400 Children Rescued/348 Adults Arrested After Police Take Down $4 Million Child Porn Empire
- Nearly 400 children have been rescued and 348 adults arrested following an “extraordinary” international child pornography investigation in Canada, according to a report by NBC News.
(Some may find this article disturbing. Reader discretion advised).
Oakdale, MN Priest, 47, Charged in Sex Assault of Boy, 12
By Emily Gurnon 09/20/2012
An Oakdale priest has been charged with criminal sexual conduct involving a 12-year-old boy.
Curtis Carl Wehmeyer
(Courtesy of Ramsey County sheriff's office)
The boy reported to his mother that Curtis Carl Wehmeyer, 47, pastor of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul, had been sexually abusing him in a camper trailer in the church parking lot, according to a criminal complaint.
The priest owned the trailer.
Church officials went to the rectory June 21 after the mother called police and "advised defendant that he was immediately relieved of his duties and instructed to leave the premises," said the complaint, filed late Thursday, Sept. 20, in Ramsey County District Court.
The abuse allegedly took place in the summer of 2010.
During an examination at the Midwest Children's Resource Center at Children's Hospital in St. Paul, the boy said Wehmeyer had given him beer and marijuana and showed him pornographic images and videos in the camper trailer, the complaint said.
While doing so, Wehmeyer had the boy remove his pants and underwear; he then touched him and exposed his own genitals, according to the complaint.
The victim "stated that the defendant told him if he told anyone he would no longer be able to be a priest and the parish would fall apart without him," the complaint said.
Other details in the complaint included:
The boy reported that the last incident took place a week before his 13th birthday. A male relative of the boy was present during some episodes and also was molested by Wehmeyer, police found.
In particularly, the boy's male relative said that on a camping trip, he and Wehmeyer shared a bed. He tried to "put up a barricade of pillows and blankets to separate himself from the defendant while they slept," but would awaken to Wehmeyer touching his private parts.
Wehmeyer was arrested on the allegations June 22. He asked to speak to an attorney and declined to answer police questions.
A phone number for Wehmeyer could not be found late Thursday.
Jerry Sandusky has a new accuser: His adopted son.
Matt Sandusky told prosecutors this week that Jerry molested him, his attorney says. It's the first time Matt has made such allegations, though his biological mother testified before a grand jury last year regarding an unsettling relationship between her son and the former coach. Matt had been willing to testify in the current trial, the attorney says, and it's not known why he didn't, the Patriot-News reports.
Matt lived as a foster child with Jerry and Dottie Sandusky, who adopted him when he reached adulthood. As far back as 1996, when the Sandusky family took Matt in, his biological mother, Debra Long, raised concerns that the former coach was stalking her son. A March profile of Long in the Patriot-News cites a "rocky" relationship between Matt and Jerry; the two were estranged for an extended period, says one source. When Long asked her son if Jerry had touched him, he replied, "I don't want to talk about it," she says.
Jerry Sandusky
New Sandusky Allegation: Child Porn
Feds reportedly find images on his computer
Posted Aug 11, 2012 6:33 AM CDT
(Newser) – As if the Jerry Sandusky child-rape scandal were not bad enough, now the US Postal Service and Justice Department are investigating whether the former Penn State assistant coach was involved in a child-porn ring, reports CBS News. Investigators have apparently dug up child pornography on Sandusky's computer, although they say the images are not of any of the children Sandusky abused. The network's sources have conflicting information on whether Sandusky is alleged to have shared the images with others.
"I haven't heard a thing about this latest allegation," said Sandusky's lawyer. "Jerry continues to maintain his innocence. We think the allegation is ridiculous." In addition, investigators have found "seductive letters" on Sandusky's computer, sent to six or seven victims, along with gifts, encouraging them to visit him from across state lines.
Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, is now being investigated for links to a possible child pornography ring.
Boy Scouts Must Release 'Perversion Files': Court
Documents reveal molestation suspects across 2 decades
(Newser) – The Boy Scouts of America has two decades' worth of documents on 1,200 suspected child molesters in the organization—and the long-secret files are set to go public. A court has ruled that the "perversion files," cited by attorneys in a 2010 lawsuit, are public record. That means 20,000 pages of material on child abuse and lesser offenses, from 1965 to 1985, will come to light, the AP reports.
A lawyer in the 2010 case, which held that the BSA hadn't adequately protected a boy who'd been molested, calls the files "poignant and disturbing." "These files were integral to the jury finding that the BSA failed to use its vast knowledge of sexual predators to protect its Scouts," he said. For its part, the BSA says it fears the files' release could hurt those who were suspected of child abuse without being convicted. What's more, the documents could "negatively impact victims' privacy and have a chilling effect on the reporting of abuse."
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Boy Scout files reveal repeat child abuse by sexual predators - August 5, 2012
Los Angeles Times review of Boy Scout documents shows that a blacklist meant to protect boys from sexual predators too often failed in its mission.
For nearly a century, the Boy Scouts of America has relied on a confidential blacklist known as the "perversion files" as a crucial line of defense against sexual predators.
Scouting officials say they've used the files to prevent hundreds of men who had been expelled for alleged sexual abuse from returning to the ranks. They've fought hard in court to keep the records from public view, saying confidentiality was needed to protect victims, witnesses and anyone falsely accused.
"It is a fact that Scouts are safer because the barrier created by these files is real," Scouts Chief Executive Robert Mazzuca said in video posted on the organization's website in June.
That barrier, however, has been breached repeatedly.
A Los Angeles Times review of more than 1,200 files dating from 1970 to 1991 found more than 125 cases across the country in which men allegedly continued to molest Scouts after the organization was first presented with detailed allegations of abusive behavior.
Predators slipped back into the program by falsifying personal information or skirting the registration process. Others were able to jump from troop to troop around the country thanks to clerical errors, computer glitches or the Scouts' failure to check the blacklist.
In some cases, officials failed to document reports of abuse in the first place, letting offenders stay in the organization until new allegations surfaced. In others, officials documented abuse but merely suspended the accused leader or allowed him to continue working with boys while on "probation."
In at least 50 cases, the Boy Scouts expelled suspected abusers, only to discover later that they had reentered the program and were accused of molesting again.
One scoutmaster was expelled in 1970 for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy in Indiana. Even after being convicted of the crime, he went on to join two troops in Illinois between 1971 and 1988. He later admitted to molesting more than 100 boys, was convicted of the sexual assault of a Scout in 1989 and was sentenced to 100 years in prison, according to his file and court records.
In 1991, a Scout leader convicted of abusing a boy in Minnesota returned to his old troop — right after getting out of jail.
"Basically, there were no controls," said Bill Dworin, a retired Los Angeles police expert on child sexual abuse who reviewed hundreds of the files as a witness for an Oregon man abused by his troop leader in the 1980s. In 2010, the plaintiff, Kerry Lewis, won a nearly $20-million jury verdict against the Scouts.
Wed 11:36 AM, Aug 15, 2012
McHenry County Sheriff's Deputy Arrested on Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Charges
Gregory Pyle
MCHENRY COUNTY (WIFR) – A McHenry County Sheriff’s Deputy was arrested on August 14, and charged with aggravated sexual abuse of a child and producing child pornography by the sexual exploitation of a child. The defendant, Gregory M. Pyle, age 36, of Crest Hills, IL formerly of Crystal Lake, IL, was charged in a criminal complaint.
According to court documents, an individual under investigation for child pornography identified the usernames of other individuals with whom he had traded child pornography over the internet. Pyle was allegedly identified as the person using two of those usernames. The complaint alleges that Pyle transmitted sexually explicit images via the internet under those usernames including depictions of a minor child. During a later interview, the minor stated that Pyle had sexually abused him on multiple occasions, including on a trip to Wisconsin. The complaint alleges that in December 2008 Pyle traveled to Wisconsin with the child, then 10 years of age, with the intent to engage in a sexual act with the child, and to produce child pornography that was then transmitted via the internet.
Pyle appeared before U.S. Magistrate P. Michael Mahoney in U.S. District court and was ordered to remain in federal custody without bond pending a detention hearing at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, August 17, 2012.
The charges were announced by the acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Gary Shapiro, and Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert Grant. The Illinois State Police and the Illinois Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce assisted in the investigation.
The government is represented by Assistant United States Attorney Michael D. Love. Crossing a state line to engage in a sexual act with a minor under 12 carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years and a maximum of life in prison. Sexual exploitation of a child under 12 years of age for the purpose of producing child pornography carries a mandatory minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in prison and both counts carry a $250,000 maximum fine. If convicted, the actual sentence will be determined by a United States District Court Judge, guided by the United States Sentencing Guidelines.
Pediatrician Accused of Waterboarding Daughter
Melvin & Pauline Morse
Girl, 11, tells police of alleged abuse
Melvin Morse
(Newser) – The 11-year-old daughter of a pediatrician in Delaware tells police that her father routinely waterboarded her as a form of punishment, reports the local News Journal. Melvin Morse and his wife, Pauline, face several child abuse and endangerment charges and have temporarily lost custody of the girl and her younger sister. Police went to the house when a neighbor called 9-1-1, allegedly after the doctor dragged his daughter by the ankle over a gravel driveway.
The 58-year-old Morse is the author of a book on the near-death experiences of kids, and his bio boasts of appearances on Oprah's show, among others. The News Journal obtained court records that detail some of the awful allegations. The girl said he would hold her face under running water, which filled her nostrils until she couldn't breathe. "Melvin would sometimes look away while he did it and (redacted) would become afraid that he would lose track of time and she would die,” wrote police.
Mom Charged With Locking Girl in Closet, Starving Her Jacole Prince
(Newser) – An anonymous call to a child-abuse hotline led police to 10-year-old girl who weighed just 32 pounds, locked in a closet and surrounded by her own waste, reports the Kansas City Star. Identified only as "LP," the girl told police she was rarely allowed to leave the closet and often went days without being fed. LP's mother, Jacole Prince, has been arrested and charged with assault, child abuse, and endangering a child’s welfare. (Newser) – An anonymous call to a child-abuse hotline led police to 10-year-old girl who weighed just 32 pounds, locked in a closet and surrounded by her own waste, reports the Kansas City Star. Identified only as "LP," the girl told police she was rarely allowed to leave the closet and often went days without being fed. LP's mother, Jacole Prince, has been arrested and charged with assault, child abuse, and endangering a child’s welfare.
Prince's two other, younger daughters seem to have been raised normally and are in good health, but were taken into protective custody. Longtime neighbors said they only knew about the two girls and never saw LP. Prince told investigators that she did not allow LP to leave the house because the girl looked so malnourished she could get into trouble. "But amazingly, as children tend to surprise all of us, she had very good spirits. She was very cooperative with police. She let them know she doesn’t want to go back home,” says the prosecutor, hailing the anonymous tip for saving LP from "a horrendous situation."
Bound Kids Found Outside Walmart, Parents Busted
Posted Jun 15, 2012 12:02 AM CDT
Adolfo and Selena Gomez
(Newser) – A suburban Chicago family's road trip to Arizona came to a bizarre end in Lawrence, Kansas, when cops spotted the family's two youngest children bound and blindfolded next to their car in a Walmart parking lot. The kids, ages 5 and 7, are now in protective custody along with the couple's three older children, ABC reports. Adolfo and Selena Gomez have been arrested and charged with child abuse and endangerment.
Police say the family had been been living in their vehicle for two days after they had been forced to pull off the interstate because of transmission problems. "We're continuing to try and interview anyone who had knowledge of the family and understands the bigger picture of what was going on," said a police spokesman. "We would also like to put a timeline together to understand the days and weeks leading up to this, and the general family dynamics."
Pot-Smoking Mom Puts Baby on Car Roof, Drives Off
Catalina Clouser
Apparently it is not enough to protect babies with a good car seat: Catalina Clouser had her 5-week-old baby strapped safely in a car seat when she drove home just after midnight yesterday. Unfortunately, the mom, who unsurprisingly admits she was smoking pot beforehand, left both babe and car seat on the roof of her car, reports the Arizona Republic. When Clouser got home, she realized her baby was missing and called friends to get them to look for the baby.
Luckily, Phoenix officials had already gotten a report about a baby in the road and taken him to a local hospital. The baby was "perfectly OK," according to a police spokesman, and the child is now in the custody of Arizona Child Protective Services. Clouser has been arrested for child abuse and DUI charges.
Mom Arrested After Daughter's Punishment
A Minnesota woman was arrested this week after shaving her daughter's head and forcing her to pick up garbage and do windsprints wearing nothing but a tank top and a diaper. The mother allegedly imposed this punishment—which she dubbed "diaper duty"—because she wasn't happy with the 12-year-old's grades, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. Neighbors called police after seeing the girl outside crying and begging to be let back inside.
By the time police showed up, the girl had been outside in the diaper for half an hour, and they described her as hysterical. They arrested the mother, 38, and her boyfriend on suspicion of misdemeanor malicious punishment of a child. One neighborhood boy said it wasn't the girl's first humiliation either—he'd seen her and her younger sister picking up garbage in diapers a month earlier
8 More Accuse Red Sox Staffer of Sex Abuse
Donald Fitzpatrick
Eight more men have claimed abuse by a Boston Red Sox clubhouse boss in what the Boston Globe is calling "the worst sexual abuse scandal in Major League Baseball history." The men—among them two former Baltimore Orioles batboys—join two ex-clubhouse attendants who recently filed a lawsuit against the Sox, saying they'd been sexually molested by Donald Fitzpatrick, now deceased. With the statute of limitations for legal action expired, each of the latest accusers wants $5 million in damages from the teams, the AP reports.
Police: Ohio Father Pimped Out Adopted Son,10
Police believe the adoptive father regularly hired the boy out to Patrick Rieder, 31, of Dayton, Ohio, left,
An adoptive father in Ohio has been charged with raping three boys in his care, and hiring out one of them—a 10-year-old—to other men for sex. Undercover cops were led to the man through a Craigslist advert seeking "taboo" sex, AP reports. The suspect's name is being withheld to protect the children's identities, but cops have released the names of two other men accused of regularly raping the 10-year-old. Police say the boy was afraid to talk to them because he didn't want to be separated from his new siblings.
The adoptive father was involved with a youth basketball program in Troy, but investigators say they haven't found signs of inappropriate behavior with others in the program. Officials in Texas, where the children came from, say proper adoption procedures appear to have been followed. The arrests have shaken the city of 25,000 people north of Dayton. "You don't know what goes on inside people's homes," said one of the man's shocked neighbors. "I'll never look at that house the same way again. I'll just look at it with sickness."
Girl, 9, Dies After Forced 3-Hour Run
On Friday, Joyce Hardin Garrard found out her 9-year-old granddaughter Savannah Hardin had eaten a candy bar on the school bus, and allegedly punished her by making her run around the house, without stopping, for three hours. Savannah, who had a bladder condition that could have been aggravated by the candy, began having seizures and was rushed to the hospital, where she died Monday. Garrard and Savannah's stepmother, Jessica Mae Hardin, are charged with the girl's murder, MyFox Alabama reports.
Hardin was considered the girl's primary caregiver because Savannah's father was working overseas for the government at the time; Hardin was charged along with the grandmother for not halting the punishment. Savannah, who weighed just 65 pounds, was found to be severely dehydrated with low sodium levels. The third-grader "was caused to undergo physical exertion to the point in time where she just got dehydrated and her electrolyte levels got to the point where she couldn't survive life," the district attorney says. Hardin, 26, gave birth yesterday afternoon while sheriff's deputies guarded her.
Bound Children Removed From Sex Offender Home
Three buildings and a travel trailer sit in the backyard of a Dayton, Texas, house where 11 children, some of them found in restraints, were removed by Children's Protective Services.
Texas authorities have removed 11 children, some bound and injured, from a group home where at least one known sex offender was living. Eight children were kept in a single bedroom with plywood covering the only window; authorities found two 2-year-old children and a 5-year-old girl tied to filthy mattresses, a welfare worker has testified. The little girl is legally blind, and "appeared to be in a daze," said the worker. Some ten adults were also living in the crowded home. The children ranged in age from five months to 11, two of the youngest appeared to be suffering from pneumonia, and another had a black eye and a knocked-out tooth, reports AP.
Adults in the house said the children were tied at night or during naps for their "safety," but one child reported being kept in the room for days at a time, said the welfare worker. All of the children have been placed in foster care, and a criminal investigation is continuing. “Our primary concern was to make sure that the children were stable and safe,” said an official. The crowded home is owned by the mother of Mark E. Marsh III, who was convicted in Michigan of criminal sexual conduct with a 15-year-old girl, reports CBS. He has listed the Dayton home as his residence on the state's online sex offender registry. His mother was investigated in 2009 after authorities received a report that she had punched a child in the house, which includes a number of curtained outbuildings in the backyard. Police haven't revealed the identities of the parents of all the children. The address was also home to two 16-year-old runaway boys who had heard the house "was fun," according to court testimony.
By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff
Posted Jun 14, 2012 4:24 PM CDT
By John Johnson, Newser Staff
Posted Aug 9, 2012 6:31 PM CDT
'LP' is 10 years old, but weighs just 32 pounds
Posted Jun 24, 2012 8:16 AM CDT
Illinois couple's 5 kids placed in protective custody
Catalina Clouser has been arrested for child abuse, DUI
By Mark Russell, Newser Staff
Posted Jun 3, 2012 8:11 AM CDT
Shaved 12-year-old's head, made her wear diaper outside
By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff
Posted May 9, 2012 4:33 PM CDT
Each seeks $5M over attacks by former clubhouse boss
By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff
Posted Mar 5, 2012 12:45 PM CST
Adoptive father, 2 others charged with child rape
By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff
Posted Mar 2, 2012 12:01 AM CST
and Jason Zwick, 29, of Beavercreek, Ohio. (AP Photo/Police Photos via The Daily News)
Savannah Hardin collapsed after extreme punishment
By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff
Posted Feb 23, 2012 12:04 PM CST 
Place was home to 10 adults, who said kids were tied for 'safety'
By Mary Papenfuss, Newser Staff
Posted Feb 22, 2012 1:00 AM CST
