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Lubbock man receives 30 years for continuous child sexual abuse
By Emma McSpadden
Published: Apr. 28, 2023 at 1:56 PM PDT|
LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - A Lubbock man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for continuous sexual abuse of a child.
Cody Sullivan, 35, was originally charged on eight counts of child abuse. Court documents say Sullivan committed at least two acts of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 over the course of seven years.
The continued abuse reportedly occurred from 2012 to 2019.
Sullivan pleaded guilty in court on Friday and was sentenced to 30 years in prison; he will have to serve half of his sentence before being eligible for parole. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.
A protective order has been issued for his victim.
Metro East music teacher charged with sexual abuse of minors
by: Joey Schneider, Fox 2Now
Posted: Apr 28, 2023 / 03:20 PM CDT
Updated: Apr 28, 2023 / 03:22 PM CDT
MASCOUTAH, Ill. – A music instructor in the Metro East is behind bars and accused of sexual misconduct involving minors.
Prosecutors have charged Reid Setterlund, 46, with two aggravated criminal sexual assault (with a victim under 18) and indecent solicitation stemming from aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
The Mascoutah Police Department investigated several complaints of sexual misconduct tied to Setterlund. Police say he is accused of crimes involving two girls under the age of 18 last February.
Police say Setterlund is a music instructor and runs a private business where he teaches private music lessons from his home. The crimes reportedly happened at his home.
Setterlund is jailed in St. Clair County Jail on an $85,000 bond. Anyone who might have additional information pertaining to this investigation should contact Mascoutah Police Department at 618-566-2976 or 618-825-2051.
Yuba City man sentenced to 24 years for sexually abusing girls
BY CAMERON GLENN
APRIL 28, 2023 / 1:20 PM / CBS SACRAMENTO
YUBA CITY - A 29-year-old Yuba City man has been sentenced to 24 years in prison after pleading no contest to two separate counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14.
Marco Antonio Sandoval-Diaz was charged on September 27, 2022, with two counts of sexual acts with a child under the age of 10, each carrying a potential life sentence.
Sandoval-Diaz was the stepfather to both of his victims and supervised them while their mother went to work for the day. Between March 2016 and November 2019, Sandoval-Diaz sexually abused the two girls in their Yuba City residence, according to court documents. One of the victims reported the conduct to her school counselor, who then contacted Child Protective Services and the Police Department.
Sandoval-Diaz
MELISSA AKERS
Deputy District Attorney Tamara Squires negotiated a resolution that protected the victims and the community from Sandoval-Dias, the DA's office says. The resolution was reached after meeting with the victims' parents and learning that the two young victims were hoping the case would resolve without a trial.
"Those who perpetrate these crimes against the children are the worst type of criminals. These cases tend to be very difficult, as they require balancing the desire for ultimate justice with the need to protect these most vulnerable victims," said District Attorney Jennifer R. Dupré. "Deputy District Attorney Squires did an admirable job working with the family and striking that necessary balance for these courageous victims."
Sandoval-Diaz was sentenced in Sutter County District Court to 24 years in prison after pleading no contest to two separate counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14.
Ex-Sumner coach charged with child rape, molestation of players
April 28, 2023 at 3:50 pm
Sumner High School photographed in March. (Karen Ducey / The Seattle Times)
By Patrick Malone
Seattle Times staff reporter
Editor’s note: This article contains descriptions of child rape and sexual offense.
Ousted Sumner High School boys’ basketball coach Jake Jackson was charged Thursday with 10 crimes related to sexual abuse of six former players, including child rape and molestation, according to documents filed in Pierce County Superior Court.
Jake Jackson, a coach of the Varsity Boys basketball team, seen in the 2022 Sumner High School yearbook. (Karen Ducey / The Seattle Times)
The charges filed by the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office came nearly eight months after the first players told police that Jackson was a persistent presence in their smartphones, asking for and sending nude photos. One boy whose family has been longtime friends with Jackson told police he was subjected to sexual contact with Jackson more than 25 times over the course of two years beginning in 2019 while he was between 14 and 16 years old, leading to the child rape charge.
Jackson’s accusers told police he plied them with gifts and cash for odd jobs, and that they worried rejecting his advances would jeopardize their standing on the basketball team.
Jackson, 35, was served a summons Thursday to appear in court for arraignment on May 11 on one count of rape of a child in the third degree, two counts of third-degree child molestation, one count of sexual misconduct with a minor in the first degree, five counts of communication with a minor for immoral purposes — all felonies — and indecent exposure, a misdemeanor. Convictions on the felony charges each carry a possible prison sentence of up to five years and a fine of $10,000, and conviction on the misdemeanor holds the possibility of up to one year in jail and a $5,000 fine, according to state sentencing guidelines.
Jackson’s lawyer, Brett Purtzer of Tacoma, said in an email that Jackson intends to plead not guilty to all counts but offered no further comment.
The investigation into the players’ allegations against Jackson was complicated because his accusers said most of the communications involving nude images were over the mobile app SnapChat, which is programmed to make messages disappear after 10 seconds. And the settings Jackson and the players used made the photos and videos irretrievable for investigators. The investigation was also delayed by a backlog of processing DNA evidence at the Washington State Patrol’s crime lab, leaving some of his accusers and their parents wondering if he would ever be charged. That evidence has now been processed.
Jackson’s accusers and their families expressed relief in a statement released by their lawyer, Loren Cochran of Tacoma. “The criminal charges acknowledge that Jackson used his influence and power as a school authority figure to traumatize those children he was entrusted to protect,” the emailed statement said.
The players and their families, whose identities remain anonymous in court filings, have expressed frustration that Jackson was allowed to resign from his job last October, more than five weeks after the investigation focusing on him was publicly reported and he’d been placed on leave. Jackson did not teach at the school and was primarily employed by his father-in-law’s sports apparel firm. The accusers reiterated their frustration Friday over the prosecuting attorney’s decision to allow Jackson to appear in court on a summons in lieu of arrest, calling it “preferential treatment” in the statement their attorney released.
“I feel anxious. I don’t feel any better. Although it’s a relief that he’s been charged, I thought it would make me feel better,” one of Jackson’s accusers said in a phone interview.
The boy and his father both said they view Jackson as a flight risk because he has financial means and personal connections to two other states.
“I’m uber-concerned about what’s going to play out before his court date,” the boy’s father said in a phone interview. “We live within a couple miles of this guy and see him frequently in the community. It’s hard. He’s picking up his kids at our schools, running into him at a gas station, seeing him on TV walking into a Mariners game. This makes you sick, because he’s still out here living his best life.”
Sumner police Chief Brad Moericke commended the members of his two-detective department who built the case against Jackson. “They followed every lead, which meant weeks of gathering mounds of physical and digital evidence,” he said in a written statement. “I appreciate everyone’s patience and perseverance.”
The investigation into Jackson began a week before school started last fall when two students told police Jackson had pressured them to share nude photos with him. As police followed leads provided by the initial accusers, more came to them and shared stories of Jackson asking for and sharing nude photos, primarily over social media. One boy told police he had an unbroken streak of more than 300 days receiving SnapChat messages on his phone from Jackson. Another accuser told police he had a 360-day streak of SnapChat messages from Jackson, according to charging documents.
Police executed seven search warrants based on the boys’ statements, collecting social media data for Jackson and his accusers and DNA samples, and seizing a swatch of carpet and a portion of the baseboard from Jackson’s shoe closet.
SnapChat app protocols prevented police from finding useful evidence on that platform, according to charging documents. But a search warrant for communications on the mobile app Instagram revealed one instance when an accuser shared a photo of his penis with Jackson, and “Jackson responded that he loved it,” according to the documents.
One player told police that Jackson masturbated in his presence in a walk-in shoe closet at Jackson’s residence on the shores of Lake Tapps, and another told detectives that Jackson touched him inappropriately while masturbating in the same closet at least 15 times, charging documents said. In December, that accuser went back to police and told them that Jackson had compelled him into mutual oral sex at least 10 times in that closet, and once propositioned him for intercourse, according to the charging document filed Thursday by Pierce County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Bryce Nelson. Prosecuting Attorney Mary Robnett accused Jackson of engaging in sexual intercourse with the boy.
If you need help
News reports of sexual-assault allegations could be a trigger for victims and survivors of abuse. Here are some resources:
The King County Sexual Assault Resource Center offers a 24-hour resource line (888-998-6423). Additionally, KCSARC can help connect people with therapy, legal advocates and family services (kcsarc.org/gethelp).
UW Medicine’s Center for Sexual Assault & Traumatic Stress (depts.washington.edu/hcsats) offers resources, including counseling and medical care. For immediate help, call 206-744-1600.
For readers outside King County, the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs lists 38 Washington state providers that offer free services. (wcsap.org/find-help)
RAINN: Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network provides a free, confidential hotline (800-656-4673) and online chat (hotline.rainn.org) with trained staff members.
DNA evidence collected from three places in Jackson’s closet revealed Jackson’s DNA conclusively, but did not conclusively identify the boy’s DNA, although it provided “limited support” that the boy’s DNA was present. The Washington State Patrol received the samples in January, according to a spokesperson, and only recently completed the analysis.
Sumner High hired Jackson in 2016 after he coached four seasons at Peninsula High School in Gig Harbor. Police have attempted to contact former Peninsula High players, but said they know of no accusations from Jackson’s time there.
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