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Land O' Lakes, Fla man pleads guilty to funding child sex trafficking ring
He paid a premium for videos of girls losing their virginity
TBadmin | October 17, 2020
Tampa Bay Reporter
He sent payments to the Philippines in exchange for videos and images of children as young as 12 involved in various sex acts. The U.S. attorney says he negotiated and paid a premium for videos and images depicting minor girls losing their virginity.
TAMPA – A Land O’ Lakes man has pleaded guilty in federal court to charges that he financed and patronized a child sex-trafficking ring in the Philippines, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
Christopher John Streeter, 63, of Land O’ Lakes, pleaded guilty to sex trafficking of a minor under the age of 14. He faces a mandatory penalty of 15 years, and up to life, in federal prison. A sentencing date has not been set.
According to the plea agreement, from September 2018 through June 2019, Streeter directly participated in a scheme that sexually exploited children in the Philippines in order to produce child sex abuse videos for his consumption. Over that period, Streeter communicated and transacted with Philippines-based facilitators to recruit children to engage in sex acts on camera. The child victims—some of whom were as young as 12 and 13 years old—were particularly vulnerable because of poverty and illness.
Streeter sent payments to the Philippines in exchange for depictions of the victims engaging in sex acts. The money that Streeter remitted covered various recording and production costs, such as hotel rooms, transportation, and a commission for the recruiters. In return, Streeter received videos and images of minors involved in various sex acts. Streeter negotiated and paid a premium for videos and images depicting female minors losing their virginity. He also negotiated and paid a premium for media depicting female minors being placed at risk of pregnancy, including additional payment for emergency contraception pills, and, occasionally, for abortions.
One of Streeter’s victims was a 12-year-old female from Ozamis, Philippines. In 2018 and 2019, Streeter communicated with a Philippine recruiter in Ozamis named Analyn Tababini, according to the U.S. attorney. On multiple occasions, while in the Tampa Bay area, Streeter paid Tababini to arrange for sex abuse videos to be made of the victim. The monies covered production costs, including the male abuser, money for the victim, hotel expenses, and a commission for Tababini. In return, Tababini sent Streeter several videos of the sexual abuse of the victim. At one point, Streeter voiced displeasure with the videos not depicting insemination of the victim and ordered Tababini to purchase emergency contraception and make the victim take it for future videos.
In addition to working for Streeter, Homeland Security Investigations Transnational National Criminal Investigative Unit in Manila discovered that Tababini has facilitated internet sex shows of minors in exchange for payment from an array of international clientele. In a recent, coordinated operation conducted by the Philippine National Police in Ozamis, Philippines, six of Tababini’s child sex-trafficking victims (including Streeter’s 12-year-old victim) were rescued by the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Philippine authorities also arrested Tababini and executed three search warrants in support of their continuing investigation.
Myrtle Beach, SC Man Charged for Distributing Photos
Depicting Child Sexual Abuse
BY POLICE BLOTTER
OCTOBER 17, 2020
Investigators received a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) which led them to Fentress. Investigators state Fentress distributed child sexual abuse material. Fentress was arrested on October 13, 2020. He is charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, second degree (§16-15-405), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment.
Rochester, Mn Woman Admits Child Sex Abuse Charge
ANDY BROWNELL Published: October 17, 2020
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A Rochester woman pleaded guilty Friday in a child sex abuse case.
Court records show 32-year-old Amanda Diaz admitted to a second-degree criminal sexual conduct charge using a Norgaard plea. It is expected that two other charges, first-degree criminal sexual conduct and first-degree burglary, will be dropped in exchange for the guilty plea.
Diaz was accused of entering an apartment in the early hours of New Years Day, 2019 and molesting a boy under the age of 13. The criminal complaint says the boy told his mother what had happened when she returned home later that night. The mother's boyfriend was in the apartment but was sleeping when the crime occurred.
The Norgaard plea means Diaz admits guilt but does not remember her actions because of intoxication. She is scheduled to be sentenced on December 3rd.
Officer charged with sex crimes transferred from Alabama
to Houston County Jail
by: Nathaniel Rodriguez, Baton Rouge Proud
Posted: Oct 17, 2020 / 12:33 PM CDT / Updated: Oct 17, 2020 / 12:33 PM CDT
UPDATE:
Officer Tomas Arias has been transferred to the Houston County Jail from Coffee County Jail, according to Coffee County Chief Deputy Ronnie Whitworth.
As of this report, Arias has been given a total approximate bond of $660,000, according to his profile on the Coffee County inmate roster. These figures are subject to change following court appearances.
SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILD UNDER 12 – $30,000
SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILD UNDER 12 – $30,000
SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILD UNDER 12 – $30,000
SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILD UNDER 12 – $30,000
SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILD UNDER 12 – $30,000
SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILD UNDER 12 – $30,000
PARENTS/GUARDIANS PERMITTING CHILDREN TO ENGAGE IN PRODUCTION OF OBSCENE MATTER – $60,000
PARENTS/GUARDIANS PERMITTING CHILDREN TO ENGAGE IN PRODUCTION OF OBSCENE MATTER – $60,000
SODOMY 1ST – $60,000
PRODUCTION OF OBSCENE MATTER CONTAINING VISUAL DEPICTION OF PERSON UNDER 17 YOA INVOLVED IN OBSCENE ACTS – $60,000
PRODUCTION OF OBSCENE MATTER CONTAINING VISUAL DEPICTION OF PERSON UNDER 17 YOA INVOLVED IN OBSCENE ACTS – $60,000
PRODUCTION OF OBSCENE MATTER CONTAINING VISUAL DEPICTION OF PERSON UNDER 17 YOA INVOLVED IN OBSCENE ACTS – $60,000
PRODUCTION OF OBSCENE MATTER CONTAINING VISUAL DEPICTION OF PERSON UNDER 17 YOA INVOLVED IN OBSCENE ACTS – $60,000
PRODUCTION OF OBSCENE MATTER CONTAINING VISUAL DEPICTION OF PERSON UNDER 17 YOA INVOLVED IN OBSCENE ACTS – $60,000
ORIGINAL REPORT:
ENTERPRISE, Ala. (WDHN) — The Enterprise Police Department announced Friday afternoon that one of its officers faces multiple charges, including production of obscene matter and sodomy.
The department began investigating field training Officer Tomas Arias with the aid of the State Bureau of Investigation after getting a complaint on Oct. 5. Arias had been with the police force since 2007.
Enterprise police released the following statement on the matter.
On October 5, 2020, a criminal complaint was filed, detailing allegations of child sexual abuse and production of child pornography. At the request of the Enterprise Police Department, because the suspect in this case was employed as a Police Officer with the City of Enterprise, the Alabama State Bureau of Investigation conducted the criminal investigation regarding these allegations. This same day, the Officer was immediately relieved of duty with intent to terminate employment.
On October 16, 2020, SBI Agents arrested and charged Tomas Arias, age 36, of Enterprise, AL with 14 felony charges, including the following:
Parents or Guardians Permitting Children to Engage in Production of Obscene Matter,
Production of Obscene Matter Containing Visual Depiction of Person Under 17 Years of Age,
Sodomy 1st Degree,
and Sexual Abuse of a Child Less than 12 Years old.
Arias was transported to the Coffee County Jail after arrest. Arias is being held without bond.
Former Clay Co., Fla deputy pleads guilty to multiple child sex abuse charges
Author: First Coast News Staff
Published: 6:29 PM EDT October 21, 2020
CLAY COUNTY, Fla. — A former Clay County Sheriff's deputy pleaded guilty Wednesday to producing and possessing child sexual abuse images, according to the United States Attorney's Office.
According to the plea agreement, at the time of the offenses, Pritchard was employed as a deputy with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office and was assigned to the DUI unit.
From December 2019 through May 2, Pritchard chatted with a 15-year-old online, the release said.
Documents say beginning on April 29, an undercover detective from the Green Cove Springs Police Department assumed the child’s identity and continued chatting with Pritchard.
During their chats, Pritchard encouraged the child to sneak out to meet with him for a “quickie," the release said.
Before their meeting, he sent a photograph of himself from the waist down, wearing only boxer shorts, according to authorities.
At approximately 2 a.m. on May 2, Pritchard arrived near the child’s home in his patrol vehicle and sent a message saying, “I’m here," the release said.
Shortly after, Pritchard was arrested by officers from the Green Cove Springs Police Department.
A forensic review of Pritchard’s cellphone showed multiple conversations between the child and Pritchard, as well as an encrypted secure digital folder that contained multiple depictions of child sexual abuse, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Pritchard faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 15 years and up to 50 years in federal prison, as well as a life term of supervised release.
Authorities say Pritchard was indicted on May 20.
Green Cove Springs, Fla
Plaintiffs claim child sex abuse at the Children's Village, share their stories
Michael P. McKinney
Rockland/Westchester Journal News
WHITE PLAINS – Scott Sartory thought the memories of his time at the Children's Village in Dobbs Ferry would die with him.
The now 42-year-old Sartory recalled at a news conference Wednesday how he played a clown in a kids circus put on by the Children’s Village, where he was placed as a foster child. But his other memories of the place are darker and are included in a lawsuit that alleges he was sexually abused there decades ago.
Sartory is a part of one of the 10 lawsuits filed by Greenstein and Milbauer on behalf of former residents of the youth residential facility that allege child sex abuse in the 1970s and mid-1980s through the early 1990s.
Plaintiff Scott Sartory, a former resident of the Children's Village in Dobbs Ferry, speaks about the alleged sexual abuse by staff at the facility, outside Westchester County Court in White Plains Oct. 21, 2020.
Sartory explained how he was coming back from a car race weeks ago, where his friend raced, and one of the people with them said jokingly that Sartory was funny, a clown. Sartory told him about playing a clown in the Children’s Village's circus. As Sartory looked online about Children's Village's circus, he spotted a headline about a lawsuit brought against the facility alleging child sex abuse.
"I kind of shut down from the conversation because, again, it stirred up some things within myself that you know, nobody knew about, about me," Sartory said.
“I think hearing this, I knew that within myself I needed to cleanse — I can’t keep carrying this," Sartory added. "This is about making a difference in a failed system."
Sartory's lawsuit said he spent four years at the Children’s Village, alleging that he was abused there and that a Children’s Village employee who later adopted Sartory sexually abused him at his home in Queens.
At age 12, Sartory said, he ran away from the abuse and lived on the streets, in homeless shelters, at a friend's place. He said he'd been a foster child from the time he was a baby, and that without proper guidance and structure, and the abuse he suffered, it led to challenges.
“I’m a survivor but I’ve been a victim in a broken system," he said.
Today, Sartory is a service tech and has a family. “I’m very proud of where I am today," he said. "I've got a lot to be thankful for."
Other accusers cite similar stories
Sartory and two other plaintiffs, Anthony Bruno and Juan Nazario, appeared at Wednesday’s news conference outside a courthouse in White Plains with lawyers Rob Greenstein and Seth Milbauer.
Plaintiffs Juan Lazario, left, Anthony Bruno and Scott Sartory, former residents of the Children's Village in Dobbs Ferry, stand by as their attorney speaks about the lawsuits of the alleged sexual abuse by staff and other residents at the facility, outside Westchester County Court in White Plains Oct. 21, 2020.
“These children were typically brought to The Children’s Village to remove them from abusive or neglectful conditions in their families’ homes with the goal of healing their traumas. Instead, their victimization continued and escalated to horrifying proportions,” Greenstein said. “These victims have endured — and continue to experience — fear, shame and pain. It has taken them years to step forward and tell their stories.”
The suits claim that Children’s Village was negligent and was aware or should have been aware of the abuse, and that officials there used their authority “to discourage and/or prevent victims and their families from disclosing allegations of sexual abuse."
In one suit, Bruno, who was 4 or 5 years old when he arrived at the Children’s Village in 1989, alleges he was physically and sexually abused repeatedly, the suit said.
In another suit, Nazario, who started at the Children’s Village in 1979 or 1980, when he was 8 or 9, and stayed for several years, alleges he was sexually abused by several older youths and on at least one occasion by someone who worked at the facility.
A spokesman for the Children's Village issued a statement earlier this week.
"As one of the nation’s leading child welfare agencies, the safety of children in our care is our top priority," said Peter Sobel, senior communications officer for the Children's Village. "Every child deserves and needs to feel safe, secure and supported. We take significant and wide-reaching steps to ensure that’s what every child in our care can count on every day."
Dobbs Ferry, NY
Convicted sex offender accused of assaulting girl in Bay Co., Mi
Updated 3:00 PM; Today 2:49 PM
By Cole Waterman | m-live
BAY CITY, MI — A registered sex offender facing federal child pornography charges is now charged on the state level with having sexually assaulted a girl in Bay County.
According to an affidavit authored by a Michigan State Police trooper and contained in court files, a girl told investigators that 34-year-old Michael T. Smalley had repeatedly sexually assaulted her between May 2018 and May of the following year. The girl was under the age of 10 at the time.
The girl also told investigators Smalley had taken pictures of her while she was naked, the affidavit states.
Police allege the abuse occurred at Smalley’s home in a portion of Midland that is within the borders of Bay County.
Investigators seized various digital storage devices and cellphones belonging to Smalley. Located on one of the phones were several photos of naked prepubescent girls, the affidavit states.
Police also recovered photos and videos of Smalley sexually assaulting the girl in question, the police affidavit states.
Bay County authorities issued a warrant for Smalley’s arrest on June 19. Ten days prior, a federal grand jury indicted Smalley on eight counts of sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography. The federal charges relate to incidents spanning February 2014 through May 1, 2019.
Smalley on June 23 was arraigned in Bay County District Court on three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim younger than 13 and single counts of child sexually abusive material, possession of child sexually abusive material, and using a computer to commit a crime.
Smalley is to appear for a preliminary examination before Bay County District Judge Timothy J. Kelly at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 3. In the federal matter, Smalley’s trial is to begin Nov. 17.
Cortland City, NY man arrested for sexually abusing 3 children
OCTOBER 21, 2020
BY SARAH BULLOCK
Police arrested a city man on Friday for sexually abusing a girl 2018 — then added two more sex abuse charges after they determined he attacked two other children from 2013 to 2015, according to City and County police statements made today and Monday.
Cameron M. Sallis, 23, 67 Groton Ave. Apt. 3, is accused of sexually touching a girl younger than 13 over the course of four months, according to city police. Sallis abused a girl he knew between March 4 and July 31 in 2018, said Lt. Michael Strangeway.
City police were recently notified of the incidents and after an interview with Sallis at the Cortland Police station, officers arrested him for felony, first-degree sexual abuse, said Strangeway. The Sheriff’s Office received a report of sex abuse against Sallis on Oct. 5, according to that agency.
After Sallis’ first arrest Friday, the Cortland County Sheriff’s Office pressed two additional felonies against him of first-degree course of sexual conduct against a child, according to police. Sallis abused two separate children, both of whom he knew, between 2013 and 2015, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
“The investigation revealed that the defendant had subjected two victims to inappropriate contact on several occasions over several years,” according to the Sheriff’s Office news release sent this afternoon. The attacks occurred in the Village of Homer and in the Town of Homer, police said.
Sallis was remanded at arraignment to the Cortland County Correctional Facility on $1,250 cash bail or $2,500 bond. Sallis is scheduled to next appear today in Homer Town Court and at 9 a.m. Wednesday in Cortland City Court.
Most children who are sexually abused — as many as 93% percent — know their abuser, according to Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. One in nine girls are sexually abused in the U.S., according to RAINN statistics.
(COURTESY OF RAINN)
The warning signs that a child is being abused are often hard to spot, but they include regressing to bedwetting and thumbsucking, refusal to remove clothes to bathe or excessive bathing and advanced sexual knowledge or behavior, notes RAINN. The most important warning signs are sudden changes in behavior.
If you suspect a child is being abused, call 911, the City police at 753-3001 or the Sheriff’s Office at 758-5599.
For more information about child sexual abuse, how to talk to children about it and free counseling, visit RAINN.org or contact their hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673).
Former camp counselor accused in sex abuse case used to work as school bus driver, janitor
Saba Ali
Rockland/Westchester Journal News
A former area camp counselor who is being sued for sexual abuse in connection with his tenure at the camp in the 1980s had been working as a janitor and bus driver until he was named in the lawsuit.
James Collins, along with Mount Kisco, Camp Iroquois, Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester, Horace Greeley High School and the Chappaqua Central School District, were named in a Child Victims Act lawsuit in September.
Hawhtorne Cedar Knolls in Mount Pleasant on Dec. 19, 2018.
Hawthorne Cedar Knolls Union Free School District confirmed that Collins had been working in the district from Oct. 30, 2017 through Sept. 10, 2020. No reason was provided as for his resignation on the day the lawsuit was announced and the story appeared in lohud.com.
Collins also owns a bar in Katonah called Jimmy's Place, according to the New York State Liquor Authority.
In the lawsuit, four plaintiffs accused Collins of carrying out acts of sexual abuse on a number of boys at the Memorial Pool at Leonard Park in Mount Kisco, the Boys & Girls Club, a high school and at Collins' Mount Kisco home during the mid-1980s.
Two of those accusing Collins of child sexual abuse are Scott Roth, 45, and Gregory Ardanowski, 49. The firm representing the men said 20 more individuals have come forward, said Sarah Klein, an attorney for Manly, Stewart & Finaldi.
Greg Ardanowski speaks as his attorney Sarah Klein looks on, during a press conference in White Plains
Sept. 10, 2020.
Manly, Stewart & Finaldi also represent the accusers of former Michigan State University and U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Olympic Team doctor Larry Nassar.
Sarah Klein, an attorney for the firm, is leading the legal team in the suit against Collins. She is a former gymnast and was an abuse victim in Nassar's case.
The lawsuit also claims that Collins had been arrested and/or charged by the Bedford Police Department, but the police department did not have records showing any arrest related to acts of sexual misconduct, according to an investigation by a USA TODAY Network reporter.
"Please be advised that Collins has never been arrested and/or charged by the Bedford Police Department, nor has the Bedford Police Department assisted Collins in avoiding public scrutiny for any charges," stated Jaclyn G. Goldberg, who is with Keane & Beane, which serves as legal counsel to the Town of Bedford.
The Westchester District Attorney's office did say that a sealed case existed for Collins, but would not provide details.
It was through the district attorney's office that Ardanowski found out about the Child Victims Act. There are around 4,555 suits filed under the CVA in New York state, which allows accusers to sue for incidents of child sexual abuse without a time restriction.
Vermont must put an end to child sexual abuse at Kurn Hattin
Commentary is by Kim Dougherty, lawyer
As the Vermont State Board of Education (the Board) gets ready to vote on whether to review of Kurn Hattin Homes for Children’s (Kurn Hattin) status as an approved independent school, survivors raise concerns, set the record straight and expose a systemic history of abuse.
Having heard the heartbreaking stories of dozens of former Kurn Hattin student survivors of assault and molestation, we have urged the Board to take this decision seriously and vote to conduct a thorough, unbiased investigation into the sexual and physical abuse claims. The abuse can no longer be ignored.
Survivors of childhood abuse can no longer be blamed by the current administration. The truth must be exposed and corrective action taken. Children’s lives are at stake.
Kurn Hattin continues its efforts to hide the truth, selectively summarizing only a few DCF records, ignoring the most damning of the documents:
In 2017, the teenage son of Stephen Harrison and cafeteria worker, asked 12 and 13-year-old girld for sexually explicit photos, and was found to have engaged in inappropriate contact under Harrison’s supervision.
Numerous reports over several years indicate Kurn Hattin employees were verbally abusive and regularly pushed, grabbed, shoved students and denied them meals.
In 2018, it was reported that one male student forced a second male to kiss him, allow penal touching, and performance of oral sex on him, while threatening him.
In 2019, Kurn Hattin staff knew about “touching club,” failed to stop at least 9 male students ages 7-11 who engaged in hand and oral genital contact, and also failed to report the sexual abuse, which was noted to exist since at least 2016.
The lack of supervision at the Kurn Hattin enabled a student to pressure and threaten other students into performing sexual acts, penetration and oral sex from ages 6-12 years.
In April 2019, a female student reported that male student had forced her to have sex in the gymnasium stairwell on several occasions.
Dean of Students Meeting notes: disclosed at least two incidents that occurred without incident reports, noting Nancy Richardson knew of/was informed of student incidents but did not respond appropriately, if at all and that “Steve Harrison and Sue Kessler know of these incidents/concerns.”
Of the 17 child abuse and regulatory investigations from 2019-2020, at least three were not reported within the required timeframe and intentionally withheld from licensing.
There are multiple incidents of sexual touching reviewed within 10 student files on SWIS that should have been reported but were not, including incidents of sexual touching.
This is just an excerpt from the full article found at VTDigger
Former Muskegon, Mi principal sentenced in federal child sex abuse case
by: WOODTV.com staff
Posted: Oct 20, 2020 / 03:53 PM EDT
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A former Muskegon-area teacher and principal has been sentenced on federal child sex abuse charges.
Russell worked in education for 22 years as a teacher and elementary school principle in Ravenna and North Muskegon school districts. Another teacher found Russell’s interest in two students unusual and filed a complaint in 2018. He was suspended by the school district and then resigned.
In 2019, he moved to Las Vegas where he was a fourth-grade teacher at Clark County School District. He then caught the attention of the FBI Las Vegas Child Exploitation Task Force after dozens of child porn images were uploaded online. Russell confessed to uploading those photos. Norton Shores Police and FBI Grand Rapids interview victims in West Michigan who say Russell sexually abused them. One of the victim told investigators that abused by Russell started in 1996 — his first year in education.
“Is about as serious as it gets,” U.S. District Judge Janet Neff said in court.
Neff said this case was one of the most unusual she’s seen in her 32 years as a judge. “You come face-to-face with a human being whose behavior you just can’t understand,” Neff said. “There are very few cases that will stick out to me after all these years, but yours will. I promise you.”
Authorities say that at various times, Russell has also been a guardian, babysitter, coach, lifeguard, camp counselor and in youth ministry.
“He worked and volunteered his way into the lives of our children, not as a service to our community, but as a means to identify, target and sexually exploit vulnerable children. Those who are in a position of trust and sexually abuse children will be held accountable,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge said.
Anyone with information or has concerns of child abuse should contact local law enforcement officials.
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