IJM Kenya Investigations help get Justice for a 9-year-old Raped at School

IJM - International Justice Mission - a global NGO, is a human rights organization that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. http://www.ijm.com/web/

January 17, 2014

IJM worked with Kenyan police to find and arrest a school guard who raped 9-year-old Nasimiyu.

NAIROBI, KENYA – Nine-year-old Nasimiyu* was waiting patiently in an empty classroom for her aunt to pick her up after school, just like any normal afternoon.

But, on this day, a man who worked at the school as a guard saw the little girl waiting alone. He sent her to collect something from a storage closet, then followed her inside, locked the door and raped her. After the attack, he disappeared from town.

Nasimiyu and her family were left devastated. They reported the rape to police, but, to them, it seemed impossible that her attacker would ever be caught. The police had few resources to pursue the case or find the guard. Without help, Nasimiyu’s case could sit unresolved for years—like thousands of other Kenyan girls before her.

But police in Nairobi enlisted the help of IJM, who they knew had success in investigating similar cases. IJM worked relentlessly with them over the next four months to track down the guard and find where he was hiding, in a town 140 miles away. When the team moved in for the arrest, the man tried to flee, but police caught him escaping through a back door. He was brought back to Nairobi and finally put on trial for the rape.

Seeing their daughter’s attacker held accountable was more than Nasimiyu’s parents had dreamed.

One IJM investigator says, “With nowhere else to turn, the parents had begun to lose hope that their daughter’s abuser would one day face the justice system. We felt our involvement to be so worthwhile in this particular arrest.”

For more than a year, IJM attorneys defended Nasimiyu in court and IJM social workers supported her family. They made sure the little girl was receiving counselling to heal from the abuse and helped her prepare to share the truth about what happened in court.

On January 16, 2014, the judge found the man who assaulted Nasimiyu guilty and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

Nasimiyu, now 11 years old, is studying safely at a boarding school with lots of support from her parents.

*A pseudonym.

Chicago Diocese Files Confirm 'Circle the Wagons' Approach to Handling Child Sex Abuse

CHICAGO (AP) — Top leaders at the Archdiocese of Chicago helped hide the sexual abuse of children as they struggled to contain a growing crisis, according to thousands of pages of internal documents that raise new questions about how Cardinal Francis George handled the allegations even after the church adopted reforms.

Cardinal Francis George

The documents, released through settlements between attorneys for the archdiocese and victims, describe how priests for decades were moved from parish to parish while the archdiocese hid the clerics' histories from the public, often with the approval of the late Cardinals John Cody and Joseph Bernardin.

Although the abuse documented in the files occurred before George became archbishop in 1997, many victims did not come forward until after he was appointed and after U.S. bishops pledged in 2002 to keep all accused priests out of ministry.

George delayed removing the Rev. Joseph R. Bennett, despite learning that the priest had been accused of sexually abusing girls and boys decades earlier. Even the board the cardinal appointed to help him evaluate abuse claims advised George that Bennett should be removed.

"I realize this creates a rather awkward situation, but I believe I need to reflect on this matter further," George wrote in a Nov. 7, 2005, letter to an archdiocese child protection official. Also against the advice of his board, George had Bennett monitored by another priest who was a friend and who vacationed with Bennett.

Allegations against Bennett continued well after 2002. He has denied any wrongdoing in his communications with the archdiocese, but was forced out of ministry on Feb. 3, 2006, according to the newly public documents.

Norbert Maday
This Aug. 27, 2007 photo provided by
the Wisconsin Department of Corrections
Obviously, pedophiles are not treated very well in prison
This is probably why Cardinal George sought his early release

George tried to get another priest, Norbert Maday, released early from a Wisconsin prison, where he was serving time after a 1994 conviction for molesting two boys, documents show.

He also has apologized for how he handled allegations against former priest Daniel McCormack, who pleaded guilty in 2007 to abusing five children and whose case prompted an internal investigation of how the archdiocese responds to abuse claims.

"The issue is not when the abuse happened; the issue is what they did once it was reported," said Chicago attorney Marc Pearlman, who has represented about 200 victims of clergy abuse in the Chicago area.

While disturbing stories of clergy sexual abuse have wrenched the Roman Catholic Church across the globe, the newly released documents offer the broadest look yet into how one of its largest and most prominent American dioceses responded to the scandal, even years after the abuse occurred.

The documents, posted online Tuesday by victims' attorneys, cover only 30 of the at least 65 clergy for whom the archdiocese says it has substantiated claims of child abuse. Vatican documents related to the 30 cases were not included, under the negotiated terms of the disclosure. Victims' attorneys say they're working to get files on the other 35 priests.

The files are being released as George, a 77-year-old cancer survivor, awaits permission from Pope Francis to retire. Naming a successor for George will be the pope's first major appointment in the U.S. church.

In a letter distributed to parishes last week, George apologized for the abuse, and said the disclosures are an attempt to help victims heal.

The more than 6,000 pages include internal communications between church officials, disturbing testimony about specific abuses, meeting schedules where allegations were discussed and letters from anguished parishioners. The names of victims and details considered private under mental health laws were redacted.

When a young woman reported in 1970 that she'd been abused as a teen, for example, (Cardinal) Cody assured the priest that the "whole matter has been forgotten" because "no good can come of trying to prove or disprove the allegations."

Accused priests often were quietly sent away for a time for treatment or training programs. When they returned, officials often assigned them to new parishes and asked other priests to monitor them around children.

Cardinal Joseph Bernardin sits during a Mass
at St Peter's Church, Chicago

After a 13-year-old boy reported in 1979 that a priest raped him and later threatened him at gunpoint to keep quiet, the Archdiocese of Chicago assured the boy's parents that although the cleric avoided prosecution, he would receive treatment and have no further contact with minors.

But the Rev. William Cloutier, who already had been accused of molesting other children, was returned to ministry a year later and accused of more abuse before he resigned in 1993, two years after the boy's parents filed a lawsuit. Officials took no action against Cloutier over his earliest transgressions because he "sounded repentant," according to internal archdiocese documents released Tuesday that show how the archdiocese tried to contain a mounting scandal over child sexual abuse.

In one 1989 letter to Bernardin, the vicar for priests worries about parishioners discovering the record of the Rev. Vincent E. McCaffrey, who was moved four times because of abuse allegations.

"Unfortunately, one of the key parishioners ... received an anonymous phone call which made reference by name to Vince and alleged misconduct on his part with young boys," wrote the Rev. Raymond Goedert. "We all agreed that the best thing would be for Vince to move. We don't know if the anonymous caller will strike again."

The archdiocese released a statement Tuesday saying it knows it "made some decisions decades ago that are now difficult to justify" and that society has evolved in how it deals with abuse.

"The Church and its leaders have acknowledged repeatedly that they wished they had done more and done it sooner, but now are working hard to regain trust, to reach out to victims and their families, and to make certain that all children and youth are protected," the statement read.

For many victims, the abuse left a lifetime of emotional scars.

"Where was the church for the victims of this sick, demented, twisted pedophile?" one man wrote in a 2002 letter to George about abuse at the hands of the Rev. Norbert Maday, who was imprisoned in Wisconsin after a 1994 conviction for molesting two boys. "Why wasn't the church looking out for us? We were children, for God's sake."
Good question? Where was the love of God? Shouldn't it be administered by His anointed ones?

Australia's Royal Commission Turns it's Guns on Sally Ann

The fifth case study by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will start in Sydney on Tuesday.

The focus of the public hearing will be the response of the Salvation Army to child sexual abuse within four homes:

the Alkira Salvation Army Home for Boys at Indooroopilly,
the Bexley Boys in NSW;
Riverview Training Farm in Queensland;
and the Gill Memorial Boys Home in Goulburn in NSW.

As well as the movement of officers and staff, the Salvation Army's processes for dealing with allegations of abuse will be examined in the two-week hearing.

At a child abuse inquiry in Victoria last year it was revealed that since 1997 the Salvation Army has received 474 abuse claims, 470 of which arose from its children's homes, over 30 to 40 years.

Only in Australia would you find a name like 'Indooroopilly'.

Cottage Industry - Child Pornography - has Organized Crime Roots

By JASON GUTIERREZ, Agence France-Presse  January 26, 2014 1:43pm

IBABAO, Philippines - In a remote village, toddlers played oblivious at a nursery as the house next door became part of a horrifying child pornography ring, with live footage of children performing sex acts being streamed online to pedophiles around the world.

The depraved scenes in the bungalow were being repeated in many homes throughout Ibabao, a secluded community on Cebu island where Internet child pornography had for some of its 5,000 residents become more lucrative than fishing or factory work.

"In the beginning I was shocked, I could not believe this was happening in my town," mayor Adelino Sitoy told AFP last week, shortly after police announced they had cracked a global live-streaming pedophile ring in which Ibabao was a key source of the child pornography.

But while the village is currently in the spotlight, authorities and child rights advocates say the fast-growing global industry is infecting many parts of the mostly poor Philippines, with thousands of children having been abused.

At first look the coastal community of Ibabao, 550 kilometers (340 miles) south of Manila, is a typical close-knit rural Philippine village, where many of the long-time residents are relatives or enjoy close and longstanding ties.

In scenes echoed across the devoutly Catholic Philippines, its residents regularly attend masses held in quaint chapels along narrow footpaths and dirt roads.

But police and authorities said that behind the closed doors of the tiny wooden and brick homes, many parents directed their children for sex videos in front of webcams connected via the Internet to paying pedophiles overseas.

Other children were lured into the homes of neighbors and forced to perform sex acts in front of webcams, they said.

Sitoy said the trade thrived because children were locked secretly inside homes, as well as Ibabao's remote location and the fact some elected village leaders with relatives involved ignored the crimes.

But some of the videos eventually found their way into the computer files of a known British pedophile two years ago, triggering a global manhunt to track down the perpetrators.

The British man was convicted in March last year and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Shortly afterwards police in the Philippines began carrying out raids in Ibabao and nearby areas with the help of British, Australian and US authorities.

Brit Timothy Ford - Pedophile

One of the raids saw dozens of Filipino police and social workers break into the bungalow next to the day care center in September last year, arresting a couple and rescuing their three children, aged three, nine and 11.

Two days later, 13 other children who were being abused in other Ibabao homes were rescued, according to Philippine police.

Residents are generally wary of outsiders but some allowed AFP to interview them on condition of anonymity.

They said "cybersex dens" remained in operation, but security fears and the Filipino tradition of not interfering with a neighbor's affairs helped to ensure that people did not pry further or try to stop it.

Housewife Jennifer Canete, 38, was willing to talk openly about the crimes, confirming many people in the community were involved and that she feared her four young children could become victims.

Canete said one of her children attended the nursery located next to the house where the three children were being abused.

At any given moment       "We were angry that this could happen just 
750,000 pedophiles           near the day care," she said.
are online looking for
child pornography            "I was also afraid, we didn't know what could 
                                           happen to our children if they went to school because there were many here who were doing that."

Authorities say they do not know exactly when the trade arrived in Ibabao.

But, according to local social workers, a Filipina woman from outside the community believed to belong to an organized crime group relocated to the village several years ago and introduced locals to the get-rich-quick scheme.

That woman taught residents how to scout for clients in pornographic chat rooms and receive payments through international money transfers, according to the social workers, who did not want to be named for security reasons.

Some operators lured friends of their children into their homes and abused them, threatening to harm their parents if they told anyone, the social workers said.

One parent told AFP a neighbor who had tried to recruit her said clients paid as much as $100 dollars a session, a fortune in a region where the minimum daily wage is the equivalent of about $7.

She said the neighbor justified the trade by saying that no actual physical contact took place.

"I was angry. We were always taught to protect and love our children," the woman said.

"We are not rich, but we are also not poor and desperate. It was an evil thing to do."

Nevertheless, she said that staying silent and steering clear of those involved in the trade was the best thing to do, to avoid any trouble.

In announcing the dismantling of the pedophile network, Britain's National Crime Agency said in mid-January that 11 people had been arrested in the Philippines and 18 elsewhere around the world.

Another 733 suspects were being investigated, the agency added.

Andrey Sawchenko, Philippine head of the Washington-based International Justice Mission (IJM) who helped in the arrests, said 39 children had been rescued in Ibabao and elsewhere in the Philippines.

But this is widely believed to be just the tip of the iceberg, with the British crime agency describing online child sex abuse as a "significant and emerging threat".

"Extreme poverty, the increasing availability of high speed Internet and the existence of a vast and comparatively wealthy overseas customer base has led to organized crime groups exploiting children for financial gain," it said.

Dutch advocate group Terre des Hommes estimates that "tens of thousands" of children are being abused through the cybersex industry just in the Philippines.

Last year, the group created a virtual 10-year-old Filipina girl that was deployed in Internet chat rooms to lure pedophiles.

Over 10 weeks, 20,000 people from 71 countries approached the fake girl asking for sexual performances, according to Terre des Hommes, which passed the details of the pedophiles onto police. — AFP

I have nothing but praise for IJM, Terre des Hommes, Preeda, and the dozens of other agencies and NGOs that are fighting this horror; they need our support. But, I strongly suspect that the industry is growing much faster than all efforts to combat it. We need to be praying for God to intervene. Realistically, only He can turn this around. Are you praying  my 3:15 PM prayer, or something like it?

Couple Arrested for Horrific Sexual Abuse of their own Children

TALMADGE, CALIF. — A Mendocino County couple has been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing at least two of their five children over a 13-year period.

Sheriff's officials say 61-year-old Donald Dunakin and 47-year-old Ina Medina of Talmadge were taken into custody Thursday night and each booked in county jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

The suspects face multiple felony charges, including sodomy, continuous sexual abuse of a child, lewd act with a child, oral copulation of a child, penetration with a foreign object and torture.

Officials say sheriff's detectives began investigating the case on Wednesday when they were contacted by county Child Protective Services.

Officials allege the children were ages 3 to 16 when they were abused by the suspects, who have lived together in the Ukiah area for about 30 years.

Don't know how old the children are now as little has been released on this story so far. Obviously some are still children or Child Protective Services would not be involved. 

Talmadge is very close to Ukiah, CA, which is about 115 miles north of San Francisco on Hwy 101.

Please pray for all 5 children, whether all were abused or not, they will all emerge with major scars from this. Their own children!!!

Catholic Priest gets nearly 16 Years in Child Porn Case

DETROIT — Catholic priest Timothy Murray was never prosecuted for sexually molesting a 13-year-old boy in the mid-1980s. But as the onetime Catholic parish pastor awaited sentencing Thursday on child pornography charges, a federal prosecutor argued that it was finally time for Murray to pay for his assault on childhood innocence. This is so not Canadian!

U.S. Assistant Attorney Kevin Mulcahy described Murray's assault on the teenager and gestured toward a grown man in the courtroom, whom Mulcahy acknowledged was Murray's long-ago victim. The man, who was not identified, had also written to U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts about the assault, which Murray has admitted. Mulcahy asked the judge to consider that when sentencing Murray for possessing and sharing nearly 700 child porn videos on his home computers.

Timothy Murray

"The character of a man who could sit and watch children suffer" in child pornography, said Mulcahy, "is disgusting."

The priest went "largely unscathed" for his behavior, "and deserves no further break," Mulcahy said.

Roberts sentenced Murray, 63, of Novi, Mich., to 15 years and 8 months in federal prison for possessing and distributing child pornography.

"You should not be in contact with minors. The sentence that this court will impose will make sure that doesn't happen," said Roberts. She noted that Murray had never been charged with the assault on a minor but cited other factors for the length of the sentence. Mulcahy had argued for 22 years, while Murray's defense attorney asked for five years.

Beforehand, the disgraced priest addressed Roberts and apologized.

"I did download" child pornography, Murray said. Of the children victimized, Murray said, "I'm sorry for them, feel bad about that, and I will never do it again."

A federal investigation in 2012 found Murray had a large volume of child pornographic images on his home computers and nearly 700 videos of child pornography. Murray pleaded guilty in July to one count each of possession and distribution of child pornography.

Murray's case reveals the changing views and practices on handling child sexual assault. When Murray molested a 13-year-old in the mid-1980s, by touching his genitalia, the victim's family confronted the priest but didn't contact any other authorities. Murray admitted molesting the teenager, Mulcahy told the court Thursday.

It wasn't until 2004, after massive publicity surfaced regarding the Catholic Church's scandal of handling child sex abuse complaints, that the victim came forward and the Archdiocese of Detroit removed Murray as the pastor of St. Edith in Livonia, Mich. The archdiocese forbade Murray from working as, dressing like or identifying himself as a priest. The statute of limitations prevented Murray from being criminally prosecuted.

The archdiocese also required Murray to report to a monitor about any activities that could put him in contact with minors. But Murray did not tell archdiocese officials that he participated at Hope Lutheran Church in Farmington Hills, Mich., as a co-director of church plays and as an occasional "worship leader," as revealed in federal court documents.

Roberts told Murray that she found it hard to believe Murray's comments to court investigators and sentencing experts, in which he blamed the priestly celibacy requirement of the Catholic Church for contributing to his attraction to child porn and his past behavior — or that he didn't know viewing child porn in his home was illegal.

"This court is very hard-pressed to believe you when you say you didn't know it was a felony," Roberts said.

Roberts said psychological evaluations of Murray show he has pedophiliac tendencies.

"You have them and you have demonstrated them, so the public has to be protected from you," Roberts said.

Murray remains on bond and home confinement while awaiting a date to report for imprisonment. Huh? What happened to going from the courthouse directly to prison? Now you need an appointment?

The Survival of Erica through Typhoon Haiyan

This column is from Fr Shay Cullen of the Preda Foundation as printed in the Manila Times about a little girl's Haiyan nightmare.

Tacloban,  Leyte, The Philippines

I arrived here with the Preda team of social workers to prepare the way for a series of training seminars to combat human trafficking and give the many survivors in the squalid evacuation camps group therapy to cope better with the tragedy and great loss they have suffered because of typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda). For the children we have puppet shows that teach abuse prevention.  But I went first to find the missing orphans Here is the story of one of them.

We found Erica in a white canvas tent with her auntie and uncle about three hundred meters from where her parents’ house once stood. She was willing to tell us of  her tragic experience. The home Erica was half a kilometer from the shore line. On the night of November 7,  she,  her parents and two brothers slept  together in her parents’ small room as the rain was lashing down and the wind was rising. They woke after an hour.

“This is going to be a strong storm, everyone stay close tonight," her father told them. By 2 am the howling wind was tearing at the coconut trees and they could hear coconuts crashing into metal sheet roofs across their village. The family of five huddled together and embraced each other. It was to be their last embrace.

By 5 am on the November 8 a great wave of water about twenty to thirty feet high reared up from the ocean and driven by a 230 kilometer wind rushed inland across the open land towards the village. It knocked down everything before it. It was unstoppable,  mango trees toppled before this wall of water as if a dam had suddenly collapsed.

The great wave of water suddenly burst into their little bungalow house, smashing through the windows, collapsing the door and the water gushed in and quickly filled the house.  They cried out for help and were trying to swim to stay above the water. Erica’s father shouted to them to cling and climb into  the ceiling. But it was too late. The water engulfed them so quickly there was no escape.

Then the  roof was torn off like a scrap of paper ripped from a notebook and disappeared in an instant into the dark sky.  They were trying to swim and float on the rising water and a tree came rushing by and was held momentarily by the remaining wall of their little house.

“Grab the branches,  hold the branch,” her father shouted above the deafening noise of the wind. Her father and mother and two brothers caught the branches but Erica could not reach them she was clinging to the remains of the rafters. The water was up her neck. Her mother saw they were being separated and cried out in the storm: “Erica, we love you, we care for you,  survive , survive!"

Then they were swept away and Erica was also carried off with the surging waters. They disappeared into the darkness and that was the last Erica ever saw of them. She was carried on the wave and bumped into a coconut tree and she grabbed it and wrapped her arms around it and clung on for dear life.

After a long while the powerful wave began to lose its power and strength and receded. “I prayed to God to save me, save my family, to please to let me live,” she said.  She clung on  the  tree until the waters fully retreated. Exhausted and trembling, in shock she fell to the ground and Erica survived. Her parents and two brothers were lost.

Two months later she still has nightmares. “I cannot sleep so well I have bad dreams that I am drowning.  I miss my family,” tears welled in her eyes and she grew silent.

Then after a while we all walked slowly through the widespread destruction and ruins of the  entire village to where her little house once stood. It was just a heap of rubble,  half of a block wall remained.  There was a broken mirror, a hairbrush, a crumbled photo in the ruins.  Outside was a little white passenger van, its front window and roof crushed by a fallen tree. Her father once drove it for a livelihood.  The  landscape all around was one of utter destruction. Not a house was left standing.

Bodies of the dead were strewn around the day after the  great wave, some covered by debris, it took a week to uncover them  for burial.  Over two hundred people died in that village and more are missing, their bodies were never found. Perhaps they were carried out with the receding waters of the great wave.

As I looked around this scene of devastation there were fallen trees everywhere and the remaining coconut trees stripped of their palms stood starkly silhouetted against a gray wet sky.

Back in the tent that is now her home Erica said that she is thankful to be alive and she had relatives who are caring for her.

“I miss seeing my parents and brothers. I don’t know where they are,  but wherever they are, I pray for them to God, they are in God’s hands now.”

Asked about her future, she replies: “I have a hope to study and become a teacher, thank you for listening to my story.”  She seemed a little happier than when we first arrived.  Erica and other homeless children of Tacloban are being helped by the Preda Foundation, P. O. Box 68 Olongapo city.
shaycullen@preda. org,

Have You Been in Contact with this Man?

Surrey, British Columbia, RCMP have released the photo of a man charged with several sexual offences involving multiple children in the hopes more potential victims will come forward.

Mounties said 38-year-old Joel Scarff was arrested on Jan. 2 and charged with four counts of sexual interference and two counts of invitation to sexual touching involving several victims under the age of 16.

Joel Scarff

Scarff is alleged to have used social media to meet and date women in order to meet his younger victims, Mounties said.

Police said he lived in Coquitlam, but is known to have frequented various areas throughout the Lower Mainland.

Scarff appeared in court on Thursday and was subsequently released from custody on several conditions, according to officials.

He is not allowed to contact his alleged victims and is prohibited from attending areas where children may be present, including parks, playgrounds and schools.

He also cannot be employed or volunteer in a position that involves trust or authority involving young people.

Scarff can only be in the company of anyone under the age of 16 with another adult present who has been informed of his charges.

Mounties are concerned that there may be more victims who have not come forward based on the way Scarff is alleged to have approached them.

Surrey RCMP are requesting that anyone who has met Joel Scarff through social media come forward.

Woman, 22, Accused of Forcing 15-year-old Girl into Prostitution

A 22-year-old Ontario, Canada, woman who is accused of exploiting a 15-year-old and forcing her to work as a sex worker in Burlington, Ont., has been arrested, Halton Regional Police announced Friday.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Halton police officers identified and met with more than 20 sex trade workers operating in local hotels as part of a national initiative to identify victims of human trafficking and provide support to people working in the sex trade.

This sounds like a good idea positive communication instead of adversarial confrontation. Prostitutes will look out for victims and report them, I believe.

During one of those meetings, officers identified a 15-year-old girl being exploited as a sex worker at a hotel in Burlington.

The accused was “exercising control over the victim and facilitating her exploitation,” Halton police said in a Friday news release. The woman and the teen are not related, Det.-Const. Martin Dick told CBC News in Hamilton.

Dick would not elaborate on any details of the case as it “might identify the victim,” he said.

“We recognize there is a problem with human trafficking — not just in Halton,” he said. “We are aggressively targeting those responsible for exploitation.”

Martin did not elaborate on the details of the national initiative, citing the current investigation. He said it was a police-driven, two-day blitz initiated by multiple agencies and groups.

Youth trafficking 'a new trend'

The 22-year-old Angus, Ont., woman was arrested and charged with trafficking a person under the age of 18; procuring a person to become a prostitute; controlling a person to engage in prostitution; and living off the avails of a person under the age of 18.

The girl has been taken to a safe place, police say.

Halton police want people working in the sex trade industry to know police “really are there to help,” Dick said.

“This is victim-centric support. We’re here for the help and support they require.”

Workers in the sex trade looking for support can contact the Walk with Me and Chrysalis organizations, police say.

Sex trafficking involving teens and young adults is becoming increasingly common, said Timea Nagy, founder of Walk with Me, a support group created by human trafficking survivors for human trafficking victims.

“It's unfortunately a new trend,” she told CBC Hamilton, citing the recent sentencing of three teenage girls accused of running a teen prostitution ring in Ottawa involving girls between 13 and 17 years of age.

“It's the new way of making money. Traffickers recognize that so many youth are wandering the street, it's so much easier to lure them in than getting people from other countries.”

US Senate Aide Facing Child Porn Charges Hangs Himself

A former senior US Senate aide who was arrested on child pornography charges last month was found dead after hanging himself, authorities have said.

Jesse Ryan Loskarn, 35, was chief of staff to Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee until his arrest in December.

He was accused of possession and attempted distribution of child pornography.

Loskarn was living with his parents and wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet while awaiting trial.

"For everyone involved, this is a sad and tragic story from beginning to end," Mr Alexander, a Republican, said in a statement.

Mr Alexander sacked Loskarn after his arrest. A rising star in Republican politics on Capitol Hill, Loskarn had been Mr Alexander's chief of staff since 2011.

Loskarn's family members called police after finding him unresponsive in his parents' basement on Thursday, the Carroll County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

Prosecutors alleged in court documents that Loskarn made several purchases from a website offering child pornography DVDs between November 2010 and March 2011.

He was also accused of offering illicit files for download from his home computer.

Investigators with the US Postal Service searched his home last month and found a portable hard drive that contained at least 200 videos of child pornography, prosecutors said in court filings.

Loskarn had faced up to 20 years in prison on the charges.