July, 2006 News, Page 1
Molester Says Only Prison Can Stop Him
19 Jul 2006 9:46 am
A child molester said in court on Tuesday that prison is the only thing that will stop him from molesting again.
The confession came from a man who had been through sex offender treatment twice, but remained a predator.
Most sex offenders do their best to stay out of prison. They generally get pretty rough treatment in prison and ask for treatment instead. However, Christopher Brainderd is in an Oahu prison because he said he wants to be in prison.
Vadney plea means at least 45 years in prison
NICHOLAS COATES
19 Jul 2006 12:00 am
Shane Vadney, accused of sexually assaulting 12 children while he worked as a teacher’s aide at a city day care center, pleaded guilty yesterday and will spend at least the next 45 years in state prison.
According to Hillsborough County Attorney Marguerite Wageling, the deal came after weeks of discussions between her office and Vadney’s attorney, Adam Bernstein of Nashua.
"You get to a fork in the road where you have to decide if you are going forward with a trial or are going toward a deal," said Wageling. "When the number of motions were filed a few weeks ago, it spurred on conversations about which path we were going down."
"Mr. Vadney decided what he wanted was some closure and the deal allowed him to have that,” said Bernstein. “This is a 22-year-old man with no criminal past. In no way am I minimizing the allegations, the convictions now, certainly they are egregious, but it took a lot for him to accept responsibility for his actions and bring this to a close.”
Molester gets maximum - prison term
TERRY VAU DELL
19 Jul 2006 12:00 am
In front of three molestation victims and their parents in Superior Court on Tuesday, a former Chico bait-and-tackle shop owner was sentenced to the maximum term of more than four years in prison.
The judge said Mark Andrew Corrie, 37, had abused a position of trust by befriending the victim's families in a sophisticated plot to sexually molest "vulnerable" boys, ages 15 to 17, during arranged hunting and fishing trips inside and outside of Butte County.
Corrie had also been charged with showing pornography and supplying alcohol to two of his teenage victims, but those counts were dropped in an earlier plea bargain.
Man sentenced for sex crime with 13-year-old
19 Jul 2006 12:00 am
A 35-year-old Lawrence man has been sentenced to 60 days in jail followed by probation for a sex crime involving an acquaintance’s 13-year-old daughter.
James W. Blackburn was sentenced Tuesday in Douglas County District Court for a May 13 incident at a home in Eudora in which prosecutors alleged he touched the girl inappropriately after a night of drinking alcohol.
He initially was charged with aggravated indecent liberties with a child, but Dist. Atty. Charles Branson’s office dropped it to an “attempted” crime as part of a plea agreement, which put Blackburn in a gray area on the sentencing grid in which a judge can give the defendant probation or prison.
Sex offender up for parole this week
MELISSA MANWARE
19 Jul 2006 12:00 am
A sex offender in prison for killing a 10-year-old Charlotte girl 27 years ago this week is scheduled to go before the N.C. parole commission Friday.
Fred Coffey, now 61, is serving a life sentence for murder in the death of Amanda Ray, a fourth-grade Chantilly Elementary School student who disappeared from her Eastcrest Drive home on July 18, 1979.
Her body was found the next day. Amanda had been strangled or smothered, an autopsy showed.
Police charged Coffey with her murder 7 1/2 years later. Police linked hair and carpet fibers found on Amanda's body to Coffey's dog and his van.
He was twice sent to death row for the killing but ultimately won a life sentence on appeal. He has been eligible for parole since August 1995 and goes before the commission each year.
Ex-Pyne Poynt principal admits asking boys to strip
19 Jul 2006 12:00 am
A former principal of Camden's Pyne Poynt Middle School pleaded guilty yesterday to offering money to two students to strip in front of him.
Daniel L. Edwards, 56, of Pennsauken, faces 364 days in county custody and five years of probation as part of the plea agreement when he is sentenced Oct. 6, acting Camden County Prosecutor James P. Lynch said.
Edwards, who retired from the school system in February 2005, also must pay $8,300 in fines and penalties, is barred from public employment for life, and must register as a sex offender under Megan's Law.
In pleading guilty to two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, Edwards admitted that in February 2002 and January 2005, he offered two boys - ages 13 and 14 - money to take off their pants and underwear. Neither complied.
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 ordered to serve prison term
19 Jul 2006 12:00 am
A registered sex offender facing six new felony charges in connection with the alleged molestation of 9- and 11-year-old Norman boys, was sentenced Tuesday to serve the full portion of a suspended term -- 19 years and 8 months -- to which he was sentenced in 1999.
Richard Bob Largent, 40, Oklahoma City, will be transferred into the custody of the Department of Corrections by the Cleveland County Sheriff's Department, after a mandatory 10-day period.
"It is clear to the court, based on testimony heard and court exhibits received, the defendant violated (special rules and conditions of probation) and continues to pose an ongoing threat to minor children," said District Judge Tom Lucas in granting the prosecutors' motion to revoke.
Sex Offender Website Reveals Dangers Lurking Near Salem Schools and Parks
Kevin Hays
18 Jul 2006 8:40 pm
The Oregon State Police website that lists the names and addresses of predatory sex offenders shows that many in the Salem-Keizer area are living within a one mile radius or closer to schools and neighborhood parks.
Marion County Commissioner Patti Milne doesn’t like it, “I’m shocked, alarmed, and deeply concerned by this.” The commissioner describes the current situation the result of bad planning.
Milne says that while the offenders have the right to have a roof over their head, locating themselves near schools and parks is bad planning not only on their part, the problem also rests with those charged with watching over them, such as parole and probation authorities, who try and help them find housing away from where children congregate.
However, authorities say that once the offender does his time, they don’t have any say on where they live or work.
Deputies hunt sex offender
18 Jul 2006 3:01 pm
A child-sex predator is the target of a Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department search.
Larry Neely vanished after allegedly failing to report to the department after a job change. That's a felony under New Mexico law.
A warrant from Arkansas is out this morning for Neely, a registered sex offender who phoned boys in there from his Albuquerque home to solicit sex.
Neely registered in New Mexico as a sex offender last August after a flap where he claimed he didn't have to register in this state because what he did legally is not a crime here.
Crimes make a comeback
Clarence Page
18 Jul 2006 12:00 am
Is crime making a comeback? In some cities it is. Like the District of Columbia, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Boston report an upsurge in murder, particularly among juveniles who are not content to merely rob or steal.
Adding alarm to newscasters' voices is the way this crime wave in the District, unlike earlier ones, is hitting the neighborhoods of tourists and rich people, not just street gangs and crack prostitutes.
Yes, the containment and abandonment of crime problems in poor people's neighborhoods has long been a dirty little secret of urban life. Eventually, as with a lid held down on a boiling pot, crime spills over into other neighborhoods so major media and powerful politicians no longer can ignore it.
Yet, back in the less fortunate neighborhoods, abandonment by the rich and powerful does not leave either helpless or hopeless. Churches, block clubs, community organizations and other local resources can step up and help give parents and kids some guidance.
Too many parents have dropped the ball, either unwilling or unable to prevent their kids from falling off the social cliff. Too many parents are still children themselves. They have left it up to others to do the child rearing they should do themselves.
9 Ways to Protect Our Children from Sexual Abuse
Kathryn Seifert
18 Jul 2006 12:00 am
John Couey’s trial for the sexual battery and murder of Jessica Lunsford has been postponed due to trial complications. The archdiocese of Dublin recently admitted that more than 100 Catholic priests are alleged to have sexually abused at least 350 children since the 1940’s. In the US several teachers have been arrested for having sex with their teenaged students. Desperate Housewives star, Teri Hatcher, revealed she was sexually abused by an uncle as a child but kept it secret for many years. A respiratory therapist admitted to molesting disabled children in San Diego. Internationally, street children have been pulled into the “sex trade” for centuries. There are travel agents that specialize in trips to third world countries to have sex with minors for a price.
Now that we are more aware of the problem as a society, we need to take steps to protect children from further abuse.
Priest Sentenced for Sex Abuse
18 Jul 2006 12:00 am
Illinois Priest Donald McGuire was sentenced Tuesday for sexually assaulting two teenagers in Wisconsin back in the 1960s.
Part of the sentence is being stayed as Father McGuire prepares his appeal.
But if his appeal fails, McGuire will face seven years in prison.
Father McGuire is 76 years old. His age and very poor health played a role in the decision to hold off on prison time.
But the judge says the acts he is accused of deserve serious punishment because of the long term effects his victims describe.
Child Molester Sentenced
Brian Joyce
18 Jul 2006 12:00 am
A Washington County man was sentenced today for what the county prosecutor calls one of the worst sex crimes he has ever seen.
The victim is a boy who was sexually abused two to three times a week for nearly two years -- and it started when he was just nine years old.
"He videotaped sexual acts between himself and the victim," said Craig Nolan, Washington County Prosecutor, as he detailed the litany of sexual abuse a young boy suffered at the hands of Casey Langlois, 26, at Langlois' sentencing hearing Tuesday.
The victim, now 13, was in the courtroom but rushed out as the list of crimes grew longer and more bizarre.
"The defendant engaged in bondage of the victim using zip ties and he blames that on the victim," said Nolan to the judge.
Collateral damage
Kinloch C. Walpole
16 July 2006 6:01 am
Prisons and the war on drugs have become a public dole dependent on human misery. A misery designed by politicians to exploit both felons and ex-felons whose disenfranchisement makes them safe targets in a continuously escalating cycle of exploitation and abuse. About 60 percent of the felons are the necessary but expendable foot soldiers of the drug world. These are men and women who are in prison as a result of drug-related or drug-motivated crimes.
They link the assorted drug cartels to the professionals that roam the halls of our universities, businesses, hospitals and government. These professionals are largely unaffected by the consequences of their "responsible recreational" use of illegal drugs.
Fines, civil forfeitures and prison sentences have been constantly ratcheted up over the last two decades to combat the distribution and crime associated with the supply and delivery of illegal drugs. There is not one statistic, trend line or shred of evidence showing that any of these measures have reduced the supply, weakened distribution nets, lowered demand or preserved the integrity of our way of life.
What has happened is that our state and federal government have developed the largest and most successful money laundering operations and both law enforcement and government operations have been corrupted beyond anything known in history. And the United States now has the highest incarceration rate and ratio in the world.
All this is correctable if there is the political will to do so.
Youth Camp Worker Allows Statutory Rape
13 Jul 2006 6:18 pm
There’s trouble at a camp that holds some of Tennessee's most troubled teenagers. Lebanon Police are looking for a former camp worker who is charged with taking two young men to a Wilson County camp so they could have sex with underage girls.
Neighbors said they’ve had no problems with the camp, but Lebanon Police have already arrested Christopher Carver, 20, and charged him with statutory rape. Now they are still looking for another man and a female camp worker.
“For this to happen and be allowed to happen by somebody who we feel is their caretaker. She was the only worker there when this happened. It is very disturbing to us,” said Lebanon police chief, Scott Bowen.
Police said Amy Morrison, 40, worked at the camp and actually drove two men to the camp and allowed them to have sex with underage girls.
“If she hadn’t went and picked them up, they wouldn’t have been there to begin with,” said Bowen.
Iraqi demands justice in rape-slay case
SAMEER N. YACOUB
04 Jul 2006 7:23 pm
Two women legislators called for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to be summoned to parliament to give assurances that justice would be done in the March 12 slaying of four members of a family in Mahmoudiya. A teenage girl allegedly was raped before being killed.
Former Pfc. Steven D. Green was charged Monday in federal court in North Carolina with murder and rape. At least four other U.S. soldiers still in Iraq are under investigation, and the military has stressed it is taking the allegations seriously.
Justice Minister Hashim Abdul-Rahman al-Shebli, a Sunni Arab, denounced the purported attack as "monstrous and inhuman" and called on the U.N. Security Council "to stop these violations of human rights."
In Mahmoudiya, Mayor Mouayad Fadhil said Iraqi authorities have started their own investigation into the rape-murder. Iraqi authorities identified the rape victim as Abeer Qassim Hamza.
The other victims were her father, Qassim Hamza; her mother, Fikhriya Taha; and her sister, Hadeel Qassim Hamza. FBI documents estimated the rape victim was about 25. But a doctor at the Mahmoudiya hospital gave her age as 14. He refused to be identified for fear of reprisals.
Mahdi Obeid, a neighbor, said he saw fire coming from the house on March 12. He rushed over to find Abeer's body on fire. He extinguished the flames and saw bullet wounds in her head and chest, he said.
"It was a horrible scene," he said. "If I could go back in time, I would have not dared enter the house. I cannot wipe those barbaric scenes from my memory."
Child Molester's Plea Deal Outrages Victim's Mother
Brian Joyce
10 Jul 2006 12:00 am
A proposed 60-day prison sentence for a confessed child molester has the victim's mother outraged. Monday, she asked the judge to reject the proposal that she calls an insult.
The controversy comes seven months after a Vermont judge triggered national controversy when he sentenced a confessed child molester to 60 days in prison. Once the state changed its corrections policy, he later increased the sentence to at least three years.
This time, it is a prosecutor that is calling for a 60-day sentence for a confessed child molester -- and the victim's mother is furious. At issue is the sentence for James Campbell, 46. Monday in court, he admitted that he sexually abused a 10-year-old boy three years ago. He initially faced charges that carried a potential life sentence, but under the terms of a plea agreement offered by prosecutors, he would get far less.
That simply outraged the victim's mother: "And he would get 18 months to 10 years with everything suspended except 60 days. And that was like a slap in the face to my son. He gave my son a life sentence. He needs to do more."
Former W’boro officer sentenced
Herald Democrat
07 Jul 2006 12:00 am
James Douglas Bell, a former Whitesboro resident, will spend the next nine years in prison for possessing photographs depicting the sexual abuse of children.
Bell, who now lists Haltom City as his home, received the sentence this week from United States District Judge Richard Schell.
U.S. Attorney Matthew D. Orwig said in a press release that he is pleased with the sentence. “The sexual exploitation of children through child pornography is an odious crime that robs our children of their dignity and innocence. The defendant deserves every day of this sentence."
Sex offender law limited
JOE LAMBE and LAURA BAUER
01 Jul 2006 12:00 am
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Friday that thousands of sex offenders no longer have to register, because the law requiring it does not apply retroactively.
The law previously required people to register if they were convicted after July 1, 1979. This involved more than 11,000 offenders to register, but Friday’s ruling lopped off about 16 of 27 years of registration.
The ruling written by Judge Laura Denvir Stith also said nothing prevented publishing the information about those who have registered. Offenders before 1995, however, can now move to new addresses that will not have to be listed.
