Fewer kids report sex abuse in U.S. juvenile detention centers but high rates persist at 12 facilities
AP, Japan Times
BOISE, IDAHO – A new federal report has found the number of kids who say they have been sexually victimized in juvenile detention centers has dropped across the U.S. compared with past years. But remarkably high rates of sexual abuse persist in 12 facilities stretching from Oregon to Florida, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics report released Wednesday.
The report analyzed data collected during more than 6,000 anonymous interviews last year at nearly 330 juvenile detention facilities. Young people were asked about any forced or coerced sexual contact they experienced, whether by staffers or other kids, ranging from rape to unwanted touching to being shown sexual pictures or movies.
Nationwide, an estimated 7.1 percent of children in juvenile facilities reported being sexually victimized during the previous 12 months, the report said. That’s a drop compared with the last time the survey was done in 2012, when 9.5 percent of youth reported being victimized.
“Today’s report shows that the juvenile detention system is making long overdue strides in preventing sexual abuse,” Lovisa Stannow, executive director of Just Detention International, an organization seeking to end sexual abuse in detention, said in a statement. “But even one sexual assault is too many and, as the report makes clear, this violence remains commonplace in youth facilities across the U.S.”
Twelve facilities had dramatically higher rates of sexual victimization, including three juvenile residential centers in Florida, three in Texas, and one each in Oregon, Arkansas, Idaho, Georgia, Ohio and New Jersey, according to the report.
At the Liberty Juvenile Unit for Specialized Treatment in Florida, just over 26 percent of youth reported being sexually victimized in the past 12 months. Similarly high rates — about 22 percent and 21 percent — were reported at the Hastings Comprehensive Mental Health Treatment Program and Gulf Academy, both in Florida.
At the Juvenile Correctional Center in the small eastern Idaho town of St. Anthony, nearly 13 percent of youths reported being sexually victimized within the last 12 months. Roughly 500 miles (805 km) north in a Lewiston, Idaho, juvenile correctional center, meanwhile, no incidents of sexual victimization were reported.
Which, of course, means is it possible to eliminate child sex abuse, if the will is really there.
Neither Idaho nor Florida officials immediately responded to requests for comment from The Associated Press.
“The fact that we see such variability across and within states of course heightens the need to ensure that we’re asking every child so we really understand what the victimization looks like,” said Marsha Levick, chief legal officer for the Juvenile Law Center, a rights organization within the child welfare and justice systems.
Levick said the findings also raise concerns about the level of oversight states have over each problematic facility and whether enough is being done to uncover and respond to sexual abuse.
“They need to step it up, quite frankly,” she said.
Research shows that trauma inflicted on kids in residential programs like detention centers increases the risk that they will experience mental health problems, have delays in their educational progress or harm themselves or others, Levick said.
“We removed these children from their homes, we have an obligation to keep them safe,” she said. “We do it because we claim we’re going to treat them, provide them an opportunity for rehabilitation, but if they are victimized in those facilities, we have failed them.”
This is all very good, but by 'these children' do you mean those who have already been sexually abused? I assume so, but what about those who are left in danger? What about the perpetrators, are they being segregated and sent to real prisons? What are you doing to make these homes safer?
Previous Bureau of Justice Statistics reports included information about kids’ demographics, along with the finding that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender young people were abused at a far higher rate than others.
The newest report doesn’t include that data. Agency officials did not immediately respond to inquiries from the AP about the change.
Stannow said the absence of that information is baffling. The report also didn’t include information about the circumstances surrounding the incidents, which was previously included.
“It’s clear that we’re making progress in the effort to prevent sexual abuse, but leaving out this information means that advocates and corrections officials alike have to move forward with one arm tied behind our backs,” she said in a statement.
72-y/o Alabama man sentenced to 30 years
for sexual child abuse
By ASSOCIATED PRESS An Alabama man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for repeated sexual abuse of a girl over a 10-year span.
Writesman must also pay $13,100 in court costs and $100 to the Crime Victims Compensation Fee. Writesman pleaded guilty to the crimes in September.
Court documents say the abuse began in 2006 when the victim was 6 years old and continued on 16 different occasions over the course of a decade.
Brother from Hell and Mother from not so far away
..
Jason Carlile's sister testifies about rape, abuse
and a book about incest by V.C. Andrews
Trish Choate, Wichita Falls Times Record News
Note: This story contains disturbing details that may be upsetting to some readers.
After years of sexually abusing his younger sister, Jason Wayne Carlile told her that a book their mother gave him called "Flowers in the Attic" showed it was all quite acceptable, his sister testified Tuesday afternoon.
The book, part of a series first popular in the '80s, is a fictional tale of incest, child abuse, misery and murder by the late V.C. Andrews.
His sister told a seven-man, five-woman jury that she was not allowed to read it, herself.
Jason Carlile, 48, was on trial for multiple child sex crimes involving a female victim younger than 14 and another female victim younger than 17. He has pleaded not guilty to the allegations.
The jury found Carlile guilty of child sex crimes after a day and a half of testimony and deliberating for 18 minutes. Testimony in his trial began Tuesday.
Victim's two turns on the stand
Now a teacher in her 40s living in California, his sister had to testify twice the same day about alleged sexual abuse involving oral sex, rape and Saran Wrap.
She first took the stand Tuesday so Wichita County Chief Felony Prosecutor Dobie Kosub could get approval from Judge Barney Fudge to introduce her testimony.
Retired 78th District Court Judge Barney Fudge returned to hear the child sexual assualt trial of Jason Wayne Carlile. (Photo: TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS)
The alleged offenses were not included in the indictment against Jason Carlile, but prosecutors wanted to use them to show his character.
A few hours later Tuesday, the little sister took the stand again, this time before the jury. Her account was often punctuated by tears. Her husband was present in the courtroom.
Kosub apologized while questioning her because of how specific he asked her to be about the alleged abuse.
She told jurors she was 5 or 6 when the first incident happened while she was living in Liberal, Kansas, with her brother, their mother and stepfather, who adopted Jason Carlile.
"My brother came to my room in the middle of the night and asked to lick me between the legs," she told jurors, crying. She told him no, but he did it anyway, she testified.
A picked lock
Later, while they were all living on a cutting horse farm in Weatherford, her brother picked the lock to the bathroom door and burst in on her just after she had taken a bath, she testified.
"He told me he could rape me, and I couldn't do anything about it," she tearfully told jurors. "I laughed because, I thought, 'He's crazy.' " A construction worker had shown Jason Carlile how to pick locks with an ice pick, she testified.
She had already put her clothes on, but they stuck to her because she was hot, she testified. Her brother nearly turned her upside down to pull them off and leave her naked, but he did not do more than look at her at that time, she testified.
An incident in the pool
In Sweetwater while they were traveling, the family stayed at a hotel with a pool, she told the jury. She was 10 or 11.
Joanne Ames, mother of child sexual assult defendant Jason Wayne Carlile, enters 78th District Court Wednesday morning. (Photo: TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS)
"I thought someone would say something, but not a single adult or child said anything," she told the jury as her voice broke.
Their mother came downstairs and stared intently at them while her brother pulled her bathing suit aside to penetrate her with his finger, the sister testified.
Their mother angrily told her to get out of the pool and went upstairs, the sister testified. "She said nothing. Nothing was said about it ever," the sister told the jury.
'Nobody's going to believe you'
She never felt her mother protected her, she testified. "My grandmother was more of a mother than my own mother," she told jurors. Joanne Ames was not present in the courtroom during her daughter's testimony.
Sometimes, the little sister would threaten to disclose the abuse, she testified. "He would say, 'Nobody's going to believe you,' " she told the jury.
She testified that when he forced her to give him oral sex, she noticed that "he had this horrendous, offensive odor." His genital area smelled like someone who didn't wash after having sex, she told the jury.
'No way in hell'
Later, the family moved from Weatherford to a Wichita Falls rent house where most of the sexual abuse happened, the little sister told jurors.
Her brother repeatedly said he wanted "to be my first" when she was 12 or 13, she testified. While their parents were at a hypnotherapy session, she gave in and told him yes -- "as long as you're going to leave me alone from here on," she testified.
"He wrapped his penis in Saran Wrap," the sister told the jury.
In his bedroom closet, he penetrated her a little bit with his plastic-wrapped organ, she testified. Then their parents came home, and he left to distract them while she pulled herself together, she told the jury.
After he moved out, married his now ex-wife Jennifer and had a baby, he tried to persuade her to come live with them, she testified. "There was no way in hell I was going to move in with him," she told jurors.
When she was 18, she told her mother and her stepfather about the sexual abuse, but her mother didn't believe her, she testified.
I suspect the mother believed her but just wouldn't admit it. That would make her partially responsible.
Sex offender status
Defense attorney Heather Barbieri of Plano did not ask witnesses questions or make objections Tuesday. As detailed in court documents, Jason Carlile's defense lawyers followed a strategy of providing no defense in hopes of winning on appeal.
He was free from Wichita County Jail on a $500,000 bail, basically under house arrest at his mother's new Wichita Falls home, at the time of the trial.
She and her now ex-husband, Floyd Ames, won a lottery jackpot on Halloween 2018 and took home about $10 million in winnings. Joanne Ames has bankrolled her son's bail and his $600,000 defense with her share of the jackpot.
Jason Carlile has previous felony convictions for indecency with a child by exposure on June 18, 1994, in Wichita Falls and for buying a 15-year-old girl from her mother for $3,000 on Aug. 12, 2006, in Archer County, according to court documents.
He and his then wife, Jennifer, took 17 children into their state-licensed foster home from January 2001 to April 2005, according to information the Times Record News obtained from the agency through an open records request.
Jason Carlile must register as a sex offender until the projected date of April 29, 2020, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety Sex Offender Registry.
Hopefully he will be sentenced to prison for a long time by then.
Española, NM, teacher Gregor convicted again
of child sex abuse
BY MARK OSWALD / JOURNAL STAFF WRITERSANTA FE – Ex-teacher Gary Gregor has been convicted of sexually abusing another grade-school student years ago.
Prosecutors said he now faces up to six additional years in prison for the conviction. Gregor, 63, previously was convicted of 12 counts of criminal sexual penetration of a minor, criminal sexual contact of a minor and kidnapping for raping two fourth grade students at Fairview during the 2007-08 year. He is serving a 108-year prison sentence.
He’s also charged with molesting two girls while teaching at a Santa Fe school before he was hired in Española and is expected to face trial on those counts next year.
The case whose trial ended Wednesday first went to trial in January of this year, when a mistrial was declared because the jury couldn’t come to a unanimous decision.
The alleged victim, now 21, testified last week that she didn’t initially report Gregor’s sexual abuse to anyone because she was too young to understand what he was doing.
She said Gregor made her stay behind during recess and then got down beside her on the carpet. The woman said she could feel Gregor’s erection on her backside. She said she didn’t tell anyone until she was 18 and was approached by someone from a law firm asking her to take part in a civil lawsuit.
Gregor’s lawyer emphasized that the victim had changed her story over the years and also that she has received $2.5 million to settle civil claims against Gregor.
The woman settled her lawsuit in October. To date, Española Public Schools has paid out $20 million to settle lawsuits against Gregor.
Gregor was let go from Santa Fe Public Schools in 2004 after some of his female students at Agua Fria Elementary School told school officials that he had touched them inappropriately, after museum docents (tour guides) saw what they considered inappropriate behavior by Gregor on a field trip.
Still, he was given a “neutral recommendation” for any future employment — meaning there was no mention of alleged sexual abuse — and no one from SFPS or the state Public Education Department reported Gregor to police.
Gregor was finally charged by Attorney General Hector Balderas in 2017 after no local law enforcement or prosecutors had taken any action. “Our office stands with all of the brave survivors of sexual abuse, and we will continue to aggressively prosecute those who prey upon children,” said Balderas in a statement Wednesday.
Port St. Lucie, Fla., woman accused of
sexually assaulting teen
Sara Marino, Treasure Coast NewspapersPORT ST. LUCIE— A Port St. Lucie woman was accused of giving a teenage boy alcohol and marijuana and then sexually assaulting him.
On Dec. 4, St. Lucie County Sheriff's office deputies said they were contacted by one of Heckler's friends about the assault. Deputies said they went to the friend's home in Fort Pierce and the boy who was assaulted by Heckler and his parents arrived.
The teen who was assaulted told deputies the 37-year-old called him to come watch her dog while she went away on vacation. The teen told deputies after he arrived at Heckler's home, she invited him to go swimming with her and then gave him alcohol and marijuana and then sexually assaulted him.
The boy told deputies after the incident, he fell asleep and Heckler drove him to school the next day and then told him not to tell anyone what happened. The teen told deputies she then gave him $100 and left for Key West.
Deputies said on Tuesday afternoon, they went to Heckler's home and arrested her. Heckler declined to talk to deputies without a lawyer present, but told deputies she didn't sexually assault the boy.
Heckler was arrested and taken to the St. Lucie County jail with a $16,250 bail. She was released Wednesday.
Former Idaho County deputy admits to
sexual abuse of child, sentenced to prison
BY RUTH BROWNIdaho Statesman
Second District Judge Gregory FitzMaurice sentenced a former Idaho County sheriff’s deputy to up to 15 years in prison Monday for sexual abuse of child younger than age 16, according to the Idaho Attorney General’s Office.
Nicholas J. Harris, 34, pleaded guilty to the charge in September after he admitted to sexually abusing an underage girl in December 2018 in Idaho County, according to a news release from the AG’s office.
The judge retained jurisdiction in the case, so Harris will serve in a rider treatment program. After he completes that program, the judge could allow Harris to serve the rest of his sentence on probation. However, Harris has an underlying sentence of 10 to 15 years in prison that the judge could impose if Harris is unsuccessful in the program.
He will be required to register as a sex offender.
Idaho Co., Id.
Co-owner of Grover Beach, Ca., bike shop
charged with child sex abuse
BY MATT FOUNTAINSanLuisObispo.com
An co-owner of a Grover Beach bicycle shop has a warrant out for his arrest after the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office says he sexually abused a child under 14 years old several times.
Reached by phone for comment on Tuesday morning, Trinity Cyclery co-owner Mitch Allen Gaalswyk said he was unaware that prosecutors filed a single felony charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child against him in San Luis Obispo Superior Court on Monday.
Gaalswyk, 37, of Grover Beach, declined to accept a copy of the complaint from a reporter Tuesday and declined to comment further, saying he wanted to confer with his attorney.
He did not provide the attorney’s name and did not have one listed in court records as of Wednesday.
The criminal complaint filed Monday by deputy district attorney Lisa Muscari alleges Gaalswyk “did unlawfully engage in three and more acts of ‘substantial sexual conduct,’ ... and three and more lewd and Iascivious acts ... with Jane Doe, a child under the age of 14 years, while the defendant resided with, and had recurring access to, the child.”
The complaint states that the abuse occurred on or about Dec. 1, 2018, in San Luis Obispo County.
Should Gaalswyk be convicted of the charge, assistant district attorney Eric Dobroth said the Grover Beach man will face a maximum of 16 years in prison. He would also be required to register for life as a sex offender.
On Monday, Muscari sent a request to the San Luis Obispo Superior Court’s criminal division for an arrest warrant, which court records show was ordered Tuesday.
Neither court or jail records Wednesday indicated that warrant had been served or that Gaalswyk had turned himself in to authorities. No court date had yet been scheduled for an arraignment.
According to a January 2010 interview with New Times in San Luis Obispo, the store now known as Trinity Cyclery was purchased from owners of a previous bike store in 2005. The complaint does not allege that any abuse occurred at the Grover Beach shop.
Rochelle man sentenced to six years for repeated sexual assault of child at daycare in Hinckley, Ill.
By KELSEY RETTKESYCAMORE – A young boy watched quietly Wednesday as the man charged with sexually assaulting him multiple times at a Hinckley in-home daycare pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years in prison in DeKalb County court.
The boy, who was around 4 years old when the assaults occurred in 2012, DeKalb County court records show, did not speak. Police escorted the boy and his family from Judge Robbin Stuckert's courtroom after the verdict.
"Nobody wins in cases like this," said Suzanne Collins, the DeKalb County assistant state's attorney who prosecuted the case, which did not go to trial.
"As a parent, you want 100 years," Collins said.
Miles was represented by public defender Chip Criswell, and a large group of family members watched as Collins read the details of his crimes. He did not react when Stuckert passed sentence, although a large gathering of his family members sat in the back of the courtroom weeping loudly.
"Keep your head up, bro," one of them shouted as Miles was handcuffed and taken into custody.
Court records show that in 2012, Miles was living in the 6000 block of West Sandwich Road in Hinckley with his grandmother, who was the victim's babysitter from June 2012 to June 2015.
During that time, approximately one to two times per month, Miles, who was between 14 and 16 at the time, sexually assaulted the boy in multiple ways, records show. The child disclosed the incidents later after he was brought back to the babysitter's house.
"There were several times where the defendant would have him alone in his bedroom," Collins read as evidence during the hearing.
Miles was arrested by DeKalb County Sheriff's deputies on June 14, 2018, records show. He has no other criminal history.
Oregon man jailed on 23 years of
child sex abuse charges
KPTVPORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Authorities say a man was arrested on child sex abuse charges, some of which date back to the 1990s.
The sheriff’s office began investigating Hern in July after someone reported him. Hern was investigated for sex crimes in 2005, but prosecutors decided not to charge him.
Van Kleef says when new allegations surfaced, the DA’s office reopened the previous investigation and detectives found new alleged victims.
22 y/o California Man Sentenced To 30 Years in Federal Prison for Sexual Exploitation of a Child
(STL.News) – A man who sexually exploited a child was sentenced on December 10, 2019, to 30 years in federal prison.
Vogelpohl was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Vogelpohl was sentenced to 360 months’ imprisonment. A special assessment of $100 was imposed, and Vogelpohl must also serve a 5-year term of supervised release. He must comply with all sex offender registration and public notification requirements.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Mason City Police Department, the North Platte, Nebraska, Police Department, and Homeland Security Investigations.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. 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.
Belvidere, Ill., man sentenced 10 years for
sexual assault of child
By WIFR Newsroom BOONE COUNTY, Ill. -- A Belvidere man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexual assault of a child.
In January of 2019, a victim reported the abuse to the Boone County Sheriff's Office. The abuse began when the victim was 10 years old.
Garcia was also sentenced to five years for aggravated criminal sexual abuse, but will serve that concurrent with his 10-year sentence. He is eligible to receive day-for-day credit on the 5-year sentence.
So the 'aggravated' part was basically a freebee?
Garcia will serve at least 85% of his sentence and be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Oregon Police Seek Additional Victims Of
Child Sex Abuse Suspect
TTWN Media Networks LLC
(Portland, OR) -- A Clackamas County man is accused of sexually abusing three young girls, and police believe he may have had additional victims.Police say 63-year-old Michael Wayne Champagne has been indicted on several charges including rape and sexual abuse.
Anyone with information on children who were around or associated with Champagne is urged to contact the the Sheriff’s Office at 503-723-4949. Please reference CCSO Case # 19-014057.
Clackamus Co., Ore.
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