Some Real Sick Men on Today's USA PnP List

Jury Recommends 6 Life Sentences For Tulsa Man Found Guilty Of Child Sex Abuse

BY: NEWSON6.COM

TULSA, Oklahoma - A jury recommends a Tulsa man serve six life sentences for sexually abusing a young relative.

The girl told investigators Anthony Henson would show her pornography and then perform sex acts together.

The jury also convicted him of physically abusing her. He will be sentenced in August.

Jury finds Idaho man guilty of child sexual abuse of 9 y/o girl

In the courtroom

By JOHNATHAN HOGAN

jhogan@postregister.com

A jury on Friday found an Idaho Falls man guilty of child sexual abuse after deliberating for two-and-a-half hours following a three-day trial. 

Mario Cervantes Hernandez, 45, was arrested in December after his interactions with a 9-year-old girl raised concerns with her mother. He was charged with child sexual abuse by causing or having sexual contact with a minor under 16 years of age.

The mother found text messages on her daughter’s phone from September in which Hernandez asked the victim to take pictures of herself after taking a shower.

The 9-old-girl would spend time at Hernandez’s house playing with his daughters, the oldest of whom was 3. Many of her interactions with Hernandez included him hugging her from behind, buying her gifts and clothing and kissing her. In text messages he referred to her as his “girlfriend.”

Hernandez admitted to an Idaho Falls Police Department detective to sending the messages found on the girl’s phone and to all of the touching alleged by the victim, except an accusation that he pinched her breasts.

Thomas Tueller, the owner of Tueller Counseling Services who works with victims of child sexual abuse, testified about the steps involved when a child is groomed for sex, including identifying a victim, building trust, playing a role in his or her life, isolating them from others, establishing a secret relationship, making sexual contact and maintaining control.

Other witnesses included the victim, her mother and Hernandez’s ex-girlfriend.

Defense Attorney Jordan Crane asked if some of the steps, such as building trust and playing a role in a child’s life, might be innocent interactions, to which Tueller agreed.

The prosecution wrapped up its case around 3 p.m. Thursday. The defense did not call any witnesses. 

Both sides gave closing arguments Friday morning.

Bonneville County Chief Deputy Prosecutor John Dewey pointed out how many of Hernandez’s interactions with the victim met the steps of grooming a child. He asked the jury to recall the victim’s testimony.

“(The victim’s) testimony was that Mario would hug her from behind, that this happened lots of times, that the hugs started out more normal and that they got worse and worse,” Dewey said.

He also reminded the jury of testimony that Hernandez would kiss her roughly on the mouth, snapped her bra from behind and that he got into her bed, hugged her and left. Dewey said they should consider the recording of Hernandez’s interview with the detective, in which he admitted to this behavior.

“Why is it that no other adult sees these acts, these particular acts that (the victim) is telling you escalated to the point where they were inappropriate and sexual?” Dewey asked.

Dewey also pointed to a text conversation that took place after Hernandez had not had contact with the victim for awhile. Hernandez asked if anyone was telling her not to talk to him. When she said no, Hernandez told her they have a “special” relationship.

During his closing argument, Crane argued the case amounted to the words “could be,” the words used by Tueller when Dewey asked about grooming.

“You know what ‘could be,’ equals? Reasonable doubt,” Crane said.

Crane said the victim was led on by her mother and the police to see the interactions as abuse. He said that while his client’s actions may have crossed the lines of inappropriate, it did not amount to having sexual intentions, pointing to Hernandez’s girlfriend’s testimony that the hugging seemed normal.

Dewey gave a rebuttal to Crane’s arguments by bringing back the steps Tueller had offered in testimony. Dewey acknowledged behavior under some steps, especially building trust and establishing a relationship, could be innocent, but there was no explanation for establishing a secret relationship and isolating the victim, or for making sexual contact.

“This is not him being nice, this is not him not rejecting a child, this is him seeking a relationship with the child,” Dewey said.

The jury came back with a guilty verdict just before noon Friday.

Hernandez is scheduled to be sentenced at 10 a.m. Aug. 20 in Bonneville County Courthouse. Child sexual abuse by causing or having sexual contact with a minor under 16 years of age is punishable with up to 25 years in prison.

Larry Nassar charged with sex assault in Texas

Associated Press 

Dallas – Disgraced ex-sports doctor Larry Nassar and a former trainer were charged with sexual assault on Friday following an investigation involving an elite gymnastics center in Texas.

A grand jury indicted Nassar on six counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child, while a former trainer, Debbie Van Horn, was indicted on one count, Walker County prosecutor Stephanie Stroud said during a news conference in Huntsville. Details of the alleged assaults weren’t immediately released.

Nassar is already serving decades in prison for sexual assault and child pornography possession in Michigan, where hundreds of women and girls accused him of sexually abusing them under the guise of medical treatment. They said the abuse stemmed back decades, including while he worked for USA Gymnastics, which is responsible for training Olympic gymnasts, and Michigan State University.

The new charges stem from an investigation at the famed gymnastics training center just outside Huntsville that was run by former national women’s gymnastics team coordinators Bela and Martha Karolyi. Five former gymnasts implored authorities last month to determine whether the Karolyis could have prevented abuse at their facility. Two gymnasts said Nassar abused them there.

Stroud said Friday that no charges were filed against the Karolyis, who have denied knowledge of any mistreatment at their since-closed facility about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of Houston.

“Bela and Marta Karolyi were interviewed at length. The Karolyis were and remain fully cooperative with this investigation. There is no corroborated evidence of any criminal conduct” by the couple, Stroud said.

But, she added: “It’s our belief that there was a total failure by (USA Gymnastics) to protect athletes.”

The Karolyis are suing the U.S. Olympic Committee and with USA Gymnastics, seeking damages for the canceled sale of their training center – a transaction that tanked in the wake of the Nassar sex-abuse cases. They’re seeking more than $1 million in damages.

Several former gymnasts have filed lawsuits as well. One of them, Sabrina Vega, said in a lawsuit in May that USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic Committee and the Karolyis failed to protect her and other athletes.

Vega, who was on the team that won a gold medal at the 2011 World Championships, alleges the organizations along with the Karolyis ignored signs about Nassar’s behavior or should have known he posed a risk to the gymnasts he treated.

Vega alleges that during medical treatments, Nassar molested her hundreds of times from 2008, when she was 12 years old, until 2012, during competitions and while she trained at the Karolyi ranch.

Texas’ governor ordered an investigation into what he called “gut-wrenching” allegations after the gymnasts came forward in Texas. The Texas Rangers are leading the ongoing investigation, which also includes Walker County prosecutors and sheriff’s officials.

Walker County District Attorney David Weeks said he wants to bring Nassar to Texas to face the charges. Nassar is currently housed at a federal prison in Arizona.

“There are a number of hoops we have to jump through to get him here,” Weeks said during Friday’s news conference.

Congress passed a bill in January that makes members of amateur sports organizations, including those that run Olympic sports, mandatory reporters of sexual abuse. It also requires the organizations to implement standard protections for athletes.

Sicko indicted in sex assault of 5-year-old Brooklyn girl after he posed as doctor to examine her 'private part'

By CHRISTINA CARREGA

| NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |

  

A Brooklyn grand jury has indicted a perv who pretended to be a doctor to lure a little girl into a basement stairwell and molest her, according to court documents.

Abraham Samotin, who was arrested May 17 in the sexual assault of the 5-year-old girl, pleaded not guilty on Friday.

Although he verified his image in surveillance photographs with the child, he claimed he was not hurting her, authorities said.

“I saw her and thought she needed help,” Samotin told police. “I walked across the street and told her that I am a doctor and wanted to check her for bruises or if she was bleeding from her private part.”

Samotin, 27, said he was concerned the girl was the victim of abuse and walked with her to the basement stairwell outside of her Crown Heights home on May 16, according to his statements.

“I kissed her on her cheek and stomach to calm her down,” said the sicko, who denied kissing her anywhere else after moving her underwear to the side during his “examination.”

Samotin said he heard the child screaming as he walked away from the building and “started to run because I thought something bad happened.”

Officials released Samotin’s photograph after his arrest in the event other children have been assaulted.

The career criminal, who has two other pending cases on burglary and theft charges, faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted on the top charge of committing a first-degree criminal sex act. He’s also charged with sexual abuse in the first and second degrees, sexual misconduct, endangering the welfare of a child and harassment.

Samotin was remanded at his arraignment Friday afternoon.

Alabama Man Charged With Sexual Abuse Of Children

By Michael Seale, Patch Staff

BIRMINGHAM, AL - The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office has charged a 34-year-old Pinson man with sexual abuse of two young girls.

On June 25, the Sheriffs Office received a report that two children had been sexually abused by an adult male. The case was investigated by the Sheriff's Youth Services Division, and determined the abuse occurred over a two year period.

A search warrant was executed at the suspect's home on June 26. He was taken into custody and questioned by detectives. During questioning, he admitted to abusing the children.

The suspect, identified as Thomas Whitlock of Pinson, was arrested and taken to the Jefferson County Jail. Detectives obtained arrest warrants formally charging him with two counts of Sexual Abuse of a Child Less than 12 Years Old, Sexual Abuse 1st Degree, and Sodomy 1stDegree. He remains in the Jefferson County Jail with bond set at $150,000.

Convicted Alabama sex offender indicted on
child sex abuse charges

By Carol Robinson crobinson@al.com

A 56-year-old convicted sex offender is facing three new felony charges for a similar crime, this time involving a child.

Howard Jonathan McCaa, who lives in Tuscaloosa County, has been indicted by a grand jury. He is charged with three counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12.

According to the indictment, which was made public Friday, the incidents happened on Feb. 10, Feb. 11 and Feb. 12. The victim was the same in all three incidents and records state he subjected the child to sexual contact. Additional details were not made available.

McCaa was booked into the Tuscaloosa County Jail on Feb. 15 and remains behind bars.

He was convicted in 1991 of first-degree sex abuse of a 30-year-old woman and received a three-year suspended sentence. He has been charged multiple times since for violation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

New Jersey Teacher Sentenced for Distributing Child Sexual Abuse Materials

A former Keansburg middle school teacher has been sentenced to a 3-year prison term for distributing child sexual abuse materials, announced Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.

Marc S. Marinoff, 31, of Pear Drive in Marlboro, previously pleaded guilty to one count of second degree Endangering the Welfare of a Child involving the Distribution of Child Pornography on April 9, 2018. Today, Marinoff was sentenced to a 3-year state prison term and will be subject to the provisions of Megan’s Law upon his release from prison. Marinoff is also permanently banned from holding any public employment in New Jersey and has forfeited his current public post as a school teacher.  The sentence was handed down by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Ellen Torregrossa-O’Connor.

Marinoff was arrested last year after detectives from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office conducted a search of his home and various personal electronic devices were seized and examined, revealing child sexual abuse items had been possessed and distributed. A forensic examination of the devices disclosed that Marinoff distributed videos depicting the sexual abuse of children via a peer-to-peer file-sharing program – an online connection of computers allowing the sharing of files directly between individual users. Marinoff was a teacher at the Joseph R. Bolger Middle School in Keansburg.

The case was prosecuted by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Margaret Koping.

Long Island man sentenced to 14 years in prison

for child sex abuse

By Zachary R. Dowdy
zachary.dowdy@newsday.com

A Northport, NY man who was convicted of sexually assaulting a young male relative at least four times over seven years was sentenced to 14 years in prison Thursday, officials said.

Jalal Abodalo, 57, was sentenced by acting Supreme Court Justice Patricia Harrington one year after he was found guilty in June 2017 of first-degree sexual conduct against a child, according to Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas.

“This defendant used his relationship with a child and his family to repeatedly and brazenly abuse a child over a seven-year period,” Singas said in a news release. “A brave young survivor stood up to the defendant, who betrayed his trust and subjected him to both physical and emotional abuse by threatening the victim’s mother if the survivor reported Abodalo’s actions. The defendant is being held accountable because of the courage of this young, heroic man.”

But Abodalo’s attorney, Michael Alber of Commack, said he has already filed a notice of appeal.

“We’re disappointed in the jury’s verdict,” he said. “We thought that based upon the evidence in the case that the complaining witness was not credible. We genuinely believe in his innocence and have every intention of going forward on the appeal and exposing the lies and fabrications.”

Prosecutors said the assaults occurred in Nassau County between April 1999 and March 2006, when the victim was between 3 and 10 years old. Officials said that the victim was told multiple times by Abodalo to keep the abuse secret or his mother would "get hurt."

But the boy told his parents in February 2009, prosecutors said.

Abodalo was previously sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting his nephew, the DA says.

Former Hanna Boys Center clinical director takes plea deal in sex abuse case in CA

MARY CALLAHAN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT 

Former Hanna Boys Center clinical director Kevin Scott Thorpe pleaded no contest Friday to child sex assault charges in a plea deal that will avert a trial in perhaps Sonoma County’s highest-profile sex abuse case in recent memory.

Thorpe, 40, earned a 21-year state prison term with his plea, though he would be eligible for release in less than 17 years, prosecutors said. He had previously pleaded not guilty.

He will be required to permanently register as a sex offender upon any release. He also will be subject to consideration for civil commitment as a sexually violent predator if he is determined to be too dangerous to return to the general population, prosecutors said.

As a caseworker and then clinical director of the 73-year-old center for at-risk youth in Sonoma Valley, Thorpe had close contact with scores of vulnerable adolescent and teenage boys in his care, including three of the four victims in the criminal case.

A married father of two young girls, he knew the fourth victim outside of work. Separately, the state residential care licensing board that oversees the Hanna Boys Center accused Thorpe of molesting at least seven clients at the residential facility and school, which is affiliated with Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa.

The center earlier this year avoided a potential state shutdown that stemmed in part from the scandal, which included a whistleblower case brought by Thorpe’s predecessor at Hanna, Tim Norman.

Earlier this month, a Sonoma County jury awarded Norman $1.1 million dollars, finding he was wrongly terminated for speaking up about bullying, drug use and other unaddressed concerns at the home for troubled boys.

Two of the victims in the criminal case against Thorpe are brothers who also are plaintiffs in a civil case against him, the boys center and the Santa Rosa Diocese.

Prosecutors say the abuse against them began in 2007, when they were 14 and 15, and continued until 2011 and 2010, respectively.

During testimony at a May preliminary hearing in the criminal case, the victims detailed early encounters in Thorpe’s office in which he gave them pornography and talked about sex, eventually escalating his encounters to masturbation and finally incidents of oral sex in his office and elsewhere.

The victims said they submitted to the abuse because they believed Thorpe controlled their future at a facility that supplied food, care and structure they lacked in their family lives.

With his ruling Friday accepting the plea deal, Judge Dana Simons declared Thorpe guilty on five counts of unlawful oral copulation with a minor, five counts of unlawful copulation accomplished by duress, and one count of misdemeanor child molestation.

Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch said the plea agreement negotiated through her office ensures Thorpe will be behind bars “for a considerable period of time” while sparing his young victims the trauma of testifying in the case.

Ravitch said the resolution also eliminates risks related to putting the case before a jury, given the complex relationship between a sex abuser of children and his victims.

“One of the challenges a prosecutor has is explaining to a jury why this conduct occurs repeatedly, why it isn’t reported immediately and why there is no evidence of physical force,” she said. “It’s emotional force that’s being used, by nature of the relationship, and it is a difficult case to explain to a jury.”

Yet, it happens all the time, everywhere. It should be easy enough to find examples of lawyers or experts who can articulate the issues.

Nassar Sentenced, Lots of Very Young Victims on Today's USA PnP List

'I Just Signed Your Death Warrant': US Olympic Doctor Nassar Sentenced to 175yrs in Prison

Disgraced former US gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar has been sentenced to 175 years in prison for the sexual abuse of some 98 Olympic athletes, the majority of whom were children at the time of his crimes.

Nassar was the doctor for the US gymnastics team for 20 years. He faced lawsuits from 140 women accusing him of sexual abuse during this time. US Olympic gold medalist McKayla Maroney was among Nassar’s victims and had called for the maximum sentence possible.

"I just signed your death warrant," Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina told Nassar in imposing the penalty, after condemning his years of abuse.

“Sir you knew you had a problem, that is clear to me. You knew you had a problem from a very young age, even before you were a doctor. You knew you could have taken yourself away from temptation,” Aquilina said during the sentencing on Wednesday.

“Your decision to assault was precise, calculated... and despicable,” the judge added. “You do not deserve to walk outside of a prison ever again… Everywhere you walk, destruction will occur to those most vulnerable.”

Nassar was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison, and up to 175. He has 21 days to appeal the verdict.

The court heard testimony from more than 160 of his victims, including non-athletes who were also abused by the disgraced doctor.

Last week, a victim impact statement by Kyle Stephens, who was abused by Nassar between the ages of 6 and 12, described how the doctor abused her under the guise of medical treatment. Stephens said that the abuse led her father to commit suicide.

“Little girls don’t stay little forever,” she told the Michigan court. “They grow into strong women that return to destroy your world. Sexual abuse is so much more than a disturbing physical act. It changes the trajectory of a victim’s life, and that is something that nobody has a right to do.”

Nassar, 54, pleaded guilty in November to seven counts of first-degree sex assault. He is already serving a 60-year sentence for child pornography convictions.

The former team doctor apologized to his victims, saying, "I will carry your words with me for the rest of my days."

However, the judge dismissed his remarks as insincere and read out a letter in which he claimed he was compelled and “manipulated” into pleading guilty. The courtroom audibly gasped as she read his letter aloud. She offered Nasser to change his plea, which he declined.

Report on Idaho State Rep. Hixon's Suicide

details alleged child sexual abuse

by EMILY LOWE elowe@idahopress.com  

Former State Representative, Brandon Hixon, who died by suicide earlier this month (2nd story on link), was accused of sexually abusing two young girls, according to documents on the criminal investigation released by the Idaho Attorney General’s Office.

Hundreds of pages of documents reveal new details on the criminal investigation that was announced in Oct. 2017. The documents include multiple witness testimonies and reveal the abuse that two girls say they experienced included inappropriate touching and sex. Documents also reveal concerns that Hixon was a harm to himself prior to him committing suicide earlier this month.

According to police and investigative reports, two girls accused Hixon, 36, of sexual abuse. The alleged abuse reportedly went on for years, even while Hixon was in office.

A Caldwell Police report taken in October 2017 states one girl claims Hixon began abusing her when she was four or five years old and that the abuse didn’t end until the summer of 2017. According to an investigative report from the Attorney General’s Office, the girl said after Hixon would touch her he’d threaten to hurt her little brother if she told anyone.

In a Boise Police report documenting the same incident, the girl said the abuse occurred so often she could not give an exact number of times the abuse happened.

Another girl accused Hixon of sexual abuse in 2016, according to an investigative report from the Attorney General’s Office taken on Jan. 4, 2018. This girl, now a preteen, claimed Hixon first began touching her when she was in kindergarten. An investigative report from Oct. 2017 claims the girl used to enjoy going to Hixon’s house but that her feelings changed drastically overnight. The girl, who according to the report wanted to visit frequently, went out of her way and changed routes to avoid Hixon’s house.

In August 2017, Hixon asked his ex-wife, Danielle Eirvin Hixon, to meet him at a gas station. According to a Caldwell Police report she recorded the conversation and turned it over to the Caldwell Police and thought Hixon was likely offering her $2,500 to keep quiet about what she knew. The report states Hixon told his ex-wife that she can’t speak to detectives in the case stating to tell the detectives she never saw one of the girls who alleged abuse sitting on his lap. The report says Hixon told her,”You were the only one that saw (the girl) on my lap … But I didn’t even do anything (expletives) wrong at that point.” During the conversation he also mentioned his lawyer said talking to her, a witness, would be a felony.

In an interview with a family member an investigative report reveals the family member heard Hixon admitted to molesting the two girls. But according to other reports, other family members never confirmed if this was true.

Rebecca Drnjevic, Hixon's mother, stressed in her interview with police that her son never admitted to those acts, but did apologize for any trouble the accusations might cause the family.

Drnjevic said told police she thinks he may have been abused as a child according to rumors, but he never admitted it, according to a Caldwell Police report taken in October 2017.

“If Brandon had been abused as a child that was no excuse for him to do this to anyone,” she said in the interview with police in 2017.

Vermont man sentenced for child sexual abuse

          

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. (WCAX) A Middlebury jury has convicted a Rutland man of lewd conduct with a child and possession of child porn.

Authorities say Jason Harold Dukette, 38, is set to be sentenced in March following the four-day jury trial which ended in a conviction on Tuesday.

Officials say the police and state DCF initially received a report about possible sexual abuse of the victim back in September of 2015 and launched an investigation.

Dukette remains free until his sentencing.

Vermont woman sentenced in child sex abuse case

          

BARRE, Vt, (WCAX) A Cabot woman is going to prison for one year for her part in allowing a 14-year-old child to be sexually abused.

The Times Argus reports that Bonnie Beede, 38, was sentenced Monday on charges of lewd and lascivious conduct and cruelty to a child.

Beede's boyfriend, Richard Danner, 31, is charged with committing the abuse and fathering a child. 

Police say the illegal behavior started when the victim was eight and led to the teen giving birth in a bathroom at the age of 14. Beede told police she had witnessed Danner sexually assaulting the girl but didn't do anything to stop it.

Danner pleaded not guilty to the charges in September and is set to go on trial in the coming months.

Texas man indicted on charge of continuous

sexual abuse of young child

By Whitney Mayfield

SMITH COUNTY, TX (KLTV) -

Dakota Wilson, 34,  faces up to life in prison on allegations he sexually assaulted a girl under the age of 6.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, the girl made an outcry at a daycare, saying Wilson had sexually assaulted her.

According to the affidavit, Wilson admitted to the allegations on Nov. 1.

A Smith County Sheriff’s Office detective obtained a warrant for Wilson’s arrest on Nov. 2 2017 and he was arrested the same day.

Wilson is being held in the Smith County Jail on a $750,000 bail.

Both sides rest in Texas child sex abuse/incest trial

By Field Walsh 

The state and defense rested late Tuesday in the trial of a Texarkana man accused of molesting two girls to whom he is related.

Michael Lee Sweeten, 53, is accused of abusing one alleged victim, now 19, in 2003 and 2004, and of abusing her younger sister, now 15, in 2015. Sweeten took the stand Tuesday and denied the allegations.

Sweeten testified under direct examination by his attorney, Jeff Harrelson of Texarkana, that he has been unable to perform sexually since 2002. Sweeten said he has had a stroke and developed severe breathing problems which led doctors to put him on steroids. Sweeten said the steroids caused him to gain about 200 pounds during a three-month period and that his weight has grown to more than 400 pounds. Sweeten is 5’9.

Sweeten gave graphic testimony concerning his physical limitations.

Sweeten testified that he is not very comfortable with children and was not left alone with his accusers as they claimed. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Kristian Robertson grilled Sweeten on cross examination.

Both alleged victims testified under questioning from Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell that Sweeten would make them sit in his lap in a recliner when the alleged abuse occurred. One of the girls alleged conduct that meets the legal definition of rape.

The younger of the two alleged victims was the first to make an outcry of sexual abuse in 2016. Her older sister came forward after learning that her sister had come forward, the girls testified.

The jury was given instructions by Circuit Judge Brent Haltom to return to the Miller County courthouse Wednesday morning to hear closing arguments. If the jury of six men and six women finds Sweeten guilty, the trial will enter a punishment phase.

If convicted of rape, Sweeten faces 25 to 40 years or life in prison. Each of the four counts of second-degree sexual assault is punishable by five to 20 years. If found guilty of any of the charges Sweeten will be required to register as a sex offender.

The trial is expected to conclude Wednesday.

Virginia Beach man with prior rape convictions sentenced for child sexual abuse

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Melvin Lee Worlds, 58, was sentenced Tuesday for charges of forcible sodomy, object sexual penetration and custodial indecent liberties.

I'm not sure what 'custodial indecent liberties' means exactly, but it sounds like he had children in his custody. Read the last paragraph in this story and explain to me why he was in custody of any children. 

A judge sentenced Worlds to 155 years in prison, with 120 years and six months suspended, leaving 34 years and six months to serve.

Worlds pleaded guilty on July 10, 2017.

According to the Commonwealth’s Attorney, between July 2003 and July 2005, Worlds sexually abused a child known to him. Between October 25, 2014 and October 24, 2014 (???), Worlds sexually abused another child known to him.

Between August 19 and August 20, 2016, Worlds sexually abused a third child known to him. The third incident was witnessed by a family member of the victim, who went with the victim to tell an older relative what happened.

When the family member confronted Worlds, he said “I just didn’t think,” “I don’t know” and “I was stupid, I was crazy.”

Worlds told police he didn’t remember the 2003 – 2005 incident but said “it could have happened.”

Worlds has an extensive record dating back to 1979.  His prior convictions include Rape, Unlawful Wounding, Petit Larceny (2 counts), Burglary,  Grand Larceny, Embezzlement, Trespassing (5 counts), Possession with Intent to Distribute Schedule I/II Drugs, Driving without a License, Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle and multiple probation violations.  ​

Oregon child sexual abuse suspect captured

KTVB

NYSSA, Oregon -- A convicted sex offender accused of abusing a 10-year-old girl in Oregon has been captured.

Nyssa Police thanked the community for the tips that helped officers track down 42-year-old Douglas Ray Villines.

Villines, who lived in a Nyssa RV park, is charged with attempted rape, sodomy, sexual penetration and sexual abuse. Investigators say his child victim was a relative.

Nyssa Police say their post asking for the public's help finding Villines was shared more than 650 times, reaching nearly 63,000 people.

"Thanks for all the tips, this coward has been captured!!!" the department posted after Villines' Tuesday arrest. "We shared your tips with Detective Perkins who diligently worked this case, he’s a good man. A family and our community can sleep more comfortably now that he is locked up and this case can go through the legal system."

If convicted of the charges, Villines could face decades behind bars.

Disturbing Stories of Child Sex Abuse of Children as Young as 2; Today's USA PnP List

USA Gymnastics leaders resign amid sex abuse scandal

Former doctor Larry Nassar faces another 40 to 125 years in prison

The Associated Press 

Three key leaders at USA Gymnastics resigned Monday as more women and girls told a judge about being sexually assaulted at the hands of a sports doctor who spent years with Olympic gymnasts and other female athletes.

The resignations of chairman Paul Parilla, vice chairman Jay Binder and treasurer Bitsy Kelley were announced in Indianapolis while a judge in Lansing, Mich., heard a fifth day of statements from women and girls who said they were molested by Larry Nassar.

Later Monday, USA Gymnastics suspended the coach of the 2012 Olympics team, John Geddert, who worked with Nassar at his gyms in Michigan.

"We support their decisions to resign at this time," said Kerry Perry, president and CEO of USA Gymnastics, which is the national governing body for gymnastics. "We believe this step will allow us to more effectively move forward in implementing change within our organization."

The board positions are volunteer and unpaid, but the resignations add to the months of turmoil. Steve Penny quit as president last March after critics said USA Gymnastics failed to protect gymnasts from abusive coaches and Nassar.

The group last week said it was ending its long relationship with the Karolyi Ranch, the Huntsville, Tex., home of former national team coordinator Martha Karolyi and her husband, Bela. Some Olympians said they were assaulted there by Nassar.

'Shame on you'

Meanwhile, in Michigan, Nassar's sentencing hearing continued Monday, raising the number of girls and women who have spoken to nearly 100 since last week.

"I want to you know that your face and the face of all of the sister survivor warriors — the whole army of you — I've heard your words," Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina said after a woman spoke in her Michigan courtroom. "Your sister survivors and you are going through incomprehensible lengths, emotions and soul-searching to put your words together, to publicly stop [the] defendant, to publicly stop predators, to make people listen."

Nassar, 54, has admitted molesting athletes during medical treatment when he was employed by Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics. He has already been sentenced to 60 years in prison for child pornography crimes.

Under a plea deal, he faces a minimum prison sentence of 25 to 40 years in the molestation case. The maximum term could be much higher.

"Larry, how many of us are there? Do you even know?" asked Clasina Syrboby, as she fought back tears while speaking for more than 20 minutes Monday. "You preyed on me, on us. You saw a way to take advantage of your position — the almighty and trusted gymnastics doctor. Shame on you Larry. Shame on you."

She and other victims also continued their criticism of Michigan State, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee for not doing enough to stop Nassar when initial complaints were made.

Pentagon and watchdog at odds over efforts to prevent sexual abuse of children by Afghan troops

Afghan Army soldiers collect Soviet-era tanks from a junkyard in Herat on Dec. 27 2017. (Rezayee/Epa-Efe/Rex/Shutterstock/Rezayee/Epa-Efe/Rex/Shutterstock)

By Dan Lamothe 

A government watchdog suggested that Congress might want to prohibit the Defense Department from spending money on Afghan military units whose members sexually abuse children or commit other human rights ­violations. But the Pentagon disagreed with that idea, saying such incidents must be weighed against U.S. national security interests.

The suggestion was made by the office of the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) in a previously classified report released Tuesday. It highlights the challenges the U.S. military faces in partnering with forces abroad that do not always adhere to the same codes of conduct. U.S. troops have long complained that some Afghan commanders sexually abuse boys.

Ninety-three members of Congress requested that SIGAR investigate the issue after a 2015 New York Times report alleged that sexual abuse of children was “rampant” in Afghan units, putting U.S. troops in emotionally charged and challenging situations. The review focused on the implementation of the Leahy law, which restricts the U.S. government from assisting a foreign security unit found to be in gross violation of human rights.

The law allows for exceptions when the defense secretary determines that continuing support to a problematic unit meets a national security concern. SIGAR suggested that Congress might want to eliminate that exception, and the Pentagon balked when it viewed a draft of SIGAR’s report.

“The draft report does not fully convey the unique and difficult challenges of implementing the Leahy law in Afghanistan consistent with both the U.S. commitment to human rights and U.S. national security objectives in Afghanistan,” Jedidiah Royal, a Pentagon official, wrote in a May 2017 response included in the report. “In particular, the draft report does not reflect an understanding of the challenges faced by U.S. forces in Afghanistan in developing and sustaining the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.”

No but it does address the difficulty in US Forces in Afghanistan maintaining some form of sanity while listening to the screams of boys being raped by gay monsters. Perhaps a number of those men now suffering from PTSD, might have been spared that diagnosis if the Pentagon had acted with even a little bit of integrity and concern for human rights. As it stands, the Pentagon is complicit in the brutal rapes of Afghan boys.

The Pentagon resisted when lawmakers asked SIGAR to launch the investigation, an aide to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), the namesake of the Leahy law, told The Washington Post in November. The Defense Department argued that SIGAR did not have the jurisdiction to examine the issue, even though SIGAR has routinely dissected U.S. work in Afghanistan, said the aide, Tim Rieser.

A Defense Department inspector general report released in November concluded that U.S. troops have been inadequately trained to report sexual abuse in Afghanistan for years. The Pentagon watchdog made several recommendations, including building a central database of gross violations of human rights, and noted that the Defense Department has historically decided to withhold funding over human rights violations in Afghanistan about once a year.

However, the Pentagon report did not suggest that Congress consider eliminating the defense secretary’s ability to make exceptions to the Leahy law on the basis of U.S. national security.

The SIGAR report states that data provided by the Pentagon showed that as of Aug. 12, 2016, the Defense Department was tracking 75 gross human rights violation allegations. Seven involved child sexual assault, 46 involved other human rights violations and 22 were classified secret and weren’t discussed in the report. U.S. officials found one child-sex allegation to be credible, with five others under review, and one was determined not credible.

Although the Defense and State departments have taken steps to identify and investigate child-sex abuse in Afghanistan, the full extent of the problem may never be known, SIGAR found.

The Defense Department called the SIGAR report “speculative and not well-substantiated,” pointing out that investigators “only interviewed 16 service members during this review.”

Herat

California airline pilot convicted of child sex trafficking

SACRAMENTO, CA – An airline pilot convicted of multiple child sex abuse charges after trying to purchase Filipino children from a computer in his parents’ home will be sentenced Tuesday.

The FBI said that Michael Carey Clemans, a 57-year-old Bangkok-based airline pilot from Sacramento, conspired with a woman in the Philippines to exploit children from her country.

“I want to be able to get my photos and arrange sex with the underage girls,” Clemans wrote to the woman in an online chat. “I do not want you or me to get into trouble, so we have to be very, very careful.”

Clemans and the woman exchanged many other disturbing online chats in 2014 and 2015, according to the FBI.

“That is the reason I mentioned orphanages or runaways or abandoned girls from the typhoons,” Clemans wrote. “I am looking for girls that are homeless that will not argue and will have no obligation but to have sex.”

Clemans also paid $6,000 to the woman to take nude photos of girls so he could decide which ones he would travel to the Philippines to rape, the Justice Department said.

Clemans has since been convicted of traveling to the Philippines to try to have sex with girls as young as seven, and of conspiring to buy children and produce child pornography.

The criminal complaint said the computer Clemans used to carry out the crimes was at his parents’ Sacramento home, where the FBI issued a search warrant for evidence. The court was also told that seized digital devices from his family home contained 27,469 images of child pornography.

Investigators found three of the children who posed for pornographic photos at Clemans’ direction, including one called “Angel.” At the time they were seven, nine and 10 years old. Prosecutors brought the three from the Philippines to Sacramento to testify at the trial.

Clemans now faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in prison on charges of “buying children” and a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The two Filipino women, Tandeg and Atad, were also arrested in November 2015. They were convicted and sentenced to 15-year prison terms.

Testimony begins in Texas child sexual abuse trial

Patrick Johnston, Times Record News 

It isn't a question of whether the victim was sexually assaulted by Juan Antonio Rodriguez, as she alleged in an outcry in 2014 at the age of 21.

Marty Cannedy, Rodriguez's attorney, told the nine male and three female jurors during opening arguments that the defense isn't contesting evidence that will show he is guilty of one count of sexual assault of a child.

The victim, who is about 11 years younger than Rodriguez, reportedly conceived a baby during one of the alleged incidents, according to opening statements made by Wichita County District Attorney Maureen Shelton and testimony by Detective Betty Dean of the Wichita Falls Police Department.

It is the two first-degree felony counts, Cannedy said, that he believe the evidence is insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.

Testimony began Tuesday in the trial of Rodriguez, 35, who is facing two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of sexual assault of a child – a second-degree felony.

If found guilty by the jury, he faces 5 to 99 years, or life, in prison on each of the first-degree felonies, and 2 to 20 years in prison for the lesser charge.

He is indicted on the two different offenses due to the victim's age at the time of the alleged incidents. The victim was believed to be around 7 or 8 years old when the reported abuse began and 15 when she got pregnant.

Rodriguez pleaded not guilty to all three counts as the indictment was read for the jury by Shelton Tuesday morning.

In her opening statements, Shelton said the alleged abuse started when the victim was in the second or third grade and living with several relatives and Rodriguez. Shelton said she believed testimony would show that Rodriguez took the victim out of her bedroom one night, covered her mouth with his hand and "he makes her his."

The abuse allegedly continued for several years until the victim became pregnant at 15. She gave birth to a daughter in July of 2009, at the age of 16. The victim would remain silent about the alleged abuse to most people until she finally made an outcry at the age of 21.

Since the victim was already an adult, Dean said she interviewed the victim personally at the vicitm’s residence rather than having her forensically interviewed at Patsy’s House Child Advocacy Center, which is preferred for victims under the age of 18.

While talking with Dean, the victim “fought back her tears” and found the allegations difficult to talk about, Dean said. “She was pretty upset for various reasons,” Dean testified. The victim was emotional that she was reporting it, that it had happened and because she was afraid she would lose her family for talking about the reported abuse, Dean said.

Dean testified that the family members she spoke to during her investigation seemed to already know about the reported abuse and that Rodriguez was the father of the victim’s baby.

“Despite the abuse, she said she loved [Rodriguez] and didn’t want to get him in trouble,” Dean said.

Dean told the jurors of the process she went through to get an evidentiary search warrant to collect DNA from Rodriguez, the girl and the child and how the evidence is gathered, stored and submitted for testing.

When the paternity test results came back from the lab in Dallas, Dean said she reviewed the report, which showed he was the father of the child, and prepared an arrest warrant affidavit for Rodriguez’s arrest for sexual assault of a child.

Testimony is scheduled to resume in the 89th District Court at 12:30 p.m.

'Twisted old man' marries sex abuse victim

By: Brent Weisberg 

HILLSBORO, Ore. (KOIN) – A man who married an 18-year-old Oregon woman in Vermont after he spent years sexually grooming her as a minor and then sexually abused her for 2 years will spend the next 12 years in prison. 

John Hart, a Vermont resident, is now 57-year-old. 

In March 2017, a Washington County grand jury handed down a 7-count indictment charging Hart with one count of luring a minor, four counts of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct and two counts of second-degree sexual abuse. 

Hart took a plea deal on December 22, 2017 and pled guilty to one count each of luring a minor and second-degree sexual abuse. He also pled guilty to two counts of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct. 

As part of his plea agreement with the Washington County District Attorney’s Office, Hart will spend the next 12 years in prison and be ordered to register as a sex offender once he is released. The plea agreement also guarantees Hart that federal prosecutors in Oregon will not pursue a case against him, something that had been widely discussed. 

The investigation started in March 2016 when the victim was interviewed by law enforcement in Vermont assigned to a multi-agency task force that investigates sexual assault, other serious sexual offenses and serious child abuse and neglect.

According to a federal search warrant prepared by Seth Fiore, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the victim told investigators that she met Hart while playing an online video game. 

Washington County Chief Deputy District Attorney Kevin Barton called Hart’s behavior “every parent’s worst nightmare.” The victim in the case was 15-year-old at the time and was living in Oregon. Hart was 49-years-old at the time when he first met the victim.

Investigators learned that Hart and the girl communicated online. Eventually, that progressed and Hart gave the girl a “secret phone,” according to Barton.

After the girl turned 16 years old, Hart flew from Vermont to Oregon every few months to see the girl, until she turned 18. She told investigators that she would skip school to see Hart and they would have sex on numerous occasions. 

Hart recorded some of the sexual encounters on video without the girl’s knowledge or consent. 

Investigators learned that Hart returned to Oregon in March 2014 once the victim had turned 18. Together, they flew back to Vermont. On July 11, 2011, she and Hart got married at his home at 7 Wrisley St, Essex Junction in Vermont. The victim eventually divorced Hart in 2015.

Investigators learned that Hart and the victim shared a computer. When she started to look for a job, she asked him for some materials off the computer. Hart gave her a thumb drive. When the victim looked at the content, she discovered that there were videos of her and Hart having sex in Oregon when she was a minor. The victim turned the thumb drive over to law enforcement in Vermont who launched a criminal investigation. 

The video was reviewed by forensic investigators who determined some of the videos showed the victim performing sex acts when she was 16 years old. Law enforcement used Hart’s Vermont DMV photo to confirm that it was him depicted in the sex videos.

In March 2016, investigators were listening into a phone call between Hart and the victim. During the conversation that lasted about 40 minutes, Hart made potentially incriminating statements.

The victim was a former Aloha High School student. According to court records, when Hart flew into Oregon, he would rent a car and pick the victim up from either the high school or a nearby bus stop. Sometimes, Hart would bring the teen a gift. He would then bring her to his hotel room where he had spread flower petals on the hotel bed or floor.

Investigators learned that Hart had been a longtime employee with the University of Vermont. During the search of Hart’s home, investigators found eight computer towers, two hard drives, two cell phones, six photos of a nude child, one 8mm VHS tape, eight .308 caliber rounds of ammunition, an En Bloc Clip, two micro SD cars, two thumb drives, a high school ID car, one person photo, five notebooks  and one letter.

Hart reportedly called the victim his “kid wife” when she was a minor and before they were married. Hart also had the victim call him “daddy.” In Hart’s journal, he wrote about taking the girl out from school and not having school staff call with concern about her absence.

The victim, speaking to the court by phone, told the court that “this whole experience has been earth shattering as a person and as a woman and now a mother. I don’t want anybody else to ever go through anything like this,” she said. “I’m trying to piece myself back together from all of this.”

She told the court that “for a long time I blamed myself and even throughout the whole investigation, it’s taken me a long time to come to understand that it’s not me. It’s a twisted old man and I should not fine myself for that.”

Hart told the court that he was “deeply wrong” for what he did and called his actions “inexcusable. I understand that I’ve hurt her and I wish I could take it back,” Hart said. “It was a breach of trust. I hope my plea, which I feel is fair,…brings a sense of healing.”

Hart told the court that while in jail he has become sober. His criminal defense attorney told the court that Hart was raised by two alcoholic parents and that Hart was an alcoholic for 30 years.

Oregon man sentenced after child sex abuse conviction

Geoff Pursinger  

Hillsboro, Ore. - A Washington County judge has sentenced a Hillsboro man to 81 years in prison after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a 6-year-old child and 2-year-old toddler.

Kevin Wayne Randolph, 49, was convicted of numerous sex abuse charges late last year, and was sentenced this month by Washington County Circuit Court Judge Eric Butterfield.

According to prosecutors, Randolph abused two children within his family between 2006 and 2011. The abuse began when one of the victims was 6 years old and continued until the victim was 11.

That victim, now a teenager, reported the abuse to the Washington County Sheriff's Office in 2016 after learning that Randolph had begun caring for two other family members. The victim gave authorities a detailed account of the abuse, and told Sheriff's deputies they had walked in on Randolph abusing a second victim, a toddler, in 2006. According to court documents, the second victim did not have any memories of the abuse.

In November 2017, Randolph was convicted of three counts of first-degree sodomy, three counts of incest, three counts of first-degree sexual abuse and using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct.

At his sentencing, Jan. 12, Randolph's family provided the court with a written statement calling for the maximum sentence, according to the Washington County District Attorney's Office.

The statement "explained the effects of years of the defendant's abuse and the fear he instilled in his victims," and commended the first victim for stepping forward to talk about what happened.

"This case is another reminder that the victims of child sex crimes often wait to report past abuse," district attorney's office spokesman Andrew Freeman said in a news release. "Child sex abuse occurs at a time and place of the abuser's choosing, frequently when there are no other witnesses and physical evidence can be hidden or destroyed. Oregon law recognizes that often the only evidence of abuse is the testimony of the victim."

People wishing to report child sex abuse are asked to contact the Washington County Department of Human Services child abuse reporting hotline at 503-681-6917, or to call 911.

Man found guilty of kidnapping, sexual abuse of child

NICK HYTREK nhytrek@siouxcityjournal.com 

NEWTON, Iowa | An Ankeny, Iowa, man accused of trying to lure a child into his vehicle in Onawa, Iowa, has been found guilty of numerous crimes against children in Jasper County.

A Jasper County District Court jury on Friday found Jeff Altmayer, 58, guilty of first-degree kidnapping, second-degree sexual abuse and two counts of enticing a minor. Altmayer was convicted of offering two children $100 to get into his car in Colfax, Iowa, and help him with yard work at his house in Des Moines on Aug. 17, 2016. One of the children, a girl under age 13, got in his car, and Altmayer drove away and groped her while he was driving. She later got out of the car when he pulled over.

Altmayer is charged with three counts of enticing a minor and single counts of impersonating a public official, possession of a controlled substance and possession of a prescription drug without a prescription in Monona County, where he is accused of offering a 6-year-old girl $100 to get into his car on Nov. 16, 2016. Another child screamed and neighbors ran to confront Altmayer, who told them he was a police officer before speeding away.

Altmayer was arrested a short time later, and while being booked into the Monona County Jail, officers found a bottle containing Xanax and Viagra pills.

Altmayer waived his right to a speedy trial in September and no trial date is currently set.

He also faces charges of enticing a minor in Grundy County, where he is scheduled to stand trial on March 14.

Alabama man indicted on child sex abuse charges

By Rachel Davis, The North Jefferson News 

   
Wendell Guy Hogan, 48, of Pinson, was indicted recently on charges of sex abuse of a child less than 12 and first-degree sex abuse-sex contact compulsion.

Hogan was arrested on the charges on Nov. 1, 2017, but the grand jury delivered the indictment on Jan. 12.

According to court records, the charges stem from an alleged incident in early 2015 and was investigated by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. Because of the nature of the charges and the age of the alleged victim, no other information was available.

Jefferson County Jail records show that Hogan was arrested last year on a third-degree domestic violence charge and at least two violations of the protection order issued in the case.

The jail website also shows that Hogan had a $15,000 bond, but does not indicate which case that is related to.

He is currently listed as a pretrial inmate with no bond.

Rabbi accused of sexual abuse fired from Maryland school

Siobhan Garrett

A rabbi has been fired from a Pikesville school after a Jewish Week report raised sexual abuse allegations him.

Rabbi Shmuel Krawatsky worked at Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School and was terminated.

The school released a statement on its website:

I wish to inform you that as a result of the allegations detailed in yesterday’s Jewish Week article, Beth Tfiloh has terminated Rabbi Shmuel Krawatsky’s employment. Rabbi Krawatsky will not be on our premises, and will not have any contact with our students. This decision is in keeping with our school’s commitment to the safety and well-being of our students, which we consider to be paramount.

Initially, Zipora Schorr, Director of Education, released a statement in response to the article affirming the schools commitment to children and did not mention firing Rabbi Krawatsky. Days later he was terminated.

Schorr addressed this in her most recent statement:

 After carefully considering the information that had just come to light, we then determined that this was the appropriate and responsible action to take.

Prior to yesterday’s article, Beth Tfiloh was not privy to the scope of the allegations due to the fact that the case involved another organization, and the details were not shared with us by the investigating agencies. Given the specific details alleged in the article, the need for immediate and decisive action became clear.

If you have concerns that your child may have been a victim of abuse call Baltimore County Child Protective Services at 410-853-3000 or Baltimore County Police at 911.

Upstate NY man (18) charged with sex abuse,

child endangerment

By Evan Anstey, News 4 Digital Producer

BYRON, N.Y. (WIVB) — A Genesee County man is facing multiple charges related to unwanted sexual contact, New York State Police say.

Byron resident Anthony Miraglia, 18, was accused of unlawful imprisonment, forcible touching, endangering the welfare of a child and sexual abuse.

State Police believe there could be other victims. Anyone with relevant information can call Troopers at (585) 344-6200.

Upstate NY man (61) accused of sexually abusing child

By Observer-Dispatch

WHITESTOWN – A Whitestown man is facing a felony charge after he allegedly had sexual contact with a child, according to Oneida County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Joseph A. Lisi, director of the Oneida County Child Advocacy Center.

Sheriff’s Office investigators C.J. Paravati and M.D. Bolton, who are both assigned to the Child Advocacy Center, arrested Paul True, 61, for having sexual contact with a female child under the age of 13, deputies said.

True was charged with first-degree sexual abuse and was sent to Oneida County jail where he was subsequently released on bond, deputies said.

An order of protection was issued on behalf of the victim, deputies said, and is being offered counseling services through the child advocacy center.

Whitestown, NY