- Ariel Castro to cops: 'I'm coldblooded'
- Ariel Castro's Ex-Relatives Say Ohio Accused Kidnapper, Rapist Is A 'Monster'
- Long before he was charged, Ariel Castro was accuser in sexual assault case
- Sex assault survivors, former gymnasts, reunite for justice
- NSW priest facing 124 child sex charges
Ariel Castro to cops: 'I'm coldblooded'
DNA test shows Castro is the father of one of the victim's 6-year-old daughter
Tom Meyer, WKYC-TV May 10, 2013
CLEVELAND -- During interrogation with police, Ariel Castro, the man charged with kidnapping and raping three women over roughly 10 years, referred to himself as "coldblooded," addicted to sex and unable to control his impulses, WKYC Channel 3 News has learned.
With exacting detail, Castro recalled the abductions of Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, explaining how he met each victim and even what he was wearing that day, according to sources....
The 52-year-old unemployed school bus driver was "cocky" during the interview, showing remorse only over his capture, Channel 3 News was told.
Castro, who was arrested on Monday after Berry escaped from Castro's house with the help of neighbors and called police, was ordered held on $8 million bond Thursday by a Cleveland Municipal Court judge.
Meanwhile, in a suicide note discovered in his house by police, Castro blamed the girls for their abductions, writing that they were the ones who got into his car in the first place, the sources said. Castro did write that he wanted to give his money and possessions to the women if he was caught, the sources said.
The note appears to have been written in 2004, about the time police were investigating him on an apparently unrelated matter involving a child left on his school bus. In the note, he also mentioned his sex addiction, as well as having previously endured physical abuse as a child.
None of the abductions seemed planned, the sources said. Rather, they appeared to be crimes of opportunity....
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/10/ariel-castro-cleveland-abduction-cold-blood-kidnap/2149831/
Ariel Castro's Ex-Relatives Say Ohio Accused Kidnapper, Rapist Is A 'Monster'
AP By MEGHAN BARR 05/10/2013
CLEVELAND -- The man accused of holding three women captive for a decade in his home terrorized the mother of his children, frequently beating her, playing twisted psychological games and locking her indoors in the years before their relationship disintegrated, her relatives say.
Several relatives of Grimilda Figueroa, who left Ariel Castro years ago and died last year after a long illness, painted a nightmarish portrait of Castro's family life as authorities made public horrifying details of the abuse endured by the imprisoned women.
In interviews with The Associated Press on Thursday, the relatives described Castro as a "monster" who abused his wife and locked his family inside their own home. Their views were at odds with those of some of Castro's family and a neighbor, who knew the former school bus driver only as a happy and respectful man.
Figueroa's relatives said Castro savagely beat her, pushing her down a flight of stairs, breaking her nose and dislocating her shoulder, among other injuries. Her sister, Elida Caraballo, said Castro once shoved Figueroa into a cardboard box and closed the flaps over her head.
"He told her, `You stay there until I tell you to get out,'" said Caraballo, who cried as she recounted her late sister's torment. "That's when I got scared and I ran downstairs to get my parents."
Castro, to frighten his wife, kept a mannequin wearing a dark wig propped up against a wall and sometimes drove around the neighborhood with it, relatives said.
"He threatened me lots of times with it," said Angel Caraballo, Castro's nephew, who used to play with his cousins at the house where the kidnapped women were found. "He would say, `Act up again, you'll be in that back room with the mannequin.'"....
Some relatives of Castro have said they were shocked by the allegations against him. An uncle, Julio Castro, said it's been difficult news to absorb.
"Of course we have taken it hard," he said. "We only knew one Ariel, my sweet nephew. He was a sweet, happy person, a musician. We didn't have the slightest idea of the second person in him."....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/10/ariel-castro-monster_n_3251920.html
Long before he was charged, Ariel Castro was accuser in sexual assault case
Fernando Colon was accused by Ariel Castro in 2004 of sexually assaulting the latter's daughters, Emily and Arlene, who also were his stepdaughters. He was initially charged with 28 counts, including rape and kidnapping, but was found guilty of five lesser offenses. By Mark Schone NBC News investigative editor
Nearly a decade before being charged with kidnapping, raping and torturing three Cleveland women, Ariel Castro was himself the accuser in a sexual assault case involving his daughters. The accusations, which resulted in the conviction of his ex-wife’s second husband, now offer a new window into Castro’s tangled family relationships.
The case against Fernando Colon also raises questions about whether FBI agents squandered an opportunity to question Castro about the disappearance of two of the women in the months after their abductions.
Castro made the accusations against Colon, 39, in July 2004, shortly after 14-year-old Georgina “Gina” DeJesus vanished on her way home from the west Cleveland middle school she attended.
Colon, the husband of Ariel Castro’s ex-common-law wife, Grimilda “Nilda” Figueroa, says he told two FBI agents nine years ago to investigate Castro in connection with the disappearances of Amanda Berry and DeJesus, but that the agents seemed uninterested in his tip....
http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/09/18150055-long-before-he-was-charged-ariel-castro-was-accuser-in-sexual-assault-case
Sex assault survivors, former gymnasts, reunite for justice
Catholic Church and others oppose change that would let them sue
May 07, 2013 SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) ....
But with the smiles expressed by six former Olympic-hopeful gymnasts were also tears.
"I was raped," said Charmaine Carnes, a former gymnast who shared the same coach as the other women.
One by one, this reunited group shared a painful past.
"The rape that was happening was rampant. It was nonstop," added Monica Lenches, another teammate.
The group of six met in Sacramento on Tuesday to lobby for a proposed change in the statute of limitations civil law involving past victims of child sexual abuse.
"This man was extremely, extremely good at controlling us and manipulating us into believing this is what we wanted," said Anne Malver, another teammate.
Current California civil law limits the ability of child sex-abuse victims to seek damages -- an action must be filed by the plaintiff's 26th birthday, or within three years of the date that the plaintiff reasonably discovers the psychological trauma he/she is suffering (comes) from consequences of sexual abuse, read a news release from the sponsors of SB 131....
However, the California Catholic Conference, as well as a list of other private organizations, oppose the bill because it would virtually exempt all public employees and public schools from the proposed change in statute of limitations, said Kevin Eckery, a spokesperson for the Catholic Church....
http://www.kcra.com/news/sex-assault-survivors-former-gymnasts-reunite-for-justice/-/11797728/20052016/-/sjblpt/-/index.html
NSW priest facing 124 child sex charges AAP May 8, 2013
A former Catholic priest is accused of 124 child sex offences after scores of additional charges were laid against him.
The 59-year-old man faced Armidale Local Court, in the NSW New England region, on Wednesday, when prosecutors laid 64 fresh charges....
Police allege the offences relate to alleged assaults on a boy and two girls, aged from nine to 19, that took place in the early 1980s at Moree, Narrabri, Inverell and Armidale.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/latest/a/-/newshome/17067429/nsw-priest-facing-124-child-sex-charges/
Friday, May 10, 2013
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Ariel Castro, Cleveland Kidnappings - History of Abuse, Pentagon estimates 26,000 sexual assaults
- Hints of a dark side in Cleveland abduction suspect's life
- In note, Ariel Castro claimed he was sexually abused as a child
- Cleveland kidnapping suspect had history of abuse, former lover said
- Cleveland kidnappings: Suspect Ariel Castro had 'no flaw,' neighbor says
- Pentagon estimates 26,000 sexual assaults
Hints of a dark side in Cleveland abduction suspect's life
By Daniel Trotta CLEVELAND Wed May 8, 2013
(Reuters) - In hindsight, there were signs of a darker side to Ariel Castro, the Cleveland man suspected of abducting three girls and holding them captive for around a decade.
Divorced years ago and never seen in the company of women, Castro suddenly started showing up in the largely Latino, working-class neighborhood with a 6-year-old girl. It was his girlfriend's child, he told neighbors.
Castro, 52, was believed to have lived alone, yet on his lunch break would bring home enough bags of fast food and beverages for several people.
He was a school bus driver given mostly "excellent" marks on his performance appraisals, but was repeatedly disciplined, including for one incident when he was accused of calling a young student a "bitch" and leaving the child alone on a bus. These incidents eventually caught up with him, and he was fired last November....
"Ariel was in my garage probably five or six years ago. We were recording a song, an idea we had - a little hard rock with some Latin," said Joe Popow, 45, a father of six who said he has known the Castro brothers since childhood.
"And - you're going to laugh - he said he was in the CIA. And I don't know if he was joking or not, but it's the way he said it, how serious he said it. I didn't know what he was capable of. That just put me on defense, and I just started stepping away," Popow said....
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/08/us-usa-missing-ohio-suspect-idUSBRE94704Z20130508
In note, Ariel Castro claimed he was sexually abused as a child
CBS News May 9, 2013
A Cleveland man allegedly confessed years ago in writing to taking the three women he's accused of raping and holding captive and said that he was abused as a child and raped by an uncle, CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton reports.
According to a law enforcement source, Ariel Castro apparently contemplated committing suicide in the lengthy, handwritten note discovered in his house from which the women - Amanda Berry, 27, Gina DeJesus, 23, and Michelle Knight, 32 - escaped Monday.
According to the source, Castro wrote about his whole life, saying that he was abused by his parents as a child and that he was raped by an uncle.
Castro also provided details about taking each of his alleged victims, who went missing in their teens and early 20s. The note was discovered by FBI agents searching his house this week.
CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds reports Castro called himself a "sexual predator" and blamed the women for their own kidnappings, but he asks for whatever money he has to be donated to his victims after his death.
Investigators inferred from the 2004-dated note that Castro was going to commit suicide. He asked in the note that all of his money be provided to each of his victims....
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57583660/in-note-ariel-castro-claimed-he-was-sexually-abused-as-a-child/
Cleveland kidnapping suspect had history of abuse, former lover said
By Alana Semuels and Ari Bloomekatz
May 8, 2013
CLEVELAND -- One of the men suspected of imprisoning and abusing three recently freed young women was earlier accused of a series of violent acts against the mother of four of his children and was ordered to complete domestic violence and substance abuse counseling.
Grimilda Figueroa, who in various court documents filed in 2005 said she had four children with Ariel Castro, told authorities that Castro broke her nose twice, knocked out her tooth and threatened to kill her and her daughters several times.
"Ariel Castro and I were never married. During our relationship, he was very abusive," Figueroa said, according to an affidavit filed in Cuyahoga County in 2005.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-ohio-women-cleveland-suspect-abuse-20130508,0,5534556.story
Cleveland kidnappings: Suspect Ariel Castro had 'no flaw,' neighbor says
By Michael Muskal and Alana Semuels
May 7, 2013
CLEVELAND – Ariel Castro, the former school bus driver who is a suspect in the kidnapping of three women who escaped years of incarceration, was a friendly man who befriended area children and gave no hint of what was happening behind the locked doors of his Seymour Avenue house, his neighbors say.
“If a kid didn’t have a father, they would look up to him. There was no flaw,” said Juan Perez, 27, who lives two doors down from the house from where the three abducted women escaped on Monday. “I guess he had a great mask to cover a monster.”
Castro was known for giving children rides in his four-wheeler. He attended neighborhood parties and would have a beer....
Hector Lugo, 31, who lives on the same street, said he still can’t believe the friendly guy who would give his nieces rides was allegedly the perpetrator behind kidnappings that have baffled this city for a decade.
“He used to drive my nieces on his four-wheeler. That’s what threw me off,” Lugo said. “They always thought of him as a cool person -- a cool person to kick it with. He was an outgoing person, he never messed with anyone. He was always cool.”....
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-cleveland-kidnappings-ariel-castro-20130507,0,325028.story
Pentagon estimates 26,000 sexual assaults; Obama vows crackdown
By DAVID S. CLOUD Tribune Washington Bureau Tuesday, May. 7, 2013
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon estimated that 26,000 members of the military were sexually assaulted in unreported incidents last year - 35 percent more than in 2010 - a severe trend that senior officials warned could threaten recruiting and retention of women in uniform....
police in Arlington, Va., arrested the chief of the Air Force sexual-assault prevention branch for allegedly groping a woman outside a bar near the Pentagon, the latest sexual scandal to hit the headlines. Officials said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski was removed from his post after the arrest.
....An investigation that began in 2011 at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas has turned up 59 cases of sexual assault of military recruits by drill instructors....
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/07/5402972/pentagon-estimates-26000-sexual.html
- In note, Ariel Castro claimed he was sexually abused as a child
- Cleveland kidnapping suspect had history of abuse, former lover said
- Cleveland kidnappings: Suspect Ariel Castro had 'no flaw,' neighbor says
- Pentagon estimates 26,000 sexual assaults
Hints of a dark side in Cleveland abduction suspect's life
By Daniel Trotta CLEVELAND Wed May 8, 2013
(Reuters) - In hindsight, there were signs of a darker side to Ariel Castro, the Cleveland man suspected of abducting three girls and holding them captive for around a decade.
Divorced years ago and never seen in the company of women, Castro suddenly started showing up in the largely Latino, working-class neighborhood with a 6-year-old girl. It was his girlfriend's child, he told neighbors.
Castro, 52, was believed to have lived alone, yet on his lunch break would bring home enough bags of fast food and beverages for several people.
He was a school bus driver given mostly "excellent" marks on his performance appraisals, but was repeatedly disciplined, including for one incident when he was accused of calling a young student a "bitch" and leaving the child alone on a bus. These incidents eventually caught up with him, and he was fired last November....
"Ariel was in my garage probably five or six years ago. We were recording a song, an idea we had - a little hard rock with some Latin," said Joe Popow, 45, a father of six who said he has known the Castro brothers since childhood.
"And - you're going to laugh - he said he was in the CIA. And I don't know if he was joking or not, but it's the way he said it, how serious he said it. I didn't know what he was capable of. That just put me on defense, and I just started stepping away," Popow said....
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/08/us-usa-missing-ohio-suspect-idUSBRE94704Z20130508
In note, Ariel Castro claimed he was sexually abused as a child
CBS News May 9, 2013
A Cleveland man allegedly confessed years ago in writing to taking the three women he's accused of raping and holding captive and said that he was abused as a child and raped by an uncle, CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton reports.
According to a law enforcement source, Ariel Castro apparently contemplated committing suicide in the lengthy, handwritten note discovered in his house from which the women - Amanda Berry, 27, Gina DeJesus, 23, and Michelle Knight, 32 - escaped Monday.
According to the source, Castro wrote about his whole life, saying that he was abused by his parents as a child and that he was raped by an uncle.
Castro also provided details about taking each of his alleged victims, who went missing in their teens and early 20s. The note was discovered by FBI agents searching his house this week.
CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds reports Castro called himself a "sexual predator" and blamed the women for their own kidnappings, but he asks for whatever money he has to be donated to his victims after his death.
Investigators inferred from the 2004-dated note that Castro was going to commit suicide. He asked in the note that all of his money be provided to each of his victims....
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57583660/in-note-ariel-castro-claimed-he-was-sexually-abused-as-a-child/
Cleveland kidnapping suspect had history of abuse, former lover said
By Alana Semuels and Ari Bloomekatz
May 8, 2013
CLEVELAND -- One of the men suspected of imprisoning and abusing three recently freed young women was earlier accused of a series of violent acts against the mother of four of his children and was ordered to complete domestic violence and substance abuse counseling.
Grimilda Figueroa, who in various court documents filed in 2005 said she had four children with Ariel Castro, told authorities that Castro broke her nose twice, knocked out her tooth and threatened to kill her and her daughters several times.
"Ariel Castro and I were never married. During our relationship, he was very abusive," Figueroa said, according to an affidavit filed in Cuyahoga County in 2005.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-ohio-women-cleveland-suspect-abuse-20130508,0,5534556.story
Cleveland kidnappings: Suspect Ariel Castro had 'no flaw,' neighbor says
By Michael Muskal and Alana Semuels
May 7, 2013
CLEVELAND – Ariel Castro, the former school bus driver who is a suspect in the kidnapping of three women who escaped years of incarceration, was a friendly man who befriended area children and gave no hint of what was happening behind the locked doors of his Seymour Avenue house, his neighbors say.
“If a kid didn’t have a father, they would look up to him. There was no flaw,” said Juan Perez, 27, who lives two doors down from the house from where the three abducted women escaped on Monday. “I guess he had a great mask to cover a monster.”
Castro was known for giving children rides in his four-wheeler. He attended neighborhood parties and would have a beer....
Hector Lugo, 31, who lives on the same street, said he still can’t believe the friendly guy who would give his nieces rides was allegedly the perpetrator behind kidnappings that have baffled this city for a decade.
“He used to drive my nieces on his four-wheeler. That’s what threw me off,” Lugo said. “They always thought of him as a cool person -- a cool person to kick it with. He was an outgoing person, he never messed with anyone. He was always cool.”....
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-cleveland-kidnappings-ariel-castro-20130507,0,325028.story
Pentagon estimates 26,000 sexual assaults; Obama vows crackdown
By DAVID S. CLOUD Tribune Washington Bureau Tuesday, May. 7, 2013
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon estimated that 26,000 members of the military were sexually assaulted in unreported incidents last year - 35 percent more than in 2010 - a severe trend that senior officials warned could threaten recruiting and retention of women in uniform....
police in Arlington, Va., arrested the chief of the Air Force sexual-assault prevention branch for allegedly groping a woman outside a bar near the Pentagon, the latest sexual scandal to hit the headlines. Officials said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski was removed from his post after the arrest.
....An investigation that began in 2011 at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas has turned up 59 cases of sexual assault of military recruits by drill instructors....
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/07/5402972/pentagon-estimates-26000-sexual.html
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Ariel Castro Allegedly Kept Sexually Abused Kidnap Victims In 'Chains And Ropes', Eric Toth, accused of child pornography, evaded authorities for 5 years
Ariel Castro Allegedly Kept Sexually Abused Kidnap Victims In 'Chains And Ropes'
05/08/2013
The three kidnapped women who endured a decade inside a rundown Cleveland home were bound by ropes and chains and rarely let outside, according to Cleveland's police chief.
"We have confirmation that they were bound and there was chains and ropes in the home," Police Chief Michael McGrath said Wednesday morning on the "Today" show. He also said they were "very rarely" permitted in suspect Ariel Castro's backyard.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/08/ariel-castro-had-ropes-an_n_3237412.html
Ohio man charged with kidnapping, rape By Meghan Barr and Thomas J. Sheeran Associated Press May 08, 2013
CLEVELAND (AP) — Kidnapping and rape charges were filed Wednesday against a man arrested after three women missing for about a decade were found alive at his home.
Homeowner Ariel Castro was charged while his brothers, Pedro and Onil Castro, were held but faced no immediate charges.
The men were in custody and couldn’t be reached for comment. Their brother-in-law has said the family is ‘‘shocked’’ after hearing about the women at the home.
The three women were subjected to prolonged sexual and psychological abuse and suffered miscarriages, a city councilman briefed on the case said Wednesday.
Councilman Brian Cummins said that many details remain unclear, including the number of pregnancies and the conditions under which the miscarriages occurred. He also said the women were kept in the basement for some time without having access to the rest of the house. Police said they were apparently bound with ropes and chains.
The horrific allegations came out as police built a case.
‘‘We know that the victims have confirmed miscarriages, but with who, how many and what conditions we don’t know,’’ Cummins said. He added: ‘‘It sounds pretty gruesome.’’....
A 2005 domestic-violence filing in Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court accused Ariel Castro of twice breaking the nose of his children’s mother, knocking out a tooth, dislocating each shoulder and threatening to kill her and her daughters three or four times in a year.
The filing for a protective order by Grimilda Figueroa also said that Castro frequently abducted her daughters and kept them from her.
In 1993, Castro was arrested on a domestic-violence charge and spent three days in jail before he was released on bail. A grand jury did not return an indictment against him, according to court documents, which don’t detail the allegations....
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/05/08/ohio-man-charged-with-kidnapping-rape/q3P6S4KfsEqM7Wx9T69ezO/story.html
Eric Toth, accused of child pornography, evaded authorities for 5 years
By Justin Jouvenal, Published: May 5
Eric Toth was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list and had been featured on “America’s Most Wanted,” but last fall, one of the most notorious fugitives in America may have been set to take a stage.
He appeared to be booked to speak at a Las Vegas tech conference.
Colleagues knew the speaker under a different name as an Austin-based tech writer and computer technician they described as brilliant and friendly. But they now suspect that he is the same man who is accused of filming a sex act with a child while he was a teacher at the District’s exclusive Beauvoir school in 2007 or 2008.
They realized the night before the October speech that the tech writer had vanished. Calls and e-mails went unreturned. His Facebook page went dormant. They never saw him again.
His whereabouts remained a mystery until Toth, 31, was arrested in Nicaragua in April. Three people who saw arrest photos of the lanky man with long brown hair said he was the same person they knew from Austin. FBI officials declined to confirm their account. Toth’s attorney did not return a call for comment.
“My reaction was shock,” said Joel Stewart, one of the man’s former bosses at a computer repair store. “This was not an unlikable person. I think a lot of us came to think of him as something of a friend.”
During Toth’s five years on the run, the pattern played out again and again as the man the FBI says is an expert in social engineering and computers was able to invent fresh personas, allegedly obtain fraudulent documents and win the trust of unsuspecting people. When it appeared that he might be discovered, he would simply melt away.
All the while, the man, who authorities warned would not stop molesting children until he was caught, had contact with kids. The Washington Post has been able to reconstruct his time in hiding from the District to the Southwest to Latin America.
“It’s a case study in you never know who you are standing next to,” said Chris Bangs, who worked with the tech writer....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/eric-toth-accused-of-child-pornography-evaded-authorities-for-5-years/2013/05/05/02813d9a-ae8f-11e2-a986-eec837b1888b_story.html
05/08/2013
The three kidnapped women who endured a decade inside a rundown Cleveland home were bound by ropes and chains and rarely let outside, according to Cleveland's police chief.
"We have confirmation that they were bound and there was chains and ropes in the home," Police Chief Michael McGrath said Wednesday morning on the "Today" show. He also said they were "very rarely" permitted in suspect Ariel Castro's backyard.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/08/ariel-castro-had-ropes-an_n_3237412.html
Ohio man charged with kidnapping, rape By Meghan Barr and Thomas J. Sheeran Associated Press May 08, 2013
CLEVELAND (AP) — Kidnapping and rape charges were filed Wednesday against a man arrested after three women missing for about a decade were found alive at his home.
Homeowner Ariel Castro was charged while his brothers, Pedro and Onil Castro, were held but faced no immediate charges.
The men were in custody and couldn’t be reached for comment. Their brother-in-law has said the family is ‘‘shocked’’ after hearing about the women at the home.
The three women were subjected to prolonged sexual and psychological abuse and suffered miscarriages, a city councilman briefed on the case said Wednesday.
Councilman Brian Cummins said that many details remain unclear, including the number of pregnancies and the conditions under which the miscarriages occurred. He also said the women were kept in the basement for some time without having access to the rest of the house. Police said they were apparently bound with ropes and chains.
The horrific allegations came out as police built a case.
‘‘We know that the victims have confirmed miscarriages, but with who, how many and what conditions we don’t know,’’ Cummins said. He added: ‘‘It sounds pretty gruesome.’’....
A 2005 domestic-violence filing in Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court accused Ariel Castro of twice breaking the nose of his children’s mother, knocking out a tooth, dislocating each shoulder and threatening to kill her and her daughters three or four times in a year.
The filing for a protective order by Grimilda Figueroa also said that Castro frequently abducted her daughters and kept them from her.
In 1993, Castro was arrested on a domestic-violence charge and spent three days in jail before he was released on bail. A grand jury did not return an indictment against him, according to court documents, which don’t detail the allegations....
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/05/08/ohio-man-charged-with-kidnapping-rape/q3P6S4KfsEqM7Wx9T69ezO/story.html
Eric Toth, accused of child pornography, evaded authorities for 5 years
By Justin Jouvenal, Published: May 5
Eric Toth was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list and had been featured on “America’s Most Wanted,” but last fall, one of the most notorious fugitives in America may have been set to take a stage.
He appeared to be booked to speak at a Las Vegas tech conference.
Colleagues knew the speaker under a different name as an Austin-based tech writer and computer technician they described as brilliant and friendly. But they now suspect that he is the same man who is accused of filming a sex act with a child while he was a teacher at the District’s exclusive Beauvoir school in 2007 or 2008.
They realized the night before the October speech that the tech writer had vanished. Calls and e-mails went unreturned. His Facebook page went dormant. They never saw him again.
His whereabouts remained a mystery until Toth, 31, was arrested in Nicaragua in April. Three people who saw arrest photos of the lanky man with long brown hair said he was the same person they knew from Austin. FBI officials declined to confirm their account. Toth’s attorney did not return a call for comment.
“My reaction was shock,” said Joel Stewart, one of the man’s former bosses at a computer repair store. “This was not an unlikable person. I think a lot of us came to think of him as something of a friend.”
During Toth’s five years on the run, the pattern played out again and again as the man the FBI says is an expert in social engineering and computers was able to invent fresh personas, allegedly obtain fraudulent documents and win the trust of unsuspecting people. When it appeared that he might be discovered, he would simply melt away.
All the while, the man, who authorities warned would not stop molesting children until he was caught, had contact with kids. The Washington Post has been able to reconstruct his time in hiding from the District to the Southwest to Latin America.
“It’s a case study in you never know who you are standing next to,” said Chris Bangs, who worked with the tech writer....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/eric-toth-accused-of-child-pornography-evaded-authorities-for-5-years/2013/05/05/02813d9a-ae8f-11e2-a986-eec837b1888b_story.html
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Operation Holitna - Guilty Pleas in Large Child P_rn Ring, Kidnapping Cases
- Massachusetts man pleads guilty to solicitation to kidnap a child
"Dungeon discussed in online chats discovered in defendant's basement"
- Eastern Kansas man pleads guilty to producing child pornography
- Massachusetts man sentenced for production of child pornography
"Led to a network of child pornographers around the world; 38 arrested, 138 children rescued"
- Boston-area child sexual exploitation investigation leads to arrests in the Netherlands
"Dutch officials consequently arrested a 27-year-old daycare center employee who confessed to dozens of sex crimes with children."
- Extraordinary endings in kidnapping cases
(Jaycee Dugard, Elizabeth Smart, Shawn Hornbeck, Natascha Kampusch)
News Releases May 6, 2013 Boston, MA
Massachusetts man pleads guilty to solicitation to kidnap a child
Dungeon discussed in online chats discovered in defendant's basement; discussed mutual interest in abducting, raping, murdering and eating children with others in California, Florida, Kansas, New Jersey and New Mexico – latest developments in Operation Holitna
BOSTON — A citizen of the United Kingdom and most recently of Worcester, Mass., pleaded guilty May 6 to solicitation to commit a crime of violence – kidnaping of a child – and distribution and possession of child pornography. The guilty plea is the result of an extensive worldwide investigation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
According to the agreed upon statement of facts, Geoffrey Portway, 40, of Worcester, engaged in numerous chats with many individuals about a mutual interest in abducting, raping, murdering and eating children. Many of these conversations were accompanied by the trading of child pornography. These chats also included images of children known to them, accompanied by discussions of the desire to sexually abuse, murder and cannibalize those children....
At least as early as 2010, Portway utilized Skype and other programs to communicate with Arnett, trading child pornography including images of injured, mutilated and deceased children while chatting about the sexual abuse, rape, abduction, murder and cannibalism of children. Over months, Portway repeatedly solicited Arnett to kidnap a child for him, with the intent that Portway would ultimately rape, kill and eat that child. These solicitations for help abducting a child included discussing real children – by name and photo – that Arnett claimed to know and have access to.
In the chats, Portway and Arnett discuss different ways to kidnap children and the age range that Portway prefers. During the time that Portway was soliciting Arnett, Portway had been told that Arnett had helped others with such requests before and that Arnett had experience with the abduction and sexual abuse of children. Arnett has since pleaded guilty in Kansas to the sexual exploitation of a child for the purposes of producing child pornography....
A forensic examination of the computers uncovered evidence of over 4,500 trades of child pornography between Portway and others. Many of these trades involved Portway distributing child pornography to others based on their stated specific preferences, including images and videos appearing to depict dead children and the cannibalism of children....
http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1305/130506boston.htm
News Releases February 11, 2013 Kansas City, KS
Eastern Kansas man pleads guilty to producing child pornography
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A suburban Kansas City man, who was arrested in May as part of an international investigation into child sexual exploitation, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to producing child pornography.
This guilty plea resulted from an extensive investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Michael D. Arnett, 38, of Roeland Park, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of producing child pornography. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison.
During a May 15 search warrant, investigators discovered images of child pornography on a computer at Arnett's home in Roeland Park. The discovered child pornography included images of victims from Overland Park, Kan., who were identified through clues in the photos. For example, some photos showed a water bottle with a unique business logo and a phone number beginning with the 913 local area code. Both clues identified an aquatics business in Overland Park. This detective work allowed HSI investigators to significantly narrow the focus of their search for the victims.
With the assistance of teachers at an elementary school in Shawnee Mission, Kan., HSI investigators ultimately identified three boys who had been photographed at Arnett's home at 5451 Juniper Drive in Roeland Park. At the time the photos were taken, the boys were 11, 8 and 2 years old....
http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1302/130211kansascity.htm
News Releases June 8, 2012 Boston, MA
Massachusetts man sentenced for production of child pornography
Led to a network of child pornographers around the world; 38 arrested, 138 children rescued
BOSTON – A Milford man was sentenced to 18 years in prison in federal court. This investigation has led to an international child pornography case involving the abuse of 138 children. This ongoing worldwide investigation is being led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Robert A. Diduca, 48, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 18 years in prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release. On Nov. 17, 2011, Diduca pleaded guilty to production, distribution and possession of child pornography....
Diduca engaged in an online chat with an individual being separately prosecuted in Arizona, persuading him to sexually abuse a four-year-old child and take sexually explicit photos of the child. Diduca provided the individual with a camera and suggested how the child should be posed.
Diduca was also a member of an online forum for those with a sexual interest in children, and sent a pornographic image of a child via email. An investigation of that distributed image led to the identification of the child, and the arrest of a Dutch national in the Netherlands, who was charged with production, distribution and possession of child pornography, as well as the sexual assault of 87 minors.
Forensic evidence revealed over 27,000 images of child pornography in Diduca's possession....
http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1206/120608boston.htm
http://goo.gl/Odi5E
News Releases December 13, 2010 Boston, MA
Boston-area child sexual exploitation investigation leads to arrests in the Netherlands
BOSTON - Special agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Boston, along with Massachusetts State Police (MSP) detectives assigned to the Worcester District Attorney's Office, conducted advanced computer forensics on a computer seized in a child sexual exploitation investigation in the Boston-area. After intensive investigative work, HSI special agents and the MSP, working with Interpol and Dutch authorities, were able to track these photos to the Netherlands. Dutch officials consequently arrested a 27-year-old daycare center employee who confessed to dozens of sex crimes with children....
Shortly thereafter, on the same evening, KLPD-Ipol, along with Amsterdam Police, arrested a 27-year-old suspect. The suspect had babysat the victim and had worked at at least two daycare centers in Amsterdam. He also offered his services online as a babysitter.
The man's computers were seized and will be searched for evidence of child sexual exploitation and he has since confessed to dozens of sex crimes allegedly committed over the past year and a half. On Sunday, more than 50 parents were also informed that the suspect has either confessed to abusing their children or was thought to have done so....
http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1012/101213boston.htm
Extraordinary endings in kidnapping cases
Tue May 7, 2013
The rescue of three kidnapping victims is an extraordinary ending for the child abductees.
Such endings are rare, but here are some similar cases of child kidnappings which have occurred in recent years:
Jaycee Dugard
Ms Dugard was kidnapped in June 1991 in South Lake Tahoe, California at age 11 and remained missing for more than 18 years....
Elizabeth Smart
Ms Smart was abducted from her bedroom in an affluent suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah, in March, 2003, at age 14.
She was found nine months later in Sandy, Utah, only a few miles from her home....
Shawn Hornbeck
Mr Hornbeck was 11 years old when he was abducted near his home in Richwoods, Missouri while riding his bicycle and remained missing for more than four years.
He was found, along with Ben Ownby, 13, who had been abducted more recently, in the Kirkwood, Missouri, apartment of Michael J Devlin, in January 2007.
Devlin pleaded guilty to abduction and child sex abuse and was sentenced to life in prison.
Natascha Kampusch
Ms Kampusch was abducted at the age of 10 in March 1998 on her way to school in Vienna, Austria and held for more than eight years in a secret cellar in the small town of Strasshof until she escaped in August, 2006....
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-07/extraordinary-endings-in-kidnapping-cases/4674938
Monday, May 6, 2013
Satanic Killing, BBC Broadcaster Stuart Hall admits to sexual abuse of girls
- Satanic killing - victim was 'braaivleis'
- BBC to investigate Stuart Hall abuse as part of Jimmy Savile review
- After Stuart Hall and Savile, the more victims' voices are heard, the better
- Stuart Hall described as 'opportunistic predator' by CPS - video
- Stuart Hall put home in wife's name 'to avoid payouts to victims'
- Stuart Hall admits to sexual abuse of girls
Veteran BBC broadcaster described as 'opportunistic predator' after admitting to assault of 13 girls between 1968 and 1986
- Stuart Hall told 5 Live: 'Any 10-year-old can instruct you in oral or anal sex'
Comments eight years ago had been defended as 'satirical banter' by BBC
Satanic killing - victim was 'braaivleis'
South Africa Friday 26 April 2013
Teenager Kirsty Theologo was referred to as "braaivleis" when her murder in an apparent satanic ritual was being planned, a Johannesburg court heard on Friday.
Theologo was present when this happened, testified Lester Moody, who has confessed to his role in the killing.
He told the High Court, sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court, that the code name was used at a meeting on the Thursday before the fatal ritual on October 21, 2011.
The meeting was held to plan the details of her murder.
Moody, who has entered into a plea bargain with the State, was testifying against Lindon Wagner, Robin Harwood, Harvey Isha and Courtney Daniels.
He has been sentenced to 17 years in jail for his role in the murder, five years of which were suspended.
The four accused have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, attempted murder and assault to cause grievous bodily harm....
http://www.enca.com/south-africa/satan-killing-victim-was-braaivleis
BBC to investigate Stuart Hall abuse as part of Jimmy Savile review
Lord Patten says there will be no separate inquiry into how disgraced broadcaster Stuart Hall gained access to victims guardian.co.uk, Sunday 5 May 2013
Stuart Hall, above, admitted indecently assaulting 13 girls during the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The BBC may be liable to pay compensation to the victims, says Lord Patten.
There will not be a second inquiry into how broadcaster Stuart Hall was able to abuse his victims while working at the BBC, the chairman of the corporation's trust has said.
Lord Patten said instead a review by Dame Janet Smith into the Jimmy Savile scandal would also investigate how Hall – who has admitted indecently assaulting 13 girls during the 1960s, 70s and 80s – gained access to his victims.
Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Patten said the BBC was also likely to face compensation claims from Hall's victims....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/may/05/bbc-stuart-hall-jimmy-savile-review
After Stuart Hall and Savile, the more victims' voices are heard, the better
Stuart Hall's admission of sexual offences has brought the abuse scandal that started with Jimmy Savile back into the headlines. It's painful, but important, that victims are now speaking out
Suzanne Moore The Guardian, Friday 3 May 2013
....This is why today, when I hear the voices of Hall's victims, I would argue that naming the suspects (which enabled some women to come forward) remains powerful. Some of these women have been silent for a very long time. When Susan Harrison, whom Hall plied with alcohol then assaulted, told her father after returning home in tears, he said: "He is famous and we are nobodies. Nobody is going to believe you if you tell." Unless victims waive their right to anonymity, the victims do indeed remain nobodies. Harrison felt guilty, worrying that Hall may go on to abuse others, which he did. She later suffered from depression.
Kim Wright, another of Hall's victims, was watching the news about Savile when she decided to make a formal complaint. She is a policewoman who has worked in child protection. "I've always felt what Stuart Hall did to me is not something he'd do once, that it was part of some kind of modus operandi." Wright felt that if the police could tell other victims they were not the only one, they would have the courage to come forward. And she was right. "When he picked on me," she said, "he picked on the wrong person."....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/03/stuart-hall-savile-victims-voices
Stuart Hall described as 'opportunistic predator' by CPS - video
The Crown Prosecution Service issues a statement outside court after Stuart Hall, the veteran BBC broadcaster, admitted assaulting 13 girls between 1968 and 1986. Nazir Afzal, chief crown prosecutor for north-west England, describes Hall as an 'opportunistic predator', saying he established a pattern of behaviour that was 'unlawful' and for which no innocent explanation could be offered
Source: ITN Thursday 2 May 2013
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2013/may/02/stuart-hall-predator-cps-video
http://goo.gl/m7qpb
Stuart Hall put home in wife's name 'to avoid payouts to victims'
Disgraced BBC broadcaster, who signed over property valued at £1.2m February, faces compensation claims
Josh Halliday, Barry Neild and Maggie Brown
guardian.co.uk, Friday 3 May 2013
Stuart Hall, 83, has admitted indecently assaulting girls, the youngest of whom was nine. He will be sentenced in June. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA
The disgraced broadcaster Stuart Hall is facing accusations that he recently transferred ownership of his home to his wife in a deliberate attempt to avoid paying compensation to his victims.
Land Registry documents show that Hall's detached property in Wilmslow, Cheshire – said to be worth £1.2m – was placed under sole proprietorship of Hazel Hall on 22 February of this year. The transfer occurred less than a fortnight after Hall denied indecently assaulting 13 young girls, calling allegations against him "pernicious, callous, cruel and above all spurious". He has since admitted all counts.
At least six of Hall's victims are set to sue as a result of the "enormous suffering" inflicted on them by the former It's a Knockout presenter. The BBC is also said to be facing huge compensation claims for sexual abuse that may have occurred on the corporation's premises....
Land Registry documents show that until February, Hall and his wife had jointly owned the home since 1981. Hall told the Daily Telegraph he had transferred the deeds because he has "an extreme heart condition and at any moment I'm likely to pop off"....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/04/stuart-hall-home
Stuart Hall admits to sexual abuse of girls
Veteran BBC broadcaster described as 'opportunistic predator' after admitting to assault of 13 girls between 1968 and 1986
Nigel Bunyan guardian.co.uk, Thursday 2 May 2013
Stuart Hall, the veteran BBC broadcaster, has been described as an "opportunistic predator" by the Crown Prosecution Service after he admitted to a string of historic sex offences against girls.
Three months after dismissing the allegations as "pernicious, callous, cruel and, above all, spurious", the 83-year-old was forced to admit that his accusers had been telling the truth.
Hall, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, first made the admissions at a brief hearing at Preston crown court on 16 April. But they could not be reported because he was facing trial over an allegation that he raped a 22-year-old woman in 1976. On Thursday it emerged that the rape case had been left to lie on the file, along with three other allegations of indecent assault....
Earlier, Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said Hall's 13 victims had been aged between nine and 17. They were abused between 1968 and 1986....
In a statement issued later on his behalf, Brabners Chaffe Street said: "Stuart Hall confirms that he has pleaded guilty to 14 charges of indecent assault. Mr Hall deeply and sincerely regrets his actions. He wishes to issue an unreserved apology to the individuals concerned. He now accepts his behaviour and actions were completely wrong and he is very remorseful....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/02/stuart-hall-admits-sexual-abuse-girls
Stuart Hall told 5 Live: 'Any 10-year-old can instruct you in oral or anal sex'
Comments eight years ago had been defended as 'satirical banter' by BBC
John Plunkett The Guardian, Thursday 2 May 2013
When Stuart Hall appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live eight years ago telling listeners: "Your average 10-year-old can instruct you in oral or anal sex," the corporation defended his comments as "satirical banter".
The veteran broadcaster's admission, revealed on Thursday, of a string of historic sex offences against girls aged between nine and 17 casts his comments in a different, horrific light. Hall made the comments in a 2005 edition of 5 Live's Saturday morning panel show, Fighting Talk.
Living up to his reputation for outspoken views and colourful language, Hall told the programme that Zimbabwean cricketers should "black up" and branded Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, a "witch doctor"....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/may/02/stuart-hall-5-live-instruct-sex
- BBC to investigate Stuart Hall abuse as part of Jimmy Savile review
- After Stuart Hall and Savile, the more victims' voices are heard, the better
- Stuart Hall described as 'opportunistic predator' by CPS - video
- Stuart Hall put home in wife's name 'to avoid payouts to victims'
- Stuart Hall admits to sexual abuse of girls
Veteran BBC broadcaster described as 'opportunistic predator' after admitting to assault of 13 girls between 1968 and 1986
- Stuart Hall told 5 Live: 'Any 10-year-old can instruct you in oral or anal sex'
Comments eight years ago had been defended as 'satirical banter' by BBC
Satanic killing - victim was 'braaivleis'
South Africa Friday 26 April 2013
Teenager Kirsty Theologo was referred to as "braaivleis" when her murder in an apparent satanic ritual was being planned, a Johannesburg court heard on Friday.
Theologo was present when this happened, testified Lester Moody, who has confessed to his role in the killing.
He told the High Court, sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court, that the code name was used at a meeting on the Thursday before the fatal ritual on October 21, 2011.
The meeting was held to plan the details of her murder.
Moody, who has entered into a plea bargain with the State, was testifying against Lindon Wagner, Robin Harwood, Harvey Isha and Courtney Daniels.
He has been sentenced to 17 years in jail for his role in the murder, five years of which were suspended.
The four accused have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, attempted murder and assault to cause grievous bodily harm....
http://www.enca.com/south-africa/satan-killing-victim-was-braaivleis
BBC to investigate Stuart Hall abuse as part of Jimmy Savile review
Lord Patten says there will be no separate inquiry into how disgraced broadcaster Stuart Hall gained access to victims guardian.co.uk, Sunday 5 May 2013
Stuart Hall, above, admitted indecently assaulting 13 girls during the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The BBC may be liable to pay compensation to the victims, says Lord Patten.
There will not be a second inquiry into how broadcaster Stuart Hall was able to abuse his victims while working at the BBC, the chairman of the corporation's trust has said.
Lord Patten said instead a review by Dame Janet Smith into the Jimmy Savile scandal would also investigate how Hall – who has admitted indecently assaulting 13 girls during the 1960s, 70s and 80s – gained access to his victims.
Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Patten said the BBC was also likely to face compensation claims from Hall's victims....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/may/05/bbc-stuart-hall-jimmy-savile-review
After Stuart Hall and Savile, the more victims' voices are heard, the better
Stuart Hall's admission of sexual offences has brought the abuse scandal that started with Jimmy Savile back into the headlines. It's painful, but important, that victims are now speaking out
Suzanne Moore The Guardian, Friday 3 May 2013
....This is why today, when I hear the voices of Hall's victims, I would argue that naming the suspects (which enabled some women to come forward) remains powerful. Some of these women have been silent for a very long time. When Susan Harrison, whom Hall plied with alcohol then assaulted, told her father after returning home in tears, he said: "He is famous and we are nobodies. Nobody is going to believe you if you tell." Unless victims waive their right to anonymity, the victims do indeed remain nobodies. Harrison felt guilty, worrying that Hall may go on to abuse others, which he did. She later suffered from depression.
Kim Wright, another of Hall's victims, was watching the news about Savile when she decided to make a formal complaint. She is a policewoman who has worked in child protection. "I've always felt what Stuart Hall did to me is not something he'd do once, that it was part of some kind of modus operandi." Wright felt that if the police could tell other victims they were not the only one, they would have the courage to come forward. And she was right. "When he picked on me," she said, "he picked on the wrong person."....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/03/stuart-hall-savile-victims-voices
Stuart Hall described as 'opportunistic predator' by CPS - video
The Crown Prosecution Service issues a statement outside court after Stuart Hall, the veteran BBC broadcaster, admitted assaulting 13 girls between 1968 and 1986. Nazir Afzal, chief crown prosecutor for north-west England, describes Hall as an 'opportunistic predator', saying he established a pattern of behaviour that was 'unlawful' and for which no innocent explanation could be offered
Source: ITN Thursday 2 May 2013
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2013/may/02/stuart-hall-predator-cps-video
http://goo.gl/m7qpb
Stuart Hall put home in wife's name 'to avoid payouts to victims'
Disgraced BBC broadcaster, who signed over property valued at £1.2m February, faces compensation claims
Josh Halliday, Barry Neild and Maggie Brown
guardian.co.uk, Friday 3 May 2013
Stuart Hall, 83, has admitted indecently assaulting girls, the youngest of whom was nine. He will be sentenced in June. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA
The disgraced broadcaster Stuart Hall is facing accusations that he recently transferred ownership of his home to his wife in a deliberate attempt to avoid paying compensation to his victims.
Land Registry documents show that Hall's detached property in Wilmslow, Cheshire – said to be worth £1.2m – was placed under sole proprietorship of Hazel Hall on 22 February of this year. The transfer occurred less than a fortnight after Hall denied indecently assaulting 13 young girls, calling allegations against him "pernicious, callous, cruel and above all spurious". He has since admitted all counts.
At least six of Hall's victims are set to sue as a result of the "enormous suffering" inflicted on them by the former It's a Knockout presenter. The BBC is also said to be facing huge compensation claims for sexual abuse that may have occurred on the corporation's premises....
Land Registry documents show that until February, Hall and his wife had jointly owned the home since 1981. Hall told the Daily Telegraph he had transferred the deeds because he has "an extreme heart condition and at any moment I'm likely to pop off"....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/04/stuart-hall-home
Stuart Hall admits to sexual abuse of girls
Veteran BBC broadcaster described as 'opportunistic predator' after admitting to assault of 13 girls between 1968 and 1986
Nigel Bunyan guardian.co.uk, Thursday 2 May 2013
Stuart Hall, the veteran BBC broadcaster, has been described as an "opportunistic predator" by the Crown Prosecution Service after he admitted to a string of historic sex offences against girls.
Three months after dismissing the allegations as "pernicious, callous, cruel and, above all, spurious", the 83-year-old was forced to admit that his accusers had been telling the truth.
Hall, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, first made the admissions at a brief hearing at Preston crown court on 16 April. But they could not be reported because he was facing trial over an allegation that he raped a 22-year-old woman in 1976. On Thursday it emerged that the rape case had been left to lie on the file, along with three other allegations of indecent assault....
Earlier, Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said Hall's 13 victims had been aged between nine and 17. They were abused between 1968 and 1986....
In a statement issued later on his behalf, Brabners Chaffe Street said: "Stuart Hall confirms that he has pleaded guilty to 14 charges of indecent assault. Mr Hall deeply and sincerely regrets his actions. He wishes to issue an unreserved apology to the individuals concerned. He now accepts his behaviour and actions were completely wrong and he is very remorseful....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/02/stuart-hall-admits-sexual-abuse-girls
Stuart Hall told 5 Live: 'Any 10-year-old can instruct you in oral or anal sex'
Comments eight years ago had been defended as 'satirical banter' by BBC
John Plunkett The Guardian, Thursday 2 May 2013
When Stuart Hall appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live eight years ago telling listeners: "Your average 10-year-old can instruct you in oral or anal sex," the corporation defended his comments as "satirical banter".
The veteran broadcaster's admission, revealed on Thursday, of a string of historic sex offences against girls aged between nine and 17 casts his comments in a different, horrific light. Hall made the comments in a 2005 edition of 5 Live's Saturday morning panel show, Fighting Talk.
Living up to his reputation for outspoken views and colourful language, Hall told the programme that Zimbabwean cricketers should "black up" and branded Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, a "witch doctor"....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/may/02/stuart-hall-5-live-instruct-sex
Friday, May 3, 2013
Hall: victims say abused at BBC, Ritual killing accused found hanged, How Commune Became Cult Movie, Lost in the Mall Critique, Women forced into sex 25 times a day
- Stuart Hall: victims say they were abused at BBC
- Ritual killing accused found hanged
- Chile 'Devil Baby' Murder: Cult Leader Who Sacrificed Three-Day-Old Child Found Dead in Peru
- Movie Review How Commune Became Cult
- DAUBERT FRYE CRITIQUE #1: LOST IN THE MALL, BY LOFTUS, ET. AL.
- U.S.: Women forced into sex 25 times a day
Stuart Hall: victims say they were abused at BBC
Steven Swinford – 03 May 2013
Two of his victims have come forward to say they were sexually abused by Hall in the 1960s and 1970s after he was hired for their school prizegivings.
Hall invited both girls to the BBC's Manchester headquarters after promising that he would help them with their careers. One victim said Hall plied her with "plenty of champagne" before raping her in his dressing room.
Another said Hall sexually assaulted her in his car after inviting her to a "mocked up" studio session at the corporation's Manchester studios.
Both said Hall was helped by his friends, amid growing concerns that other staff at BBC may have turned a blind eye to the abuse.
Angie Bray, a Conservative member of the culture, media and sport select committee, said: "They have to look at this all over again. Depressingly, we see a pattern developing. Jimmy Savile is not just a one-off."
The investigation into Hall's activities began after one of his victims wrote an anonymous letter to a columnist at The Independent newspaper.
She said that she had been groomed and sexually abused by Hall after meeting him at her school prize-giving in the 1970s, when he was a presenter on Look North, a local BBC news programme.
Hall told her headmaster he was "impressed" and thought she could have a "future in television journalism", inviting her back to the BBC's studios.
She said:"I was young for my years and easy meat for a man like him," the woman wrote. To have a man of my father's age take a benevolent interest in me seemed wonderful.
"Sadly the world is too full of girls (and boys) who are looking for love, and find out too late that they have found sex with a predator instead."....
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/stuart-hall-victims-say-they-were-abused-at-bbc-29240672.html
Ritual killing accused found hanged 02 May 2013
The body of a Chilean man accused in the ritual killing of a three-day-old boy has been found hanged in an abandoned house in Peru.
Ramon Castillo, 36, was found hanging from a beam on the second floor of the house in the highlands city of Cuzco.
He was wearing jeans, a gray jacket, a cap, shoes and a backpack, General Javier Avalos, the regional police chief, said.
He said the body was identified through fingerprints that Chile sent via Interpol. He said it was too early to say whether Castillo's death was suicide....
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/ritual-killing-accused-found-hanged-29237361.html
Chile 'Devil Baby' Murder: Cult Leader Who Sacrificed Three-Day-Old Child Found Dead in Peru By Drishya Nair May 3, 2013
A Chilean man accused of "sacrificing" a three-day-old baby girl has been found hanged in an abandoned house in Peru.
Ramon Gustavo Castillo Gaete, 36, is believed to have been the leader of a 12-member cult that declared the baby girl the anti-Christ and killed her by burning her alive.
The incident took place on 23 November, in the town of Colliguay. Gaete has been on the run since February.
Ramon Gustavo Castillo Gaete was found dead in the second floor of an abandoned house in Peru....
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/464177/20130503/chile-baby-thrown-bonfire-cult-leader-dead.htm
Movie Review
How Commune Became Cult
‘The Source Family,’ a Documentary on Father Yod
Jim Baker, also known as Father Yod, center, used his Hollywood health food restaurant to recruit members for what became the Source Family.
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS April 30, 2013
For anyone looking to teach a master class in brainwashing techniques, “The Source Family” might be an excellent place to start. Documenting the hippy-dippy lifestyle and hedonistic principles of Hollywood’s favorite 1970s cult — led by the self-professed guru and suspected bank robber Jim Baker, a k a Father Yod — Maria Demopoulos and Jodi Wille’s disturbing film is an object lesson in psychological manipulation.
Working a powerful combo of personal magnetism and easy-to-digest philosophies — what young person doesn’t want to hear that marijuana-enhanced sex is the purest route to enlightenment? — Mr. Baker became the “superrich father” to a band of gorgeous devotees (not a few of them underage girls)....
http://movies.nytimes.com/2013/05/01/movies/the-source-family-a-documentary-on-father-yod.html
NEW ENGLAND LAW|BOSTON, JD/PHD PROJECT
DAUBERT FRYE CRITIQUE #1: LOST IN THE MALL, BY LOFTUS, ET. AL.
By: Wendy Murphy, JD; Megan Mitchell, JD (expected 2013); Alexa Sardina, PhD
(expected 2014)
Study Name and citation : Loftus, E. & Pickrell, J. E. (1995). The Formation of False Memories. Psychiatric Annals, 25(12), 720-725.
(Commonly known as the “Lost in the Mall” study).
Theory Advanced by the Study: False childhood memories can be implanted into adults by repeatedly stating the false memory as true.
Conclusion: The study’s theory and methodology are not reliable under either Frye or Daubert standards.
....For example, any attempt to use the Lost in the Mall study to prove or disprove that a person is telling the truth about sexual abuse should be unsuccessful simply because memories about getting lost in a mall have nothing to do with memories of being sexually or physically violated. Put another way, the capacity to make a person falsely believe they were once lost in a mall does not “fit” and bears no relevance in a dispute over whether a person can be made to falsely believe they were sexually abused as a child.
http://wendymurphylaw.com/LOSTINTHEMALL.pdf
U.S.: Women forced into sex 25 times a day
Associated Press Wed May 1, 2013 12:57 PM
NEW YORK — The young Mexican women were driven to rural New Jersey, where their handlers used threats to make them have sex with 25 farmworkers a day. Or they were confined to dingy brothels in the New York City area that advertised their services with “chica cards,” business cards passed out on street corners to attract customers. They were paid very little, or nothing at all.
U.S. authorities detailed their ordeal in a criminal complaint charging 13 people with smuggling dozens into the United States and forcing them into prostitution. Some of the defendants were to appear Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan to face multiple counts including sex trafficking and interstate transportation for prostitution.
The ring “lured their unsuspecting victims to the United States and then consigned them to a living hell,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.
The investigation was among several aimed at “blockading the repugnant sex trafficking corridor” used to exploit victims from Tenancingo, Mexico, said James Hayes, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York....
http://www.azcentral.com/news/free/20130501new-york-sex-ring.html
- Ritual killing accused found hanged
- Chile 'Devil Baby' Murder: Cult Leader Who Sacrificed Three-Day-Old Child Found Dead in Peru
- Movie Review How Commune Became Cult
- DAUBERT FRYE CRITIQUE #1: LOST IN THE MALL, BY LOFTUS, ET. AL.
- U.S.: Women forced into sex 25 times a day
Stuart Hall: victims say they were abused at BBC
Steven Swinford – 03 May 2013
Two of his victims have come forward to say they were sexually abused by Hall in the 1960s and 1970s after he was hired for their school prizegivings.
Hall invited both girls to the BBC's Manchester headquarters after promising that he would help them with their careers. One victim said Hall plied her with "plenty of champagne" before raping her in his dressing room.
Another said Hall sexually assaulted her in his car after inviting her to a "mocked up" studio session at the corporation's Manchester studios.
Both said Hall was helped by his friends, amid growing concerns that other staff at BBC may have turned a blind eye to the abuse.
Angie Bray, a Conservative member of the culture, media and sport select committee, said: "They have to look at this all over again. Depressingly, we see a pattern developing. Jimmy Savile is not just a one-off."
The investigation into Hall's activities began after one of his victims wrote an anonymous letter to a columnist at The Independent newspaper.
She said that she had been groomed and sexually abused by Hall after meeting him at her school prize-giving in the 1970s, when he was a presenter on Look North, a local BBC news programme.
Hall told her headmaster he was "impressed" and thought she could have a "future in television journalism", inviting her back to the BBC's studios.
She said:"I was young for my years and easy meat for a man like him," the woman wrote. To have a man of my father's age take a benevolent interest in me seemed wonderful.
"Sadly the world is too full of girls (and boys) who are looking for love, and find out too late that they have found sex with a predator instead."....
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/stuart-hall-victims-say-they-were-abused-at-bbc-29240672.html
Ritual killing accused found hanged 02 May 2013
The body of a Chilean man accused in the ritual killing of a three-day-old boy has been found hanged in an abandoned house in Peru.
Ramon Castillo, 36, was found hanging from a beam on the second floor of the house in the highlands city of Cuzco.
He was wearing jeans, a gray jacket, a cap, shoes and a backpack, General Javier Avalos, the regional police chief, said.
He said the body was identified through fingerprints that Chile sent via Interpol. He said it was too early to say whether Castillo's death was suicide....
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/ritual-killing-accused-found-hanged-29237361.html
Chile 'Devil Baby' Murder: Cult Leader Who Sacrificed Three-Day-Old Child Found Dead in Peru By Drishya Nair May 3, 2013
A Chilean man accused of "sacrificing" a three-day-old baby girl has been found hanged in an abandoned house in Peru.
Ramon Gustavo Castillo Gaete, 36, is believed to have been the leader of a 12-member cult that declared the baby girl the anti-Christ and killed her by burning her alive.
The incident took place on 23 November, in the town of Colliguay. Gaete has been on the run since February.
Ramon Gustavo Castillo Gaete was found dead in the second floor of an abandoned house in Peru....
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/464177/20130503/chile-baby-thrown-bonfire-cult-leader-dead.htm
Movie Review
How Commune Became Cult
‘The Source Family,’ a Documentary on Father Yod
Jim Baker, also known as Father Yod, center, used his Hollywood health food restaurant to recruit members for what became the Source Family.
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS April 30, 2013
For anyone looking to teach a master class in brainwashing techniques, “The Source Family” might be an excellent place to start. Documenting the hippy-dippy lifestyle and hedonistic principles of Hollywood’s favorite 1970s cult — led by the self-professed guru and suspected bank robber Jim Baker, a k a Father Yod — Maria Demopoulos and Jodi Wille’s disturbing film is an object lesson in psychological manipulation.
Working a powerful combo of personal magnetism and easy-to-digest philosophies — what young person doesn’t want to hear that marijuana-enhanced sex is the purest route to enlightenment? — Mr. Baker became the “superrich father” to a band of gorgeous devotees (not a few of them underage girls)....
http://movies.nytimes.com/2013/05/01/movies/the-source-family-a-documentary-on-father-yod.html
NEW ENGLAND LAW|BOSTON, JD/PHD PROJECT
DAUBERT FRYE CRITIQUE #1: LOST IN THE MALL, BY LOFTUS, ET. AL.
By: Wendy Murphy, JD; Megan Mitchell, JD (expected 2013); Alexa Sardina, PhD
(expected 2014)
Study Name and citation : Loftus, E. & Pickrell, J. E. (1995). The Formation of False Memories. Psychiatric Annals, 25(12), 720-725.
(Commonly known as the “Lost in the Mall” study).
Theory Advanced by the Study: False childhood memories can be implanted into adults by repeatedly stating the false memory as true.
Conclusion: The study’s theory and methodology are not reliable under either Frye or Daubert standards.
....For example, any attempt to use the Lost in the Mall study to prove or disprove that a person is telling the truth about sexual abuse should be unsuccessful simply because memories about getting lost in a mall have nothing to do with memories of being sexually or physically violated. Put another way, the capacity to make a person falsely believe they were once lost in a mall does not “fit” and bears no relevance in a dispute over whether a person can be made to falsely believe they were sexually abused as a child.
http://wendymurphylaw.com/LOSTINTHEMALL.pdf
U.S.: Women forced into sex 25 times a day
Associated Press Wed May 1, 2013 12:57 PM
NEW YORK — The young Mexican women were driven to rural New Jersey, where their handlers used threats to make them have sex with 25 farmworkers a day. Or they were confined to dingy brothels in the New York City area that advertised their services with “chica cards,” business cards passed out on street corners to attract customers. They were paid very little, or nothing at all.
U.S. authorities detailed their ordeal in a criminal complaint charging 13 people with smuggling dozens into the United States and forcing them into prostitution. Some of the defendants were to appear Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan to face multiple counts including sex trafficking and interstate transportation for prostitution.
The ring “lured their unsuspecting victims to the United States and then consigned them to a living hell,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.
The investigation was among several aimed at “blockading the repugnant sex trafficking corridor” used to exploit victims from Tenancingo, Mexico, said James Hayes, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York....
http://www.azcentral.com/news/free/20130501new-york-sex-ring.html
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
N.J. Catholics outraged over accused priest’s access to children, Catholics paid $36m to 600 abuse victims in Victoria, An ongoing battle against the porn connection
N.J. Catholics outraged over accused priest’s access to children
By Mark Mueller Religion News Service, April 30, 2013
NEWARK, N.J. — Amid calls for a Vatican investigation, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers is facing fierce criticism for his handling of a priest who attended youth retreats and heard confessions from minors in defiance of a court-ordered lifetime ban on ministry to children.
At St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Colts Neck, where the Rev. Michael Fugee had been spending time with a youth group, angry parishioners said they were never told about Fugee’s background, and they questioned Myers’ defense of the priest, the subject of a lengthy story in The Star-Ledger....
Fugee, 52, is a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark and under Myers’ supervision. His work at St. Mary’s, however, was in the neighboring Diocese of Trenton, where Bishop David O’Connell has ordered the pastor of St. Mary to bar Fugee from any church activities, a spokeswoman said in a statement....
Fugee was convicted in 2003 of criminal sexual contact for allegedly fondling a 14-year-old boy’s genitals on two occasions. Three years later, an appellate court vacated the verdict, ruling the trial judge should not have allowed jurors to hear the part of Fugee’s confession in which he described himself as homosexual or bisexual. The rest of the confession was not called into question.
Rather than retry Fugee, prosecutors allowed him to enter a rehabilitation program for first-time offenders, on the condition that he undergo counseling for sex offenders and sign an agreement barring him from any work in which children are involved. The archdiocese’s vicar general, on behalf of Myers, signed the agreement as well.
Yet The Star-Ledger found Fugee has apparently violated that pledge with impunity, attending retreats and hearing confessions and traveling with members of the St. Mary youth group to Canada....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/nj-catholics-outraged-over-accused-priests-access-to-children/2013/04/30/f222d2ca-b1c6-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.html
Catholics paid $36m to 600 abuse victims in Victoria
By Greg Ansley Thursday May 2, 2013
Australia's bid to prise open the secret world of endemic child sexual abuse in churches and other powerful institutions has stepped up a notch with revelations of the scale of perversion.
The Victorian inquiry resumed this week to admissions, contrition and apologies from the Catholic Church, which said it had paid A$30 million ($36 million) in compensation to about 600 victims of deviant priests in the state.
Next week the New South Wales special commission of inquiry will open its hearings in Newcastle, north of Sydney, in the diocese that triggered both the state inquiry and the federal royal commission into abuse of children in the care of religious, government and other institutions.
A key focus of the NSW hearings will be the late, defrocked priest Denis McAlinden, whose long-term abuse of dozens of children was known to the church but hidden as he was shuffled between Australia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand, where he worked at Tokomaru Bay near Gisborne.
McAlinden - whose predecessor was later convicted of child sexual abuse - was central to investigations by Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, the whistleblower policeman who sabotaged his career by making public alleged cover-ups by the Church....
In Ballarat, Church officials knew by 1975 that priest Gerald Ridsdale was a paedophile, but allowed him to continue working. Ridsdale was later twice convicted for child sexual abuse, and moved to different parishes.
The Catholic Order of Salesians of Don Bosco, which works with homeless and at-risk youths, and runs schools and boys' clubs, said it had paid more than A$2 million in compensation to abuse victims and had 49 complaints against its priests in Victoria, three of whom will face courts this year. The Brothers of St John of God said it had received 31 cases of abuse by 15 members.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10880999
An ongoing battle against the porn connection
Bharat Dogra The Statesman Asia News Network New Delhi May 2, 2013
Recent years have seen massive worldwide changes in cultural and social norms that are closely related to the spread of pornography and new forms of prostitution. These need to be studied and understood carefully, particularly in the context of their impact on violence and crime against women and children.
Researchers Rebecca Whisnant and Christine Stark describe the many-sided spread of this global industry: "Prostitution is a multi-billion dollar global industry that includes adult and child pornography, bartering sex for food and shelter, massage parlours, prostitution rings, stripping, saunas, live sex shows, street prostitution, escort services or outcall, ritual abuse, peep shows, phone sex, international and domestic trafficking, mail-order bride services and prostitution tourism. The prostitution industry is an enormously powerful and pervasive culture presence."....
According to Forbes magazine, the contemporary legal pornography business is a $56-billion global industry, including a huge presence of some big multinational companies....
In a research paper titled "The Use of New Communication Technologies for Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children", Donna Hughes.... This study quotes experiences of police officers who blame the Internet particularly for the spread of child porn. Raymond Smith of the US Postal Inspection Service, who has handled hundreds of cases of child pornography, found that the rise in Internet use by sexual predators has also increased their use of the US mail service. He said that from the time they first started investigating child pornography in the early 1980s until five years ago, they had almost eliminated the distribution of child pornography.
But since the Internet this has steadily increased. In 1998, 32 per cent of cases of distribution of child porn were related to the Internet. In 1999, 47 per cent were Internet-related, and in 2000 this had risen to 77 per cent. This paper concludes, "The use of new communication and information technologies for the sexual exploitation of women and children is creating a crisis for women's and children's status, and dignity all over the world."
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/An-ongoing-battle-against-the-porn-connection-30205229.html
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