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Case Update: Trial Date Rescheduled for Mom’s Boyfriend Accused of
Rape and Murder of 2-Year-Old
Steven died on January 13, 2019 after two days on life support. His mother’s boyfriend claimed Steven was injured falling out of his toddler bed in the family’s Christiansburg, Virginia home, but authorities say the greatest height Steven could have fallen out of that bed would be 13 inches onto a carpeted floor padded by a play mat. Steven’s death was caused by “brutal blunt force trauma to the head.”
An investigation into Steven’s death revealed a history of physical and sexual abuse, allegedly at the hands of his mother, 25-year-old Kayla Nicole Thomas, as well as her boyfriend, 25-year-old McKenzie Kyle Hellman, who is alleged to have requested Kayla perform sex acts on the baby and send him video of the abuse from within the same home so he could “explore the extent of his sexual needs.”
Disgusting.
Committing forcible sodomy by engaging in fellatio against the victim’s will by force, threat or intimidation
Inanimate object penetration of a person less than 13 years of age
Production of child pornography involving a child less than 15 years of age
Possession and distribution of child pornography
Being a parent or guardian, committing a willful act so gross and wanton as to show a reckless disregard for human life — child neglect
Kayla’s three-day jury trial is scheduled to begin on January 20, 2021.
McKenzie Hellman was initially arrested on January 13 on a single charge of felony child abuse, but those charges were upgraded on January 17 to include:
Felony child abuse
Accessory to inanimate object sexual penetration with a child less than 13 years old
Possession of child pornography
Accessory before the fact to production of child pornography
Accessory before the fact to distribution of child pornography
(The charges crossed out were ultimately dismissed after a motion by the state in December of 2019.)
After a court hearing on October 5, McKenzie’s two-day jury trial, which had been scheduled to begin that day, was rescheduled to begin at 9:00 AM on Monday, March 15, 2021.
Click here for ongoing coverage of Steven’s case at "Suffer the Little Children".
Carterville, Mo man takes plea deal on sexual abuse charges
Jeff Lehr
Joplin Globe
A Carterville man has accepted a plea offer on two child sexual abuse charges and is facing up to 12 years in prison when he is sentenced next month.
Tristan K. Ash, 23, pleaded guilty to first-degree statutory rape and second-degree statutory sodomy at a hearing Friday in Jasper County Circuit Court in a plea deal capping the sentences he might receive at 12 years on the rape count and seven years for the sodomy conviction.
Circuit Judge Dean Dankelson delayed formal acceptance or rejection of the plea deal and ordered the completion of a sentencing assessment of the defendant prior to a sentencing hearing Nov. 30.
Ash is accused of having sexual contact with a girl younger than 12 between November 2018 and July 2019. The girl disclosed the matter to a parent in October 2019, and law enforcement was contacted. During a subsequent interview at the Children's Center in Joplin, she disclosed in detail how Ash had forced various sexual acts on her and told her to keep it a secret or he would do it again as punishment, according to a probable-cause affidavit.
Ash and his wife, Kaylee M. Ash, 24, were charged with three counts each of felony child endangerment when their three preschool-age children were reported to be outside their house and running around the neighborhood naked in July 2019. A police officer called to the scene found both parents asleep inside their home.
The month before that incident, a domestic violence call had resulted in the Missouri Department of Social Services conducting an inspection of their residence that found animal feces and trash in every room as well as an infestation of flies. Steak knives were left on the kitchen floor, and a bottle of Drano had been left on a counter within easy reach of the children, according to a probable-cause affidavit.
Kaylee Ash pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of endangerment in August and received a suspended jail sentence and probation. The felony endangerment counts remain pending against her husband.
Carterville, Mo
Police say Ellwood City, Pa man paid mom for nude pictures of kids
by: Patty Coller
Posted: Oct 8, 2020 / 07:45 PM EDT
NEW CASTLE, Pa. (WKBN) – A 60-year-old Ellwood City man and a mother are facing child sex charges after police say the man paid the mom to send him nude pictures of her kids.
Police say the girls’ mother took the pictures and sent them to Bates, who paid her for some of the images. They also say the father knew that the children were being photographed.
Bates and the parents were arrested Thursday.
Bates and the mother are facing 14 counts, including conspiracy to commit sexual abuse of children/photographing or filming sexual acts, solicitation to commit sexual abuse of children and endangering the welfare of children.
The father is charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of children.
The children were placed in protective custody.
E. Texas sex offender guilty of possessing child pornography again
by: KTAL/KMSS Staff
Posted: Oct 8, 2020 / 06:40 PM CDT
TEXARKANA, Texas. – A Bowie County man pled guilty in court earlier this week to possessing child pornography in East Texas.
According to information presented in court, Springer possessed a cell phone, which he used to download and collect images and videos containing child pornography. His collection of more than 600 images included depictions of prepubescent minors, sadistic or masochistic abuse or violence, and sexual abuse and exploitation of infants and toddlers.
The attorney’s office says Springer was previously convicted of possession of child pornography in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. On February 9, 2009, he was sentenced to 67 months of imprisonment and five years of supervised release as a result of that conviction. Springer also has pending charges for failure to comply with registration requirements in the 202nd District Court in Bowie County.
Under federal statutes, Springer faces a minimum of 10 years and up to 20 years in federal prison at sentencing. The statutory sentence prescribed by Congress is provided here for information purposes, as the sentencing will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office.
This case is being investigated by the Texarkana Resident Agency of the Dallas Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan R. Hornok.
Baltimore, Maryland: Sex Offender John Wright III
Sentenced to 30 Years in Federal Prison
10/08/2020 STL.News Editor 1
U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow today sentenced John Wright III, age 36, of Edgewood, Maryland, to 30 years in federal prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, for production of child pornography. Judge Chasanow also ordered that, upon his release from prison, Wright must register as a sex offender in the places where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
According to his guilty plea, between December 2016 and January 2018, Wright sexually abused two minor female victims and was convicted in Harford County Circuit Court for two counts of sex abuse of a minor. The investigation also revealed that Wright produced sexually explicit images of one of the victims, who was nine-years-old at the time. In addition, Wright distributed at least one such visual depiction to another person in exchange for other child pornography. The investigation showed that Wright possessed and stored numerous images of child pornography on two cell phones and in cloud storage via the Internet.
As detailed in his plea agreement, between May and December 2017, Wright posted ads on an Internet marketplace requesting sexual services and referencing children, including ads looking for “pics/vids” of children. On December 3, 2017, Wright was contacted by Keith Taylor in reference to one of his ads. The communication between the two men was conducted through a mobile messaging application. During their conversations Wright offered to “pay for good links” of “kids or infant.” Taylor responded that he liked to trade. Taylor and Wright exchanged videos and Wright offered to send a sexually explicit image Wright had produced of the nine-year-old victim to Taylor, which he did. Over the course of several conversations, Taylor requested pornographic videos of the victim and requested that Wright have the victim “strip.” Wright agreed to try but requested “better” images from Taylor. Taylor sent Wright multiple links to child pornography stored on one of Taylor’s cloud storage accounts.
Law enforcement executed a search warrant on two of Wright’s cloud storage accounts, which revealed that Wright had saved 124 child pornography videos and numerous still images of child pornography.
In a separate case, on December 10, 2018, Judge Chasanow sentenced Keith Edward Taylor, age 33, of Kingsville, Maryland, to 27 years in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, for production of child pornography.
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 Attorney’s 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.
Convicted Sex Offender Headed to Prison for Drug, Child Abuse Convictions
Thursday, October 8th 2020, 4:02 PM CDT by Doug Kennedy, ncn
BEATRICE – A 38-year-old Beatrice man has been ordered to serve three-year state prison sentences after being convicted of committing intentional child abuse and distribution of the drug clonazepam.
"In your life you have been sentenced to multiple terms of probation, at least three of which have been revoked or you violated. You also been sentenced to multiple terms of incarceration at state prison and federal prison. You also received misconduct reports while you were incarcerated."
The judge noted that the drug conviction involved Laflin selling pills that were prescribed for his use. The child abuse count had been reduced from a charge of 3rd-degree sexual assault of a child, with a prior offense. Laflin had entered an Alford plea on the child abuse count, denying the violation but acknowledging prosecutors likely had enough evidence to convict him in a jury trial. Laflin pleaded guilty on the drug charge.
Gage County Public Defender Lee Timan said most of Laflin’s criminal history happened between 2000 and 2010.
"He's just asking the court to take into account that he tried to resolve these in a way that didn't put his family through the stress of having to have a contested trial. He didn't make the state have to do much, as far as proving up the drug case. He's just trying to move forward to his life and this, and not take up any more of the court's time."
Laflin was also ordered to serve 18 months post-release supervision on each conviction. The prison terms and supervision in the two cases will run concurrently.
Laflin is a convicted sex offender on a lifetime reporting requirement. He was convicted in Jewell County, Kansas in 2003 of aggravated criminal sodomy with a minor.
Clarendon Co., SC man arrested on child sexual exploitation charges
By Laurel Mallory | October 8 at 3:48 PM
Investigators accuse Daniel Spulecki Sr., 63, of Manning, of distributing and possessing child sexual abuse material (formerly known as child pornography*).
He was arrested Wednesday by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Spulecki faces two counts of second degree sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of third degree sexual exploitation of a minor. Each of those four charges is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Spulecki was booked into the Clarendon County Detention Center, but it’s not clear if he is still in custody.
Taylor Co., Tx grand jury indicts man for child sex crimes
Laura Gutschke
Abilene Reporter-News
A Taylor County grand jury Thursday indicted a man accused of having sex with a child on multiple occasions, according to court documents.
Abilene police began an investigation in October 2019, when a mother reported her daughter disclosed she had performed oral sex on Whitfield while staying with a relative during the summer, the documents said.
The victim and relative reported to police that all the relative's friends knew the victim was a minor, the documents said.
The victim told police Whitfield showed her attention and that when they were alone at the residence he would ask for sex. She initially rebuffed his requests but eventually relented on at least four occasions, the documents said.
During an interview with police, Whitfield admitted to the sexual contact but stated he thought the victim was 18, the documents said.
Remsen, NY man arrested on Sex Abuse charges
08 October 2020
NEW YORK STATE POLICE
Major Darrin S. Pitkin
Troop D Commander
Major Darrin S. Pitkin of the New York State Police and Chief Deputy Derrick O’Meara of the Oneida County Child Advocacy Center, announce the arrest of 44-year-old Eric M. Springer, of Remsen, NY, for one count of Sex Abuse 2nd degree, a class "A" misdemeanor and one count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child, a class “A” misdemeanor.
Springer is accused of having sexual contact with a female under the age of 14. This incident occurred in October at a residence in the Town of Floyd. He was issued an appearance ticket returnable to the Floyd Town Court. The victim was offered services through the Oneida County CAC.
The investigation was conducted by the New York State Police in conjunction with the Oneida County Child Advocacy Center. The Oneida County Child Advocacy Center is a multi-agency, multi-disciplinary team that fights child abuse by providing a wide range of services for child victims, while also aggressively pursuing the offenders of these crimes.
Amarillo, Tx police searching for fugitive suspected of child sexual abuse
by Jacob Helker, Thursday, October 8th 2020
Pena is wanted on a Potter County warrant for continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, a first-degree felony.
The State of Texas defines sexual abuse as continuous if there are two or more instances within a 30-day period.
If caught and convicted, he could face up to life in prison.
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