Minnesota Man Jailed in Death of Co-worker's 5-Year-Old Girl

Zachary Anderson and his victim Alayna Ertl

LITCHFIELD, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota man remained jailed Sunday on suspicion of first-degree murder and kidnapping in the death of a co-worker's 5-year-old daughter while investigators worked to determine what happened.

Zachary Todd Anderson, 26, of Monticello, was being held in the Crow Wing County Jail in the death of Alayna Ertl, whose mother discovered her missing from her home in the central Minnesota town of Watkins about 8 a.m. Saturday. She was last seen about 2 a.m. when she was put to bed.

Also missing was a pickup truck belonging to the girl's father, Matt Ertl, whose cellphone was still in the truck. It was pinged at 9 a.m. in Todd County before it was turned off, authorities said.

Alayna's disappearance led authorities to issue an Amber Alert. Her body was found nine hours later in a wooded area near Motley in Cass County, about 80 miles to the north. Authorities arrested Anderson and found the missing truck in the same county.

"Our suspect in this case is a family friend, co-worker of the victim's father, and was staying the night up in Watkins last night," Meeker County Sheriff Brian Cruze said Saturday night. "He had previously been to that residence and spent a night here and there — so he's not a stranger and not new to the residence, but was just there for the night."

Investigators have not disclosed how the girl died. Autopsy results were pending. Online court records available Saturday listed only minor traffic violations for Anderson, and it wasn't immediately clear if he had a lawyer who could comment on his behalf. He was not immediately charged.

"We have no known predatory sexual offender information on him or anything like that," Cruze said. "We have no known motive. We are at a loss as to why this happened at this time."

On Sunday, the sheriff's office was referring reporters to the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which had no immediate updates on the investigation.

The sheriff said Alayna's death was a blow to investigators.

"Obviously not the outcome that we wanted and when we did learn the information, the officers in the room, you could see ... it weighed heavy on them," Cruze said. "We tried everything we could today to find her safely and obviously that didn't happen. And we know that it doesn't compare to what the family's going through right now, but we felt we did everything we possibly could."

    Watkins, MN

A Few Brief But Hard Questions for All Us Christians

How much do we pray? Do we pray enough? Why do we pray?

According to Oswald Chambers, "prayer is perfect and complete oneness with God!"

Isn't that why we are here? Oneness with God? That's the very last thing Jesus prayed for before He was arrested, scourged and crucified.

John 17: 11,12,21,22
"I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.

"While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

"The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one;

So, if prayer is perfect and complete oneness with God, then we are completely in the will of God when we pray. We must be because we are completely in God.

So, what if we don't pray, or pray very little? Obviously we are not completely in the will of God.

Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians to pray without ceasing. What does that mean? Surely God doesn't expect us to be on our knees 24 hours a day; that's absurd. What I believe it means is to, as Brother Lawrence wrote, Practice the Presence of God. That means to keep a conscious awareness of His Presence at all times. Not so easy in this world where most of us have a very short attention span, but not only doable, but necessary.

Another question 

What is Satan's most effective modus operandi when it comes to Christians? 

It almost certainly is to keep us from prayer. When he keeps us from prayer it opens myriad doors for him to work, both in us and in those around us for whom we should be praying. Consequently, if we don't pray, or pray very little, who's will are we accomplishing? Satan's, of course.

The very least we can then say about ourselves when we pray little or not at all is that we are incomplete, ineffective Christians. The worst we can say about ourselves is that we are outright traitors to Jesus Christ, doing Satan's will more than His.

Please pray! Pray looking to know Jesus better rather than just asking for things. Intercede for others - it's loving them. Pray especially for the phenomenal amount of child sex abuse to stop.

Somewhere between 1 & 10 million child sex events will occur today.

 Annually, somewhere between 350 million and 3.5 billion child sex abuse events will occur involving about 35 million children. 

There are only a little over 2 billion children in the world! Please pray!

Afghan Father Sells 6-yo Daughter into Marriage for a Goat, Bag of Rice

A father from Afghanistan, barely making ends meet, sold his own daughter to a 55-year-old cleric for a goat and some food. Footage doing the rounds on the Internet shows the moment local women gave him a beating.

The father agreed to sell his six-year-old daughter Gharibgol to the 55-year-old imam, Seyed Abdolkarim, which runs counter the law in Afghanistan, which allows girls to marry from the age of 16 and boys from 18, according to France 24.

Abdolkarim was arrested when it had came to police knowledge that he had wed a girl who was sold to him for a goat, a bag of rice, tea, sugar, and cooking oil. The officers were pursuing the father after local women discovered what had happened and snapped at him.

The footage was taken by local journalist Fawad Ahmady for France 24.

The man explained he tried to take care of his family and at the same time wanted to get rid of another mouth he had to feed. Abdolkarim promised him that he wouldn’t have sexual intercourse with the girl until she turned 18 and that sealed the deal.

After the ceremony, the imam reportedly took his six-year-old wife to his relative’s house in Firozkoh, in Ghor province, without specifying their status. Thus the house owner at first thought that it was his daughter. However, some time later he noticed that Abdolkarim was undressing the girl before they slept.

A local women rights bureau for Ghor province was later notified.

Tests carried out at a local hospital at a hospital proved that the imam didn’t touch the girl, who is now in a safe place with her mother.

Thank God!

The bureau is planning to arrange a divorce and strip the father of his parental rights.

In 2010 a survey conducted by the Afghanistan Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (AMICS) showed that 46.4 percent of marriages in Afghanistan involve women under eighteen while 15.2 percent of surveyed women were married before the age of 15.

Sex-for-Drugs Sting Nabs Virginia Mayor on Meth Dealing Charges

Another American Mayor caught up in a scandal

Yesterday I posted a piece on the Mayor of Stockton, California who was arrested for involvement in a strip poker game with youth at a youth camp. Today, from the other side of the country...

Mayor of the City of Fairfax Richard 'Scott' Silverthorne. © Fairfax Country Police Department

The mayor of Fairfax, Virginia, has been arrested in an undercover sting during which he allegedly tried to arrange a drug deal with cops via a ‘sex’ website.

Fairfax County police created a fake profile on a website used to organize sexual encounters between men in an operation to catch a person suspected of dealing methamphetamine online.

After a string of text messages to and from the suspect, during which he allegedly promised to provide meth in exchange for sex, the Organized Crime and Narcotics team arrested Fairfax Mayor Richard ‘Scott’ Silverthorne.

Silverthorne holds the office of mayor of the City of Fairfax, an affluent area in the DC suburbs, and is in his third term. He has, according to the Fairfax government website, championed “quality of life issues” and worked to promote “a healthy lifestyle.” 

He was among a group of Virginian 'Mayors for Hillary' who endorsed Hillary Clinton's presidential election candidacy ahead of the state's primary in March.

The 50-year-old, who also served on the city council from 1990 to 2012, was arrested Thursday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Tysons Corner as he tried to deal “methamphetamine to the undercover detectives,” say police.

Silverthorne has been charged with “felony distribution of methamphetamine and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.”

Two other men, 34-year-old Juan Jose Fernandez and Caustin Lee McLaughlin, 21, both from Maryland, were later arrested on suspicion of supplying the hardcore drug. Police say McLaughlin was tasered as he resisted arrest, but there were no reported injuries in the altercation.

All three men were taken to Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.

A spokesperson for the City of Fairfax told RT.com that they had no comment regarding the arrest, but that a statement on the matter is expected.

    Fairfax, Virginia has a population of about 25,000.

900 Syrians Arrested in UK in One Year for Crimes Including Rape and Child Abuse

Police arrest 900 Syrians in England and Wales

for crimes including rape and child abuse 

By SIOBHAN MCFADYEN



And officials say the migrants were accused of sickening crimes including rapes and child abuse.

Now critics say they are concerned that the thousands of Syrians entering Britain each year under resettlement schemes are being allowed to enter the country unchecked.

Among those arrested are four Syrian immigrants have been charged after two 14-year-old girls were allegedly sexually assaulted - just yards from Newcastle United's stadium.   

The UK Government is working to resettle up to 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK by the end of the Parliament in 2020, under its Syrian Vulnerable Person Resettlement scheme.

Official statistics show that 1,602 people had been resettled in the UK under the scheme by the end of March 2016.

According to Parliamentary research paper it is possible for Syrians to claim asylum upon arrival or after-entry to the UK.


Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met in February  GETTY

It states: "Syrian nationals were the sixth-largest group of asylum applicants in the year ending March 2016, 2,539 main applicants. 

"87 per cent of initial asylum decisions in Syrian cases gave permission to remain in the UK. 

"The UK Government continues to commit a significant amount of international aid to assistance programmes in the regions neighbouring Syria, arguing that this is preferable to encouraging Syrian refugees to make dangerous journeys to Europe.

"The UK has committed over £2.3 billion to helping refugees in Syria and the region, making it the second largest bilateral donor to the Syrian refugee crisis."

The figure of 900 came from a Freedom of Information request by the Sun on Sunday.

But UKIP MEP Ray Finch has said: "The Government seems not to have vetted those it has invited into the country."

Earlier this year the UK government invited world leaders to discuss the continued crisis in war torn Syria.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attended a symposium in London where they discussed the refugee crisis. 

60yo Cleric Arrested After Marrying a 6yo Girl in Afghanistan **Update**

**Update** video added

Child brides are illegal in Afghanistan as they are in most countries, nevertheless, 7600 girls under the age of 15 are married everyday around the world. But it is always surprising when someone is actually charged with the crime, particularly a Muslim cleric. Good for the Ghor police.


© Jorge Silva / Reuters

A cleric in his 60s has been arrested in Afghanistan after he married a six-year-old girl. The religious leader says that the child was sent to him as a “gift.” However the rescued girl has a different opinion saying: “I am afraid of this man.”

The arrest took place in a village in the Ghor province in central Afghanistan. Mohammad Karim claims he married the child as a "religious offering,” adding that the parents of the girl were fully aware of their marriage.

"The girl was given to me as a gift and we were married so I could raise her," Karim, who was arrested on Wednesday, told Radio Free Europe. "After the parents gave their daughter to me, they said, 'you can take her wherever you want.’”

Karim claimed that the marriage was performed “during [the holy month of] Ramadan in the presence of 30 to 40 people.”

However, the parents tell another story – they say they are in shock, adding that the child was kidnapped from western Herat province.

"This man has said his wedding to this girl was approved by her mother and father," said Mohammad Zeman Azami, the deputy police commander of Ghor.

"We spoke to her parents and they strongly deny they attended the wedding. On the phone, the parents told me their daughter was kidnapped."

The girl’s parents have already headed to take her back from a woman's shelter in Ghor where she has been held ever since, government officials told AFP.

"This girl does not speak, but repeats only one thing: 'I am afraid of this man,’" said Masoom Anwari, head of the women affairs department in Ghor.

According to Dr. Nashafarin Shihab, who works at the main hospital in Firuz Koh, the medical examination showed that the girl had endured no physical or psychological harm." 

Curious, yet she only repeats, 'I am afraid of this man.’ I think I want a second opinion.

The governor's spokesman Abdul Hai Khatibi confirmed that the cleric "has been jailed and our investigation is on going.”

The Afghan Civil Code states that the legal age of marriage is 16 years for women and 18 years for men. However, the father of the girl may give consent to her marriage if she is as young as 15.

Poor families consider a daughter “as an economic burden who must be married quickly to reduce the financial strain,” UNICEF report says, adding that with the on going conflict in the country many parents marry their daughters at young ages to secure their futures.

“Forced and early marriages entrap girls and deprive them of their basic rights,” the organization says.

Louisiana Priest Arrested for 500 Counts of Child Pornography

Felix Broussard © Louisiana State Police

A Catholic priest from Breaux Bridge, Louisiana was arrested and subsequently released on bail for possessing a large quantity of child pornography.

The Rev. Father Felix Broussard, pastor of St. Bernard Roman Catholic Church in Breaux Bridge, was arrested on Wednesday by Louisiana State Police on 500 counts of possession of child pornography.

Broussard was released on a $25,000 bond, according to the Associated Press.

Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel of the Diocese of Lafayette said that Broussard was “immediately” placed on administrative leave by the diocese pending the criminal investigation.

“If he’s guilty, he needs to follow the penalties of the state for what was done,” Deshotel said at a Wednesday press conference. “Then there are also ecclesiastical steps, church steps, that have to be taken with regard to his future ministry, and, whether or not that’s possible.”

Broussard, 50, has served as pastor at St. Bernard for two years and has been ordained as a priest for 23.

The bishop said that there was no previous indication that Broussard had problems involving child pornography or sexual abuse.

“Never any complaints to any of us from anyone. In fact he was a much loved pastor, the irony is a very loved man in the parish,” Deshotel said, according to The Advocate. “No complaints have been made that anything physical or any kind of physical abuse occurred.”

The priest was arrested after the Texas State Police’s Special Victims Unit received a complaint earlier this month that a computer Father Felix David Broussard had primary access to contained images indicative of child pornography.

More than 500 images of suspected child pornography were identified on the computer, according to State Police.

In a statement, the Diocese said that it takes the allegations very seriously and is fully cooperating with the investigation.

“Bishop Deshotel and staff are providing pastoral care to the congregation of Saint Bernard Parish in Breaux Bridge, and will preach at all Masses at Saint Bernard Parish this weekend. The prayers of the diocesan community are requested,” the statement said.

While Deshotel said that Broussard is innocent until proven otherwise, he pointed out that taking immediate action was necessary because of the lessons learned by the church and other institutions that serve the public.

“Transparency, informing the public and taking immediate action once something is known are lessons that we and other institutions, public schools, the Boy Scouts — all of those have learned over the years that this is how this is addressed,” Deshotel said.  “So that’s the modus operandi we use.”

Good! We're finally getting somewhere!

Canadian Charged in 'Brutal Sexual Assault' in Denver, 3 Others Suspected

Colby Messer, 30, was arrested in Las Vegas earlier this month on 6 counts of sexual assault  (Denver District Attorney)

CBC News 

A Victoria, British Columbia man is awaiting his next court date in Denver, Colorado, accused of six counts of sexual assault in what is described as a "brutal sexual assault of a 27-year-old woman" in a Denver hotel room. Three other Vancouver Island men are considered suspects in the case.

A release from the Denver District Attorney's office says 30-year-old Victoria resident Colby James Messer has been in custody since his arrest in Las Vegas on March 4.

Messer was released after posting a US$300,000 cash bond, spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough of the District Attorney’s Office says in an email on Monday.

The conditions of his release include that he must surrender his passport, remain in Denver and wear a GPS tracking device, she says.

Ken Eichner, a Denver-based lawyer listed in court documents as representing Messer, declined to comment on the case.

The arrest warrant and an affidavit from police detailing the woman’s allegations that have been filed in court say three other men from Vancouver Island are suspects in the case, but their identities have not been released.

The affidavit alleges that the woman was out celebrating her birthday with a friend when they met two men who offered to buy them drinks.

The woman told police that she remembers going to a bar and having drinks with the men, but does not remember going with them to a hotel.

She said she woke up naked on a hotel room bed, bleeding and felt that she had been sexually assaulted.

The documents allege that objects available in the hotel room were used in the sexual assaults.

Denver police identified four suspects by looking at hotel records and surveillance footage.

Officers contacted police in Vancouver, who told them that none of the men had a criminal record, the affidavit says.

The document says Vancouver police told their Denver counterparts that driver licence records for the four men showed two of the men lived in Victoria and two lived in Port Alberni, B.C.

All four suspects attended Alberni District Secondary School in Port Alberni.

The affidavit says all four returned to Canada the day after the assault.

Messer was arrested in Las Vegas last week.

“It is my understanding that he had travelled to Las Vegas to propose to his girlfriend,” Kimbrough says in an email.

Astonishing!

Messer is scheduled to appear in Denver court Tuesday.

Port Alberni, Victoria, B.C.

Canadian Man Detained in Mexico on Child Sex Abuse Charges

Is he a pedophile, a lunatic, or what?

The Canadian Press 

ACAPULCO, Mexico -- Mexican authorities say a Canadian man is behind bars amid allegations he sexually abused minors on a busy street in Acapulco.

Reports say he was arrested Sunday after a passerby allegedly saw him embracing and touching young girls.

A passerby witnessed the event and filmed the aftermath of the alleged acts, posting the contents online.

The accused is confronted by the unnamed witness and repeatedly denies molesting the girls as he sits on a bench.

When confronted by the video-taker as to whether his behaviour is normal, the Canadian replies in Spanish that it is -- that he likes them and they like him.

During the video, he appears to kiss one of the girls, a toddler, on the mouth, with the father nearby, before a police officer stops him. A release from the attorney general in Guerrero state identifies the man as Walter Zuk, 68, and says he is from Quebec.

It actually appears that he is talking to a policeman when he suddenly leans over and kisses the little girl on the mouth.

The video was widely shared in Mexico and one local media reported a small protest against the accused in Acapulco on Monday.

Global Affairs Canada spokesman Francois Lasalle says the government is aware of a Canadian citizen having been detained in Acapulco, Mexico.

In an emailed statement, he said Canadian officials are in contact with local authorities and are ready to provide consular assistance.

Lasalle said the department could not provide any further information because of privacy laws.

If this is how he behaves in public, what does he do in private?

2 Teenage Girls Sexually Assaulted by Afghan Migrants at German Waterpark

Arriba Aquatic Centre © Arriba Erlebnisbad / Facebook

Asylum seekers from Afghanistan have been charged with the attempted rape of two schoolgirls in a public swimming pool in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The court ruled in favor of holding the suspects in custody without bail over the risk of repeated offence.

The adult man and 14-year old boy reportedly molested two girls, aged 14 and 18, at the Arriba aquatics center in the city of Norderstedt on Saturday. After being groped by the men, the girls approached the center`s security staff, who detained the perpetrators and called the police.

The court ordered the arrest of the both men who will remain in custody without bail as there is a substantial risk they could flee the country to avoid proceedings or commit further crimes of a sexual nature. The men are to be held in two separate prison facilities in Schleswig and Neumünster, said the police report.

It is not the first time the leisure center has made headlines for the wrong reasons. Almost two years ago, a group of migrants sexually abused five teenage girls by the poolside. The young men reportedly caressed them without any prior consent them and ripped the bikini top off one of the girls.

In January, a leisure center in the city of Bornheim in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia became the first of its kind in Germany to ban all male refugees from the facility. The move was prompted by regular complaints of sexual harassment from female visitors. The local officials said the ban was a temporary measure and men would be granted access to the pool services once they get the message. The enforcement of the measure was also triggered by a sexual attack by 18-year old migrant on 54-year-old woman that took place in broad-day-light in another Bornheim public pool.

Last month, the story of a 10-year-old boy raped by an Iraqi refugee in a Viennese pool sparked outrage in the Austrian society. The suspected abuser, who now awaits trial, arrived from Iraq in Austria in September and cited “sexual emergency” as the motive of the crime.

The cases of sexual abuse of local citizens by newly arrived refugees and migrants have been common across Europe. The offenses of sexual nature committed by migrants were reported in Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, Sweden and Austria among other countries.

Staffordshire Child Sex Abuse: Two Teens Arrested in Sweden

This story is a follow-up to: 

8 Men and 2 Boys Charged with Raping 2 Young Girls

Biddulph Grange Hall, N Stafforshire

From BBC Stoke & Staffordshire

Two teenagers have been arrested in Sweden following an investigation into sexual offences against children in North Staffordshire, UK.

The boys, aged 16 and 17, were arrested in Stockholm on Wednesday on suspicion of engaging in sexual activity with a child, Staffordshire Police said.

Both boys are due to be brought back to the UK for questioning.

Ch Supt Martin Evans said inquiries would continue into "a very sensitive and challenging crime".

The teenagers are understood to both be from the North Staffordshire area.