Raise CSA awareness > Walk across Florida with Lauren Book in April - get a friendship bracelet

 

Healing era: Lauren Book’s annual trek for childhood

sexual abuse survivors takes a Taylor Swift tone

Book's nonprofit is creating and distributing friendship bracelets to inspire hope and raise awareness.

Former state Sen. Lauren Book will participate in her 10th walk across Florida next month, raising awareness and supporting childhood sexual abuse survivors and for sexual and child abuse prevention.

This year, her annual “Walk in My Shoes” trek from Key West to Tallahassee will take on a uniquely Taylor Swift vibe, with volunteers from her nonprofit Lauren’s Kids, child advocacy centers and sexual assault treatment programs all pitching in to make friendship bracelets letting survivors know that someone is rooting for them.

The bracelets are meant to channel Swiftie energy with Swift-inspired phrases such as “Speak Now,” “Fearless,” “In My Healing Era” and “For the Hope of it All,” as well as more generic positive messages like “hope,” “courage” and “survivor.”

The bracelets are inspired by trading friendship bracelets popularized at Taylor Swift shows. Book, a mom of two, attended the Eras Tour — twice — in Miami. 

The “Walk in My Shoes” expedition coincides each year with National Sexual Assault Awareness Month and National Child Abuse Prevention Month, which are in April. 

The walk begins April 2 at the Southernmost Point in Key West, before heading north to Miami, Fort Lauderdale Boca Raton and Coral Springs, before heading over to Florida’s west coast for stops in Naples, Fort Myers, Sarasota, Bradenton, Pasco County, and Tampa.

The walk then heads back east again with stops in Lakeland, Cocoa Beach, Daytona Beach and St. Augustine.

In the final stretch, she’ll lead volunteers and supporters back west again to Orlando, Ocala, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Niceville, Pensacola, Panama City, Marianna and, finally, Tallahassee. The walk concludes at the state capitol on April 30. 

Above all else, the walk seeks to raise awareness for the staggering prevalence of childhood sexual abuse. The problem is so profound that one in three girls and one in five boys will be forced to become survivors before graduating high school.

But while 42 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse live in the U.S. today, the problem is preventable through education and awareness. 

“This is why we walk,” the website for the event proudly proclaims. 

Book’s nonprofit, Lauren’s Kids, was founded in 2007. In addition to the annual trek, it also creates and provides school curriculum and family resources, and creates award-winning awareness campaigns. Book and supporters through the nonprofit also participate in speaking engagements across the U.S. and the world. The foundation’s Safer, Smarter Schools K-12 curriculum is currently used in classrooms in 40 states to teach kids personal safety. 

On this year’s walk, Book and those walking with her, will clock 20+ miles every single day. 

For Book, it’s personal. 

She suffered abuse for years from her childhood nanny, and chronicled the experience in a heart-wrenching book meant to help others find the strength to speak up, called “It’s OK to Tell.” More recently, Book also authored “Lauren’s Kingdom,” a children’s picture book similarly encouraging kids to speak out when something is not right. 

Florida to re-introduce Capitol Punishment option for Child Sexual Abuse

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Florida passes bill allowing death penalty for child sexual abusers

By Selim Algar, NYPost

April 19, 2023 5:42pm  Updated

Florida lawmakers have approved legislation backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that would permit the death penalty for those convicted of sexually abusing children.

The bipartisan proposal — which passed by a vote of 34-5 late Tuesday — will also allow juries to hand down death sentences by votes of at least 8-4, after previously requiring unanimity.

The bill — which passed the Florida House of Representatives 95-14 last week and which DeSantis is expected to sign — would apply to those convicted of abusing a child under the age of 12.

“My view is, you have some of these people that will be serial rapists of six, seven-year-old kids,” DeSantis told “Good Morning Orlando” Monday. “I think the death penalty is the only appropriate punishment when you have situations like that.” 

State Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book (D-Davie) and state Sen. Jonathan Martin (R-Fort Myers), the bill’s co-sponsors, argued that those who sexually harm kids are likely to repeat their crime and deserve the ultimate penalty.

“Once a predator has a child ensnared, they will harm that child over and over and over again,” Book said. “And then move on to another innocent child.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Getty Images

Book argued that execution guards against the targeting of additional victims.

“Pedophile behavior has been deemed highly repetitive to the point of compulsion,” she said.

State Sen. Rosalind Osgood (D-Broward), one of the five who opposed the bill, said she agreed that sexual attacks on kids are severe crimes, but told fellow lawmakers that she struggled with imposing the death penalty in general due to her religious beliefs.

Florida state Sen. Lauren Book

AP

The bill also runs up against Supreme Court precedent. In 2008, the high court ruled 5-4 in Kennedy v. Louisiana that the death penalty could not be levied against child rapists or anyone who committed a crime in which the victim did not die.

However, DeSantis suggested this week that the current Supreme Court, made up of six conservatives and three liberals, might be open to overturning that decision.

The death penalty controversy made headlines in Florida last year after a jury spared Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz from execution, instead handing down a life sentence.

Florida state Sen. Jonathan Martin

AP

All but one juror voted for Cruz to be executed, which DeSantis said Monday was “really the only appropriate punishment.”

“If you don’t support capital punishment, I respect that,” the governor added, “but the way to deal with that is to try to get the laws changed in the state through the democratic process – not to be on a jury and to nullify capital punishment.”

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Approaching Sodom > Florida Takes Major Step back from the Edge; Transgender Sex Offenders in UK Prisons

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Florida medical board BANS puberty blockers for minors under the age of 18 — after hearing testimony from 'de-transitioners'

By MANSUR SHAHEEN DEPUTY HEALTH EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 14:52 EDT, 28 October 2022

The Florida Board of Medicine has voted to ban 'gender affirming care' for transgender teenagers in the state.

The move will block access to puberty blockers and hormone therapies to minors in order to treat gender dysphoria. Those receiving the drugs for other reasons will be exempt from this decision.

Board members said the decision was made based on the irreversibility of the drugs and the growing number of people choosing to 'detransition'.

It will apply to all teens in the state, even those that are currently undergoing treatment using the drugs. 

Arizona has similar restrictions in place already. Alabama, Arkansas and Texas have attempted to enact similar rules but have been held up by the courts.

Dr Joseph Ladapo, the state's surgeon general, requested for the board to establish a standard for care for trans teens earlier this year. 

Under Gov Ron DeSantis, Florida has been at the forefront of the trans debate in the US in recent months.

In August, the board voted to adopt an official 'standard of care' in the state that opposes the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapies for trans teens.

The decision made Friday will now be passed on to the full medical board, who are likely to adopt the recommendations.

According to a report released earlier this year by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 1.34 per cent of the state's teens aged 13 to 17 years old are trans.

A detransitioner at the Florida hearing said that she is happy that she did not receive surgery and that her gender affirming care led to her developing PTSD, OCD and a suicide attempt

Commenters at the meeting included detransitioners

Advocates for the ban on trans care testified during the meeting, and included detransitioners.

One woman explained that she was diagnosed with PTSD, OCD and even attempted suicide while using testosterone while she was living as a transman.

Since detransitioning, she said her mental health has improved but she still has a disrupted menstrual cycle and other after-effects. 

'I'm truly grateful I never got surgery because I'm happily married and 28 weeks pregnant,' one woman said. 'But if I had gotten surgeries that I so desperately wanted as a teenager, that would've stolen this future from me.' 

Some have warned that even though a person can detransition, the impact the drugs will have on their hormones will last forever.

Dr Joseph Ladapo (pictured) asked for the medical board to weigh in on the trans issues over summer,

setting up Friday's decision

'The scientific evidence supporting these complex medical interventions is extraordinarily weak,' Dr Ladapo wrote in a June letter.

'...there is great uncertainty about the effects of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries in young people with gender dysphoria. 

'The current standards set by numerous professional organizations appear to follow a preferred political ideology instead of the highest level of generally accepted medical science. 

'Florida must do more to protect children from politics-based medicine. Otherwise, children and adolescents in our state will continue to face a substantial risk of long-term harm.'

Transgender child rapist kept in isolation at men’s jail as

‘too dangerous’ for women’s prison

Michael Hamilton, The Sun

23:43, 29 Oct 2022

A TRANSGENDER child rapist is being kept segregated at a men’s jail — because she is too dangerous for a women’s nick.

Prison chiefs have decided that paedophile Marcia Walker, 48, would pose a risk if she were switched from top security Frankland jail.

Paedophile Marcia Walker is in isolation in a men's prison

Lags at the Co Durham prison are “furious” as they have to be kept in cells for 45 minutes while Walker washes and eats alone.

Walker — once Mark Walker — was jailed for 13 years in 2003 for raping two girls, one aged four, and has served time for bomb hoaxes and assault.

A source said: “There is a lot of anger at the jail but it’s a Catch-22 situation.

“She has to be treated as a woman but cannot be moved to a female prison because she poses a risk.

“And, as she’s legally a woman, she must be kept apart from male inmates.”

Ministry of Justice sources say more than 90 per cent of transgender cons are held in men’s prisons.

The Prison Service said: “Transgender prisoners do not receive special treatment and have access to the same facilities as male prisoners.”

From Opposite Ends of America - Two Disturbing Pedophiles

Anchorage man convicted of multiple

child sex abuse charges

Author: Jerzy Shedlock   Alaska Dispatch News

A 33-year-old Anchorage man was found guilty Thursday of 16 charges related to the sexual abuse of two young girls, according to the Alaska Department of Law.

A jury convicted Keone Jason Lee following a month-long trial.

The department said in a release that Lee invited a homeless family to stay in the camper trailer he lived in, which was parked in his parents' driveway. Lee "opportunistically" abused two children of that family, ages 6 and 11, according to the release.

Lee threatened the girls with a sword in an attempt to keep them quiet, police said at that time.

Lee was also found guilty of two counts of possession of child pornography on Thursday. In the course of an investigation Anchorage Police Department detectives searched Lee's camper and discovered Lee had child pornography downloaded onto two of his personal computers, prosecutors said.

He has been previously convicted of child porn possession while serving in the military, and as a result faces a prison sentence of 30 to 40 years on each count of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor, prosecutors said.

Sentencing is set for Jan. 9, 2017.

Suspect facing 132 child sex abuse charges

faced complaint in 2014

By Gary White  The Ledger

BARTOW, Florida — The Polk County Sheriff's Office investigated a complaint against James Ballone in 2014 but lacked evidence to charge the Bartow man with a crime.

Two years later, Ballone is accused of sexual battery on children as young as 2. Ballone, who faces 132 charges, used young children to manufacturer pornographic images, Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said Wednesday.

The previous complaint involved indecent behavior with a boy about 2 years old, according to one of Ballone's neighbors in the Alturas area.

Sabrina Wiggins, who lives a few doors down from Ballone's home at 323 Elm St., said one of her friends allowed Ballone to babysit her son until she became suspicious the man was abusing the boy.

Aaaaarg! Don't let men babysit children! Please!


Dramatic change in boy's behaviour

Wiggins said her friend called the Sheriff's Office, which investigated the claims but informed her there wasn't sufficient evidence to make an arrest. The boy was too young to talk at that point, Wiggins said.

Wiggins said her friend's suspicious were based on a dramatic change in the boy's behavior.

Polk Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Donna Wood confirmed Friday that the agency investigated a complaint against Ballone in 2014.

“At the time, no physical evidence nor any other evidence actually confirmed that a crime had occurred,” Wood said. “Had we been able to (arrest him) then, he would have been in jail then.”

Florida law prohibits law enforcement agencies from identifying children who are suspected victims of sexual abuse. So it's impossible to confirm that the 2014 inquiry involved the boy Wiggins mentioned.

The boy's mother declined to comment.

Wiggins said her friend ceased allowing Ballone to babysit the boy as soon as she became suspicious. Wiggins said she now babysits the boy regularly.

The Polk Sheriff's Office arrested Ballone in July on possession of child pornography charges. An examination of Ballone's electronic devices found images that appeared to have been created in his home, leading to an investigation and the filing last week of the additional charges. He is being held without bond.

Judd said Wednesday his office has no evidence to charge Ballone's wife, Kimberly Ballone, with any crime.

Wiggins said she and her husband and teenage daughter have lived on Elm Street for two years but now plan to move.

“I'm packing; we're getting out of here,” Wiggins said, citing drug problems in the neighborhood and Ballone's arrest. “This is the straw that broke the camel's back. I have nieces and nephews that come over and they're itty-bitty. I'm done.”

Wiggins said she didn't know Ballone but often saw him riding his bike in the street with children. Wiggins said she only saw Kimberly Ballone when she drove past.


'Mom, he's a creep,'

“My daughter is 17, and when we see him she's always like, 'Mom, he's a creep,' ” Wiggins said. “She never wanted anything to do with him.”

The girl is gifted with discernment; I totally agree with her.

Asked what it was that bothered her daughter, Wiggins said, “Just the look of him.”

Two women who lived next door to Ballone said they never had any contact with him.

Michelle Cisneros, 24, said she often heard the sounds of playing children coming from Ballone's property as she sat in her backyard.

“There were certain occasions when we heard little kids playing and then all of a sudden they would scream at the top of their lungs,” Cisneros said. “We didn't think anything of it. But then we heard the news about what happened and we were actually in shock.”

Her friend, Nora Nelson, said she just assumed a large group of children lived at Ballone's house. “There were always kids running around there that you could hear,” said Nelson, 22.

Cisneros said there are no young children in her home. Cisneros, who has lived on Elm Street for three years, said Ballone's backyard has always been covered with high grass and weeds that limited view from the outside.

“My mom said now she knows why he never took care of the yard,” Cisneros said. “We never could see anything on the other side of the yard.”

Samantha Angeles lives in a house on Alturas Road with a backyard that abuts Ballone's backyard. Trees and tall shrubs form a screen that blocks view into Ballone's yard.

Angeles, 25, said she had never met Ballone in her five years as his neighbor.

“We actually have heard little kids playing there, and we thought it was a family with kids,” Angeles said. “They had a pool. Now that we know this, we're like, 'Whoa, where did those kids come from?'”

World's Greatest Grandpa

Ballone lived in a double-wide mobile home on a dead-end street running parallel to Alturas Road. No one answered a knock at the door Friday morning, though a silver van was parked near the front door.

Several pieces of children's play gear were piled in the front yard near the curb, including a plastic toy car with purple tires. A red station wagon parked in the front yard had a license plate on its front that read: “World's Greatest Grandpa.”

Child Porn Sting Nabs Elementary Teacher, Disney Employees

© Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters

An undercover child pornography bust has led to the arrests of eight men, three of whom stand out. 

One man was a housekeeper at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, another was a cook on Disney’s BoardWalk and a third was a school teacher.

Two of the men worked at locations around Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Angel Rivera-Maldonado, 44, worked in housekeeping at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge while Kevin Nazzaro, 52, was a cook at Big River Grille and Brewing Works on Disney’s BoardWalk.

Disney has yet to comment on the status of these men’s employment, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Polk County sheriff’s deputies also caught a man whose alleged crimes and occupation were in even more direct conflict. Juan Berrios, 64, faces 35 counts of possession of child pornography and is a first-grade teacher.

Detectives received tips that the Palmetto Elementary School teacher was uploading child pornography depicting children between the ages of three and six. However, after detectives seized his home computers, they discovered pornography with children less than a year old, WFLA reported.

The Polk County School Board has suspended Berrios without pay.

In a statement emailed to WFTS, Polk County Public Schools Superintendent Jacqueline M. Byrd said, “We are taking swift action and cooperating fully with law enforcement in their investigation… I will recommend that his employment be terminated at the July 26th meeting of the Polk County School Board.”

Mom Caught on Video Fighting Off Daughter's Would-be Kidnapper

Suspect seen in tug-of-war for 13-year-old girl

before fleeing scene

The Associated Press 

A Florida man has been taken into custody after surveillance video shows him trying to kidnap a teenage girl inside a store.

It must have been terrifying for the Mom and the girl.

Citrus County deputies tell news outlets that 30-year-old Craig Bonello is facing charges of child abuse and kidnapping involving Tuesday's incident at a Dollar General Store in Hernando.

Investigators say video shows Bonello looking around before grabbing the 13-year-old girl and trying to drag her out of the store. The child's mother caught up to him and a tug of war ensued as the woman fought for her daughter. The suspect finally let go of the girl and ran.

The store manager alerted an off-duty deputy outside the store and the deputy blocked Bonello's car and arrested him.

It's unclear if Bonello has an attorney.

The Nightmare Story of the Girl at South Fort Myers High

Last week we posted a story of a 15 year old girl who had been videoed having sex with an unknown number of boys in the boy's washroom at her school. Some background has emerged of the horrific life of this girl before the incident. She is now being vilified in social media by unfeeling kids with no knowledge of the nightmare she escaped from, and no compassion for the state she is in now from that nightmare.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — A community firestorm erupted after hearing about a 15-year-old girl having sex with boys in the bathroom at a Florida high school.

The county’s sheriff’s office has even become involved after images and videos of the sex acts ended up on social media. A lot of people have commented and shared the story, many casting judgment about the young girl.

Her mother reached out to the local NBC affiliate, WBBH, asking the media outlet to share her story in hopes of setting the record straight. The mom did not wish to appear on camera, but a woman who has worked with the girl served as the family’s spokesperson.

“I had heard a lot about the incident through the news. I heard it and thought there are some red flags,” said Megan Estrem. “What’s upsetting about this is this behavior is not uncommon for human trafficking victims."

Estrem is the founder of “Be the Light,” an advocacy group for victims of sex slavery. She sees cases like this all the time.

“Sex trafficking is a very traumatizing experience,” she said.

The girl’s mom took her daughter to the organization after having saved her from a human trafficker who held her captive for two years.

“She was only 13 when she was trafficked,” said Estrem. The girl was placed into multiple treatment programs, the most recent was eight months long.

But because she’s a runaway, only a handful of programs would accept her. None of them addressed the devastating ramifications of sexual abuse. “She did get some help, but it wasn’t specific for what she needed,” said Estrem.

She was a student at South Fort Myers High only two weeks when the incident happened.

“She was not equipped to make a stable, rational decision in that situation,” said Estrem.

Her mother said the girl went to the boys bathroom to talk to a boy she had a crush on. She said the boy wanted sex, and her daughter complied — then word got out.

“She did not sleep with 25 boys in the bathroom. There was only a handful that she did sleep with. In this case, it was more of a spectator sport,” said Estrem. It lasted an hour and ended because the students involved had somewhere else to be.

“She has been in an environment where she has been told to behave a certain way, and there were severe consequences if she didn’t,” said Estrem.

“They are usually stuck in slavery until someone busts it up,” said Nicole Waid. Waid is a former chief assistant U.S. attorney based in Fort Myers, Fla.

“You’re talking these young girls having sex 30 to 40 times a day with different customers,” said Waid.

Some abduct their victims, others are lured using the internet, but what they all have in common is vulnerability.

“Fourteen to 16, the age because they feel isolated from school, isolated from parents, that the world’s against them,” said Waid. “It’s truly one of the most horrific crimes, you are selling young girls, and young boys for sex.”

The pimps are targeting runaways, outliers and those with low self-esteem.

“They’ve done it before, they know exactly what they are saying, the words to say, they know what this kid needs to feel like, ‘Oh I’m on your side,’ and then to lure them into some situation,” said Waid. And once in, it’s very hard to get out.

“They are highly complex rings. They are traveling and trafficking these girls from Southwest Florida to Atlanta to up to New York City to Boston and back,” said Waid. “It was such an issue that we started a human trafficking task force to educate law enforcement and the community and prosecutors.”

The biggest misconception is that it’s not an illegal immigrant problem, but it’s actually a domestic one.

“What I don’t think people really understand it happens everywhere. It could be your neighbor or a girl in your English class,” said Waid.

The girl’s mom has pulled her out of school. She is trying to protect her from the rumors, comments and video swirling around the Internet right now.

“What happens is not to go straight to shaming and sharing this, but find out there all facts, what happened, why did she do this, who else was involved and what was their role. She needs to be prayed for and encroached, not degraded and discouraged,” said Estrem.

When asked, Waid said people could be charged with a crime for sharing the video.

If you are a victim of human trafficking or suspect human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1(888) 373-7888.

Multiple Boys 'Caught on Film Having Sex with 15-year-old Girl' in Florida School Bathroom

'Shock. Disbelief. Concern. Sad,' says one parent at the school of his feelings about the incident

Harriet Sinclair 

The footage was reportedly caught on Snapchat
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

A number of boys have reportedly been filmed having sex with a 15-year-old schoolgirl in the bathrooms of a Florida high school.

Some 25 boys were seen going in and out of the toilets at South Fort Myers High School in Florida at the time, although the number who allegedly had sex with the girl was unclear.

The age of consent in Floria is 18, although since 2007 the law has made provisions for 16 and 17-year-olds to consent to have sex with someone aged 16 to 23. However no one is believed to have been arrested or to be pressing charges over the incident.

Footage of what happened was allegedly filmed by students who are believed to have used the app Snapchat, which can take up to 10 seconds of video. The film, which automatically deletes after it is seen, was then passed around among the students.

Student Petislin Cadeau told Fox4News: “Like, how did it happen? Like, where was everybody at?

““I heard a video was around but I never really saw it or anything. It just like circulated around.”

The school did not comment on which students had been involved, although it did confirm disciplinary action had been taken.

Florida Boys' Tennis Coach Charged in 2007 Child Sex Abuse Case

By Cindy Swirko

Staff writer, Gainsville Sun

Gainsville, Florida - An Eastside High School teacher and boys head tennis coach has been arrested on charges of child sexual abuse in connection with a 2007 case in Washington, D.C.

Alan Wade Coleman, 45, has been placed on administrative leave pending the case's outcome, said Alachua County School District spokeswoman Jackie Johnson.

Meanwhile, the Gainesville Police Department is asking anyone who believes they have information about any illegal activity by Coleman to call the Combined Communications Center's non-emergency number at 955-1818. Information can also be texted anonymously to keyword GPDFL plus the tip to 274637.

GPD spokesman Officer Ben Tobias said in a press release that Coleman was arrested Tuesday by U.S. Marshals and officers from the Metropolitan Police Department, with GPD's assistance. He has since been released by a federal court, Tobias added.

Tobias told The Sun that local police have gotten no reports or complaints about Coleman in Gainesville.

“We're just covering our bases, given the allegations, that there was nothing here,” Tobias said.

Coleman could not quickly be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

A Metropolitan police report offers few details about the charges.

“On April 22, 2016, Subject one reported that she was engaged in a sexual relationship with subject two,” the report states. “Subject one reported that she had sex with Subject two on June 17, 2007 at the listed location. Subject one also reported that she also had sex with subject two on multiple occasions prior to June 17, 2007 within the District of Columbia.”

Johnson said Coleman was hired in July and taught social studies. School system records show his appointment had been recommended recently for renewal.

He was the head coach of the boys tennis team, Johnson said.

“We conduct federal and state background checks,” Johnson said. “The Florida Department of Law Enforcement does the state check and the FBI the national one. They both came up with no charges.”

Florida Sued Over Allegations of Sexual, Physical, Mental Abuse at Women's Prison

© Lowell Correctional Institution 

The State of Florida faces a lawsuit over allegations that it subjected inmates at a women's prison to sexual, mental and physical abuse. Former prisoners spoke to RT about the demeaning and illegal treatment they received from the facility's employees.

When Crystal Harper arrived at Lowell Correctional Institution, the largest women's prison in the US, she expected to serve her time and follow the judge's sentencing orders. However, trouble began less than 24 hours into her five-year sentence.

“It was a means of legal prostitution. He (prison employee) grabbed my butt and told me 'this is going to be mine.' Just that fast. I hadn't even been in prison for 24 hours,” Harper told RT.

Feeling as though she had no one to turn to, Harper gave the prison employees what they wanted – every day for five years.

“Either you play their game or you get raped,” she said.

Recalling some of the typical proposals she received every day, Harper said that prison staff would often approach her with questions such as “What do I have to do to get my **** ****** around here?”

She added that the way she was treated left a serious emotional toll, stating that she would lie in her bunk and night “realizing what [I] had to do that day, the day before, the week before...”

Harper is just one of many women who have filed a lawsuit against the state for their treatment at Lowell.

“I had a lieutenant come through, night shift, and write on the back of a notepad and hold it up to my window, a little note, numerous different times. One of them [said] 'get naked,' 'get doggy style,' 'get on all fours,' 'show me your vagina.' And he's not the only one,” former inmate Nicola Cruz said.

Medical abomination

Another former inmate, Tanya Yelvington, has a different story of abuse, alleging that the prison failed to respond to her health concerns in a timely manner. She recalled that it took her sister 16 months to convince authorities to examine Tanya’s breasts for cancer. By that point, the disease had seriously attacked her body.

When the state finally admitted that Yelvington needed surgery, they “butchered” it.

“The Department of Corrections was supposed to do a double mastectomy [but I got] literally butchered. They left all of this here. All of this is a chance for the cancer to come back in,” she told RT.

“I look in the mirror every day and see what they did to me, refused to fix me. How can you not hate such animals?” she asked, adding that the prison system is only concerned about saving money for the state – not about keeping the streets safe.

Doublespeak from official

The women are now suing the state of Florida for damages. But despite their allegations, prison warden Angela Gordon insists the prison is “not here to punish, that was the court's job.”

“We are here to ensure the inmates' safety, and ensure that they are returned to society in a better status than they were when they came to us,” she said during a telephone interview with RT.

However, the women's attorney, David A. Frankel, has called the prison's bluff.

“In the Deep South of the United States, there has been a history of ignoring people's civil rights. The Department of Corrections is still in that mentality of 'Listen, we're gonna do what we want to do. Don't question us,'” he told RT.

“And these officers feel the power to take advantage of people because they know the department isn't going to come in and investigate properly, and they believe no one will believe the inmates anyway,” Frankel added.

The astonishing suicide of Bernadette Gregory



LOWELL, FL, July 25, 2009 — A 42-year-old inmate at a state prison for women died last week in an apparent suicide.

The Lowell Annex, part of the larger Lowell Correctional Institution, is north of Ocala. Bernadette Gregory was serving a 14-month sentence at the annex for robbery, according to records from the Department of Corrections and the Marion County court clerk.

Gregory died on Wednesday. Authorities are investigating, and the official cause of death has not yet been determined, but DOC spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said suicide is suspected.

Lowell inmates come from all parts of Florida, but Gregory had local roots. She was from Marion County and a local judge sentenced her to the prison term.

The Lowell Annex opened in 2002. Lowell Correctional Institution's roots date back to 1956.


LOWELL, FL, Dec 13, 2009 --- Bernadette Gregory was getting out of prison in eight months and planning her wedding when she was found hanging in a cell at Florida's Lowell Correctional Institution.

Prison authorities say Gregory, 42, tied a double knot in a sheet, twisted it several times around her top bunk, looped the other end around her neck and hanged herself.

Despite relying on a wheelchair to get around, she did all of this in 11 minutes — while she was handcuffed, a detail the Department of Corrections' investigative summary mentions only in passing.

Gregory's 2009 death is one of many that don't seem to add up but that have nevertheless been tucked away in the department's files, categorized as suicides, homicides, accidents or natural deaths.

With 320 inmate deaths tallied as of Dec 9, 2009, Florida's prison system is on track to have the deadliest year in its history. 


Threatened after release

But the fight against the state may not be an easy one. In fact, Harper said she felt forced to flee to Texas after she was followed by a man and her house was broken into. She speculated that the State of Florida could have been behind the incidents.

“I don't know if it was the state, I don't know who it was. I have no idea. The only thing that I could register in my mind is 'Crystal, you're going up against the State of Florida and you're still in Florida.’ Why wouldn't they try to hurt me or kill me?”

Frankel speculates that the case will take several years to resolve.

Man in Wheelchair Charged With Child Sex Abuse

14 years later, man faces judge on Orange County child sex abuse charges

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. —
John Joseph Sweeney, confined to a wheelchair and flanked by his attorney, faced an Orange County judge this week, some 14 years after he was charged with sexually abusing three children.

Sweeney, 71, is accused of charming his way into a trusting relationship with a local family and abusing their three children, then aged between 4 and 8, police records showed.

Known as “Uncle Blondie” to the children, Sweeney fled the state before he could be arrested on the Orange County charges.

He had gone to New Hampshire, where he subsequently spent 10 years in prison on unrelated child sex abuse charges.

When he was paroled in New Hampshire and moved to Arkansas, a parole officer realized he was wanted in Central Florida.

Sweeney was brought back to Orange County where he faces 10 counts of sexual battery of a child younger than 12.

He has another court hearing on April 5.

In the meantime, he was being held without bond at the Orange County Jail.

Warning to Parents Who Send Little Kids to Public Washrooms Unescorted

Two Brothers Go Into Public Bathroom… But When Only One Returns, Dad Reacts Immediately

A Florida mother and father learned the most horrible way possible this week why little kids should always be escorted when they use a public bathroom.

The mother, father and their two boys were dining at a McDonald’s in Jacksonville when their two sons — one six years of age, the other seven — went to the bathroom together as per the “buddy system.”

Unfortunately, the system did not work. Moments later, the older boy returned to the table by himself. This troubled the boy’s parents, so his father then walked to the bathroom himself to check on his younger boy.

When the father entered the restroom, he saw a black man emerge from a stall and walk out. Inside that same stall the father found his younger boy pulling up his pants.

Without a moment to the lose, the father then hightailed out of McDonald’s and chased the pedophile, a 33-year-old homeless man later identified as Keith Andre Sykes, until unfortunately the suspect got away.

Police later found Sykes hiding in a dumpster and booked him on a charge of capital sexual battery. 

He hopefully has a very lengthy prison sentence awaiting him.

Woman Realizes Man Next Door Raped Her 40 Years Ago

GAINESVILLE — A central Florida woman who says she repressed memories that she was sexually assaulted as a child ironically moved next to her alleged attacker, ultimately leading to an arrest roughly 40 years later.

The woman says her mother and aunt liked to party and often left her in the care of her aunt's boyfriend Donald Truluck, sometimes for days on end. The Associated Press is not identifying the woman because she is an alleged victim of sexual abuse.

Thanks a lot, Mom! That's the kind of selfish mothering no child needs.

She says that from the age of 6 to 12-years-old Truluck plied her with gifts and drugs and repeatedly raped her. The two eventually lost contact and she dropped out of high school at the age of 16 and got married a year later. But the woman and her husband ended up moving into a mobile home on Truluck's property more than a decade ago. She had an uneasy feeling and eventually the memories returned. The 46-year-old alleged victim filed a report with local authorities in June.

She also confronted Truluck. According to an arrest report from the Alachua County Sheriff's Office, Truluck admitted it during a phone call with the alleged victim that authorities were recording, in which he said he knows he is "going to hell" for what he did.

Truluck, 66, has pleaded not guilty and is being held on $250,000. The statute of limitations does not apply in this case.

"It is unusual to prosecute someone for such an old allegation — not because the allegation is not serious, but because the passage of times erodes the accused's ability to get a fair trial: witnesses become unavailable, evidence disappears, memories fade or become altered," attorney Evelyn Sapp told the Gainesville Sun in an email statement. "In the case of Donald Truluck, he faces charges for allegations of events that happened about 40 years ago. Mr. Truluck disputes the allegations and looks forward to mounting his defense."

The alleged victim said she decided to come forward to encourage other child sex abuse victims to do the same.

"I should have been a whistleblower as a child and I didn't know how. When I was faced with threats, I didn't know what to do. I was a kid. He would say, 'If you tell we're in big trouble.' We're in trouble, not 'I'm in trouble.'"

When the alleged victim moved onto Truluck's property with her husband several years ago, she said she saw him every day, often taking care of him because he was sick.

"I remembered him but as far as the traumatic events, I buried it all. Once we got back in contact and we lived there, I didn't want to be alone with him. I knew that," she said. "I remembered nothing and then probably about six years ago, I started having flashbacks, images. I had to go seek therapy and during that is when everything came to light. After years of working on it, it all came up."

After confronting Truluck, the alleged victim says the family moved out almost immediately, and still owed money on the mobile home and now had to pay rent at a new place.

"I just want the community to know that if there is somebody who is afraid to come forward, don't be afraid. The police are there to help us and we just have to trust them to do their job, and that's what they did for me," she said.

New Report Shows Child Sexual Abuse Costs Florida $1 Billion a Year

A new report focusing on the economic and fiscal impact of child sexual abuse in Florida, compiled by the nonprofit organization Lauren's Kids, will be released to Florida legislators Wednesday.

Among the key findings:

Lauren Book
Lauren's Kids

▪  One in three girls and one and five boys will become a victim of child abuse in Florida before they turn 18.

▪ On average, each victim of child sexual abuse loses $250,000 in earnings throughout his or her lifetime because of the abuse.

▪ Fifty percent of victims have below-average grades.

▪ Child sexual abuse ends up costing Florida about $1 billion a year.

Lauren Book, who founded the organization in 2007, said the ‘‘White Paper’’ report, which took about four months to compile, is meant to show the true cost of child sexual abuse — both the financial and human impact.

“When you look at the true cost to our state, it’s huge,” she said. “The numbers are staggering.”

Book said 95 percent of childhood abuse cases can be prevented through education and awareness.

When Book, now 30, was 11, she was sexually abused over a period of about eight years by her nanny. She formed Lauren’s Kids to help sexual abuse victims. Through the organization, she developed educational and national awareness campaigns, including the annual Walk in My Shoes event, which kicks off March 14.

The 1,500-mile walk begins in Key West and ends April 22, 42 days later in Tallahassee. The 42-day journey is meant to raise awareness of the 42 million survivors of child sex abuse.

“It’s about using our collective voice,” she said. “It’s a huge accomplishment. We all want to take a stand to protect a child.”

For more information on the walk visit Laurenskids.org/Walk.

Another great way to take a stand for kids is to pray for them. See my 3:15 PM prayer model, or pray as God leads you, but pray; it makes a difference.

Christian School Teacher Sentenced to 210 Years in Federal Prison for CSA

Warner Christian Academy, south Daytona Beach, Florida

A Daytona Beach Christian School Teacher has been sentenced to 210 years in federal prison for sexually abusing 29 children in his care. The ex-wife of the former Warner Christian Academy (south Daytona Beach, Florida) teacher maintained a list of suspicious incidents starting more than a decade ago between her husband and children, according to police reports released Friday.

Matthew Graziotti, who had refused to speak with investigators, was a skilled sexual predator who used his position as a schoolteacher, summer camp director and church volunteer to get close to children, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Gable, who prosecuted the 43-year-old.

Graziotti was given a hefty prison sentence by U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton Jr. on Jan. 26 before a courtroom packed with angry adults, including Graziotti’s former wife who sent up the first red flags about Graziotti.

Matthew Grazziotti

Edgewater police began looking into Graziotti in May 2004 when Susan Little of Edgewater Public School contacted police and asked if Graziotti was being investigated, according to a report. Former police detective Dan Blazi contacted Tim McCardel, the pastor at Friendship Community Church where Graziotti was listed as a youth minister, and asked if the pastor was aware of any criminal investigation into his youth minister, reports show.

McCardel said he was not aware of anything, but less than a week later, he contacted Blazi about information from Jenny Graziotti, who was in the process of separating from Matthew Graziotti.

McCardel also said he asked Matthew Graziotti to leave the church because his contact with a juvenile “went beyond the normal parameters established for mentors,” according to the report.

From 2002 to 2004, Jenny Graziotti made a list of behavior between her then-husband and children that concerned her. In a note written July 22, 2003, she said “[Redacted] came to spend the night. I went to bed and Matt was on the couch watching T.V. with all the lights off. Something kept telling me to get out of bed. So I did and Matt was lying in bed with [redacted] (both of them were in their [redacted] rubbing [redacted] belly.”

When Blazi spoke with Little again, she said the Department of Children & Families had refused to take a report because of a lack of information, according to a report. Blazi contacted Steve Hoinaki, a supervisor of investigations at DCF, who said “the children alleged to be involved were in no immediate danger” since Matthew Graziotti was no longer working as a youth minister and no longer was a mentor at Edgewater Public School. A report was taken after Blazi provided the new information from McCardel.

As Edgewater police investigated the allegations, they encountered children who appeared uncomfortable when asked questions about Graziotti, but they did not disclose any inappropriate behavior on his part. Most parents also refused to allow a forensic interviewer at the Children’s Advocacy Center to talk to their children, the report shows.

Graziotti initially agreed to speak with detectives but then hired Armistead W. Ellis as his lawyer and refused to be interviewed by police or submit to a voice stress test. Ellis hired his own polygraph examiner who found Graziotti was not deceptive.

Ellis sent a letter on June 28, 2004, to police saying that Graziotti had been falsely accused of “having improper and inappropriate contact with minor children in his care” due to his pending divorce. The letter said Graziotti was “a decent Christian man, who devoted his life to working with children.” No, he was an indecent, un-Christian man who devoted his life to preying on children instead of praying for them.

Warner Christian Academy

Blazi, who has since retired from the police department and today is a city councilman, closed the report as inactive pending further leads.

“… I was unable to make a determination that this case was either founded, or unfounded in regards to criminal fact finding,” Blazi wrote. “I was also unable to eliminate Matthew Graziotti as a potential suspect.”

Blazi also wrote: “There are still unanswered questions in this case due to the lack of cooperation on the part of the parents of the involved juveniles, to have forensic child interviews conducted.”

That would not be the case in 2014 when the FBI searched Graziotti’s home and found on his computer a folder titled “personally known” with 41 sub-folders with boys’ names. A forensic examiner found a folder with 8,761 images, many of which depicted the “sexual abuse and exploitation of prepubescent males,” according to the criminal complaint against Graziotti.

Graziotti sexually abused 29 children under the age of 12 with some as young as 6, prosecutor Gable said at his sentencing. Yet there were 41 sub-folders in his "personally known" file. One would think there should be 41 victims. But then, sometimes I'm just too logical.

Graziotti is serving his sentence at the United States Penitentiary in Tucson, Arizona.