(Originally Posted 12-25-07)
West Ashley (South Carolina) teacher Scott Larue Knight, accused of making sexually inappropriate comments to female students, is charge with raping a woman, according to the Charleston County Sheriff's Office.
The Charleston Post & Courier has more in their story, W. Ashley teacher charged with rape:
Deputies arrested Scott Larue Knight, 39, Friday on charges of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, sheriff's Maj. John Clark said.
Affidavits describe an attack in September at Knight's home at Concord West of the Ashley on 45 Sycamore Ave., Clark said.
Knight is accused of pushing a woman in her early 30s into his room and locking the door, then forcibly raping her, Clark said. Knight was arrested at home. He left the Charleston County Detention Center on Saturday after posting $20,000 bail, according to court documents and the jail. Knight has been on administrative leave from his teaching job since being arrested Nov. 14 on two counts of first- degree harassment, according to the school district.
The harassment charges stem from incidents with inappropriate comments directed at teenage students. A 16 year old girl claimed that starting in June, Knight started to make inappropriate comments directed at her in front of her boyfriend. The comments started back up when the school year started, and Knight allegedly started staring at her in her classroom while outside. Her parents made a report to her school's administration. Another girl, 14, reported similar comments made allegedly by Knight.
Update (12-31-07) Knight commited suicide on the 27th by crashing his car into a tree. A suicide note was found.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Woman raped after leaving own birthday party in Queens
James Moye, 19, was arrested after allegedly chasing, then kidnapping and raping a 19 year old woman who had just left her own birthday party in Queens, NY.
One Captured, One Sought in Rape After Birthday Party from the Queens Courier has the disgusting details:
“It is alleged that a Saturday night birthday celebration at a friend’s house turned into a nightmare early Sunday morning for the victim,” said District Attorney Richard A. Brown. “Like predatory animals, the defendant and an unapprehended individual are alleged to have chased down their victim before brutally victimizing her at gunpoint. The consequences of such a sexual assault for a victim are profound and can result in emotional trauma from which she may never fully recover.”
James Moye, 19, of 106-12 223rd Street in Queens Village, has been arraigned before Queens Criminal Court Judge William Harrington on charges of predatory sexual assault, first-degree rape, first-degree criminal sexual act and second-degree kidnapping.Moye, who faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted, was ordered held without bail and to return to court on January 7, 2008.
According to the criminal charges, Moye and an unapprehended accomplice chased the 19-year-old female college student into a yard in the vicinity of 108th Avenue and 220th Street in Queens Village during the early morning hours December 9 and that, after the unapprehended individual displayed a black handgun, both he and Moye ordered the victim to get into Moye’s van.
After the victim was forced in the back of the van, Moye and the unnamed accomplice drove around for a few hours, then took turns raping and sexually assaulting her in other ways. The suspects then drove the victim to Jamaica Center where they ordered the alleged victim out of the van. She ran for help at the nearest subway station.
One Captured, One Sought in Rape After Birthday Party from the Queens Courier has the disgusting details:
“It is alleged that a Saturday night birthday celebration at a friend’s house turned into a nightmare early Sunday morning for the victim,” said District Attorney Richard A. Brown. “Like predatory animals, the defendant and an unapprehended individual are alleged to have chased down their victim before brutally victimizing her at gunpoint. The consequences of such a sexual assault for a victim are profound and can result in emotional trauma from which she may never fully recover.”
James Moye, 19, of 106-12 223rd Street in Queens Village, has been arraigned before Queens Criminal Court Judge William Harrington on charges of predatory sexual assault, first-degree rape, first-degree criminal sexual act and second-degree kidnapping.Moye, who faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted, was ordered held without bail and to return to court on January 7, 2008.
According to the criminal charges, Moye and an unapprehended accomplice chased the 19-year-old female college student into a yard in the vicinity of 108th Avenue and 220th Street in Queens Village during the early morning hours December 9 and that, after the unapprehended individual displayed a black handgun, both he and Moye ordered the victim to get into Moye’s van.
After the victim was forced in the back of the van, Moye and the unnamed accomplice drove around for a few hours, then took turns raping and sexually assaulting her in other ways. The suspects then drove the victim to Jamaica Center where they ordered the alleged victim out of the van. She ran for help at the nearest subway station.
25 to 50 years for sexual attacks at Jackson, WY bar
Two men who carried out a plan to rape women while the women were drunk or alone were sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison. They tried to rape a woman, but she screamed and they ran away. They followed a second woman after the first attempt, and were more sucessful the second time around.
AN excerpt fro the Casper Star-Tribune, Men get 25-50 years for rape
The victim helped Jackson police create a computer-generated composite drawing. Aguilar and Juarez were identified by a man who drove them home the night of the attacks.
Days after that incident, the two men, along with two other accomplices, Federico Lopez and Gustavo Bonilla, fled to Mexico where they were arrested and extradited back to Wyoming in June. Lopez and Bonila pled guilty to 3rd degree sexual assault and were sentenced to 4 years in prison.
More from the story:
District Judge Gary Hartman said he couldn't even contemplate rehabilitation for Armando Aguilar, 25, or Daniel Juarez, 21."The goal in this case is punishment," Hartman said. Each man pleaded guilty in October to first-degree sexual assault. Each also pleaded guilty to a charge of accessory before the fact to third-degree sexual assault in a separate attack.
AN excerpt fro the Casper Star-Tribune, Men get 25-50 years for rape
The victim helped Jackson police create a computer-generated composite drawing. Aguilar and Juarez were identified by a man who drove them home the night of the attacks.
Days after that incident, the two men, along with two other accomplices, Federico Lopez and Gustavo Bonilla, fled to Mexico where they were arrested and extradited back to Wyoming in June. Lopez and Bonila pled guilty to 3rd degree sexual assault and were sentenced to 4 years in prison.
More from the story:
District Judge Gary Hartman said he couldn't even contemplate rehabilitation for Armando Aguilar, 25, or Daniel Juarez, 21."The goal in this case is punishment," Hartman said. Each man pleaded guilty in October to first-degree sexual assault. Each also pleaded guilty to a charge of accessory before the fact to third-degree sexual assault in a separate attack.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
SO job scam leads to inappropriate touches
Oscar Corea, 38, a convicted sex offender, has been arrested for luring women to a hotel for fake interviews so he could grope them. Four women showed up for interviews at the Hacienda Hotel in El Segundo, but there was no AT&T job waiting for them, but unwanted sexual touching.
Corea had been sentenced three weeks earlier in Los Angeles Superior Court to a 6 year suspended sentence for assault to commit rape for the same scam.
Reference:
Job Scam Gets Sex Offender Arrested Again
Corea had been sentenced three weeks earlier in Los Angeles Superior Court to a 6 year suspended sentence for assault to commit rape for the same scam.
Reference:
Job Scam Gets Sex Offender Arrested Again
Doctor charged in sexual assault, harassment of patients
Dr. Mack Douglas Lyons was booked into the Fort Payne (Alabama) city jail last night on four charges of sexual abuse and harassment against his female patients. He was arrested in Gadsen, where there were no charges as of yet, according to police.
According to WHNT-TV (Huntsville, AL):
He did operate a part-time clinic in Fort Payne last year, which is where the charges stem from. Fort Payne Police say their investigation begin in October of 2006, when a victim told them Dr. Lyons had sexually abused her at his office at 1526 Gault Avenue. Three other women also came forward.
Lyons is being held on $20,000 bond. The sexual abuse charges are felonies, and the harassment charges are misdemeanors.
The Fort Payne office is now closed, and there is a link to Alabama's Board Of Examiners In Counseling.
Reference:
Monday, December 24, 2007
Man tees of on wife, friend instead of golf ball; gets 4 months probation
An Eagle Mountain, Utah man, who faced attempted murder charges for beating his wife and former friend with a golf club is getting a huge break. Kevin Householder, 30, was charged with second-degree felony counts of attempted murder and aggravated assault for taking a 4-iron to the face of his wife and friend instead of to a golf ball.
The Salt Lake Tribune has more in "Plea deal in raging hot-tub attack with club":
Householder pleaded guilty to two lesser class A misdemeanor counts of attempted aggravated assault. The attack came just after midnight during the party on June 17, 2006, when Householder struck his wife multiple times in the head and face, and struck his friend in the head, arms and legs, according to police. When the head of the club broke off, Householder used the jagged end to stab the man, who suffered two puncture wounds, a concussion and a fractured pelvis. The woman was treated for facial injuries.
Householder's wife and (former, hopefully) friend approved the plea deal, and the wife is currently going to counseling with her husband. She also reports that her husband is getting his drinking under control. The plea deal requires 120 days of electronic monitoring, and an order to complete domestic battery and anger management counseling. Restitution for $25,000 may still be required for the ex-friend's injuries.
The Salt Lake Tribune has more in "Plea deal in raging hot-tub attack with club":
Householder pleaded guilty to two lesser class A misdemeanor counts of attempted aggravated assault. The attack came just after midnight during the party on June 17, 2006, when Householder struck his wife multiple times in the head and face, and struck his friend in the head, arms and legs, according to police. When the head of the club broke off, Householder used the jagged end to stab the man, who suffered two puncture wounds, a concussion and a fractured pelvis. The woman was treated for facial injuries.
Householder's wife and (former, hopefully) friend approved the plea deal, and the wife is currently going to counseling with her husband. She also reports that her husband is getting his drinking under control. The plea deal requires 120 days of electronic monitoring, and an order to complete domestic battery and anger management counseling. Restitution for $25,000 may still be required for the ex-friend's injuries.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Cabbie charged with rape of passenger
A cab driver has been charged with sexual assault and kidnapping for an attack which took place a year ago. The woman, then 28, called a cab after a night of drinking. After the night was over, she woke up at the Admiral Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, nude from the waist down.
KCTV (Kansas CIty, MO) reports below:
Abdi Qamaan, 47, picked her up at the bar and she passed out drunk in the back of his cab, prosecutors said. They claimed that Qamaan then took her to the hotel, booked a room and sexually assaulted her.
She awoke the next morning with no memory of what had happened and called police.
As they questioned her, Qamaan returned to the hotel room and told police he'd gotten her room number because he didn't know where she lived and had come back to take her home, prosecutors said.
DNA evidence refuted his claims. Police took samples from a used condom from a trash can. The semen sample matched Qamaan's, and he was charged with aggravated forcible sodomy and kidnapping. Qamaan is being held on $100,000 bond.
Reference:
Cab driver accused of sex assault
KCTV (Kansas CIty, MO) reports below:
Abdi Qamaan, 47, picked her up at the bar and she passed out drunk in the back of his cab, prosecutors said. They claimed that Qamaan then took her to the hotel, booked a room and sexually assaulted her.
She awoke the next morning with no memory of what had happened and called police.
As they questioned her, Qamaan returned to the hotel room and told police he'd gotten her room number because he didn't know where she lived and had come back to take her home, prosecutors said.
DNA evidence refuted his claims. Police took samples from a used condom from a trash can. The semen sample matched Qamaan's, and he was charged with aggravated forcible sodomy and kidnapping. Qamaan is being held on $100,000 bond.
Reference:
Cab driver accused of sex assault
Prosecution of professor/student sex as official misconduct
This post deals with the acquittal of ISU professor Michael Forbes after his bench trial on official misconduct charges. The idea that professor/college student sex is or can be criminalized using this statute may be far fetched, but lets look more closely.
Official misconduct, in layman's terms, is defined as using a position in government to obtain favors or other advantages. A public university employee is technically a government employee, and sexual encounters with students, even students which may be older than the sexually boundary-confused employee, count as favors and perks. So McLean County (which includes Normal, IL, where ISU is located) prosecutors saw the sexual misconduct by professors against students as official misconduct.
The tactic of charging teachers/professors with official misconduct for sex with students over the AOC is a tactic which has been used before. Timothy Zisa, as described in this blog, was sentenced to 5 years on probation and barred from teaching or holding other public employment in NJ for sex with 2 18 year old students.
I agree with the prosecution of sexual encounters between public college employees and students as official misconduct. If the professor who had sex with his student was a high school teacher and a 16 year old girl, there would have been prison time. The lack of prison time is due to a dismissal of victims over 18 as true victims.
Women high school teachers who have sexual relationships with students over 16 are now getting prison time, and 21 and 17 are not a whole lot different in maturity. If a boy who is in his mid to late teens can be damaged by sex with a female teacher who is around 30, then a woman in her early 20s can be damaged with a sexual relationship with a professor in college. When it comes to a position of power, college professors and high school teachers have similar power and influence over their students.
I disagree with Judge Fitzgerald's contention that Forbes wasn't in a position to influence grades, because he was the victim's professor. Professors have the power to raise grades of students they are over, regardless of whether the student asks for the favor or not. The fact that former Professor Forbes had a employer-employee relationship with the student as a babysitter is an example of a dual relationship, something frowned upon by most professions.
If sex between a high school teacher and student is illegal, and this case between a professor and a college student was prosecuted as a felony, due to the implication of grades for sex, then perhaps Illinois (and other states') official misconduct laws can be expanded to include professor-student sex in public universities, if they can't be interpreted that way already.
In the case that official misconduct can't be expanded to cover professor/college student sex under existing constructs, perhaps it's time to criminalize professor-student sex, and a start would be making sex between professors and college students official misconduct or sexual imposition of a vulnerable adult. There are people who believe in laissez-faire when dealing with sexual relationships between adults, but the candy store should be closed regardless of age if you are teaching a student. Young adults and their parents need to be protected when the potential victim is over 18 or the local AOC just as much as if the victim was under 18.
Official misconduct, in layman's terms, is defined as using a position in government to obtain favors or other advantages. A public university employee is technically a government employee, and sexual encounters with students, even students which may be older than the sexually boundary-confused employee, count as favors and perks. So McLean County (which includes Normal, IL, where ISU is located) prosecutors saw the sexual misconduct by professors against students as official misconduct.
The tactic of charging teachers/professors with official misconduct for sex with students over the AOC is a tactic which has been used before. Timothy Zisa, as described in this blog, was sentenced to 5 years on probation and barred from teaching or holding other public employment in NJ for sex with 2 18 year old students.
I agree with the prosecution of sexual encounters between public college employees and students as official misconduct. If the professor who had sex with his student was a high school teacher and a 16 year old girl, there would have been prison time. The lack of prison time is due to a dismissal of victims over 18 as true victims.
Women high school teachers who have sexual relationships with students over 16 are now getting prison time, and 21 and 17 are not a whole lot different in maturity. If a boy who is in his mid to late teens can be damaged by sex with a female teacher who is around 30, then a woman in her early 20s can be damaged with a sexual relationship with a professor in college. When it comes to a position of power, college professors and high school teachers have similar power and influence over their students.
I disagree with Judge Fitzgerald's contention that Forbes wasn't in a position to influence grades, because he was the victim's professor. Professors have the power to raise grades of students they are over, regardless of whether the student asks for the favor or not. The fact that former Professor Forbes had a employer-employee relationship with the student as a babysitter is an example of a dual relationship, something frowned upon by most professions.
If sex between a high school teacher and student is illegal, and this case between a professor and a college student was prosecuted as a felony, due to the implication of grades for sex, then perhaps Illinois (and other states') official misconduct laws can be expanded to include professor-student sex in public universities, if they can't be interpreted that way already.
In the case that official misconduct can't be expanded to cover professor/college student sex under existing constructs, perhaps it's time to criminalize professor-student sex, and a start would be making sex between professors and college students official misconduct or sexual imposition of a vulnerable adult. There are people who believe in laissez-faire when dealing with sexual relationships between adults, but the candy store should be closed regardless of age if you are teaching a student. Young adults and their parents need to be protected when the potential victim is over 18 or the local AOC just as much as if the victim was under 18.
Professor gets off (in both senses of the word) for sexual encounter with student
A former Illinois State University professor was acquitted of official misconduct after a bench trail because the judge ruled that while the relationship between the married professor and the then 21 year old student was unethical and immoral, but also that the professor was not in a position to influence that woman's grade. "It’s not a question of the morality of this relationship but the legality of it,” Judge Kevin Fitzgerald said in the decision.
According to the Pantagraph:
Michael Forbes, a former associate professor in the ISU music department, was accused of convincing a student to perform a sex act on him on April 22, 2006, after she came to his home to baby sit for his child.
Prosecutors contend Forbes sought the sexual activity in return for his arranging music performances for the student, who was 21 at the time of the incident. Judge Kevin Fitzgerald ruled that insufficient evidence existed to show a connection between Forbes’ official duties at the university and the sexual activity.“There needs to be a nexus, a connection, between his official capacity and the alleged act,” the judge said.Evidence at the bench trial showed Forbes was not in a position to influence the woman’s grade.“It’s not a question of the morality of this relationship but the legality of it,” Fitzgerald said in the decision.
Forbes, who is married, admitted adultery when having sexual contact with the 21-year old student. “I do believe that I’ve committed adultery and for that I’ll always be sorry,” he said. The music professor also said that he was trying to regain his reputation, and that an contract with a North Carolina university was rescinded after Normal police told his prospective employer of the charges. “I have a lot of things to solve in the court of public opinion before I can put the pieces back together. There’s been a lot of damage done in the court of public opinion.”
More from the Pantagraph:
According to Forbes, the April 22 incident began when the woman asked Forbes if he wanted to see a tattoo located below her navel. Forbes said he kissed the tattoo and the two engaged in sexual activity before he left for a recital.
"Not once on April 22 did I utter the words ‘you owe me,’” to the student, Forbes testified. Assistant State’s Attorney Jane Foster argued that Forbes exploited his position to obtain sexual favors from the student. “The only reason they had interaction with each other was because he was a professor and she was a student at Illinois State University,” Foster said.Foster called suggestions that the sexual activity was consensual “incredulous, at best.”
The prosecutor also pointed out that Forbes asked the woman to keep the relationship confidential because of the harm a disclosure could mean for his career and family. Foster praised the student’s decision to file the complaint against the professor.“What’s important here is the victim came forward and made a report. She’s to be commended for that,” Foster said after the acquittal. A civil lawsuit filed by the student is pending against Forbes and ISU in federal court.
ISU is being sued for $500,000, and Forbes is being sued for $100,000. The federal trial is scheduled for 2009.
This was not the 1st time than an ISU professor faced criminal charges over sexual activity with a college student and was acquitted.
In May, former ISU theatre professor Patrick O’Gara was acquitted by a judge of battery and official misconduct charges for kissing a student who said the attention was unwanted.
Brian's opinion - My opinion about this case will be shown in the next posting. Here a a few of the over three dozen comments for this article: The comments I agree with I've shown below:
"Whatever price this educator pays he deserves. Along with being an educator goes the responsibility of leadership. He holds a position of trust to be revered by students. Every relationship between an educator and a student should be based on dignity, respect and above all high moral character. Mr Forbes chose to degrade his family, his unversity , his peers, and most of all the students when he engaged in adultery with a young female student. No law was broken since he did not force this young lady into doing anything, but the moral character of this educator is definitely in question. I question if this professor has the qualities we need in higher education professors. "
"... At either level, high school or college, it is ethically wrong (and in case of HS, legally) wrong to have sex with students."
According to the Pantagraph:
Michael Forbes, a former associate professor in the ISU music department, was accused of convincing a student to perform a sex act on him on April 22, 2006, after she came to his home to baby sit for his child.
Prosecutors contend Forbes sought the sexual activity in return for his arranging music performances for the student, who was 21 at the time of the incident. Judge Kevin Fitzgerald ruled that insufficient evidence existed to show a connection between Forbes’ official duties at the university and the sexual activity.“There needs to be a nexus, a connection, between his official capacity and the alleged act,” the judge said.Evidence at the bench trial showed Forbes was not in a position to influence the woman’s grade.“It’s not a question of the morality of this relationship but the legality of it,” Fitzgerald said in the decision.
Forbes, who is married, admitted adultery when having sexual contact with the 21-year old student. “I do believe that I’ve committed adultery and for that I’ll always be sorry,” he said. The music professor also said that he was trying to regain his reputation, and that an contract with a North Carolina university was rescinded after Normal police told his prospective employer of the charges. “I have a lot of things to solve in the court of public opinion before I can put the pieces back together. There’s been a lot of damage done in the court of public opinion.”
More from the Pantagraph:
According to Forbes, the April 22 incident began when the woman asked Forbes if he wanted to see a tattoo located below her navel. Forbes said he kissed the tattoo and the two engaged in sexual activity before he left for a recital.
"Not once on April 22 did I utter the words ‘you owe me,’” to the student, Forbes testified. Assistant State’s Attorney Jane Foster argued that Forbes exploited his position to obtain sexual favors from the student. “The only reason they had interaction with each other was because he was a professor and she was a student at Illinois State University,” Foster said.Foster called suggestions that the sexual activity was consensual “incredulous, at best.”
The prosecutor also pointed out that Forbes asked the woman to keep the relationship confidential because of the harm a disclosure could mean for his career and family. Foster praised the student’s decision to file the complaint against the professor.“What’s important here is the victim came forward and made a report. She’s to be commended for that,” Foster said after the acquittal. A civil lawsuit filed by the student is pending against Forbes and ISU in federal court.
ISU is being sued for $500,000, and Forbes is being sued for $100,000. The federal trial is scheduled for 2009.
This was not the 1st time than an ISU professor faced criminal charges over sexual activity with a college student and was acquitted.
In May, former ISU theatre professor Patrick O’Gara was acquitted by a judge of battery and official misconduct charges for kissing a student who said the attention was unwanted.
Brian's opinion - My opinion about this case will be shown in the next posting. Here a a few of the over three dozen comments for this article: The comments I agree with I've shown below:
"Whatever price this educator pays he deserves. Along with being an educator goes the responsibility of leadership. He holds a position of trust to be revered by students. Every relationship between an educator and a student should be based on dignity, respect and above all high moral character. Mr Forbes chose to degrade his family, his unversity , his peers, and most of all the students when he engaged in adultery with a young female student. No law was broken since he did not force this young lady into doing anything, but the moral character of this educator is definitely in question. I question if this professor has the qualities we need in higher education professors. "
"... At either level, high school or college, it is ethically wrong (and in case of HS, legally) wrong to have sex with students."
Sex offender burglar charged with touching, stealing garments from women
A convicted burglar with a history of breaking into women's homes and stealing their personal belongings has been caught doing so again. Bruce A. Sitton, 56, was charges in a string of burglaries between August 25 and October 23 where women in their late teens to early 20s were sexually touched before Sitton stole personal items.
According to the Corvallis Gazette-Times article, "Sex Offender Arrested For Burglaries,"
“He has a history of going to college towns with young women, stalking them and entering their homes,” said Lt. Tim Brewer of the Corvallis Police Department. “He would watch and touch (the victims). If they woke up, he would run out.”
Sitton was charged with the burglaries and assaults while in jail for a parole violation. Police arrested him while he was in jail, but did not disclose it until a week later due to further investigation.
More from the Corvallis Gazette-Times article:
After Sitton was arrested, detectives obtained a warrant to search his home at 1117 S.E. Queen Ave. in Albany. Police discovered women’s undergarments, a hand-woven purse and other personal items in Sitton’s home that victims of the Corvallis burglaries identified as their property, Brewer said.
Sitton was convicted in Polk County in 2000 and in Benton County in 2001 for a series of burglaries in which he attempted to sexually assault some of his victims, Brewer said. He served five years in prison for those convictions. In 1998, Sitton was convicted of burglary and rape in Josephine County, but served no prison time.
Brewer said that what occurred in the Corvallis burglaries this summer and fall matched the manner in which Sitton was known to break into homes.
“We had our eye on him for the burglaries because they matched his M.O. and we knew he had been released from prison in 2006,” Brewer said.
According to the Corvallis Gazette-Times article, "Sex Offender Arrested For Burglaries,"
“He has a history of going to college towns with young women, stalking them and entering their homes,” said Lt. Tim Brewer of the Corvallis Police Department. “He would watch and touch (the victims). If they woke up, he would run out.”
Sitton was charged with the burglaries and assaults while in jail for a parole violation. Police arrested him while he was in jail, but did not disclose it until a week later due to further investigation.
More from the Corvallis Gazette-Times article:
After Sitton was arrested, detectives obtained a warrant to search his home at 1117 S.E. Queen Ave. in Albany. Police discovered women’s undergarments, a hand-woven purse and other personal items in Sitton’s home that victims of the Corvallis burglaries identified as their property, Brewer said.
Sitton was convicted in Polk County in 2000 and in Benton County in 2001 for a series of burglaries in which he attempted to sexually assault some of his victims, Brewer said. He served five years in prison for those convictions. In 1998, Sitton was convicted of burglary and rape in Josephine County, but served no prison time.
Brewer said that what occurred in the Corvallis burglaries this summer and fall matched the manner in which Sitton was known to break into homes.
“We had our eye on him for the burglaries because they matched his M.O. and we knew he had been released from prison in 2006,” Brewer said.
RSO charged in rape, kidnapping of 18 year old woman
Eric Houk, 23, of Bedford, Iowa, was arrested and charged with a variety of crimes, including arson and sexual assault, the the alleged kidnapping and sexual assault of a 18 year old woman.
According to the SW Iowa News:
Family members reported the woman missing to the Taylor County Sheriff's Office at 10:38 p.m. Saturday. She last was seen leaving her job around 9 p.m. Saturday [December 15].
Bedford police found her car on fire in a parking lot behind a Bedford cafe just before 11 p.m.
She was found early Sunday at Houk's home after a county-wide search that included volunteers and officers from the Bedford police, the Sheriff's Office, the State Division of Criminal Investigation and the State Fire Marshal's Office.
Houk was being held in the Adams County Jail on $5 million bail.
Houk was previously convicted in 2003 of lascivious acts with a child and 3rd degree sexual abuse.
According to the SW Iowa News:
Family members reported the woman missing to the Taylor County Sheriff's Office at 10:38 p.m. Saturday. She last was seen leaving her job around 9 p.m. Saturday [December 15].
Bedford police found her car on fire in a parking lot behind a Bedford cafe just before 11 p.m.
She was found early Sunday at Houk's home after a county-wide search that included volunteers and officers from the Bedford police, the Sheriff's Office, the State Division of Criminal Investigation and the State Fire Marshal's Office.
Houk was being held in the Adams County Jail on $5 million bail.
Houk was previously convicted in 2003 of lascivious acts with a child and 3rd degree sexual abuse.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Sex offender cop gets 4 years for unwanted contact
A NYC ex-cop has been sentenced to 4 years in prison for sexually assaulting two different women while on duty. The judge which sentenced him, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Cheryl Chambers (unnamed in the New York Post story), said that Clerge "used the power of his office to obtain sexual gratification."
According to the Post and the New York Daily News:
Fernand Clerge, 40, had faced up to seven years behind bars for his crimes, which included unwanted sexual advances against two women on two separate occasions while armed and in uniform.
One of his victims, a 37-year-old waitress, testified at trial that Clerge and his partner followed her home after a routine traffic stop and tried to force her to perform oral sex on him.
The other victim was 21 when Clerge performed a sexually intrusive search on her while investigating a noise complaint. Clerge's apology rang hollow in court to the older victim, as noted below:
"You, myself and God know the truth of what occurred that day," he said to one of the victims, reading from a carefully worded, handwritten statement through tears and begging the judge to spare him. "I'm so sorry for any harm I may have caused you."
His words did little more than reduce the victim to tears herself.
"I think he was just doing that to get fewer years in jail," the 37-year-old woman said afterward as she left the courthouse still crying and barely able to talk.
Clerge was convicted of official misconduct, attempted criminal sex act, and sex abuse.
A comment at the Daily News describes what many people have on their minds about sex offender cops:
Another lowlife creep molesting women. Why don't they casterate[sic] his *** & call it a day. What is even more frightening it that he was an ex-cop!! I wonder how many ppl he beat up & molested during his stint as a cop? Well when those boys know about him being an ex-cop. I guess he will be somebody's B***H
According to the Post and the New York Daily News:
Fernand Clerge, 40, had faced up to seven years behind bars for his crimes, which included unwanted sexual advances against two women on two separate occasions while armed and in uniform.
One of his victims, a 37-year-old waitress, testified at trial that Clerge and his partner followed her home after a routine traffic stop and tried to force her to perform oral sex on him.
The other victim was 21 when Clerge performed a sexually intrusive search on her while investigating a noise complaint. Clerge's apology rang hollow in court to the older victim, as noted below:
"You, myself and God know the truth of what occurred that day," he said to one of the victims, reading from a carefully worded, handwritten statement through tears and begging the judge to spare him. "I'm so sorry for any harm I may have caused you."
His words did little more than reduce the victim to tears herself.
"I think he was just doing that to get fewer years in jail," the 37-year-old woman said afterward as she left the courthouse still crying and barely able to talk.
Clerge was convicted of official misconduct, attempted criminal sex act, and sex abuse.
A comment at the Daily News describes what many people have on their minds about sex offender cops:
Another lowlife creep molesting women. Why don't they casterate[sic] his *** & call it a day. What is even more frightening it that he was an ex-cop!! I wonder how many ppl he beat up & molested during his stint as a cop? Well when those boys know about him being an ex-cop. I guess he will be somebody's B***H
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Michigan man loses appeal of rape charge
A Sturgis man has been ordered to start serving a 21 month to 15 year sentence for the 2005 rape of a woman. The Michigan Court Of Appeals overturned a lower court's decision to grant Warren English III a new trail based on a juror being sexually abused as a child.
According to the Kalamazoo Gazette:
English, 23, was sentenced by Judge Paul Stutesman after he was found guilty of raping a 17-year-old woman in May 2005 following an after-prom party at his family's residence. English is the son of Sturgis businessman Warren English Jr.
County Prosecuting Attorney Douglas Fisher appealed the decision of the trial court, which stated that a victim of sexual abuse should be automatically excused from sitting on a criminal sexual conduct jury.
The appeals court called the decision `erroneous'' and ordered English, who had been released on bond pending the appeal, to turn himself in to the county sheriff.
Appellate Judge Helene N. White wrote in a separate opinion that she "would remand for reconsideration under the proper legal standard," but disagreed that a new trial was necessary.
Sturgis rapist won't get new trial
According to the Kalamazoo Gazette:
English, 23, was sentenced by Judge Paul Stutesman after he was found guilty of raping a 17-year-old woman in May 2005 following an after-prom party at his family's residence. English is the son of Sturgis businessman Warren English Jr.
County Prosecuting Attorney Douglas Fisher appealed the decision of the trial court, which stated that a victim of sexual abuse should be automatically excused from sitting on a criminal sexual conduct jury.
The appeals court called the decision `erroneous'' and ordered English, who had been released on bond pending the appeal, to turn himself in to the county sheriff.
Appellate Judge Helene N. White wrote in a separate opinion that she "would remand for reconsideration under the proper legal standard," but disagreed that a new trial was necessary.
Sturgis rapist won't get new trial
Rapist sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison
A serial rapist was sentenced to between 15 and 30 years for sexual attacks on three women, beating his pregnant girlfriend, and threatening a co-worker with a gun.
According to Penn Live News:
Dauphin County President Judge Richard A. Lewis imposed the term Monday on Jermaine Marks, 32, of the 2100 block of Sir Lancelot Drive, Lower Paxton Twp., after he pleaded guilty to three counts of rape, aggravated assault, simple assault, unlawful restraint, two counts of terroristic threats and one count each of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and sexual assault.
Marks, who was scheduled for trial next week, decided to enter the negotiated plea after Lewis denied several defense motions, including a request to separate the rape cases for trial. Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Gettle argued they were all part of the same scheme, since Marks picked up the women, two of whom were admitted prostitutes, and violently attacked them.
Marks was arrested after prostitutes alleged a man in a Dodge Stratus was raping them in the same general area.
Serial Rapist Sentenced
According to Penn Live News:
Dauphin County President Judge Richard A. Lewis imposed the term Monday on Jermaine Marks, 32, of the 2100 block of Sir Lancelot Drive, Lower Paxton Twp., after he pleaded guilty to three counts of rape, aggravated assault, simple assault, unlawful restraint, two counts of terroristic threats and one count each of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and sexual assault.
Marks, who was scheduled for trial next week, decided to enter the negotiated plea after Lewis denied several defense motions, including a request to separate the rape cases for trial. Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Gettle argued they were all part of the same scheme, since Marks picked up the women, two of whom were admitted prostitutes, and violently attacked them.
Marks was arrested after prostitutes alleged a man in a Dodge Stratus was raping them in the same general area.
Serial Rapist Sentenced
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Stable owner charged in assault of teen
David Vanderwerken, co-owner of Shanderhof Farm in Shaftsbury, is facing life in prison after allegedly forcing himself on a 17 year old girl. Vanderwerken, 49, pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of sexual assault with no consent and another felony charge of lewd and lascivious conduct. Sexual assault carries a penalty between 3 years and life imprisonment.
The assault allegedly occurred November 3rd. The girl, who had been riding at the stable for 5 years, had been subjected to unwanted kissing by Vanderwerken back in October.
According to the Rutland Herald:
The girl told police she was alone with Vanderwerken in his house for about 45 minutes. During this time, the girl told Gaiotti, Vanderwerken touched her several times under her clothes, kissed her and threw her onto a bed and laid on top of her.According to the affidavit, Vanderwerken asked the girl to spend the night at his home on Nov. 3 but she refused.The girl told police on Nov. 3 she told another teenager, who was 15, about the alleged incident just after it happened.
Gaiotti said she interviewed the second girl on Nov. 7.According to the affidavit, the younger girl said the older girl told her on Nov. 3 that "Vanderwerken had almost raped her."The younger girl told Gaiotti the older girl's hands were trembling and said she was pale and cried a little bit.The older girl told police she had gone to work on Nov. 4. The girl said Vanderwerken was outside of her workplace that day and waved to her through the window although he didn't come inside. The girl said she had never seen Vanderwerken there before.According to the affidavit, Vanderwerken also called the girl's home on Nov. 4 and asked to talk to her although she said he had never called her at home before.
In the affidavit, Gaiotti said she spoke with Vanderwerken November 5th, who claimed that the girl had a crush on him.
Over the course of the interview, according to the affidavit, Vanderwerken admitted he and the girl had kissed but said she had initiated it because she had a crush on him.Vanderwerken told police he did not want to say anything because he didn't want to damage the relationship between the girl and his wife."In closing, Vanderwerken admitted he 'did something wrong and probably should have changed the circumstances, hoping it would just kind of blow away and she would just go off on her own,'" the affidavit said.
Man denies sexual assault
The assault allegedly occurred November 3rd. The girl, who had been riding at the stable for 5 years, had been subjected to unwanted kissing by Vanderwerken back in October.
According to the Rutland Herald:
The girl told police she was alone with Vanderwerken in his house for about 45 minutes. During this time, the girl told Gaiotti, Vanderwerken touched her several times under her clothes, kissed her and threw her onto a bed and laid on top of her.According to the affidavit, Vanderwerken asked the girl to spend the night at his home on Nov. 3 but she refused.The girl told police on Nov. 3 she told another teenager, who was 15, about the alleged incident just after it happened.
Gaiotti said she interviewed the second girl on Nov. 7.According to the affidavit, the younger girl said the older girl told her on Nov. 3 that "Vanderwerken had almost raped her."The younger girl told Gaiotti the older girl's hands were trembling and said she was pale and cried a little bit.The older girl told police she had gone to work on Nov. 4. The girl said Vanderwerken was outside of her workplace that day and waved to her through the window although he didn't come inside. The girl said she had never seen Vanderwerken there before.According to the affidavit, Vanderwerken also called the girl's home on Nov. 4 and asked to talk to her although she said he had never called her at home before.
In the affidavit, Gaiotti said she spoke with Vanderwerken November 5th, who claimed that the girl had a crush on him.
Over the course of the interview, according to the affidavit, Vanderwerken admitted he and the girl had kissed but said she had initiated it because she had a crush on him.Vanderwerken told police he did not want to say anything because he didn't want to damage the relationship between the girl and his wife."In closing, Vanderwerken admitted he 'did something wrong and probably should have changed the circumstances, hoping it would just kind of blow away and she would just go off on her own,'" the affidavit said.
Man denies sexual assault
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Sex with NJ student, 17, leads to official misconduct charges
English teacher Celeste Adamski, of Kearny HS (NJ), has pleaded guilty to a single count of 3rd degree official misconduct for having sex with a 17 year old student in a car January 24, 2007. The investigation started when two students, both the victim that she was charged for, and an 18 year old student, approached school officials with allegations of inappropriate conduct. Adamski was suspended with pay in June after a three-year teaching stint. Her husband is a history teacher in good standing at Kearney High.
Normally, a 3rd degree official misconduct charge in New Jersey carries a sentence of 3 to 5 years, but prosecutors will request probation only when she is sentenced on November 30.
Since the victim is over the AOC in New Jersey (which is 16), Adamski was charged with official misconduct instead of sexual offenses, which spared her the burden of a Sex Offender Registry listing. However, under the terms of her plea agreement, she will lose her teaching job, surrender her teaching license and as a felon convicted of official misconduct, be barred from taking another public job in New Jersey.
In June, another New Jersey teacher, Timothy Zisa pleaded guilty to official misconduct for kissing three teenage female students and having sex with two of them after they turned 18.
(Update 12-1-07) Adamski was sentenced to 2 years probation, 50 hours of community service, a $155 fine, and forfeited not only her teaching license, but the right to hold any public office in New Jersey.
This is the Jersey Journal's account of Adamski's reaction.
Adamski seemed tense but composed, first resting balled fists on the table in front of her, then clasping her hands, and finally clutching her right elbow with her left hand, draping an arm across her stomach. [She's] pregnant with her second child by her husband, said [defense attourney John]Young, who added that the baby is due in June.
While serving her probation, Adamski will be a "stay-at-home mom" for her 2-year-old son, and she will continue to undergo psychiatric therapy and counseling, Young said.
"She's happy to be able to put this behind her," Young said after the sentencing. "She's prepared to get on with the rest of her life."
Reference:
No Prison Time For Sex Teach
Normally, a 3rd degree official misconduct charge in New Jersey carries a sentence of 3 to 5 years, but prosecutors will request probation only when she is sentenced on November 30.
Since the victim is over the AOC in New Jersey (which is 16), Adamski was charged with official misconduct instead of sexual offenses, which spared her the burden of a Sex Offender Registry listing. However, under the terms of her plea agreement, she will lose her teaching job, surrender her teaching license and as a felon convicted of official misconduct, be barred from taking another public job in New Jersey.
In June, another New Jersey teacher, Timothy Zisa pleaded guilty to official misconduct for kissing three teenage female students and having sex with two of them after they turned 18.
(Update 12-1-07) Adamski was sentenced to 2 years probation, 50 hours of community service, a $155 fine, and forfeited not only her teaching license, but the right to hold any public office in New Jersey.
This is the Jersey Journal's account of Adamski's reaction.
Adamski seemed tense but composed, first resting balled fists on the table in front of her, then clasping her hands, and finally clutching her right elbow with her left hand, draping an arm across her stomach. [She's] pregnant with her second child by her husband, said [defense attourney John]Young, who added that the baby is due in June.
While serving her probation, Adamski will be a "stay-at-home mom" for her 2-year-old son, and she will continue to undergo psychiatric therapy and counseling, Young said.
"She's happy to be able to put this behind her," Young said after the sentencing. "She's prepared to get on with the rest of her life."
Reference:
No Prison Time For Sex Teach
18 gets Georgia teacher 12 (months)
James Cypert Jr, a former Columbus (GA) high school teacher who had sex with one of his students, was sentenced to a year in jail and 5 years of probation. The "consensual" sex took place between March and May 2005. Muscogee County Superior Court Judge Bobby Peters accepted a plea of gulity to three counts of sexual assault against a person in custody.
"I don't know what to say," the victim said. "I've gone through hell since this relationship began. I was manipulated by someone much older and wiser than I was."
Excerpt from the Columbus Legder-Enquirer:
In contrast, her father's voice boomed across the courtroom when he spoke about the damage Cypert had done to his family.
"We trusted that man to take care of our child," he said. "My child will be scarred for the rest of her life. I ask you to send a message to the citizens in this city that this will not be tolerated in Columbus, Georgia."
Another former student led Columbus Police to begin an investigation into Cypert, said Stacey Jackson, senior assistant district attorney. That student told police in December 2006 that she had a relationship with Cypert, though Jackson said no sex was involved and the contact occurred after her high school graduation.
That first disclosure led Sgt. Joyce Dent-Fitzpatrick to interview the school's principal and the victim who spoke Friday. In April, she admitted the relationship to Dent-Fitzpatrick.
Jackson said letters and e-mails between Cypert and the victim had been sent back and forth.
"Promises were made. 'I love you. I'll leave my wife,' " Jackson said of the e-mails.
Cypert's family and friends sat quietly in the courtroom during the proceedings. Cypert's attorney, Steven Hyles, said his client told him he wanted to stand before the judge, with only his attorney, and take responsibility.
"I don't know what to say," the victim said. "I've gone through hell since this relationship began. I was manipulated by someone much older and wiser than I was."
Excerpt from the Columbus Legder-Enquirer:
In contrast, her father's voice boomed across the courtroom when he spoke about the damage Cypert had done to his family.
"We trusted that man to take care of our child," he said. "My child will be scarred for the rest of her life. I ask you to send a message to the citizens in this city that this will not be tolerated in Columbus, Georgia."
Another former student led Columbus Police to begin an investigation into Cypert, said Stacey Jackson, senior assistant district attorney. That student told police in December 2006 that she had a relationship with Cypert, though Jackson said no sex was involved and the contact occurred after her high school graduation.
That first disclosure led Sgt. Joyce Dent-Fitzpatrick to interview the school's principal and the victim who spoke Friday. In April, she admitted the relationship to Dent-Fitzpatrick.
Jackson said letters and e-mails between Cypert and the victim had been sent back and forth.
"Promises were made. 'I love you. I'll leave my wife,' " Jackson said of the e-mails.
Cypert's family and friends sat quietly in the courtroom during the proceedings. Cypert's attorney, Steven Hyles, said his client told him he wanted to stand before the judge, with only his attorney, and take responsibility.
Cypert must register as a sex offender.
Reference:
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Milwaukee man, suspected serial rapist, captured
Police announced the arrest of a suspect in a series of rapes on Milwaukee’s north side. The 22 year old man, suspected in at least 8 rapes, allegedly attacked a 15 year old woman near 18th Street and North Avenue Friday (11-23) afternoon. A previous victim, 19, spotted her alleged attacker hours before the most recent rape and wrote down the license plate number. The arrest took place at his Pewaukee workplace. According to detectives, evidence was recovered from the rapes when they searched his residence. The suspect has a criminal history, including a felon in possesion of a firearm charge. Most assaults took place between 6:30 & 9:30 AM, and victims ranged in age from 14 to 28.
Police said any victims who believe they were assaulted by the man but who have not reported the crime should call the Sensitive Crimes Division at (414) 935-7402.
(Update 12-1-07) The suspect, Terence Felder, 22, has been formally charged with eight counts of sexual assault while armed. According to a police complaint, Felder admitted to the sexual attacks.
Reference:
Man arrested in 8 assaults
Man Charged With Sexually Assaulting 8 Victims
Police said any victims who believe they were assaulted by the man but who have not reported the crime should call the Sensitive Crimes Division at (414) 935-7402.
(Update 12-1-07) The suspect, Terence Felder, 22, has been formally charged with eight counts of sexual assault while armed. According to a police complaint, Felder admitted to the sexual attacks.
Reference:
Man arrested in 8 assaults
Man Charged With Sexually Assaulting 8 Victims
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Canadian teacher faces loss of license for "relationship"
Catherine Paul, a former Prince Albert, Saskatchewan teacher, will undergo a hearing to determine whether she will keep her teaching certificate.
According to the Prince Albert (Saskatchewan) Daily Herald,
Paul, 46, pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation on July 31 after being arrested in May. The former high school teacher was charged in relation to incidents involving a then 14-year-old student. The mother of that student, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her daughter, was happy to find out a hearing will be held regarding Paul's teaching certificate.
Paul was suspended from the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division without pay pending the outcome of her charges. However, on Aug. 13 Paul resigned from her teaching position. The victim's mother said she was upset that Paul was allowed to give her resignation, saying she should have been fired.
The mother thinks Paul should lose her teaching certificate so that she is not in a position of trust over young children. When the mother found out what had occurred between her daughter and Paul, she was very upset. "I was devastated, absolutely sick," said the woman. "It's crazy. She's a 45-year-old teacher. What was she doing?"
However, the girl consented to the sexual activity, details of which will be uttered at sentencing. The sole reason that Paul could be charged with sexual exploitation is the fact that she was a teacher with a student. The Canadian AOC is 14 when an adult is not in a position of trust. "So if this hadn't been a teacher and was just anyone off the street, she probably wouldn't have even been charged," said the mother.
The present Canadian Government had plans to raise the age of consent from 14 to 16 years old, due to concerns about exploitation.
(Update 12-16-07) On Tuesday, Catherine Paul was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
This is an excerpt from the Prince Albert (SK) Daily Herald:
Through letters of support written by family and friends, Paul has been described as an exceptional teacher. In this case, she let her emotions cloud her judgment, the court heard.
Crown prosecutor Ryan Claxton said a lengthy sentence was needed in order to deter this type of crime in the future."Mrs. Paul is an exceptional teacher, she is probably an exceptional person ... but that should not be the centre of sentencing," he told Judge Stephen Carter."As parents and members of the community, we should feel safe when we send our kids to school and wave goodbye as they get on the school bus. We have to send them to school knowing they will be taken care of, not being abused sexually."
The mother of the victim said the 18-month jail sentence sends that message. She said that while she and her family are now wary of people in authority and whether they speak the truth, she does feel safe sending her children to school."I give people the benefit of the doubt. You can't go through life terrified of what might happen."
Reference:
Ethics hearing to be held for former teacher
Lengthy Sentence For Teacher Needed, Says Prosecutor
According to the Prince Albert (Saskatchewan) Daily Herald,
Paul, 46, pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation on July 31 after being arrested in May. The former high school teacher was charged in relation to incidents involving a then 14-year-old student. The mother of that student, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her daughter, was happy to find out a hearing will be held regarding Paul's teaching certificate.
Paul was suspended from the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division without pay pending the outcome of her charges. However, on Aug. 13 Paul resigned from her teaching position. The victim's mother said she was upset that Paul was allowed to give her resignation, saying she should have been fired.
The mother thinks Paul should lose her teaching certificate so that she is not in a position of trust over young children. When the mother found out what had occurred between her daughter and Paul, she was very upset. "I was devastated, absolutely sick," said the woman. "It's crazy. She's a 45-year-old teacher. What was she doing?"
However, the girl consented to the sexual activity, details of which will be uttered at sentencing. The sole reason that Paul could be charged with sexual exploitation is the fact that she was a teacher with a student. The Canadian AOC is 14 when an adult is not in a position of trust. "So if this hadn't been a teacher and was just anyone off the street, she probably wouldn't have even been charged," said the mother.
The present Canadian Government had plans to raise the age of consent from 14 to 16 years old, due to concerns about exploitation.
(Update 12-16-07) On Tuesday, Catherine Paul was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
This is an excerpt from the Prince Albert (SK) Daily Herald:
Through letters of support written by family and friends, Paul has been described as an exceptional teacher. In this case, she let her emotions cloud her judgment, the court heard.
Crown prosecutor Ryan Claxton said a lengthy sentence was needed in order to deter this type of crime in the future."Mrs. Paul is an exceptional teacher, she is probably an exceptional person ... but that should not be the centre of sentencing," he told Judge Stephen Carter."As parents and members of the community, we should feel safe when we send our kids to school and wave goodbye as they get on the school bus. We have to send them to school knowing they will be taken care of, not being abused sexually."
The mother of the victim said the 18-month jail sentence sends that message. She said that while she and her family are now wary of people in authority and whether they speak the truth, she does feel safe sending her children to school."I give people the benefit of the doubt. You can't go through life terrified of what might happen."
Reference:
Ethics hearing to be held for former teacher
Lengthy Sentence For Teacher Needed, Says Prosecutor
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Man inappropriately touches woman on airline
Victor Ryadchin, 63, a Russian national, was arrested aften fondling a woman on a Delta flight from San Francisco to Atlanta. Ryadchin allegedly touched the woman's groin twice, after which she told a flight attendant. The attendant told the captain, which alerted authorities on the ground. Ryadchin was supposed to make a connecting flight to Moscow, but was instead arrested and will be charged with sexual assault.
Reference:
Man accused of sexual assault aboard Delta flight
Reference:
Man accused of sexual assault aboard Delta flight
New DVD hopes to raise rape awareness
A new DVD produced under the aegis of the Corpus Christi Police Department hopes to raise awareness of the prevalence of sexual assault, especially for college students.
More From KRIS-TV (Corpus Christi, TX):
To get the point across, the producers used college students from A&M Corpus Christi as the actors.
"It was myself and then Josh, and we had to meet with the police station," said creator and former broadcast student Jennifer Gayle.
Gayle and her classmate put together a series of sexual assault commercials that meant more than a grade. For Gayle, it meant putting herself in the victim's position, a position familiar to some her friends and family.
"What do you think they would go through?" Gayle had to ask herself. "What are the emotions you think they would go through? And then you have to think, how often does this happen, and how are you going to get it to stop?
Gayle's purpose was to open people's eyes.
"I think the big issue is a lot of people say 'oh, this happens somewhere else. It doesn't happen here in Corpus,' or 'this wouldn't happen to people, it can't happen to you," Gayle said. "You cannot predict the future. All you can do is protect yourself and pay attention to your surroundings."
Valencia hopes that the information in the video leads to awareness of potential trouble situations before they get out of hand, and says that being proactive is the best approach.
Reference:
Local Commercials To Promote Sexual Assault Awareness
More From KRIS-TV (Corpus Christi, TX):
To get the point across, the producers used college students from A&M Corpus Christi as the actors.
"It was myself and then Josh, and we had to meet with the police station," said creator and former broadcast student Jennifer Gayle.
Gayle and her classmate put together a series of sexual assault commercials that meant more than a grade. For Gayle, it meant putting herself in the victim's position, a position familiar to some her friends and family.
"What do you think they would go through?" Gayle had to ask herself. "What are the emotions you think they would go through? And then you have to think, how often does this happen, and how are you going to get it to stop?
Gayle's purpose was to open people's eyes.
"I think the big issue is a lot of people say 'oh, this happens somewhere else. It doesn't happen here in Corpus,' or 'this wouldn't happen to people, it can't happen to you," Gayle said. "You cannot predict the future. All you can do is protect yourself and pay attention to your surroundings."
Valencia hopes that the information in the video leads to awareness of potential trouble situations before they get out of hand, and says that being proactive is the best approach.
Reference:
Local Commercials To Promote Sexual Assault Awareness
Another college rape - this time in Waco
Andrew Logan Renz, 21 allegedly raped a fellow student August 21st in an on-campus apartment, according to arrest records.
According to the Waco Tribune,
The incident happened when Renz and his roommate met two women on campus and invited them back to their apartment to go swimming, the affidavit stated. The two men then talked the women into staying for dinner.
When Renz’s roommate and one of the women went into the kitchen to check on the cooking dinner, Renz began touching the other woman, the affidavit stated. When she protested, Renz said she should “try new things, this is college,” the affidavit stated.
As the victim protested and said no, Renz raped her, the affidavit stated.
Renz allegedly told the victim not to tell anyone else about the rape, and said, "I’m sorry, I guess when you said no, you really meant no.” He was released from the McLennan County Jail of $15,000 bond.
Baylor Student Charged With Sexual Assault
According to the Waco Tribune,
The incident happened when Renz and his roommate met two women on campus and invited them back to their apartment to go swimming, the affidavit stated. The two men then talked the women into staying for dinner.
When Renz’s roommate and one of the women went into the kitchen to check on the cooking dinner, Renz began touching the other woman, the affidavit stated. When she protested, Renz said she should “try new things, this is college,” the affidavit stated.
As the victim protested and said no, Renz raped her, the affidavit stated.
Renz allegedly told the victim not to tell anyone else about the rape, and said, "I’m sorry, I guess when you said no, you really meant no.” He was released from the McLennan County Jail of $15,000 bond.
Baylor Student Charged With Sexual Assault
Victims Over 18 Are Not Fair Game!
People don't take victims as seriously when they are over 18. A sexual assault carries the same emotional weight after the victim's 18th birthday as before it, even though criminal penalties are greatly reduced (or even eliminated). Attitudes about sex abuse, assault, and victims which are victim-supporting seem only to apply when someone is 17 years, 11 months, and 29 days or younger. It is possible for exploitation to occur without legal charges. Some of this is seen in domestic violence, where there are precursors to the DV, including unwanted sex.
Many times, sexual assault can't be proven when it's date rape, and the sexual abuse is an incident where there is unwanted penetration after other sexual contact. Legally, it's rape, point blank. But charges are not usually filed because of the prior relationship and consent to other contact. The only way, I see, for more convictions to cover these areas of "gray rape" is to strengthen rape laws to make currently legal conduct illegal. But if these laws are strengthened, then there will be men who are going to be labeled as rapists or sex offenders for unwanted, but consensual sex. Society will be trading the problem of sex offenders getting off for conduct which is illegal, but considered "gray rape," for "Yes means No."
There have been schemes proposed to deal with the low percentage of rape and sexual assault conviction rates. These schemes have a tendency to be either too broad and negate a woman's consent during certain inappropriate sexual activity, or too narrow and criminalize only forcible rape.
I believe that in some cases, consent between two adults is just as elusive as that between a grown man or woman and a child. This can occur if you have a CSA victim who hasn't recovered from her childhood sexual abuse, and a manipulative, controlling male partner. The power differential would not be the typical one between a man and a woman, but resemble that of the previous victimization and perpetrator.
If prison inmates and therapists are going to be held criminally liable for sex with patients or inmates, why aren't professors held criminally liable for sex with college students? Inmates and psych patients are also adults legally, as well as HS students over 18 where such conduct has been criminalized. So there is no reason NOT to criminalize professor/student sex, but just a reason to make such conduct a misdemeanor or "wobbler".
When child porn is produced, each picture is a crime scene. When adult porn is produced, each picture is exploitation of a person who thinks they aren't being victimized. The difference, in my opinion, between CP and AP, is the age of the victim being exploited and the illegality of the exploitation. Just because someone is going along with their own exploitation doesn't make it right.
People need to be as concerned and outraged when a woman is groped as when a teenage girl is approached. There was an incident last Sunday where male Jets fans are groping and pressuring women to bare their breasts. This happens every Jets home game. The police hassled the reporter who broke the story before it broke at news outlets this week. If they had been doing this to girls half or a third of the age the sexually harassed women were, this would never be tolerated. Traci Tapp was charged with offensive touching for sex with a young male student, Jason Eickmeyer. How many women were offensively touched and the police just let it go by at the Meadowlands? How quick would the arrests be if these women ages were halved?
The reason I'm trying to change attitudes is because attitudes lead to actions which lead to consequences. Females being treated as fair game once they turn 18 leads to a culture where society looks the other way with some rapes and other sexual assaults. This is how groping of women is tolerated at a sports stadium by people who would quickly investigate CSA. The law, by not investigating sexual assaults against victims over 18 as thoroughly as they would CSA where there is enough evidence, enables rapists ans sexual predators. This needs to change.
Many times, sexual assault can't be proven when it's date rape, and the sexual abuse is an incident where there is unwanted penetration after other sexual contact. Legally, it's rape, point blank. But charges are not usually filed because of the prior relationship and consent to other contact. The only way, I see, for more convictions to cover these areas of "gray rape" is to strengthen rape laws to make currently legal conduct illegal. But if these laws are strengthened, then there will be men who are going to be labeled as rapists or sex offenders for unwanted, but consensual sex. Society will be trading the problem of sex offenders getting off for conduct which is illegal, but considered "gray rape," for "Yes means No."
There have been schemes proposed to deal with the low percentage of rape and sexual assault conviction rates. These schemes have a tendency to be either too broad and negate a woman's consent during certain inappropriate sexual activity, or too narrow and criminalize only forcible rape.
I believe that in some cases, consent between two adults is just as elusive as that between a grown man or woman and a child. This can occur if you have a CSA victim who hasn't recovered from her childhood sexual abuse, and a manipulative, controlling male partner. The power differential would not be the typical one between a man and a woman, but resemble that of the previous victimization and perpetrator.
If prison inmates and therapists are going to be held criminally liable for sex with patients or inmates, why aren't professors held criminally liable for sex with college students? Inmates and psych patients are also adults legally, as well as HS students over 18 where such conduct has been criminalized. So there is no reason NOT to criminalize professor/student sex, but just a reason to make such conduct a misdemeanor or "wobbler".
When child porn is produced, each picture is a crime scene. When adult porn is produced, each picture is exploitation of a person who thinks they aren't being victimized. The difference, in my opinion, between CP and AP, is the age of the victim being exploited and the illegality of the exploitation. Just because someone is going along with their own exploitation doesn't make it right.
People need to be as concerned and outraged when a woman is groped as when a teenage girl is approached. There was an incident last Sunday where male Jets fans are groping and pressuring women to bare their breasts. This happens every Jets home game. The police hassled the reporter who broke the story before it broke at news outlets this week. If they had been doing this to girls half or a third of the age the sexually harassed women were, this would never be tolerated. Traci Tapp was charged with offensive touching for sex with a young male student, Jason Eickmeyer. How many women were offensively touched and the police just let it go by at the Meadowlands? How quick would the arrests be if these women ages were halved?
The reason I'm trying to change attitudes is because attitudes lead to actions which lead to consequences. Females being treated as fair game once they turn 18 leads to a culture where society looks the other way with some rapes and other sexual assaults. This is how groping of women is tolerated at a sports stadium by people who would quickly investigate CSA. The law, by not investigating sexual assaults against victims over 18 as thoroughly as they would CSA where there is enough evidence, enables rapists ans sexual predators. This needs to change.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Women file lawsuits against hospital who hired groper
There is a lawsuit being filed by five female patirnts against Encino-Tarzana Medical Center for ignoring complaints about a nursing assistant.
Ramon Eduardo Rodas Gaspar, 39, was suspended April 2006, then arrestedcharged with 10 counts of sexual assault two months later. He jumped Bail and fled with his wife and kids. Police suspect that Gaspar is working at a medical facility in the Southwest somewhere.
According to the KNBC website:
An investigation began after three women went to the police last year. Authorities contend that in all, Gaspar groped at least 10 women who were awaking from anesthesia following surgery.
The lawsuits claim that among others, Gaspar molested a woman who was recovering from gall bladder surgery and another who had undergone an appendectomy.
"The hospital has failed to take action to protect their patients, having known of the activities of Mr. Gaspar," said Chris R. Milton, an attorney representing two of the alleged victims. "This raises grave concern for my clients and it raises grave concerns about the policies and procedures of the hospital to protect their patients."
Hospital officials conducted an internal investigation of Gaspar, but was unable to substantiate the claim [Brian's note: If the police was able to find 10, repeat, 10 victims, then the hospital should have found something in it's "investigation."]
Reference:
Patients Say So Cal Hospital Protected Molester
Ramon Eduardo Rodas Gaspar, 39, was suspended April 2006, then arrestedcharged with 10 counts of sexual assault two months later. He jumped Bail and fled with his wife and kids. Police suspect that Gaspar is working at a medical facility in the Southwest somewhere.
According to the KNBC website:
An investigation began after three women went to the police last year. Authorities contend that in all, Gaspar groped at least 10 women who were awaking from anesthesia following surgery.
The lawsuits claim that among others, Gaspar molested a woman who was recovering from gall bladder surgery and another who had undergone an appendectomy.
"The hospital has failed to take action to protect their patients, having known of the activities of Mr. Gaspar," said Chris R. Milton, an attorney representing two of the alleged victims. "This raises grave concern for my clients and it raises grave concerns about the policies and procedures of the hospital to protect their patients."
Hospital officials conducted an internal investigation of Gaspar, but was unable to substantiate the claim [Brian's note: If the police was able to find 10, repeat, 10 victims, then the hospital should have found something in it's "investigation."]
Reference:
Patients Say So Cal Hospital Protected Molester
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Soldier rapist "sentenced" to 60 years (actually 20 years prison and 40 parole)
Army Specialist Menkaura Moss, 22, was sentenced to 60 years in prison, though eligible for parole in 20, for raping two woman and sexually assaulting a 3rd. A fourth victim, Samantha Tejeda, was attacked in her home and struggled with Moss until he was scared off. He took her bank card and used it to pay online bills and for online taxes. The attacks were solved by tracking Tejeda's stolen bank card.
Tejeda said the assault has left her fearful. “I’ll never trust — I’ll always be looking over my shoulder,” she said in court.
The attacks took place between New Years Eve and March. Three attacks took place at Moss' apartment complex, and the final attack plus 2 burglaries took place at a housing area near Ft. Benning, Georgia, where Moss was undergoing training.
All attacks occurred while Moss was looking for something to steal from other apartments. When he found a woman sleeping in the apartment which he burglarized, he pounced. His first attack was on a female Air Force airman on December 31st. He climbed through an open window to steal her purse, then made the woman commit sex acts.
According to the Fayettteville Observer:
The next assault was another of Moss’ neighbors, on Jan. 28. Again, while looking for something to steal, Moss broke into the apartment of an Army wife whose husband was deployed to Iraq. Her door was unlocked, Moss said.
The woman was sleeping on an air mattress in the living room with her 18-month-old daughter. The woman testified that she awoke to find Moss pulling her shirt over her head. She struggled. The child awoke and started crying. The woman said she did what Moss wanted, because she feared for their lives. “I just wanted us to make it through,” she said.
It is the policy of The Fayetteville Observer not to publish the names of victims of sexual assualt.
Moss raped her, forced her to perform sex acts on him and raped her again, she said. During the assault, she said, her crying daughter tried to stay by her.
Eventually, Moss ran out of the house with her purse. The woman said her husband returned from Iraq on 10-day emergency leave. She moved back home to the Midwest.
The attack strained her marriage, she said. On Feb. 22, she said, her husband called from Iraq and accused her of making it up.
Tejeda was attacked by Moss on February 15th. It took 10 days before he struck again. The Observer article reads:
On Feb. 25 at Fort Benning, Moss said, he once again went to a housing area near his barracks to steal. He discovered an unlocked back door, sneaked inside and found a young woman who had gotten up because she heard a noise. The woman, who was from out of town and was visiting her husband, had started dialing 911 on her cell phone when Moss found her. Her husband and his roommates were away at training.
She testified that she screamed and ran to the front door, but Moss grabbed her from behind. She and Moss described an intense struggle. She head-butted him and hit him. He hit her, slammed her head on the floor and choked her. She said she blacked out several times.
Moss said he forced her to perform sex acts and raped her. The woman said she now lives in fear and can’t stand to be by herself; when her husband is away, she goes to public places because she is too frightened to stay home alone.
Her husband, a West Point graduate, put his military career on hold to take care of her after the rape, she said. The couple testified that they were high school sweethearts and virgins when they married.
“We waited until marriage thinking it was something so special, and he took it! He took it!” the husband said.
The man said he still feels guilty because he had accidentally left the back door unlocked earlier that day. Moss told Parrish that he broke into two more unlocked homes at Fort Benning between Feb. 15 and March 16. He stole two laptops, a camera and a digital music player, he said.
Tejeda, Major Sara Root, and the judge, Col. Patrick Parrish, all believed that Moss should be sentenced to life in prison, but plea agreements take priority in the military system, and left Parrish with no choice but to impose the 60 year sentences (Brian's ed. - or 20 years with 40 years parole). Moss was also demoted to private and received a dishonorable discharge, with loss of all pay and benefits.
Tejeda said the assault has left her fearful. “I’ll never trust — I’ll always be looking over my shoulder,” she said in court.
The attacks took place between New Years Eve and March. Three attacks took place at Moss' apartment complex, and the final attack plus 2 burglaries took place at a housing area near Ft. Benning, Georgia, where Moss was undergoing training.
All attacks occurred while Moss was looking for something to steal from other apartments. When he found a woman sleeping in the apartment which he burglarized, he pounced. His first attack was on a female Air Force airman on December 31st. He climbed through an open window to steal her purse, then made the woman commit sex acts.
According to the Fayettteville Observer:
The next assault was another of Moss’ neighbors, on Jan. 28. Again, while looking for something to steal, Moss broke into the apartment of an Army wife whose husband was deployed to Iraq. Her door was unlocked, Moss said.
The woman was sleeping on an air mattress in the living room with her 18-month-old daughter. The woman testified that she awoke to find Moss pulling her shirt over her head. She struggled. The child awoke and started crying. The woman said she did what Moss wanted, because she feared for their lives. “I just wanted us to make it through,” she said.
It is the policy of The Fayetteville Observer not to publish the names of victims of sexual assualt.
Moss raped her, forced her to perform sex acts on him and raped her again, she said. During the assault, she said, her crying daughter tried to stay by her.
Eventually, Moss ran out of the house with her purse. The woman said her husband returned from Iraq on 10-day emergency leave. She moved back home to the Midwest.
The attack strained her marriage, she said. On Feb. 22, she said, her husband called from Iraq and accused her of making it up.
Tejeda was attacked by Moss on February 15th. It took 10 days before he struck again. The Observer article reads:
On Feb. 25 at Fort Benning, Moss said, he once again went to a housing area near his barracks to steal. He discovered an unlocked back door, sneaked inside and found a young woman who had gotten up because she heard a noise. The woman, who was from out of town and was visiting her husband, had started dialing 911 on her cell phone when Moss found her. Her husband and his roommates were away at training.
She testified that she screamed and ran to the front door, but Moss grabbed her from behind. She and Moss described an intense struggle. She head-butted him and hit him. He hit her, slammed her head on the floor and choked her. She said she blacked out several times.
Moss said he forced her to perform sex acts and raped her. The woman said she now lives in fear and can’t stand to be by herself; when her husband is away, she goes to public places because she is too frightened to stay home alone.
Her husband, a West Point graduate, put his military career on hold to take care of her after the rape, she said. The couple testified that they were high school sweethearts and virgins when they married.
“We waited until marriage thinking it was something so special, and he took it! He took it!” the husband said.
The man said he still feels guilty because he had accidentally left the back door unlocked earlier that day. Moss told Parrish that he broke into two more unlocked homes at Fort Benning between Feb. 15 and March 16. He stole two laptops, a camera and a digital music player, he said.
Tejeda, Major Sara Root, and the judge, Col. Patrick Parrish, all believed that Moss should be sentenced to life in prison, but plea agreements take priority in the military system, and left Parrish with no choice but to impose the 60 year sentences (Brian's ed. - or 20 years with 40 years parole). Moss was also demoted to private and received a dishonorable discharge, with loss of all pay and benefits.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
School nurse charged with sexual assault, providing alcohol to minors
Jennifer Cisco, 30, a school nurse at Green Forest High School in Carroll County, Arkansas, has been arrested and charged with 1st degree sexual assault and furnishing alcohol to a minor. She was investigated after a school resource officer heard rumors about the situation with the two 17 year old alleged victims. Arkansas' age of consent is normally 16, but does not apply to school employees and students in their schools. Cisco admitted to having sex with a student on two occasions and purchasing alcohol two students. It isn't known whether the alleged victim of the sexual encounter was furnished alcohol.
Reference:
School Nurse Faces Charges Involving Students
Reference:
School Nurse Faces Charges Involving Students
San Antonio officer allegedly rapes victim
A woman has accused a San Antonio police officer of sexual assault. The allegation was made early Sunday morning.
"That information was given to our sex crimes detectives as they were taking the report," explained San Antonio Police Department spokesman Sgt. Gabe Trevino. "Our internal affairs unit was involved, and we immediately started an investigation into the allegations."
The accused officer has not been arrested. Because of that, police officials are not releasing any details about who he is or his history with the department. However, they did say they are taking the allegations seriously.
"The officer who she's identified has been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of the criminal and or the administrative investigation," said Sgt. Trevino.
The San Antonio Police Department did not say how the accused officer met the alleged rape victim, but she went to the hospital after the attack. This isn't the first time this year that a woman alleged a SA police officer raped her. Former officer Ruben Saenz is currently serving time for rape of a woman at her home two years ago, but is scheduled to be released Saturday (11-17). Saenz had been disciplined for offences like pornography on the job and racing before the rape. The victim, allegedly pulled over for drunk driving, was followed home by Saenz, who then attacked her. Her attorney has filed a lawsuit against him, the police chief, as well as the City Of San Antonio. The civil trial is expected to start early next year.
Reference:
Police Officer Accused Of Sexual Assault
"That information was given to our sex crimes detectives as they were taking the report," explained San Antonio Police Department spokesman Sgt. Gabe Trevino. "Our internal affairs unit was involved, and we immediately started an investigation into the allegations."
The accused officer has not been arrested. Because of that, police officials are not releasing any details about who he is or his history with the department. However, they did say they are taking the allegations seriously.
"The officer who she's identified has been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of the criminal and or the administrative investigation," said Sgt. Trevino.
The San Antonio Police Department did not say how the accused officer met the alleged rape victim, but she went to the hospital after the attack. This isn't the first time this year that a woman alleged a SA police officer raped her. Former officer Ruben Saenz is currently serving time for rape of a woman at her home two years ago, but is scheduled to be released Saturday (11-17). Saenz had been disciplined for offences like pornography on the job and racing before the rape. The victim, allegedly pulled over for drunk driving, was followed home by Saenz, who then attacked her. Her attorney has filed a lawsuit against him, the police chief, as well as the City Of San Antonio. The civil trial is expected to start early next year.
Reference:
Police Officer Accused Of Sexual Assault
Inappropriate touching by cabbie = assault charges
This story taken from the Toronto Star:
A taxi driver faces sexual assault charges after a Richmond Hill woman complained that she had been touched inappropriately.
The 45-year-old woman called a York Region Transit Mobility Plus taxi to pick her up from her home on Oct. 30. It was while he was in the taxi that the woman alleges she was assaulted. She was not hurt and reported the incident to York police shortly afterward.
Charged is Mohamed Naleeye, 54, of Toronto, who was arrested today.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Cindy Laidlaw in the Sexual Assault Bureau at 1-866-867-5423 ext. 7071 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS. An anonymous tip can be left online at www.1800222tip.com.
Reference:
Woman assaulted, taxi driver charged
A taxi driver faces sexual assault charges after a Richmond Hill woman complained that she had been touched inappropriately.
The 45-year-old woman called a York Region Transit Mobility Plus taxi to pick her up from her home on Oct. 30. It was while he was in the taxi that the woman alleges she was assaulted. She was not hurt and reported the incident to York police shortly afterward.
Charged is Mohamed Naleeye, 54, of Toronto, who was arrested today.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Cindy Laidlaw in the Sexual Assault Bureau at 1-866-867-5423 ext. 7071 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS. An anonymous tip can be left online at www.1800222tip.com.
Reference:
Woman assaulted, taxi driver charged
Suburban Toronto teacher charged with explicit chats with student
Dina Calautti, 35, a Grade 11 teacher from Missassauga, was charged with sexual assault, internet luring, and two counts of sexual exploitation. She allegedly engaged in explicit online chats with a 16 year old male student, as well as leg touching at school, according to Peel Regional Police. Calautti is a social studies teacher at Notre Dame Secondary School in Brampton, but is currently suspended with pay. Brampton & Missassauga are both suburbs of Toronto.
According to the Toronto Star,
These allegations are disturbing," said Bruce Campbell, spokesperson for the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board. "But we don't know anything more than what the police told us and we are co-operating fully."
Calautti is scheduled to make her first appearance in a Brampton court on Dec. 17.
According to a website where students rate their teachers, Caulutti is a popular teacher at Notre Dame.
Contributors to the site ratemyteachers.ca describe her as being "awesome,” “funny,” “sweet,” “pretty” and “smart." One submission calls her "the greatest teacher in the world."
The AOC in Canada is 14, but rises to 18 when the alleged abuse victim is in a position of trust. What's disturbing is that if Calautti wasn't a teacher, such conversations would be legal. Where I'm from, the AOC is 18.
Update (11-17-07):
The alleged teenage victim is talking with Toronto reporters and says that Calautti did not engage in any sexual contact with him. He says that Calautti comforted him after he broke up with his girlfriend.
"She did nothing wrong. She helped me get over my ex-girlfriend," said the Grade 11 student, who can't be named. "She did nothing to me. All we did was talk. Our conversations weren't sexually explicit. She never touched me. Police have taken this way, way too far. When they told me she was going to be charged, I was speechless."
Reference:
Teacher Charged With Sexual Offences
According to the Toronto Star,
These allegations are disturbing," said Bruce Campbell, spokesperson for the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board. "But we don't know anything more than what the police told us and we are co-operating fully."
Calautti is scheduled to make her first appearance in a Brampton court on Dec. 17.
According to a website where students rate their teachers, Caulutti is a popular teacher at Notre Dame.
Contributors to the site ratemyteachers.ca describe her as being "awesome,” “funny,” “sweet,” “pretty” and “smart." One submission calls her "the greatest teacher in the world."
The AOC in Canada is 14, but rises to 18 when the alleged abuse victim is in a position of trust. What's disturbing is that if Calautti wasn't a teacher, such conversations would be legal. Where I'm from, the AOC is 18.
Update (11-17-07):
The alleged teenage victim is talking with Toronto reporters and says that Calautti did not engage in any sexual contact with him. He says that Calautti comforted him after he broke up with his girlfriend.
"She did nothing wrong. She helped me get over my ex-girlfriend," said the Grade 11 student, who can't be named. "She did nothing to me. All we did was talk. Our conversations weren't sexually explicit. She never touched me. Police have taken this way, way too far. When they told me she was going to be charged, I was speechless."
Reference:
Teacher Charged With Sexual Offences
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Truethought, criminal thinking, and sexual abuse
Truethought is an organization which sells workbooks to criminal justice agencies and individuals on the premise that criminal thinking errors are not only present in criminals, but present in people who do not break the law, but have problems in other areas of their lives. Criminal Thinking Errors, used by Dr. Stanton Samenow to understand why imprisoned convicts show less progress in mental health groups in others, are patterns of thinking which enable criminals to justify their actions. Two Beloit, WI therapists, Ron Fawcett and Dave Koerner, reduced the 50 thinking errors to 10 categories of errors, and expanded the application beyound the criminal justice system. Fawcett and Koerner noticed that thinking errors also apply to law-abiding, but irresponsible and manipulative people. The name was changed from Criminal to Corrective Thinking in response.
The Truethought books go by the premise that there is a continuum of thinking from responsible to irresponsible to “arrestable” to “extreme” criminal. Extreme criminals show a variety of thinking errors which they use to justify felon criminality.
The sole difference between the irresponsible thinker and the criminal thinker, according to Truethought, is boundaries. Extreme criminals have no boundaries, but will do what they want. Arrestable criminals recognize prison as a boundary, and irresponsible non-criminals will not cross the line separating him (or her) from jail, but all can wreak havoc within their “comfort” levels.
Truethought’s premise is that in non-criminal situations, and in personal/professional lives (if any), there is no difference between the criminal and the irresponsible thinker except frequency of excuses for not taking responsibility.
So, when the Truethought worldview is applied to sexually relationships, one can easily see similarities between dysfunctional adult “relationships” and teacher/student sex – because the same thought processes operate in criminals and irresponsible people, but to different extents. An “extreme” criminal will sexually abuse a 10-year old boy and call it a “relationship,” and an “arrestable” criminal will deal with people who are barely under the AOC. An irresponsible person will never target those under 18, but manipulate someone over 18 into a “relationship” which only suits his or her needs.
The implications for sexually exploitative relationships go like this: Since the same dynamics exist in the manipulative partner and the sexual abuser, a manipulative relationship should run on the same dynamics and be based on the same motives at the molester of teens. Therefore, 30 & 14 and a manipulative 30 & 28 are not as far off as people think. It also means that insights into the former may provide insights into the latter.
The implication for parents is that not only should their minor kids be watched, but that with half of 20-somethings living at home, to watch their young adult's friends and partners very closely even after they graduate from college. If there is a 1 in 4 chance of your grown child being perpertrated on, then there needs to be an extra pair (or 2 pairs of) eyes watching the relationship. Your child may be in their 20s or even 30s, but you have been there 20 to 30 years longer, and you know that there are predators who target adults, particularly adult females. A watchful parent can spot an abusive partner before he (or she) gets to their grown, but inexperienced child.
The Truethought books go by the premise that there is a continuum of thinking from responsible to irresponsible to “arrestable” to “extreme” criminal. Extreme criminals show a variety of thinking errors which they use to justify felon criminality.
The sole difference between the irresponsible thinker and the criminal thinker, according to Truethought, is boundaries. Extreme criminals have no boundaries, but will do what they want. Arrestable criminals recognize prison as a boundary, and irresponsible non-criminals will not cross the line separating him (or her) from jail, but all can wreak havoc within their “comfort” levels.
Truethought’s premise is that in non-criminal situations, and in personal/professional lives (if any), there is no difference between the criminal and the irresponsible thinker except frequency of excuses for not taking responsibility.
So, when the Truethought worldview is applied to sexually relationships, one can easily see similarities between dysfunctional adult “relationships” and teacher/student sex – because the same thought processes operate in criminals and irresponsible people, but to different extents. An “extreme” criminal will sexually abuse a 10-year old boy and call it a “relationship,” and an “arrestable” criminal will deal with people who are barely under the AOC. An irresponsible person will never target those under 18, but manipulate someone over 18 into a “relationship” which only suits his or her needs.
The implications for sexually exploitative relationships go like this: Since the same dynamics exist in the manipulative partner and the sexual abuser, a manipulative relationship should run on the same dynamics and be based on the same motives at the molester of teens. Therefore, 30 & 14 and a manipulative 30 & 28 are not as far off as people think. It also means that insights into the former may provide insights into the latter.
The implication for parents is that not only should their minor kids be watched, but that with half of 20-somethings living at home, to watch their young adult's friends and partners very closely even after they graduate from college. If there is a 1 in 4 chance of your grown child being perpertrated on, then there needs to be an extra pair (or 2 pairs of) eyes watching the relationship. Your child may be in their 20s or even 30s, but you have been there 20 to 30 years longer, and you know that there are predators who target adults, particularly adult females. A watchful parent can spot an abusive partner before he (or she) gets to their grown, but inexperienced child.
18 year old woman raped on VA island
An 18 year old woman was allegedly raped by a similar aged male suspect in Virginia
The incident happened in a mobile home in one of Chincoteague's mobile home parks, but the victim, who is not an island resident, couldn't positively identify the location, said State Trooper B.E. Lewis on Friday.
According to the Salisbury, MD Daily Times,
The man is described as a white male between the ages of 15 and 20 years old, with brown eyes and short brown hair. He is about 5 feet, 10 inches tall and 150 pounds.
Lewis said he has a possible first name of Jason or Justin. "We're trying to find out who this guy is," said Lewis, adding that he wasn't being charged at this time.
"This guy is just wanted for questioning," he said. "We know it happened here in a trailer park."
The victim, who is 18, was with a friend on the island. She reported the assault on Wednesday and had medical tests performed, Lewis said.
A State Police computerized composite was prepared using the man's facial features, he said.
People with information about the man's identity or location are asked to call 800-582-8350 or 757-787-5813.
The incident happened in a mobile home in one of Chincoteague's mobile home parks, but the victim, who is not an island resident, couldn't positively identify the location, said State Trooper B.E. Lewis on Friday.
According to the Salisbury, MD Daily Times,
The man is described as a white male between the ages of 15 and 20 years old, with brown eyes and short brown hair. He is about 5 feet, 10 inches tall and 150 pounds.
Lewis said he has a possible first name of Jason or Justin. "We're trying to find out who this guy is," said Lewis, adding that he wasn't being charged at this time.
"This guy is just wanted for questioning," he said. "We know it happened here in a trailer park."
The victim, who is 18, was with a friend on the island. She reported the assault on Wednesday and had medical tests performed, Lewis said.
A State Police computerized composite was prepared using the man's facial features, he said.
People with information about the man's identity or location are asked to call 800-582-8350 or 757-787-5813.
Source:
Man Wanted For Questioning After Alleged VA Rape
Band director faces misdemeanor only for relationship with 16 year old student
The band director of Marshall County High School in Benton has pleaded not guilty to charges that he encouraged a teenage girl to disobey her parents. The charge of unlawful transaction with a minor is a misdemeanor, but state police say it stems from what investigators believe was a sexual relationship between Michael Colvett and the 16-year-old student. Colvett entered a not guilty plea through his attorney.
The Marshall County prosecutor has previously said consensual sex between a teacher and a student at least 16 years old is not a crime in Kentucky, but encouraging the girl to disobey her parents is. A pretrial conference on the misdemeanor charge is scheduled for Dec. 14.
Reference:
Prosecutor: Teacher studnt sex not illegal
The Marshall County prosecutor has previously said consensual sex between a teacher and a student at least 16 years old is not a crime in Kentucky, but encouraging the girl to disobey her parents is. A pretrial conference on the misdemeanor charge is scheduled for Dec. 14.
Reference:
Prosecutor: Teacher studnt sex not illegal
Sexual autonomy, the missing piece of sexual consent
I've been reading Unwanted Sex - The Culture Of Intimidation and the Failure Of Law by
Stephen Schulhofer, about sexual coercion, sexual harassment, and sexual autonomy. It was published back in 2000, but it's still recommended reading for people interested in the subject.
He argues that laws don't protect women against sexual assault because consent is defined wrongly, and consent is defined wrong because the concept of sexual autonomy has been left out of the definition of consent. Sexual autonomy is the idea that two people are free agents when it comes to sexual contacts and there are no entanglements which would prohibit one from exercising their full rights in the sexual relationship. Schulhofer argues that sexual assault and abuse should be redefined to take into account that in some situations, seemingly free agents in sexual relationships may not be truly free agents, and to consider it a form of sex assault.
This world view was pioneered by Catharine McKinnon in the 70s and 80s, and led to the adoption of sexual harassment policies and civil remedies. McKinnon's anti-porn stance, summed up in layman (or laywoman's) terms as "adult porn is to women what child porn is to kids," caused major divisions among feminists back in the 1980s. McKinnon introduced the concept of power differences in boss/subordinate relationships, and in 2005, with Women's Bodies - Men's Laws states that power differences can make an ostenably equal pairing unequal.
In short, sexual abuse and assault isn't just a lack of consent, but the lack of ability to consent. The lack of ability to consent is what makes teacher student sex criminal, and sexualization of fiduciary relationships unethical. Whenever there is an "offer" of sexual activity by a boss, sexual harassment, coercion, and even assault is present, depending on the other dynamics present in the encounter.
Without autonomy, there can never be true consent, and without consent, there is only sexual coercion of some sort. Instead of “consensual” and “non-consensual” sex, perhaps sexual relationships should be classified into "coerced" and "non-coerced," or perhaps “autonomous” and “non-autonomous.” There are plenty of legal relationships which are not autonomous, including bosses and subordinates in the workplace, lawyers and clients, and doctors and patients. Of course, all of these people can be sued for sexual harassment and malpractice, and a jury would probably believe the victim, but in most states, the perpetrators are not criminally liable. Teacher/student and therapist/patient sex are the exceptions, with criminal liability and a Sex Offender Registry entry in the criminal's future if convicted.
Power differences stemming from different victimization status are also a factor in determining if a sexual relationship is autonomous or if there are outside forces "compelling " sexual contact. Some traumas prime victims for revictimization. Sexual re-victimization is much higher for CSA or sexual assault victims than other victims. In Bobbie Rosencrans' book "The Last Secret," 62% of the CSA victims studied were revictimized as adults. In many cases, CSA or DV survivors are in relationships which more closely resemble adult/child sex rather than healthy adult/adult sex.
These differences may well make a legal sexual pairing a form of sexual abuse. Take the case of Jim and Katie. Both are in their late 20s, but Katie has a history of domestic violence and sexual abuse. She lives with Jim because the homeless shelters are her only other options. If Jim demands sex from Katie and she submits, it's legal because both are over 18 and there is no coercion in the legal sense, but Katie is not sexually autonomous. Katie is having sex with Jim so she can have a roof over her head. Autonomous people do not do this - desperate people do. Jim is taking advantage of her, and making her his victim. Katie does not truly have the ability to consent to the sexual relationship with Jim.
Stephen Schulhofer, about sexual coercion, sexual harassment, and sexual autonomy. It was published back in 2000, but it's still recommended reading for people interested in the subject.
He argues that laws don't protect women against sexual assault because consent is defined wrongly, and consent is defined wrong because the concept of sexual autonomy has been left out of the definition of consent. Sexual autonomy is the idea that two people are free agents when it comes to sexual contacts and there are no entanglements which would prohibit one from exercising their full rights in the sexual relationship. Schulhofer argues that sexual assault and abuse should be redefined to take into account that in some situations, seemingly free agents in sexual relationships may not be truly free agents, and to consider it a form of sex assault.
This world view was pioneered by Catharine McKinnon in the 70s and 80s, and led to the adoption of sexual harassment policies and civil remedies. McKinnon's anti-porn stance, summed up in layman (or laywoman's) terms as "adult porn is to women what child porn is to kids," caused major divisions among feminists back in the 1980s. McKinnon introduced the concept of power differences in boss/subordinate relationships, and in 2005, with Women's Bodies - Men's Laws states that power differences can make an ostenably equal pairing unequal.
In short, sexual abuse and assault isn't just a lack of consent, but the lack of ability to consent. The lack of ability to consent is what makes teacher student sex criminal, and sexualization of fiduciary relationships unethical. Whenever there is an "offer" of sexual activity by a boss, sexual harassment, coercion, and even assault is present, depending on the other dynamics present in the encounter.
Without autonomy, there can never be true consent, and without consent, there is only sexual coercion of some sort. Instead of “consensual” and “non-consensual” sex, perhaps sexual relationships should be classified into "coerced" and "non-coerced," or perhaps “autonomous” and “non-autonomous.” There are plenty of legal relationships which are not autonomous, including bosses and subordinates in the workplace, lawyers and clients, and doctors and patients. Of course, all of these people can be sued for sexual harassment and malpractice, and a jury would probably believe the victim, but in most states, the perpetrators are not criminally liable. Teacher/student and therapist/patient sex are the exceptions, with criminal liability and a Sex Offender Registry entry in the criminal's future if convicted.
Power differences stemming from different victimization status are also a factor in determining if a sexual relationship is autonomous or if there are outside forces "compelling " sexual contact. Some traumas prime victims for revictimization. Sexual re-victimization is much higher for CSA or sexual assault victims than other victims. In Bobbie Rosencrans' book "The Last Secret," 62% of the CSA victims studied were revictimized as adults. In many cases, CSA or DV survivors are in relationships which more closely resemble adult/child sex rather than healthy adult/adult sex.
These differences may well make a legal sexual pairing a form of sexual abuse. Take the case of Jim and Katie. Both are in their late 20s, but Katie has a history of domestic violence and sexual abuse. She lives with Jim because the homeless shelters are her only other options. If Jim demands sex from Katie and she submits, it's legal because both are over 18 and there is no coercion in the legal sense, but Katie is not sexually autonomous. Katie is having sex with Jim so she can have a roof over her head. Autonomous people do not do this - desperate people do. Jim is taking advantage of her, and making her his victim. Katie does not truly have the ability to consent to the sexual relationship with Jim.
Woman afraid of husband
Today's Dear Abby column is about a woman who is afraid of her husband because of numerous addictions and acts of domestic abuse. Domestic abuse is more that physical abuse - it's mental, financial, emotional, and even sexual abuse. The saving grace is that she has suportive parents who can help her out of this situation. Parents need to help protect their kids from harm even after 18, graduation from college, or moving out.
DEAR ABBY: I am in an eight-year marriage that feels like a prison sentence. I have two children under the age of 5, and a husband who is mentally and emotionally unstable and has severe addiction to prescription painkillers. If I divorce him, he will have joint custody of our children and, while I want them to know who their father is because they love him, I am terrified of what he might do to them as emotionally unstable as he is. I'm convinced he is capable of murder-suicide just to get at me.
He forces me to say "I love you" several times a day. I don't mean it anymore. He forces bodily contact. I sleep in a recliner in the den and put off going home from work to avoid him because I know the fight will be on when I get there.
I have never cheated on him, but I'm accused of it all the time. I have no privacy. He searches my purse, phone and car for "evidence" almost nightly. He takes checks from my private account and writes them without my consent. When I get overdrafts, he acts like it's my fault. If he spends money on the kids, he resents it -- and to complicate matters further, we filed for bankruptcy last year and are living in the house with my parents.
To be truthful, I'm scared to live with him by myself. I cringe every time I'm forced to be intimate with him, and I'm dying inside in little pieces. Please advise me. I would like to be sane and have a reasonably decent life for me and my kids before it's over. -- DESPERATE MOM IN COLORADO
DEAR ABBY: I am in an eight-year marriage that feels like a prison sentence. I have two children under the age of 5, and a husband who is mentally and emotionally unstable and has severe addiction to prescription painkillers. If I divorce him, he will have joint custody of our children and, while I want them to know who their father is because they love him, I am terrified of what he might do to them as emotionally unstable as he is. I'm convinced he is capable of murder-suicide just to get at me.
He forces me to say "I love you" several times a day. I don't mean it anymore. He forces bodily contact. I sleep in a recliner in the den and put off going home from work to avoid him because I know the fight will be on when I get there.
I have never cheated on him, but I'm accused of it all the time. I have no privacy. He searches my purse, phone and car for "evidence" almost nightly. He takes checks from my private account and writes them without my consent. When I get overdrafts, he acts like it's my fault. If he spends money on the kids, he resents it -- and to complicate matters further, we filed for bankruptcy last year and are living in the house with my parents.
To be truthful, I'm scared to live with him by myself. I cringe every time I'm forced to be intimate with him, and I'm dying inside in little pieces. Please advise me. I would like to be sane and have a reasonably decent life for me and my kids before it's over. -- DESPERATE MOM IN COLORADO
Dear Abby's response is below:
DEAR DESPERATE: You have your work cut out for you. First, talk to the police and go on record with the fact that your husband is a drug-addicted forger -- something you should also tell your bank, by the way -- and that you are afraid he will harm you or the children because of his instability due to his abuse of prescription medications.
Then inform the physician who has been prescribing the meds.
Tell your lawyer that you want to end your marriage, but that you are: (1) afraid he will harm you, (2) afraid he could harm the children, and (3) you would like him to have supervised visitation with them only because of his mental instability.
Fortunately, you are living in your parents' home -- which means you are not alone and vulnerable. But it's time to get your husband out of there. Your attorney can advise you on the safest way to accomplish that.
Reference:
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Man sexually tortures girlfriend
Note: The story below speaks for itself. These sorts of individuals are simply predators who use "relationships" to target vulnerable victims. Just because one knows or dates their perpetrator does not make the assault any less horrible - in fact, the betrayal of trust is worse than if a stranger had assaulted.
A 21-year-old man accused of tying up and torturing his girlfriend over a number of days, will appear in the Caboolture [Australia] Magistrates Court this morning.
During the ordeal the 19-year-old woman had her feet bound and was assaulted with a knife and the flat blade of a machete, burnt with a cigarette lighter and raped.
Police discovered the victim with injuries to her head and body after being called to a domestic disturbance at a Torrens Road house in Caboolture about 8:30 last night.
The 21-year-old man was charged with torture, rape, deprivation of liberty, assault occasioning bodily harm while armed and several other offences.
Reference:
Man charged with rape, torture
A 21-year-old man accused of tying up and torturing his girlfriend over a number of days, will appear in the Caboolture [Australia] Magistrates Court this morning.
During the ordeal the 19-year-old woman had her feet bound and was assaulted with a knife and the flat blade of a machete, burnt with a cigarette lighter and raped.
Police discovered the victim with injuries to her head and body after being called to a domestic disturbance at a Torrens Road house in Caboolture about 8:30 last night.
The 21-year-old man was charged with torture, rape, deprivation of liberty, assault occasioning bodily harm while armed and several other offences.
Reference:
Man charged with rape, torture
Woman, looking for drugs, raped
The story below describes the ordeal of a 25 year old woman allegedly raped October 12 after going to a house and buying drugs.
Four men were arrested later that day and charged with first-degree aggravated sexual assault. Lamar Grant, 25, of Plainfield, NJ, who escorted her to the attic of the alleged crackhouse, and the three attackers. Grant allegedly left her with the three men who actually assaulted her. The men, charged with first-degree aggravated assault are Grant's 20-year-old brother, Trevor, of 174 Mercer St.; Jaquan Battle, 19, also of 174 Mercer St.; and Kareem Davis, 25, of the first block of Bennett Street, Phillipsburg. All four defendants are being held in Warren County jail on $150,000 bail.
The woman said the three men sexually assaulted her in various ways.
"All I kept saying is I want to go home," she said. "They were saying, 'You're not going anywhere.' They tortured me for two hours."
She said she tried for a half-hour to get the three men to stop.
"Then I just let them do what they were going to do because I thought they would hurt me," she said. She usually went to the house with her boyfriend, but "he was in bed."
The victim says that the attack, as well as the loss of her children to the state Department of Yough and Family Services, has forced her to get control of her drug use.
"I still have nightmares that other people are hurting me."
She said she's also begun a fight to get her two children back. The state Division of Youth and Family Services put the children in foster care because of her drug use.
"These men said they're so innocent," the woman said. "But they're selling crack to people. They're taking mothers away from their kids, and they're feeding our addiction."
The mother said she plans to attend a long-term drug rehabilitation program.
"If they didn't do this to me, I would not be going to this program," she said. "This was a wake-up call."
Reference:
Attack Haunts Rape Victim
Four men were arrested later that day and charged with first-degree aggravated sexual assault. Lamar Grant, 25, of Plainfield, NJ, who escorted her to the attic of the alleged crackhouse, and the three attackers. Grant allegedly left her with the three men who actually assaulted her. The men, charged with first-degree aggravated assault are Grant's 20-year-old brother, Trevor, of 174 Mercer St.; Jaquan Battle, 19, also of 174 Mercer St.; and Kareem Davis, 25, of the first block of Bennett Street, Phillipsburg. All four defendants are being held in Warren County jail on $150,000 bail.
The woman said the three men sexually assaulted her in various ways.
"All I kept saying is I want to go home," she said. "They were saying, 'You're not going anywhere.' They tortured me for two hours."
She said she tried for a half-hour to get the three men to stop.
"Then I just let them do what they were going to do because I thought they would hurt me," she said. She usually went to the house with her boyfriend, but "he was in bed."
The victim says that the attack, as well as the loss of her children to the state Department of Yough and Family Services, has forced her to get control of her drug use.
"I still have nightmares that other people are hurting me."
She said she's also begun a fight to get her two children back. The state Division of Youth and Family Services put the children in foster care because of her drug use.
"These men said they're so innocent," the woman said. "But they're selling crack to people. They're taking mothers away from their kids, and they're feeding our addiction."
The mother said she plans to attend a long-term drug rehabilitation program.
"If they didn't do this to me, I would not be going to this program," she said. "This was a wake-up call."
Reference:
Attack Haunts Rape Victim
Monday, October 29, 2007
Attacker sentenced to over 130 years in prison
This story is about a "man" who was sentenced to 131 years for raping two women in Indianapolis back in 2006 and earlier this year.
Their abduction and rape by [Audrain L.] Jones left indelible and devastating marks. They have moved, sold off reminders of the attacks and described sleepless nights, constant fear and the loss of their independence during emotional and frank testimony Friday. After they testified, a judge sentenced Jones to 131 years in prison.
"We are both being sentenced in this matter," one woman said. "Mine is just without bars."
Jones, now 19, kidnapped the 27-year-old woman inside a Downtown Indianapolis parking garage in February. The incident came nearly a year after he abducted a 25-year-old teacher in April 2006 from the parking lot of the Sycamore School on the Northside of Indianapolis.
Both times, Jones forced the women to drive their cars to ATMs to withdraw money. He raped the teacher twice before threatening harm if she went to police; in the later attack, the woman was raped but later escaped from the car.
The Indianapolis Star generally does not identify the victims of sexual assault.
"My entire life has been turned upside down because of what one vile, evil individual did to me," the teacher told Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, reading from a lengthy statement she had prepared.
One effect has been profound, she said. She had planned on remaining a virgin until marriage -- and now, she sees herself as broken and damaged.
"I didn't have a choice when I was raped inside a car by a stranger with a gun," she said. Jones didn't become a suspect until he was linked to the February incident. With her attacker -- and his parting threat to her -- still at large, the teacher decided to move.
She continued teaching at the private school for another year, but the stress and reminders of the attack proved too severe, she said. She has since left the job.
The woman involved in the February incident described an uneasy feeling as Jones followed her in a stairwell before getting into her car. After the incident she sold the car, trying to purge the crime scene from her life.
The judge said the nature of the crimes justified long sentences, though she also considered Jones' difficult upbringing. His grandmother had described neglect from his mother and said Jones' father was in and out of prison.
With Indiana sentencing, if a person stays out of trouble in prison, they can earn up to half off of their sentences. This means that 131 years can turn into 65.5 years. The story goes on to say:
By the earliest date Jones could be released from prison, he would be well into his 80s. Last month, he pleaded guilty to all the charges against him without a deal from prosecutors.
"I regret everything I done to hurt them victims," Jones wrote in part of a letter to the judge that was read aloud by his public defender, Melissa Perez.
"I think Mr. Jones' greatest fear is never seeing the light of day again," she said.
But the judge and Deputy Prosecutor Courtney Curtis recounted Jones' long juvenile criminal history, which began with battery at age 10. In that incident, the judge said, he hit a girl who ran away after Jones pulled down his pants and said, "Come on, baby." His record also includes theft and burglary. Each time, Curtis said, counseling and other measures had no effect.
"He has shown he cannot be rehabilitated."
Reference:
Victims of Rape Tell Of Effects
Their abduction and rape by [Audrain L.] Jones left indelible and devastating marks. They have moved, sold off reminders of the attacks and described sleepless nights, constant fear and the loss of their independence during emotional and frank testimony Friday. After they testified, a judge sentenced Jones to 131 years in prison.
"We are both being sentenced in this matter," one woman said. "Mine is just without bars."
Jones, now 19, kidnapped the 27-year-old woman inside a Downtown Indianapolis parking garage in February. The incident came nearly a year after he abducted a 25-year-old teacher in April 2006 from the parking lot of the Sycamore School on the Northside of Indianapolis.
Both times, Jones forced the women to drive their cars to ATMs to withdraw money. He raped the teacher twice before threatening harm if she went to police; in the later attack, the woman was raped but later escaped from the car.
The Indianapolis Star generally does not identify the victims of sexual assault.
"My entire life has been turned upside down because of what one vile, evil individual did to me," the teacher told Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, reading from a lengthy statement she had prepared.
One effect has been profound, she said. She had planned on remaining a virgin until marriage -- and now, she sees herself as broken and damaged.
"I didn't have a choice when I was raped inside a car by a stranger with a gun," she said. Jones didn't become a suspect until he was linked to the February incident. With her attacker -- and his parting threat to her -- still at large, the teacher decided to move.
She continued teaching at the private school for another year, but the stress and reminders of the attack proved too severe, she said. She has since left the job.
The woman involved in the February incident described an uneasy feeling as Jones followed her in a stairwell before getting into her car. After the incident she sold the car, trying to purge the crime scene from her life.
The judge said the nature of the crimes justified long sentences, though she also considered Jones' difficult upbringing. His grandmother had described neglect from his mother and said Jones' father was in and out of prison.
With Indiana sentencing, if a person stays out of trouble in prison, they can earn up to half off of their sentences. This means that 131 years can turn into 65.5 years. The story goes on to say:
By the earliest date Jones could be released from prison, he would be well into his 80s. Last month, he pleaded guilty to all the charges against him without a deal from prosecutors.
"I regret everything I done to hurt them victims," Jones wrote in part of a letter to the judge that was read aloud by his public defender, Melissa Perez.
"I think Mr. Jones' greatest fear is never seeing the light of day again," she said.
But the judge and Deputy Prosecutor Courtney Curtis recounted Jones' long juvenile criminal history, which began with battery at age 10. In that incident, the judge said, he hit a girl who ran away after Jones pulled down his pants and said, "Come on, baby." His record also includes theft and burglary. Each time, Curtis said, counseling and other measures had no effect.
"He has shown he cannot be rehabilitated."
Reference:
Victims of Rape Tell Of Effects
Chiropractor sentenced to 24 years for sexual assaults
With the focus on teacher-student sex, one tends to forget that other fiduciary relationships can feature boundary violations. These can include the therapist and the patient, the preacher and his parishioners (not just Roman Catholic priests and young boys), and guards with jailers. Each incident of sexual abuse or assault brings just as much damage to the victim as a teacher-student case. Each incident leads to lack of trust in men, a distorted sense of normalcy, and greater chance of victimization by other sexual predators. This story features a chiropractor who used his practice as a hunting ground for vulnerable female prey.
Thomas Francis Dickershaid, 66, a former chiropractor in Westchester, CA was found guilty of raping 5 women between August 2004 to September 2006, including a woman who was interested in applying for a job at his office. Ages of the victims range from late 20s to their 60s. LA County Superior Court Judge Katherine Maier denied Dickershaid's request for a new trial regarding his September 26th conviction of 11 counts of sex charges including forcible rape, sexual battery by restraint, sexual battery by fraud and sexual penetration with a foreign object.
Dickershaid "used his business as a front to sexually assault unsuspecting patients. He preyed upon these women, who were oftentimes alone in his office, completely defenseless." Deputy District Attorney Lisa Houle said. "And he abused his power and the trust that's vested in him as a doctor."
Reference:
Chiropractor Gets 24 Years For Rape, Battery
Thomas Francis Dickershaid, 66, a former chiropractor in Westchester, CA was found guilty of raping 5 women between August 2004 to September 2006, including a woman who was interested in applying for a job at his office. Ages of the victims range from late 20s to their 60s. LA County Superior Court Judge Katherine Maier denied Dickershaid's request for a new trial regarding his September 26th conviction of 11 counts of sex charges including forcible rape, sexual battery by restraint, sexual battery by fraud and sexual penetration with a foreign object.
Dickershaid "used his business as a front to sexually assault unsuspecting patients. He preyed upon these women, who were oftentimes alone in his office, completely defenseless." Deputy District Attorney Lisa Houle said. "And he abused his power and the trust that's vested in him as a doctor."
Reference:
Chiropractor Gets 24 Years For Rape, Battery
Sunday, October 28, 2007
2nd sexual assault incident in 2 months at FAU
Yet another story about campus rape:
A second student in less than two weeks has reported being raped by a classmate in a residence hall at FAU's Boca Raton campus.
Around midnight Thursday, a student contacted campus police to report an acquaintance had attacked her the previous Sunday.
No arrests have been made, and the investigation continues, said Florida Atlantic University Police Deputy Chief Keith Totten.
The student accused has been temporarily suspended pending the results of the investigation. He is not allowed on campus.
Campus administrators moved quickly to alert students to the reported attack, sending out a campus e-mail Friday.
On October 13th, another student reported that a male classmate has sexually assaulted her. Police searched his dorm and charged him with illegal prescription drugs and alcohol. FAU Police did not notify students immediately after the report because the suspect was an acquaintance of the victim.
Totten warned students to be on alert, but he said there is no concern for panic. "This is not a serial rapist," he said. "This is a date rape."
Note: Rape is rape, and it doens't matter whether the perp is a stranger or familiar to the victim. What matters is the violation of the woman's bodily integrity, the trust issues that she will have, and the inability to depend on men in the future. The betrayal of trust is higher in a date or partner rape than a stranger rape.
According to a memo distributed by FAU officials, 15 to 20% of college women report rape, compared to 5% to 15% of college men. Other studies have shown the rate of sexual coercion (rape, other forms of sexual assault, and pressured or unwanted but legal sex) to be as high as 40% for women and 20% for men in college.)
A second student in less than two weeks has reported being raped by a classmate in a residence hall at FAU's Boca Raton campus.
Around midnight Thursday, a student contacted campus police to report an acquaintance had attacked her the previous Sunday.
No arrests have been made, and the investigation continues, said Florida Atlantic University Police Deputy Chief Keith Totten.
The student accused has been temporarily suspended pending the results of the investigation. He is not allowed on campus.
Campus administrators moved quickly to alert students to the reported attack, sending out a campus e-mail Friday.
On October 13th, another student reported that a male classmate has sexually assaulted her. Police searched his dorm and charged him with illegal prescription drugs and alcohol. FAU Police did not notify students immediately after the report because the suspect was an acquaintance of the victim.
Totten warned students to be on alert, but he said there is no concern for panic. "This is not a serial rapist," he said. "This is a date rape."
Note: Rape is rape, and it doens't matter whether the perp is a stranger or familiar to the victim. What matters is the violation of the woman's bodily integrity, the trust issues that she will have, and the inability to depend on men in the future. The betrayal of trust is higher in a date or partner rape than a stranger rape.
According to a memo distributed by FAU officials, 15 to 20% of college women report rape, compared to 5% to 15% of college men. Other studies have shown the rate of sexual coercion (rape, other forms of sexual assault, and pressured or unwanted but legal sex) to be as high as 40% for women and 20% for men in college.)
Reference:
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Rapist, son of prominent Oakland politician, gets 14 years
Taken from the Contra Costa Times:
OAKLAND -- Ignacio De La Fuente Jr., the namesake of Oakland's City Council president, was sentenced Friday to 14 years in state prison for raping three prostitutes and a 15-year-old girl in the Fruitvale neighborhood.
Wearing a green jacket and tan slacks, De La Fuente Jr. sat still with no emotion, as Alameda County Superior Court Judge Allan Hymer told him he would spend about a decade in prison and have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Meanwhile, his family, including Council President De La Fuente also sat quietly showing little emotion.
The family was surrounded by almost two dozen supporters including council members Patricia Kernighan and Henry Chang Jr.; Danny Wan, former councilman and now an attorney at Port of Oakland; and Libby Schaaf, director of public affairs for the Port of Oakland.
As De La Fuente Jr. was escorted from the courtroom, he smiled and waved to his family and supporters.
None of the four victims appeared in court Friday morning, but the mother of the 15-year-old was present and asked to speak before the sentence was read. Her request was denied by Hymer.
The 34-year-old De La Fuente Jr. could be released from prison by his 44th birthday, a far cry from the multiple life sentences he faced when his trial began in May.
The article goes on to say:
The lesser sentence was a result of a plea bargain deal reached with the Alameda County district attorney's office. The deal was struck after three of the four victims testified.
"It's a compromise," said Robert Belles, an attorney representing De La Fuente Jr. "It could have been a life sentence and he would never have seen the light of day again."
Nevertheless, Belles said he still believes there are enough questions in the case to raise doubt about his client's guilt.
De La Fuente Jr. pled guilty to five criminal counts including forcible rape, forcible sexual penetration and forcible oral copulation.
His rape spree began from October 2003 through 2005. In each incident, De La Fuente Jr. picked up the women on the streets of Fruitvale and drove them to secluded areas near Oakland's waterfront, the women testified.
Once there, he parked his car with the passenger side against a building or fence to block their exit and then demanded a sexual act. After he was finished, De La Fuente Jr. refused to pay. The women said De La Fuente Jr. forced himself upon them without using protection. When he finished, the witnesses said, De La Fuente Jr. threw them out of his GMC pickup and drove away.
Although the defense team attempted to discredit the witnesses, the jury believed the sexual assaults had occurred, deputy district attorney Brian Owens said at the time of the plea deal.
Reference
Councilman's son gets 14 years in rape case
OAKLAND -- Ignacio De La Fuente Jr., the namesake of Oakland's City Council president, was sentenced Friday to 14 years in state prison for raping three prostitutes and a 15-year-old girl in the Fruitvale neighborhood.
Wearing a green jacket and tan slacks, De La Fuente Jr. sat still with no emotion, as Alameda County Superior Court Judge Allan Hymer told him he would spend about a decade in prison and have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Meanwhile, his family, including Council President De La Fuente also sat quietly showing little emotion.
The family was surrounded by almost two dozen supporters including council members Patricia Kernighan and Henry Chang Jr.; Danny Wan, former councilman and now an attorney at Port of Oakland; and Libby Schaaf, director of public affairs for the Port of Oakland.
As De La Fuente Jr. was escorted from the courtroom, he smiled and waved to his family and supporters.
None of the four victims appeared in court Friday morning, but the mother of the 15-year-old was present and asked to speak before the sentence was read. Her request was denied by Hymer.
The 34-year-old De La Fuente Jr. could be released from prison by his 44th birthday, a far cry from the multiple life sentences he faced when his trial began in May.
The article goes on to say:
The lesser sentence was a result of a plea bargain deal reached with the Alameda County district attorney's office. The deal was struck after three of the four victims testified.
"It's a compromise," said Robert Belles, an attorney representing De La Fuente Jr. "It could have been a life sentence and he would never have seen the light of day again."
Nevertheless, Belles said he still believes there are enough questions in the case to raise doubt about his client's guilt.
De La Fuente Jr. pled guilty to five criminal counts including forcible rape, forcible sexual penetration and forcible oral copulation.
His rape spree began from October 2003 through 2005. In each incident, De La Fuente Jr. picked up the women on the streets of Fruitvale and drove them to secluded areas near Oakland's waterfront, the women testified.
Once there, he parked his car with the passenger side against a building or fence to block their exit and then demanded a sexual act. After he was finished, De La Fuente Jr. refused to pay. The women said De La Fuente Jr. forced himself upon them without using protection. When he finished, the witnesses said, De La Fuente Jr. threw them out of his GMC pickup and drove away.
Although the defense team attempted to discredit the witnesses, the jury believed the sexual assaults had occurred, deputy district attorney Brian Owens said at the time of the plea deal.
Reference
Councilman's son gets 14 years in rape case
Ex-boyfriend arrested for rape
Taken from the Russellville (AR) Courier:
At a bond hearing Friday morning, District Judge Don Bourne issued a $75,000 bond to a Russellville man arrested Thursday night for rape. An Atkins woman accused Derek Winston Byrd, 24, of forcibly raping her at his home Thursday, according to a Russellville Police Department report.
The woman told officers Byrd was an ex-boyfriend. She said she had gone to the residence to pick up the rest of her things when Byrd allegedly raped her, according to the report.
Officers met the woman at Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center, where the woman underwent a rape examination, according to the report. The rape examination kit and the clothes the woman was wearing were then taken as evidence. Byrd was later arrested at his home, according to the report. If charged, Byrd will make his first appearance Nov. 19 in Pope County Circuit Court.
Reference:
Russelville man arrested for rape
At a bond hearing Friday morning, District Judge Don Bourne issued a $75,000 bond to a Russellville man arrested Thursday night for rape. An Atkins woman accused Derek Winston Byrd, 24, of forcibly raping her at his home Thursday, according to a Russellville Police Department report.
The woman told officers Byrd was an ex-boyfriend. She said she had gone to the residence to pick up the rest of her things when Byrd allegedly raped her, according to the report.
Officers met the woman at Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center, where the woman underwent a rape examination, according to the report. The rape examination kit and the clothes the woman was wearing were then taken as evidence. Byrd was later arrested at his home, according to the report. If charged, Byrd will make his first appearance Nov. 19 in Pope County Circuit Court.
Reference:
Russelville man arrested for rape
Nursing Assistant pleads no contest to rape
A former nursing assaitant who pleaded guilty to rape of a paralyzed stroke victim will go to jail for at least 8.5 years, and perhaps life. Lamin Darboe, 40, entered an Alford plea Friday to a count of 2nd degree rape at the King County (WA) Superior court. An Alford plea means the defendat does not admit guilt but acknowledges enough evidence in there for a conviction. It's used to avoid an admission of guilt when defending civil lawsuits.
The Seattle Times reports:
Because he's been convicted of a violent sexual assault, Darboe falls under the jurisdiction of the Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board, which must agree that Darboe is not at risk of committing other sexual assaults before he can be released, said Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tim Leary. At a minimum, he will be incarcerated for eight-and-a-half years before he is eligible to come before the review board.
With the conviction, as well as accusations by others who say Darboe had inappropriate contact with them, he could spend the rest of his life in prison, Leary said.
Darboe's plea came before his second trial on the charge. His first trial ended in a mistrial in July after jurors couldn't agree on a verdict. King County prosecutors decided a short time later to retry him.
The paper goes on to say:
According to charging papers, Darboe was working at Kindred Hospital in North Seattle in the summer of 2006 when he fondled and raped a 31-year-old woman who was paralyzed and couldn't speak as the result of a stroke. The woman used an alphabet board to tell authorities about the rape, according to charging documents. After the rape was reported, Kindred officials placed Darboe on administrative leave.
During Darboe's first trial, jurors were not allowed to hear information about two young female patients who said Darboe had inappropriate contact with them when he was a nursing aide at Swedish Medical Center. Swedish fired him in June 2002.
The Seattle Times reports:
Because he's been convicted of a violent sexual assault, Darboe falls under the jurisdiction of the Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board, which must agree that Darboe is not at risk of committing other sexual assaults before he can be released, said Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tim Leary. At a minimum, he will be incarcerated for eight-and-a-half years before he is eligible to come before the review board.
With the conviction, as well as accusations by others who say Darboe had inappropriate contact with them, he could spend the rest of his life in prison, Leary said.
Darboe's plea came before his second trial on the charge. His first trial ended in a mistrial in July after jurors couldn't agree on a verdict. King County prosecutors decided a short time later to retry him.
The paper goes on to say:
According to charging papers, Darboe was working at Kindred Hospital in North Seattle in the summer of 2006 when he fondled and raped a 31-year-old woman who was paralyzed and couldn't speak as the result of a stroke. The woman used an alphabet board to tell authorities about the rape, according to charging documents. After the rape was reported, Kindred officials placed Darboe on administrative leave.
During Darboe's first trial, jurors were not allowed to hear information about two young female patients who said Darboe had inappropriate contact with them when he was a nursing aide at Swedish Medical Center. Swedish fired him in June 2002.
After prosecutors asked the court to allow testimony from the two victims mentioned above plus a 3rd victim who alleged Darboe molested her while giving her a bath back in 2001, his defense attorney Gene Picuell said.
Darboe was acquitted of 2nd degree rape in Snohomish County in 2002.
Reference:
Thursday, October 25, 2007
U of Tennesee holds vigil against sexual assault
One hundred women marched in the University of Tennesee's Take Back The Night gathering to protest against sexual and domestic violence. TBTN originated in London back in 1977, and stateside in San Francisco back in 1978, and originally was held to protest street violence against women, but now consists of a vigil and march against men’s violence towards women, most of which is done by people they know.
The Clothesline Project originated in Massachusetts in 1990 as an art project for victims of violence against women. People are encouraged to write on shirts and then symbolically hang them up on the clothesline. Over two dozen shirts were made at UT’s event.
“I had heard the event was really powerful, but I had no idea how emotional it was going to be,” said Anne Marie Sherman, junior in social work and child and family studies. “Events like this are great because you see that you truly are a part of the sisterhood. You realize the true sisterhood you have with women.”
TBTN continued with introductions from WCC members, a presentation from Kali Meister, and an open-mic session for attendees to share their stories.
Jane Peoples, executive director of the Safe Haven Center for assault victims, said the following:
“We must affirm a woman’s right to live free from fear of sexual assault or violence. We have a right to fight for our aunts, our sisters, our children because they have a right not to be afraid,”
“Rape is about keeping us in our place. Rape is about degrading women. We must fight for the right to go to a party without the fear of being seduced into drug or alcohol assault.”
Kali Meister, a DV and CSA survivor who was raped during a nightly walk, said that the term “survivor” is inappropriate because it implies the lack of control the woman had over her life.
“I call myself a thriver. I refuse to settle for anything less. I will not be silenced ever again. Thriving is what I wish for all of you.”
After Meister finished, the “Speak Out” session, where women shared stories of abuse, began, and the stories continued even into the candlelight vigil.
Sarah Cleeton, a sophomore in political science and German said, “I don’t feel in danger every day, but I can see how you would. I don’t feel out of the group here. I feel completely accepted.”
A dozen forcible sex offenses were reported between 2004 & 2006, according to the University of Tennesee's Police Department.
Reference:
Take Back The Night raises awareness of sexual assault
The Clothesline Project originated in Massachusetts in 1990 as an art project for victims of violence against women. People are encouraged to write on shirts and then symbolically hang them up on the clothesline. Over two dozen shirts were made at UT’s event.
“I had heard the event was really powerful, but I had no idea how emotional it was going to be,” said Anne Marie Sherman, junior in social work and child and family studies. “Events like this are great because you see that you truly are a part of the sisterhood. You realize the true sisterhood you have with women.”
TBTN continued with introductions from WCC members, a presentation from Kali Meister, and an open-mic session for attendees to share their stories.
Jane Peoples, executive director of the Safe Haven Center for assault victims, said the following:
“We must affirm a woman’s right to live free from fear of sexual assault or violence. We have a right to fight for our aunts, our sisters, our children because they have a right not to be afraid,”
“Rape is about keeping us in our place. Rape is about degrading women. We must fight for the right to go to a party without the fear of being seduced into drug or alcohol assault.”
Kali Meister, a DV and CSA survivor who was raped during a nightly walk, said that the term “survivor” is inappropriate because it implies the lack of control the woman had over her life.
“I call myself a thriver. I refuse to settle for anything less. I will not be silenced ever again. Thriving is what I wish for all of you.”
After Meister finished, the “Speak Out” session, where women shared stories of abuse, began, and the stories continued even into the candlelight vigil.
Sarah Cleeton, a sophomore in political science and German said, “I don’t feel in danger every day, but I can see how you would. I don’t feel out of the group here. I feel completely accepted.”
A dozen forcible sex offenses were reported between 2004 & 2006, according to the University of Tennesee's Police Department.
Reference:
Take Back The Night raises awareness of sexual assault
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