioned by Bob Higgins' victims
Bob Higgins appearing at Bournemouth Crown Court - Exclusive: Breadth of Peterborough United's child sex abuse review questioned by Bob Higgins' victims
Peterborough United have been urged “to listen to the uncomfortable truth” after commissioning a review of child sex abuse allegations at the club which was not publicised and did not contact at least two of the former players abused by Bob Higgins.
Telegraph Sport revealed last week the full extent of the child sexual abuse allegations that have now emerged against Higgins, a paedophile former football coach, with nine players having come forward to the police from Peterborough within a wider total of 95.
Former players who were abused want to know what checks were made and how, in the words of one survivor, Higgins was “let loose to basically do whatever he wanted” at the club before leaving in 1996.
Higgins was found guilty in May of indecently assaulting 23 teenage boys between 1971 and 1996, including two from Peterborough who say they knew nothing about the club-commissioned independent review until they were informed this week by Telegraph Sport.
“The apparent lack of involvement by survivors is unacceptable,” said Dino Nocivelli, a solicitor who specialises in child abuse cases. “A number of my clients suffered sexual abuse at the hands of Bob Higgins at Peterborough but they have never been contacted by the club. For Peterborough to now say their investigations are complete is akin to marking your own homework. The club need to answer for what took place on their watch and they need to listen to the uncomfortable truth.”
Both former players gave evidence against Higgins as part of the investigation by Hampshire Constabulary that ended with Higgins being sentenced to 24 years in jail.
Peterborough told Telegraph Sport that they had “completed and shared” a club-commissioned independent review with the Football Association’s Sheldon review into non-recent child sex abuse allegations. They also confirmed that the review had not been made public through the media and otherwise referred to the statement they issued shortly after Higgins had been convicted. This offered an “unreserved apology to all victims and survivors” and said that their current safeguarding practices were “of the highest order”.
They did not provide any further detail about who was interviewed as part of the independent review or confirm whether it also relates to Kit Carson (3rd story on link), the club’s former youth development officer who committed suicide in January on the morning that he was due to face trial for charges relating to the abuse of 11 boys under the age of 16.
The two players who were abused by Higgins have been shocked by the lack of contact. “Peterborough are burying their heads in the sand,” said one. “You would hope that they would want to get as much information as possible and use it to make sure it never happens again. There’s been no courtesy call, no invitation to visit and no personal apology. I would love to show my son where his Dad played. It’s not a hatred toward Peterborough. It’s about what happened and doing the right thing.”
The other former player said: “There’s been no attempt to contact me. My abuse took place within four walls of the club. You would think they would want to know how that happened.”
Victims of ex-football coach Bob Higgins, their families and supporters outside Winchester Crown Court 95 victims thus far have come forward to police concerning Higgins' abuse CREDIT: PA WIRE
The player described how Higgins was introduced to the youth team and their parents by Carson. “He [Carson] sang Bob Higgins’ praises. It was, ‘Stick with him, do exactly what he tells you and you will be the best footballer you can possibly be’. He told the parents how Bob Higgins would be like a second dad to them. It was almost like a cult. I witnessed everything from lads being baptised in baths, him giving them medicals himself to my own abuse.
“It beggars belief. We were pulled in for night sessions during the week, extra massages while everyone else had left the club. Weekends, he was taking people back to his house in Southampton, asking all the lads to go back with him.”
The player says that the trainees had to inform the club of their whereabouts because of curfews and that it is inconceivable to think no-one knew where some of the boys were going. Both players say that there are others who have spoken with them about their experiences who have not yet come forward to the police. They continue to receive counselling and say that their lives are still hugely impacted. “I thought I was coping OK, but I literally had a breakdown after giving evidence,” said one. “The sore never heals, it’s like a scab which comes off and you are again back to square one.”
Both the FA and the English Football League have said that it would be inappropriate to comment while the Sheldon review is ongoing.
Sexual predator or revenge porn victim?
Media rush to cover for disgraced congresswoman
Katie Hill as she resigns
Katie Hill as she resigns
© AFP / Mario Tama
Democratic congresswoman Katie Hill has resigned, after explicit evidence emerged that she’d had affairs with multiple staffers, but the spin machine is working overtime to portray her as an innocent victim of “revenge porn.”
Hill announced her resignation on Sunday, just four days after the House Ethics Committee launched an investigation into whether she had a sexual relationship with her legislative director, Graham Kelly. The openly bisexual congresswoman has admitted to a relationship with a female campaign staffer – that affair began before she was elected, and is technically legal. And to hear the media tell it, Hill has done nothing wrong.
After a trove of salacious photos, including a nude shot of Hill holding a bong, surfaced on RedState and spread to other conservative outlets, mainstream media rallied to Hill’s defense. Even after her resignation, they have continued running interference, with headlines like “Rep. Katie Hill Will Resign After Details Of Her Sex Life Were Published” and “After resignation, Katie Hill vows to battle revenge porn, which critics blame for her downfall.” In their telling, it is Hill’s ex-husband, who’d shared the female staffer with Hill in a “throuple,” who is the villain of the piece. After Hill left him – for Kelly, he claims – he allegedly leaked the photos.
POLITICO✔
@politico
The scandal involves a messy divorce and what is being called “revenge porn" http://bit.ly/2p9CVSi
Rep. Katie Hill to resign amid allegations of inappropriate relationships with staffers
politico.com
But Hill isn’t exactly innocent. The first-term congresswoman had the misfortune to be elected in 2018, less than a year after a rule was passed in the House barring representatives from sexual relations with their staff. A bipartisan initiative, championed by Hill’s fellow California Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Jackie Speier, it sailed through the House after four representatives resigned in the space of six months over sexual scandals.
Hill holds a special place in history as the first woman to be investigated by the Ethics Committee for an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate. The new rule was passed in the wake of #MeToo, and it’s unlikely members of the House had women in mind when they imagined what unethical behavior would look like. But with the rule now in place, it would be regressive and positively anti-feminist to hold women to a lower standard of behavior than men.
Outlets like Politico and Buzzfeed have avoided pointing this out, instead insisting that women should never be shamed for their sex lives, rules be damned. The people who look at the nude photos are the wrongdoers here, blue-check Democrats declared on Twitter, while acknowledging that there are over 700 “revenge porn pics” in the hands of Republican operatives.
Matthew Chapman✔
@fawfulfan
CNN correspondent Kyung Lah said today a GOP operative told her they have over 700 revenge porn pics of Katie Hill.
Imagine Republican men passing around these naked pictures and leering at them. This is sick.
No wonder she resigned. She must feel like her life is over.
@RobAnderson2018
I’m going to curse in this Tweet.
We have a President who has been credibly accused of multiple sexual assaults, we have many examples of politicians screwing anyone around, and it is a woman Rep (Katie Hill) who resigns for consensual sex?
That’s some straight-up BS.
Republicans have delighted in pointing out that Hill was a prominent voice opposing the nomination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. But Democrats have tried to turn that around, reminding the GOP that several women have accused President Donald Trump of sexual harassment and that at least Hill’s trysts were consensual.
Still, Hill was vice chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, making her indiscretions that much more hypocritical. She is expected to step down next week and has promised to “pursue all of our available legal options” against the source of the photos, calling their publication “an appalling invasion of my privacy.”
Sex, drugs and politics:
The story behind the MP Keith Vaz scandal
© Reuters / Toby Melville
There have always been scandals about sex and drugs in politics. Don’t be shocked that an MP offered to procure illegal Class A drugs, or that an MP paid for sex with two other men. Sadly, these things happen. Of the two, I’m more bothered about the drugs: I’ve seen people’s lives absolutely destroyed by hard drugs. For an MP to be prepared to support this industry of death — and there are no two ways about it, money from purchasing drugs will end up in the hands of drugs cartels who profit from the suffering, misery and death of addicts — is absolutely disgusting to me, but I’m also a realist. I’ve known too many people in politics who take drugs, and I’ve steered well clear of it.
What makes this case particularly bad is the fact that Keith Vaz was the chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, a Committee which had (previously) held inquiries into both prostitution and illegal drugs. There are few, if any, more senior positions that a backbencher could possibly hold, let alone the obvious issue of acting in this manner whilst chairing the Committee.
Then, there are the excuses. Despite an audio recording of the evening being in existence, Keith Vaz claimed that — late at night — the two men who came to his flat at 11.30pm on a Saturday evening were there to discuss painting and decorating work. There was no such appointment in his diary. The Commissioner for Standards described this claim as "incredible," as well she might. Some of his further claims contradicted each other so badly that the Standards Committee concluded: “It is difficult, to put it mildly, to see how all these separate defences could simultaneously be true”.
Technically, it seems that no crime was actually committed. Paying for sex is not specifically illegal in the United Kingdom, and Keith Vaz did not actually end up purchasing or procuring drugs. That’s not good enough. The public have the right to expect a better standard of behaviour from our MPs than ‘just about not criminal’. As the Commissioner put it, he showed a disregard for the law.
Not a particularly good habit for a lawmaker!
This isn’t the first time that Keith Vaz has fallen foul of the House of Commons Standards Committee. He’d previously been suspended from Parliament for a month after misleading the Committee and Commissioner on financial matters.
The House of Commons Standards Committee has recommended that Keith Vaz MP should be suspended from Parliament for six months. If Parliament approves this suspension, voters in Leicester East will be able to sign a Recall Petition to force a by-election. Removing an MP like Keith Vaz isn’t enough to regain confidence in our politicians, but it’s a necessary start.
By Jonathan Arnott, a former independent Member of the European Parliament
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