Bantleman Still in Trouble in Indonesia

Sex assault evidence used against Neil Bantleman seriously flawed, fifth estate finds

Burlington, Ont., teacher has had conviction for assaulting 3 boys overturned
but is still stuck in Indonesia (Achmad Ibrahim/Associated Press)

By Lisa Mayor, Vanmala Subramaniam, CBC News

Canadian teacher Neil Bantleman, pictured above with his wife, Tracy, was released from Cipinang prison in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Aug. 14, 2015, but his battle with Indonesia's justice system is far from over. State prosecutors have appealed the overturning of his conviction for child sexual offences, and his passport has been seized. 

Crucial pieces of the evidence used to convict Canadian teacher Neil Bantleman of sexually assaulting young boys at a private school in Indonesia are seriously flawed, an investigation by the fifth estate has found.

"The things running through your head are: I'm Canadian, I'm a teacher, I'm going into a prison in Indonesia. Is this is a movie? Is this a nightmare?" Bantleman told the investigative program in Jakarta, in his first television interview.

Watch the fifth estate's Nightmare in Indonesia 

Bantleman, 46, who is originally from Burlington, Ont., was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison in April 2015 largely on the testimony of three kindergarten-age boys and little forensic evidence. His conviction was overturned last August, but his nightmare is far from over. The Indonesian justice ministry is determined to get Bantleman back behind bars and has filed an appeal of the most recent court decision. His passport has been revoked, leaving him stuck in Indonesia.

Herpes test key for case

The original allegations against Bantleman were made in March 2014 while he was teaching at the Jakarta International School (JIS), an upscale private school attended by children of diplomats, expatriates and wealthy Indonesians, and accused him and an Indonesian teaching assistant of sexually assaulting three kindergarten pupils some time between January 2013 and March 2014.

Perhaps the most emotionally compelling pieces of evidence in the case were lab reports that seemed to prove one of the alleged victims, a five-year-old boy, had contracted herpes.

The boy's mother, who goes by the name Pipit, had her son tested for the herpes virus a total of four times over a period of 19 months. She brandished one of those tests at a news conference in April 2014, insisting the test showed her son had tested positive for herpes. The results of the tests were entered into evidence in the case against Bantleman.

The fifth estate tracked down the boy's family at an undisclosed location in Europe.

"Yes, I believe my son was sexually assaulted by Neil Bantleman," Pipit told host Mark Kelley in an exclusive interview.

Pipit says doctors told her that her son could only have contracted the herpes virus by sexual intercourse.

Toronto specialist contradicts herpes findings

The fifth estate obtained copies of all four lab reports from Pipit and showed them to Toronto-based infectious disease specialist Dr. Sumon Chakrabarti.

'Beyond a reasonable doubt, this child has not ever been exposed to herpes.'

- Sumon Chakrabarti, infectious disease specialist

"Beyond a reasonable doubt, this child has not ever been exposed to herpes," Chakrabarti told the fifth estate.

The first two lab reports from hospitals in Indonesia indicated a positive result for what is called an IgM test.

The IgM test determines a patient's possible recent exposure to the herpes virus. But because of its high rate of false positives, the IgM test has been discontinued in most developed countries, including Canada.

Indonesian teaching assistant Ferdinand Tjiong kisses his wife outside a Jakarta court in April 2015. Tjiong and Bantleman were sentenced to 10 years in jail each that month after a four-month trial that critics say was fraught with irregularities. Their convictions were later overturned. (Darren Whiteside/Reuters)

A majority of infectious disease experts concur that another test, called IgG  — which determines a patient's latent exposure to herpes — is the most accurate way to tell if someone is carrying the herpes virus.

The IgG test results on the first two lab reports of the boy were negative, and according to Chakrabarti, two subsequent tests, done approximately a year apart, also showed negative IgG results for herpes.

To clear up any remaining confusion, the fifth estate — with his mother's permission — had the boy undergo a final test for herpes at a reputable European laboratory. The results were definitive.

"This test is actually saying that herpes is negative," Chakrabati said, referring to the most recent test result. "The child has not been exposed to herpes."

But Pipit insists that the European experts got it wrong and she maintains her son does have the herpes virus.

Magic stones and potions

On June 13, 2014, police raided the Jakarta International School, combing the building looking for clues.

Pipit's son alleged he was attacked in a secret room near the staff lounge. He also said Bantleman used a magic stone and a blue potion to numb him before the assaults.

The fifth estate obtained a tape of the police search in the staff lounge. After extensive raids of the room, police found no evidence of a magic stone, a blue potion or secret room in the lounge. They did, however, find a blender that they claim was used to mix the potion. They found no DNA, fingerprints or witnesses to prove the boys were in the teacher's lounge.

Tracy Bantleman looks through some of the cards and letters of support her husband received at their house in Jakarta. There has also been a large outpouring of anger against the Canadian, however, within Indonesia itself. (Courtesy of Tracy Bantleman)

After Bantleman's conviction, he and fellow accused Ferdinand Tjiong, a teaching assistant at JIS, were sent to Indonesia's Cipinang maximum security prison to serve their respective 10-year sentences.

Bantleman told the fifth estate about his time in prison.

"When I first arrived in Cipinang, I said to our cell leader, 'I am not guilty,'" Bantleman said. "And he's like, 'It doesn't matter.' And I remember his words, because he was right. 'Once you get to that point, you're guilty, so what are you going to do about it?' is what he said.

"When you go into the cell, there's seven or eight other guys in there, and you don't know what to do, where to sit, who to talk to, if you're going to make it that night. I mean you're going in with allegations that you abused children, this is the worst allegation that you can go into prison with. This is where you hear that, this is where you get your justice, or the street justice as they say, so yeah, we're terrified."

'We weren't getting the support we needed'

Meanwhile, Bantleman's wife, Tracy, was concerned that his case was not getting the attention it deserved from the Canadian government.

"I believe it was the U.S. embassy, the British embassy and the Australian embassy made a statement of concern, and the Canadian embassy didn't. And that's why we felt that we weren't getting the support we needed from the Canadian government right from the beginning."

In August 2015, Bantleman was released on a legal technicality, but his nightmare wasn't over yet.

Prosecutor Sarjono Turin and his staff are busy preparing their case to try to send Bantleman back to prison to finish serving his 10 year sentence.

Turin says public opinion was a factor in deciding to appeal his acquittal, but he's confident he can make the case to convict the Canadian.

"If we weren't convinced, we would not have brought this case to the courts," Turin said. "Because we had that [certainty], it was our duty to protect the interests of the country and society to bring this case to the courts. "

'I told Neil that based on past experience, you know, anything could happen.'

- Hotman Paris, defence lawyer

Even Bantleman's defence lawyer, Hotman Paris, thinks that given the outpouring of public anger around this case, it's doubtful Bantleman can win.

"I told Neil that based on past experience, you know, anything could happen," Paris said. "So, just prepare yourself. That's all I could say. And he knows that. So, he's ready for anything."

Others swept up in allegations

Six cleaners at the Jakarta International School were also the targets of sex assault allegations involving one of the three boys in Bantleman's case. Five men and one woman were arrested and beaten into confessing to sexually assaulting the six-year-old boy.

Tracy Bantleman feels her husband did not get adequate support from the
Canadian government while incarcerated. (Faiz Mercury and David Allinson)

One of the cleaners, a 27-year old named Azwar wouldn't make it through the night. Within 24 hours of his arrest, he was pronounced dead. Police say he committed suicide by drinking bleach in the bathroom, but a photo obtained by the fifth estate suggests that might not be the full story. It shows his face was badly bruised and battered and still swollen after death.

With confessions in hand, convictions were now inevitable: the four men were sentenced to eight years in prison each, and the woman got seven years as an accomplice.

Meanwhile, Bantleman and Tjiong await their fates.

"I guess we look towards the future with positivity and anticipation of being able to touch back down on Canadian soil and seeing our parents and celebrating truth and justice and freedom," Tracy Bantleman said.

It may be time to smuggle the Bantlemans out of that backward country since it is unlikely they will ever get fair treatment. I understand that it's better to stay and clear your name if there was any likelihood of that happening. But since that seems to be a low probability, the risk of ten years in prison where you might not survive the first night, just may not be worth it.

TSA Frisks 10-year-old Girl after Finding Juice Pouch

I would be in jail right now if that had been my daughter.

I would have completely lost it.

A young girl’s father was outraged after a TSA agent patted her down for nearly two minutes at an airport. The search was initiated after agents found a juice pouch mistakenly left in a carry-on handbag.

The frisking happened last week in North Carolina and the girl’s father recorded the incident on his smart phone. Kevin Payne and his daughter, Vendela, were heading home to San Diego by way of Raleigh-Durham International Airport, when Transportation Security Administration agents discovered a Capri Sun juice pouch.

Liquids exceeding three ounces are not allowed in carry-on bags for fear that they might contain explosives, and so TSA agents initiated a pat down followed by an hour of extra screening.

© kevin payne / YouTube

“Maybe the TSA agents were bad apples, maybe they were under-trained, maybe they need re-training, maybe they did everything by the book,” Kevin Payne said, according to KXAN. “I don’t really know, but it was an uncomfortable situation.”

Payne said that TSA agents told him he wasn’t allowed to film, but he recorded the incident on his smart phone anyway, and has since posted the video on YouTube and Nextdoor.

“I’m a very big proponent of security, and if they were patting me down no problem, but this was a 10-year-old girl,” Payne said, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. “The whole system seems to not work the way it should be working.”

His daughter said she kept herself together because she didn’t want to “throw a tantrum like a one-year-old,” according to KNSD.

"I know it's to keep everybody on the plane safe, but she kept patting me down," Vendela said. "It was like, over and over."

Vendela, you are my hero today for not losing it when you were being abused. I pray you  will put this behind you and not let it affect your life. You have improved conditions for other girls your age and you can be proud of that. You are amazingly strong. God bless you.

The Payne family made it on to their flight, but only because their plane was delayed.

The TSA's website says screening procedures are been modified for children under 12. They will have a reduced likelihood of being patted down. How exactly screening procedures are being modified is not being detailed due to security issues.

All this over a box of juice. That's just insane. I'm sure they poured the juice out and found that it was not an explosive. So why the drama? Surely these agents see this all the time. You have to wonder about the agent - 'tragically stupid' would be the best term I could use to describe her.

A quick pat-down I could have tolerated, but the absurd, pains-taking pace and the repetition would have pushed me over the edge, and I have almost no temper nor bent towards violence. When you post as many articles on child sex abuse and pedophilia as I do on this blog, then you see what could easily be interpreted as exactly that occurring to your little girl - I would have been arrested!

Cologne Attacks: German Police Say New Year's Assaults May Be Linked to Criminal Network

About 90 people filed complaints related to string of sexual assaults and thefts during Dec. 31 celebrations

The Associated Press

Women hold up placards that read 'Mrs. Merkel: Where are you? What are you saying? This worries us!' during a protest in front of the Cologne Cathedral. About 90 people have reported being robbed, threatened or sexually molested during New Year's celebrations in the German city. (Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters)

Germany says nearly 1.1 million people registered as asylum-seekers in 2015

Police in Germany said Wednesday they are investigating whether a string of sexual assaults and thefts during New Year's celebrations in Cologne is linked to a known criminal network in the nearby city of Duesseldorf.

The assaults last week have prompted outrage in Germany and a fresh debate about immigration, after police said the perpetrators appeared to be of "Arab or North African origin."

Cologne cathedral

A more nuanced picture of what happened in the New Year's Eve chaos outside the Cologne train station emerged Wednesday.

Police said about 1,000 men gathered there and that smaller groups surrounded individual women, harassed them and stole their belongings. Police do not believe all 1,000 men were involved in the attacks.

The interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state, where Cologne and Duesseldorf are located, told news agency dpa that police have identified three suspects but have not yet arrested anyone.

About 90 people filed criminal complaints, though police have not said how many of them were women who were sexually assaulted. At least one woman said she was raped.

Police said some of the assaults in Cologne appeared similar to incidents that have been reported over the past two years in Duesseldorf, where men have groped women to distract them before stealing their belongings. The two cities are 40 kilometres apart.

Markus Niesczeri, a spokesman for Duesseldorf police, said that since the start of 2014, officers there have identified more than 2,000 suspects of North African origin in connection with organized thefts, though he did not say how many. He declined to say whether there have been any arrests in those cases.

Duesseldorf police were working closely with their counterparts in Cologne to determine whether crimes in the two cities might be connected, Niesczeri said.

Authorities have cautioned that the nationality and residency status of the Cologne suspects is still unknown, since no one has been arrested.

Germany registered nearly 1.1 million people as asylum seekers last year, according to Interior Ministry figures released Wednesday, and politicians who have called for limits on migration have seized on the incident in Cologne to bolster their position.

Germany's top security official stressed that those involved must be punished regardless of where they come from. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said that "you cannot draw a general suspicion against refugees from the indications that they were perhaps people who looked North African."

He added that "a bit of patience is necessary to clear up as completely as possible the structure of the perpetrators and the organizational structures there might have been," including whether there was any link to similar, smaller-scale incidents on New Year's Eve in Hamburg.

De Maiziere noted that, under German law, criminal behavior has a direct effect on a person's asylum proceedings if he or she is sentenced to at least three years in prison. He said that "we will have to talk about whether that needs to be changed."

In any case, "anyone who commits serious crimes, whatever status he is in, must reckon with being deported from Germany," de Maiziere said.

Disturbing Allegations Revealed at Northern Ireland Child Sex Abuse Inquiry

Soldier admitted abusing boy but was never prosecuted, inquiry hears

The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry is carrying out public hearings at
Banbridge Courthouse in Co Down. Picture by Arthur Allison, Pacemaker

Michael McHugh, Press Association

A SERVING soldier admitted abusing a boy from a residential home run by Anglican missionaries in Northern Ireland but was never prosecuted, a public inquiry lawyer has said.

The serviceman first came to Northern Ireland at the start of the Troubles in 1969 and visited Manor House Children's Home near Belfast to take children on day trips and play football, his testimony to police said.

Stormont's power-sharing administration has established an independent probe which has received allegations of physical and sexual wrongdoing at the institution run by the Society for the Irish Church Missions to the Roman Catholics.

Christine Smith QC, counsel for the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry, said one alleged perpetrator was later interviewed by police.

"He took children on day trips, played football, and admitted having feelings for MH41 (one of the residents).

"He admitted abusing MH41 at his own home."

The alleged victim also claimed the accused's wife had sex with him.

The soldier later joined the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) in 1977.

In 2004 no prosecution was directed for the alleged early 1970s abuse, Ms Smith said.

She earlier outlined the issues at the home: "Complaints of physical and sexual abuse, physical abuse by staff and sexual abuse by visitors."

A member of staff accused of sexual abuse is dead. Ms Smith said mistreatment was alleged by the children's peers.

The Society for the Irish Church Missions to the Roman Catholics was established to convert Catholics to Protestantism.

Manor House
It ran Manor House Children's Home in Lisburn, Co Down, from 1927 to 1984 and had links to the Church of Ireland.

There was also claims of "sexual touching" among children at Manor House and in one case a girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by another child. He was moved to a different home.

In another case one offender was on bail for an offence at a home run by Barnardo's, when he was accused of another assault involving a Manor House resident.

Six people have made allegations to the inquiry of physical and sexual abuse.

Two of the witnesses have already given public evidence during an earlier module of the investigation concerning the transfer of child migrants to Australia.

Testimony is due to be taken from three people who resided at Manor House in the mid to late 1960s, while another was there for a year in the early 1970s.

The inquiry began hearing evidence of alleged wrongdoing at the home during public sessions in Banbridge, Co Down, on Monday.

Founded in the mid-1800s, bishops and archbishops were constant patrons but more recently growing ecumenism left many in the church feeling outreach to Catholics was "politically incorrect", the lawyer added. The organisation has had no involvement in provision of residential child care in Northern Ireland for more than 30 years.

The missionaries included Anglican evangelical clergy and laity in Ireland, Ms Smith told the inquiry panel.

The module of evidence is expected to last one week.

The HIA is considering harrowing claims of emotional, physical and sexual abuse at 22 institutions in Northern Ireland from 1922, when the state was founded, to 1995. It is chaired by retired judge Sir Anthony Hart and is also probing actions at homes run by the Catholic church and the state.

In total, the Inquiry is expected to hear from more than 300 witnesses during public evidence sessions.

Compensation
The inquiry was established by Northern Ireland's power-sharing ministerial Executive and is expected to make recommendations on how to compensate victims.

Retired judge Sir Anthony Hart is leading the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) into child abuse in residential institutions between 1922 and 1995.

While the inquiry's investigative work is not scheduled to finish until next summer, with a report due to be submitted to Stormont ministers in January 2017, Sir Anthony said he would recommend compensation.

"Because our investigations are not complete we are not yet in a position to say what our findings of systemic failings will be, or what all our recommendations will be," he said.

"However, what we can now say is that from the evidence we have heard so far we will recommend that there should be a scheme to award financial compensation to those children who suffered abuse in children's homes and other institutions in Northern Ireland between 1922 and 1995."

6 more institutions to be investigated
Sir Anthony also announced the names of a further six institutions to be investigated, bringing the total number to 22.

The additional institutions are: Manor House (a children's home near Lisburn); Millisle Borstal; St Joseph's Training School for Girls (at Middletown, Co Armagh); and three Good Shepherd convents in Derry, Belfast and Newry.

Britain Must Resettle 3,000 Refugee Children Vulnerable to Prostitution, Drugs Trade – MPs

© Pascal Rossignol / Reuters

The British government should demonstrate its commitment to helping the most vulnerable victims of the Syrian conflict by immediately resettling 3,000 refugee children currently scattered across Europe, a group of MPs has said.

In a report published on Tuesday, Britain’s International Development Committee (IDC) said it is particularly concerned about the plight of refugee children who have been left to fend for themselves in Europe. The IDC warned many of these youngsters are vulnerable to prostitution, child labor and the drugs trade.

Not to mention child sex abuse...

UK charity Save the Children estimates at least 26,000 lone refugee children entered Europe in 2015. It has recorded multiple cases of sexual abuse, violence and extortion against child refugees and is calling upon the government to resettle 3,000 of them in the UK as soon as possible.

While the IDC’s report praised the government for setting an “exemplary standard” by ring-fencing over £1.1 billion to deal with the refugee crisis, it called upon Britain to back Save the Children’s recommendation.

The IDC said 3,000 child refugees should be resettled in addition to the 20,000 Syrian refugees ministers have pledged to take in by 2020.

Chair of the Committee Stephen Twigg said children are among the most vulnerable refugees the crisis has created.

“The first refugee casualty of 2016 was a drowned two-year-old boy pulled from the sea off the Greek coast,” he said.

“Having survived the treacherous journey, there is a grave possibility that unaccompanied children become the victims of people traffickers who force them into prostitution, child labor and the drugs trade. This is an issue of utmost urgency.”

© Pascal Rossignol / Reuters

The IDC’s report follows sharp criticism from leading aid agencies on the government’s handling of the refugee crisis. On Sunday, a group of 27 charities, including Oxfam, the International Rescue Committee and Amnesty International, branded the Tories response to the situation “clearly inadequate.”

The IDC’s report called upon the government to continue to monitor the profiles of migrants referred for resettlement in a climate of under-registration. It said vulnerable groups such as the disabled, the LGBT community and Christians must be considered. The IDC also called for sustainable employment for Syrian refugees in their host countries.

Save the Children CEO Justin Forsyth welcomed the IDC’s demand for the government to resettle 3,000 lone refugee children.

“These children need and deserve our help and protection. Left to fend for themselves, lone children are extremely vulnerable along the refugee route. Children report having been beaten, extorted and sexually abused on their journey,” he said.

“Britain has a proud history of helping child refugees and we can play our part now in protecting those affected by the worst humanitarian crisis since World War Two.”

Lone child refugees, who are fleeing war, persecution and abject poverty, come from Afghanistan, Syria, Eritrea, Somalia, and Iraq, according to Save the Children.

The government says proposals for accepting more child refugees are “under discussion,” but no concrete decision has been made.

“As this report rightly makes clear, the UK has been at the forefront of the humanitarian response to the Syria crisis and we will continue to push others to honor their commitments,” a government spokesperson told RT.

"Our program in Syria has already resettled vulnerable children as part of family groups, with over 1000 refugees resettled by Christmas."

"Additionally, the UK Government's £1.1 billion commitment is helping hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable people in Syria and the region to rebuild their lives and next month's Syria conference in London will raise significant new funding from the international community."

Thank you Save the Children and IDC for raising this terrible issue.

Let us pray for urgent action, and do what we can to pressure the UK government and all EU countries to address the needs of the 26,000 or so extremely vulnerable children.

Large Crowd of Muslim Migrant Men Molest Girls in German City

‘New dimension of crime’: Crowd of ‘Arab origin’ blamed for mass sexual assaults in Cologne on New Years Eve

Cologne, Germany © Report24 / YouTube

New Year’s celebrations in the western German city of Cologne escalated into chaos with a series of sexual assaults, including a rape, being blamed on an uncontrolled crowd of intoxicated men of “Arab or North African” origin.

The mass attack on women that happened “in the middle of the city” around Cologne Central Station on New Year's Eve was “an intolerable situation,” Chief of Police Wolfgang Albers told reporters.

So far the authorities in Cologne have received 60 complaints. The crowd of around 1,000 men attacked people in the city center in what Albers described as a “crime of a whole new dimension.”

According to report up to 1,000 heavily intoxicated men of “Arab or North African” origin flooded the city’s famous square between its central train station and Gothic cathedral. Aged between 15 and 35, the crowd began throwing firecrackers and shooting fireworks as the new year arrived.

While the festivities were happening to the sound of of cheers, some men began sexually assaulting women and pick-pocketing feasters. Some 60 criminal complaints have so far been officially filed, including at least one allegation of rape.

Authorities expect more victims to come forward in the next few days. Local media meanwhile reported that at least 80 people fell victim to the gangs, 35 of whom were subjected to sexual assaults. One of the victims, named only as Katja L, told Der Express about her ordeal with the crowd of men who assaulted her buttocks and breasts.

“I was groped everywhere. It was a nightmare. Although we shouted and beat them, the guys did not stop. I was desperate and think I was touched around 100 times in the 200 meters,” she said. “Fortunately I wore a jacket and trousers. A skirt would probably have been torn away from me.”

To quell the New Year’s disturbance in Cologne, the police deployed more than 200 officers, involving 143 local policemen in addition to 70 federal officers, The Local reported. On Sunday, police arrested five men at the station who had been accused of threatening and robbing females.

New Year’s attacks has sparked a strong wave of criticism of German handling of the migrant open-door policy introduced by Chancellor Angela Merkel in September that resulted in over a million of refugees intake in Germany.

To address the migrant threat, Cologne’s Mayor Henriette Reker called in a crisis meeting for Tuesday, to deal with crimes she called “monstrous.”

“We cannot tolerate this development of lawlessness,” Reker told the Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper.

Yeah, good luck with that.

The state interior minister for North Rhine-Westphalia, said that swift action is needed to stop such crimes from reoccurring.

“We will not accept that groups of North African men gather expressly for the purpose of debasing women by sexually assaulting them,” Ralf Jager said in an interview with the local ‘Express’ newspaper.

Meanwhile the leader of the North Rhine-Westphalia branch of Germany's main police union, Arnold Plickert, called the New Year's assaults “a massive attack on basic rights.”

“Any refugees who have a problem integrating into our open society and respecting the rights of other people” must be dealt with using the “full force of the law,” Plickert told German press agency DPA.

German MP Steffan Bilger from Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union used the Cologne event to urge the government to change its refugee policy.

“It can’t go on like this,” he tweeted. “Urgently needed: reduction of influx, secure borders, intensifying of deportations and meaningful justice.”

Last Wednesday the Saechsische Zeitung daily reported, citing unpublished official figures, that in 2015 Germany had accommodated nearly 1.1 million refugees, five times more than in 2014.

Hundreds of US Military Children Sexually Abused Annually – Report

© Ahmad Masood / Reuters

Children of US service members are sexually abused hundreds of times per year, most often by enlisted male soldiers, according to a new report. The entire story is still unclear given the Pentagon's limited insight into abuse reports and legal information.

There were at least 1,584 substantiated cases of military dependents, or children of US service members, being sexually assaulted between fiscal years 2010 and 2014, according to data provided to the Associated Press by the US Department of Defense. The victims were "overwhelmingly" female, AP reported.

Enlisted military were found to have abused children in 840 cases; most of those service members were male. Family members of dependent children were responsible in 332 cases.

Though the Defense Department's offering of sexual abuse data does deliver some insight into the subject, the provided data is incomplete. The Pentagon omitted the ages of offenders and victims, locations of incidents of abuse, which branch of the military was involved, and which incidents resulted in legal action.

The Defense Department told AP that "information that could unintentionally uniquely identify victims was withheld from release to eliminate possible 're-victimization' of the innocent."

In November, AP reported that more than half the cases in the military justice system involve child victims of sex assault. In 2015 alone, service members victimized children in 133 of 301 sex crime convictions, the investigation found.

Service members with a rank of between E-4 and E-6 – often corporals, sergeants, and staff sergeants – constituted most of the enlisted abusers, with 49 of the cases involving officers. The Pentagon's Family Advocacy Program, which handles reports of child sex abuse in the military but not the legal proceedings that may result, said many cases involve service members with E-4 and E-6 ranks because they make up the largest amount of active-duty personnel and the largest number of military parents.

As many as 160 additional cases of sexual abuse involving a child abused multiple times or a repeat abuser could have happened from 2010 to 2014 based on duplication in the data, AP reported.

The Pentagon only tracks sexual abuse of military dependents, not cases of other child victims, AP reported.

The two AP reports have called into question the military justice system's "cloak of secrecy."In December, three Democratic senators urged Defense Department Secretary Ash Carter to make military sex-crime data, especially involving children, more transparent to the public.

Snapchat Rape: French Police Question 2 Men Who Allegedly Posted Crime via App

Police in France are questioning two men who they say raped a woman and uploaded a video of it on the social media sites Snapchat and Facebook.

© Eric Thayer / Reuters

The video, which lasts almost five minutes, shows the victim, believed to be 19 years old, in a drunken or drugged state, being sexually assaulted by the two suspects, understood to be in their twenties.

The men, whose faces cannot be seen during the video, are seen purchasing alcohol at the start of the video before returning to an apartment where they abuse the young woman as she tried to fight them off, The Local reports.

The video also shows the naked men inserting a bottle into the woman after she was undressed and apparently passed out. The woman was understood to be "in a state of shock" when she was found at her home, but does not remember the attack.

The explicit video first originated on Snapchat on Sunday before being uploaded to Facebook, causing outrage among social media users who alerted police to the video.

It has since been removed from both sites.

Within hours, police were able to identify and locate the two men involved, one of whom was already known to police.

Internet users also took to Facebook in search of the two accused, posting links to their alleged profiles.

Local media say they were arrested in Perpignan, a town near the border with Spain, and are currently being questioned on suspicion of aggravated rape.

Perpignan, France

Sexting Scandal: Simon Danczuk MP Rejects Calls to Quit

Sexting scandal: Simon Danczuk MP rejects calls to quit

as protesters lay siege to his office

Labour member of parliament Simon Danczuk © Andrew Yates / Reuters

Labour MP Simon Danczuk, who reportedly sent explicit text messages to a 17-year-old girl, is under mounting pressure to resign after protesters descended on his Rochdale constituency office on Monday.

The 49-year-old, who is at the heart of a deepening sexting scandal, admitted he was “silly” for sending explicit text messages to the 17-year-old dominatrix, who had asked him for a job. 

In a string of lewd messages, the MP told Sophena Houlihan how “horny” he was and asked her if she wanted “spanking.”

Following the publication of an investigation by The Sun newspaper, which exposed the allegations last week, the Labour Party suspended Danczuk, a right-winger who has said frequently that socialist Jeremy Corbyn should not be Labour leader, came to prominence by promoting himself as a campaigner against child sex abuse.

Days after the controversy broke, the MP’s ex-wife Sonia Rossington, 39, claimed he bullied her into “awful sex” while she was asleep.

Danczuk dismissed the allegations, claiming Rossington was “consumed by bitterness.”

On Monday, a group of protesters blocked the entrance to Danczuk’s office and called on him to quit.

I count 27. Shame and embarrassment might cause me to quit if I were
Simon Danczuk, but 27 probably politically motivated protesters would not.

(I was unable to copy the video urls. They may  be viewed here.)

Insisting he is still fit to be an MP, Danczuk addressed the crowds and said: “I have been very clear about what issues I have addressed personally and I will continue to do so.”

“It is not for ex-girlfriends or ex-wives to determine who the MP for Rochdale is. It is for the residents of Rochdale to determine who the MP for Rochdale is.”

The MP also urged Corbyn to distance himself from the protest and suggested “Corbynites” were among those targeting him.

“This is the ugly face of extremist groups in politics and the Labour leadership should distance themselves from it,” he told reporters outside his office.

“I know I’ve been silly and I’ve said I’m extremely sorry, but I’m not going to be dragged through a kangaroo court so my enemies can exact revenge.

“We are seeing an orchestrated campaign to use what’s happening in my personal life to whip up opposition to me.”

Danczuk apologized for sending the sexually explicit texts and claimed a “drinking problem” led him to do it.

He told the Sun newspaper he was “drunk, horny and on my own.”

However, former Rochdale Liberal Democrat councilor Liz Thirsk said that being drunk was “no excuse.”

“If he was a schoolteacher would that be allowed, or if he was a social worker? Would the fact that I was drunk be an excuse? If you go up in court accused of a crime, would the fact that you were drunk excuse you? That can’t be acceptable,” she told The Telegraph.

Commenting on the controversy, Corbyn told The Daily Mirror: “Simon has now been suspended and is being investigated.”

This is a distressing and most unfortunate development. There are far too few champions willing to stand against child sex abuse, when one of them falls, it's a tragic loss.

Molestation Charges Dropped Against Church Leader with History of Child Sex Abuse

Dave Eckert, DeAnn Smith, Angie Ricono KCTV

Overland Park with Kansas City in background

OVERLAND PARK -- Charges have been dropped against a deaf church leader who is accused of molesting a church goer with disabilities.

Prosecutors are refusing to discuss the decision involving a convicted sex offender.

Rodney Sexton had been charged in Johnson County with aggravated sexual battery. Sexton was initially accused of molesting a 31-year-old man who is deaf and functions at the level of an 8-year-old child.

On Tuesday, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe dropped the charges against Sexton. This was just a day after Sexton made his first court appearance.

The mother of the 31-year old is furious at Howe and his office.

"Disappointed is way past the word," the woman said. "We want action. We want somebody to take action."

The mother said there was an adult witness to the abuse and Sexton sent her an apology text. She said her son needs to be protected and not victimized again.

The woman is angry and upset that Sexton could be a church leader and teach at Metropolitan Community College's Maple Woods campus for years despite being convicted in the 1980s on sex charges involving a child when Sexton worked at the Kansas School of the Deaf.

Church officials refused comment on Tuesday. MCC officials would not discuss Tuesday whether Sexton listed his conviction on his job application.

"We are investigating the recent series of events and once we have more information we can assess the matter," Christina Medina, a spokeswoman for MCC, said in an email to KCTV5.

Sexton began working for the community college five years ago. The community college didn't do a criminal background check when Sexton was hired because he was a part-time employee.

The checks are now done on part-time employees in addition to those previously performed on full-time employees.

Sexton wouldn't open his door when KCTV5 went to his home on Tuesday. His attorney said Tuesday that his client is innocent and horrified by the media coverage.

KCTV