Featured IN News Stories:
Sex predator freed at sentencing in DeKalb County
Angela Mapes
09 Sep 2006 12:00 am
A Texas man who admitted to a relationship with a 14-year-old St. Joe girl he met on the Internet was eligible for release Friday, the day he was sentenced, a DeKalb judge ruled.
Billy Jay Carter Shirley, 33, of Gainesville, Texas, was sentenced to one year in prison for sexual battery, a Class D felony.
Shirley was arrested March 8 and charged with two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and has been jailed since then.
With credit for time already served and Indiana’s good-time credit system, he already is eligible for release, DeKalb Superior Judge Kevin Wallace said.
As part of a plea agreement, Wallace accepted the reduced charge of sexual battery, and the second count of sexual misconduct with a minor was dropped.
Sexual battery occurs when a person touches, in a sexual manner, another person with such a severe mental disability or deficiency that consent cannot be given, according to Indiana Code.
The victim and her family were not present, but they had given their blessing to the plea agreement and wanted to spare the girl the trauma of testifying at a trial that had been scheduled for October, deputy prosecutor Neal Blythe said.
Police Priorities
Christopher Tillett
06 Sep 2006 12:00 am
It seems to me that the biggest problem facing the crime and citation controversy surrounding off-campus housing is poor prioritizing by the South Bend Police Department. If the SBPD has enough time and resources to check the Internet to find out when and where a party occurs, then why do they not have enough manpower to stop (or at least curtail) the recent series of robberies and assualts against students?
There are certainly worse things that could happen than some college students drinking and listening to music - things such as muggings and armed robberies. The students of Notre Dame and Saint Mary's contribute put in an enormous amount of service hours in the community, and we are repaid like this? This appears more than a little unfair to me.
Justice for Aiyana? Trial scheduled for October
Joe Gerrety
03 Sep 2006 5:00 am
Aiyana Emily Gauvin, a 4-year-old from south Lafayette, was beaten to death in her home March 16, 2005, about a year after her child protection case in Tippecanoe Superior Court 3 was closed.
Initially judged to be a Child in Need of Services due to neglect by her mother, Aiyana was living with her father, Christian Gauvin, and step-mother, Michelle, at the time of her death.
Police suspect she had been abused for approximately six months. In addition to beatings, she had been restrained and forced to sleep in an unheated garage, according to police reports.
Michelle Gauvin has been charged in her killing, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Aiyana was one of four Tippecanoe County children to die in a relatively short span of time who at one time or other had been under supervision of child protective services.
Her death and subsequent revelations of the abuse she suffered, and the evident failure of authorities to take action despite repeated warning signs of abuse, shocked many in the Lafayette community.
After her funeral, people channeled their emotions into positive changes aimed at protecting and nurturing children in the community.
Meth dealers aren't similar to sex offenders
03 Sep 2006 12:05 am
Should drug dealers be treated the same as sex offenders? A proposal by state Rep. Ralph Ayres, R-Chesterton, begs that question.
Ayres said last week the legislative study committee he is leading will look at whether Indiana should create a meth registry to track people convicted of dealing or manufacturing methamphetamine.
Illinois and three other states have meth registries similar to that used for sex offenders.
But the bottom line is that drug abusers are, generally speaking, willing participants in the crime. Sex crime victims aren't. That's a big difference.
The meth registry is going too far.
Giving a voice to sex crime survivors
Dionne Waugh
03 Sep 2006 12:00 am
As the section chief of the sex crimes division of the prosecutor’s office, Speith knows of every sex crime and child abuse case the office is working. Half the sex crime cases she handles involve children, with a rising number of victims between ages 2 and 6.
It’s not always easy to leave such work at the office or to separate her emotions from her argument. Speith is known as someone who invests of lot of herself in her cases, a practice that both takes its toll on her as well as leads to sometimes personal conflicts in court.
One of the hardest aspects of the job, Speith said, is seeing the children so affected by what’s happened to them that it’s almost destroyed them.
“Those get to me,” she said softly.
Defense attorney Michelle Kraus said she understands how Speith feels.
“When dealing with rape and child victims, I took my work home with me,” Kraus said. “You do take it very personally because of the nature of the cases. I eventually learned, I think, as do other good trial lawyers, it’s a job that you have to walk away from; otherwise it’ll make you crazy.
“So I don’t necessarily fault her for wanting or needing or actually taking it personally because of the nature of cases. She’s got true victims that need compassion. The justice system isn’t always about that.”
Speith is haunted by the cases she can’t file criminal charges in because of such reasons as the child’s inability to testify.
And she can’t forget the cases she’s lost, but not because of her competitive spirit. The victims who come into her office aren’t all perfect, articulate people, she said. Molesters specifically seek out people they don’t think will tell or can’t explain what happened to them.
“I’d rather get a conviction that results in counseling and the person being registered (as a sex offender) than go to trial and lose because the worst thing is explaining to a child afterward that he wasn’t believed,” she said. “The child says, ‘I don’t understand. Why is my word not good enough?’”
Internet child sex predator investigation nets more than 20 arrests
Associated Press
23 Aug 2006 12:00 am
An undercover federal investigation targeting child sex predators over the Internet has resulted in more than 20
arrests, most of them men from Indiana.
The U-S Attorney's Office says eleven of the men arranged meetings with undercover officers and agents posing as
underage girls in chatrooms and traveled to meet them.
Fourteen of the men appeared in U-S District Court in Hammond on Monday on charges of attempting to induce, entice
and coerce for sex undercover federal agents who were posing as 13-year-old girls.
DNA Database: Some Felons' Getting Off the Hook
Shannon Samson
15 Aug 2006 6:48 pm
Since July 2005, Indiana law requires every person convicted of any felony offense to have a DNA sample collected, analyzed and sent to a federal database.
A year later, that's still not getting done everywhere. Law enforcement in many small counties simply don't know how to do any of it.
Group Accuses Church Of Delaying Molestation Case
14 Aug 2006 8:42 pm
A victims' group on Monday said Catholic officials are causing delays in a lawsuit by a woman who claims she was sexually abused by a Terre Haute priest as a child.
David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the archdiocese was delaying justice by invoking the statute of limitations and arguing that the First Amendment shields the church from being sued in that case.
Archdiocese officials said they have acted properly and have a right to defend the church and protect its assets.
Sex offenders sue for playground access
The Associated Press
31 May 2006 5:36 pm
Six sex offenders sued Indianapolis Wednesday to block a new ordinance that bars them from venturing within 1,000 feet of parks, pools and playgrounds when children are present.
The plaintiffs went to federal court to argue that the law is unconstitutionally vague, violates their rights to vote and attend church, and prevents them from freely traveling on roads that may pass within 1,000 feet of the affected sites.
The ordinance was approved May 15 and took effect immediately. It carries fines of up to $2,500.
Tenley Drescher, an attorney for the city, said officials planned to defend the ordinance. "The important part is protecting kids," she said.
Police: Registered Sex Offender Attempts Another Attack
Marlee Ginter
02 May 2006 4:28 am
She often sobs, remembering the day she was attacked less than a week ago. "I still have bad dreams. When I dream about it I just keep hearing my apartment door shutting and then I'm locked in there with him."
24-Hour News 8 not identifying her, but she wants her story told before it happens to someone else. She lived in an apartment building off north Meridian Street where she says John Ray Whitten, a neighbor and also a convicted rapist, attacked her.
Keeping Kids Safe Against Sex Offenders
Stefanie Silvey
27 Apr 2006 6:31 pm
Chief Deputy Eric Williams with the Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Department says there are places in the city that you can't find a block corner that doesn't have a registered sex offender.
Williams says there are at least 400 registered sex offenders in the county, which is an extra concern when a child is missing.
And there is reason for concern. Take Glenwood School, for instance. Within two miles of the school there are more than a hundred sex offenders.
More Former Detention Center Employees Turn Themselves In - Child abuse and child molestation investigation
26 Apr 2006
Investigators are still looking for one of the former Marion County Juvenile Detention Center employees accused of sexual misconduct with female detainees.
Investigators say nine employees, including Superintendent Damon Ellison, have turned themselves into police.
“What were they thinking? And then there’s a tape. I would consider that an embarrassment for Marion County and I think it’s a blow to any correctional officer. They lose credibility when things like this happen,” said Charlotte Dunlap, a visitor to the detention center.
Former Juvenile Detention Center workers face sex misconduct charges
Steve Jefferson
24 Apr 2006
Ten people have been charged in a major shake-up at the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center. One current and nine former employees are being charged with crimes, including child molesting and sexual misconduct with a minor.
Tracking Sex Offenders
It's a scary fact: there are thousands of convicted sex offenders in the Michiana area.
Sex offenders near schools
From the porch of his home, a 69-year-old Hammond man convicted of repeatedly having sex with his 12-year-old adopted daughter can see the busy schoolyard of Thomas Edison Elementary School across the street.
