Wisconsin prison guard charged with sexual misconduct

Christine Killoran-Pulver, 45, of Portage, Wi was charged with having sex with an inmate and providing him with sodas, snacks, and magazines during his stay at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Columbia County, Wisconsin. The 8 year veteran, who worked as a relief officer in the prison, was charged after an internal investigation for a policy violation led to an investigation by the Columbia County Sheriff's office, according to Detective Sgt. Daniel Garrigan of the Columbia County Sheriff's Department.

The investigation revealed that Killoran-Pulver had sexual contact with an inmate, first at CCI in Portage and continuing at Waupun Correctional Institution after the inmate was transferred, Garrigan said.

"She continued to communicate with this one inmate in code," arranging meetings with him, Garrigan said.

Garrigan also went on the record as stating that all sexual encounters with guards and inmates are considered to be sexual assault, and that rule is "Corrections 101."

"Based on the law, consent is impossible because of the power that guards have over inmates. There is no such thing as 'consensual sex' in this situation. Her actions give a bad name to corrections officers and law enforcement in general."

Killoran-Pulver is not accused of forcing the inmate to perform the sex acts, but Wisconsin law does not allow a prisoner to give consent to a prison staff member to have sexual relations. The laws are similar to those that handle consensual sexual encounters between adults and children.
Killoran-Pulver also brought items such as magazines, soda, popcorn and potato chips to the inmate, he said. Such activities are illegal and can jeopardize the security of the prison, he said.
"Someone showing special treatment for one inmate — it can cause all kinds of problems," Garrigan said.

Department of Corrections public information director John Dipko said that Killoran-Pulver was placed on administrative leave Monday, the day before the charges, and that she was the second CCI employee to be charged with sexual misconduct with inmates.

Cafeteria worker Christine Wodill, 42, of Beaver Dam, was sentenced to two years of probation after she pleaded no contest in November to a lesser charge of delivering tobacco to an inmate; a charge of sexual assault by correctional staff was dismissed. She was accused of sexually assaulting an inmate between March and August 2007, allegedly in the freezer at the prison.

Such misconduct is rare, Dipko said, considering the number of employees at the prison.
"Each instance is not reflective of the professionalism of the vast majority of the staff," he said. CCI employs more than 350 people, including 161 corrections officers, he said.

The incidents will prompt a review of policies and procedures within the prison, Dipko said.
"Any time an incident happens involving a staff member, we take a thorough look internally to see what, if anything, can be done," he said.

Garrigan said Killoran-Pulver's alleged actions were "unprofessional."

"She just fell victim to foolishness (and) let herself get complacent," he said.

She will make her initial appearance in court this week, he said.

Killoran-Pulver's official charges are second-degree sexual assault of an inmate, delivery of articles to inmates and misconduct in public office.

Rapist who gave DNA sample to clear him of murder sentenced to life

Calvin Walker, a 33 year old man whose DNA sample cleared him of a quadruple homicide but implicated him in a rape which took place back in 1999, was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for aggravated sexual assault in a Dallas court room. Walker was convicted during a jury trial after 15 minutes of deliberation, but admitted his guilt be apologizing to the woman he raped during his sentencing hearing.

But after saying he didn’t want to testify during the sentencing trial before Judge Creuzot, Mr. Walker asked to address the court, said prosecutor Jennifer Bennett.

Mr. Walker apologized and said that he raped the woman, but didn’t hurt her. He also identified two other men who participated in the attack, Ms. Bennett said.

In 2004, Mr. Walker was arrested as a suspect in a McKinney quadruple homicide.
In an effort to clear himself, he gave police his DNA for comparison to the crime scene. He was not a match, released from jail, and cleared as a suspect. But his DNA did match a December 1999 rape in Dallas that had gone unsolved, according to testimony.

During the rape trial this week, Mr. Walker testified that he believed McKinney police took some semen he was trying to mail to his girlfriend while he was in the Collin County Jail and used it to frame him for the rape.

District Judge John Creuzot presided over the trial.

Australian woman sentenced to 9 years for killing husband

From The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia)

A WOMAN who killed her estranged quadriplegic husband by setting fire to his Sydney home has been sentenced to a maximum of nine years jail for his manslaughter.

In April, Grace Soon, 71, pleaded not guilty to the murder but guilty to the manslaughter of former church minister Stephen Chin, 63, in September 2006. The crown accepted the plea after psychiatrists agreed she was suffering impaired judgment at the time of the killing.

She admitted pouring petrol on the front fence of his home at Daceyville in Sydney and then throwing a tin of petrol through the window of his bedroom. Soon told police she started the fire because the bankrupt former minister was ``coming after her property''.In May 2006 he had retained lawyers to seek a property settlement with his estranged wife.
Property searches found Soon owned a number of Sydney properties.

The court also heard from Soon that she was humiliated by Mr Chin during their marriage because he visited prostitutes and infected her with syphilis. The bizarre circumstances in which Mr Chin became a quadriplegic - a fall during a 1999 sex orgy with a transsexual - were also aired in court.

In the NSW Supreme Court today Justice Michael Grove sentenced Soon to a maximum of nine years jail for the killing, which he described as ``a monstrous act''. He gave Soon a non-parole period of five years and six months, to expire on March 4, 2012.

The start date of Soon's sentence was September 5, 2006.

Justice Grove said the killing had been primarily motivated by money, and dismissed sentencing submissions by Soon's legal team that Mr Chin's errant behaviour during their marriage had provoked the woman.
``I have no doubt that the marriage was most unhappy, and a bit of a sham,'' Justice Grove said.
``I reject the evidence that the continued misconduct brought you to the point of ... killing him.
``The prospect of property settlement was uppermost in your mind and it inspired your crime.''
Justice Grove also dismissed submissions that Soon had not realised the full weight of what she had done.

``I cannot find any evidence that you did not know the nature and quality of your act,'' he said.
``There is a scarcity of contrition by you.''

Ms Soon sat hunched in the dock with her head bowed throughout the 45-minute sentencing.

Aggravated Louisiana rapist sentenced to life without parole

Gregory Jones, 21, of Mansfield, LA, Desoto Parish, was sentenced to mandatory life without parole for beating and raping his ex-girlfriend in front of her child, after his conviction in April. That child, a 4 year old girl, her grandmother (the victim's mother), and the victim's grandmother was in court for the sentencing Thursday, June 19.

Assistant District Attorney Brian Barber said the victim and her daughter were in their apartment in Mansfield last year when Jones came in. The woman told the little girl not to look as she was beaten, then taken to the next room and raped, Barber said.
The woman was hospitalized after the attack, Barber said. Jones had denied beating the woman and said the sex was consensual. He did not speak during today's sentencing.

The victim's second child, four weeks old at the time of the rape, was still in the hospital because of premature birth.

Anal rapist of Florida women sentenced to 28 years in prison

A former TJ Maxx clerk with a history of peeping on women was sentenced to 28 years in prison for the anal rapes of three women in 2006. One of the women underwent emergency surgery after the assault. David Searcy, 34, of Margate, FL, MO was to either persuade or force women into his car, and sodomize them behind businesses along a stretch of Ft. Lauderdale street. Searcy pleaded guilty to 9 counts including sexual battery with great force used, kidnapping, and attempted murder.

One of his victims, who celebrated her 42nd birthday yesterday, looked at him in court and hoped that his sentence "give[s] him enough time to really realize all of the damage he has done to others and myself."

Before the 2006 assaults, police arrested Searcy three times in Broward County for spying on women in public restrooms. Each time he had pornographic materials in hand. He told detectives he liked "peeking at the ladies," according to court records.Searcy served five days in jail on one of the cases.Circuit Judge John J. Murphy III on Thursday also ordered Searcy to serve three years of house arrest upon prison release, to be followed by 25 years of sexual offender probation.

With his cuffed hands folded in his lap, a droopy-eyed and subdued Searcy told the judge he regretted what he had done."There's no excuse for my actions," Searcy said. "I feel bad. I can't take back what I took, what I did."Two of the victims wept and embraced in the back of the courtroom.

Defense attorney Barry Butin conceded that the state had a strong case. If convicted at trial Searcy could have received multiple life sentences.Butin said his client was remorseful. He described Searcy as someone who was not sexually well-adjusted "to the extent that he acted out in certain ways."

Prosecutor Dennis Siegel said that the last victim did not want to face Searcy or attend the sentencing, and that "the crimes were egregious and unusual. I would have wished he could have received a harsher sentence. However, there are certain real-world considerations that revolve around the victims and the impact of the case on the victims."

Florida man convicted of armed rape of newlywed 18 year old woman

A Florida man faces a minimum of 25 years in prison for sexual battery against a woman he raped in Lake Worth, FL. Jose Guzman and an accomplice raped the then 18 year old woman after an argument with her husband where the husband left her at a Wal Mart. As she walked home, the women encountered two men with a machete, who proceeded to rape her for a few hours before letting her go a few miles from home.

Guzman was convicted of armed sexual battery, which carries a mandatory minimum of 25 years to life in prison, and a second count of aggravated assault with a firearm, which carries a maximum sentence of 5 years.

Guzman, 25, testified that he met the woman around 11 p.m. sitting alone outside a Hispanic nightclub in Lake Worth. He said they went to the room he rented in a trailer and had consensual sex. After that, he said the drove her to the beach in Lake Worth, where she became angry when he told her he hoped to reconcile with the mother of his young daughter.

"She became angry, hysterical," Guzman testified via an interpreter, so he dropped her off in Lake Worth.

In closing arguments, prosecutor Daliah Weiss pointed out that when sheriff's investigators questioned him about his activities that night, Guzman denied going out, denied having sex with anybody, denied knowing the victim.

"If they had consensual sex, why deny it?" Weiss said.

Assistant Public Defender Susan Winston suggested that the woman falsely claimed she was raped rather than admit to her husband that she had cheated on him. "People all the time have one-night stands," Winston said. And, she noted, the victim had no injuries, "not even a bruise."

The victim testified Tuesday that she did whatever Guzman and the other man demanded because of what they might do to her if she did not.

"Sexual battery by its nature is a violent crime. The state doesn't have to bring somebody in on a stretcher to prove that. The victim gave in because she feared for her life."

Robert Falbe, the lead detective on the case, praised the victim - and described how she used to push a sofa against her doorway because the second rapist was never found.

Teacher charged with sexual acts against 18 year old student, pleads guilty to misdemeanors

(Original Post 4-16-08)

A 33 year old Raleigh, NC teacher who allegedly had sex with an 18 year old student at her apartmment this weekend was charged with a single count of taking indecent liberties with a student. Shannon Lee Best was charged because no relationship between a teacher and a student is consensual under North Carolina law.

Although the alleged victim is of legal age, police said criminal charges are being pursued because of the teacher-student nature of the alleged encounter."Under (state) statute, there is no age of consent when the suspect is a teacher and the victim is a student," Sughrue said.

Michael Evans, a spokesman for the Wake County Public School System, said Best taught at Sanderson High since August 2004.Students who were in her class, said Tuesday they were shocked by the news."She was a good person. She was a really nice teacher," said student Kendall Joyner said. "It's crazy – stuff that happens these days," another student, Ashley Fletcher, said. "You never know anymore."

Best was released from the Wake County jail after posting a $5000 bond.

(Update 4-19-08) A second student is allegedly involved in the sleepover at Best's apartment last weekend. The warrant said that the sleepovers were so Best could take them to a track meet, and that two photos, one of Best nude, and the second of her kissing a student, were taken. The nude photo was sent to the student she was sexually involved with, and police are searching for other victims. Police are searching Best's school owned computer and three flash drives.

(Update 6-19-08) Best was sentenced to 45 days in jail, suspended, 18 months of unsupervised probation, and a $250 fine and court costs. Best pleaded down to misdemeanor attempted crime against nature and giving alcohol to a student. She must have no contact with her victim at all or minors without adult supervision. Best now works at a restaraunt, but plans to get back into teaching again.

"We wanted to make sure she pled to something that was on her record, so, if someone did a background check, it would be a red flag that it was something they needed to inquire about,"
said Wake County District Attorney Jeff Cruden.

Best's defense attorney, Lee Turner, said his client, who resigned from the Wake County Public School System in April after nearly four years of teaching at Sanderson, knows what she did was improper and irresponsible and that she is devastated by what she did.

Turner said she comes from a family of teachers in Kinston and that he has received e-mails and letters from colleagues and parents about how she was a motivational teacher who inspired children who did not want to be in school.She is now working at a restaurant in Sampson County where she grew up but hopes to get back to teaching some day, he said."

Her whole life was planned around being a teacher, and apparently, she was a very good teacher from all I've learned," Turner said. "Hopefully, somewhere, someone down the line will give her an opportunity again."

Female employee of halfway house gets off due to technicality

A woman had charges dismissed for having sex with a resident in a halfway house because the sexual misconduct occurred outside the detention facility, and the law said that the sex had to occur within the facility. US District Judge Dale Kimball said that the requirement of sex within the facility made in impossible for charges to stick against Ashley Ford, a hall monitor at a federal halfway house.

Ford allegedly had sex with a work release inmate from the Cornell Community Corrections Center in South Salt Lake in her apartment while she was off duty. She met the resident at a party in October 2006, a month before she was hired as a hall monitor at the facility. Sexual contact, which always occurred at Ford’s apartment, occurred twice, and led to a pregnancy.

Arguing against the dismissal, prosecutor Trina Higgins said the resident was allowed to bring alcohol into Cornell and hold parties there on Saturday nights during his relationship with Ford.

In addition, the resident tried to force Ford to have an abortion and claimed she wrote bogus disciplinary reports about him because she was jealous of his relationships with other women, Higgins said. A federal grand jury indicted Ford last September on a count of sexual misconduct with a ward in a federal institution.

In a motion to dismiss, defense attorney Edward Montgomery argued that Ford had the same status as any other citizen when she was off duty and did not have any custodial authority over the resident. In addition, he said the sex occurred outside the facility, which provides monitoring of pre-trial defendants and helps those who are finishing their sentences prepare to go back into society.

Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said the office is reviewing Kimball's ruling.

The resident was sentenced to 46 months in prison for weapons charges. In other states, cases regarding teachers and students have withstood appeal, despite arguments that the teacher/student relationship ended when school ended.

Serial rapist who used local paper to find victims sentenced to 15 years

District Court Judge Melissa Goodwin sentenced Larry Todd Johnson, 45, to 15 years in prison for the attempted rape of an escort whose ad was placed in the Austin Chronicle last August. The sentencing comes at the end of a 2 day jury trial where prosecutors argued the North Austin man used the paper to prey on vulnerable women, while his defense argued that the man simply used it to assuage his loneliness.

"Without regard to occupation or circumstances, 'no' means 'no,' " Goodwin said.

In 1999, a call girl who listed her services in Austin's alternative weekly paper went to Johnson's house expecting to rub his back and dance naked for him, she testified during the sentencing portion of Johnson's latest trial. Once inside, the woman testified, Johnson put a rope around her neck and forced her to perform oral sex and beat her on the back with a belt.

"All I remember is, I thought I was going to die," said the woman, who is not being identified by the American-Statesman because she is the victim of sexual assault.

She said she escaped after her boyfriend knocked on the door. Johnson was convicted of several crimes in that case and went to prison.

In the latest case, a woman, who Johnson found in the Chronicle, went to his home in August to dance for him, but found herself with a bottomless Johnson. After asking to use Johnson's phone, the latest victim found herself struggling with him as he pulled her clothes off, but grabbed a knife from his pocket and only escaped with mionr injuries. Casner believes that other women were victimized, but did not report their victimization due to their occupation.

"They are part of the community," she said of the women. "They deserve protection."

Robert Aaron Mueller, Johnson's lawyer, stated that he used the Chronicle to cure his lonliness.

Florida teacher has sex with 18 year old student, but can't be charged

Natalie Fraxedas, a 23 year old rookie Santaluces HS teacher, admitted to having sex with an 18 year old high school senior who she met while tutoring him in Spanish. Fraxedas started having sex with him in January, a charge which would have led to a sexual battery arrest if he was under 18.

Throughout the fall and winter, Fraxedas exchanged flirtatious text messages with the student and gave him higher marks than he deserved in Spanish class, according to the police investigation.

By January, she and the student were having sex at Fraxedas' West Palm Beach apartment. Both denied having sex on the Santaluces High campus.During interviews with school police, Fraxedas said the student initiated the relationship, and she agreed to it only after he turned 18.

But the student told police that Fraxedas recently had become extremely jealous and possessive and had made him uncomfortable in class. A three-page love letter from Fraxedas also painted her as the pursuer.

"I want you to be my man that can stick with me through thick-n-think," she wrote. "I believe that you want to be with me ... I just don't think you've had a 'real' relationship and don't know how to handle one."

At the end of the letter, she tells the student that she will wait for him.

"Even if I only see you in class. I will wait till May 18," she wrote referring to Santaluces' graduation.

Because Fraxedas had sex with an 18 year old victim, she can't be charged with sexual abuse, but there were calls to change that.

Despite the numerous laws passed this legislative session to combat educator sexual misconduct, none included criminalizing sex between a teacher and an adult student. Only five states - Connecticut, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio and Wyoming - have such laws. [Also, Texas has such a law. Other states, like Illinois, raise the AOC for teacher/student sex to 18 from lower consent ages. New Jersey prosecutes sex with 18 year old students as official misconduct].

[State Sen. Don]Gaetz, a former school district superintendent, said any teacher who has a sexual relationship with a student should be barred from teaching in Florida and face criminal charges.

"Any educator who abuses that trust has committed a crime," he said.

Santaluces Principal Kathy Orloff decided not to renew Fraxedas' teaching contract, which is the same as firing. After being reassigned, she has had no contact with students since March. While she apologized for the "affair" and believed that it was inappropriate, Fraxedas believes that she should not face internal Florida Department Of Education discipline, which can include revocation.

Fraxedas recieved high marks for teaching from some colleagues.

At least one colleague described Fraxedas as a dedicated teacher. In a glowing letter to Orloff commending her, the teacher noted that Fraxedas kept her mornings and afternoons free to tutor students struggling in her class. She brought in cupcakes on their birthdays.

According to Orloff, if other school districts ask for references, she'll refer them to Fraxedas' file which include the misconduct investigation.

An Palm Beach Post Editorial talks about criminalization of sex between adults, arguing against it.

Girlfriend recounts fear she had after turning in teacher boyfriend for child porn

(Original Post 5-15-08)
The ex-girlfriend of a teacher who plead guilty to state child porn charges gave an interview with a Seattle-area television station about her experience telling the police that the teacher she shared her life with had a deviant interest in sex with young boys.

In an exclusive interview with KIRO 7 Monday, Sharyn Thoma-Guay explained how she told police about her boyfriend’s collection of child pornography nearly a year ago.

Her boyfriend, Tim Sheehan, was a popular video-production teacher at Whitman Middle School in Ballard. Thoma-Guay said Sheehan talked about fantasies of having sex with and killing young boys and showed her numerous images of child pornography on a laptop computer he used at the school.

Thoma-Guay said she was afraid not just of Sheehan’s students being potential victims, but also of Sheehan physically, and that his supporters, both adults and kids, would smear her.

“I was afraid that I would go and tell them (the police) this, and he (Sheehan) would get rid of everything and they would find nothing, and that he would still be teaching. And the only person that would know would be me,” she said.

Thoma-Guay told police about Sheehan’s activities last May and authorities found the images Thoma-Guay had described during a search of Sheehan’s home.

According to a Seattle police document, Sheehan apparently used his job to fuel his fantasies.
"Sheehan told Thoma-Guay that he liked when the children did interviews because it got head shots of his students. Whereas he used to have to look on the net for photos of children, he now enjoyed the fact that he got to ‘Watch them in slow motion, frame by frame,’” a court document said.

Sheehan resigned from his teaching job after pleading guilty to child porn charges last week. The girlfriend said that she turned in her boyfriend for the sake of the kids that were hurt.

“I just wanted people to know only one thing, and that’s that I only did this for the kids. Now I feel like I can move on because I did a good thing. It cost me, but I know it was worth it.”
Sheehan will be required to register as a sex offender. He was on paid leave until his resignation.

(Update 6-13-08) Sheehan was sentenced to two years suspended, and conditions of his sentence include sex offender treatment, sex offender registration, and a porn blocker on his computer. He was also prohibited from being around kids without another adult present, and from holding a position of authority over kids.

Deputy Prosecutor Julie Kays said the plea agreement was "to ensure the protection of children in our community. That has been our objective all along."

Sheehan's attorney, Jeffrey Cohen, said the man is known by parents and students as a good teacher and a positive influence. He provided the court with stacks of letters in support.

Judge Jeffrey Ramsdell noted Sheehan's strong community support and approved the plea agreement, but also pointed out that the crime has a "silent side" -- the children, often never identified, who are victimized to make child pornography.

Woman sentenced to 5 years for "lover" who never called back after sex

A New York college student who branded a former lover's body with a scalding piece of metal as payback for never calling her after they had sex was sentenced to five years in prison Friday.
Kristina Caban, 23, had no comment as state Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus sentenced her for what he called a crime that was "not remotely justifiable."

Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg told Obus that Caban was the "mastermind behind the plan" to sear the torso of Samir "Sammy" Sara, then 23, for having sex with her once in 2004 and never calling her again.

Caban enlisted new boyfriend Robert Testagrossa to help brand a four-inch-high "R" on Sara's abdomen in October 2006, the prosecutor said. She said Caban lured the former lover to a hotel room, where Testagrossa and another man grabbed him.

Blumberg said the men used a Taser to immobilize Sara in a room at the Chelsea Inn while Caban laughed at his distress and kicked him while he was down.

The branding "iron" was actually a length of metal wire fashioned into a "R" -- heated, and applied to Sara's torso, said Tracy Golden of the Manhattan district attorney's office. She said prosecutors did not know what the "R" stood for.

Caban and Testagrossa, 27, pleaded guilty to assault in August 2007 in exchange for five-year sentences. Testagrossa was sentenced in February and Caban, a photography student, was allowed to graduate from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan before going to prison.
Blumberg said the third assailant remains at large. He said Sara will have a permanent, tragic memento of his encounter with Caban.

Caban's lawyer, James Friedman said, "She's a good kid, despite the picture painted of her, who exercised poor judgment and got herself into a bad situation. She is not the monster the prosecution made her out to be."

Caban's father, Rafael Caban, 55, is a retired Correction Department captain.

Testagrossa is the son of two prosecutors. His father Charles is the executive assistant district attorney in Queens who prosecuted the Sean Bell police shooting case. His mother is a lawyer in the Nassau County district attorney's office.