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An Ohio man is in jail for posing as an underwear researcher and examining children. Ken Hawkins is accused of arranging meetings this Spring with parents of at least three children to conduct a marketing research survey involving children's underwear and razors. While at the house of an eight-year-old girl, he instructed her to try on several pair of underwear while he took notes. Hawkins then took several measurements of the victim while she wore only the underwear. Prosecutors said Hawkins also ran his fingers around the waistband and looked at the rear of the panties to check out the...

Cardinal Newman High School officials said Friday they were surprised to hear that former KGO Radio talk show host Bernie Ward allegedly had sexual contact with two Ursuline High School students while he was a priest teaching at the schools.Ward, who pleaded guilty Thursday to distributing child pornography over the Internet, was the subject of a KGO-TV, ABC Channel 7, report Thursday.

Tony the Twister won't be shaping balloons into animals at children's parties anytime soon. Anthony Stelter, who performs for children as Tony the Twister, was charged Monday with repeated sexual assault of a child and, if convicted, faces 25 years to life in prison. But that is not the end of Stelter's problems with the law. The Dane County Sheriff's Office has forwarded information on assaults of two other victims to the Dane County District Attorney's Office. Those charges could be filed this week, and at least two other cases are being looked at for possible charges. At Stelter's initial...

The British government wants to ban convicted pedophiles from using social networking Web sites such as Facebook, the Home Office said Friday. The plan involves forcing sex offenders to give any e-mail address they use to police, who will then ask the Web sites to block their access, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said. Smith said the proposal is aimed at sending out the message that the Internet is ''not a no-go area when it comes to law enforcement.'' ''We are changing the law ... so that we have got better control over the way in which child sex offenders are...

A man who claims that he was molested by Bigfoot as a child was ordered to serve 20 years in prison yesterday for his own molestation-related activities. Gene R. Morrill, 57, of New Ipswich, New Hampshire, had previously pleaded guilty in Stafford Circuit Court to 20 charges stemming from his efforts to solicit 13-year-old boys over the Internet. According to the Freelance Star, Defense Attorney Terrence Patton cited Morrill's mental health issues in seeking leniency from Judge J. Howe Brown. Morrill reportedly told an investigator preparing his pre-sentence report that he had been sexually assaulted by the legendary Bigfoot. Patton...

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - A 52-year-old man jumped to his death from a Southern California courthouse balcony hours after being convicted of child molestation, authorities said. Carlos Edward Tello was facing more than 20 years in prison when he jumped from a ninth-floor balcony of the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana Tuesday afternoon. A suicide note was tucked into his clothing, authorities said. A jury in a Fullerton courtroom earlier Tuesday convicted Tello of repeatedly molesting a young girl between 1989 and 1994. Deputy District Attorney Heather Brown tried to have Tello's bail revoked and have him taken...

MARION COUNTY, Fla. -- A man who kidnapped and molested a Marion County boy choked to death in prison. Frederick Fretz died at a federal prison in Atwater, California after choking on a hot dog. In 2005, Fretz kidnapped 11-year-old Adam Kirkirt from Dunellon Elementary School. At the time, he told Kirkirt he was going to take him to his father, who had been arrested in Kentucky. Fretz and the child were later found in Georgia.

A Sunday school teacher at a Chandler church has been arrested on suspicion of molesting a child in his care. Terry Greenwood, 62, of Chandler is accused of forcing a 5-year-old girl to perform oral sex on him last month, according to a police report released Monday. Under questioning by detectives, Greenwood admitted he sexually assaulted the girl twice at Chandler United Methodist Church, 251 W. Chandler Blvd., police said. Greenwood was taken into custody on Dec. 21, the report said. He was booked into jail on suspicion of four counts of child molestation, one count of sexual conduct with...

CHANDLER, Ariz. -- A Sunday school teacher who was arrested on suspicion of molesting a 5-year-old girl at a church blamed his actions on his “high blood pressure,” according to a police report. Terence James Greenwood, 62, a married father of two children, also cast blame on his “medication,” or the possibility he had “mental problems,” the report said. Greenwood faces six felony charges, including child molestation, sexual conduct with a minor and indecent exposure. Greenwood has been a member of the Chandler United Methodist Church for years, but just started helping in the classrooms in September, according to the...

JACKSONVILLE - After 14 years of leading a Jacksonville church, the Rev. Darrell Gilyard had put behind a messy chapter in his life when reports of affairs with church members forced his resignation from a Dallas, Texas-area church. But during the weekend, allegations of sexual misconduct again put a cloud over Gilyard's ministry. Gilyard, 45, took a voluntary paid leave of absence from Shiloh Baptist Church after a mother's report to the sheriff's office that she found obscene text messages on her daughter's cell phone from a phone owned by the preacher. Gilyard, who lives in a gated community and...

BY MICHELLE BRADFORD (nwanews.com) Posted on Saturday, October 6, 2007keeparkansaslegal linkThe first person arrested by Northwest Arkansas’ newly formed immigration task force was charged Friday with a federal crime. Heriberto Gonzalez-Rodriguez, 44, was charged in U. S. District Court in Fayetteville with illegal re-entry by an aggravated felon. He’s being held without bond. A complaint alleges Gonzalez-Rodriguez returned to the United States after being deported to Mexico in 2006. He was arrested Sept. 24 when he went to the Washington County sheriff’s office (before going to the welfare office), to register as a sex offender (he must have been confident...

A former Arlington County youth sports coach and civil rights lawyer who once headed Virginia's American Civil Liberties Union chapter was sentenced today to seven years in federal prison for buying child pornography that prosecutors labeled sadistic and masochistic. Charles Rust-Tierney, 51, pleaded guilty in June to downloading hundreds of pornographic images of children as young as 4. Authorities said Rust-Tierney used a computer in his 11-year-old son's bedroom to view the files, which included a six-minute video that depicted sexual torture of children, set to a song by the rock band Nine Inch Nails.

A former KELOLAND pastor is accused of molesting children in the 1970s and 80s. Rev. Floyd Bacon died in 1997. The South Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America has recently received a number of complaints from alleged victims of innappropriate sexual contact.  The Synod will not release any information involving the number of victims, what they claim, or for how long the alleged molestation happened. In a written statement, the Synod writes in part: "We have been in contact with victims and have been disclosing information as we can to several congregations. This disclosure is part of...

Board won't bar alleged molester from schools School psychologist won't lose his license. The alleged victim's mother is 'outraged.' By Garrett Therolf, Times Staff Writer June 28, 2007 A former educational psychologist for Los Angeles schools who allegedly molested a boy hundreds of times two decades ago will not lose his state license and will be able to continue working with children. In a terse letter last month, the California Board of Behavioral Sciences informed the alleged victim's mother that it had concluded a nearly yearlong investigation, and no action would be taken against Peter J. Ruthenbeck because the statute...

A convicted sex offender is accused of molesting five boys, including at least one he met on MySpace, police said Friday. Joseph Burkett, 41, of Sound Beach, was arrested Thursday. The police investigation began several weeks ago when officers received an anonymous tip "that an adult male may have a MySpace page and (may) be looking for young boys to sexually exploit," said Suffolk County Police Detective Sgt. John Cowie. Cowie said the tipster, possibly a woman who feared her son was being abused, provided good information when she called and left a message, but some of the details were...

A former president of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union pleaded guilty Friday to federal child pornography charges. 51-year-old Charles Rust-Tierney entered his plea to one count of receipt of child pornography in US District Court in Alexandria. He had been indicted last month on one count each of receipt and possession of child pornography. Prosecutors say from March 2005 until October 2006, Rust-Tierney bought at least five subscriptions to child pornography Web sites and downloaded other illegal materials offered at additional cost. Rust-Tierney, who also coached Little League baseball in Arlington, has been in jail since...

BRUNSWICK, Ga. Three days before young Christopher Michael Barrios disappeared, a child molester suspected in the six-year-old's killing was sentenced to probation instead of prison for violating conditions of Georgia's sex offender registry. The suspect, George David Edenfield, also never served prison time for his 1997 child molestation conviction after he struck a plea deal with prosecutors, according to a review of court records by The Associated Press. Stephen Kelley, district attorney for the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, said today that it was not a breakdown in the system -- just a tragic situation. Still, Christopher's father and grandmother blamed the...

Frank D. Atherton appeared in court last month on child molestation charges. What's he going to do now? He's going to Disney World. Atherton, accused in Boone County outside Rockford of sexually assaulting three children under the age of 13, was given approval by a judge Feb. 26 to travel to Florida for a two-week vacation. Then Tuesday, when Atherton provided the court clerk with an itinerary, Associate Judge R. Craig Sahlstrom was called and authorized the 46-year-old felon's plans to spend three days of his trip at Walt Disney World. Atherton's vacation was scheduled to begin Tuesday, court records...

"...The White County school board and the ACLU reportedly have reach a tentative agreement to settle a suit growing out of attempts to for a gay support club at White County High School...The paper, quoting sources close to the matter, says the school board, through its insurance company, has agreed to pay the ACLU $168,000 to cover court costs and another $10,000 to the student plaintiffs...White County must also set up an anti-bullying program at both the high school and the ninth grade academy, according to the report..."

New laws intended to make life safer for children The Ohio legislature dropped the hammer on sex offenders during the two-year session that just ended, particularly on those who prey on kids. Their work culminated last week in the passage of a law that sets tougher mandatory minimum sentences for rapists whose victims are younger than 13. Lawmakers weary of stories about abuse of children, often by repeat offenders, acted in a number of areas. While many of those efforts were already under way, the desire for stronger punishments got a boost in March when a storm erupted over Franklin...

SYLMAR - After learning that 25 registered sex offenders were living in a local motel, Sylmar residents took to the streets, protesting with handmade signs and booming megaphones until state officials relocated the parolees. Now, some say a proposed measure on the Nov. 7 ballot would create similar clusters of sex offenders in communities around California. Proposition 83 - also known as Jessica's Law - would prohibit registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools, parks and similar locations. With communities now striving to make themselves as family-friendly as possible, officials say offenders will find themselves limited to...

Mel and Bill: bosom buddies By Michelle Malkin Wednesday, January 31, 2001 Johnny-come-lately liberals are in an uproar over former President Clinton's peddling of White House pardons: Clinton has no shame! He'll do anything for a quick buck! He disgraced the highest office in the land! This is news? Lost in the hoopla is Clinton's repugnant clemency action for former Congressman Mel Reynolds. There was no quid pro quo here. No cash contribution or new living room couch. Just a heartfelt gesture of sympathy from one big creep to another. Clinton ordered Reynolds released from federal prison and commuted the...

A man is accused of molesting a 12-year-old boy at a park Sunday afternoon. Jose Martinez-Frias, 45, reportedly admitted to molesting the child at Lamont Park, according to a news release from the Kern County Sheriff's Department. Martinez-Frias, an illegal immigrant who had previously been deported from the U.S., did not know the child, sheriff's senior deputy John Money said. After the incident, the boy went to a pay phone and called 911. The boy reported that he was molested at about 1:30 p.m. He had gone to the park by himself, Money said. The molestation reportedly took place in...

Posted on Sat, Sep. 02, 2006 Karr hires new lawyer in child porn case MARCUS WOHLSEN Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO - John Mark Karr, exonerated as a suspect in the slaying of JonBenet Ramsey, has asked a San Francisco lawyer to represent him as he awaits extradition to California to face child pornography charges. Robert M. Amparan is set to appear Tuesday in Sonoma County Superior Court to officially take over Karr's defense from the public defender's office, which has represented Karr in the case since it was first brought in 2001.

NEWARK, Ohio -- An Ohio pastor and his wife have been charged with possessing almost a dozen tapes of graphic child pornography. David Waser Sr., 52, and his 54-year-old wife, Judy, have lived in Newark for five years, while he serves as the minister at the Second Church of Christ next door. They have now been arrested and accused of receiving and possessing child pornography. Police said that in June, David Waser Sr. paid $130 for 11 hard-core child pornography videos on the Internet. Some involved children as young as 4 years old.

ONTARIO - A 28-year-old substitute teacher arrested Thursday on suspicion of molesting a 10-year-old girl may have molested more than 100 children over the past three years. Ontario resident Eric Norman Olsen, 28, was arrested Thursday at the Ontario Police Department when he came in for an interview with detectives, said Ontario police Detective Diane Galindo. Olsen was arrested around 3:20 p.m., Galindo said. Police began their investigation on June 13 after a student reported that Olsen had inappropriately touched a 10-year-old female student. That student reported the incident to a staff member and the police were contacted. The alleged...

Mass Equality, a militant gay organization pushing for national gay marriage, has announced that it plans to do a petition drive in South Boston during the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Petitioners will approach individuals and families watching the parade, urging people to sign their petition which demands national gay marriage rights. As you might expect, Catholics and parents who plan to be at the parade with their kids are angry at this latest assault and are calling-in to the show to protest. The Mass Equality rep is countering that her organization has the right to do this and that anyone...

If the King of Pop Converts to Islam by Daniel Pipes March 7, 2006 Michael Jackson, the king of pop, is "on the verge" of converting to Islam, CBS News reported last week. If that's true, it fits into a recurring and important African-American pattern. Rumors of Mr. Jackson's conversion first surfaced in November 2003, a month after his arrest on child-molestation charges. Saeed Shabazz, a reporter for the Nation of Islam's publication, The Final Call, announced that Mr. Jackson had joined the organization. He added that NoI's leader, Louis Farrakhan, "sees a lot of spirituality in Michael." But the...

March 1, 2006 Bill to allow gay foster parents to adopt doesn’t have the votes By Jan Pudlow Senior Editor A proposal to allow gay foster parents to adopt the children they care for received its first public hearing since Florida’s anti-gay parenting law was first enacted in 1977. It was standing-room only at the Senate Children & Families Committee on February 14, where 19 people — including gay and lesbian parents, foster parents, foster children, national children’s advocates, sociologists, and researchers — testified why the bill was in the best interests of children. But before there was a vote...

SALT LAKE CITY (Jan. 10) - Utah's oldest inmate, 99-year-old Bert Jackson, will be paroled and serve the rest of his sentence on home confinement. Jackson has served three years of a sentence of one to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing at least two children. "I don't want you to die in prison," state Board of Pardons and Parole member Keith Hamilton told Jackson during a Jan. 3 parole hearing. The Board of Pardons decided Thursday that Jackson will be paroled Feb. 7 to live with his son and daughter-in-law. The parole hearing lasted longer than usual because...

GOLDEN - A former hospice nurse who molested a terminally ill 10-year-old girl in his care several years ago apologized to the family of the child before he was sentenced Thursday.

Dec. 1, 2005 -- Earlier this year, Toronto police took an extraordinary step in their search for a little girl who was being subjected to the worst kind of abuse imaginable. She was the subject of pictures that had been showing up in the hands of pedophiles. They showed her tied up and raped repeatedly, and police could see her growing older in the photos. They feared the abuse was still going on.

A suspected child molester killed by Petaluma police last weekend was shot 27 times after he pointed a loaded handgun at officers, authorities said Friday. Five officers fired 42 rounds, striking 72-year-old James Anthony Decosta over much of his body, including his head, neck and chest. Petaluma Police Chief Steve Hood said the officers risked their own lives while standing down an armed fugitive. He said the 42 shots were necessary to stop Decosta, who had led officers on a brief car chase last Saturday before pulling over in an industrial park. *** Sacramento authorities had recently learned that Decosta...

Book Claims Sex Abuse Not Harmfulby Steve Jordahl Once again an attempt is made to promote the shocking theory that pedophilia is good. An old heresy is surfacing again. Sexual contact between adults and children is normal, even beneficial to children and can serve as a useful tool in the mentoring process. In a new book about the role of homosexuality in ancient Greece and Rome, Temple University Professor Bruce Rind claims sex between adults and children can be beneficial. Therapist Joe Nicolosi has seen the "benefits" in dozens of victims."It lowers self-esteem, it lowers trust, it creates profound...

MANCHESTER, NH — A judge sentenced a repeat child molester to 20 to 40 years in prison yesterday, calling him the worst she'd seen among "a lot of sick, creepy garbage" to pass through her courtroom. Kevin Larrabee, 48, admitted in Hillsborough County Superior Court yesterday to two counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault. Larrabee preyed on a 7-year-old with the knowledge of a relative who was also molesting the girl, victims' advocate Catherine McNaughton told the judge. Larrabee and the relative were using the child to fulfill their sick urges, McNaughton said. "You shattered the lives of every member...

The carjacker-kidnapper shot dead Monday by a passer-by in Cobb County had a conviction for sex crimes and has been tentatively connected to a rape last week in Acworth, police said Tuesday. Despite his conviction for child molestation and statutory rape, Brian O'Neil Clark, 25, does not appear in the state's database for sexual offenders, and state officials were at a lost to explain why. As details came out about her abductor Tuesday, so too did a picture of the victim. Kimberly Boyd, 30, was kidnapped at gunpoint shortly after leaving her office Monday morning, police said. She died when...

A longtime Boulder County Justice Center handyman accused of sexually assaulting three girls is back on trial this week after a jury in December couldn't reach a unanimous verdict. Jorge Medrano Olivas, 46, who has continued to work for the county since his arrest in March 2004 with the condition that he stay away from children in the Justice Center, is on trial for five counts of sex assault on a child. He could face life in prison if convicted. Advertisement Olivas was 16 when he immigrated to Boulder from Mexico and began working for the county. He is now...

Residents in a Ocala neighborhood could face charges after a convicted sex offender apparently committed suicide in despair over signs labeling him a "child rapist" posted in his neighborhood, according to Local 6 News. Clovis Ivan Claxton, 38, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a child in Washington in 1991, had lived at 3230 SE. 45 Street in Ocala for about two years. Tuesday, Claxton noticed bright yellow, laminated signs displaying his picture, date of birth, address and the words "child rapist" hanging on power poles in his neighborhood. A county commissioner proposed posting such information in the community but...

LOS ANGELES - A third juror in the Michael Jackson case who initially favored a guilty verdict weighed in after two others expressed second thoughts, saying she believes the entertainer is a child molester but joined in the verdict exonerating him because of reasonable doubt. Appearing on MSNBC on Tuesday, Juror Katarina Carls said she initially agreed with Eleanor Cook and Ray Hultman that Jackson was guilty, but decided she could not convict because of jury instructions that he must be acquitted if there was reasonable doubt. She said it was possible that Jackson's accuser was lying. "I kept asking...

Michael Jackson's defense attorney ridiculed two jurors who say they regret voting to acquit the singer of child molestation charges, saying it was "time to move on" from the case. "The bottom line is it makes no difference what they're saying," Thomas Mesereau Jr. told The Associated Press, pointing out the jurors announced their turnaround Monday as they began publicizing book deals. "Twelve people deliberated and out of that process justice is supposed to result. Now, two months later, these jurors are changing their tunes. They clearly like being on TV," Mesereau said. "I'm very suspicious."

Authorities Search for Father of 12-Year-Old Idaho Girl Found Bound and Stabbed The Associated Press Published: Jul 22, 2005 WALLACE, Idaho (AP) - A 12-year-old girl was found bound and stabbed on the side of a mountain road, and authorities were searching for the girl's father, a convicted sex offender who got out of prison last year. John Rollins Tuggle, 37, is the only suspect in the case, Shoshone County Sheriff Chuck Reynalds said. "We have the whole world looking for him," he said. The girl was covered with stab wounds but was expected to live, officials said. She was...

TAUNTON — Lawyers for the city's Retirement Board are researching the possibility of denying a pension to former police officer and admitted child molester David W. Smith on "moral grounds" or for "moral turpitude." Documents from the board's Wednesday meeting show that lawyers with Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham have conducted research and analysis of law concerning "equitable remedies or other remedies for denial of pension on moral grounds" and "denial of pension on basis of moral turpitude." The case has cost the Retirement Board more than $3,800 in legal fees for just one month. The board is awaiting a...

SAN JOSE, CALIF. - Chilling, handwritten lists of more than 36,000 suspected sex acts with boys has led investigators to what may be the most extensive case of child molestation in U.S. history. The lists, written in loopy cursive on 1,360 pages in seven multicolored, spiral-bound notebooks, have names and apparent codes for various sex acts, according to San Jose police. They were found last month in the San Jose home of convicted child molester Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller, 63, who is now in jail on felony molestation charges involving two local 12-year-old boys.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - A convicted child molester jailed in California may have committed sex crimes against thousands of victims, police said Thursday after finding computers, notebooks and meticulous, handwritten lists of boys' names and apparent codes for various sex acts. San Jose Police Lt. Scott Cornfield described 63-year-old Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller as "one of the most active child molesters we've ever seen." During a search of his bedroom in San Jose, police discovered binders full of child porn and numerous logs with lists of more than 36,000 children's names — mostly boys — and codes that appear to indicate...

Police Say Jailed Child Molester May Have Thousands of VictimsBy Rachel Konrad Associated Press Writer Published: Jun 16, 2005 SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - A convicted child molester jailed in California may have committed sex crimes against thousands of victims, police said Thursday after finding computers, notebooks and meticulous, handwritten lists of boys' names and apparent codes for various sex acts. San Jose Police Lt. Scott Cornfield described 63-year-old Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller as "one of the most active child molesters we've ever seen." During a search of his bedroom in San Jose, police discovered binders full of child porn and...

LINCOLN, Neb., May 12 (AP) - A federal judge on Thursday struck down Nebraska's ban on same-sex marriage, saying the measure interfered not only with the rights of gay couples but also with those of foster parents, adopted children and people in a variety of other living arrangements. The amendment to the state's Constitution, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman, was passed overwhelmingly by the voters in November 2000. The Nebraska ruling is the first in which a federal court has struck down a state ban on same-sex marriage, and conservatives in the United...

Nick Ryan, a one-time Fresno radio and television celebrity whose personal life held dark secrets, was sentenced to 78 years-to-life in prison Monday for sexually molesting young boys.

Molester's Suicide Raises Questions By ALLEN G. BREED The Associated Press OCALA -- For nearly four years, Chuckie Claxton lived anonymously amid the gated horse pastures and moss-draped oaks of the Florida Orange Groves subdivision. Then the crimes of others drew new attention to his own. In the statewide outrage over the arrests of sex offenders in the separate killings of two young girls, somebody in the Groves went to the state police Web site to see if any sex offenders were living in the neighborhood. That person -- authorities don't know who -- found an entry about Claxton's molestation...

A long-time Caledonia Elementary School music teacher and band director was arrested late Monday on charges of possessing and distributing child pornography. Craig Gieser, 48, appeared in Third District Court on Tuesday morning, May 3. He had been hospitalized for several days and then left the area with a friend before being located Monday evening. According to the police report, local authorities were alerted after an undercover detective in New Hampshire, posing as a 14-year-old boy in an internet chatroom, attracted the attention of the suspect. A person using the internet name cgiese1010 asked the “boy” for pictures, and the...

Saint Paul Police officers arrested a teacher at St. Paul elementary school Thursday for probably cause of criminal sexual conduct with a 9-year-old. Mathew Christopher Curran, 52, was arrested without incident outside Aerospace Magnet School on St. Paul's East Side, according to St. Paul police. Just before 10 a.m. Thursday, school officials learned of allegations sexual contact between Curran and a 9-year-old student and contacted police.