Utah man charged in student's death pleads not guilty
in child porn case
by McKenzie Stauffer
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — The man charged with killing a University of Utah student last year plead not guilty to 19 felony counts linked to child pornography reportedly found on his computer.
Investigators have said they found images of children as young as four on Ajayi's computer during the investigation into the death of 23-year-old MacKenzie Lueck, but have not been linked with her slaying.
He's facing separate murder and kidnapping charges in the death of Lueck and sexual assault charges in a separate case.
The man charged with killing a University of Utah student last year pleaded not guilty to 19 felony counts linked to child pornography reportedly found on his computer. (Photo: Lueck family)
The 23-year-old student was last seen in the early morning hours of June 17. Police say she and Ajayi were communicating and met at Hatch Park in North Salt Lake before she disappeared.
Court documents state Lueck's DNA and some of her personal belongings, were found in the backyard of Ajayi's home. Police also connected the pair through phone records.
The 23-year-old's body was discovered in Logan Canyon, 85 miles north of Salt Lake City, the week after Ajayi was arrested in June.
While awaiting his trial, aggravated kidnapping and three counts of forcible sexual abuse charges were filed against Ajayi in the Third District Court in August 2019.
According to the charging documents, a woman told investigators she met Ajayi on a dating app before March 2018. After meeting him in person, Ajayi invited the woman over to his house and offered to cook her dinner. They met up on or around March 10, 2018.
Court document state as the pair watched TV on Ajayi's couch, he placed his arm around the woman, started to "intensely" kiss her, and tried to touch her inappropriately. The woman tried to get away from Ajayi, but he pinned her down on the couch and sexually assaulted her, court documents state.
He plead not guilty to charges in this case, as well.
Kentucky State Police: Burlington man arrested,
sexually abused at least 2 NKY children
Madeline Mitchell
Cincinnati Enquirer
A Burlington, Kentucky man was arrested Monday after officials said he sexually abused at least two children in Kentucky.
The release states detectives responded to investigate a report of sexual abuse of a child in Carrollton on Sept. 26. During the investigation, officers discovered two child victims, ages 14 and 11, who had been sexually abused by Dowell on multiple occasions and in multiple locations in both Carroll and Boone counties.
These criminal acts occurred over a period of approximately four years, the release states. In 2017, when the abuse began, one of the victims was eight years old.
Dowell was arrested by Kentucky State Police in Boone County on Monday, the release states. He is currently being held at the Carroll County Detention Center on a $25,000 bond.
The investigation is ongoing. Officials said other charges may be pending.
Boone Co., Ky
Red Bluff, Ca man charged with child sexual abuse
By RED BLUFF DAILY NEWS |
RED BLUFF — A Red Bluff man, 38, was arrested Monday and charged with multiple crimes in connection with sexual abuse of a minor.
The tip indicated Christopher Lee Wiessner uploaded pornographic images of children to the internet, the release said. During the investigation, detectives learned one of the images Wiessner uploaded was of a local victim.
The victim was contacted and disclosed to detectives being sexually abused by Wiessner over time, the release said. The victim was known to Wiessner.
Wiessner was arrested in the 300 block of Michael Drive in Red Bluff. He was charged with child molestation, continued sexual abuse of a minor under the age of 10 and possession of child pornography. Bail was $2,180,000.
Montgomery Co., Pa father arrested on sex assault, aggravated assault charges in death of 10-month-old child
By Christie Ileto and 6abc Digital Staff
LOWER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- Officials in Montgomery County announced Tuesday the arrest of a man on charges related to the death of his 10-month-old daughter.
According to officials, police were dispatched to a home in the 3400 block of Germantown Road, in Lower Providence Township, on Saturday at about 10:40 p.m. following a 911 call about an unresponsive baby.
Upon arrival, they found Zara Scruggs, the unresponsive infant, and her father, 29-year-old Austin Stevens.
A search warrant of Stevens' phone showed that he had conducted multiple Google searches for nearly an hour before calling 911, authorities said. Subjects included "If baby stop breathing," "What if you don't hear baby heart or beat," "My baby isn't breathing," and "How do you know if a baby is dead."
Stevens also conducted social media and text conversations with two women during this time that were not related to the baby's condition, investigators said.
According to authorities, an autopsy on the baby determined that Zara Scruggs was the victim of a sexual assault.
"This case is deeply disturbing. It is hard to imagine this child's death being any more traumatic: sexual assault on an infant, followed by inaction by the father to save her life, led to her death," said Steele.
Stevens is charged with involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, aggravated assault and other charges, authorities said.
According to his social media and friends, Stevens is a co-owner of Black Diamond construction. His colleagues say this is "not in his character" and "think there are some other variables in play resulting in the charges."
There are no exculpatory factors in the rape and murder of a baby!
Investigators say Stevens was an assistant coach for the Lower Providence Warriors football team.
Anyone with information about other acts of abuse connected to Stevens should call police.
Lwr Prov Twnshp, Pa
Ohio sex offender convicted in Kenton County,
abused 2 Kentucky children
Madeline Mitchell
Cincinnati Enquirer
A Covington man who is a registered sex offender in the State of Ohio was convicted on six counts of sexual abuse involving two children in Kentucky, according to a Tuesday release from the Kenton County Commonwealth's Attorney Office.
Clifford Howell, 63, was found guilty after three days of testimony at the beginning of October, the release states. The jury then recommended a 20-year prison sentence for Howell, which is the maximum sentence under Kentucky law.
Howell was sentenced to one year in prison in 2014 after Kenton County court records state he failed to comply with his sex offender registration. Documents say Howell is a registered sex offender in the State of Ohio after he raped a 15-year-old in Hamilton County in 2007.
Covington Police Department said they received a report of a sexual assault from a child victim on July 4, 2018. The girl knew her attacker and identified him as Howell.
During the investigation, two children disclosed Howell sexually assaulted them on multiple occasions, according to the release. The girls were 11 and 15 years old at the time the investigation began.
A detective arranged for a phone call between one of the victims and Howell, unbeknownst to Howell, the release states. In the call, Howell apologized and acknowledged the sexual abuse.
Remarkable similarities to the story 'Kentucky State Police:...', 3 stories above. Written by the same girl, ages of the perps are almost the same, victims are almost the same ages, Cincinnati suburbs. Weird huh?
Stockton, Ala man charged with sodomy, sexual abuse of a child
under 12 and rape
A spokesperson with the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office say the charges against 33-year-old Demetrius Lashon Gray go back "up to six years" and that the crimes occurred over a period of years.
They say they all involve the same alleged victim.
Investigators with BCSO and US Marshall’s Service have been working the case.
Bloomington, Indi man charged with possession of child sexual abuse material
BY EMMA WILLIAMS
A 30-year-old Bloomington man was arrested Friday on 10 counts of possession of child pornography after police allegedly found several hundred images on his computer, Bloomington Police Department Capt. Ryan Pedigo said.
Pedigo said the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children tipped off BPD that Allen Montgomery was in possession of child pornography.
On Sept. 30, BPD searched his home and found an illegal handgun and methamphetamine, for which he was booked into jail Tuesday, but no pornography.
BPD submitted a search warrant to Google on Oct. 2 and content returned from Montgomery’s drive allegedly had several hundred pornographic images of children, Pedigo said.
Repeat Md child sex offender sentenced for sexually molesting cousins
WBAL
ANNAPOLIS, Md. —
A judge sentenced a man who prosecutors said sexually molested his cousins while he lived with the family, Anne Arundel County State's Attorney Anne Colt Leitess announced Monday.
Fidel Reyes-Viveros, 54, a former Annapolis resident who was extradited from Missouri where he was serving five years on child molestation charges, was sentenced to 90 years with all but 35 years suspended in prison.
Reyes-Viveros pleaded guilty in two separate cases to sex abuse of a minor continuing course of conduct and sex offenses against the two child victims on Sept. 25.
"The children's families were trying to help the defendant by giving him a place to stay only for him to prey upon their children and sexually molest them. This is truly sad," Colt Leitess said in a statement. "I want to commend these young victims for bravely coming forward to report this abuse."
"Unfortunately, this abuse went on for some time and it was only revealed long after it had harmed the victims," Colt Leitess said.
Prosecutors said police officers were called on March 2, 2019, to a high school after receiving a report from social services officials that a student reported being inappropriately touched by a former household member, later identified as Reyes-Viveros.
After interviewing the victim with her mother, prosecutors said investigators learned that Reyes-Viveros touched the girl's private area under her clothes, exposed himself and showed her pornographic movies. The victim said the abuse occurred three to four times from 2013 to 2016 when she was between the ages of 9 to 11.
Investigators then received a report from social services officials from another minor who lived at the same address that was also sexually abused by Reyes-Viveros. Prosecutors said the victim identified Reyes-Viveros as the person who touched her under her clothes and showed her porn. The victim said the abuse started when she was 5 or 6 years old and continued until she was 11 or 12, which is when Reyes-Viveros moved out of the family's home. When investigators asked the victim how many times the defendant touched her, the minor said she couldn't remember, but said it was a lot, prosecutors said.
"This case is a reminder that we, as parents, must not allow unsupervised access to our children and at the same time, teaches them that no one has the right to touch them in ways or places that make them feel uncomfortable and that they have a right to say no. Open conversations with a trusted adult are what give children the ability to tell when these things happen to them," Colt Leitess said.
If someone you know is a victim of sexual abuse, call the Anne Arundel Department of Health Sexual Assault Crisis Center and Hotline at 410-222-6800.
Pennsylvania: 13 people sue Devereux over alleged child sexual abuse
By Laura Benshoff, (NBC10)
Thirteen people are suing Devereux Behavioral Health, alleging the nonprofit allowed them to be sexually abused as children while in the organization’s care and failed to take steps to stop that abuse when it came to their attention. The lawsuit follows an August Philadelphia Inquirer investigation detailing years of criminal behavior by Devereux staff, and the lasting trauma of their victims.
The plaintiffs, who were as young as 8 when the alleged abuse took place, are not named in the complaint to protect their privacy. Twelve of them live in Pennsylvania and the one lives in Delaware.
Between 2004 and 2014, they suffered abuse ranging from inappropriate touching to rape. The complaint also drew upon allegations from Devereux facilities in other states to make the case that negligence was rampant, including one case in Florida where a staff member abused a Devereux resident in his care, and then sought her out after her release from a shelter for minors who had been sex-trafficked, and raped her again.
The complaint describes sexual and physical abuse taking place between 2004 and 2014, and names more than 20 defendants, including individuals and different entities managed by Devereux. Beyond the individual acts of abuse themselves, the civil lawsuit seeks to hold Devereux accountable for what plaintiffs allege was a long-standing pattern of ignoring abuse claims, failing to weed out abusive staff and abandoning corrective plans.
“Devereux’s failure to protect these children from conditions they knew existed within their facilities for decades is unacceptable, intolerable, and utterly despicable,” wrote attorneys Robert Mongeluzzi, Andrew Duffy, Kristen Feden and Daniel Ceisler.
The complaint also alleges that Devereux’s recent efforts to tighten security, as described in the Inquirer’s reporting, are more or less an admission of guilt over past protocols.
“These alleged efforts, however, are both insufficient and a demonstration of their failure to implement reasonable, appropriate, and legally sufficient safeguards in the past,” wrote the plaintiffs’ attorneys.
After 25 years of child sex abuse at Devereux facilities were uncovered in August (7th story on link), Philly is removing 53 children still in the nonprofit’s care.
Devereux spokesman Hugh Braithwaite said in a statement that while the company had “not yet seen the actual lawsuit, we can tell you any reported incidents involving children formerly in our care are heartbreaking.” He also noted that in September, the organization announced it had hired former U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch and her firm to lead what it called an “independent safety audit” into the abuse allegations, which spanned a period of 25 years.
“These industry challenges are far more complex than can be surmounted by staff training and financial investments alone, but we understand the hard work that needs to be done and committed many years ago to doing it,” Braithwaite said.
There are 10 charges, including: recklessness and gross negligence; assault and battery; corporate liability against Devereux; outrageous conduct and punitive damages; and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Noting Devereux’s annual revenue in excess of $460 million, the plaintiffs asked a judge to award them compensatory and punitive damages “in excess of $50,000 and local arbitration limits, plus allowable taxable costs, interest, delay damages, and such other relief.”
The Philadelphia Department of Human Services and Community Behavioral Health recently announced they were removing 53 children from Devereux facilities. The announcement followed a six-week assessment of the facilities, in which city inspectors found staffers were not properly watching over the children in their care.
Lafayette Co., Ark man sentenced to 36 years for child sex abuse, assault
By Field Walsh, TXK
A Lafayette County man who sexually assaulted an 8-year-old girl in the backyard of a Stamps, Ark., residence in 2017 was sentenced last week to 36 years in prison.
Settle was sentenced to 20 years for sexual assault as part of his plea bargain. Settle was also sentenced to 10-year and 6-year prison terms for attacking a fellow inmate in the Lafayette County jail with a shank made from a plastic spork in 2019.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys Connie Mitchell and David Freeze prosecuted the case. Circuit Judge Carlton Jones presided over the matter.
Upon release from prison, Settle will be required to register as a sex offender.
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