WA – Molester charged with more sex crimes

Article

The Everett man has already been sentenced to life in prison for earlier charges of abuse.

By Scott North, Herald Writer

A convicted child molester sentenced this week to life in prison was charged Friday with four additional sex crimes involving a young girl.

Jamie Lloyd Wallin, 32, of Everett on Wednesday was sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars for joining a female accomplice in August 2006 to have sex in front of three girls, ages 7, 9 and 11.

The children were molested and also photographed nude.

The new charges involve a girl who in April told police that Wallin raped, molested and took nude photographs of her starting in 2002 when she was 9. She said the abuse continued until she was 11, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Ed Stemler said in court papers.

Cambodia – British man cleared of sex abuse in Cambodia

Article

A British man has been cleared by a Cambodian court of sexually abusing two young brothers due to a lack of evidence.

41-year-old Paul Ian Bower, of Nottingham, was arrested in January as he left his home in the capital Phnom Penh, where he worked as an English teacher.

Police say he allegedly used the residence to molest the boys, who were aged 12 and 14.

Bower was later charged with debauchery, a statute covering a broad range of sex offenses that carries a jail term of between 10 and 20 years.

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry – Responding To Child Sexual Abuse

Original Article
No. 28; Updated July 2004

When a child tells an adult that he or she has been sexually abused, the adult may feel uncomfortable and may not know what to say or do. The following guidelines should be used when responding to children who say they have been sexually abused:

What to Say

If a child even hints in a vague way that sexual abuse has occurred, encourage him or her to talk freely. Don’t make judgmental comments.

• Show that you understand and take seriously what the child is saying. Child and adolescent psychiatrists have found that children who are listened to and understood do much better than those who are not. The response to the disclosure of sexual abuse is critical to the child’s ability to resolve and heal the trauma of sexual abuse.

• Assure the child that they did the right thing in telling. A child who is close to the abuser may feel guilty about revealing the secret. The child may feel frightened if the abuser has threatened to harm the child or other family members as punishment for telling the secret.

• Tell the child that he or she is not to blame for the sexual abuse. Most children in attempting to make sense out of the abuse will believe that somehow they caused it or may even view it as a form of punishment for imagined or real wrongdoings.

• Finally, offer the child protection, and promise that you will promptly take steps to see that the abuse stops.

What to Do

Report any suspicion of child abuse. If the abuse is within the family, report it to the local Child Protection Agency. If the abuse is outside of the family, report it to the police or district attorney’s office. Individuals reporting in good faith are immune from prosecution. The agency receiving the report will conduct an evaluation and will take action to protect the child.

Parents should consult with their pediatrician or family physician, who may refer them to a physician who specializes in evaluating and treating sexual abuse. The examining doctor will evaluate the child’s condition and treat any physical problem related to the abuse, gather evidence to help protect the child, and reassure the child that he or she is all right.

Children who have been sexually abused should have an evaluation by a child and adolescent psychiatrist or other qualified mental health professional to find out how the sexual abuse has affected them, and to determine whether ongoing professional help is necessary for the child to deal with the trauma of the abuse. The child and adolescent psychiatrist can also provide support to other family members who may be upset by the abuse.

While most allegations of sexual abuse made by children are true, some false accusations may arise in custody disputes and in other situations. Occasionally, the court will ask a child and adolescent psychiatrist to help determine whether the child is telling the truth, or whether it will hurt the child to speak in court about the abuse.

When a child is asked as to testify, special considerations–such as videotaping, frequent breaks, exclusion of spectators, and the option not to look at the accused–make the experience much less stressful.

Adults, because of their maturity and knowledge, are always the ones to blame when they abuse children. The abused children should never be blamed.

Australia – ‘Our leader is listening to the cry of mothers’

Article

Rosemary Neill
June 30, 2007

MARY O’Reeri knows more than anyone should have to about the scourge of child sex abuse ravaging indigenous communities.
Ms O’Reeri, a respected traditional landowner from the picturesque but troubled West Australian community of Beagle Bay, north of Broome, has lost two of her “gorgeous, handsome brothers”, Steven and Vincent Victor, to suicide.

Both were in their early 20s when they killed themselves: one in 1998, the other in 2002.

“Both my brothers were victims of sexual abuse, both were victims of alcohol abuse, both were victims of drug abuse,” Ms O’Reeri, a Nyul-Nyul woman, told The Weekend Australian this week.

The 38-year-old mother of four, grandmother of two and foster mother of three fears that the children of Beagle Bay are still being sexually abused. “This is very sensitive but very raw here; sexual abuse is happening to our children,” she warned, adding that the incidence of suicide was increasing in the Kimberley.

This is why Ms O’Reeri is speaking out in support of the Howard Government’s radical agenda for Northern Territory Aborigines. She said the reforms should be extended to remote indigenous communities in Western Australia, and called on the Carpenter Government to follow Canberra’s lead.

“I strongly put all my weight behind the Howard Government and the declaration of a national emergency,” Ms O’Reeri said.

“When I heard his (Mr Howard’s) statement, I said, ‘Thank God our leader is listening to thecry of the mothers on the ground, to the cry of the grandmothers and grandfathers on the ground’.”

Minnesota court says sex-offender rule violates convicts’ rights

Article
6/30/2007 7:57:18 AM
By Martiga Lohn

Associated Press

ST. PAUL — Threatening sex offenders with more time behind bars if they don’t admit their crimes in prison treatment programs violates their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The court’s 5-2 decision overturned a 1999 ruling in which it found the opposite — that more prison time wasn’t enough to force an inmate to incriminate himself. The current case involved two inmates convicted of sex crimes — Frank Edward Johnson and John William Henderson.

Both refused to participate in sex offender treatment that would have required them to admit to sex offenses and discuss the incidents in detail. Johnson was appealing his conviction, while Henderson argued that he would open himself up to perjury charges if he admitted a crime he had denied during his trial and appeal.

Both men got 45 extra days in prison for not participating in the program.

TN – The TBI’s sex offender registry is about to get bigger

Article

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Beginning Sunday, new laws take effect that will require a number of sex offenders to register with the state who were previously exempt from registry.

Current law only requires offenders who were incarcerated, on probation or on parole after January 1st, 1995 to register.

But a new law requires anyone who has committed a sex crime at any time in the past to register by August 1st.

LA – Ex-EBR sheriff’s detective gets 30 years for internet soliciation

Article

LAKE CHARLES, La. — A retired homicide detective from Baton Rouge has been sentenced to the maximum 30 years in federal prison for using the internet to try to solicit sex from what he thought was a 14-year-old girl.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Minaldi told Karl D. Kretser, 43, that his actions were despicable, especially since he used his own daughter’s online information to get in touch with someone he thought was another child.

“The Internet has created a new breed of predator. You are that new breed,” she told him Thursday.

As U.S. marshals led him out, Kretser whispered, “I’m sorry” and “I love you” to his wife and children. A jury convicted him in February of using interstate commerce to try to get sex from a minor.

Kretser, a retired homicide detective from the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office, was caught a year ago in a child sex predator sting in which an agent with the state attorney general’s office posed as a 14-year-old.

Kretser “initiated sexually explicit conversations and sent the undercover agent pornographic images that he claimed were of himself engaging in sexual acts with other minor children,” U.S. Attorney Donald Washington said in a statement.

OH – Toledo mom declared fit for trial on incest charge

Article

A Toledo mother charged with having a sexual relationship with her adult son is competent to stand trial, a Lucas County common pleas judge has ruled.

Terry Walker, 54, of 3527 East Manhattan Blvd. is charged with sexual battery and faces up to five years in prison if convicted. Toledo police said she had engaged in a long-term sexual relationship with her son, Kevin Ware, 28. Mr. Ware is in jail and faces rape charges for having sexual contact with a 7-year-old girl.

Judge Ruth Ann Franks referred to a June 21 psychological report when making her decision yesterday. “The court does note that the defendant is able to understand the nature of the proceedings” and charges, the judge said. “The issue of competency has no merit.”

Ms. Walker is to go on trial July 17.

OK – Del City man charged with sexual abuse of a child, rape

Article
By Eric Bradshaw, staff writer
The Sunday Sun

A Del City man was charged Tuesday with three counts of sexual abuse of a child and one count of rape in the first degree after his stepdaughter told her school counselor that he had been sexually abusing her for several year, according to court records.

According to the court affadavit, the girl, then 13, made the allegations against her stepfather, Charles Edward Haley, 50, on May 14. That same day, she was interviewed by social worker Amy Baum and stated that Haley had intercourse with her on May 11 at a residence in Del City.

She also alleged that she had been forced to perform other sex acts with him as well.

The defendant refused to be interviewed by the investigator, according to court records.

UK – Child rapist jailed for six years

Article

A Teesside man who raped a 13-year-old girl has been jailed for six years.

Balwinder Singh was arrested after his victim went to a teacher appointed to deal with pupils’ problems, Teesside Crown Court heard.

The 36-year-old of Coleton Gardens, Ingleby Barwick, pleaded guilty to rape and sexual activity with a child.

He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life. The hearing heard how the girl had been too scared to tell her mother about Singh.

IN – Man gets 2 years for child pornography

Article

NOBLESVILLE — A Noblesville man is going to prison for nearly two years for possession of child pornography but prosecutors dropped a rape charge filed against him.
Fred Bogus, 47, pleaded guilty June 1 to possession of child pornography. He was sentenced Thursday in Hamilton County Circuit Court to two years in the Indiana Department of Correction. Judge Judith Proffitt credited him 230 days for the 115 he has already served in jail.
In March, Bogus was charged with Class B felony rape. An Arcadia woman told police he assaulted her when she went to his home to borrow money. Bogus denied the accusation.
On Thursday Hamilton County Deputy Prosecutor Lee Buckingham and Bogus’ attorney Gerald DeWester told Proffitt that there was insufficient evidence of an attack, and the rape charge was dropped.
A charge of possession of child pornography was filed in May after a search of Bogus’ house turned up questionable images on his computer.

AL, GA – Former Russell County Church Employee Face Sexual Abuse Charges

Article

Atlanta Bishop Christopher Bennett who recently served as a local church employee faces second degree sodomy charges. Sheriff’s deputies brought Bennett back to the Russell County jail late Thursday evening.

Bennett is featured on several websites detailing his ministry. He was an employee at Higher Power Outreach in Phenix City at the time the alleged incident happened in 2004. An allegation that has many of them in shock. “Initially when I heard this I was outraged because we hired him and trusted him as a man of God,” said Pastor Johnnie Robinson.

Lt. Heath Taylor says Bennett is accused of the same crime in Atlanta as well. “The similarities of that case in College Park where he was arrested by authorities and our case are extremely similar,” said Taylor.

IL – Former coach pleads not guilty to sexual abuse

Article

A former St. Charles cheerleading coach pleaded not guilty in Lake County Court on Thursday to charges involving a sexual relationship with a teenager.

Christopher Frum, 25, of Deer Park was a coach at Cheer Alliance Inc., 1500 Foundary St.

Frum resigned May 4, but for unrelated reasons, the owner has said.

Frum was charged with three counts of criminal sexual assault and three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, said Bodie Haxall, Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney.

Police have said Frum had sex three times with a 16-year-old St. Charles girl from March 1 to May 6. Haxall said the victim was someone Frum coached.

Frum has a July pre-trial court date and a September trial date, Haxall said.

Frum is free on $25,000 bond.

– Kane County Chronicle

New Zealand – Govt ensures 850 sex abuse victims left in cold

Article
Friday, 29 June 2007, 3:19 pm
Press Release: United Future NZ Party
Media statement
For immediate release
Friday, 29 June 2007

It is a bitter shame that the only agency that is solely dedicated to helping male victims of sexual abuse is struggling to keep its doors open due to lack of funding, said United Future social services spokesperson Judy Turner today.

“The Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Trust were preparing to close today because of a lack of funding. They have been given a stay of execution by an emergency community grant, but it is a disgrace that this service is placed under undue stress to simply continue with the good work and much needed assistance that it provides.”

The trust is based in Christchurch and helps 850 clients a year – many of its clients were students at the former St John of God School.

NY – Help is available for sex abuse victims

Article

06/29/2007

A local teenager who’d been raped since she was 11 years old finally put an end to four years of abuse and put the man behind bars.

It wasn’t easy.

The 16-year-old had to testify before a jury, in front of the perpetrator. She had to say painful, difficult and embarrassing things.

“It is very, very, difficult for an adult to sit in a room full of strangers and detail how they were violated sexually,” Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy III said the other day. “It is 100 times more difficult for a young person.”

But she did what she had to do. And as she pieces her own life together, she should be proud to know that she is also protecting other potential victims.

“Her courage is extraordinary,” Murphy said.

There was no DNA, no witnesses, no confession. Just four years of sexual abuse.

“I don’t think he ever thought she would testify,” Murphy said.

But she did. And he faces many years in prison.

CA – CHILD MOLESTER SEEKS FREEDOM

Article
By VIRGINIA HENNESSEY
Herald Salinas Bureau
Article Last Updated: 06/29/2007 08:49:03 AM PDT

A Spreckels man who has admitted molesting 50 children may soon be the first from Monterey County to graduate from the state’s Sexually Violent Predator program at Atascadero State Hospital.

At the conclusion of an all-day hearing Thursday, Judge Richard Curtis said he will rule Tuesday on whether James Lamb will be released into the community from the program in which he has been held for nine years.

Lamb’s Atascadero psychiatrist testified that his entire treatment team and the director of the program believe he can be released, with strict conditions and a global monitoring device, without “danger to the health and safety of others.”

“My opinion is he would not reoffend,” said Dr. Gabrielle Paladino.

Lamb, 49, would be the eighth person placed on “conditional release” from the program and the first whose crimes were committed locally. Twice convicted of molesting young boys, he had himself physically castrated in 2003 in an effort to win his release from the program for repeat sex offenders.

If he is released, state officials must find housing for him in Monterey County, because the law requires he be sent to live in the county where he was convicted. But it won’t be on the grounds of one of the Soledad prisons.

In 2003, a judge placed sexually violent predator Brian DeVries in housing at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad because officials were unable to find him housing in Santa Clara County, where he had committed his crimes. Soledad residents were outraged and since then, according to prosecutor Cynthia Jewett, the California Department of Corrections has ruled Atascadero cannot release its inmates to prison grounds.

Canada – T.O. cop hit with more child sex charges

Article

By CHRIS DOUCETTE — Sun Media

TORONTO (Sun Media) – New allegations have surfaced against a veteran Toronto cop charged in Peel Region a month ago with molesting numerous children dating back to 1990.

Peel police said Donald MacCallum, 51, was arrested again on Wednesday and charged with four additional counts each of sexual assault and sexual interference stemming from complaints made by four new alleged victims who came forward after seeing the story in the news.

“This is being treated as seriously as any other criminal investigation,” Const. J. P. Valade said yesterday, offering few details about the case.

MacCallum was first arrested at the end of May when four girls, aged 5 to 12, claimed they were molested on six occasions from 1990 to 2003. It’s believed the abuse took place in the accused’s Port Credit home.

TN – Child molester gets deal

Atricle

Assistant DA reluctantly accepts groping elf’s plea; man to be deported upon release
By Jamie Satterfield (Contact)
Thursday, June 28, 2007

If there’s one thing a county that draws in hundreds of thousands of children to its attractions and employs thousands more doesn’t need, it’s a child-molesting elf, a judge said Wednesday.

“People deeply resent this in this community,” Sevier County Circuit Court Judge Rex Henry Ogle told Armando Martinez Gonzalez, who was convicted Wednesday of molesting four child actors at Dixie Stampede where Gonzalez worked as an elf.

“You worked with these children, and you were older, and you took advantage of that situation,” Ogle said. “It’s a shame to look back in this audience and see little children who have been brutalized by you. There’s nothing more repulsive to society.”

Gonzalez was hired by the popular Pigeon Forge dinner theater promoted by superstar Dolly Parton, who has an ownership interest in the attraction, despite the fact that he was an illegal immigrant.

MD – man sentenced for trading porn online

Article

Hollywood resident admitted to sending images of sex with children

By a Sun Reporter

June 28, 2007, 7:56 AM EDT

A Southern Maryland man was sentenced to more than five years in prison yesterday for trading pictures on the Internet of adults engaged in sex acts with children, federal prosecutors in Baltimore said.

Scott R. Davis, 40, of Hollywood, also will have to serve three years of supervised probation and register as a sex offender, the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland said.

Davis pleaded guilty to child pornography charges and admitted that on five occasions, from Sept. 4 through Oct. 20 in 2005, he sent sexually oriented e-mails to several people around the country, including an undercover FBI agent in New York, according to prosecutors.

UK – Madeleine McCann Case Sees Another New Lead, Pedophile Link Pursued

Article

By Lynda Johnson
Jun 28, 2007

Madeleine McCann vanished on May 3. Since then there have been several sightings of Maddie and police are now investigating thirty or so of those sightings in Malta. One report claims that a witness spotted a girl she believed to be Madeleine get on a luxury yacht. Police in Malta have been overwhelmed with sightings but are persuing every lead.

It is now 56 days since Madeleine was snatched from her hotel room in the Portuguese resort Praia da Luz while her parents, Gerry and Kate, were eating in a restaurant just 100 yards away. While these leads are missing, it is still a good thing they are coming in.

***

Police in Portugal are now looking very strongly at a new lead as well in their search for the 4-year-old Madeleine. They are following a tip based on the evidence of a Spanish journalist who has investigated pedophile ring. “This lead is being taken seriously,” police chief inspector Olegario de Sousa said. “We are going to follow this lead.”