The Worst Case of Victim Abuse I Have Ever Heard Of

'I'm the victim and I'm in shackles': Edmonton woman jailed while testifying against her attacker

Alberta justice minister apologizes for 'appalling' treatment

of sexual assault victim

By Janice Johnston, CBC News

This photograph shows some of the injuries Angela Cardinal suffered when she was attacked by Lance Blanchard. The 28-year-old spent five nights in jail in June 2015 while testifying in a preliminary hearing. (Edmonton Police Service)

On a Monday afternoon in June 2015, Angela Cardinal was led into an Edmonton courtroom handcuffed and in leg shackles. Metallic rattling echoed as a sheriff escorted the 28-year-old to the witness stand.

She was not the accused, but rather a victim — called to testify at a preliminary hearing after she was savagely attacked and sexually assaulted by a notorious sexual predator.

Cardinal was angry about being locked up.

'You're going back to remand tonight

so that we can get you back here tomorrow.'

- Provincial court Judge Raymond Bodnarek

"I'm the victim and look at me, I'm in shackles," she told provincial court Judge Raymond Bodnarek.

"You're going to go back to remand tonight," he replied, "so that we can get you back here tomorrow."

Cardinal's fury increased.

"Shackles," she spat. "Aren't you supposed to commit a crime to go to jail?"

Cardinal was forced to spend a total of five nights in the Edmonton Remand Centre during her testimony.

Angela Cardinal is not the woman's real name. A publication ban prohibits CBC from identifying her even though she died in an unrelated, accidental shooting months after testifying at the preliminary hearing.

'Didn't deserve to be locked up'

Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley was appalled when CBC News told her of Cardinal's treatment.

"I've never seen a case like this," she said. "I mean, how many people did she come into contact with and nobody stood up and said, 'Guys I think this is wrong. I think we've made a mistake.'

Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley said she was shocked and appalled by the justice system's treatment of Angela Cardinal. (Trevor Wilson/CBC)

"I was very surprised that our system would have allowed something like this to happen … I think that anyone would be shocked by it."

Ganley said she has already formed a special committee to look at the case to review policies, with an eye to making what she calls "aggressive changes." As well, criminal lawyer Roberta Campbell, outgoing president of the Law Society of Manitoba, will head an independent investigation into the treatment of Cardinal.

'She was the victim. We should have treated her as the victim.'

- Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley

"She was the victim. We should have treated her as the victim. And I think it definitely speaks to a series of wrong decisions and a series of systemic failures that would have allowed us to do something like this to this young woman."

Aggravated sexual assault

Cardinal, a Cree woman from Maskwacis, about 100 kilometres south of Edmonton, moved to the city when she was 14.

On a June afternoon in 2014, she was tired and hungry, with nowhere to call home. She convinced a tenant to let her inside a central Edmonton apartment building. She had no idea that Lance Blanchard, a career criminal, lived on the second floor.

Convicted sexual predator Lance Blanchard, shown hours after he attacked Angela Cardinal in June 2014. (Edmonton Police Service)

Curled up in the stairwell next to a baseboard heater, Cardinal sang herself to sleep with This Little Light of Mine. But she awoke to a knife at her throat. Holding it was  a six-foot-seven-inch, 260-pound convicted sexual predator. At just over five feet tall, weighing only 109 pounds, Cardinal was at a clear disadvantage.

"Blanchard came out of nowhere, bat out of hell, grabbing me," Cardinal testified.

She said he dragged her by the hair, up the stairs, to his dirty, cluttered apartment.

Once they were inside, she said, all hell broke loose.

'I was praying I would die'

"He started stabbing me," Cardinal said. "He said he was going to make me ugly and stick me in a closet and keep me. He started banging my head off the ground."

Angela Cardinal's shoes and socks were removed by Blanchard and left behind on a blood-stained couch in his apartment. (Edmonton Police Service)

Exhibit photos show Cardinal's jacket and shoes on a blood-soaked couch. Blanchard held her at knifepoint, removed her clothing and fondled her.

"I felt disgusting," Cardinal told court. "I wanted to get away as fast as possible, but I couldn't. I was praying I would die before anything else happened."

Blanchard grabbed electrical cords to tie up her legs. Court transcripts show he tried to stab her in the chest, but Cardinal put up her left hand to protect herself. Blood poured from a deep cut to her palm.

She made a run for the door, but couldn't turn the knob with her slippery, bloody hands.

Help finally arrived

Blanchard was on top of Cardinal's back when she pulled out a hidden phone, dialled 911, put it on speaker and threw it across the room.

The six-minute phone call to police was chaotic. On a recording, Cardinal can be heard screaming frantically in the background, "Help me. Somebody, help me. I've been stabbed."

It took 27 stitches to repair the wound to her hand. Her body was covered with cuts. One eye was black and blue. Her neck was bruised from where Blanchard tried to choke her.

It took 27 stitches to close the wound on Cardinal's hand after she was attacked by a knife-wielding Lance Blanchard. (Edmonton Police Service )

Ordered into custody

One year later, on June 5, 2015, Cardinal had to face her attacker again, at his preliminary hearing.

On the first day she was called to testify, she kept falling asleep. She had trouble focusing and answering questions.

At the request of Crown prosecutor Patricia Innes, Bodnarek ordered that Cardinal spend the weekend at the Edmonton Remand Centre. Both were concerned about her physical and mental state.

They were concerned about her physical and mental state in as much as it affected the trial. They, quite obviously, weren't very concerned about her welfare.

Innes suggested Cardinal had "presented in a condition unsuitable for testifying, and we don't know what the reason is."

'You sit in the back of those cells. It feels like an hour

went by but really it's only 20 minutes.'

- Angela Cardinal, in court testimony

Bodnarek determined he had authority to detain Cardinal under Section 545(1)(b) of the Criminal Code, which applies to witnesses who refuse to answer questions.

Edmonton Remand Centre

When Cardinal returned to court after a weekend in custody, she pleaded with the judge to be "unremanded."

"It's not a pleasant scene I'm living," she said. "Like, I'm the fricking victim here and I mean, like, come on. You sit in the back of those cells. It feels like an hour went by but really it's only 20 minutes."

Cardinal asked to be released to stay with her mother. She promised she would return to court to continue her testimony.

Bodnarek refused, but told her: "We're going to make sure that all efforts will be made to keep you separate from Mr. Blanchard."

On two occasions, Angela Cardinal was confined to the back of a prisoner transport van with Lance Blanchard, the man who sexually assaulted her. (Sam Martin/CBC)

But both Blanchard and Cardinal were detained at the same facility. It was later revealed that at least twice, Cardinal had to travel in the same cramped prisoner transport van as her attacker. The remand centre and Edmonton's courthouse are 15 kilometres apart.

During court breaks, Cardinal was usually placed in a cell close to Blanchard.

Ganley called that yet another failure of the justice system.

"None of us will ever really understand what it was like for her to sit there and stare at the man who did this to her," Ganley said. "While she's trapped, essentially."

'Taken advantage of'

Deb Tomlinson has spent decades working with sex assault survivors. She is currently the CEO of the Association of Alberta Sexual Assault Services.

Deb Tomlinson, CEO of Association of Alberta Sexual Assault Services, says sex assault victims require specialized support throughout the judicial process. (CBC)

"I just felt really, really sad. And certainly angry as well," Tomlinson said after learning about the case. "First of all, that this young woman was taken advantage of and sexually assaulted. And then was — in many ways — taken advantage of and retraumatized by the system that she sought to seek justice through."

Sex assault victims require specialized support throughout the entire process, including testifying, Tomlinson said.

"And this was the farthest thing from victim support that I've ever seen."

​Tragedy after preliminary hearing

Seven months after Cardinal testified at the preliminary hearing, she became a victim once again, gunned down in an accidental shooting. The man who shot her pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

While alive, Cardinal never told her mother about the assault or about her experience testifying.

"She didn't say anything to us," Cardinal's mother said tearfully, when CBC News shared the details with her in April. "She said she had to go to court. That's all she told me."

She is outraged by the way her daughter was treated. "It's not right. And after all what he did to her, it's not fair."

'Her treatment by the justice system was appalling.'

- Justice Eric Macklin

Blanchard was ultimately committed to stand trial. When the case was heard in Edmonton Court of Queen's Bench, Cardinal's testimony from the preliminary hearing was allowed in as evidence, as she was no longer alive to testify.

Last December, Justice Eric Macklin found Blanchard guilty of aggravated assault, kidnapping, unlawful confinement, aggravated sexual assault, possession of a weapon and threatening to cause death or bodily harm.

Blanchard remains behind bars. The Crown will be asking to have him designated as a dangerous offender.  

Seems a bit late for that. He should have been designated such after his previous crime. But, no, this is Canada where the least sentence possible is the general rule. It does not protect our women and children, obviously.

The judge was blunt in his criticism of the lower court.

"I was troubled by the treatment of the complainant," Macklin wrote in his 49-page decision.

"Her treatment by the justice system was appalling. She is owed an apology."

​Ganley apologizes to victim's mother

After CBC News alerted Ganley to the details of the case, she read Macklin's decision herself.

Last month, the justice minister took it upon herself to call Cardinal's mother to apologize. She described the conversation as "emotional" and "difficult."

Ganley said she regrets not being able to apologize directly to the victim.

"I know there's nothing that can ever be done to make it up," she said. "But I certainly hope we can find a way to never let this happen again."

I certainly hope so too! Would this have happened to a white woman? I seriously doubt it.

Two Teachers Among 5 Creepy Perverts and Pedophiles Today

Jury finds Montana man guilty of

child sex abuse case, again

By PERRY BACKUS RAVALLI REPUBLIC 

    Stevensville, MT

A Stevensville man was found guilty of three charges in his second trial for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl in 2013.

An eight-woman, four-man jury spent eight hours in deliberation before finding James Morris Colburn, 43, guilty of sexual intercourse without consent and two counts of sexual assault Friday.

The verdict followed a three full days of testimony.

“We are pleased that the jury was able to work through this emotional and difficult case,” said Ravalli County Attorney Bill Fulbright. “Both girls testified. It was difficult for them. It was hard on the kids and hard on the adults. The topic is one that is upsetting to listen to for the jurors.”

Colburn was originally found guilty on the charges in 2014 and sentenced to 100 years in the Montana State Prison, with 25 years.

The Montana Supreme Court sent the case back to district court in February after it determined that District Judge James Haynes had erred when he didn’t allow a defense expert to testify that she believed a counselor had asked leading questions of one of the girls.

Colburn’s attempt to use an expert witness critical of the techniques used during the forensic interview was excluded by Haynes in the first trial. The judge determined the witness was not trained in the interview protocol used during the forensic interview.

The Supreme Court ruled that Haynes’ decision to focus strictly on the protocol used in the interview was too narrow and that he had abused his discretion in excluding the testimony.

Two more young girls forced to relive their abuse and give testimony twice because a judge or counsel made a stupid decision. Good grief!

The original charges were filed in 2013 after the mother of an 11-year-old girl reported that Colburn had repeatedly sexually assaulted her daughter when she visited his apartment.

After the first sexual assault trial was completed, Colburn was convicted of attempted possession of child pornography. He remained in prison as a result of that case while he awaited a new trial.

In the child pornography case, Colburn was convicted of attempting to obtain child pornography because the search terms “pre-teen pornography” and others were found on his computer following his arrest on the sexual assault charges.

During the course of this week’s trial, the Montana Supreme Court affirmed Colburn’s conviction in the child pornography case, Fulbright said.

    Stevensville, MT

Texas ISD Pre-K Teacher Arrested For "Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Young Child"

Arthur Kramer Elementary School

BY STEPHEN YOUNG, Dallas Observer

Wednesday morning, the Dallas Police Department arrested a Dallas ISD teacher for the "continuous sexual abuse of a child," a first-degree felony. Jorge Ruiz, 53, is currently being held at Lew Sterrett jail. His bail is $100,000.

Ruiz has been placed on administrative leave from his job teaching pre-kindergarten at Kramer Elementary.

“This is a very serious matter. While we are unable to comment on this personnel issue involving a teacher, we can share that the individual has been placed on administrative leave. We will continue to cooperate with authorities, and remain committed to providing a safe instructional environment for our students each day," the district said in a statement.

According to DPD, a teenage girl came forward three days ago and accused Ruiz of sexually abusing her eight years ago when she was a student at Kramer. This week, another young woman came forward to make similar accusations against Ruiz, who was charged with the additional crime of indecency of a child with contact, a second-degree felony. 

Last October, Ruiz, who has no prior arrest record according to DPD, was highlighted by KERA in a feature about bilingual pre-K education.

Jorge Ruiz, a pre-K teacher at Arthur Kramer Elementary in Dallas ISD, faces challenges when he starts the school year.

“When they come, the first day of school, there’s a silent period for most of them,” Ruiz says. “So they’re very shy. They are not very sure of what they’re going to say and they don’t have the vocabulary to say what they want to say.”

To get them past that hurdle, Ruiz has his pre-K bilingual students learn six new words every day.

At school recently, Ruiz told his students to raise their hands if they could complete a sentence about the photo of a bear he was holding up.

He called on 4-year-old Jimena. "El oso es café," she says in Spanish. (The bear is brown.)

“Ohhh, I like that. Me gusto mucho,” he responds.

DPD Assistant Chief Christina Smith said that the DPD believes that Ruiz could have had more than two victims during his more than 10 years teaching at the school.

"Currently there are possible additional victims that have come forward and been scheduled for interviews," Smith said.

Nevada man gets life in prison for child sexual abuse

Sarah Litz, RGJ

A Sparks man was sentenced to life in prison for sexually abusing a child over the span of 15 years, a report from the Washoe County District Attorney’s Office said.

Jose Concepcion Moreno-Padilla, 51, was sentenced Tuesday on one count of sexual assault and one count of lewdness with a child under the age of 14.

The case against Moreno-Padilla began on May 12, 2016 when the Sparks Police Department responded to a report of a missing 18-year-old girl who had not returned home from school, the report said. After locating the girl, police questioned her about not returning home and found that she was a victim of sexual abuse.

Sparks detectives started investigating the case and learned that the victim had been sexually abused since she was about 5 years old by a male relative, the report said. The relative was identified as Moreno-Padilla.

When interviewed, Moreno-Padilla admitted to sexually abusing the victim, the report said. Moreno-Padilla was arrested.

At sentencing, prosecutor Nicole Hicks commended the bravery by the victim for the day she reported the years of abuse, the report said. Hicks argued that Moreno-Padilla committed the ultimate betrayal to the victim and caused her harm, pain and suffering. In a letter to the judge, the victim said the abuse dramatically affected her physically, mentally and emotionally and changed the way she felt about herself, the report said.

According to the report, a multi-disciplinary team coordinated through the Washoe County Child Advocacy Center investigated the case against Moreno-Padilla. The team included members from the Sparks Police Department Detectives Division, the Washoe County Child Abuse Response and Evaluation team, Washoe County Social Services and the Washoe County District Attorney’s Office.

    Sparks, NV

Former New Mexico teacher indicted on

child sex abuse charges

Danielle Todesco, KOB4

A former Albuquerque Public Schools teacher accused of inappropriately touching a student and serious sex crimes with a female teenager close to him faces decades in prison.

Now, years after an alleged incident in Kenneth Jehle's Taft Middle School classroom, KOB spoke exclusively with the student.

"He slipped his hand, like under right there and dropped the lip gloss in my lap," Madison Fields said, describing Jehle touching her groin.

Fields is 16 years old now.  She was just 13 years old when she said Jehle touched her inappropriately in the classroom as he was trying to give her a lip gloss as a gift.

Fields and her family sued APS because they allege that the school district kept Jehle in their schools even after years of complaints about him. APS paid Fields $750,000 in a settlement.

“I don’t care how much money. I don’t care how much therapy. It took something from her and that’s not fair," said Nicole Fields, Madison’s mom.

Now the criminal case against Jehle is finally moving forward. He was indicted last month. He faces even more serious charges related to allegations from another alleged victim who knew him.

There ought to be more charges against those who were in position to stop him years ago and didn't.

    Albuquerque, NM

Arkansas man faces multiple child sex abuse charges

Kevin Jenkins The Spectrum

An Enterprise resident with a lengthy criminal history of assaults and intoxication has been charged with numerous counts of sexual abuse of a child involving a dangerous weapon or kidnapping, according to 5th District Court documents.

Kevin Joseph Betony, 37, faces 10 first-degree felony counts in relation to an undisclosed series of alleged incidents between October 2014 and July 2016 in which he is accused of forcefully involving children in sexual touching that does not constitute a rape. The County Attorney’s Office prepared a proposed summons for Betony after filing the case Tuesday. Betony was in the custody of the Purgatory Correctional Facility on Tuesday after he was arrested on a warrant in a misdemeanor assault case issued by the Washington County Justice Court, but he was released by the jail later that night before being served with information related to the new District Court case.

The misdemeanor assault case stems from a report that he was intoxicated and involved in a fight with another person at a Washington City residence Aug. 13, and that on Sunday he was allegedly involved in a family fight at his Enterprise home that led to his temporary detention without new charges being filed.

That case is the latest in a series of arrests involving drunken fights with other individuals, generally other family members in domestic violence incidents. Since 2004, Betony has been charged and convicted nearly 20 times in intoxication cases, a dozen of them involving charges of assault or disorderly conduct.

The court minutes also frequently contain notes stating Betony failed to appear for scheduled hearings and was arrested after warrants were issued to bring him into custody.

During sentencing for one of the cases last year, Judge John Walton noted Betony had been “in the company of some minors” and furnished alcohol to them before getting into “an altercation” with them.

According to the arrest narrative provided to the court, Betony had become drunk and aggressive toward two boys, hitting them and slapping their faces.

“Kevin also choked one of the Victims and the other one had bruising on his arms,” the report states.

When officers moved to place him in handcuffs, Betony resisted and officers had to “forcefully place Kevin into handcuffs,” it states.

In 2011, one relative wrote the court in relation to one of the cases, stating her children and another relative’s child were concerned about Betony’s imminent release on a 30-day commitment because of other alleged probation violations.

The proposed summons on the newest charges had not yet been finalized Saturday with a date and time for an initial appearance in court. First-degree felonies have a statutory minimum of five years imprisonment with a potential maximum of life behind bars if a suspect is found guilty.

    Enterprise, Ozark Mountains, AR