MI – Sterling Heights man could be first prosecuted under new pedophile law

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PUBLISHED: December 3, 2006
By Chad Halcom
Macomb Daily Staff Writer

A Sterling Heights man jailed on accusations of molesting two pre-pubescent girls may become the first defendant in two counties to face prosecution under a new tough Michigan law to crack down on pedophiles.

Court officials in both Macomb and Oakland counties said Friday that Donald Earl Fitzpatrick is a likely candidate for their first prosecution ever under the Michigan version of “Jessica’s Law,” an initiative to give pedophiles tough minimum prison terms under the theory that they often become repeat offenders after returning to society.

Fitzpatrick, 61, faces two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a 7-year-old grandchild of his fiancee during a visit to his home earlier this fall. He faces a separate charge of second-degree criminal sexual conduct in Oakland County involving a 9-year-old girl at her family’s home in the Rochester Hills area.

VA – Convicted Internet Predator Warns Parents

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A 25-year-old Virginia Beach man speaks from behind jail bars about his conviction on internet crimes surrounding trying to solicit sex from a teenager.  That teenager actually turned out to be an undercover investigator.  Still, what he has to say is an important lesson to parents who have kids active on the internet.  Kurt Williams interviewed that man.

Kurt:  “Is this your first time trying to meet someone on-line?”

“Yes.”

But 25-year-old David Charles Villa denies he was trying to meet a 14-year-old girl.

VT – Hospital starts program to help child victims of sex abuse

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BERLIN, Vt. — The Central Vermont Medical Center is starting a new program to handle reports of child sexual abuse.

The hospital is committed to working with O.U.R. House of Central Vermont Inc., the Barre agency that pushes for a unified procedures to handle abuse cases.

“This just solidifies the cooperative effort between the agencies O.U.R. House and the other agencies here to provide to the community at large the care we need to give to these pediatric patients,” said hospital emergency room director Dr. Philip Brown.

Children need medical exams after reports have been made of sexual abuse.

Officials from the hospital and O.U.R. House signed a letter Friday promising to make that process as non-threatening as possible.

The agreement outlines the proper response procedure when abuse cases are reported.

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Information from: The Times Argus, http://www.timesargus.com/

IA – Sex offender arrested in Bluffs

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 An Iowa sex offender was arrested for false imprisonment Friday afternoon after he refused to let two male juveniles out of his garage.

The suspect, 68-year-old Alva McKeighan, was charged with two counts of false imprisonment at his home at 312 S. 34th St. The arrest happened at about 4:35 p.m.

The victims, brothers, had been given a remote door opener by McKeighan, according to the police report, so they could access his four-wheeler.

When the brothers accessed the garage on Friday, McKeighan closed the door, the report said, refusing to let them out. A neighbor contacted the police about the incident.

According to the Iowa Sex Offender Registry, McKeighan was convicted of third-degree sexual abuse with a juvenile male on Aug. 25, 1997.

TX – Child sex offender crackdown sought

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By Ramon Bracamontes / El Paso Times

Article Launched:12/03/2006 12:00:00 AM MST

For 10 years, Susan Oliva has seen child after child walk into the Advocacy Center to talk about how someone molested them, touched them improperly or raped them.Then she watches the cases go through the court system, and sees the guilty person given only years of probation. It’s enough to make Oliva cry.

“It’s alarming. It does scare me to know that people are being found guilty and all their punishment is, is to register as a sex offender and to get probation,” said Oliva, executive director of the Advocacy Center for the Children of El Paso. “If you’ve robbed the innocence of a child, you should receive severe consequences.”