Thursday, January 31, 2008

Learning about exploitation from teacher-student sex

Teachers & Trash Education is a blog which deals with teacher/student sex (as well as other issues). A post, written today, explains how teachers who claim that they are in "love" with their students are really taking advantage of the student for their own ends. The blogger behind this wonderful resource has a quote that explains what teacher/student sex is really about:

"To exploit someone is to make use of him or her for one's own ends by playing on a weakness or vulnerability. Those with power have the inherent potential to exploit those without power. A manipulative educator can exploit a student's respect, innocence, naivete, need for affection, insecurity, or low self-concept." - Robert J. Shoop, "Sexual Exploitation in Schools: How to Spot It and Stop It." p 7

Exploitation does not occur solely with teacher/student sexual encounters, minors, fiduciary relationships, or with charges which can lead to a SO registry listing. It is not just teachers and pedophiles who manipulate someone's need for affection or someone who'll think they understand them. It is not just minors who are used then discarded. Intimate sexual exploitation occurs with adults as well. Power and control is also the issue on the other side of 18.

My father has an acquaintance, Hugo, who did just that. He has married literally a dozen times Christian women who believed in saving themselves for marriage. Since he could'nt get the goods without marrying, he married the women, had sex, then divorced 6 months to a year later. Hugo exploited the women's Christian beliefs, need for affection, and repect for marriage by using the women's Christian beliefs to gain sexual access, then run. Hugo's lack of morality vs. the women's morality is another power difference he used against them. Hugo is in his late 70s . He won't be charged with bigamy, statutory rape, or other crimes because he followed the letter of the law, but not the spirit.

That is because sexual exploitation of adults without force is not a crime under the usual conditions and those exploiters are smart enough to stay away from minors, drugs/alcohol, and/or force - a fact teachers who have sex with their students don't appreciate.

With teachers, even if the sentence is probation and a SO listing, that's still a criminal history. Parents can still look him up on the SO registry. He still has restrictions from kids. With all of the new restrictions, and Jessica's law, even I would stay away from kids without their parental supervision.

If an exploiter did the same thing to a 19 year old that would earn him (or her) a SO label if done to someone who is 15, there would be no (criminal) consequences, the exploiter could discard his victim for a new one, and as long as he stayed above 18, away from force, and away from drugs/alcohol, he has legal leeway to do as he wished with other young women (or men).


I encountered such a man back in late 2004, who chose street youths between 17 and 29. Convieniently, 17 is the AOC in Newburgh, NY, where he lived, and sexual relationships with over 17s made without force or a fiduciary relationship is legal. He always tried to guide the conversation to sex, and always told me how he was involved with males under 30 but over 17. I eventually stopped chatting with him.

With a professor and a college student, there are no laws against such conduct criminally, and the access and trust he has is nearly the same as with HS students. Only a sexual harassment lawsuit deters the professor. Romantic relationships and marriages are based partially on sexual access. Power differences don't just apply with adults and kids - they apply with more powerful and less powerful adults. An exploiter can get off scot free criminally if he uses the power differences among adults to keep the letter of our laws, but not the spirit.

This story is about a woman who exploited military men's need for attention and affection into bigamous relationships with five men. Without kids, force, drugs, or a fiduciary relationship, there is little chance for multiple years in prison. She will not face a listing on the SO registry, even though there is obvious sexual involvement. She has chosen her victims well.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Baytown Stalker, male on male rapist, convicted in Texas

Keith Hill, 20, known as the Baytown Stalker for attacks on other young men around his age, was convicted of aggravated sexual assault on a teenager for a May 2006 attack. Jurors in State District Judge Don Stricklin’s court took only 1.5 hours to convict Hill. Two more victims testified in the punishment phase.

After the guilty verdict, Hill's mother, Sherry, a teacher, and his father, Phillip, a petrochemical worker, huddled with other family members, hugging and choking back tears. They have declined comment since Hill's arrest Feb. 7 at their two-story brick home in Baytown's upscale Tanglewilde subdivision.

Hill was the first serial rapist of males profiled on America’s Most Wanted, and targeted white males around his age with a slender build, medium size, and who lived at home with their families in Baytown area back in 2006. He averaged a sexual attack every 1 to 2 months.

Hill was tried for sexual assault of only one of the five alleged victims, but two others testified in the punishment phase. Hill could get anywhere from probation to life.

The incident where the victim Hill was convicted of raping is shown below.

Jurors in the State District Judge Don Strickland's court are only hearing testimony in the case involving a Robert E. Lee High school graduate, who was 17 when accosted in his driveway on May 18, 2006, in Chaparral Village.

The Baytown teen, now 19 and who is not being named due to the nature of the incident, told jurors his attacker kidnapped, sexually assaulted and pistol-whipped him. He also thought his attacker was going to kill him.

Hill stated that he made the decision to "capture him" by using a "silver pistol" and some "zip ties" for handcuffs. He also opted to use his own car in the abduction instead of the teen's car after "talking to God," he stated.

After forcing the teen to perform oral sex, Hill stated he struck the teen in the head with his fists a few times.

"I was mad at him for doing what I told him to do," Hill said in the statement.
A Harris County DNA analyst testified that the teen's shirt had semen stains that were linked to Hill.


The teen told jurors he was accosted when he went to his car parked in the driveway. He said the attacker grabbed him, pulled a semiautomatic pistol from his sweatshirt pocket and said, "Let's take a walk."


The attacker marched him to his neighbor's driveway, demanded his wallet and refused to believe he did not have the wallet with him, the teen said. The attacker then secured his wrists, placed duct tape over his eyes, and forced him into the backseat of an SUV.


After driving around some more, the attacker stopped and got in the backseat.
"You're going to have to pay for not having any money," the teen quoted his kidnapper as saying. The attacker then grabbed the teen's hair, put a gun to his head and demanded oral sex.
He said afterward, he thought his attacker struck the back of his head with the butt of the gun.
After another short drive, the teen said his attacker cut the restraints and told the teen to "get out fast."

After the attack ended, the trial victim wound up less than half a mile away from his home, where he called police.

A 20 year old victim who was attacked November 30, 2006 heard a noise downstairs, and when he returned to his bedroom, Hill, with his T-shirt pulled over his head, attacked.

Then, he said, his attacker led him out of the house where his mother and brothers were asleep in other rooms. The victim, barefoot and wearing only boxer shorts, was taken to an isolated wooded area.

The attacker, then holding a knife that slightly cut into the victim's throat, made him lie on the ground.

"That's when I knew his intention was to rape me," he said. They struggled after the victim refused to perform oral sex.


"He picks me up and slams my head into a tree, three or four times," he testified, adding that he was then forced to walk farther into the woods. The victim said his attacker warned him that he might perform other sex acts if he didn't cooperate.

But again they struggled, and the victim broke free and ran home. Photos were introduced that show bloody scrapes and scratches all over his body. A week later, while driving out of his subdivision, the victim spotted Hill in another car, he testified.

"He's wearing sunglasses and pulling his (hood) up, acting suspicious," the victim said. He pursued the car as it sped away and called the police.

Hill's car was found later that day in the police parking lot where he had gone to pay a parking ticket.

A 3rd victim was attacked July 7, 2006 by Hill. The Baytown Stalker pointed a gun at him, tied him up, then searched the house for money. When this victim tried to escape, the attacker threw him up against the door and demanded oral sex. "You're going to do something for me now."

Again the two fought, and this time the victim said his attacker taped his nose and mouth shut with duct tape. The victim, unable to breathe, passed out, he said. He then awoke to find his attacker kicking him in the head, poking him with a knife and telling him to "get up." He said the attacker then fled.

(Update 1-21-08) Hill was sentenced to 99 years in prison, with 35 years to serve before parole, for the Baytown rapes.

Keith Hill, found guilty of the assault Tuesday, confessed in a written statement to police to being the Baytown stalker who attacked five young men in 2006. As part of his sentence, he must also pay a $10,000 fine.

Hill, 20, stood solemnly as the jury's sentence was read by State District Judge Don Stricklin. Because Hill had no prior criminal record, jurors could have sentenced him to as little as probation for his assault on one of the five victims.

Prosecutors now plan to visit with the other victims before deciding whether to proceed on the remaining kidnapping, robbery and sexual assault charges.

After Hill was sentenced Thursday, the father of one of the five victims agreed to speak for all the victims' families.

"My heart goes out to the parents of Keith Hill. I hold them totally blameless for what happened," he began, his voice cracking. "The jury had a job to do, and they did it. The streets will be safer now."

According to Hill's statement to investigators, he stalked his victims as they left jobs or stores. Investigators also found evidence on Hill's computer that he had looked at his victims' MySpace pages and gotten maps and telephone numbers to their homes.

Testimony showed Hill ambushed two victims from their driveways, abducted two more by knocking on their front doors and pointing a gun at them, and kidnapping the final one by picking the lock to his house and hiding under his bed.

Victims told in their testimony of being blindfolded, handcuffed, robbed and sometimes beaten while demands were made for sexual favors.

Friday, January 18, 2008

York, PA man pleads no contest to rape

Scott Allen Yohn, 36, pleaded no-contest to a single count of sexual assault. Yohn used a knife to kidnapp a woman from near the York Police Department last March. Initially, he faced York County Common Pleas Court. Initially, he also faced rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault and false imprisonment charges.

No contest plea to sex assault, by the York Daily Record, has more.

The woman told police she was walking through a lot at West King and South Beaver streets about 11 p.m. March 30 when Yohn threatened her with an object in his pocket. She said he placed a bandanna over her eyes and led her to a nearby building and forced her to climb the fire escape into an apartment.

There, the woman said, Yohn ordered her to strip and repeatedly sexually assaulted her. After hours of abuse, the woman said, she attempted to escape by running toward and opening a door. She said that the door did not lead out of the apartment and that Yohn caught her and choked her. In the early morning hours of March 31, police said, the woman succeeded in a second escape attempt and ran directly to the city police station. According to police reports, Yohn, when questioned, confirmed the woman had been in his apartment and said they had consensual sex. At York Hospital, where the woman was evaluated, doctors noted injuries to the woman's genitals and marks around her face and neck.

As part of Yohn's plea agreement to the single second-degree felony charge, he will be sentenced to three to six years in prison and lifetime registration with the Pennsylvania State Police in accordance with Megan's Law, senior prosecutor Christopher Moore said Thursday.

The victim aggreed to the sentence resolution, and the mandatory Megan's Law registration requirement. “In the end, it is our decision what to do, but we take heavy account of the victim's position. Sexual assault best fit the crime here.”

Rape victim encourages other victims to come forward

53-year-old Bucky Joe Proffitt, who worked as a home health care aide for an elderly woman, was sentenced to between 10 and 25 years in prison for raping her daughter in law, Linda Williams, back in the summer of 2005.

According to WVVA's Rape Victim Speaks Out:

Williams says, "What he did, he's going to pay for, it's not right."Unfortunately, Linda is not alone in a case like this.In the last decade, more than 300 forcible rapes have been reported each year in West-Virginia.Worse than that, more than one-thousand rapes are reported each year in Virginia.

Licensed Psychologist Susan Smith says, "This happens not only to women, but also to boys, young men, the elderly."Sexual assault is one of the most under-reported crimes, with more than half still being left unreported."If it happens to you, report it, or if you don't it's going to make your life a living, awful bad place," says Williams.

After reporting the assault to police, victims should be examined at a hospital so that evidence can be collected.They then have to begin coping with the myriad of effects that rape can cause."Shock, feelings of loss of control, sleep disturbance, appetite disturbance, feelings of self-blame, questioning of your own judgment, your own perceptions," are some of the side effects according to Smith.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Another police officer convicted of sexual assault

Kenneth Deshun Woods, 28, a former Galveston, TX patrolman, was convicted of aggravated kidnapping for an incident where he handcuffed and sexually assaulted a woman while on duty.

According to the Houston Chronicle's Galveston ex-police officer convicted in assault on woman:

Woods faces five to 99 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, said Joel Bennett, an assistant Galveston County district attorney.According to testimony during the trial, the 43-year-old woman was sitting alone in her car on the beach early on May 27, 2006, at Apffel Park when a police officer confronted her.

The officer, whom she identified as Woods, placed her in his police car, drove her to another part of the beach, handcuffed her and sexually assaulted her. Afterward, she said, he drove her back to her car.

A second woman, a known prostitute, was with a client when Woods arrested, then raped her, according to trial testimony. Woods joined the Galveston police department in 2005 and was a patrolman before the indictment, when he was fired.

$200K bail for Sheriff's Deputy held on rape charges

Joseph Sumner Qualls, 27, a Pierce County sheriff's deputy, is being held on $200,000 bail for an alleged rape and burglary which took place back earlier this month. Qualls, a member of the force for about a year, is alleged to have had sexual intercourse with a drunk woman after giving her a courtesy ride, rides given to intoxicated passengers to prevent drunk driving.

According to probable cause documents filed in court, Qualls is alleged to have had sexual contact with the woman one other time while on duty. He walked into the woman’s home while she was asleep last Friday, grabbed her by the ankle and made her perform a sex act, according to the court documents.

Qualls showed up again at the woman’s home last Saturday, but she refused to let him in, according to the documents. Authorities said the deputy's account and the woman's account of what happened did not exactly match, but detectives were able to corroborate some parts of the woman's story.

The investigation, which is continuing, may lead to charges of custodial sexual misconduct, first-degree burglary and first-degree rape with firearms enhancements.

Four time felon goes away for life in rape of 75 year old woman

A Georgia rapist who pleaded guilty Wednesday to rape, robbery, and kidnapping of a 75 year old woman was sentenced to life with parole for the rape, and 20 years each for kidnapping and robbery.

Michael Blocker initially claimed that he only burglarized the woman's house, but changed his story.

But after hearing the victim testify Tuesday, Mr. Blocker said he knew she was telling the truth. Afterward, he thought of his mother and what he would do if someone attacked her, Mr. Blocker said, adding that he cried.

"It was wrong what I did, and I apologize," he said.

In the early morning of Jan. 9, 2007, the victim returned to her home after walking her dog. Mr. Blocker had sneaked into the condo while she was outside. He stole money and jewelry and then raped the woman before leaving. A couple of unique pieces of the jewelry led investigators to Mr. Blocker. DNA testing tied him to the rape.

According to Assistant District Attorney Ashley Wright, four time felons are automatically sentenced to the maximum sentence without parole. The other felonies are a 1995 conviction for carjacking and cocaine posession, a 1992 theft, and a 1990 burglary.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Nursing homes, other institutions escape notification of sex offenders

After recent incidents where sex offenders allegedly preyed on wulnerable women in nursing homes, gaps in Florida's (and other states') sex offender notification law have been found. Ivey Edwards, 82, whose criminal history dates back to 1945, raped a comatose 77 year old nursing home resident back in 2002. Thomas Ango Oliver, a sex predator convicted of raping a 10 year old girl in 2004, is accused of groping a female patient at his nursing home New Year's Eve.

More from the Bradenton Herald's Loophole in sexual predator law:

These incidents and others underscore what experts and notification advocates say is a long-standing gap in state laws nationwide: Laws requiring public notification of sexual offenders and predators have long focused on protecting children - but not vulnerable adults such as those in nursing homes, hospitals and mental health facilities. As a result, an untold number of people are placed in greater jeopardy of being sexually assaulted.

"There's not only people out there who abuse children, but people who specifically prey on adults," said Judy Cornett, executive director of Safety Zone Advocacy, a national non-profit organization that provides education on safety, prevention and intervention on sex crimes against children.

"Any business, hospital or nursing home - I think it should be required to do a background check on those who come in," she said. "Hospitals could be a little tough. But nursing homes, I think it should be mandatory. There should be a law passed."

One anti-sex predator group, A Perfect Cause, has compiled a report on offenders in nursing homes.

In a pair of reports published in 2004 and 2005, A Perfect Cause said it found 800 registered sexual offenders in long-term care facilities in 36 states. Of those, 58 were in Florida - including two in Bradenton facilities who have since died.

Those offenders committed more than 100 crimes, including murder, rape and assault, against fellow residents, the group said. Its findings led several states - California, Illinois, Oklahoma and Virginia among them - to begin requiring nursing homes to check prospective residents' criminal backgrounds and/or notify residents or their guardians if convicted sex offenders live on the premises.

The Herald's report is four pages long. It shows how we have focused all our efforts on children, but failed to focus the same efforts we place on protecting kids against sexual predators as we do protecting vulnerable adults, like those in hospitals, treatment programs, and nursing homes.

Woman acquitted of sex assault of passed out man: now suing for paternity

Like the poster said, if the woman had this man's baby, and the only way that she could have had it was by sex with him while he was passed out, then how the heck wasn't she found guilty? And she's asking for child support, too?

From the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, Woman not guilty of sex assault:

Tammy L. Christie, formerly of Stevens Point, was found not guilty Thursday of third-degree sexual assault. Prior to Thursday's trial, the charge against Christie was reduced from second-degree sexual assault of an unconscious person. Wood County Circuit Court Judge Greg Potter officiated over the one-day trial.

According to the criminal complaint, on Feb. 15, 2006, a 21-year-old man was at a relative's residence in Marshfield drinking and playing cards. The man felt dizzy and had a headache, his vision became blurred, and he had trouble walking.

He came too the next morning in a spare bedroom, with Christie by his side. He didn't think anything happened, but something did. Recently, he was served with paternity papers, and a DNA test proved that the victim was the father of Christie's child.

Christie reportedly told a Marshfield detective she had been at the residence when the man had too much to drink and had to be helped into a bedroom.

Both comments below the story:

And the kicker is now she wants child support?

Now, I don't know all of the facts, but from what I had read about this case, this woman had sex with this man while he was drunk. Now if the tables were turned and it was the man who had sex with the woman when she was drunk, the man would have been found guilty. How did this woman get pregnant with this man's child? If they had never had sex other than when the woman utilized the man's services without his consent, I would think it was sexual assault. Can anyone shed some light on this.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Doctor charged with allegedly groping employee

A Sparta surgeon's preliminary hearing for allegations that he groped an employee is scheduled for January 31. Dr. Frantz Charles, 61 is charged with criminal sexual abuse and unlawful restraint, Class 4 felonies, as well as misdemeanor battery.

The DuQuoin (Il) Evening Call's Jan. 31 Hearing for Sparta M.D. Accused of Sexual Abuse:

A female employee who works part-time at Sparta Community Hospital alleges that Charles pulled her into a men's locker room at the hospital, forced her against a wall and inappropriately touched her.The doctor denies the charges, saying he had not seen the woman for several months and was simply trying to give her a hug. Sparta police officers arrested Charles at the hospital on Dec. 29, taking him to Randolph County Jail. Charles posted $1,000 bond and was released.

Sparta Community Hospital administrators are investigating him, and they have barred him from seeing any patients until their investigation is complete. Charles has worked at the hospital for 16 years.

Developmentally diisabled non-SO sexually abused by SO in mental hospital


A 45 year old man with the mental capacity of a 5 year old was sexually assaulted by an inmate at the sex offender's unit at the North Dakota State Hospital. According to the victim's father, the victim, who is not a sex offender, has been living at the hospital for the past 33 years and struggling with mental illness.

The father is pleased overall with the level of care his son gets, but is concerned that his developmental disability makes him vulnerable.

“Anybody that wants to take advantage of him would find an easy time, I think,” the father said.

The Fargo Forum has more in their Offender sexually abused patient story:

Rodney Ireland, 22, who was civilly committed to the hospital as a sexually dangerous individual, admits to sexually abusing the 45-year-old man and takes full responsibility.
But he also says the assault could have been prevented. “I believe that it’s reckless for him to be here in the first place,” Ireland said. “They move him from floor to floor, but he’s still intermingling with sex offenders.”


Ireland, whom The Forum contacted through a phone in the sex offender unit, said the victim has been living with sex offenders since before he arrived at the hospital in September 2003. While the two no longer live on the same floor, the victim is still in the sex offender unit and Ireland and other sex offenders still have access to him, Ireland said.
“I pass him on a daily basis for group activities,” he said.


Alex Schweitzer, the superintendent of the hospital, cited privacy concerns for not divulging more about the situation, and did not verify whether either Ireland or the victim was currently held at the sex offender unit. Schweitzer stated that he “any issues regarding anything in regards to patient care” and that the needs of each patient are dealt with on an individual basis.

Bill Kysar, 47, a convicted sex offender also civilly committed to the State Hospital, said he has advocated on multiple occasions for the victim to be moved to a different unit because he does not feel the current environment is safe.

“If we’re so safe, then how come we’re not out in the community?” Kysar said, referring to several convicted sex offenders who have been deemed sexually dangerous individuals who are too dangerous to be among society.

When asked if there were any requests to move the victim off of the sex offender unit, Schweitzer responded, “I can’t speak about anything in terms of any particular individual on that unit.”

Kysar feels Ireland’s victim is being treated differently than other victims by remaining in an environment where he could be assaulted again by Ireland or someone else.
“They’re not going to take my victim and bring her in here and make her live around me,” Kysar said, adding that Ireland’s victim should receive the same protection.


The victim's father said that while his son is a large man who could physically take care of himself, the mental issues should warrant removal to a different unit. “I think they can find another unit for him if they try,” he said.

Ireland said that despite having taken advantage of the victim’s vulnerability and assaulting him, he now sees himself as an advocate for the victim because he is among others trying to get him removed from the unit so it does not happen again.

“It doesn’t take away from the events that have occurred, but I’m pretty sure that they could have minimized the chances of this happening if they would have moved him to a more secure, more stable environment that you don’t have the high-risk sex offenders (in),” he said.
Ireland now faces a Class A felony gross sexual imposition charge in Stutsman County for the incident, which he confessed to during an August therapy session.


Ireland told an investigator that he assaulted the victim in summer 2006 in the kitchen of one of the sex offender units and believed he took advantage of his mental condition, according to court documents. Ireland was convicted at age 12 in juvenile court in Montana of sexually assaulting a 2-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy, according to the North Dakota Sex Offender Web site.

Both sex offenders believe the victim was sexually assaulted in the past, and could be again as long as he stays on the sex offender unit.

“It would be naive to think that a pack of wolves wouldn’t attack a wounded animal,” Ireland said.

Beating on the 4th of July sends twice convicted rapist to prison for life

A 65 year old man was sentenced to life without parole for rape after a July 4, 2004 attack on his then 38 year old girlfriend. George Timmons was sentenced based on a "2-strikes" law for certain violent crimes. The counts Timmons was sentenced on included two counts of rape and one count each of aggravated sexual battery, attempted assault by extremely offensive or provocative contact and domestic aggravated assault.

The Chattanooga Times-Free Press has more in its story -Homeless man gets life without parole in 2004 rape, beating:

The charges stemmed from the July 4, 2004, assault on a woman who lived with Mr. Timmons in "tent city," a former homeless encampment along the railroad tracks near East 11th Street.
Assistant District Attorney Boyd Patterson said some crimes, such as rape, mandate a sentence of life without parole if the defendant has previous convictions for similar offenses.

"In this case, Mr. Timmons committed rape in Alabama," Mr. Patterson said.
According to court records, Mr. Timmons was convicted of rape in 1978 in Madison County, Ala., and sentenced to 40 years in prison. It is not clear how many years he served on that conviction.


Defense attorney John McDougal said he will file an appeal. "Mr. Timmons plans to fight forward, and we will continue with that," Mr. McDougal said. District Attorney Boyd Patterson said some crimes, such as rape, mandate a sentence of life without parole if the defendant has previous convictions for similar offenses.

"In this case, Mr. Timmons committed rape in Alabama," Mr. Patterson said. According to court records, Mr. Timmons was convicted of rape in 1978 in Madison County, Ala., and sentenced to 40 years in prison. It is not clear how many years he served on that conviction.
Defense attorney John McDougal said he will file an appeal.


The woman described how Timmons cahnged from a "nice guy" to the batter and rapist he showed himself to be:

"When I first met him he seemed really nice. After a couple weeks he started getting abusive because he thought I was messing around on him." She packed her belongings to leave him because he had shown signs of violence, befor he attacked her with a stick. After beating and raping the victim, Timmons passed out. "I said a prayer to God that I could get out of there and get help," the woman said.

Cathy Davis, a nurse who examined the woman, said the victim had injuries consistent with rape as well as black eyes, bruises on her face and abrasions on her shoulders, back, abdomen, legs and rib cage.

Man guilty of raping and holding girlfriend against her will

John M. Paris, 42, of Sunset Street, Pittsfield, MA, was found guilty of aggravated rape after a 5 day trial and six hours of deliberation for breaking into his girlfriend's home October 23, 2005 to sexually assault her. Other charges Paris was found guilty on include kidnapping, breaking and entering, assault.

The Berkshire Eagle's Man is guilty of rape has more:

Robert W. Kinzer III argued that Paris was a jealous, obsessed lover who became fixated on the notion that his girlfriend was cheating on him. He said Paris and the woman had several violent encounters in which Paris confronted her about the other men in her life. Paris also was a drug addict and an alcoholic, Kinzer said, and shared a bond of substance abuse with his girlfriend.

Timothy J. Shugrue, Paris' defense attorney, acknowledged that susbtance abuse was a part of the relationship, but said that despite the dysfunction and "extreme sexual attraction," the encounter between the girlfriend and Paris was consensual.

The jury was given the case yesterday at 11 AM. It returned at 5 PM so they could hear instructions on what exactly is the legal definition of aggravted rape, which they found Paris guilty of a half-hour later.

Shortly before the jury returned, Paris hugged a half-dozen family members and supporters. After the verdict was read, he sobbed, turned to the group and said, "Take care of my boy." He was led from the courtroom in handcuffs.

Ford scheduled the sentencing hearing for Wednesday at 2 p.m., when Shugrue said he will submit a written motion asking Ford to dismiss the aggravated rape charge, which carries the potential for a life sentence in prison.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Man sentenced to 17-40 years for assault of girlfriend

The girlfriend told the court that she had made up the story about the domestic violence she suffered at the hands of her boyfriend to get back at him for beating her while she was pregnant with their child, now a 10 month old boy.

But according to The Daily Local, Defendant sentenced for rape, assault:

The jury rejected her story and found [Jose] Zavala Rodriguez guilty of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated assault and aggravated assault of an unborn child.
Judge Howard F. Riley Jr. said he wanted to ensure that Rodriguez Zavala, 29, remain incarcerated for the bulk of his adult life as a punishment for a long time of anti-social behavior.


“I find there is nothing other than long-term incarceration to satisfy the needs of this case,” Riley said in handing down his sentence. “I see no other choice.”
The prosecutor in the case, Assistant District Attorney Michelle Frei, had asked Riley to send the defendant to state prison for no less than 20 years. After the sentencing however, she said she was ultimately happy with the prison term he received. “I think it takes into account the seriousness of his conduct and sends a message to domestic violence offenders that their conduct will be punished,” Frei said.


The assault occured on September 19, 2006, when the then 26 year old woman was 14 weeks pregnant with their child John. Zavala beat the woman so severely that both of her eyes were swollen shut and bruised. Hopspital photographs shw numerous bruises and scretches. She escaped the home along with her 4 year old son after her perp fell asleep, and was found sitting at a relative's home in Kennett Square.

When the relative took her to work at the Kaolin Mushroom Co., an administrator there said her injuries were so severe that she was unrecognizable. The woman later told police Rodriguez Zavala had punched her repeatedly and had sat on her stomach. He then forced her to have sex, she told police.

The woman, however, maintained that she wasn't raped and the sex that they had that night was consensual. She has maintained contact with her attacker even after the guilty verdict, and has asked the courts for leniency.

To ask why she would forgive the man who beat her and raped her redirects the blame for the violence, Frei said. “The focus should be on the defendant,” she told Riley. “This is about holding the defendant responsible for his actions.”

Frei, who has been handling domestic violence cases in the county district attorney’s office for more than seven years, said the assault on the woman was worse than a shooting because of the repeated nature of the blows she suffered.

“I can honestly say that in 7½ years this is the worst domestic violence case that I have ever seen where the victim lived,” she said. She noted that the woman suffered orbital fractures in both here eyes and a skull fracture.

Zavala has a history of arrests and other convictions for other acts of violence against women.

In 1999, he was found guilty of simple assault for an attack on another girlfriend. After he was paroled from county prison, he attacked a woman who had picked him up hitchhiking on Christmas Day, then threatened to kill her and robbed her of $100. I addition, he was found guilty of beating the victim in this case in February 2006 when they lived in Oxford.
Frei noted that Rodriguez Zavala also had a history of association with criminal street gangs in his past.


Rodriguez Zavala’s attorney, veteran defense lawyer Howard Brown of Coatesville, acknowledged that his client had acted badly but urged Riley not to accept Frei’s recommended sentence, which he called “excessive.” “This is not a hopeless case,” he said. Most of the crimes that he committed in the past were not against the community in general but against people who Rodriguez Zavala knew and was intimate with.

For the sake of his son and the woman who is that child’s mother, Brown asked Riley to fashion a sentence that would allow him to establish a relationship with them after release.
“Certainly Mr. Zavala regards this as an ugly, bad situation,” Brown said. “But to make it a hopeless situation for him is not a productive way to address this problem.”


Because the conviction was Zavala's second strike, he faced a minimum sentence of 10 to 20 years, and because of the rape, he will be reauired to register as a sex offender under Pennsylvania's Megan's Law.

18 year old accused of raping half-sister is sodomized by stepfather

Though the 18 year old victim is technically a victim, and that's why I'm including it, I can understand why the stepfather would take actions into his own hands. If convicted, I hope the stepfather gets the least amount of prison time, and the "victim" gets the max.

A 18 year old, accused of anal rape of his own sister, got a piece of his own medicine after his stepfather, after picking him up from jail, did the same to him.

The teen was arrested January 2nd after Arlington (a suburb between Dallas and Ft. Worth) police arrested him for suspicion of aggravated sexual assault on his 8 year old half-sister. The girl was taken to a hospital where examination revealed she had been anally raped. The stepfather issued a stern warning to his wife about helping the teen.

According to the Dallas Star-Telegram & the Associated Press:

Sgt. Cheryl Johnson, supervisor of the Fort Worth sex crimes unit, said in a story posted Saturday on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Web site that people need to "allow the criminal justice system to work for them."

"This is a very unique case, but we have a criminal justice system in place, and no one can take the law into their own hands," Johnson said.

The mother of both youths posted the bond for the teen, who was then picked up from the Arlington jail by his stepfather on January 3.

Police said that instead of taking the teenager home, the Arlington man drove to an abandoned house in Fort Worth. Inside the house, he beat his stepson with a baseball bat and sodomized him with a wrenchlike metal tool, police said.

The man left, leaving the teenager behind, police said. The stepson found a pay phone and called police. who searched the abandoned home. The pair gained entry through a board that moved, according to investigators.

"We did find evidence at the scene to corroborate our victim's story," Johnson said.
The Star-Telegram didn't identify the father or the stepson to protect the identity of the girl. Fort Worth police didn't immediately return phone and e-mail messages from The Associated Press.


The stepson does not have an adult criminal record in Tarrant County. The 32-year-old man has previously pleaded guilty to burglary of a habitation in 1996 and served a 30 day jail sentences for assault with bodily injury and a 20 day sentence for marijuana possession, according to court records.

The stepfather was released Saturday January 12 on $17,500 bail.

Relevant Texas Statute:

§ 22.021. AGGRAVATED SEXUAL ASSAULT. (a) A person commits an offense:
(1) if the person:
(A) intentionally or knowingly:
(i) causes the penetration of the anus or sexual organ of another person by any means without that person's consent;

Boyfriend charged in Nailah Franklin's death


(Originally Posted 12-11-07)

Reginald Potts, 30, has been charged with the murder and disapperance of his ex-girlfriend, 28 year old Nailah Franklin.

A "deeply flawed" alibi has led to the arrest of a Chicago man in the September slaying of Nailah Franklin, authorities said during a news conference today.Police said Reginald Potts Jr., who briefly dated Franklin, is charged with murder after FBI officials placed his cell phone and Franklin's cell phone in the same location at a time he said he was not with Franklin.Franklin's sisters reported her missing Sept. 19 and her nude body was discovered in dense woods in Calumet City eight days later. Police say Franklin was killed Sept. 18. A law-enforcement source has said she was not shot or stabbed. [If she wasn't shot or stabbed, that leaves only one choice - strangulation.] An autopsy in September failed to determine the cause of the death and the Cook County medical examiner's office said Saturday results are still pending.

Police sources said Potts, 30, had been a suspect since Franklin was reported missing. The two had a heated e-mail exchange the week before she disappeared. Witness statements to police also raised questions about his whereabouts, authorities said. Potts, who also is charged with robbery and the theft of Franklin's vehicle, is in the County Jail serving a 100-day sentence after pleading guilty to violating an order of protection involving another woman, according to John Gorman, a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office. Potts also was charged with aggravated battery for striking a sheriff's deputy and ordered held without bail.

Potts' criminal history includes more that 20 arrests and 8 convictions. Some of these are detailed below.

Potts' most serious conviction came in 2002 for threatening to kill a Highland Park police detective and his family, court documents showed. The detective had been investigating Potts' possible involvement in a car-theft ring.Potts had pleaded guilty in 1997 to possession of stolen cars and was sentenced to 7 years in prison.

By 1999, he was out of prison and got arrested on minor charges in Carbondale, where he briefly attended Southern Illinois University.While in custody on the Highland Park threat charge in June 2001, Potts was brought to the Dirksen Federal Building, handcuffed to a bench. The handcuffs were loose and Potts escaped. Two weeks later, the FBI tracked him down on the South Side and took him to the Lake County Jail.

Potts was sentenced to 3 years in prison for intimidation and sent to Big Muddy Correctional Center in Downstate Ina, where in 2003, he was charged and later pleaded guilty to hitting a corrections officer in the eye. While in custody in 2004, he was accused of calling his ex-girlfriend's family in Aurora from jail numerous times using three-way calling and threatened them, according to a police report filed by the woman's brother-in-law."I know where you live," he told the man, who didn't want to press charges, but said he wanted police to record the information "in case something more serious happened," according to the report.

Potts was formally denied bail by Circuit Judge Donald Panarese in the killing of September 18th killing of Nailah Franklin, which is now alleged to have occured on September 18th.

The Chicago Tribune's coverage of the bail hearing is below:

The ex-boyfriend accused of killing Nailah Franklin left a voice-mail message threatening to have her "erased" shortly before her murder, prosecutors alleged Monday. Prosecutors said that surveillance cameras in Franklin's building captured her and Reginald Potts Jr. together on the day of her murder, though Potts denied to police that he was with her that day.Later that day, Potts' friends picked him up about a block from where Franklin's car was later recovered in Hammond, prosecutors said.

Milan said that Franklin and Potts were in an on-and-off relationship for several months before her murder, believed to have occurred on Sept. 18. But by early September, the two were no longer on good terms, and Franklin sent an e-mail to several friends detailing Potts' criminal history, the prosecutor said. Potts found out about the e-mail and began making threatening phone calls to Franklin, Milan said. Two of Franklin's friends, both of whom knew Potts, heard a threatening voice-mail message he left for Franklin, the prosecutor said.

Days before the murder, Franklin told friends that she was afraid of Poots. Prosecutors also described how Potts' alibi was picked apart.]

Potts told police that he was with friends at a South Loop store in the early evening on Sept. 18 and didn't see Franklin that day. But video surveillance cameras from Franklin's building show the two together inside a hallway that day, Milan said.Cell phone records also put Potts and Franklin together on Sept. 18 in Calumet City, where Franklin's naked body was later found, Milan said.After he dumped Franklin's car in Hammond, Milan said, Potts called friends for a ride.

The friends picked Potts up one block away from where Franklin's car was later recovered, the prosecutor said said. "In an attempt to make it look as though the victim was still alive and in the South Loop area, the defendant made three 911 calls from the victim's cell phone while the defendant was traveling north on the Dan Ryan near I-55 with his friends," Milan said. "The 911 calls lasted a second or two and nothing was said."Takisha Walters, a friend who attended the bond hearing, called the charges "bittersweet.Sweet because he is off the streets and won't prey on anyone else," she said. "Bitter because she is not here with us."


Update (1-5-08) Reginald Potts has been charged with 16 counts of 1st degree murder, a count of vehicular hijacking and robbery, and four counts of aggravated kidnapping. Potts is still being held without bail for Nailah Franklin's disapperance, then murder. His next scheduled court apperance will be January 10.

Update (1-13-08) Potts formally pleads not guilty to Franklin's death. He is on 23 hour lockdown at the Cook County Jail, and Judge Nicholas Ford has ordered that Potts be allowed out of his cell so he can search for a private lawyer. He fired his public defender, and is now representing himself. Ford has scheduled a January 22 hearing where Potts must have an attorney who'll appear on his behalf.

References:

Chicago man charged in woman's slaying

Suspect left many threats, court told

Suspect in Nailah Franklin slaying indicted on 16 counts

Ex-boyfriend pleads not guilty

Man convicted of abuse of stepdaughters, including rape of oldest when she was 21 years old

A 40 year old London, Ontario man was convicted of abusing his two stepdaughters, who only came forward after he raped a London, ON woman in a stranger rape. The culmination of the abuse was an incident with his 21 year old stepdaughter.

The London Free Press has more in their Man, 40, pleads guilty to years of sexual abuse:

He pleaded guilty to six charges -- two for sexual interference with a person under the age of 14, two of sexual assault for the years of abuse and one of sexual assault and forcible confinement for the Port Huron incident.

"I can't think of any more serious allegations," said Ontario Court Justice Ted McGrath, after hearing the shocking facts read by assistant Crown attorney Karen Bellehumeur.

Bellehumeur said the man picked up the 21-year-old stepdaughter at work on Dec. 11, 2006, for a Michigan shopping trip. They shopped, then checked into the hotel where the woman fell asleep. She woke up to find herself being duct-taped to the bedposts. Her stepfather then duct-taped her mouth shut and blindfolded her. Before having sex with her, he put a thong on her and took photos.

The woman decided not to fight after she saw what she thought was a handgun on the nightstand when the blindfold slipped off her eyes, Bellehumeur said.
The man fell asleep. The next morning, the woman was still tied to the bed and he had sex with her again. The man said nothing about the attack but later suggested they could be "sex buddies" and he would pay her rent.


When the victim and her stepfather went back into Canada at the Sarnia crossing, border guards were suspicious after finding a BB gun shoved down the man's pants. They searched the trunk and found video equipment and sex toys, but let the pair go. Two weeks later, the man raped a woman in London, ON, and was attrsted with the rape kit used in the trunk. Only then did the stepdaughters comeforward to tell their story of brutalization and abuse.

Bellehumeur said the man began to abuse his stepdaughters in 1996, when he would often steal into their bedroom wearing only underwear and sexually touch the older girl, then 11.
Sometimes he would turn to the younger girl, but the older girl would pull him away and tell him to abuse her to protect her nine-year-old sister.


The younger stepdaughter told of various sex acts she was forced into by the man.
Bellehumeur read the victim impact statement of the older stepdaughter who wrote she is too scared to leave her house, and can't eat or sleep. "I no longer have a life because of what you did to me," she wrote. The younger stepdaughter read her statement to the court.
"You made me feel lower than dirt," she said to the man and described flashbacks, paranoia with strangers and depression.


Sentencing is scheduled for January 17, with the Crown (Canadian federal prosecutors) and the defense planning to submit a request for 10 years in prison to be served consecutively with the 5 year sentence for the London rape.

Since the assault on the 21 year old victim occured in Michigan, and a weapon was used, then he commited 1st degree criminal sexual conduct in Michigan - a crime which carries a life maximum prison sentence. Michigan authorities could concievably charge him with 1st degree Criminal Sexual Conduct.

MCL 750.520b (CSC I—Penetration) provides:

"(1) A person is guilty of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree if he or she engages in sexual penetration with another person and if any of the following circumstances exists:

"(e) The actor is armed with a weapon or any article used or fashioned in a manner to lead the victim to reasonably believe it to be a weapon.

Suspect allegedly kidnaps, sexually assaults acquaintance

Kurt MacKenzie Ray, 43, of 620 Fowler Hill Road, Wellsburg, WV, is facing charges of kidnapping, nighttime burglary, wanton endangerment with a firearm, and sexual assault of a woman he knew in Beech Bottom.

Man Charged With Kidnapping, Sexual Assault, is the headline from the Wheeling (WV) Intellengencer:

The Brooke County Sheriff’s Department said the woman was reported missing at 3:15 a.m. [Friday January 11]after her children, ages 5 and 7, awoke to find her missing and went to the home of a neighbor, who called the sheriff’s department.

The sheriff’s department said the woman was seen by an off-duty Wellsburg police officer about 10 minutes later walking with Ray near the Valley Haven Geriatric Center, which is on Sesame Street in Beech Bottom. Brooke County Sheriff Richard Ferguson said the woman signaled to the police officer that she needed help, and Ray was apprehended soon after by deputies.

Ferguson found a gun used in the alleged kidnapping at the vicinity of the crime, and the victim was taken to the hospital, but without making a full statement as of this time.

Optometrist guilty of groping patients, must register as a sex offender

After Huntersville optometrist Chris Reynolds, 50, pleaded guilty to sexual battery, five victims, seated in the front gallery of the courtroom, went up to the judge and spoke about the damage Reynolds' groping and sexual violation did to their dignity.

The Charlotte Observer has a piece, Optometrist pleads guilty:

One [victim] cried as she recounted what Reynolds did to her during an eye exam. "I hope you get what you deserve," she said. Another woman described how Reynolds placed his hand on her breast, while also touching himself. "Mr. Reynolds is a sick and twisted man," she told the judge.

Mecklenburg District Judge Tom Moore sentenced Reynolds to 15 days in jail, fined him $5,000 and placed him on probation for three years. The judge also ordered Reynolds to register as a sex offender.


Reynolds, 50, was arrested in August and charged with misdemeanor sexual battery after police said a patient complained that the optometrist had touched her inappropriately during an eye exam. In October, he was charged with four additional counts of sexual battery.
Reynolds pleaded guilty to one count. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed the other four.
Assistant District Attorney Bruce Lillie, who offered the plea deal, said his main concern was to make sure Reynolds registered as a sex offender. "This man would never have seen the inside of a jail cell if it wasn't for these strong women who came forward to confront him."


North Carolina's sex offender registry is an online tool that allows people to find out the names and addresses of convicted sex offenders. Residents can map registered offenders' addresses up to 5 miles from a home, school, child care center or park.

Huntersville Detective Jen Sprague detailed how the allegations, initially involving a single patient, mushroomed to involved 27 patients.

Kevin Barnett, an attorney for Reynolds, said his client is being treated for his addiction. [Note: Most sex addicts only hurt themselves or their families. Sex offenders always hurt others.]

"Dr. Reynolds is remorseful that he did this- He pleaded guilty because he was guilty." attorney Jerry Parnell said later. Though the women didn't want to talk to reporters, one said, "It's never enough," after being asked about the 15-day jail term.

Man held without for alleged rape, beating of partner in alleged burglaries

Michael Mays, 39, is being held without bail for charges that he beat and raped his burglary partner, who he brought with himself from California. Prosecutors said Mays repeated beat and strangled the woman until she foamed at the mouth, and threatened her with a large kitchen knife.

According to the Brattleboro (VT) Reformer, Local man accused of assault is denied bail:

The state submitted photos of the woman's injuries, marks on her neck, knee and a bruise to her eye, as evidence, which Judge Karen Carroll said were one of the main factors in her decision to hold Mays without bail.

Public Defender Paul Berch suggested the injuries may have been from a prior assault from another person but was not able to give details on this Friday. Mays has claimed, according to Kirkpatrick, that "he had not hurt her in any way and her injuries had occurred when she had fallen down in the snow."

The accusations were made after she and Mays were arrested for allegedly breaking into a camper trailer at the Water Treatment Facility on Riverside Street in Brattleboro.

Berch attempted to show that the fear of this charge was the reason why the alleged victim made the claims. "You have hypothetically two individuals from out of state, both with criminal records ... one of these persons says, 'Oh, I'm in trouble here, I'm going to say he did terrible things to me ... and get off scott free by saying the other one forced me to do it.'"

Trespassing charges carry a maximum sentence of 3 years, a $2000 fine, or both. The state also showed that the alleged victim did not make accusations about the assaults until after Mays was in custody.

She also claims Mays kept all her credit cards and her cell phone and had her Social Security checks deposited into his account. Brattleboro Police Lt. Robert Kirkpatrick said on the record Friday that Mays gave him the woman's identification card when they were arrested and she had no identification on her person.

When Deputy State's Attorney Ellen Kryger mentioned this in court Friday, Mays repeatedly laughed out loud and uttered an expletive suggesting that he did not believe this claim.

The woman alleges Mays would not allow her out of his sight and controlled what she could do and say. A number of times, police responded to reports of disturbances at the hotels, the woman told Kirkpatrick, but she had been too afraid to speak up about the abuse.

Mays faces life in prison and $152,000 in fines if convicted of all charges. His next hearing, a status conference, is set for March 17.

Iraq war veteran sentenced to 25 years for prostitute rape


A Kansas soldier who served time in Iraq before being charged then convicted of raping and cutting a prostitute has been sentenced to serve the next quarter-century in prison.

The Kansas City Star has more in the article "Man sentenced to 25 years for sexual assault".

Judge Brian Wimes said James D. Baldwin thought he could get away with attacking such victims because most prostitutes would not complain and no one would believe or care if they did.

“That jury cared and this court cared,” Wimes told him.

A jury convicted Baldwin last year of rape, sodomy and two counts of second-degree assault for the Nov. 1, 2004, assault. He originally was charged with attacks on three women that year. Sexual assault charges involving another prostitute were dropped after she died of a drug overdose. A weapons charge is pending against him related to the third woman.

All three women were attacked by a man in a white van. The trial victim and the woman who died both were picked up at Ninth and Genessee streets, driven elsewhere and assaulted in the van.

Baldwin, who lived in Olathe, KS, was a suspect, and he later went into the Army and fought in Iraq, but was sent directly to the county jail after his arrest. This was made possible when Baldwin's DNA was proven to be a match with DNA found on the jeans of the trial victim. That victim also wrote down his license plate.

On Friday, Baldwin told the judge he was innocent and is a nonviolent person. Several members of his church and his wife testified in his favor. Leonardo Balderes said that Baldwin had been active in church and that he had never seen him drink or curse.

Assistant prosecutor Tricia Lacey countered that court records show Baldwin has a history of consorting with prostitutes and once was robbed by one. When he attacked them, she said, he counted on them not telling or no one caring if they did.


The 39-year-old rape victim told someone a week after her attack because she hoped police would stop the van driver from assaulting others, Lacey said, and the woman has since quit drugs and crime and is a productive citizen.

The sentence is not about the victim’s past choices, Lacey said. “It is about the choice he made.” She asked for a 27-year prison term for Baldwin.

Defense lawyer Molly Hastings asked for a sentence of either probation or 10 years because that would tie into the argument than everyone is redeemable. Judge Wimes, however, said that Baldwin failed to show his dark side. "“You were a predator.”

Photog escapes SO registration after sexual assault of client

A photographer facing 3.5 years at his sentencing for his sexual assault (only a misdemeanor in this case!) will not be required to register as a sex offender.

The North County Times straightforwardly titled story, Photographer will not have to register as sex offender, has more details:

James Wood, 55, was convicted last year of misdemeanor sexual battery and a felony charge of dissuading a witness and faces up to three years and six months in state prison.
Wood's new attorney, Allen Bloom, told Judge Michael Smyth today that he plans to file a motion for a new trial in the case. If the motion is denied, sentencing is expected to go forward on April 18.


The woman, then 24, took the photos for a calender she wanted to share with her boyfriend. She met Wood on San Diego's Craigslist. The background below is from FOX 6 News San Diego.

Prosecutors Lose Bid To Force Photographer to Register As Sex Offender

During the time after the alleged assault last Oct. 29, Bloom said, the victim made at least 15 changes into explicit and flirtatious outfits. The then-24-year-old woman testified at the defendant's trial that she responded to an advertisement Wood posted on Craigslist, offering free provocative calendar shoots for uninhibited models.

She said Wood was initially helpful as the shoot began and told her to imagine she was a stripper as she posed for her pictorial. At one point, Wood asked, "Is the photographer going to get some of that?" according to the woman. She said she didn't know if Wood was serious and told him she was just there for the photo shoot. As she was posing on a couch, Wood bent down and sexually assaulted the woman for 20 to 30 seconds, but she didn't react and he stopped, she testified. "I froze. I was shocked," she testified. "Obviously he wasn't the person I thought I knew."

The woman, according to her testimony, stayed because she was scared, but once she got to her car, the victim caller her sister and her boyfriend, who convinced her to call the police.

She said Wood offered sex for photos as she left his home. "I said, `Wow, you're pretty nonchalant about this,"' she testified. Wood's trial attorney, Brian White, told the jury that the sexual encounter between the two was consensual. The case was a classic example of "He said, she said," White told jurors.

The attorney said Wood told the woman in a recorded call set up by police that she consented to the sexual encounter because she was masturbating during the photo shoot. But the woman denied the accusation. According to court testimony, Wood threatened legal action and later sent the victim an e-mail telling her she participated willingly and told her it was a crime to file a false police report.

The victim said she came forward so this would not happen to another woman.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Soldier charged in Penn. state court for raping another soldier

Jury selection began Monday in the case of a 45 year old man charged with the rape of a 22 year old woman last March.

The Lebanon Daily News, "Gap rape case set for trial this week," has more.

Robert Shackelford Jr. of Dover has been charged with rape, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault and indecent assault, according to the criminal complaint. The trial will be held in President Judge Robert Eby’s courtroom and is expected to last all week.

Shackelford, a member of the 233rd Quartermaster Company based in Philadelphia, was charged with raping the 22-year-old Wilkes-Barre-area woman in a men’s barracks on March 3 or March 4.

The woman told state police that a male soldier escorted her back to her barracks about 11 p.m. on March 3, when they saw Shackelford standing on a second-floor platform of his barracks smoking a cigarette. The woman said her male escort asked Shackelford for a cigarette, and both of them climbed up a ladder to reach Shackelford.

Both left, but the woman returned after Shackleford asked her to.

The woman told police that she was drinking in the barracks and later blacked out. She told police she remembered being sexually assaulted and waking up later underneath a bunk in the men’s barracks. She told police she believed Shackelford had raped her.

Shackelford told police that the woman was drinking heavily and he found her lying on the floor after he had returned from going to the bathroom. He told police that he did not have any sexual contact with the woman and saw no one else having sex with her, according to the complaint.

Four soldiers told state police and the Army Criminal Investigation DIvision they saw sexual contact between the woman and Shackleford.

(Update 1-11-08) Shackelford was ACQUITTED of the rape and sexual assault charges, but convicted of indecent assault. She left the courtroom in tears, and prosecutors has harsh words for her "colleagues."

Assistant State's Attorney Megan Ryland-Tanner said,"Each and every one of them knew what was going on and did nothing to help her," Ryland-Tanner said.
"Every single one of them betrayed her. These are the people she could potentially go to war with," she added.


Shackleford will still have to register as a sex offender, and may be released from jail because indecent assault carries a 3 to 14 month sentence, and he has been held since April.

Shackelford did not testify. Williams said Shackelford told him during an interview several weeks after the incident that he had tried to have sex with the woman, with her encouragement, but was unable to do so.

[Ryland-Tanner] said Shackelford would be evaluated under Megan's Law to determine whether he should be labeled a sexually violent predator.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Serial rapist allegedly preys on women he groomed at bars, fitness clubs


"Date" rapists who have multiple victims are simply serial rapists who use "dating" as a way to gain access to and groom victims. Women involved with such a person were groomed, just like the 15 year old girl who believes she is in love with her 30 year old boyfriend. He was never in love with them, just using them for his deviant purposes. They are no different from a predatory standpoint than the serial rapist who uses a gun or a knife in their attacks.

James Ernest Blesdoe, 26, is facing seven felony and four misdemeanor charges after alledegly sexually assaulting and secretly videotaping women he met at bars and fitness gyms. Blesdoe was arrested December 16th on charges stemming from a date rape and parole violation. Detectives uncovered additional possible victims in the course of the investigation.

KCBS has more on this sordid story at Police Seek Victims Of Suspected Rapist.

The evidence uncovered by detectives indicates there are additional alleged victims, he said, adding that he wants to hear from women who may have met and gone out with Bledsoe between last May and December. "I just have partial names and pictures," Weizoerick said.

Bledsoe, who is being held on $1 million bail, is set to be arraigned Jan. 25. He is charged with false imprisonment, assault to commit a sexual offense, oral copulation and secretly videotaping with intent to arouse in connection with alleged date-rape victim, Jane Doe 1. He faces a misdemeanor videotaping count regarding a second woman referred to as Jane Doe 2 in the criminal complaint.

He is charged with rape, oral copulation and sexual penetration, as well as videotaping, involving Jane Doe 3, who was unconscious when assaulted, the detective said. The complaint also contains two other counts: resisting arrest and failure to register as a sex offender, he said.

Bledsoe was on parole for a lewd act on a child on Dec. 15 when police went to the 16000 block of Lynn Street on a report of a date rape, Weizoerick said. The 27-year-old woman alleged she was assaulted at Bledsoe's apartment. Bledsoe ran after learning police were contacted, and his silver 2003 BMW was found nearby and impounded, Weizoerick said. Officers spoke with Bledsoe by phone and he agreed to turn himself in, but did not.

Blesdoe was caught the next day, December 16th, less than 65 feet from the US-Mexico border.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Shrink assaults 6 patients, former student while working for Santa Barbara County and local college


(Originally posted 11-21-07)

Fernando Cordero, 65, was arrested on suspicion of raping a 44 year old parient while he worked for Santa Barbara Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Services, sheriff's officials said November 15th.

According to the Santa Maria Times,

The woman, who is now in County Jail on theft charges, told investigators late last month that she was coerced into a sexual relationship with Cordero more than three years ago, when she was his patient at a county ADMHS facility on Foster Road in Santa Maria. He allegedly told her he would put her in jail if she did not comply with his sexual demands.

During the investigation, another former patient of Cordero also came forward with allegations that he had propositioned her to have sex and had physically accosted her, a sheriff's spokesman said.

Cordero apparently “has targeted Hispanic females with past abuse, mental health issues and questionable legal status in the United States,” added Sgt. Erik Raney.

Cordero was jailed on suspicion of committing rape under color of authority and subsequently released, after posting $100,000 bail. No information was available about when his court arraignment is scheduled.

Detectives believe that there may be others victimized by Cordero. Sexual assault of patients, according to this website, may occur in as many as 12% of the male psychologist population.

Local Psychologist Booked On Suspicion Of Raping Patient

(Update 12-2-07) It looks like another victim has been found. Cordero was released, and then rearrested November 30th after a fourth patient claimed he coerced her into sex. "We found a fourth victim that alleged she was coerced into a physical relationship with Dr. Cordero spanning several years. Based on that and some credible information we received, he was planning on fleeing the country because of these allegations," said Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department Sgt. Erik Raney. Cordero is being held on $250,000 bond.

(Update 1-9-08) Three more victims have been found, bringing the total to seven. and Cordero faces a dozen charges of rape. One of the victims was a former student of his.

An Allan Hancock College spokeswoman confirmed the former court appointed psychologist taught courses there. That included human sexuality, psychology, and race and ethnic relations, from Spring 2005 and Fall 2007.

This news, a shock to education student, Heather Brown.
"It's really creepy, to know that there's a teacher here that could possibly be doing that kind of stuff," Brown said. "It's kind of scary, but I'm glad I wasn't in his classes."


"I think there's a potential for more victims, and I hope if there are, that they call the Sheriff's Department and come forward and report because it's very important that we stop him from any future victims," [District AttorneyAnn]Bramsen said.

Bail was raised to $1.2 million from $250,000 by Judge Zel Canter.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Washington policeman's shamful searches of Asian women lands him on SO registry

Randy Howlett, 32, pled guilty to three counts of sexually motivated unlawful imprisonment for groping Asian women during traffic stops in Tacoma. The charges carry mandatory sex offender registration, and a possible sentence of 29 months in prison when Howlett is sentenced. Howlett is currently being held at the Pierce County jail.

The Tacoma News-Tribune has more, Former tribal officer pleads guilty to groping women:

Tribal Police spokesman John Wymer said Howlett resigned shortly after his arrest and confession to Tacoma police.

“The Puyallup tribe does not tolerate this behavior in any way shape or form,” he said.
Three women told police Howlett had pulled them over near Portland Avenue and Interstate 5. One said she had been handcuffed. All were released without being charged with a crime.


One of the victims told investigators that after pulling her over, Howlett told her he needed to check her for weapons, court records say. He then unzipped her jacket, pulled her shirt away from her body and shined his flashlight on her so he could see her breasts. He also looked down the front and back of her sweatpants. The woman told a friend, who claimed the same thing had happened to her twice, court records say.

All victims were Asian and Howlett told Tacoma police that “he likes Asian females and has fantasies about them,” the documents say. “He stated that he needed help.”
Although Howlett confessed to “peeking” at women two to three times a week for a year, media attention in 2006 did not lead any additional women to come forward beyond the three initial victims, [Prosecutor John]Sheeran said.


It is unknown when Howlett will be sentenced.

Washington State prison guard sentenced for "consensual" sex with inmate

Six months is all the time a 52 year old ex-guard at the Corrections Center for Women was sentenced to by Pierce County Superior Court Judge Sergio Armijo.

More from the Tacoma News Tribune's Former guard sentenced in sex case:

[Terry Michael]Mikelson pleaded guilty in October to one count of custodial sexual assault. He admitted in court documents that he had sex with the woman in June 2006 while she was incarcerated at the women’s prison in Purdy.

The consensual liaison took place in a property storage room at the prison, according to court records. Mikelson told the woman he’d grant her special privileges if she had sex with him, the records state.

“She did allow him to have sex with her, but afterwards she felt violated,” according to the records.

The woman saved evidence of the sexual activity and later turned it over to authorities.
Mikelson resigned in January 2007 after a nearly eight-year career with the Corrections Department, agency spokesman Chad Lewis said. The woman served her time and was released, Lewis added.


Mikelson’s sentencing came less than a month after corrections officials held a news conference to report that seven male workers were sent home on paid leave after a four-month investigation into allegations of sexual assault at the women’s prison.

Four women claimed they were coerced into sex or fondled by seven correctional officers, and there has been a lawsuit filed on behalf of abused female inmates.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Irish study documents prevalence of sexual violence

A new study, conducted in Ireland by the Royal college Of Surgeons in conjunction with the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, states that the prevalence of CSA (child sexual abuse) and adult sexual assault on women is 1 in 5 in both cases, and that the prevalence of CSA in boys is 1 in 6, and adult sexual assault on men is 1 in 10. Sexual abuse as kids is assaciated with marked increase in risk of sexual assault.

A Filipino web column (don't ask) has the results of the summary which I have posted below:

Prevalence of Sexual Violence

Child Sexual Abuse (defined as sexual abuse of children and adolescents under age 17 years)

• Girls: One in five women (20.4 per cent) reported experiencing contact sexual abuse in childhood with a further one in ten (10.0 per cent) reporting non-contact sexual abuse. In over a quarter of cases of contact abuse (i.e. 5.6 per cent of all girls), the abuse involved penetrative sex — either vaginal, anal or oral sex.

• Boys: One in six men (16.2 per cent) reported experiencing contact sexual abuse in childhood with a further one in four-teen (7.4 per cent) reporting non-contact sexual abuse. In one of every six cases of contact abuse (i.e. 2.7 per cent of all boys), the abuse involved penetrative sex — either anal or oral sex.

Adult Sexual Assault (defined as sexual violence against women or men aged 17 years and above)

• Women: One in five women (20.4 per cent) reported experiencing contact sexual assault as adults with a further one in twenty (5.1 per cent) reporting unwanted non-contact sexual experiences. Over a quarter of cases of contact abuse in adult-hood (i.e. 6.1 per cent of all women) involved penetrative sex.

• Men: One in ten men (9.7 per cent) reported experiencing con-tact sexual assault as adults with a further 2.7 per cent reporting unwanted non-contact sexual experiences. One in ten cases of contact abuse in adulthood (i.e. 0.9 per cent of all men) involved penetrative sex.
Lifetime Experience of Sexual Abuse and Assault


• Women: More than four in ten (42 per cent) of women reported some form of sexual abuse or assault in their lifetime. The most serious form of abuse, penetrative abuse, was experienced by 10 per cent of women. Attempted penetration or contact abuse was experienced by 21 per cent, with a further 10 per cent experiencing non-contact abuse.

• Men: Over a quarter of men (28 per cent) reported some form of sexual abuse or assault in their lifetime. Penetrative abuse was experienced by 3 per cent of men. Attempted penetration or contact abuse was experienced by 18 per cent, with a further 7 per cent experiencing non-contact abuse.

Characteristics of Sexual Abuse and Violence in Childhood and Adulthood

• Overall, almost one-third of women and a quarter of men re-ported some level of sexual abuse in childhood. Attempted or actual penetrative sex was experienced by 7.6 per cent of girls and 4.2 per cent of boys. Equivalent rape or attempted rape.

Figures in adulthood were 7.4 per cent for women and 1.5 per cent for men. Hence, girls and women were more likely to be subjected to serious sexual crimes than boys and men. Levels of serious sexual crimes committed against women remained similar from childhood through adulthood. Risks for men were lower as children than they were for women and de-creased three-fold from childhood to adult life.

• Of those disclosing abuse, over one-quarter (27.7 per cent) of women and one-fifth (19.5 per cent) of men were abused by different perpetrators as both children and adults (i.e. "revictimised"). For women, experiencing penetrative sexual abuse in childhood was associated with a sixteen-fold increase in risk of adult penetrative sexual abuse, and with a five-fold increase in risk of adult contact sexual violence. For men, experiencing penetrative sexual abuse in childhood was associated with a sixteen-fold increase in the risk of adult penetrative sexual violence, and an approximately twelve-fold increase in the risk of adult contact sexual violence. It is not possible to say that childhood abuse "causes" adult revictimisation. Childhood sexual abuse is, however, an important marker of increased risk of adult sexual violence.

• Most sexual abuse in childhood and adolescence occurred in the pre-pubescent period, with two-thirds (67 per cent) of abused girls and 62 per cent of abused boys having experienced abuse by twelve years of age.

• In four of ten cases (40 per cent), the experience of child sexual abuse was an ongoing, rather than a single, abuse event. For many of those who experienced ongoing abuse (58 per cent of girls and 42 per cent of boys), the duration of abuse was longer than one year.

• A third (36 per cent) of those who had experienced sexual abuse as a child now believe that their abuser was also abusing other children at the time.