Female Circumcision Case A First

San Diego Union-Tribune ^ | January 10, 2004 | Matt Krasnowski

[Scenic Sounds]

LOS ANGELES – A Los Angeles County man who allegedly offered to circumcise young girls in his home was arrested with his girlfriend yesterday in what prosecutors said was the first U.S. criminal case of its kind.

Todd Cameron Bertrang, 41, and Robyn Faulkinbury, 24, were arrested by FBI agents at their suburban Canyon Country home and charged with conspiring to perform female genital mutilation on two minors.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Aveis said it was the first time anyone has been charged under the Federal Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act of 1995. The law prohibits the practice of female circumcision, unless it's medically necessary and performed by a licensed physician.

Human rights and health care groups have said female circumcision is widespread in parts of Africa, where parents have the procedure performed on daughters believing it promotes cleanliness and curbs girls' sexual desires. Health workers say the practice amounts to mutilation that causes long-term physical and psychological damage.

The procedure, typically performed on girls before puberty, ranges from cutting the tip of the clitoris to removing external genitalia.

Aveis said there was no evidence in the Bertrang case the procedure was being offered for "religious reasons."

Bertrang allegedly told investigators in December 2002 he had performed more female circumcisions than "anyone else in the Western Hemisphere."

The investigation began when an agent received information Bertrang circumcised a girl and displayed photographs of a surgically altered girl on a Web site.

Bertrang was then contracted by undercover FBI agents posing as a married couple who wanted their two girls, ages 8 and 12, circumcised.

In their conversations, Bertrang allegedly told the agents that performing a circumcision on a minor was "totally illegal" and he wouldn't charge his typical $3,000 fee. Faulkinbury was going to assist Bertrang in the circumcisions, according to the charges.

A federal magistrate yesterday ordered the pair held until a bail hearing Tuesday.

[Scenic Sounds]

Human rights and health care groups have said female circumcision is widespread in parts of Africa, where parents have the procedure performed on daughters believing it promotes cleanliness and curbs girls' sexual desires. Health workers say the practice amounts to mutilation that causes long-term physical and psychological damage.

Another very controversial custom!

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[Mad Dawgg]

"Another very controversial custom!"

But... but... we should embrace cultural diversity...

[JohnGalt]

Were these 'nice folks' over here on a work visa?

[CFC__VRWC]

The silence from the NOW gang on this quaint little "custom" of radical Islam (note that the article so conveniently forgets to make this connection) has been deafening. Remember this the next time some militant feminist starts screeching about how the Bush administration is more repressive than the Taliban because they won't allow a baby to be murdered while being born.

[independentmind]

I'm not a feminist, but I don't think it's fair to say that feminists have been quiet about the subject.

Feminists have another problem with Islam. They can't explain why women in cultures with Christian roots generally have the most rights and are the best treated in the world today.

[CFC__VRWC]

Feminists have another problem with Islam. They can't explain why women in cultures with Christian roots generally have the most rights and are the best treated in the world today.

There's another problem with feminists, one that came out during Clinton's 8 years of philandering and was emphasized by feminism's relatively muted outrage at the Taliban's treatment of woimen and their muted response to all the female circumcision, sex slave trading and other repressive actions against women going on in Muslim countries today. Simply put, NOW and their ilk are anti-American leftists first, and advocates for women a far distant second.

[robertpaulsen]

"Aveis said there was no evidence in the Bertrang case the procedure was being offered for "religious reasons."

Dare I ask, "And if it were for religious reasons ....?"

[Wisconsin]

I suspect this law might be unconstitutional. I don't see the federal nexus.

[martin_fierro]

Turns out Todd's really, really into "body modifications".

(You don't want to see his other work.)

[martin_fierro]

Link correction

[Truthsayer20]

"Robyn Faulkinbury" doesn't sound very diverse to me.

[Truthsayer20]

I doubt that this couple has anything to do with Islamists or Africans. My guess is that they are into some weird body mutilation fetish.

[Scenic Sounds]

Good job! The article I posted didn't provide much in the way of background.

[Truthsayer20]

More info about this degenerate @ http://www.toddbertrang.com/interview.html

[Scenic Sounds]

Thanks. Yeah, this guy is special. I really don't care what he does to himself, but to agree to carve up little girls is pretty outrageous.

[Truthsayer20]

The pictures of the mutilated girl (mentioned also in the article) are still on his web site. The guy is one sick puppy.

[Destro]

What about Male infant genital circumcisions?

[hellinahandcart]

I really don't care what he does to himself, but to agree to carve up little girls is pretty outrageous.

I really don't care what he does to himself either, but I'm real sorry that I now know what his penis looks like.

Ignorance was such bliss...