Featured VA News Stories:
Making time fit the crime for predators
Mike Allen and Reed Williams
20 Nov 2006 12:00 am
Authorities are trying to toughen the penalties for crimes involving sexual exploitation of children. But some in the legal community wonder whether stricter punishments will solve the problem.
John Beckner purchased five years in a federal penitentiary with a $10 money order.
Beckner had visited an Internet site featuring child pornography. Over the next six months, the Roanoke man received e-mails hawking the site's wares. Though he made efforts to avoid the Internet, reminders from HotPop.com kept arriving. Finally, Beckner ordered a $10 "preview" video.
But HotPop.com was a front for a federal sting. As soon as Beckner picked up the tape, black government sport utility vehicles were following him.
Beckner cooperated with investigators and had no criminal record. Yet a federal judge in Roanoke had no choice but to sentence him to five years in prison, the mandatory minimum.
Paul Dull, Beckner's attorney, noted that his client never laid a finger on a child, and his only illegal purchase was from the federal sting. "So how, exactly, is he contributing to this mass problem?" Dull asked.
Beckner's case could become typical as national and state authorities campaign to toughen the penalties for crimes involving sexual exploitation of children, with a definite emphasis on punishment over treatment. Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell wants to look into creating state mandatory sentencing minimums for child pornography possession, akin to the federal law that sent Beckner to prison.
'Corrupt to the Core' Virginia Sheriff Indicted on Drug and Racketeering Charges
PIERRE THOMAS and JASON RYAN
02 Nov 2006 12:00 am
The federal government has declared a Virginia sheriff and his deputies corrupt to the core.
Today Henry County Sheriff Harold Cassell and 12 of his deputies were charged with dealing crack-cocaine, marijuana and ketamine, which is commonly called the "date rape drug."
Cassell has been the sheriff of Henry County since 1992. The indictments culminate a five-year Drug Enforcement Administration investigation into accusations of corruption. More than 20 individuals, including the 12 deputies, have been indicted in the drug distribution and money laundering ring.
A key allegation is that officers took confiscated drugs, issued fake destruction orders and then sold the stolen contraband.
Officials said this is one of the more disturbing, systemic cases of police corruption they have ever seen. According to an indictment unsealed today, the group allegedly sold multiple kilograms of cocaine and hundreds of pounds of marijuana. "As a public servant, I am deeply disturbed by the actions of these individuals, especially [those of] the law enforcement officers arrested today," said Shawn A. Johnson, special agent in charge of the DEA's Washington division.
"Those who betray the public trust insult the integrity and honor of all police officers who risk their lives upholding the law."
Other officers in the sheriff's office entangled in the charges included a canine handler who received cocaine and marijuana to train drug-smelling dogs. On 10 occasions, the dog handler passed the drugs to Vaught who gave them to other drug dealers he knew through Reed.
The depth of the corruption also ensnared the former head of the vice squad, David King, who often falsified destruction orders for multiple kilos of cocaine and crack, and hundreds of pounds of marijuana.
In reality, King was selling the drugs to members of the sheriff's office and the distribution ring. The government alleges the sheriff knew this was going on all along, and has audio transcripts to prove it.
Good time for strong message
Darrell Laurant
05 Oct 2006 12:00 am
Last night’s book reading and lecture by Randolph-Macon Woman’s College visiting writer Sue Silverman, an event planned weeks ago, turned out to have an eerie timeliness about it.
For Silverman’s area of expertise is sexual abuse, and her appearance at Smith Hall just happened to coincide with two events that have dominated the front pages and newscasts this week - now ex-Congressman Mark Foley’s Internet “fishing” for underage Capitol Hill pages and the horrific school shooting in Pennsylvania’s Amish country, which turned out to have a dark sexual motive at its core.
As Joni Mitchell once warned us in one of her bleakest songs, “Sex Kills.”
Of course, it can also be among the peak experiences of human existence. Hence, the dichotomy that has tormented mankind for centuries - the same human acts and desires can be holy in some contexts, depraved in others. And the line is constantly shifting.
Circumstances placed Sue Silverman on both sides of that line, and the damage she suffered inspired her to write two books. “Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You,” tells of years of incest suffered at the hands of her father, a lawyer and official in the Truman administration. The second, “Love Sick,” is about her resultant struggle with sex addiction.
A long and exhaustive period of therapy eventually muted Silverman’s demons, if not entirely exorcising them. Now, one of her life’s goals is to give a voice to others like her, either by teaching them to write about their feelings or simply helping them realize that they aren’t alone.
Ex-Trooper Reaches Plea On Sex Crimes
23 Sep 2006 6:43 am
A former Virginia State Trooper charged with having sex with minors reached an agreement with the state that could let him out of jail in less than four years.
That deal has the mother of one of the victim's outraged.
She says the ex-cop is getting off too easy.
Juan Zaragoza admitted to having oral sex with a fourteen year old girl in 2004.
In court Zaragoza reached a deal that dropped possible sex related charges involving three other juveniles.
In exchange, Zaragoza is facing two charges of carnal knowledge of a minor and a maximum of four years in prison.
According to state law anyone charged with carnal knowledge of a minor 13 to 15 years old faces a felony punishable anywhere from two years in prison to ten years...that's per charge.
The state would not discuss the deal.
Sexual Predator Hotline
Kelly Creswell
14 Sep 2006 12:00 am
"To help people realize that they can stop child sexual abuse, we have the power to stop this by being aware of it, by taking responsibility for talking to other adults when we're concerned about their behavior," says Gianna Gariglietti, the Executive Director of CASA.
But talking about sex abuse is hard for a lot of people. Gariglietti says most people pretend that sex abuse isn't a problem when it really is.
"Child sexual abuse is a problem everywhere, and Virginia and the Valley is no exception to that, and I would like to think we are, but the fact of the matter is that we aren't, I mean, one in four women and one in six to eight boys will experience abuse or attempted abuse in their lifetime," says Gariglietti.
The toll-free line is only offered in five other states in the country, but the Virginia Department of Health felt the hotline was needed because Virginia's sexual abuse statistics matched the national average.
"I do believe, and certainly stop it now believes that not everybody who sexually abuses a child wants to continue to do this, there are sex offenders who do want help, there are people who do want to get better," says Gariglietti.
And those people can receive help that will lead them in the right direction instead of continuing in the wrong direction.
Chance to right a wrongful verdict?
FRANK GREEN
06 Sep 2006 12:00 am
On Nov. 28, 1984, Kenneth Maurice Tinsley, short of breath and soaking wet, stopped running and faced an Albemarle County detective who had been chasing him.
"'Shoot me, shoot me, please shoot me . . . I'm not going back,'" the convict yelled. As Crystal Limerick later testified, she used her handcuffs instead of her handgun.
The arrest may soon right a long-running injustice.
While Tinsley was being captured in the rain 22 years ago, Earl Washington Jr. sat on Virginia's death row in Boydton, three hours away.
Today, Tinsley is scheduled to appear in Culpeper County Circuit Court charged with the crimes for which Washington was nearly executed -- the June 4, 1982, rape and murder of Rebecca Lynn Williams, a young mother of three.
Man Charged in Rape; Police Fear More Victims
Theresa Vargas
24 Aug 2006 12:00 am
After a Dale City man was charged with raping a 19-year-old woman who advertised massage services online, Prince
William County police said this week that they fear there might be more victims.
"We need to know how many more are out there," Detective Quenton Sallows said.
The woman told police that after the man raped her at knifepoint last Thursday, he chastised her for advertising
online and told her that "he was just trying to show her how dangerous it can be, that she could lose her life for
$200," Sallows said. The man then warned her not to call police, saying that he and his family were in law
enforcement and that his home was used by officers to clean up the neighborhood, Sallows said.
"We're afraid that there might be other victims out there who were too intimidated by that speech to come forward,"
Sallows said.
Michael A. Frese, 28, of the 13000 block of Kumar Court was being held in Prince William County jail without bond.
He was arrested Friday and charged with rape, forcible sodomy, abduction with the intent to defile and impersonating
an officer. Police said he told investigators that he had contacted other women online but that this was the first
time one came over.
The woman arrived at the home just before 4 p.m. and was immediately led down to the basement, police said. Feeling
uncomfortable with the situation, she tried to leave, saying she forgot something in her car, police said, when Frese allegedly pulled out a serrated knife. The woman was then handcuffed and sexually assaulted, police said.
She was allowed to leave only after receiving the lecture and being made to promise that she would never advertise
massage services online again, Sallows said.
Police said they are investigating to see whether there are any additional victims and encourage anyone with
information to call Sallows at 703-792-7234.
Videotape admissible in rape case
Amanda Kerr
12 Aug 2006 12:00 am
Just weeks before his trial, Kermit Anthony Gray on Friday tried to have incriminating statements suppressed that he made during a videotaped interview with police.
Gray's attorney, Patrick Kelley, argued that the statements were inadmissible as evidence because they were made after Gray invoked his right to an attorney. Neither Kelley nor prosecutors disclosed publicly what Gray told police.
What do you think?
Should Virginia castrate sex offenders?
08 Aug 2006 12:00 am
The subject is distasteful, but the reason for it is even more so. Virginia has begun to debate the subject of castration, and the reason is that it is sometimes advanced as a way to treat people who are repeat sex offenders, whether of women or children.
There's undoubtedly more discussion to come, so:
What do you think? Should Virginia castrate sex offenders?
Send us your comments by Monday, and the Editorial Board will consider them as it prepares an editorial position on the question. We'll print as many comments as we can along with the editorial.
Man pleads to soliciting online
BILL FREEHLING
19 Jul 2006 12:00 am
A Norfolk man who took part in an Internet sex chat from a public library in the Tidewater area pleaded guilty to a felony yesterday in Spotsylvania County.
Gary Don Castle Jr., 28, was arrested late last December at a public library in Portsmouth as he sat at a computer terminal.
At that time Castle was chatting online with a person whom he believed was a 13-year-old boy, according to prosecution evidence. It was actually a Spotsylvania sheriff's detective using a laptop computer with a wireless connection outside the library.
Sex offender coached youth
JULIAN WALKER
16 May 2006 12:00 am
A convicted sex offender who was coaching in a Chesterfield County youth softball league obtained his credentials because of a software glitch, county officials say.
The man, Robert L. White, was given a coaching permit in spring 2002.
About the same time, he was also sent a letter notifying him that his application to coach had been rejected, Department of Parks and Recreation officials said yesterday.
"It looks like this one slipped through the cracks," said Phil Innis, assistant director of Chesterfield's Department of Parks and Recreation.
Preying on Predators?
Holly Hobbs
03 May 2006 12:00 am
It was around 11 p.m. when a piece of masonry larger than a softball was hurled at him. The rock missed its target and landed in the grass a few feet away. As Leonard turned his head, he caught only a glimpse of his attackers fleeing through the yard. There was no need to call the police to report the incident, he says.
“For what? Why? Who gives a crap about sex offenders,” he says. “My life has been hell because of all of this.”
Leonard isn’t his real name. The Richmond man, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, is one of more than 450 metro-area sex offenders whose address, picture and criminal record are posted on Virginia’s online sex-offender registry.
Since the sex offender Web site was launched Dec. 29, 1998, Virginia ACLU Director Kent Willis says the Virginia ACLU has received calls from people complaining that they have been exposed to harassment at home and in the workplace. Since its launch, the Web site has logged more than 71 million hits.
“When you are convicted of a crime you lose some civil liberties,” McDonnell says of the registry. “That’s just one of the risks people take when they break the law.”
Leonard still calls the registry hypocritical.
“It’s a quick fix — a politician’s trick,” he says. “I think it’s good that people know who’s living in their neighborhood, but it’s hypocritically applied.”
Leonard says he’d like other criminals to get similar treatment.
“I’d like to know about the drunk driver who runs through bus stops,” he says. “If you are going to put sex offenders on there, why not put the drug offenders down the street. ... If you’re going to do it for one, you’ve got to do it for all.”
The governor’s legislation will not take effect until July. Leonard, however, says politicians have simply slapped a Band-Aid on a greater problem.
Protecting children from sexual abuse
Liz Mitchell
29 Apr 2006 12:00 am
Protecting a child from sexual predators begins with acting like a mother hawk.
At a child abuse awareness event held at the Culpeper County Library Thursday, Lisa Peacock, director of social services, said stopping crimes against children begins with prevention.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Gary Close echoed the importance of awareness.
“I really would like young mothers and fathers to know, the most important thing is you have to be aware of everyone who has contact with your child,” Close said. “You have to be somewhat suspicious at all times, even of some of the most trusted people. Over the years, I’ve seen people abuse the trust people have given them. You have to be very careful about who you leave your children alone with.”
