ANTIOCH -- Ranging in age from 9 to 16, six sisters had been sexually abused by their parents virtually every day since they were toddlers before finding hope in 1995 that their nightmare would end.

Instead, they say, it grew more horrific as the people they counted on to rescue them -- police, child-welfare workers, their church pastor -- failed to deliver.

A year after their parents were imprisoned for sex crimes spanning 20 years, the Dutro sisters -- Glenda Stripes, Amber and Sarah Dutro, Martha McKnelly, Frances Smith and Christina Moore -- are now suing the people and agencies they say failed to protect them as children by not following laws and procedures for handling child abuse.

Child Protective Services went to the Dutro sisters' Antioch home Aug. 18, 1995, after police had garnered two confessions from their pedophile father because 14-year-old Glenda had disclosed to a church pastor that she was being molested. Had they been given a moment alone with social workers, the sisters say, they would have told them they had been tortured for 16 days in preparation of the CPS visit, after the pastor had tipped off their parents days before calling police.

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Circuit Judge Wendy Berger sentenced a Marion County man this morning to life without parole for sexually abusing and molesting a girl over a 16-year span, beginning when she was 5 or 6.

He was found guilty in March after the jury deliberated 12 minutes.

George Robert Lightkep Jr., 66, was convicted of two counts of sexual battery on a person younger than 12.

Authorities said Lightkep began abusing the girl in 1990 and continued to do so until 2006. They said “controlled phone calls” and interviews with the girl and a Marion County victim led to his arrest and conviction.

Last week, a 24-year-old Navy wife pleaded guilty in an Onslow County court to charges that she sexually abused a 5-year-old child last year. Investigators say Laura Elizabeth Anderson and her husband, whose name has not been made public at this time, performed various sex acts upon the victim once she fell unconscious, because of sleeping pills the couple gave her.

Anderson's husband is in the Navy, as is another man also charged in the incident. His name has not been released either. Anderson's husband is at the brig aboard Camp Lejeune while officials released the other Navy sailor to his Command.

According to hooc.org, Anderson was arrested in April 2011 at Camp Lejeune’s main gate and transported to her home. There agents seized computers, which were analyzed by NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigation Services) cyber teams for further evidence. Computers seized from the quarters were analyzed by NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigation Service) cyber teams for additional evidence.

The couple came to the attention of NCIS agents after agents received information they were involved in recording sex acts they performed upon the little girl. The military wife was sentenced to 18 to 22 years in prison on a first-degree sexual offense. She has been transferred to the North Carolina Correctional Institution for women in Raleigh.

Jerme Hopwood, 33, Mark Hopwood, 43, and Lucinda Hopwood, 58, each face charges in the case.  They were arrested in January.

Mark Hopwood faces charges of child sex abuse and incest.  He was previously convicted of exhibition or dissemination of obscene materials to a minor and, in January, was convicted of failure to register as a sex offender.

Jerme Hopwood faces identical charges of sexual abuse and incest, but faces five counts of each, as well as charges of indecent exposure, indecent contact with a child and lascivious conduct with a minor.

Lucinda Hopwood faces a single charge of child endangerment.

A Long Beach man is facing capital murder and molestation charges as authorities allege that he stabbed to death his 9-year-old stepdaughter to cover up months of sexual abuse.

Jacinto Zuniga Trujillo, 31, is alleged to have stabbed the girl -- identified in court papers as Xiomara J. -- because he feared she might reveal that he been sexually abusing her since November, prosecutors alleged.

The District Attorney's Office filed a special circumstances murder charge, which would allow it to seek the death penalty in the case.

The girl's lifeless body was found in the parking lot of the Los Altos United Methodist Church on Saturday at about 11 a.m. Trujillo was found a short distance from the girl's body, suffering from self-inflicted stab wounds. Investigators say he attempted to commit suicide.

He was taken to a Long Beach hospital for treatment and released the next day. Authorities immediately took him into custody on suspicion of murder. Trujillo has yet to enter a plea in the case but made a brief appearance in Long Beach Superior Court earlier this week.

Trujillo is accused of the special circumstance allegation that the victim "was killed because she was a witness to a crime," specifically child molestation.

He also charged with five counts of oral copulation and sexual penetration with a child under the age of 10 involving the victim.

The District Attorney’s Office will not make a decision on whether to seek the death penalty against Trujillo until the case moves closer to trial.

Authorities found letters written in blood next to the girl's body in a lot at the corner of Woodruff Avenue and Willow Street. The writing was on the side of what appeared to be a gray container that authorities are considering evidence in the case. No other details about the letters immediately were available.

A former Northern Virginia political leader was convicted Wednesday of molesting two girls, ages 9 and 10. during a sleepover party for his daughter’s 10th birthday last summer.

Michael Gardner, husband of former Falls Church mayor Robin Gardner, a current member of the City Council, was convicted of two counts of sexual battery and one count of object penetration. He reacted stoically to the verdict.

An Arlington County Circuit Court jury recommended a sentence of 22 years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

Gardner, former chairman of the Falls Church City Democratic Committee, went into his basement, where eight of his daughter’s friends were sleeping during her 10th birthday party. He was convicted Wednesday of touching two of them.

Taking the stand during the eight-day trial, Gardner denied all the charges against him. Prosecutors showed evidence that his DNA was on one victim’s underwear and another’s pajamas. Investigators said they think the DNA was from Gardner’s saliva.

Judge Benjamin Kendrick set a new trial on that charge for Sept. 7, the same day he is scheduled to sentence Gardner. He can impose the jury’s sentence or reduce it.

The victims’ parents spoke to the jury before sentencing, describing how difficult life has been since the incident. Several jurors cried during that portion of the proceeding, and some wiped their eyes as they left the courtroom after the trial’s conclusion.

One mother, whom The Washington Post is not identifying to protect her child, said her daughter has become fearful, angry and combative.  “She is disillusioned,” the girl’s father said. “She had no concept of the evil that could happen in the world, that could happen to her.”

Robin Gardner also addressed the jury before sentencing. She spoke tearfully of the trauma her children have endured and how close they are to their father. She also said Michael Gardner lost his job and was not permitted to live in his house with his children after his arrest.

A mother who allowed her de-facto husband to sexually abuse her two teenage daughters, under the guise of teaching them all about sex and protecting them from sexual predators, today pleaded guilty to her own child sex offenses.

The 43-year-old woman pleaded guilty in the Brisbane District Court to two counts of indecent treatment of a child - namely her own daughter - at Forest Lake, west of Brisbane, between May 1 and August 31, 2008.

Judge Michael Rackemann was told the woman, who cannot be named under Queensland law so as not to identify the victim, willfully exposed her daughter to an indecent act and film.

Lawyers for the woman requested the sentencing hearing be adjourned briefly so as to her have her psychologically assessed.

The Courier-Mail last month revealed the 51-year-old stepfather had pleaded not guilty to 23 sex offences, including two counts of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child under 16 and 13 of rape, between March 20, 2005, and October 8, 2008.

One of the girls, a jury was told, claimed that during one occasion she was being molested by her stepfather, her mother - who was not then on trial - said to her: "It doesn't matter if you're not in the mood, you've got to at least learn this stuff.''

Prosecutor Ken Spinaze, said the Crown alleged the man, with the consent of his de-facto wife, either rape or molested the sisters over a two-and-a-year period.

He said the man and the girl's mother told the eldest daughter they wanted to teach her about sex in the hope of protecting her from sexual predators.

Lawyers for the stepfather had argued it would have been impossible for him to have had sex with the girls during a crucial time when they claimed they had been raped because he had just undergone painful major back surgery.

The stepfather is currently in custody and listed for sentence in June, while the mother was granted bail ahead of sentencing later this week.

A former police officer accused of having a sexual relationship with a girl that spanned 10 years and led to three children while he was on the force was arrested Friday morning.

George B. Gibson, 43, last known address 1595 Heatherview Lane, Heath, was suspected of engaging in sexual contact and conduct with a young girl between Aug. 21, 1993, and Aug. 31, 2003, County Prosecutor Ken Oswalt said. The girl was 8 years old when the suspected sexual abuse began.

The girl, whom Gibson knew through her mother, was 15 years old when she first had Gibson's child, who now is 10, Oswalt said. They have two other children, ages 7 and 19 months, together, he said.

Gibson worked as an officer for the Hebron and Union Township police departments while the suspected sexual abuse occurred. His police officer certification was suspended in February 2006 because of inactivity, according to the Ohio Attorney General's Office.

The alleged behavior was uncovered during Licking County Child Support Enforcement Agency proceedings when officials realized the pair's oldest child was conceived when the mother was 15 years old, Oswalt said.

The indictment was sealed until Gibson's arrest Friday morning because authorities were concerned he might leave the area, Oswalt said.  Gibson has hired an attorney and has not made a statement to Heath police, who investigated the incidents, Oswalt said.

For so many years he was called Fire Chief. Now Jamie Geer has a new title: sexual predator.

On Friday afternoon, a jury found Geer guilty on all the sexual abuse charges he was facing.

Geer sat silently in his chair as his life changed forever, while his accuser, a young woman now 19, and her family shed some tears.

After the verdict, Judge Philip Federico commended the teen for her courageous decision to finally come forward and tell law enforcement about how Geer molested her for nearly 10 years.

Geer was immediately sentenced to life in prison, his shoulders sagging while standing in front of the judge. Because the girl was under 12 when the abuse started, that was a mandatory sentence.

"I don't know if anyone can be prepared for a verdict like this," Geer's attorney David Parry later told reporters. "He's very upset. I know he intends to appeal the conviction."

Today 71 year old Dennis Newell was sentenced in the Christchurch District Court to eight and half years in prison.

Newell continues to deny the offending even though facing eight charges for sexual abuse of children under the age of 12 years spanning a decade of abuse some 40 years ago. In delivering the sentence Judge Paul Kellar told the court that Newell’s case had some chilling aspects.

ECPAT Child ALERT’s  Director Alan Bell applauds the sentence. “This is a suitable sentence for a person who offended over a lengthy period. He should not get any less. He gets locked up for a few years but his victims have to live with the harm caused by his actions for a lifetime. I just hope this sends two messages to would be offenders. Firstly that this crime against vulnerable children will not be tolerated and will be dealt with severely. Secondly the long arm of the law covers a span of time and justice will eventually be meted out. This case should serve as a deterrent.”  ECPAT Child ALERT is a child protection agency working to prevent the sexual exploitation of children.

The abuse victims present in court this morning asked the judge to allow publication of Newell's name and the lifting of name suppression was granted.

A young woman who suffered years of sexual abuse at the hands of her adoptive father has courageously revealed her identity to help other victims.

Bethany Loerke, 20, spent her early childhood in the foster care system before being adopted by a doctor and his wife, a nurse, to be raised with their three biological children.

However behind the facade of a privileged upbringing, Miss Loerke was sexually assaulted by the man who was supposed to protect her from the age of five.

The attacks were only revealed when the girl worked up the courage to tell her mother shortly before her 11th birthday.

Doctor James Loerke pleaded guilty to sexual molestation and was sentenced to 20 years in 2003 - however he is eligible for parole in three years after his sentence was reduced.

For years, Miss Loerke, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, was known to the press as 'the girl' as her identity could not be revealed.

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Thomas Becker, 53, is facing criminal charges after police find images of child pornography on his computer. Becker was arrested on April 16th after an on-going investigation that had previously resulted from charges of rape against three female juveniles.

During that investigation, police seized Becker's computer, hard drive and several thumb drives from his home. Investigators found several images and videos depicting child porn on his computer and thumb drives. Becker is charged with 51 counts of sexual abuse of children.

He is currently in Lancaster County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bail.

More than two dozen people, including a township official, were arrested in a sweeping child porn investigation in New Jersey, officials said Tuesday.

The 27 arrested include a public works director in Morristown. Most of the suspects were charged with possession of child pornography; two were charged with distribution.

"These people who create the demand for these images allow this industry to exist," State Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa said.

Officials say one of the men arrested lived in a home connected to a child-care facility.     

Authorities say the investigation began in January. The first suspect was arrested March 1. Authorities say the 23-year-old man lived next to a child daycare center.

Another suspect allegedly took pornographic photos while sexually assaulting a child, officials said. Yet another was downloading pornographic images when detectives got a search warrant.

Detectives say they traced digital fingerprints from the images as they passed through cyberspace.

The arrests took place in 20 New Jersey towns. It wasn't known if any of the suspects had lawyers.

The Pennsylvania State Police and the Centre County District Attorney's office filed more than 400 counts of child sexual abuse charge against Jeffrey Scott Storms, of Bellefonte.

An investigation was launched in December when one of the alleged victims, a child, reported what had happened to the state police, according to the pres release. The investigation revealed "several other victims" of Storms', and a search warrant used on his Bellefonte home resulted in the discovery of 175 photos and videos of child pornography that were located on various electronic devices, according to the press release.

Centre County District Judge Allen Sinclair arraigned Storms on Friday morning and he is currently being held on $250,000 straight bail, according to the press release.

His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.

Judge Sinclair's office did not release the criminal complaint to the media at this time, which contains the narrative of the police investigation because it is "too long."

A prosecutor leveled more charges Monday against a husband and wife accused of torturing and starving the man's 15-year-old daughter and forcing her to live in their basement for years.

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne charged the couple with felony reckless endangerment, child abuse and child neglect in February. He also filed felony sexual assault and child abuse charges against the girl's stepbrother.

Moments before the man and wife were scheduled to enter pleas in court Monday afternoon, Ozanne added four more felonies against each of them, including causing mental harm to a child, failure to protect a child, false imprisonment and child neglect. He did not add any more counts against the stepbrother.

Elmer Granados, 45, a self-employed landscaper pleaded not guilty Wednesday in state Superior Court to charges that he raped a teenage girl repeatedly over the past two years.

Judge Susan Reynolds continued Granados' previously set $275,000 bond and continued the case to April 25.

Police said the investigation began Monday after the girl told her church pastor about the abuse. The pastor notified a social worker from Catholic Family Services, who in turn contacted the state Department of Children and Families.

Granados was taken into custody at his home Tuesday afternoon.

The victim, now 15, told investigators the abuse began before her family came to Danbury from another country in 2010, and there have been at least 20 incidents since then, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in court.

The girl's mother told police she suspected Granados was molesting her daughter and asked the girl about it several times, according to the court file.

The girl denied being abused because she was afraid of Granados, police said. The victim said Granados threatened to kill her and other members of her family if she told, according to the arrest warrant.

The RCMP have 20 criminal investigations underway into child sexual and/or physical abuse at the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children.

Theresa Ellison, 46, lived at the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children from 1976 to 1984. Jane Earle, was the executive director of the home for 10 months starting in 1980. The two made a formal complaint with the Bible Hill detachment of the RCMP in March.

“It was changing daily,” Sgt. Brigdit Leger said of the number of complainants Thursday, a few weeks after a special Mounties and Halifax Regional Police sexual assault team began asking alleged victims of abuse to come forward.

To date, the majority of alleged victims are from Nova Scotia, while two residents of Alberta, two from Ontario, three from Quebec and one from New Brunswick have all reported possible crimes to the unit, said Sgt. Leger.

Many of the complainants are understood to be part of a massive proposed class action destined for a certification hearing in Nova Scotia Supreme Court this fall. The lawsuit claims the Nova Scotia government and officials at the home did nothing to stop or investigate the possible abuse that spans back decades.

MLA Alfie MacLeod said both the Community Services and Justice ministers failed to answer specific questions about what government officials may have known about one of the alleged abuser’s recent proximity to young children while he drove a bus at the East Preston Day Care Centre.

“The NDP won’t admit they made a terrible mistake when they didn’t pick up the phone and call the East Preston daycare to warn them about the risk they may be facing,” MacLeod said in a news release after question period.

Community Services spokespeople have said that regular criminal checks were conducted on employees working at the daycare and that if nothing showed up, nothing could be done.

After four hours of deliberation, a Berkeley County Circuit Court jury Thursday found a 56-year-old man guilty of sexually assaulting a pastor’s son in 2002, court officials said. The pastor’s son was 12-years old at the time.  The victim in the 1976 incident was 10 at the time.

Ronald Dewayne Smith, who was previously convicted in 1995 of sexually abusing a Jefferson County boy in 1976, was found guilty Thursday of two counts of sexual abuse by a custodian and one count of third-degree sexual assault. 

Smith is scheduled to be sentenced June 18; he faces a maximum of 21 to 45 years in prison.

The victim in the 2002 case told a state trooper that he met Smith at a church camp in Pennsylvania while his father was pastor of a Baptist church in Berkeley County, court records said.

A registered sex offender with a lengthy history of sexually abusing children is going to prison for life after federal agents caught him trying to groom what he thought was a 14-year-old girl for sex on the Internet, the U.S. Attorneys office announced today.

Mario Jay Asakevich, 36, was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday after pleading guilty in October to distributing child pornography and attempting to entice a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity.

According to the plea agreement, Asakevich had initiated an online chat with an undercover police officer who was posing as a 14-year old girl. After initiating the first chat, Asakevich embarked on a four-month long effort to groom the teenager for sex, and repeatedly described, in graphic detail, the sexual acts that he wanted to perform with her, records show.

Asakevich has three prior convictions, dating back to 1996,  involving the sexual exploitation of children.

In the latest case, according to his plea agreement, Asakevich sent an undercover officer images of child pornography in an effort to convince the girl that it was okay to engage in sexual activity with an adult. The images included very young girls who were forced to engage in sexual acts with adult males, the plea deal showed. Asakevich, authorities said, arranged to meet the 14-year-old on two separate occasions. A search of his home revealed approximately 850 images of child pornography and seven child pornographic videos, which included toddlers and infants being sexually abused, images of young girls being tied and bound, and images of bestiality.

A jury convened Wednesday is to decide whether a Jackson man sexually assaulted his girlfriend’s daughter when she was 6 and living in his home with her mother.

Chief Assistant Prosecutor Mark Blumer is arguing Kenneth Murine, 29, is guilty of first- and second degree criminal sexual conduct.

First-degree criminal sexual conduct, the more serious of the two crimes, is a penetration offense punishable by up to life in prison.

In August 2010, the girl told her mother he was rubbing back and forth on her and it hurt, the woman testified Wednesday. Her name and her daughter’s name are being withheld to protect the victim.

Blumer said the prosecution would present DNA evidence showing Murine’s semen is on the girl’s blanket and sleeping bag.

Further, an Allegiance Health doctor who examined the girl in August 2010 concluded the girl was the victim of a sexual assault, Blumer said. Another doctor who specializes in child abuse pediatrics, however, found no physical signs, Blumer said. The doctors are “all over the place,” Murine’s lawyer, Donald Cataldo said.

In his opening statement, Cataldo, said Murine had recently broken up with the girl’s mother and the mother, who shares two children with Murine, had found him in bed with another woman. “A week later, there were allegations he sexually molested her daughter.”

The girl’s childhood was not normal, he said. Her mother would inspect the girl and ask her questions about whether her father, who is not Murine, molested her, Cataldo said. When Blumer asked her about this, the woman said she “checked” her daughter when she was hurting.

Cataldo said the couple engaged in alternative sexual activity involving multiple partners.

The girl initially was removed from her mother’s care, but the two have since been reunited, the mother testified.

UPDATE: Prosecutor said plea deal was offered to spare 7-year-old girl from having to testify in rape case

Beginning at age 12, the boy silently endured three years of sexual abuse at the hands of family friend Bill "Jake" Jacobs. When he finally came forward, he had to wait more than two years as Jacobs' case moved through the courts.

Now 17, he stood with eyes fixed on his tormenter one last time as two sheriff's deputies led Jacobs through a door out of the Minneapolis courtroom.

Jacobs - a former teacher, coach, lawyer and police chief who prosecutors said spent 50 years abusing dozens of young boys - was sentenced Monday, April 9, to 18 years in prison.

It was the maximum sentence he could've received after he pleaded guilty last month to three counts of criminal sexual conduct and three counts of possession of child porn.

Jacobs, 68, will be among the oldest inmates in state prison. As of Monday, only 81 of the 9,300 people in state lockups were 68 or older. He must serve at least 12 years before he's released, and he'll spend the rest of his life under court supervision as a registered sex offender.

Jacobs had lived in Deephaven but spent his last few months of freedom at his cabin on the shores of Lake Superior north of Lutsen. He had a career teaching and coaching at posh private schools, working as a police officer and later police chief, earning a law degree and then becoming an instructor at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

The end of that career started Sunday, Jan. 17, 2010, when the young man told his mother that Jacobs had been sexually abusing him since a 2007 camping trip. Jacobs, a trusted family friend, often took the boy on outings.

Five days after the youth confided to his mother, Jacobs was charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual abuse.
Suspecting other victims, Hennepin County officials released a "wanted" poster with photos of Jacobs from 1965, 1980, 1995 and 2010, and asked victims or parents to call.

More than 20 people came forward to claim Jacobs had abused them. The earliest case was 1962, when he was a 19-year-old camp counselor and student at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn.

Court filings show that over the years some people around Jacobs suspected him of molesting young boys but did little to stop him. YMCA camp officials and administrators of at least three private schools dealt privately with accusations against the man; none went to police.

Eldon Olschewske of Geneva appeared in Ontario County Court Friday to answer to an 18-count indictment handed up by a grand jury.

The charges allege repeated and ongoing sexual contact with a ten yearold girl during November and December 2011. Authorities would only describe the victim as being a child living in the neighborhood near Olschewske's Hamilton Street apartment. The victim is not a family member.

After an arraignment in Geneva Town Court Olschewske was released to the custody of a family member only to be re-arrested days later on an additional charge of Predatory Sexual Assault of a Child.

The charges against the 92 year-old include Predatory Sexual Assault, a Class A Felony carrying a maximum prison sentence of 25 years-to-life in prison. Other charges include Criminal Sex Act (10 counts), Attempted Rape, Sexual Abuse (5 counts), and Endangering the Welfare of a Child.

Ontario County Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Taylor tells 13 WHAM News that Olschewske is the oldest known defendant of felony-level charges in the county and the 82-year age gap between defendant and victim is the widest his office ever recalls.

A world-renowned doctor who developed vaccines to fight disease in third-world countries was sentenced Wednesday to 21 years in prison for traveling to Alaska with the intention of raping a young boy.

Dr. John Mark Felton, 48, of Boston, was in a child-sex chat room in 2008 when he engaged in a conversation with a man he believed was offering his grandson for sex. The man was actually an undercover agent.

When he arrived in Alaska in 2009, he had a child’s Spiderman costume in his luggage and condoms, according to court documents.

Felton could provide no real explanation for how he could have spent his career bettering the lives of hundreds of thousands of people suffering from tropical diseases and at the same time, be a pedophile, engaged in what the judge described as deviant conversations in chat room and willing to do serious, lifelong harm to children.

When arrested, Felton had comprised a child pornography collection of at least 1,276 images of children being abused and 71 videos. He admitted making a video of himself having sex with a 15-year-old boy.

His interest in children, prosecutors say, was both sexual and sadistic.

"This is a man that has provided treatment for diseases that devastate third world countries," lawyer Steve Wells told the judge. "They live better lives because of Dr. Felton."

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly R. Sayers-Fay said Felton's desire to rape a child had been months, if not years, in the making.

"He was cultivating relationships with pedophiles all over the world," she said.

A Whiteriver man has been sentenced to life in prison for sexually abusing two children.

The U.S. attorney's office in Phoenix says 44-year-old Darren Quesada was found guilty last December by a jury in Prescott on aggravated sexual abuse of a minor and abusive sexual contact with a minor.

The abuse involved two different children in 2009 and 2010 in Whiteriver in northeastern Arizona.

Quesada was previously convicted of a federal sex offense involving a minor in 1997.

Less than two years after a former Kanakuk Kamps counselor was sentenced to life in prison for sexually abusing several children, another of the camp’s counselors has been charged with sex crimes.

Taney County prosecutors say Lee Bradberry, 22, of Auburn, Ala., was charged Friday after three campers — ages 9, 10 and 12 — came forward with allegations of sexual abuse.

Kanakuk Kamp officials say Bradberry was terminated in July 2011 after campers reported an incident in which the counselor behaved inappropriately.

Bradberry was charged with multiple counts of sodomy and child molestation.

The allegations against Bradberry are not the first against a Kamp Kanakuk counselor.

Peter D. Newman was sentenced in June 2010 to two life sentence plus 30 years after pleading guilty to sexually abusing several children over a ten year period ending in 2009.

The charges against Newman's ultimately involved activity with six children. However, prosecutors said after the sentencing that Newman had admitted to sexual activity with 13 other children as well.

Federal officials in Detroit say they are seeking childcare assistance from a man imprisoned for getting women to molest their children for him.

Steven Demink, 41, was sentenced to life in prison for convincing mothers to violate their children and videotape or photograph the sex acts for him to watch.  Demink of Redford Township, Mich., befriended women on Web sites for single parents, using the name Dalton St. Clair, he posted a fake photo, that of a male model, pretended to be wealthy, and also pretended to be a father.

Caregivers aren’t hopeful they’ll see any financial assistance. After all, Demink is in prison for life with little or no assets. But prosecutors note, there’s no telling when or if he could come into money.

An Indiana woman who has been raising her sister's two children for the past 17 months told the press that any relief would help. When authorities removed the children from their mother's home, the sister said foster care wasn't considered.

"There was never a choice. If I let those kids go to strangers, I would never forgive myself," the woman said. "Someone in my family has to show them some normalcy."

Records indicate seven mothers sexually assaulted 12 children at Demink's request. The mothers received prison terms ranging from 7 years to 30 years. Victims were reported in Georgia, Florida, Idaho, Indiana and Illinois.

Four children have been removed from a home in Colonial Heights, after authorities say two of them were subjected to the unthinkable.

Charles Howe pled no contest to two charges of aggravated sexual battery against two children and will serve three years for the crime.

Court documents detail months of abuse between December of 2010 and April of 2011. Howe was originally charged with 9 sex related crimes, but prosecutors say they reached a plea deal reducing the number of  charges to prevent the children from having to testify in court at a trial. They say therapists told them it would be too traumatic for the victims.

Peggy Brough, the children's grandmother, and Billy Brough, their father, were each convicted for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.  Each will serve three months, because authorities say they didn't get help for the children, even after learning about the abuse.

Howe is a convicted sex offender, with a prior offense in Massachusetts. Prosecutors say family members knew this, before entrusting him with the care of the children. 

Many of the details of the case are too graphic to share. A case summary includes testimony from a six-year-old and a ten-year-old. It indicates most of the abuse happened in a shed behind the home. We also learned that Howe went so far as to use male enhancement products – even the family pet to abuse these children.

All three adults have been convicted and are in prison tonight. All four children have been removed from the home and parental rights have been terminated.

A trial for an Aberdeen man who's charged with 23 abuse-related felony counts is scheduled to begin Monday at the Brown County Courthouse.

The charges against Richard P. Mette, 42, stem from alleged incidents with five minors between February 2003 and September 2010, according to court documents. They range from sexual exploitation of a minor to criminal pedophilia to rape. If convicted of the most serious charges, Mette could be sentenced to life in prison.

The case has garnered an abundance of attention because of its subject matter and all that surrounds it:

-In a related case, Wendy J. Mette, 40, of Aberdeen has been charged with 11 counts of abuse of and neglect to a minor. She is not charged with any sex offenses. She has entered not guilty pleas. The couple recently divorced.

-Much of the local legal community is or has been involved in one of the Mette criminal cases or a related abuse and neglect case.

The Brown County State's Attorney's Office has withdrawn from cases because of conflict of interest concerns.

-Three Aberdeen residents, Brandon Taliaferro, Shirley Schwab and Fran Sippel, are the subject of a witness tampering investigation resulting from the abuse and neglect case. That case is now finished, though charges have not been filed.

Taliaferro was fired in September as a deputy state's attorney for Brown County. He's seeking the Republican nomination for state's attorney. Schwab has worked as an advocate for children and families within the legal system. Sippel is a psychologist who has also worked with the legal system.

No next court date has been scheduled for Wendy Mette. All of the charges filed against her are felonies. Both she and Richard Mette have been free on bond.

A retired sheriff's sergent is accused possessing and distributing hundreds of images of child porn.

Authorities began investigating 64-year-old John Garner last year, when Microsoft notified them he had uploaded child porn images onto his on-line file sharing account.

Garner worked for the sheriff's department for 16 years before retiring in 2010 and also served 18 years in the Navy.

A spokesperson for the Innocent Justice Foundation - a local non-profit dedicated to rescuing children from sexual abuse - said she's not surprised the suspect in this case had formerly been sworn to uphold the law.

"Often times we find child sex offenders are trusted members of the community, that's more often the case than not," said Heather Steele.

Garner was booked into federal prison Friday, March 16 and is out on $100,000 bail.

The trial for Joshua Carrier, a 31-year-old former Colorado Springs police officer and volunteer wrestling coach at Horace Mann Middle School who is accused of molesting 22 boys and faces 207 counts of child exploitation, child sexual assault and possessing child pornography, began on Monday.

According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, the jury watched video of the ex-cop performing physical examinations on boys in his office, some of whom he touched on the genitals, recorded with a web camera.

The defense argued that Carrier was simply performing his duties as wrestling coach, checking for skin diseases, like ringworm, that wrestlers are prone to become infected by.

Carrier's trial is on-going and is expected to last one month.

In May of 2011, Carrier was arrested for buying child pornography and then re-arrested a week later on suspicion of sexually assaulting several children. Before his arrest, Carrier was already the subject of an internal affairs review for showing his gun at a middle school sporting event (Carrier had been employed as a school resource officer and wrestling coach at Horace Mann Middle School in Colorado Springs prior to allegations of sex assault).

It was reported that Carrier had several assignments that placed him in situations with youth including a school resource officer at Horace Mann Elementary where he also served has wrestling coach, a coach for the Police Athletic League, and as an advisor to youth in the Explorer Scout Program.

Carrier worked for the Colorado Springs Police Department for seven years before he resigned in June 2011 amidst the assault and child pornography allegations.

If convicted of the charges, Carrier faces life in prison.

A Glens Falls man had been arrested 20 times before his arrest for allegedly sexually abusing a 7-week-old girl, choking the infant's mother and killing a parakeet, a Warren County judge said at the suspect's arraignment Monday.

David B. Cook, 33, pleaded not guilty to several felony charges at his court appearance.

At the court hearing, Judge John Hall Jr. said Cook had been arrested 20 times in the past, convicted of eight misdemeanors and failed to appear in court three times. Warren County prosecutors released a dossier of information that detailed Cook's past actions and statements he allegedly made to police.

Prosecutors say Cook sexually abused a 7-week-old baby in his home on March 3, which caused critical injuries to the infant. Doctors recently removed the baby from the intensive care unit at Albany Medical Center, but it was too soon to tell if her injuries will heal, the district attorney said.

He is being held in Warren County Jail.

UPDATE: Exchange organization ERDT, Educational Resource Development Trust, has released a statement in response to our reporting. Attorney Michael Sidley said the organization "never engaged in a cover-up of any sort...it was the conduct of ERDT which led to the arrest of Mr. Meyer."

Dozens of high school foreign exchange students have been raped, sexually abused, or harassed by American host parents in towns and cities across the country, an NBC News investigation has found.

In one of the most egregious cases, at least four exchange students were sexually abused over the course of two years by the same host father, even after the first victim sounded alarms.

» Please click here to read the full article....

David Tarver, 51, has been convicted of sexually assaulting three of his own children and grandchildren, and will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.

According to the Denver D.A.’s office, he sexually assaulted at least three of his children, dating back fo the 1980's. The victim’s reported the abuse after Tarver was arrested in 2010 for sexually assaulting a grandchild in Wyoming. He has been convicted in Wyoming and will begin serving his sentence there.

A mother was sentenced to a decade of probation in a plea deal reached after she was accused of molesting her 8-year-old autistic son and streaming video of the act online to a Michigan car salesman who posed as a psychologist.

The case is one of at least seven across the nation that led to a life sentence last year for Steven Demink.

A federal prosecutor called him "the puppet master" for his ability to persuade women that the sexual assaults would be therapeutic or educational for their children.

In the Oregon case, prosecutors said Demink persuaded the 49-year-old woman that the behavior would be a way to teach the child about sex.

To protect the child's identity, The Associated Press and The Bulletin newspaper of Bend have withheld the name of the woman.

The Bulletin reported the Bend woman was indicted last year on charges of sodomy, sexual abuse and using a child in the display of sexually explicit conduct. She later made an agreement with prosecutors and pleaded guilty last week to attempting to use a child in the display of sexually explicit conduct, the paper reported Tuesday.

Along with probation, she must complete a sex offender program, cannot have unsupervised contact with minors, including the victim, and can't use the Internet without consent from a judge or probation officer.

Violating the terms could lead to a prison term of nearly 11 years, according to the Deschutes County district attorney's office.

Demink met the women through an online dating site, where he created the character of Dalton St. Clair, a psychologist with a young daughter he claimed was a nudist with him, according to federal court records.

Demink targeted single mothers, promised dates to some, and posted pictures of male models for his online identity.

The Dept. of Children and Families says a six-year-old and her sibling are in safe care, after the child’s mother traded her off for sex to get drugs.

DCF spokesperson John Harrell says the owe it to the little girl to do a thorough investigation. They are making sure the child gets all the counseling that she needs.

“There’s a lot of child sexual abuse that goes unreported. That’s unacceptable.”

Reporting is required by law. If you suspect something is going on, call DCF at 1-800-96-abuse.

(AP) TROY, Ohio - Federal and local law enforcement officials said they're widening the investigation into child sexual exploitation allegations against an adoptive father charged with raping three boys in his care.

Officials said the father hired one of the boys, a 10-year-old, out for sex, prostituting him. The father and two other men remained in jail Thursday on rape charges. The father's name is being withheld by The Associated Press to protect the children's identities.

» Please click here to read the full article....

Police say an 18-month-old boy is sexually assaulted by his own stepfather. First responders say the one and a half year old had been severely beaten.

27-year-old Matthew Hyrup is accused of committing assault and sexual penetration while the boy's mother was away from home. Matthew and Stefani have only been married two weeks when police say he committed a "brutal assault" on that toddler.

Police say the 24-year-old mother came home after being away for a few hours and called for medical help for the baby boy. First responders found multiple internal and external injuries and evidence of sexual assault - that's when police became involved.

The young boy was flown to Doernbecher's Children Hospital in Portland. He is now in critical, but stable condition and medical experts are looking into whether this was the first time the child has been abused. Police say, based on the severity of this particular assault, they do not believe there are other victims.

Records show Hyrup has been convicted of multiple felony methamphetamine delivery and possession charges, as well as being a felon in possession of a firearm, driving under the influence of intoxicants, and driving with a suspended license.

Hyrup remains in Jackson County Jail after being arrested Thursday on first-degree assault and first-degree sexual penetration charges, both of which are Measure 11 crimes. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

A judge sentenced a Brooklyn man to 30 years in prison today for sexually abusing underage children and producing homemade pornographic videos of his crimes.

Felix Cartagena also admitted that he distributed his videos and photographs over the Internet, sharing images of him raping children with other like-minded pedophiles using the Web, officials said.

Cartagena would roam the streets, trawling for young children in "planned events" and then lure them back to his basement for depraved sessions of sexual abuse, the prosecutor said.

According to prosecutors at an earlier hearing, the 27 year-old man would tie his victims up, sometimes gag the child, and once put a BB gun to a toddler's head - then he photographed the child's abuse at his own hands.

FBI agents found more than 20,000 images of child pornography "carefully organized" in files, after they arrested Cartagena in 2010, the prosecutor said.

A pedophile pensioner who has shown no remorse or regret for sexually assaulting seven little girls, one of whom he raped, has been jailed for 11 years.

At the end of his trial last November, 70-year-old James Emmanuel Macnulty was convicted of a single count of raping one of his victims. The young girl was around seven-years-old when the assault happened in the bedroom of his Jamaica Street home.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to ten charges of indecent assault and 12 of gross indecency with all the charges having occurred on various dates between December 1970 and January 1981.

Jailing him on Friday, the Recorder of Belfast Judge Tom Burgess said despite there being the potential the fact he could die in jail, "what the court cannot forget is the adverse impact on the well being, both physical and mental, on his victims during the course of his actions and in all the years since then.

The judge described how Macnulty would force many of the girls, who were all aged roughly between six to ten-years-old when they were subjected to the horrific abuse, to touch him and that on one occasion, during a game of hide and seek, he abused two of the girls simultaneously. Macnulty would often organise games of hide and seek both in his home and at a local community centre, said the judge, using the innocent child's game as cover for his sickening abuse when he would tell a victim where to hide before abusing her.

Judge Burgess revealed that in the Probation pre-sentence report Macnulty continues to adopt that attitude - even blaming some of his young victims who are all now grown women - claiming that they "were forcing him to touch them".

He told Macnulty - who sat in the jury box of the court, flanked by prison officers, so that he could hear the proceedings - that despite him having suffered three strokes, three heart attacks, numerous black outs and arthritis, there was nothing shown to him which suggested the pensioner would not receive any medical treatment required in prison.

Authorities in Washington County are investigating a case of child abuse. Sheriff Richard Stringer says a father and mother of an eight month old are facing numerous charges. 33-year-old James Ryan Booth and 21-year-old Julie Ann Reed Guy are accused of sexually abusing their baby daughter.

They are both charged with rape, sodomy, sexual abuse, chemical endangerment of a child, manufacturing a controlled substance and possession.

Authorities said the couple recorded their encounters with the child on a cell phone while using drugs.

Sheriff Richard Stringer said his office is still trying to determine if Julie Guy's 5-year old son was also molested and abused by the pair. The two children were turned over to the Department of Human Resources and later placed with relatives.

An inquiry has begun into allegations of sexual abuse against children at a state-run hostel in Western Australia's south.

It follows the jailing of Dennis John McKenna, who sexually abused boys at St Andrew's Hostel in Katanning, where he was head warden from 1975 to 1990.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Peter Blaxell is heading the inquiry to determine the extent of the abuse and whether there was a cover-up that allowed it to continue. The inquiry will examine when any allegations were made, who they were made to and what action was taken.

Mr Blaxell will make recommendations on any disciplinary action that should be taken against public officials, as well as any changes that should be made to the policies or procedures of government agencies as a result of the findings.

Any issues that relate to criminal behavior during the inquiry will be referred to police.

Up to 40 witnesses will be called during the inquiry including principals, teachers, board members, staff at the Department of Employment and Training, and a policeman. A psychiatrist will give her expert opinion on child abuse, the "grooming behavior" of child predators and why children are reluctant to make complaints.

McKenna was jailed for six years in October last year after pleading guilty to sexually abusing six boys, aged 13 to 15, in his care. He was previously jailed for six years in 1991 for similar offences and may face more charges as other victims come forward.

A hotline has been set up so more victims can come forward.

The inquiry is expected to be completed by April, with a report presented by May 31.

A Santa Barbara County boy was sexually abused by his Scout leader in 2007. A judge overseeing the lawsuit brought by the boy’s family has ordered the Boy Scouts to hand over confidential files detailing allegations of sexual abuse by Scout leaders around the nation.

The mother of a Santa Barbara County teenager says he was wronged twice - once by the 450-pound Boy Scout leader, who sexually abused the 92-pound boy in 2007, and then by a local Scouts executive who she says told her not to call police.

The boy’s mother said her son has been deeply affected, in part because other families from the troop accused him of lying or “hallucinating” about the abuse. He refuses to go out in public and is now tutored at home, she said….

The boy’s lawyers contend the files will expose the Scouts’ “culture of hidden sexual abuse” and its failure to warn boys, their parents and others about pedophiles in the ranks of one of the nation’s oldest youth organizations….

Some of the estimated 5,000 files have surfaced in recent years as a result of lawsuits by former Scouts accusing the organization of failing to exclude known pedophiles, detect abuses and report offenders to police, and allowing predators to remain at large.

The trial is scheduled for April.

Prosecutors on Thursday filed charges against the father and stepmother of a severely malnourished Wisconsin teenager, accusing the couple of keeping her in a basement, torturing her and forcing her to eat her own feces over a period that spanned more than five years.

During her ordeal, the girl was also allegedly sexually assaulted by her stepbrother, now aged 18.

The father and stepmother -- who were not named to protect the teen's identity -- were arrested Feb. 10 after the 15-year-old girl was found wandering near her home in Madison.

The girl was taken to a hospital, and in interviews that followed, told police that she had been living in a basement since 2006 while the rest of the family -- including three stepbrothers, one of whom had sexually assaulted her -- lived upstairs.

"She has to ask her stepmother ... if she can eat, drink water or use the upstairs bathroom. She stated she usually is denied food," court documents said.

The teen, who was severely underweight at 70 pounds, said that most of her meals came from whatever she picked off the floor or found in the garbage. She said if she was caught eating without permission, her father and stepmother made her "throw out the food and/or vomit what she has eaten."

She was also forced to drink her own urine and eat her feces, she said, adding that she was not allowed to leave the basement which had no restroom, and had a door that was rigged to trigger off an alarm if she opened it.

The teenager fled the house on Feb 6. because she feared for her life after her stepmother allegedly threatened to slit her throat.

A doctor who examined the girl listed her condition as "serial child torture with prolonged exposure to definite starvation," according to court documents.

The girl's father and stepmother were charged with first-degree recklessly endangering safety, child abuse intentionally causing harm and neglecting a child. Her stepbrother, who was also arrested Feb. 10, was charged with first-degree sexual assault of a child, second-degree sexual assault of a child and child abuse intentionally causing harm.

A man who sexually abused a young boy and hoarded almost 3,500 child pornography images has been jailed for ten years.

Dennis Eldridge, 47, was caught when the victim, who became physically sick with stress, told his parents of the abuse. The child reported that Eldridge abused him over the course of several years when Eldridge visited his home. He was also abused when his family visited Eldridge’s home. He was less than ten years old at the time of the crimes.

Police raided Eldridge’s Pembroke home when the allegations surfaced and found thousands of photographs and videos of child pornography on his computers. They included images of bestiality and children as young as five years old being raped and forced into sex acts by adults.

Eldridge, who was employed in the field of computers and technology, also worked as a guitar teacher for the Bermuda School of Music.

Prosecutor Cindy Clarke explained that 3,375 pornographic pictures and 92 video files were found on Eldridge’s home computers. She explained that in law, such images are categorized on a scale of one to five, with five being the most serious.

More than 3,000 of the images were level one. However, 176 of them were level four and one movie clip, involving a young girl and images of bestiality, was a category five.

Six siblings who authorities say were subjected to sadistic sexual abuse by older relatives on a Missouri farm more than 25 years ago issued their first public statement Wednesday in an effort to counter defense arguments that the victims have been reluctant to take the case to trial.

Burrell Mohler Sr. and his four sons, Burrell Jr., David, Jared and Roland Mohler, are facing dozens of counts of rape and sodomy after the six siblings told investigators they were abused as children on a farm east of Kansas City over several years beginning in the mid-1980s. Burrell Sr. and Burrell Jr. remain behind bars, while the others are free on bond. All have pleaded not guilty.

The men's trials have been repeatedly pushed back due in part to delays in the defense obtaining evidence, including the six siblings' health care records. Defense attorneys have requested mental and physical health records going back to when the siblings were children, noting that if the horrible acts of abuse against them really happened, there would be medical records to prove it.

The judge signed an order Dec. 19 requiring the siblings to turn lists of health care providers over to the state, and the woman said the requested records now have been given to the court.

The woman said she couldn't discuss details of the claims against the Mohler men because she didn't want to jeopardize the criminal cases. The first trial, for Burrell Mohler Sr., is scheduled for April in Clay County.

The men were charged in November 2009, a year after the siblings went to authorities. Four of the siblings claim the Mohler men took turns raping them over several years, including some assaults that happened after patriarch Burrell Sr., an ordained minister, conducted wedding ceremonies to "marry" the young girls to the older men so they could have sex.

Court documents also describe claims by some of the girls that they were forced to have sex with a horse and a dog.

The accusers said the abuse started when they were very young, in some cases as young as 5 years old, and they had repressed the memories for more than 20 years.

On Feb. 14, a 51-year-old woman came into the police station and asked for a “civil standby” so she could confront the man who had allegedly abused her when she was between the ages of 5 and 14.

Souran Manougian was a primary caregiver for the child during those years. Her mother separated from Manougian when the victim was about 14 years old and she told police that she had reported the abuse to her mother and a local attorney.

She told police that a school teacher also asked about bruises and arranged for the victim to receiving counseling.

In 1974, Manougian was fired from his job in the meat department at Pic N Pay as a result of the allegations, according to the affidavit, but no one ever reported the abuse to police.

The attorney instructed the victim and her mother that it would be hard to prove the abuse and that Manougian would be made to look like the victim.

The woman went on to have children of her own, and after giving birth a physician discovered injuries the victim sustained as a result of sexual abuse.

The woman has undergone a series of surgeries to repair the damage in the last few years, she told police. Bernier said she also confirmed the procedures with the physician.

Last week, Detective Capt. Corey MacDonald said the statute of limitations has run out on the crimes police are alleging against Manougian, but he believes there are aspects of the case that warrant bringing the charges forward now, although he would not elaborate.

The charges against Manougian include eight counts of forcible rape, seven counts of forcible sodomy, five counts of incest, three counts of tampering with witnesses and informants, aggravated assault and criminal restraint.

The victim told police that Manougian killed her dog as a child when she threatened to report the abuse, and that he also threatened to kill her mother and her grandmother. She told police that about two years ago, Manougian approached her in a local grocery store and asked her if she wanted to pick up their “affair” where they had left off.

Manougian was arrested last week and released on $250 cash and $10,000 personal recognizance bail.

A Salt Lake City woman ordered to prison Monday for attempting to sell her 13-year-old daughter's virginity, sold herself to older men as a teenager.

"There is a history, there is a pattern that needs to be broken," defense attorney Michael Sikora said of the woman's behavior.

But while Sikora asked for probation to allow the woman to undergo treatment, Judge Randall Skanchy instead sentenced the 33-year-old woman to two concurrent terms of one to 15 years in prison.

According to charges filed in the case, the woman told police she had made an arrangement with a man named Don to allow him to have sex with her daughter in exchange for $10,000. She also said the man had taken her and her daughter to Victoria's Secret to try on lingerie and also modeled lingerie at home.

Prosecutors said the woman also sent photos of her daughter wearing lingerie to another man named Will, who was going to pay for the photos, according to charging documents.

The woman's boyfriend reported the behavior after reportedly observing several text messages between the woman and Don discussing sex acts between him and her daughter, the charges state. The teenager apparently initially agreed to the arrangement with Don but later changed her mind.

The woman's daughter didn't address the judge, but prosecutor Catherine Peters read a letter from the teenager asking that her mother be allowed to undergo therapy. "My mom's choices were wrong," the girl wrote, explaining that she would like to be able to visit her mother. "Even though she put me through a lot of stuff, I still love her."

Peters said the case required a prison sentence. The woman may now see the error of her ways, but she still took significant steps toward seeing the abuse through.

"Her criminal history isn't serious, but the crime we're here for today is serious and we would ask for prison," Peters said.

Former Connecticut police captain David Bourque has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for what authorities say was one of the largest and most disturbing child pornography cases they've seen.

A federal judge in Hartford sentenced Bourque on Friday. He pleaded guilty last year to receipt and distribution of child pornography and could have gotten up to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors say Bourque was caught with more than 26,000 images and videos of child pornography on his computers showing the sexual abuse of young boys, including infants and toddlers.

Bourque apologized for his actions Friday and said he "spiraled out of control" during the several months he was downloading and sharing the porn. He said he never physically abused any children.

A mother was arrested Tuesday near Savannah after more than two years on the run from charges of selling her daughters for sex in Cobb County.

Jeanifer Lee Segrest, 37, was caught in Port Wentworth, thanks to a tip from someone who saw her case on America’s Most Wanted, which profiled her Dec. 16, the U.S. Marshals Service announced.

Segrest, a boyfriend and her two sons, ages 1 and 2, had moved into a house in Chatham just a week earlier after her church asked the homeowner to help the family in need, America’s Most Wanted reported. But felony charges await her in Cobb County, where she will be extradited.

Segrest is accused of taking at least $30,000 in return for allowing a pedophile to repeatedly molest her two daughters, starting when they were 5 and 6 years old, the Marshals Service said.

The sexual abuse began in February 2004 while Segrest was in jail on theft charges, America’s Most Wanted said. Her sister, Rebecca Wiggins, had custody of the girls in Cobb County. Wiggins was convicted in August of sexual exploitation of a child, aggravated sodomy, child molestation and first-degree child cruelty for providing the girls to a private tutor named David Ray for cash. She began serving a sentence of life plus 20 years in the Pulaski State Prison on Oct. 24, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.

By 2007, Ray was paying Segrest to drive the girls from Savannah to Cobb so he could keep molesting them, the Savannah Morning News said. While previous reports put the amount at $30,000, a Cobb police detective Tuesday said Ray paid more than $50,000, the Morning News reported.

Ray, 53, killed himself in April 2009 three days after Cobb police searched his home.

After Tuesday’s arrest, all four of Segrest’s children are in state custody, and she is pregnant again, the Morning News said.

Still on the run is Cesar Moran, one of Segrest’s exes, who reportedly admitted improperly touching at least one of her daughters in the Savannah area more than three years ago.

The years of abuse in Cobb County came to light after one of the daughters told police about the later actions by Moran, America’s Most Wanted said.

A former Granby police captain investigated child pornography while he secretly amassed one of the largest child porn collections in Connecticut, federal prosecutors say.

David Bourque was caught with more than 26,000 images and videos of child pornography on his computers that showed the sexual abuse of young boys, including infants and toddlers, prosecutors say in court filings Tuesday in preparation for Bourque's sentencing Friday.

In addition, they claim, Bourque spoke to an FBI agent at a conference about infiltrating platforms pedophiles use. Bourque tried to avoid detection by installing sophisticated software on his computer, authorities said. And he used information gained as a police officer to assess the ability of other law enforcement officers to detect his criminal activity, prosecutors said.

Bourque pleaded guilty last year to receipt and distribution of child pornography. He faces 17 to 20 years in prison at his sentencing.

Prosecutors also quoted Bourque as saying he was in line to become chief before his arrest.

"Incredibly, the defendant was actually investigating a child pornography case while he was simultaneously collecting child pornography during his time off," prosecutors wrote in the court papers.

Prosecutors say Bourque showed a "callous disregard" for the harm suffered by the children, telling his trading partners to "enjoy" themselves or "have fun" while viewing his collection.

Daniel and Alisha Hall of Mt. Morris were arraigned Tuesday in Genesee District Court on child pornography charges. Police believe Daniel Hall sexually abused his six-month-old daughter while Alisha Hall photographed the abuse.

The house was being searched for more evidence in an investigation that revealed 745 images of child pornography on computers at the home, said Mt. Morris Police Chief Keith Becker. Another 13 images showed Daniel Hall engaging in sexual acts with his daughter, who was 6-months-old when the photos were taken several months ago, the chief said.

Police believe Alisha Hall, who is 7-months pregnant, took the photos.

Neighbors said they kept their distance from the couple. They said odd behavior, shouting and reckless driving were nightly occurrences at the home. Angie Bedard, who lives next door, said a series of bizarre Youtube videos in which Hall performs skits and stunts further led her to steer clear of the family. He jumps off a rooftop into a pool in one video.

Hall has a website that he promoted with a bumper sticker on the back of his car. Hall views himself as a comedic actor, according to the site.

Daniel Hall, 25, was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, possession of child pornography, distribution of child pornography and using a computer in the commission of a crime, according to court records. He is being held at Genesee County Jail on $750,000 bond..

Alisha Hall, 26, was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct and possession of child pornography and is being held on $500,000 bond, records show.

A preliminary exam is set for Feb. 14.

Robert Gaskill, 63, was charged with two counts of predatory sexual assault of a child after two young women came forward accusing Gaskill, their foster father, of a 13-year pattern of abuse. Gaskill remains jailed after a Cook County judge ordered him held on $50 million cash bond.

According to multiple news stories, Gaskill and his wife have fostered 75 children over the past 20 years, many with disabilities.

Investigators say the case began to unfold late last month, when the two women walked into the River Forest police station to file their report, which alleged a pattern of sexual abuse from 1996 to 2009. Authorities would not release the current ages of the alleged victims, or say how old they were when the alleged abuse began.

A spokesman for state's Department of Children and Family Services said three adopted children and two foster children living in the River Forest home were removed and placed into other homes.

The Gaskills also co-founded Tapestry Chicago, a foster care support service that helps guide potential foster parents through the adoption process.

Gaskill was also former publisher of Chicago Catholic Publications.

Police across Ontario nabbed 60 suspects, including three teens and a former youth worker, and identified 22 victims in what police say is the largest child porn bust in Ontario history.

Police executed 76 search warrants Wednesday and filed 213 charges, including sexual assault, child luring, and accessing, possessing, making and distributing child pornography.

The three teen boys charged are all 16 years old. The oldest suspect is 69, police said.

Also among the suspects is Gregory William Pickard, 41, who was a youth worker at a group home for young people and worked with children at his church. This is the second time in just over a year he faces child porn-related charges.

None of the suspects are part of a child-porn ring, police said. Investigators monitored their computer activities using specialized software.

Twenty-five police departments in Ontario took part in the raids, including Sault Ste. Marie, Ottawa, Sudbury, Cornwall, North Bay, Chatham, Brantford, Sarnia, Barrie, London, Toronto and Hamilton.

Scott Tod, acting commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police, said the project is aimed at stopping the sexual abuse of children. “Child pornography is the sexual abuse of children,” he said. “Every image...represents a child victim. “Every trading or transmission of that image represents a re-victimzation of that child.”

Additional arrests and charges are pending, Goldschmidt said.

He said child pornography is pervasive in Ontario. Police with the Provincial Strategy to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation on the Internet identified more than 8,900 IP addresses on child pornography sites in the past three months, Goldschmidt said. Of those, police arrested 60 suspects, he said.

Goldschmidt said police face constant technological challenges as they try to keep up with child pornographers.

“It’s like the speeders on the highway,” Goldschmidt said. “There are so many of them out there that you only going get (some) of them.”

A Cascade School District groundskeeper is facing charges of rape, sodomy and sexual abuse involving two minor girls he knew.

Jim Carl Schifferer, 52, was arrested Jan. 19 after the alleged victims reported the abuse, according to a probable-cause statement. A probable-cause statement is a document that provides legal ground for an arrest and to hold a person in custody until an initial court appearance.

Schifferer is accused of sexually abusing the two minor girls in repeated incidents between 1995 and 2004. He has been indicted on charges of rape, four counts of sodomy, and two counts each of sexual abuse and using a child in display of sexually explicit conduct. Schifferer was hired in March 2005, according to Cascade School District Superintendent.

He worked at all schools, but spent most of his time at the high school in Turner.

“Because of his position, working near children, it’s definitely an investigation that is ongoing,” said D.A. Jodie Bureta.

Rev. Charles Robert Manning, a pastor at St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church in Colorado Springs, has been placed on leave following allegations of sexual abuse involving a child.

Rev. Torres-Rico reminded attendees of the church's child safety policy during Mass. Any child under the age of 12 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian at all times.

A statement from the Colorado Springs Police Department reveals no other details.

An Edmonton-area man has pleaded guilty to more than a decade of sexual abuse of minors, including his son and daughter.

The 41-year-old, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims, entered guilty pleas to 27 of the 40 charges against him, including charges of sexual touching, child pornography, unlawful confinement, incest and bestiality.

The man’s victims included his son, his daughter, the daughter of a girlfriend and two daughters of a fiancee. Four of five victims were minors at the time of the abuse. The crimes stretched from 1999 until 2010, according to an agreed statement of facts heard by the court.

The man’s daughter told police of sexual abuse that started when she was six years old, though she didn’t recognize it as abuse until she was 11. When she was 11, her father ordered her and her 10- year-old brother to have sex. Her father had intercourse with her. There were numerous instances of abuse in the following years.

The siblings were afraid to tell anyone of their fathers’ crimes and both attempted suicide as a direct result of the abuse.

He is scheduled to face trial on March 12.

A 70-year-old Easton man on Monday pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Baltimore to sexually exploiting two pre-teen girls to produce child pornography.

According to the plea agreement, two girls under the age of 10 stated that they had been repeatedly, sexually abused by Paul Henry Brown over the course of several months, to include being forced to perform oral sex on Brown.

Prosecutors said Talbot County sheriff's deputies contacted Brown on July 30, 2010, who denied the allegations. On Aug. 11, 2010, Talbot County deputies executed a search warrant at Brown's home and seized a digital camera and flash memory card. Two CD-Rs were also seized which prosecutors said contained more than 600 images and many videos of child pornography, including portrayals of sadistic conduct. Most of the images involved prepubescent girls, court records show.

As part of his plea agreement, Brown must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

Brown faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 in prison followed by up to a lifetime of supervised release. Sentencing is scheduled for April 25, 2012.

A Tennessee man convicted last year of charges including the purchasing of a child was given a sentence Monday of 15 to 45 years in prison.

Mark Lynn Jeffrey, 55, of Mount Juliet, Tenn., was convicted in November 2011 on charges including two counts of purchasing a child, sexual abuse first degree, sexual assault first degree, and sexual abuse by a custodian.

Williams said that Jeffrey will have to spend 15 years in prison before he is eligible for parole. After release, he will be on probation for five years, and then he will have lifetime supervised probation as a sex offender.

On Dec. 12, 2006, Jeffrey went to his daughter-in-law’s home in Kegley and tried to exchange approximately $20,000 for the custody of his two grandchildren. Jeffrey said later to investigators with the West Virginia State Police that he wanted to give the children a better home environment. Jeffrey was tried in August 2011, but a mistrial was declared when the jury could not reach a verdict.

He is now in jail awaiting transfer to a state prison.

A Southern California federal judge has sentenced 34-year-old Joshua Boras to 25 years in prison for distributing a video of his sexual abuse of a boy to an international child exploitation group.

Prosecutors say Boras was affiliated with the "Lost Boy" online bulletin board for trading of child porn. The Internet site was shut down three years ago and 15 defendants have pleaded guilty or have been convicted at trial.

Investigators say the group had 35 members in the United States, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

New members were required to post child porn to join the organization.

A registered sex offender who has already served a seven-year sentence for molesting a young girl from his church congregation was sentenced again Thursday — this time for targeting a new victim.

David Fino, 57, asked the judge for the death penalty. He got eight life sentences, two of them stacked and without the possibility of parole.

A jury found him guilty Friday of super aggravated sexual assault of a child younger than 6, continuous sexual abuse of a child and six other first-degree felony molestation charges involving the same girl.

The child, now 9, had testified via closed circuit TV that Fino targeted her for years before she came forward, and that she was molested again even after she told authorities. Molestation charges are pending against Sally Brooks Fino, the defendant's wife.

Because Fino's 1992 conviction involved allegations from two girls also younger than 6, state District Judge Angus McGinty was required to sentence him to life without parole for the new super aggravated charge. The judge could have assessed lesser sentences for some of the other charges but chose not to.

Before the sentences were announced, Fino told the judge in a rambling statement that his health is failing and that he has lost weight since returning to jail. He asked for the death penalty, but execution is an option only for capital murder cases.

Fino did not acknowledge or apologize for the molestations.

Afterward, he was confronted by a woman, now 28, who testified against him during the 1992 trial but was too young then to give a victim impact statement.

“I was sentenced and imprisoned for the rest of my life the moment you touched me,” she said. “So shall you be imprisoned, for me and the rest of the children you touched. You deserve this.”

After the hearing, Natalie — who gave the Express-News permission to use her first name but asked that her last name be withheld — expressed fear that there are other victims who never came forward.

“We're still suffering,” Natalie's mother added, pointing out that her daughter is still in therapy. “When all this happened, it didn't just destroy my daughter — it destroyed my whole family.”

Four consecutive life sentences followed by 135 years in prison was given Tuesday to a man convicted last week of sex crimes against children.

Superior Court Judge Michael Annis followed the state’s recommendation to give the maximum sentence to Robert Gruka, who was found guilty of all charges on his 14-count indictment.

Four of the charges – rape, aggravated child molestation and two counts of aggravated sexual battery – carried life sentences. The least serious charges – five misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor – tacked a year apiece on the sentence. The incest charge brought 50 years in prison, plus 20 years each for four charges of child molestation.

The indictment listed five preteen girls as the victims, but testimony during the three-day trial suggested that as many as eight girls were abused of Gruka during the past 15 years. “Those are only the ones we know about,” Annis said. “We wonder how many other lives have been robbed of their innocence and ... how many others are bearing the scars of childhood abuse.”

Gruka’s attorney, Peter Johnson, said he was contacted this weekend by one of those victims, who he said expressed dismay over the conviction and doubted Gruka’s guilt. He also told Annis that one of the 8-year-old victims continued to write Gruka in jail, telling him that she loved him and wanted to know when he was coming home. Johnson said he cannot reconcile those letters with the way the prosecution has portrayed Gruka as a sexual predator.

“I need to understand how there can be such a difference,” Johnson said. “The child is saying ‘he molested me’ but at the same time professes to love him.”

Gruka staggered slightly where he stood when he heard the name of the victim. After swiping his eyes with back of his hand, he declined to say anything to the judge.

Assistant District Attorney Natalie Paine made a plea for Annis to give the maximum sentence, calling Gruka a “monster” who never apologized to the victims.

“This man does not deserve to see the light of day ever again,” Paine said.

Annis said he didn’t have any doubts that the children still loved Gruka. They’re too innocent to know any better; it’s when they grow older and realize the reality of what Gruka did to them that it becomes a very different story, the judge said.

“Sadly, for those children, that’s just normalcy,” Annis said.

Two Glastonbury men accused of sexually assaulting their adopted children appeared before a judge in Superior Court in Hartford Tuesday.

George Harasz and Douglas Wirth pleaded not guilty, and their cases were continued to Feb. 29.

Both were arrested on Nov. 30. Harasz, 48, was charged with two counts of first-degree sexual assault, aggravated first-degree sexual assault, fourth-degree sexual assault, two counts of risk of injury to a minor and cruelty to persons.

Wirth, 44, was charged with one count of third-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor.

According to the arrest warrants, Harasz sexually assaulted two boys, ages 5 and 15, through sodomy and repeated inappropriate touching in bathrooms and bedrooms. The abuse often occurred under the guise of cleaning or massaging them, police said.

Wirth is accused of sexually assaulting the 15-year-old to a lesser degree, and of doing nothing to intervene as he witnessed Harasz sexually assault the teenager, according to the warrants.

Harasz also is accused of physically abusing the 15-year-old, including hitting and slapping the boy frequently, and striking him with a belt.

Glastonbury police interviewed more than half of the married couple's nine adopted children, and several said they did not experience any inappropriate sexual contact with Harasz or Wirth. One of the adopted sons and Harasz's biological daughter said that no abuse occurred in the house.

Another adopted son, Chris Harasz, told investigators that what went on in the Harasz-Wirth home was traumatic and unhealthy.

A former Scottish Conservative Holyrood candidate who sexually abused children over 15 years has been jailed for eight years.

John Smart, 48, from Edinburgh, began abusing one boy when the child was aged three. He also attempted to rape an 11-year-old girl.

Smart, described as a preacher, was convicted of sexually abusing three children following a trial at the High Court in Perth in December. Sentencing him at the High Court in Glasgow today, Lady Dorian said the offences had involved a "significant degree of grooming".

She ordered him to serve eight years behind bars and a three-year extended sentence which will see him supervised for that period once he is released.

She said "The offences were planned, intrusive and involved a significant degree of grooming. Your victims were vulnerable and it was as they came to rely on you as a friend and for support that you committed these offences against them."

She said an extended sentence is necessary for the protection of the public as Smart poses a "sufficiently significant risk".

Smart began abusing the three-year-old in April 1987 and continued to do so over a 10-year period, at addresses in Edinburgh and at swimming pools around the country.

The former train conductor sexually abused a second boy on one occasion between August 1987 and 1989 when the child was aged between five and seven, and the girl on various occasions over five years from April 1997 when she was eight.

Lady Dorian also placed him on the sex offenders register.

Smart stood as a Scottish Conservative candidate for Holyrood in 2003.

A man authorities described as one of Arizona's most egregious serial child molesters was ordered to spend the rest of his life in prison Friday for sexually abusing eight boys.

Arthur Leon Vitasek, 47, was found guilty in November of 26 counts that included sexual conduct with a minor, child molestation and public sexual indecency.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Reinstein sentenced Vitasek to 11 life sentences on 11 of the charges, and since the terms will be served consecutively, Vitasek will never be eligible for parole. Vitasek was sentenced to an additional 200 years in prison on the other counts.

The charges stem from the molestation of eight boys from 7 to 15 years old in Phoenix and the suburbs of Mesa and Paradise Valley over a 15-year period beginning in 1990. Police suspect there are more victims.

Vitasek often targeted financially struggling single mothers, helping them with material items and showering their sons with gifts and attention, authorities said.

Prosecutors said Vitasek would meet new victims through current victims and would abuse them in front of each other to make them think it was OK. He lived in the home of one boy and his family for a period of years.

Vitasek testified in court that three of the victims, all brothers, targeted him because they wanted to keep items that they had stolen from him, including a Corvette and a personal watercraft.

Vitasek also said he caught several of the other victims having sex with each other and they only accused him of molesting them because he threatened to report them, said Bob Dossey, Vitasek's Chandler-based attorney.

Dossey said Reinstein did not allow Vitasek to present that version of events in court. "Arthur maintains that he is innocent," Dossey said, adding that he will appeal Vitasek's conviction.

Seven of the boys in the case gave emotional testimony during the two-month trial, describing the same type of so-called grooming behaviors by Vitasek and the same type of sex acts - testimony prosecutor Brad Astrowsky said was compelling to jurors.

"It creates an overwhelming picture of the type of person this defendant was," he said. "And that was a serial sexual predator of boys."

Astrowsky said that after receiving his sentence, Vitasek yelled at the victims in court, saying, "I'll be back!"

The other prosecutor in the case, Angela Andrews, said that in all her years of prosecuting sexual predators, Vitasek's case was "the most egregious."

Detective Steve Berry with Mesa police, the lead investigative agency in the case, called Vitasek "a true classic predator." "You do want to get a maximum sentence on someone like that," he said. "You don't want him to get another opportunity to hurt a child."

Vitasek was arrested in Texas in September 2006 after being on the lam for more than a year and a half. "America's Most Wanted" featured him on the program numerous times before his arrest.

Police in the Dallas suburb of Grand Prairie arrested Vitasek after a 16-year-old boy reported that Vitasek sexually assaulted him after they met on the Internet.

Grand Prairie police said Vitasek was using a different name, Rich Loper, and that Vitasek only admitted his real name after a detective recognized him and repeatedly questioned him about his identity.

Vitasek's case also gained attention because he was mentored by former Arizona House Speaker Jim Weiers, who had hired him for a couple of jobs and allowed him to live in his home for a time. Weiers is still a state representative.

"One of the biggest things with molestation and rape and these types of cases is oftentimes victims feel like they're the only ones and no one's going to believe them and they're reluctant to come forward," he said. "So I think it is fantastic when victims can see that people do believe them and take them seriously, and know that this guy's not going to harm anyone else."

A Cambodian court on Wednesday sentenced an American doctor to 10 years in prison for paying for sex with two boys, aged 12 and 15.

The boys' parents filed a complaint to police who monitored Phillip Bruce Shepard, 69, and arrested him in July.

Shepard worked at a private Phnom Penh clinic before he was arrested, The Australian Associated Press quoted an official from a local anti-pedophile group Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE) as saying.

APLE started watching the Michigan native in 2007 after he was seen going into a hotel room with two boys.

The court ordered Shepard expelled once he serves his prison time.

Cambodia has long been a magnet for foreign pedophiles because of poverty and poor law enforcement. In recent years police and courts have increasingly targeted sex offenders.

Child protection activists were dismayed last month when at least three convicted offenders were freed by royal pardon, including a Russian who was the focus of the country's largest pedophilia case after he paid for sex with 17 girls, the AAP reported.

A convicted sex offender who runs a software company out of his Reno home was recently ordered by a judge to pay a former employee $7.7 million for enduring a four-year period of sexual assault and batteries — that began at age 15 — where the young man was also secretly filmed using the restroom and showering.

Washoe District Judge Patrick Flanagan’s Oct. 27 order against Mark Worsnop, 55, brought an end to a civil lawsuit that had been on-going since 2007. The time allowed under the law to appeal the ruling has now passed. Flanagan’s ruling followed a four-day hearing where testimony was heard from the former employee and Worsnop. Flanagan said he ordered the multi-million dollar judgement against Worsnop to appropriately punish him, and deter him and others from engaging in similar misconduct.

What Worsnop described as a long term “consensual relationship” to the RGJ was what the employee, his attorney and Flanagan said was sexual assault.

The man said he finally quit in 2007 when he found the secret video recordings of him using the bathroom, masturbating at his desk and in the shower. He then reported the incident to the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, as did Worsnop’s counselor when he learned the boy’s age, according to court records. Complaints were also made about Worsnop to his church and the Boy Scouts, according to testimony.

According to court filings in this case and the allegations to which Worsnop admitted, in 1997 Worsnop pleaded no contest in California to a charge related to molesting a boy. In a statement to the Reno Gazette-Journal, Worsnop said his sex offense conviction was expunged from his record, although Digesti said he is mandated by the law to register as a sex offender with the local police department.

Two children were systematically raped, starved and beaten for years by wicked pedophiles. They say they were failed by the system, by those they turned to for help. Now, with their abusers finally behind bars, they feel they’re being let down all over again. (by Adam Wakelin, This is Leicestershire)

A teenage brother and sister who suffered almost four years of horrific sexual abuse want a full and open inquiry into their case. The Leicestershire children say lessons must be learned so other youngsters can be better protected from evil pedophiles.

They have accused Leicestershire County Council of using an ongoing internal review – which will not be made public – to cynically cover-up a catalogue of alleged failures that left them in the clutches of their abusive step-father Mark Thomas and his brother, Paul Thomas.

"I'll always remember thinking 'Please get us away. Please get us out'. But they never did," said the girl, now 16, who like her 15-year-old brother, cannot be named for legal reasons.

They decided to speak out after a senior council official stated the aim of its review was "not to point the finger", but to "highlight the excellent practices of our staff". That comment left the youngsters feeling they were being let down all over again.

Detective Constable Andy Spence conducted the investigation that finally put their abusers behind bars. "I worked this case for four years and I know pretty much everything that's in the files," he said. "A lot of concerns were raised by different agencies, but those kids weren't removed. "It came out in the trial that these children weren't exaggerating. Everything they spoke about was proven to be true.

Jan Slater, the council's head of service for children in care, said the review would look at what social services could do better and what had been done well. She defended the decision not to make the findings public.

The girl first told a nursery nurse that her daddy had hurt her on the bed in 1999. The nurse informed social services. Neighbors, a head teacher, a housing officer and health professionals also raised concerns about the children's safety to the authorities. Yet Leicestershire Social Services did not get the children out of their squalid Ibstock home until November 2002 – three years and 10 months after the first allegation of abuse was made.

The girl and her brother were systematically raped, starved and beaten by Mark and Paul Thomas.

Both were jailed for 18 years last month after being convicted of a string of sex crimes against the youngsters.

Their birth mother, Alyson Mepham, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years after admitting cruelty by neglect.

The youngsters were made to see Mepham and Mark Thomas at a child-parent contact centre, even after they went to live with their foster parents. Mepham and Thomas used those visits to try to force the children to keep secret what had been done to them.

The Thomas brothers roamed free for nine years after the children were taken into care. Police have not ruled out the possibility that they went on to prey on other youngsters.

That would have not been allowed to happen if the allegations against them had been properly dealt with by social services, said the children – another reason why a full inquiry is so necessary.

The hardest thing for the children to understand is not how or why it happened, but how it was allowed to go on happening. For years. Again and again. As their weight fell and their bruises spread. As they went to school covered in filth and head-lice, stinking of stale urine, stealing food from their classmates because they were starving. As the concerned calls from a head teacher, neighbours, a housing officer and others to Leicestershire social services mounted up.

Their mother, Alyson Mepham, turned a blind eye to the abuse. Her other three children, the sons she had with Mark Thomas, played downstairs, while Amanda and Ben, kept caged behind a specially made iron gate, were used and abused by the brothers for their sick sexual gratification.

Richard Sangalang, a 39-year-old nurse from Surprise, pleaded guilty to three counts of luring a minor for sexual exploitation.

Sangalang, who was arrested in February, was sentenced in Maricopa County Superior Court to lifetime probation and 12 months in jail, a term that started Sept. 23.

Phoenix police say that on three occasions, Sangalang chatted online with officers posing as an underage girl. They reportedly received pictures of Sangalang’s face and his vehicle and requests for various kinds of sex.

After the arrest, Sangalang admitted to authorities that he had knowingly solicited sex with a minor and sent the pictures, according to the court documents.

Sangalang worked as a licensed practical nurse with adults for five years at Banner Estrella Medical Center.

Police Det. Stephen Johnston deemed the sex-assault case involving four foster children rare and disturbing for both his unit and members of the community.

The accused 13-year-old made a brief appearance in a Calgary court Thursday. Crown prosecutors were granted an adjournment to allow time to obtain more information from police.

According to the human- services ministry, there are about 2,400 foster homes licensed in Alberta providing care to roughly 4,500 children.

Police are exploring whether other Calgary foster children may have been subjected to sexual abuse following what are described as “horrifying” allegations against a 13-year-old.

Officers were called to a southwest foster home around 9:40 p.m. Tuesday by a witness with “direct knowledge” of a disturbing act taking place inside, said Det. Stephen Johnston.

Late Wednesday, police announced a 13-year-old boy living in the home had been charged with sexually assaulting and sexual interference against three other kids in the home ages six and under.

The alleged crimes were each committed separately but all took place on Tuesday, police believe.

Johnston said his child-abuse unit is often faced with difficult calls, but “This one, I daresay, is more shocking than most.”

Investigators have also learned other foster children previously lived in the home with the accused, who is being held in the Calgary Young Offenders Centre but cannot be named under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

“We are looking into the possibility now that this was not the first incident that occurred,” Johnston said.

The Alberta government’s human services ministry oversees the operations of foster homes in the province.

Spokesperson Roxanne Dube-Coelho said a review into an alleged incident of this nature would be typical but could not speak further to whether concerns had been raised about the residence previously.

“I can tell you the younger children have been removed from the home,” she said. “They are in a safe placement.”

A Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO) deputy is the target of a criminal investigation into allegations that he had inappropriate sexual contact with another deputy’s 8-year-old autistic daughter.

The investigation involves Carlos Periu, 40, who has been with BSO for 10 years. The child has used graphic details to describe the acts which she says he committed. The child is the daughter of another BSO deputy and the two families have been close friends for years, South Florida Times has learned.

The case is being investigated by detectives from the sex crimes division of the Coral Springs Police Department.

“The investigation has not been completed and I am not able to discuss any details at this time,” David Kirkland, public information officer for the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Unit of the Coral Springs Police Department, said in an email to South Florida Times.

Periu’s family had invited the girl’s family over for a visit during the Thanksgiving holiday and that was when the incident allegedly occurred.

The child later told her mother in explicit terms about a “secret” involving “Uncle Carlos.” Her parents contacted police and took the child to Broward County’s Sexual Assault Treatment Center for a forensic examination that included questioning by investigators.

The results of the examination are not known but Coral Springs police informed BSO of their investigation. Even though BSO is not involved and the case is not related to Periu’s work, the agency placed him on administrative leave on Dec. 19.

Periu’s patrol car was seized and its doors and trunk were sealed with bright red “evidence” tape before being taken to a garage for examination.

In addition to his work as a sheriff’s deputy, Periu owns CCC Entertainment, a company that provides music, photography, video, bounce houses and other entertainment services at parties, weddings, and other functions. His company has worked at BSO events.

Jim Lejedal, BSO’s director of media relations, said he was not familiar with Periu’s company and was not sure what, if any, impact his suspension would have on any future relationship with the sheriff’s office.

BSO hired Periu in 2001 and he works in the Pompano Beach district, earning $69,908 annually.

As a general rule, BSO employees are prohibited from discussing pending investigations and co-workers were reluctant to speak about the allegations. But some described Periu as friendly and incapable of doing what he is accused of.

It is unclear when the investigation will be completed or if the case has been presented to prosecutors. Officials at the Broward State Attorney’s Office declined comment when contacted. Coral Springs police say they are unable to provide any timetable.

“I am curious, however, as to how you learned about the case,” Kirkland, the Coral Spring police spokesman, said. “As soon as I am able to release any information, I will let you know.”

The former Colorado Springs Police Officer and School Resource Officer who is accused of sexual assault and possessing child pornography appeared in Court Wednesday.

A trial date previously scheduled for January 9 was cancelled. Instead, prosecutors are planning to bring all the charges into one trial on March 12.

Before agreeing to that action, the judge asked the defense if they felt this was a violation of Joshua Carrier’s right to a speedy trial. This is important because some of the charges must be dismissed and then refiled. Both Carrier and his attorney said they felt it was not a violation.

Carrier is facing almost 200 charges related to sexual assault and child pornography. Police say he sexually abused children and many of them he oversaw in his role at Horace Mann Middle School.

Additional sexual exploitation counts are also expected to be added to the list of charges when Carrier next appears in court. Carrier is scheduled for a motions hearing on February 3.

22 boys have come forward accusing Carrier of sexual assault.

Before the trial takes place, the defense will receive a copy of the hard drives that the prosecution plans to use as evidence. The judge said Wednesday that they contained “potentially harmful contraband.”

Carrier’s defense also asked the judge for a protective order against the media, which was denied. They tried to argue that the cameras were blocking access to the hallways and elevator in the courthouse.

The judge pointed out that cameras are already barred from the courtroom and that elsewhere they are protected by the first amendment. The defense was also reminded that they could call the police if they ever feel threatened.

Michael Lyn Plumadore was held without bond after his arrest Monday night in the death of Aliahna Lemmon, 9.

The Associated Press, quoting one of the 15 sex offenders living at Northway Woods, reports that Aliahna Lemmon's mother had recently moved to the trailer park to take care of her father, James E. Lemmon, a convicted sex offender who had emphysema.

James Lemmon died Dec. 3 at age 66, Oberlin-Turnbull Funeral Home of Hamilton said. State prison records show that he was convicted March 6, 2006, of child molestation.

The Indiana trailer park that was home to 9-year-old Aliahna Lemmon — whose dismembered body was found this week — is also home to an extraordinary number of registered sex offenders, police and court records show.

An affidavit filed Tuesday by Allen County sheriff's investigators said Michael Len Plumadore, 39, of the Northway Woods trailer park in Fort Wayne, confessed to having killed and dismembered Aliahna on Friday. Her head, hands and feet were found in a freezer in Plumadore's home; the rest of her body was scattered elsewhere in the area. Plumadore was held without bail Tuesday pending formal charges.

Plumadore lives in the same trailer park as Aliahna — who a relative said was partly blind and deaf — and her two younger sisters, and he often baby-sat for them. The girls had been staying with Plumadore for about a week because their mother was ill.

The nature of Aliahna's death would meet the definition of a sex offense under Indiana Code 35, which includes the state's version of Megan's Law, a national template for registering and monitoring known sex offenders. Plumadore isn't on Allen County's registry — court records show only convictions for trespassing, assault and auto theft in Florida and North Carolina.

But Northway Woods is one of an increasing number of isolated locations around the country that have become havens for registered sex offenders, who in most states must not live within a certain distance of places where children congregate, such as schools and churches.

The Allen County sheriff's registry shows that 15 sex offenders live at Northway Woods, a small mobile home park with 54 lots, only about 25 of which are occupied. Among them are men with multiple felony convictions for sexual abuse of a minor and child molestation.

In other words, three-fifths of the occupied units there house a registered sex offender. That's an extraordinary concentration in Indiana, which has only 137 registered sex offenders per 100,000 population — the third-lowest figure of all 50 states, according to data compiled by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Seven other registered offenders live within 2 miles of the trailer park, the registry shows — meaning nearly 5 percent of all of the county's 537 registered sex offenders live within a short walk of one another.

"You see it on TV all the time in other states, in other places, but this is in our own backyard," said Kathleen McKee, who lives in the Northway Woods park. "It's in our own home, and it's scary."

"I feel for the family, because I have three children myself — two daughters and a son," McKee told NBC station WISE of Fort Wayne. "I can't imagine what that family is feeling, especially around Christmas time."

Before he was arrested, Plumadore gave a brief interview Monday morning to WISE. The station hasn't aired the interview, which could be used as evidence in the case, but it reported that Plumadore said he was going in to take a polygraph test and that he, too, was eager to find Aliahna.

The former Provider bus driver already indicted on federal counts involving the sexual exploitation of children was indicted this month on 14 charges alleging he sexually abused a local child between February 2009 and February 2011.

John Allen Wright, 45, of 52 Charles Street in Milton, was arrested on Sept. 1 after an investigation by the state Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force that began in February 2011 led to a search warrant being executed at his home, according to an affidavit filed by Milton Police Chief Mark McGowan.

According to the affidavit, the search of Wright's home resulted in the discovery of an external hard drive, identified as being used by Wright, that contained approximately 10,000 images and movies depicting child sexual abuse.

Wright was working as a school bus driver of special needs children with Provider Enterprises Inc., for which he drove buses in Kittery, Maine, Rochester, and other local areas, at the time of his arrest.

Wright previously worked as a bus driver for the Milton School District and as an assistant teacher at Rochester Child Care Center and Quirion Preschool and Learning Center, also in Rochester, in the 1990s, according to investigators.

On Dec. 15, Wright was indicted on one count of aggravated felonious sexual assault, five counts of felonious sexual assault, four counts of lewdness and indecent exposure, and four counts of simple assault, alleging that between February 2009 and February 2011, Wright filmed himself engaging in sexual contact with a male minor child.

The videos, County Attorney Tom Velardi said, were among those found in Wright's home during the September search by the ICAC task force and were filmed on Wright's school bus.

The charge of aggravated felonious sexual assault is punishable by up 10 to 20 years in the state prison, while each charge of felonious sexual assault is punishable by 10 to 30 years in state prison.

The charges of indecent exposure are punishable by 3 1/2 to 7 years in prison, while each simple assault charge is punishable by two to five years in prison. These indictments are the most recent for Wright.

In October he was federally indicted on six counts involving the sexual exploitation of children, alleging he filmed sexual contact between himself and three separate minor children.

Buffalo attorney Kendra Winkelstein resigned as legal counsel to the ruling clique of the Tuscarora Nation last week following allegations of the systematic sexual abuse of young girls on the reservation by individuals with strong ties to the Tuscarora leadership. Winkelstein, who has represented tribal clerk Leo Henry, Neil Patterson Sr. and Neil Patterson Jr. for the past 18 years, told the Niagara Falls Reporter that the reasons behind her resignation were "personal." She declined comment when asked whether she is now talking with agents of the federal government or any other law enforcement agencies. A spokeswoman for the Buffalo FBI office would neither confirm nor deny that Henry and the Pattersons are under investigation. For Henry and the Pattersons, Winkelstein's resignation is potentially devastating, as Winkelstein has been the public face of the former "Gang of Four" to local, state and federal bureaucracies like the Niagara County Sheriff's Department, the New York Power Authority, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Environmental Protection Agency. She has been a key negotiator for the Tuscarora leadership, and has served as their representative in eviction proceedings and other highly criticized procedures undertaken by Henry and the Pattersons. Speculation about Winkelstein's resignation was rampant on the reservation last week.

A chair's got four legs, but you kick one out from under it and the whole thing falls down," one Tuscarora told the Reporter. Without the thin veneer of legality Winkelstein provided, it seems unlikely that government agencies will continue to do business with a regime responsible for basic human rights violations, including the denial of electrical service and medical treatment, the hijacking of $12.5 million received by the Tuscaroras over the past six years under the Power Authority's relicensing agreement, and an alleged pattern of ongoing sexual abuse under which the parents of victimized children were threatened with the loss of their homes and land should they choose to go to authorities. Because of confidentiality and ethical standards, Dougherty said he could not give the names of the women, but said they all told fundamentally the same story.

A powerful Tuscarora man, related by blood to at least one of those currently sitting on the ruling clique, raped and abused the women when they were young girls between the ages of 11 and 16, he said. "We're talking about an evil man," Dougherty said. "It's kind of surprising no one's shot him yet." In fact, Dougherty said, the father of one of the girls in question had to be physically restrained after he took off after the alleged perpetrator with a shotgun. "He was lucky that day, and he's stayed lucky."

The women waited years before coming forward with their allegations, because of the perpetrator's close ties to those in the Tuscarora government, Dougherty added. "They didn't say anything out of fear," he said. "Fear that they would be removed from the rolls, that their parents would be removed from the rolls, losing their property, or not having the ability to buy property."

More recently, allegations of repeated incidents of child molestation have surfaced at the Tuscarora Health Clinic, and the situation is considered so grave that a meeting was held for clinic workers in September where they were instructed about what to say should anyone ask them about the situation. Numerous sources on the reservation said last week that the case involves multiple victims and a former worker at the clinic -- related by blood to the suspect in the earlier case and to the member of the ruling clique as well -- who was quietly removed from his position last month. According to the sources, the tribal leadership is deliberately conducting a coverup of what went on at the clinic, to the point of enlisting one powerful Clan Mother to warn the victims and their families of the dire consequences they might face should they speak out about what happened.

A Davenport mother is behind bars, after police say she admitted knowing her three young daughters were being molested, and ignored the children's pleas for help.

''The oldest one is saying, this is what's going on, help me, Mom'', said Detective Mark Dinneweth, who interviewed the 29-year old woman.

The mother's boyfriend, Jayme Souder, 25, of Davenport, was charged back in August with three counts of felony sexual abuse. Souder is accused of molesting the girls who are now 10, 7 and 8, the past two years, while he babysat and the mother was gone.

Police say their mom admitted she was told by the eldest daughter about the abuse several times, but did nothing. She was arrested and charged on Tuesday.

''When an incident occurred, they told their mother. They suffered for two years'', said Dinneweth.

Dinneweth says the 8-year old recently decided enough is enough, and told school authorities after refusing to get back on the school bus and go home.

''She wouldn't get on the bus. She pulled her two sisters off, and said 'We are not going' '', Dinneweth said. ''She stood up for herself, said something to authorities, she had to do it for herself and her two younger siblings''.

The girls are in the care of a relative. The man accused of molesting them is in jail, and so is the mom who police say didn't save them. She is charged with one count of child endangerment, which is an aggravated misdemeanor.

''I can't tell you what was in her head. I just don't know. It's not going to make sense to a lot of people''.

A Chatham man already facing child pornography charges has now also been charged in relation to an alleged case of historical sexual abuse.

Chatham-Kent police reported Monday that Ronnie George Inghelbrecht, 48, had been charged with two counts of possession of child pornography and one count of accessing child pornography.

The public announcement led to a former Chatham resident coming forward to police to report being a victim of abuse. As a result of that investigation, Inghelbrecht has been additionally charged with eleven counts of sexual related offences and is scheduled to appear for a bail hearing today.

The accused was in a mentor position with children spanning a period of 10 years between 1984 and 1994. In an effort to ensure there are no additional victims, Chatham-Kent police are requesting that anyone with information about this accused contact the Chatham-Kent police major crime unit at 519-436-6616. Anonymous callers may contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 and may be eligible for a cash reward.

The original child porn charges stem from a search warrant executed Nov. 30 by members of the Chatham-Kent police child exploitation unit and the Ontario Provincial Police child sexual exploitation unit following a seven-month child pornography investigation. Three computers and external media were seized which contained images of child sexual abuse.

Former Kern County firefighter and Tehachapi City Council member Daniel Shane Reed has been arrested again on sexual abuse charges.

The Kern County Sheriff's Office says Reed, 41, met a 13-year-old boy and had sexual relations with him while he was free on bail from another case of sexual abuse.

Deputies started their investigation Nov. 8. They alleged Reed and the Tehachapi boy started communicating this summer with wireless devices and had sexual encounters in Bakersfield and Tehachapi.

Jail records show Reed was booked Wednesday morning on felony counts of oral copulation with a person under 14 and lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14.

In the first case, Reed is awaiting sentencing after pleading no contest in October to one misdemeanor count of annoying or molesting a child and one felony count of contact with a minor with intent to commit a sexual offense.

The primary victim in the first case – two teen boys were referenced in court documents – told the detective that he engaged in both anal and oral sex with Reed. The boy said he met Reed through a friend in February, when the three of them went to Pismo Beach. The boy was 16 at that time. The sexual relationship started that weekend, the boy told police.

Follow-up sexual encounters came after Reed took the boy shopping and out to eat, and the two exchanged text messages and had rendezvous at motels, court documents show.

Reed was sworn into City Council office in December 2008, and his term was set to end in November 2012. He resigned from the City Council in July and from his job as a firefighter in October.

He's jailed on $260,000 bail for the new case and is set for sentencing Jan. 4 in the former case.

Maricopa County Supervisor Fulton Brock's daughter was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years probation with one year deferred jail time for sexually abusing the same teenager her mother molested.

Rachel Brock, 22, was 17 when she performed sex acts over a two-year period with a 14-year-old family friend whom her mother, Susan, molested over a three-year period, according to records.

Though originally charged with seven counts of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of furnishing obscene materials to a minor, Rachel Brock in June pleaded guilty to two counts of child abuse with sexual motivation. Six other felony counts were dismissed. She will not have to serve any of the jail time if she abides by the terms of her probation.

In pleading guilty, Rachel, the middle daughter of Fulton and Susan Brock, softly answered "yes" after Pinal County Superior Court Judge Pro Tem Hank Gooday asked whether she was admitting to performing oral and masturbatory sex on the victim.

Her father was not at the sentencing hearing.

Her mother, Susan Brock, 49, is serving a 13-year sentence for molesting the boy, now 17, over a three-year period starting when he was 14.

The families, who both belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, socialized and vacationed together, records say. Rachel's abuse of the teen began on a trip to California, prosecutors said. The boy, a family friend, had been spending time at the Brocks' Chandler residence since he was about 11, according to Deputy Pinal County Attorney Jason Holmberg.

Susan Brock spent thousands of dollars on gifts for the teen and paid him $100 for letting her touch him, Holmberg said.

Rachel Brock had been held without bail since she was rearrested in the case in March. She was arrested in December, but Pinal County requested more evidence before formally charging her. The case was transferred to Pinal County prosecutors because of Fulton Brock's position as a Maricopa County official.

A Chandler detective who investigated the case reported that Fulton Brock had lied to police about evidence and also recommended that Mormon bishops be prosecuted for failure to report the boy's complaints to authorities.

A Navy commander who molested an underage girl over a seven-year period in Chula Vista and Monterey is scheduled to be sentenced Monday in a South Bay courtroom.

Brett Allen Wagner, 40, pleaded guilty in September to a felony charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14. He will be sentenced to 12 years in state prison.

According to the criminal complaint, Wagner molested the girl from 1997 to 2001 in Chula Vista and 2001 to 2004 in Monterey, when he was assigned there.

The defendant was arrested in June and extradited from Pascagoula, Miss., to San Diego County to face charges.

Winston-Salem police charged a woman with sexually abusing a foster child under her care, police said in a news release today.

Jasmine Boyd, 38, of 3900 Thornaby Circle, is charged with six counts of sexual activity by a substitute parent.

Winston-Salem police detectives got a report Nov. 11 that Boyd, a foster parent, had been having a sexual relationship with a child under her care for the past two months.

Detectives interviewed Boyd today at the police department. After the interview, she was taken into custody, according to the news release. She is scheduled to appear in court Jan. 6, 2012.

Anyone with information about this investigation should call the Winston-Salem Police Department at (336) 773-7700 or Crime Stoppers at (336) 727-2800.

A former volunteer at San Isabel Boy Scout Ranch has been bound over for trial for sexual assault on a child in Longmont, and law-enforcement officials are worried there could be more victims from the camp, including at least two from Pueblo County.

James Rienholdt "Butch" Cahill, 56, of Leadville is free on $100,000 bail after a preliminary hearing in Longmont on Thursday. He is charged with one count of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust, said Longmont police Detective Stacey Graham.

"We have one charge, but multiple people have stepped forward against Cahill," she said Thursday by phone. Graham said that three alleged victims, in addition to the boy he has been charged with assaulting, are from the Longmont area. "One victim is 39 and, like (two others), the statute of limitations has run out on (potential offenses)."

Cahill was a volunteer at the ranch for about 10 years, as recently as last summer, according to a letter sent to more than 240 families of Scouts who attended the camp over the past decade, notifying them of the former archery/shooting instructor’s charges and asking whether any scouts had been victimized. The letter stated that the Boy Scouts are fully cooperating with the investigation.

"We are concerned because of the longtime abuse of his victim here," Satur said. "The boy he is charged with abusing was 8 when it began and it continued until the boy was 13. Because of the nature of these crimes, and Cahill's history, we're worried about his time at the Scout camp. "Unfortunately, we would not be surprised if there were more victims."

Cahill’s 20-page arrest affidavit paints a pattern of years of sexual abuse on a boy, now 15, and similar abuse on a now 39-year-old man. Longmont police said the statute of limitations has passed when it comes to prosecuting Cahill in the older case.

Graham said Cahill is divorced, with one biological daughter and stepsons.

Jeff Berger, executive director of the Boy Scouts’ Rocky Mountain Council since last year, said he didn’t know Cahill personally and that Cahill quit working at the ranch mid-season. “We were shocked to hear of the allegations against James. Abuse always had been and is unacceptable in the Boy Scouts. The alleged allegations are not representative of the principles and ideals of the Boy Scouts of America”, Berger said.

An upstate New York dance teacher has been sentenced to five years in prison for sexually abusing a young boy who was one of his students.

The Glens Falls Post-Star reports that 49-year-old Timothy McGuire said nothing when he was sentenced Wednesday in Warren County Court. A jury convicted him in October of sexual conduct against a child, a felony, and misdemeanor sexual abuse.

He was found guilty of repeatedly abusing the boy from the time he was 6 until he was 14.

During his trial, McGuire denied having sexual contact with the boy.

McGuire ran the Tim McGuire Dance Centre in Glens Falls for 30 years. His lawyer has appealed the conviction.

At approximately 7:15am Wednesday morning, the George Washington Carver Middle School in South Los Angeles was placed under lockdown, Patrick Sinclair (Senior Director of Communications and External Affairs, The Partnership For Los Angeles Schools) told the Huffington Post.

A 7th grade student reported seeing a man in the neighborhood that resembled the alleged attacker from Friday's attempted sexual assault on a Carver student. As the suspect is still at large, the school and LAPD combed the campus to confirm that the man had not entered the campus grounds. The lockdown lasted less than one hour, reports Patrick Sinclair.

On Friday, November 4th, an unknown assailant aggressively grabbed a 12-year-old female student outside of a bathroom at George Washington Carver Middle School, while she was waiting for a classmate -- in broad daylight.

The man "forcefully pull[ed] her while making a sexual remark," states the LAPD. The young girl fell to the ground and began screaming as the attacker dragged her approximately 15 feet from where he had initially approached her.

The classmate she was waiting for, along with two additional 7th grade male students, ran towards the attacker and joined the struggle. According to the LAPD, the girl's peers demanded that the man release her.

The man escaped and climbed over a fence onto Wadsworth Avenue just south of Vernon Avenue. He is described as being Hispanic with brown eyes and black hair between the ages of 30 and 40. He is believed to weigh between 180 and 190 pounds and is between 5'9" and 6'1" tall. The suspect also has two cut lines or scars on his left eyebrow.

Patrick Sinclair told the Huffington Post that a letter is being sent home to Carver parents and asserts that no students have been harmed in any way. The two 7th grade boys who assisted in saving the victim will be honored by Carver's Principal, reports KTLA.

Anyone with additional information about the incident or the suspect is urged to contact LAPD Newton Division Officer Cervantes at (323) 846-6576.

Two San Diego County men have been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to the sex trafficking of children who were forced into prostitution rings by street gangs.

Prosecutors tell the Los Angeles Times that 20-year-old Malcolm Jamal Allen and 23-year-old Devon Leontae Sutton, both from Oceanside, entered the pleas Monday, admitting to child sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion.

Authorities say the gangs used websites like Facebook, Twitter and Craigslist to find customers. Many of the groups' young prostitutes were runaways.

Six other defendants tied to the prostitution ring have also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

A Swedish court on Tuesday convicted 23 women and one man of child pornography offenses in what investigators called a unique case because of the number of female perpetrators.

The Falu District Court gave the women, aged between 38 and 70, conditional sentences and fines ranging from $380 to $2,700. It also sentenced a 43-year-old man to one year in prison for aggravated child pornography.

The court said the women received scores of sexually explicit video clips and photographs of children from the man and discussed them online with him. Some said they liked the images or shared sexual fantasies about the children, and one woman sent pornographic images of children to the man, the court said. The material showed girls and boys of various ages, . The man made contact with the women on the Internet and had sexual relations with about half of them, but they had no connection to each other, the court said.

Some 1,181 pictures and 40 films with child pornography were found in the man's computer, including brutal images of shackled children being raped by adults.

Swedish police said reactions they have received from Interpol indicate this is the first child pornography case worldwide to involve so many women.

Four Oregon men plan to sue the Boy Scouts of America on Tuesday over childhood sexual abuse they say they suffered at the hands of a pedophile knowingly appointed as their scoutmaster in the 1970s, their lawyer said. The lawsuits, to be filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court in Portland, accuse the national Boy Scouts of negligence and fraud in connection with the repeated molestation of the men, then aged 12 to 15, their lawyer, Kelly Clark, told Reuters. The suits are the latest in a barrage of such claims facing the Boy Scouts, headquartered in Texas, since the organization was found liable and ordered to pay nearly $20 million in damages last year for a pedophile case from the 1980s.

Clark and his co-counsel, Paul Mones, brought a separate case against the Boy Scouts last week on behalf of five women who claim they were sexually abused as girls by the leader of a coed Scouting program in Montana during the 1970s. The Montana suit and the impending cases in Oregon bring to at least 35 the number of individuals who have lodged child sexual abuse claims against the Boy Scouts of America in 11 states since 2007, Clark said.

The group cites new safeguards instituted during the past decade, including tighter screening of its volunteers, though it acknowledges that criminal background checks for existing volunteers only became mandatory in 2008. Clark said publicity from last year's trial in Portland prompted hundreds of former Scouts to contact his law firm. He likened the "domino effect" of that case to the tide of allegations against Roman Catholic priests in the United States triggered more than a decade ago by reports of clergy abuse that surfaced in the Boston Archdiocese. "What these institutions have in common is the sense that their mission is important and that they can't afford to have their good works sullied by what they consider isolated incidents," Clark said.

Last year's trial shed light on records the BSA kept on suspected or confirmed sexual abuse by leaders and volunteers. The jury was permitted to review 20,000 pages from what were termed the "perversion files" or "ineligible volunteer files," dating from 1965 to 1985 before rendering a verdict. The lawsuit claims the BSA was aware since the 1960's that “scouting posed a danger to adolescent boys because historically noticeable numbers of adult volunteers...were discovered to be child molesters.” Those files show that during the 20-year period, an average of nearly 60 leaders or volunteers a year were discovered molesting children, Clark said. The Boy Scouts dispute that figure, and the organization is fighting to keep those documents from being made public in a case awaiting a ruling by the Oregon Supreme Court.

All four bringing suit in the new case claim they were abused in the 1970s by then-scoutmaster Steven Terry Hill, who was put in charge of their troop even though the Boy Scouts learned he had been accused of molesting three other boys while serving as a Scout leader in California, Clark said. The plaintiffs also allege that the Boy Scouts organization became aware that Hill was molesting boys in Portland's Troop 76 but did nothing to stop it, according to Clark. Hill was acquitted in the late 1970s of sex abuse charges related to the Boy Scouts in Portland. But he was convicted in 1991 on four counts of sodomy and furnishing drugs and alcohol to a minor stemming from an unrelated sex-abuse case involving a 17-year-old boy. He was released from prison in 2011 after serving 20 years, Clark said. A deposition Hill gave while incarcerated, and other corroborating evidence, suggests that the California Scouts council arranged for him to be transferred to Portland where, in 1976, he founded Troop 76, an elite group of 76 scouts whose mission was “high adventure” activities like river rafting and mountain climbing, Clark said.

James Hopper, a clinical psychology instructor at Harvard Medical School, said it is not unusual for adults to wait many years to reveal sexual abuse from their childhood, especially for males, who may feel greater shame from their ordeals. "You have stories of abuse emerging from the Catholic Church and other institutions; now it's the Boy Scouts' turn," he said. Clark said “You don’t have to be trained or anything. You just show up and raise your hand and swear and you’re a volunteer.” “So while the percent of volunteers in the Boy Scouts who were abusers is, we believe, much smaller, the numbers are relatively large, and the number of victims could be the same or worse (than in the Catholic church)”.

Daniel Taylor, 31, from Leeds, was handed an indeterminate sentence after admitting 27 offenses, including sex assault on a baby. He was described by police as the UK’s most prolific hoarder of pictures of child abuse. Taylor possessed more than 300,000 indecent images, including a large number considered the most extreme, Bradford crown court heard. Taylor used 47 devices including hard drives, phones, memory sticks and a laptop to store the pictures. The court was told Taylor, a father of two, filmed himself sexually assaulting a victim twice. None of the charges relate to Taylor's children. He pleaded guilty to 27 charges, including making and possessing indecent images and sexually assaulting a baby.

Officers also found an instruction video for pedophiles showing them how to abuse children from birth until the age of eight. Taylor, who worked in a family business supplying and fitting gutters, encrypted his web of computers and storage devices, but police used state-of-the art technology to break his codes and access the material.

Judge Rodney Grant said that Taylor posed a danger, and an indeterminate sentence was his only option. He also ordered him to sign the sex offenders register for life and comply with a sexual offenses prevention order.

In August 2011, a Marine Corps Captain was arrested when state and federal agents in North Carolina conducted a sweep of alleged child pornography traffickers that led to the arrests of 24 people, including Thomas Evans, a Captain with the Lumberton Fire Department. Evans, 40, is charged with nine felony counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.

Last Wed., 43-year old Ernesto Agramont of Tucson, was shot and killed by officers who were attempting to arrest him on child sexual assault and abuse charges. Five officers surrounded Agramont’s home; he left his house carrying a knife, which he refused to drop, and advanced towards the officers. He was shot and died a short time later. The matter is being investigated and Tucson police are asking anyone with information to call 911 or 88-crime.

On June 15, at approximately 6:53 p.m., a witness walked into the men’s restroom at the Von’s store at 8011 University in La Mesa. He observed an adult male sitting on the toilet with his pants down. The adult male had a 2-year-old child on his lap and the witness observed the child touching the man’s penis. The witness reported the incident to the La Mesa Police Dept. The adult male was identified by the police as Russell Cilibraise III. The investigation is ongoing and detectives are still working on developing leads on any other potential victims or witnesses to the case or any other potential cases involving Cilibraise.

If you have any information on this case, please call Detective Sean Snow at (619) 667-7537. You may also call Crime Stoppers’ anonymous toll-free tip line (888) 580-TIPS or www.sdcrimestoppers.com.

Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance, Jr., announced Tues. that his office had filed charges against 26 individuals related to the possession of images or videos showing the sexual abuse of children. “These images...are babies, toddlers, and children being brutally raped, sexually assaulted and exploited by adults on camera.”

The New York Times reports that “the charges were a result of a five-month investigation conducted by the district attorney’s office and the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. According to the New York Daily News, the defendants, ages ranging from 18 to 63, included Steven Roman, who worked in a children’s shoe store, Miguel Caraballo, who was once a dishwasher at Manhattan’s Alice’s Tea Cup (a Lewis Carroll-themed teahouse catering to kids), substitute teacher Joshua Ruiz, and Moshe Gerstein, a corporate attorney.

“The 26 defendants in these cases traded videos and still images of child sexual assault the way others traded baseball cards,” Vance stated, “using peer to peer technology, they acted as curators of their collection.”

According to the Times, officials from the DA’s office said they would hand over the images collected as part of the investigation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an organization in Virginia that keeps a database of seized material as part of its Child Victim Identification Program.

Police are questioning 10 men suspected of child trafficking following a series of raids in Manchester and the north-west connected to a major inquiry into the sexual exploitation of young girls. The arrests followed allegations that the men befriended vulnerable girls in Manchester city centre and plied them with food, alcohol and drugs before carrying out abuse at sex parties.

Around 100 detectives have been involved for three months in Operation Windermere, one of the largest child sexual exploitation investigations ever carried out by the serious crime division of Greater Manchester police (GMP). Police said up to 39 young girls, some as young as 14, were helping with the inquiry, which was focusing on a "core group" of four to six alleged victims.

It is believed the arrested men met girls outside shops and at bus and train stations in Manchester city centre, and offered them food and takeaways. The grooming would then progress to giving them drink and drugs before they were allegedly taken to parties in Manchester and Salford and encouraged to engage in sexual activity with older men, ages between 21 and 28. Around half the girls were in local authority care and all were classed as vulnerable, with many from broken homes and many living on the periphery of society.

GMP Assistant Chief Constable Terry Sweeney said the operation was part of a series of investigations into child sexual exploitation currently under way. Arrests were made in Bury and Rochdale in recent weeks. He also appealed for the public's help in combating sex gangs that prey on vulnerable youngsters. He said the girls had been the victims of "classic grooming".

A Massachusetts man whose case led to the discovery of a massive child sex abuse case in the Netherlands has been charged with distributing child pornography, according to court documents.

Robert Diduca, 47, was a member of an online forum for those with a sexual interest in children. He came to the attention of law enforcement last year when he sent a pornographic image of a child via e-mail to investigators of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), who alerted Massachusetts State Police.

Diduca was arrested at his home in Milford, a town in Worcester County of Massachusetts, in early November 2010. During a search of his computer storage devices, investigators discovered some 10,000 images and videos of young children engaged in sexual acts. One of the images recovered from his computer showed an adult man sexually abusing a two-year-old boy. Investigators determined that the photos and videos did not appear to have been made in the United States and shared an edited image on Interpol's secure system for international law enforcement officials in order to help identify the victim.

As a result, Dutch police soon recognized the material was of Dutch origin and requested additional photos to help in the investigation. An edited photo of the victim was eventually shown on Dutch television on December 7 after which someone recognized the child and called police.

Hours later, police in the Netherlands arrested 27-year-old Robert Mikelsons who confessed to sexually abusing dozens of young children while being employed at two Amsterdam nurseries between February 2007 and January 2010. He also offered his services through several websites. Mikelsons is believed to have abused at least 85 young children.

Diduca, who remains in custody, previously pled not guilty to similar charges. If found guilty, he faces at least 5 years and up to 20 years in prison, followed by up to lifetime supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

Douglas Hugh Stewart, 51, from Moncton, pleaded guilty to possessing millions of images seized in March. Const. Jean-Marc Pare, of the RCMP Internet Child Exploitation Unit in Fredericton, said police in Canada have never seen anything quite like it. Other arrests are expected. The ongoing investigation into peer-to-peer computer file sharing of child sexual abuse images in the province– known as Operation J Treasures– began in November 2010.

“There have been a few out west that numbered over 3 million. We don’t know the exact number of ours yet, but we know we’ll be well over five million.” Pare said they’re dealing with a subculture of people who collect these images like other collect hockey cards. He said the images have been sent to the national RCMP unit in Ottawa, which could lead to the identification of more victims and possibly more offenders. “But those offenders are becoming more sophisticated, he said, both in methods of storing the images and luring victims”.

Dozens of charges of sodomy and sex abuse are being filed against a 71-year-old Athens man. Johnnie Donald Pack faces 24 counts of first degree sodomy, 24 counts of first degree sexual abuse, and three counts of second degree sexual abuse. Police said that Pack knew his two victims, who were between nine and 12-years-old when the abuse took place; Police believe the abuse took place at his residence and spanned several years. Pack’s neighbors were shocked to hear of the 71-year-old’s charges.

Investigators are still looking to see if other victims will come forward. If you have any information, you’re asked to call Athens police at (256) 233-8700.

23 women and a 43-year-old man were charged with child pornography offenses in what investigators say is a unique case because of the number of female suspects. Charges filed with the Falun district court in central Sweden say the women, aged between 38 and 70, received scores of sexually explicit video clips and photographs of children from the man, who is the main suspect in the case, and discussed them with him online in graphic detail. The material included girls and boys of all ages, from toddlers to teenagers, the prosecutor told the Associated Press.

Detective Bjorn Sellstrom said he believed it was the first child pornography case worldwide to involve so many women.

Four children told police they were sexually abused by their own parents, as well as their grandfather and uncle. It allegedly happened at a home on Stetson Avenue near Hemet. The mother, Monica Silva, the uncle, Ronald Hurley Jr., and the grandfather, Ronald Hurley Sr., were arrested and charged with sexual assault, child endangerment and penetration by force. The father of the children, who is currently serving time in state prison, will also be booked.

The uncle is an amateur boxer and is known in the area as the "San Jacinto Kid." Law enforcement said the grandfather's background includes an arrest for statutory rape 12 years ago. "We're still completely shocked," said Riverside County Sheriff's Cpl. Courtney Donowho. "This is just a terrible, dreadful incident, and this shouldn't happen to any child growing up, much less four children in one home."

Detectives said the sheriff's department opened the investigation after one of the kids reported the assault. It culminated with three arrests at the place where the family had recently moved to on State Street in San Jacinto. The children have been taken in Child Protective Services. Meanwhile, the suspects remain in police custody. Hurley family.

A motel owner is among 38 people charged with helping to run a child and adult prostitution ring for a gang based in suburban San Diego. A federal grand jury indictment alleges that the Oceanside Crips had girls and women prostitute themselves at low-cost motels in north San Diego County. About 30 girls were rescued “from this nightmare that they’ve been living”, said Michael Carney, acting special agent in charge of investigations for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego.

The prostitutes ranged in age from 13 years old to young adults, said an ICE spokesperson. If convicted of racketeering conspiracy, each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison. The indictment says that a Travelodge, run by Vinod Patel, 60, and his son, Hitesh Patel, 27, was the most “egregious example” of motels where prostitution occurred, and the only one charged. “The Patels were targeted in this case because they not only knowingly assisted the Crips use of the hotel to conduct prostitution and other gang activities, but they personally profited from it”, U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said.

Police have charged four people from Indianapolis in a scheme to sell a baby girl to a convicted child molester and his sister. The Indianapolis Star reports that police say 36-year old Rose Faucett and 58-year-old Phillip A. Hester agreed to sell their daughter to Michael S. Overby and Debbie Overby for $300. The four were arrested Friday on preliminary charges of child selling. A court hearing has been set for Wed. Police say 57-year-old Michael Overby is a convicted child molester and 50-year-old Debbie Overby has been convicted of child neglect. Michael Overby also is suspected of signing documents saying he was the baby’s biological father and has been charged with forgery. Debbie Overby has been released on bond and declined to comment. The other remain jailed.

Accused kidnapper and rapist Phillip Garrido is expected to plead guilty to snatching an 11-year-old schoolgirl from her South Lake Tahoe area street, holding her captive for nearly two decades and fathering her two daughters, according to an attorney in this case. Garrido was a convicted rapist even prior to this. Garrido and his wife, Nancy, face 29 charges of kidnapping and sexual assault in the 1991 abduction of Jaycee Lee Dugard, now 30. Nancy Garrido has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and her husband is to be arraigned April 7th in Placerville, CA. Phillip has confessed to it, so he’s expected to plead guilty. Nancy, however, plans to go to trial. Phillip will testify on his wife’s behalf. The D.A. is arguing that she is as guilty as he is because she was there as an aider and abettor. He said “Not only was Nancy Garrido directly involved in the kidnapping of Jaycee back in 1991, but she actively participated in videotaphing young children before and after the 1991 abduction”.

If he pleads guilty, the 60-year old convicted rapist faces “530 years to life, the last I counted”, according to Stephen Tapson, Nancy Garrido’s attorney.

Dugard’s case revealed problems with California’s system for monitoring convicted sex offenders after it was determined that parole agents had missed numerous clues and chances to find her. Dugard, now 30, received a $20 million settlement under which the state acknowledged repeated mistakes were made by parole agents responsible for monitoring Phillip Garrido. The state has since increased monitoring of sex offenders.

Keith S. Brown, 55, the father of the renowned piano group The 5 Browns, was sentenced to at least 10 years in prison on charges that he sexually abused his three daughters when they were children. The judge said “I do believe that you are a pedophile, and... that you are a danger to society”. Brown once served as manager of his children’s group, but they severed professional ties with him in 2008. The Brown sisters remain estranged from their father. They reported the abuse to the police last year after learning that their father planned to begin working with other young musicians.

Police are looking for an Guatemalan man, and illegal immigrant, they say is trying to flee to his home country after he admitted to raping a 7-year-old girl in the Santa Fe home where he had rented a room. An arrest warrant has been issued charging Mario Humberto Cortez-DelCid, 28 with 11 counts of criminal sexual penetration of a minor, between mid-February and mid-March. While her father would be in the shower getting ready for work, DelCid would commit the acts, sometimes going and getting the girl and taking her to his room. He threatened even worse would happen if she told anyone. The girl eventually told her grandmother. The arrest warrant carries with it a $1 million cash-only bond, and he may face a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold if arrested.

Foreign child sex abusers in Pattaya, some of whom were repeatedly released by the police or courts, were targeted in “Operation Rescue” which centered on a website called “Boy Lover”. The website has 70,000 members, dozens of whom were in Thailand or frequent visitors to the country. More arrests are expected in the operation in which 670 pedophile suspects have been targeted worldwide. Those arrested include scout leaders, football coaches, and in Britain, even a police officer, was among the 100 arrested. In The Hague, Holland, where the “Boy Lover” website is based, police say they had arrested 184 people and taken 230 children out of danger. Of the total, 240 suspects aged between 17 and 82 were in Britain where 121 arrests were made and 60 children rescued from abusers.

The Operation Rescue was led by investigators at the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). Boy Lover operated in several languages across 11 sub-domains worldwide.

An internet pedophile ring with up to 70,000 members- thought to be the largest yet discovered, has been uncovered by police. Rob Wainright, Director of Europol, The European police agency, said it's "probably the largest pedophile network in the world". Europol said in a statement that "Operation Rescue" had identified 670 suspects and that 230 abused children in 30 countries had been taken to safety. More children are expected to be found. Europol said that so far 184 people had been arrested, which include teachers, police officers, scout leaders, and a youth camp worker suspected of abusing some 100 children over five years.

The website was shut down after a 3-year investigation. It had operated from a server based in the Netherlands, and had had up to 70,000 members worldwide. Law enforcement authorities from 13 countries, including the U.S., were involved in the case. Europol analysts had cracked the security features of a key computer server at the center of the network which uncovered the identities of suspected child sex offenders. There will be more arrests as investigations continue.

A former Florida police officer told a judge that he molested hundreds of girls as he was being sentenced in Putnam County, Fla. earlier this week. The state's attorney's office said Paul Joseph Blair, 60, pleaded no contest to two counts of sexual battery to a minor and received a 25-year sentence. He committed the crimes against two girls between the ages of 12 and 18. In court, Blair said he molested between 200 and 300 other girls and that he's been a pedophile his entire life.

Despite his confession, a state's attorney spokeswoman said Blair cannot be charged based on his words alone. "That confession alone isn't proof. Victims have to get matched up to that confession," said the spokeswoman, Shannon Peters. Peters said that investigations into other possible crimes are ongoing.

Blair is in the Putnam County jail awaiting transfer to state prison, and the jail does not permit media interviews with inmates.

Peters said Blair did not portray himself as a cop during the incidents with either of the two girls, and it was unclear if he did so during encounters with other children. Mental health experts said finding out the person who molested them was a law enforcement officer could add to the trauma the victims already are experiencing.

"They are hurt, disappointed and angry that someone who has the training and experience of being police would act toward them in that way," said Dr. Reid Finlayson, assistant professor of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "It damages the person even more by undermining their trust in legitimate authority, help and support."

Christopher Earl Dustrude, 25, a convicted sex offender on the loose in San Diego for a week, was arrested Saturday. U.S. marshals were tipped by a woman who spoke to him at a mental hospital, then saw his picture in the San Diego Union-Tribune, authorities said. The marshal said Dustrude was jailed on suspicion of failing to register his change of address with authorities. He had checked himself into the hospital under his own name.

In 2004, Dustrude pleaded guilty in Montana to having sex with a 9-year-old girl and 7-year-old boy, both who are family members. He was placed on probation and ordered to register as a sex offender. His aunt, who is the mother of the two children he molested, said that he has mental problems, and she believes he should be put in an institution. he was ordered held without bail and has a preliminary hearing set for Feb. 17.

A former California state mental hospital director, 63-year-old Claude Foulk, was found guilty of sexually abusing his adopted son in what prosecutors contend was a pattern of preying on young boys that spanned four decades. Prosecutors say another 11 men came forward to claim that Foulk molested them as children, dating back to 1965, but only the son’s case could be prosecuted because of the statute of limitations. Foulk worked as a nurse, obtained a master’s in business administration, and held previous state jobs before working at Napa State Hospital. He was a foster parent to two boys and adopted two sons. The prosecutor argued that Foulk used the foster care system to acquire boys to meet his insatiable sexual appetite, knowing they had no parents to turn to.

He could face a maximum sentence of up to 248 years in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 23.

A Canadian man was sentenced on Monday to 25 years in U.S. prison for running a brothel in Thailand that provided boys, some as young as 4 years old, to pedophiles, federal prosecutors said. John Wrenshall, 64, admitted to using his Bangkok home to host foreign visitors who would pay him to have sex with Thai boys, according to court documents. He pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to engage in sex tourism, conspiracy to produce child pornography, and distribution of child pornography.

He let his clients film and photograph their abuse of the Thai boys. He also is accused of personally abusing the boys to prepare them for customers. He was extradited to New Jersey after being arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport in Dec. 2008. Wrenshall was indicated in New Jersey after it was discovered that Wayne Nelson Corliss, a New Jersey resident, had traveled to Thailand where he was photographed sexually abusing several Thai boys. Two of Wrenshall’s other U.S. clients, both from Alabama, have been convicted and sentenced to prison on sex tourism charges.

A 43-year-old defense attorney is accused of secretly photographing and filming several women and a teenage girl while they were undressing at a tanning salon in Northern San Diego County. David Taylor Kaye of San Marcos was arrested Friday after a 10-month-long investigation by Escondido police. Investigators have identified a total of seven women, including a 15-year-old girl. Investigator also found child pornography on his computers.

An Indonesian toy salesman, named Sartono, age 34, admitted to raping at least 96 boys between the ages of 13 and 17, over the last two years, many of them street children picked up at train stations. Sartono was arrested last week in the capital Jakarta after a complaint was filed by the parents of one of the alleged victims. The teenage boy claims he was abducted by the salesman and held for 45 days, during which time he was repeatedly raped and forced to perform sexual acts on other men. The investigator said "He kept a list and details about each of his victims, including the names of 16 of them". He could face 15 years behind bars if found guilty.

A Chico man, Amado Nicholas Hernandez, 31, was arrested as he arrived on board a cruise ship at the Port of San Diego. He was arrested on suspicion of having about 450 photographs of child pornography on a computer and about 250 videos of the same nature. Agents began investigating him last summer after a concerned citizen came to them with a computer he received for free from an estate sale in Chico. The computer was thought to be broken, but the citizen, a technician, was able to restore the computer and found the child pornography and called law enforcement. Investigators then allegedly linked the residence of the estate sale and the computer to Hernandez. Of the pornography found on the computer, 44 children were depicted. Hernandez is charged with receiving and possessing child pornography and may appear before a U.S. Magistrate Judge as early as today.

A Colorado man, Douglas Perlitz, was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for sexually abusing children for more than a decade at a school he founded in Haiti. The judge said she believed there were at least 16 victims, based on the testimony that authorities recorded on video by others who attended the school. The judge called him a serial rapist and molester as she imposed the sentence on him. She said she believed he would commit the same crimes again if her were in a similar position.

Now a resident of Eagle, Colorado, Perlitz founded the school in 1997 when he lived in Fairfield County, Conn. Authorities said he began abusing the children, some as young as 11, in 1998 before the school was built. The abuse scandal led to the collapse of the school and its fundraising arm, the Haiti Fund, forcing the children back into homelessness on the streets, prosecutors said. Perlitz claims that a factor in the crimes was his "dark and abusive relationship" with a priest. His lawyers wrote in court documents that he had "confusion and shame about his sexuality, and struggles with his identity; an ongoing, complicated and exploitive relationship with an influential priest..."

The federal jury in the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case returned guilty verdicts on both counts against street preacher Brian David Mitchell: kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines for purposes of illegal sex. The jury rejected the defense’s insanity claims. Mitchell kidnapped Smart from her home and raped her almost daily until she was found nine months later, walking a suburban street with Mitchell and his now-estranged wife. Mitchell faces a possible sentence of life in prison.

Dubbed Project Sanctuary, the investigation began in Nov. 2009, bringing together the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), 13 Canadian police services, and international police services and officers from the Child Exploitation Section of the Toronto Police Services Sex Crimes Unit.

For a year undercover officers went deep into the worldwide network of men who were allegedly trading child sexual abuse images and videos and, in some cases, creating these images by abusing children. That undercover operation has netted the arrest of 57 men world-wide with 25 of them from Canada. Twelve of the 25 children rescued as a result of Project Sanctuary are from Canada.

“This operation is an excellent example of what can be accomplished through cooperative police work between the U.S. and Canada. Nothing is more important than our combined efforts to prevent the exploitation of our children,” said Tom Blanchard, ICE HSI Attache in Canada.

A Perris man was arrested for indecent exposure Monday after a deputy caught him engaging in “a lewd act” while parked in front of a Murrieta-area children’s dance studio. Ozzie Dean, 57, had “an unobstructed view” of the children inside the studio, Sheriff’s Sgt. M. Hatfield said. The children ranged in age from 8 to 12 years old, he said. After Dean’s arrest, detectives found evidence in the car that indicated Dean may have committed crimes at other dance studios in the Riverside County area. He was book for indecent exposure and was released on bail.

Registered sex offender, Gary Lee Hardeman, 55, was arrested in Waikiki after being indicted in San Francisco on suspicion of illicit activity in a foreign place with a minor, apparently in Mexico, where court records say he stays with a daughter for several months a year. His only felony conviction was 30 years ago, but since then, authorities say, he has shown hostility toward being registered as a sex offender and has openly advocated adult sex with children. In court documents, probation officials say they suspected he was making pornographic films with minor girls and not following his registration requirements.

Nearly 350 registered sex offenders were arrested this week as part of a statewide sting to ensure they are complying with the law. Dubbed "Operation Safe Playground", the effort began in July and will continue through January.

Hundreds of convicted sex offenders have been arrested after a four day sweep across California including dozens in San Diego County, according to state parole agents.

Operation Safe Playgrounds began on Monday. State parole agents, along with local law enforcement, conducted compliance checks on registered sex offenders. "The short message is, if you're a sex offender and you are not in compliance in any way, we are going to track you down and get you back in compliance", said parole agent Sean Torphy of the California Parolee Apprehension Team.

On Friday, state parole officials will hold a press conference to release the finale number of arrests for California.

More than five dozen child prostitutes have been found in the last three days as part of a nationwide crackdown on the sexual exploitation of children. An FBI spokesman said 69 children were removed from prostitution and 99 suspected pimps were arrested in 40 cities across 30 states and the District of Columbia. All the children found in the last three days have been placed into protective custody or returned to their families.

The children were found during Operation Cross Country V, a three-day roundup targeting child traffickers and pimps. The largest group of child prostitutes, 24, was found in and around Seattle, according to the FBI. An FBI director said the children found ranged in age from 12 to 17. Authorities are working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to confirm their identities. Since 2003, when the FBI and the Justice Dept. launched the Innocence Lost National Initiative, about 1,250 child prostitutes have been located and removed from prostitution.

A brave 7-year old girl is being credited with exposing her own grandfather as a serial child molester in her family’s home. Sergio Conde was found guilty of eight counts of child molestation. He was charged with molesting two girls decades ago. Since then five other girls, including Conde’s step-granddaughters, also came forward claiming they are victims as well. Conde faces 15 years to life in prison when he’s sentenced in January 2011.

Joseph Cantorna, 55, is accused of exposing himself to two boys and fondling one of them. He is mentally challenged and has a previous conviction of lewd acts against a child. Because of the newly signed Chelsea's Law, he will probably be facing a greater penalty. According to the DA, prior to Chelsea's Law he would be facing 15 years to life, but because of the new law, he is facing 25 years to life. This is one of the first sex offender cases in the county since Chelsea's Law was signed.

Six people were convicted of child sexual abuse in a Lisbon court on Friday, in a trial that lasted nearly six years and shocked people in Portugal and beyond. The charges involved the rape and sexual abuse of 32 children who were residents of the home in Lisbon, part of a network of institutions for needy children called Casa Pia. Accusations included running a ring for pedophiles and sex parties attended by prominent personalities. The defendants included Carlos Cruz, a former star television anchor, who was sentenced to 7 years in prison, and Jorge Ritto, a retired ambassador, who received 6 years and 8 months. A newspaper editor said "...the public will now feel that sometimes at least even the powerful can get convicted for their crime." More than 800 witnesses and experts testified in court over a lengthy trial. A court ordered the Portuguese government in 2006 to pay more than $2.5 million in compensation to former residents of Casa Pia for failing to protect them.

The Boy Scouts of America have reached a financial settlement with six men who say they were sexually abused when they were members of the same troop in Oregon in the 1980's. the settlement comes after a trial in which a jury awarded Kerry Lewis, 38, a former scout, $19.9 million in damages in April. At the trial, a former assistant troop leader, Timur Dykes, admitted to molesting Mr. Lewis when he was about 12. For the settlement, the Boy Scouts were ordered to pay the State of Oregon $2.25 million in punitive damages.

An international child pornography ring that operated on Facebook has been brought down with the social networking site’s support, Australian police said. Eleven people have been charged in Australia, Britain and Canada in connection with the syndicate, which involved people using Facebook to distribute and view graphic sexual images, police said. The difficulty for Facebook in stopping the syndicates is that users set up false new accounts after their accounts are deactivated, so they need help of law enforcement.

Terry Dusseault, 38, a convicted sex offender whose disappearance triggered an Amber Alert, appeared in court on Thursday. Police were looking for him to arrest him on child sexual assault and endangerment charges but he took off with his 8-year-old son. His son is home safe, and now he has to answer to charges of sexually assaulting three young girls who sources say were around 9 years old. The crimes allegedly took place between April 2009 and the end of 2009. He was employed as a pizza delivery driver, and is a registered sex offender as a result of a child porn conviction in North Carolina.

Steven Tecce, a 19-year-old New Jersey man who works at a New Hampshire summer camp, is facing charges he tried to tie up and sexually assault an 8-year-old camper. The girl was able to escape and told her parents. Officials at Camp Spofford in Spofford say Tecce is a maintenance worker. His defense attorney said Tecce has Asperger’s syndrome, a type of autism characterized by difficulties in social interaction.

Jeffrey Alan Lee, 44, who worked as a jail counselor for the Sheriff’s Dept. and was previously a foster parent, has been arrested and charged with distribution of child pornography, the FBI said. His home was searched by FBI agents, who seized 11 computers, about 1,500 video files and “tens of thousands” of still images.

Justin Bowman, 31, a former Mesa police officer was sentenced to 15 consecutive life terms in prison for child molestation and child porn-related offenses in Pinal County Superior Court. Bowman, who was arrested in 2008, committed the crimes against a 9-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy

Federal investigators have identified about 20 Pentagon employees and contractors who allegedly bought and downloaded online child pornography and, in some cases, used their government-issued computers to view the illegal material. The case is part of a wider probe, Operation Flicker, which has identified more than 5,000 people who subscribed to online child pornography websites.

Rabbi Stanley Z. Levitt, 64, allegedly abused boys at the
Maimonides school in Brookline and at a Chabad synagogue
in Philadelphia run by Rabbi Avraham Shemtov.

Levitt was arraigned last year on four counts of indecent
assault and battery on a child. Prosecutors say he assaulted
two boys about 11 years old who attended the school where
he taught between 1974 and 1977. Prosecutors say a third
child, who had been a sixth grader at the school, approached
them after reading media accounts.

An Albany woman is blasting city school officials for waiting nearly three weeks to inform her that her 6-year-old daughter had allegedly been sexually abused by a 7-year old fellow student last month. According to the mother, her daughter had been acting out, so the mother approached her teacher, who didn’t indicate there was any problem at school. The mother asked her daughter if anyone had touched her, and she eventually told her about the incident. A spokesman for the district is apologizing for their failure and says they are taking steps to make sure it does not happen again.

A special investigator released a report saying that 205 former students claimed they had been sexually abused in Jesuit schools, including prestigious Canisius-Kolleg in Berlin. The investigator said the actual number could be higher. The Jesuit order in Germany had asked the investigator to look into allegations of sexual abuse after 25 students came forward alleging abuse at Canisius. In her report she said 46 Jesuits and nonclerical staff members at the schools had been accused of abuse or of knowing of such crimes without acting.

A judge sentenced a paramedic and another man who pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography to long prison terms, while a hotel manager accused of having images of children being tortured and raped was granted bond. Stephen S. Henry, 28, a former Schertz EMT received the 20-year maximum sentence and Brett Tomas Gonzalez, who worked in information technology for RL Foods, received 17/12 years in prison. Both were caught during investigations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The sentences highlighted what Phillip Wade Henderson, 51, a general manager of a Holiday Inn could face if convicted of distributing images that depicted children bound, gagged and tortured while being sexually assaulted.

John Gardner III’s surprise admission on April 16 that he took the lives of North County teenagers, Chelsea King and Amber Dubois, saved his own life. Gardner avoided the death penalty but agreed to spend the rest of his life in prison in striking a deal with prosecutors that allowed them to link him to Amber’s death for the first time. Gardner told prosecutors that he would take them to Amber’s remains if they didn’t use it against him. They found her remains north of Pala Reservation on March 6 but lacked DNA and other evidence to charge him with her death. He still could have faced the death penalty for Chelsea’s murder, but prosecutors and the girls’ families agreed to the plea deal to bring closure to Amber’s case (she had been missing since Feb. 2009).

The proposed Chelsea’s Law got a big endorsement in Sacramento on Tuesday. The new law is designed to increase penalties for first-time offenders convicted of committing sexually violent crimes against children. Those penalties include mandatory life sentences for certain violent attacks and lifelong GPS tracking for those who are released from prison.

Chelsea King was found dead in Feb. in Rancho Bernardo Community Park. Convicted sex offender John Gardner is being held in jail in connection to the case. The Poway teen was 17 years old at the time of her death.

An Oregon jury awarded $1.4 million to Kerry Lewis, who was abused by a former scout leader. The jury also decided the Boy Scout organization is liable for punitive damages to be decided in a separate trial. The Boy Scouts had fought to keep the "perversion files" (names of alleged child molesters who were scout leaders) confidential, but in February the Oregon Supreme Court approved the release of more than 1,000 files kept on alleged pedophiles from 1965 to mid-1984 to be used in the Portland trial.

Vaughn Robert Biby, a 46-year-old registered sex offender, was arrested in his home when officers making a check of sex offenders found "tens of thousands" of pieces of child pornography. Biby, who pleaded guilty in 1995 to seven counts of child molestation and the use of a minor for child pornography, has his arraignment scheduled for April 23.

Claude Foulk, 62, the former head of one of the nation's biggest state mental hospitals, pleaded not guilty to molesting an adopted foster son, and there are allegations of abuse involving five other boys, including another foster son. The DA said that since the news of Foulk’s arrest broke last week, four new alleged victims have come forward, bringing the total to 13 in cases that span from 1965 to 2006. Authorities say they can press charges in only one case because of the statute of limitations. Foulk was fired as executive director of Napa State Hospital after his arrest last Wednesday. Long Beach police said the charges stemmed from a victim who was 10 when he was taken in by Foulk in 1992. The alleged molestation continued until 2004. The investigation was sparked when one of the victims, now in his 40's, reported sexual abuse to police in September after learning that Foulk was head of the Napa hospital.

Jarred Harrell, the man arrested in Mississippi on child pornography charges last month, is now charged with murder, sexual battery and other counts in connection with the death of 7-year-old Somer Thompson.

24-year-old Jarred Mitchell Harrell has been charged with the murder of 7-year-old Somer Thompson. She disappeared on Oct. 19, 2009 as she was walking home from school. Her body was found two days later in a Georgia landfill. Harrell has been in custody since Feb. 11, 2010 when authorities arrested him in Mississippi on child pornography charges in Florida. Harrell was then extradited to Florida.

The Boy Scouts of America has long kept an extensive archive of secret documents that chronicle the sexual abuse of young boys by scout leaders over the years. The "perversion files", a nickname the Boy Scouts are said to have used for the documents, have rarely been seen by the public, but that could change in the coming weeks in an Oregon courtroom. The lawyer for a man who was molested in the 1980's by a scout leader has obtained about 1,000 Boy Scout sex files and is expected to release some of them at a trial that began Wednesday. The lawyer said the files showed how the Boy Scouts have covered up abuse for decades. The attorney for the Boy Scouts said the that the files helped scouting leaders weed out sex offenders, especially repeat offenders who may have changed names or moved in order to join another local scouting organization.

A San Diego middle School student said a man grabbed her yesterday as she was on her way to school, and in La Mesa, police arrested a 54-yr.-old transient accused of accosting a young student who had been walking to school a day earlier. He was booked into the County Jail. Meanwhile, police are investigating an assault on an 11-yr.-old girl who was walking to school yesterday in City Heights. In Escondido, police continued to look yesterday for a man who was seen lurking a week ago around an elementary school and a middle school that border Kit Carson Park.

A New Jersey man, age 51, is accused of raping and beating his five daughters, and impregnating three, and even moving at one point to avoid child welfare investigators. His former wife testified that he believed he was a prophet whose apocalyptic visions drove him to try to create "pure" family bloodlines by impregnating three of his teenage daughters. The allegations include that the man ordered all children to be born at home, without medical care; punishment included beatings and depriving them of food; they were kept out of school and isolated from the outside world. The names of the husband and wife are not being released at this time, to protect the identities of their children, who are now over 18.

A registered sex offender, William Harris, 59, of Carlsbad, has been booked on suspicion of performing a lewd act in front of a 5-year-old girl, at Dog Beach. After allegedly performing the act, Harris ran away, and the father used his cell phone to videotape him getting into his van. The father filed a complaint with the Sheriff's Dept., and gave them a copy of the video. Deputies identified Harris from the video, searched his home, and he was arrested on a felony charge. Harris has previous convictions for lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years old, indecent exposure, and annoying or molesting children.

Director Roman Polanski lost his bid yesterday to be sentenced without returning to the U.S. when a judge ruled that the director must be present in court if he wants to resolve his 32-year old sexual-abuse case. The judge reiterated that Polanski is a fugitive from justice. A lawyer for Polanski said the ruling will be appealed. Polanski was indicted on six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs, child molesting and sodomy. He later pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse.

Of the 36 boys surveyed at East Mesa, a boys-only facility in east Otay Mesa, 14% said they had been the victim of sexual misconduct by a staff member in the past year. When asked about the sexual encounters, 3% said the staff member used force. A national survey released this month questioned nearly 92,000 children in 195 juvenile facilities as part of the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, which requires federal authorities to analyze the prevalence of sexual victimization behind bars each year. Nationwide, 10% of the youth reported an incident involving staff, and 95 percent said the incident was with a female staffer.

A 13-year-old Liberian boy, charged in the reported gang rape of an 8-year-old girl in Phoenix, was released from custody yesterday and turned over to his parents as he continues lessons to make him competent to stand trial. Four boys, ages 9 to 14, lured the girl to an empty storage shed July 16, restrained her, and took turns raping her, police said. All the children involved are refugees from the West African nation of Liberia. The juvenile judge granted the youth’s release to his parents on several conditions. Prosecutors are seeking to have the boy tried as an adult.

A 15-year-old Richmond girl was forced into a car with four males while walking down a street Friday around 5 p.m. They drove around for several hours before stopping at an unknown spot, where two of the suspects raped her. Police have few leads on the suspects, who were in the their late teens to early 20's. Another gang rape of a teenager had occurred in Richmond, also.

Steven Robert Deck, 55, a retired California Highway Patrol Lieutenant from Carlsbad, was convicted yesterday in Orange County of attempting to commit unlawful sexual acts with a person he thought was a 13-year-old girl. Deck was arrested in 2006 with 12 other men during a sting operation by Laguna Beach police that targeted older men trying to meet young girls over the Internet. He had been free on bail. He had previously worked in San Diego also.

Swiss officials said a decision would be made "early next year" about whether Roman Polanski, the 76-year old filmmaker, would be extradited to the United States. Polanski has been under house arrest in his chalet in Switzerland. He has been a fugitive from the United States, from which he fled in 1978 after pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl.

Joseph H. Gardner, 26, was arraigned yesterday on charges that he sexually assaulted a 3-year-old girl in Kingston. He had been charged this summer with raping another child, but was free on bail. In the earlier alleged rape, the self-described construction worker was freed on $10,000 cash bail, far less than Plymouth prosecutors sought, on Sept. 15. They were disappointed that Judge Thomas Brownell set bail at $10,000 instead of the $200,00 they originally sought. He had been charged with breaking into the Kingston house of a distant relative and raping a 6-yr. old girl.

Steven M. Bimson, 65, a Rotary Club member who molested three boys from abusive families, including two who lived with him in San Diego, was sentenced Monday to more than 179 years to life in prison. The prosecutor said that Bimson found 12- to 15-year-old boys from "unfortunate circumstances", brought them to live with him, then molested them on a nightly basis. The crimes occurred in the 1990's. One victim finally called police in 2006 after hearing that Bimson had received a license for foster care.

Burrell E. Mohler, Sr., 77, and his four sons were arrested and are facing various charges of sexually abusing children from 1988 through 1995. His sons are: Burrell E. Mohler, Jr., 53; Jared L. Mohler, 48; Roland N. Mohler, 47; and David A. Mohler, 52. The charges include sodomy and forcible rape. A daughter of one of the accused came forward in mid-August with the allegations and told investigators that she and the other alleged victims buried glass jars around the property filled with messages "about what was happening to them". Authorities are searching a rural property outside Bates City, east of Kansas City, MO, where members of the Mohler family once lived. Authorities believe they may find bodies and the aforementioned buried glass jars.

A missing 5-year-old, Shaniya Davis, whose mother was accused of offering her for sex, was found dead off a heavily wooded road in a rural area Monday, ending a weeklong search. Two people have been charged in her disappearance, one of them her mother, Antoinette Davis, 25. Police charged Davis with human trafficking and felony child abuse, saying Shaniya was offered for prostitution. Authorities also charged Mario McNeill, 29, with kidnapping after they said he was seen in surveillance footage carrying Shaniya at a Sanford hotel. Shaniya’s father, Bradley Lockhart, said he raised his daughter for several years but last month decided to let her stay with her mother. He said "I should've never let her go over there".

Daniel Herrera, 53, worked for San Diego Unified School District since 1985, volunteered at Whitman Elementary School in the arts program, worked as a special education bus monitor, volunteered at Catholic churches and managed dance groups. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for child molestation. He pleaded guilty to three counts of committing lewd acts on two children. He had been molesting these children from 1988 to 2005. Other potential victims have since come forward, but the statute of limitations have run out for them.

Eight years after horrifying post-9/11 duties in New York, former Chula Vista Fire Captain, Robert Eugene Bryant, Jr., 37, pleaded guilty, on Oct. 1st, to charges of child pornography. He was the youngest fire captain in Chula Vista's history, and decorated with a medal of valor. Bryant is due for sentencing in December. Prosecutors say he faces up to five years in federal prison, he will have to register as a sex offender, precluding any further public safety work.

Donald Edward Nelson, 59, a convicted American pedophile who had fled the U.S., was arrested in Jerusalem. He was convicted last year in a California court on 52 counts of sexual abuse of minors and sentenced to 110 years in prison. He will be deported in the coming days.

Phillip Garrido, 58, and his wife Nancy, 54, have pleaded not guilty to 29 charges of kidnapping, rape, and false imprisonment charges. Bail for Phillip Garrido has been set at $30 million and Nancy is being been held without bail, in El Dorado County jail. The couple are accused of kidnapping 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard from her home near South Lake Tahoe in 1991, then holding her captive in a backyard jumble of tents and sheds for nearly two decades, at the couple’s home near Antioch, in the east San Francisco area. Authorities said Garrido fathered two daughters with Dugard. The couple were arrested Aug. 27, 2009. Phillip Garrido had previously been in prison for rape, for which he spent 10 years. Garrido constantly invoked God and considered himself to be some sort of prophet. "Molesters commonly turn to religion to rationalize their behavior", said Ken Lanning, a former FBI profiler who specializes in kidnapping and child-abuse cases.

Peter Bitner, 64, was arrested in Honolulu, Hawaii on an arrest warrant issued in San Diego in 1993. He was living and working under his true name at a medical insurance office. He is accused of sexually abusing two small children, 16 years ago. He is being returned to San Diego to face charges, and if convicted, could face up to 20 years in prison. Officials said that from Aug. 1992 to March 1993, in San Diego, Bitner was a baby sitter and molested a 4-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy who are step siblings.

Authorities have arrested Arthur Le land Sayler in connection with one of the biggest child porn rings of today. Stretching from Mexico to Canada and all over the United States. When arrested Sayler was in possession of 4 million photos and videos of child pornography. In addition to the photos and videos, 15 hard drives full of child porn where found as well. Sayler has worked for numerous computer companies taking him to Kearny Mesa, Costa Mesa, Orange County, Santa Clara and all over San Diego. Sayler is in La Mesa State Penitentiary in Tijuana awaiting trial. Authorities say it may take a year to convict him.

Stephen L. McPherson, 39, and his wife were indicted on charges related to illegal sexual acts with three girls while they served as house parents of Hope Haven Children's Home, a Christian based facility operated by Union Mission Ministries, in Virginia Beach. McPherson pleaded guilty in January to charges of forcible sodomy and object sexual penetration. McPherson and his wife had undergone the same screening process as everyone else, such as criminal background checks, character references, interviews and spending time with the staff.

Willie Kendall Williams, 27, is being held without bail for charges of kidnapping with the intent to commit a sex crime, forcible oral copulation, rape with a foreign object, and car theft. Williams abducted a pregnant 16-year-old girl who was walking down east main street and forced her to perform sex acts on himself. If convicted of all charges Williams faces 30 years to life in prison.

Jordan Arnold, 21, recruited children to work as prostitutes and would list them on craigslist. Christopher Black, 21, and Jessica King, 20, were friends of Arnolds and helped him take the pictures and solicit male customers. Arnold pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to engage on sex trafficking of children and one count of coercion and enticement of a juvenile into prostitution. Arnold was sentenced to 6 years in prison, while the other two received five years and eight months.

Charlie Williams, 37, is being charged with one count of rape by force, three counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under14 and another under 16. Williams is related to the young girl he raped who was 12 at the time. The other two girls were between 12 an 15. Williams started molesting the girls in 2004.

Monsey Rabbi Israel Weingarten was found guilty of abusing his daughter through much of her childhood. The trial was traumatic for his daughter, now 27. Weingarten acted as his own attorney and put his daughter through a grueling cross examination. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Pauletta Santaua, 20, has appeared in videos and photos with a girl under 15-years-old. The photos where taken by a Gary Lee Whiteside of Spring Valley. Santaua had pleaded guilty in Jan. on one count of committing a lewd act on a child under the age of 14. Whiteside, 65, faces 50 felony charges of molesting and photographing nine girls who were between the age of 11 and 15, and possessing child pornography. Whiteside could face multiple life terms if convicted.

Garth Jason Gumienny, 34, has been arrested on suspicion of molesting another child. Gumienny is a registered child molester. Gumienny is suspected of molesting his roommate's son. Gumienny's arrest came after the police interviewed the roommate’s boy. He was booked on suspicion of 10 counts of child molestation.

Dennis Tasker, 61, a former upstate police officer, is charged with multiple counts of sex abuse involving at least one child. State police say Tasker performed sexual acts on a child during a 12- to 18-month period.

Timothy Whiteside, 44, was arrested on numerous counts of aggravated sexual assault on a child, as well as additional sexual related charges. This arrest was the result of an extensive investigation, by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Dept., of multiple juvenile victims at numerous locations throughout the Hemet & San Jacinto Valley. Whiteside would target girls between the ages of 10 and 14. Investigators are seeking other victims. Anyone who may have information about the case or has had negative contact with Whiteside is urged to call the Judge at the Hemet Sheriff's Station at 951-791-3421.

James Anthony Reid, 31, has pleaded not guilty to all 15 charges against him. According to court records, the offenses include five counts of first-degree sex abuse, four counts of first- degree rape, and six counts of sodomy. Reid's victims were both boys and girls ranging in age from 5 to 12. The attacks on the children occurred in the northern part of Mobile County in the Citronelle and Chunchula areas.

Vincent Gerber, 38, faces four felonies in two separate cases; two counts of child molestation and sexual misconduct with a minor. Gerber and his wife, Marsha, hosted a party on Dec. 28 at his home where they bought and allowed underage girls, to be drinking at their home. Two teen girls 13 and 15, have told police that Gerber had touched them. The 13-year-old said she fought Gerber as he tried to put his hand down her shorts. Gerber also tried to put his hands up her shirt. The 15-year-old told police she got drunk at the party, threw up, then went to bed. Gerber followed the girl into the bedroom and had sex with her.

Gary Lee Whiteside, 66, pleaded guilty to molesting young girls, and is expected to be sentenced to 60 years to life in prison. Authorities said he would ask girls from distressed families to model for him at his El Cajon photography studio, and over a period of time, groom them to take off their clothes and engage in sexual activities. Investigators said they found hundreds and possibly thousands of pictures and videos of girls alone, with each other and with him performing sex acts. He had volunteered for his church and worked with police departments in El Cajon and La Mesa.

Jatten Heinen, 20, of Wahpeton is accused of touching four girls at a YMCA. The girls range in ages between 6 and 8. Heinen faces four counts of gross sexual imposition and one count of attempted gross sexual imposition. Heinen had only worked at the YMCA for about one year.

Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller, 63, was arrested in Everett Washington after he allegedly molested two 12-year-old boys in San Jose. Schwartzmiller shared a home with a Fred Everts, who is a convicted sex offender. The home they shared is walking distance to at least two elementary schools. San Jose police raided the home to find computers everywhere, three ring binders, with thousands of pages describing in handwriting how they had sexually assaulted their victims. The total number of sex acts recorded total more than 36,000; which are grouped into categories such as, cute boys, blonde boys, boys who say no and so on. They also had boys in age categories. Police believe there are hundreds of victims in a number of states. Schwartzmiller faces charges in San Jose, Oregon, Idaho, Arkansas, Washington, New York, Brazil, Nevada and Texas. Schwartzmiller was convicted of molesting a 14-year-old boy back in 1978 for which he spent time in an Idaho prison. Schwartzmiller preys on the innocent, weak, oppressed and those who are in need.

Richard P. DeArment, 44, of Spring Valley is charged with two counts of committing lewd acts on a child younger than 14. If convicted, he could spend up to 25 years to life in prison. DeArment had molested a girl, then 4, and another, then 2-years-old.

William F. Anderson, 70, was convicted of child molestation. Anderson is guilty of molesting an employee's daughter who took martial arts classes at his home. Anderson was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Archie Lee Thomas has been convicted on numerous charges including rape and assault with intent to commit rape. Thomas was a door-to-door salesman in El Cajon. Thomas forced his way into his victim’s home, who was 14 at the time, and dragged her around the house before brutally raping her. Thomas has been sentenced to 80 years to life in prison.

Robert "Eric" Buss, 38, faces up to 18 years in prison for performing lewd acts on a child under 14 and one count of performing lewd acts on a child between the ages of 14 and 15. Buss sponsored boys in BMX bicycle racing. Buss would pay their entry fees and travel with them to races throughout Southern California.

Chester William Owen Jr., 54, has been found guilty of three counts of molesting a relative who lived with him when she was a teenager. Owen, an unemployed engineer who volunteered for children's Boy Scout and school activities, was also found guilty of battering his relative after she became an adult. Owen had domestic violence charges against him in 2003 as well.

Investigators said thousands of Internet users paid millions of dollars by credit card to access about 50 pornographic web sites that depicted abuse of children in the Eastern European nation of Belarus. The investigation into the Belarus child pornography enterprise is part of Operation Predator, the federal government's offensive against sex crimes. At its center was a company in Minsk, Belarus, three of whose executives have been indicted. The company’s files led to thousands of leads.

Robert "Bo" Jack, 28, pleaded guilty to two counts of child molestation. Jack a resident of Escondido had drugged a 13-year-old girl while she slept at a friends house in Poway. Once she was drugged enough he fondled and touched her repeatedly. Jack received the maximum penalty.

Judge Ronald C. Kline, 61, was charged with four counts of lewd conduct with a child under the age of 14. Kline was in possession of child pornography, and was molesting a neighbor boy.

Eric Franklin Rosser, accused pedophile, child molester and one of the FBI’s top ten was taken into custody on the morning of August 21, 2001, at a business located in Bankok, Thailand. He had been a fugitive since failing to appear for a court hearing in Thailand on April 2000. He was wanted for the international production, collection and distribution of child pornography between Bloomington, Indiana and Bangkok, Thailand. Police say Rosser also victimized an unknown number of young girls in Bankok and Bloomington, most of them between the ages of seven and eleven. He was recognized by a teacher at a school in Bangkok, where he had submitted an application to teach children. The teacher had seen him on AMERICA’S MOST WANTED and reported him.

Rosser had been a keyboardist with John Cougar Mellencamp’s band in the late 70's and early 80's and later performed in lounges in Thailand, and had run a music school for children.