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Top News Story!
News from Michigan!
Daily News Playlist From Oakland County
B.O.L.O.!
June 1, 2011
Garrido Saga!
Posted: 06/02/2011 06:16:34 AM PDT
Updated: 06/02/2011 10:04:14 AM PDT
Nancy Sentenced!
Nancy Garrido was sentenced to 36 years to life in prison this morning, and a judge will sentence her husband Phillip Garrido shortly, according to her attorney who spoke to media outside the Placerville courtroom.
PLACERVILLE, CA -- Phillip and Nancy Garrido are expected to be sentenced to virtual life terms in prison Thursday morning, capping a whirlwind of a case that captured hearts and imaginations worldwide after Jaycee Dugard surfaced and revealed she spent two decades as the prisoner of a twisted sexual bondage and captivity scheme outside Antioch.
Phillip Garrido, 60, will receive a sentence of 431 years to life in prison, while Nancy Garrido, 55, will be sentenced to 36 years to life in prison, all in accordance with their guilty pleas last month in a courtroom in El Dorado County, which encompasses the South Lake Tahoe neighborhood where she was kidnapped in 1991.
The story isn't done yet: Dugard's memoir, said to be written by the victim herself, is set for release in July. It is expected to fill in the blanks of how she survived a nightmare that included her systematic rape at the hands of Phillip Garrido and the experience of bearing and raising two daughters while in his clutches.
Since being freed, Dugard has been living in seclusion in Northern California with her daughters and her mother, Terry Probyn. She received a $20 million settlement from the state, and other than a story in a magazine and a short video clip released last year, she has refrained from making public statements or appearances. Her book is her first substantive attempt at breaking her silence.
YMCA!
Camp Chester!
May 24, 2011 - 12:50 PDT
An 11-year-old girl became pregnant and contracted a sexually transmitted disease after she was raped in a sauna by a summer camp counselor at a YMCA in upstate New York, the family's lawyer claims.
The shocking lawsuit against the YMCA alleges that while the organization's officials fired the 17-year-old counselor when they found out about the rape, they did not alert police.
The girl, now 12, said she was raped in the sauna of the William-Emslie YMCA in Buffalo last July. She gave birth to a son earlier this year.
The civil lawsuit in the state Supreme Court alleges the YMCA was negligent, especially because the assault was also allegedly witnessed by a co-worker, who worked as a lifeguard.
"The lifeguard reported it to management. The management did not report it to police," said attorney John Elmore, who didn't name the girl. "They believed the perpetrator, who claimed he didn't do it." He said the girl's parents were alerted by the YMCA that there had been an incident, but weren't told that it was sexual.
The YMCA said in a statement, first reported by media sources, that there was "no report of rape or pregnancy to the organization until April 2011" when they received the summons from the law firm.
Cell Sex!
June 3, 2011 @ 11:40 AM PDT
Being let out of her jail cell in order to perform oral sex on an Oakland County Sheriff’s deputy was “like getting to the final level of your game,” the deputy’s alleged victim said on the witness stand Thursday. The woman, whom the media is not naming because she was the victim of an alleged sex crime, was the second witness called in the trial of former deputy Kenneth Hartshorn, who is charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct on accusations he touched the woman’s breast and allowed her to perform oral sex on him. It is illegal for an officer to have sex with a prisoner.
The victim described several events leading up to the day in which she performed oral sex on the man, making Pod H at the Oakland County Jail Annex sound more like an episode of "Girls Gone Wild" when Hartshorn (pictured left) was on duty. Hartshorn worked the overnight shift in March 2010, when investigators say the incidents occurred. “He let us get away with a lot,” the victim said. In one of the first encounters the victim had with Hartshorn, he allowed inmates on the lower level to flash inmates on the second level, who had made signs that said “Spring Break” on them. Hartshorn watched and was laughing at first, though he eventually put all inmates on lockdown, the victim said. Hartshorn made the victim feel comfortable and they began to have conversations, which evolved into a “game” one night during Hartshorn’s regular cell checks. “I knew he was coming to check on our cells, so I did not sleep,” the victim said.
The next time Hartshorn checked the victim’s upstairs cell, she was in her bra and rubbing lotion on her body. Every hour, she took it a step further, removing one layer of clothing each time before eventually grabbing Hartshorn’s hands, pulling them through her door and placing them on her breasts. “I was trying to get a reaction (out of him),” the victim said. “He commented a number of times about how my breasts were beautiful and how I was attractive. I implied that it would be a lot more fun if I wasn’t in here.”
There was no more physical contact that night, but both parties took it a step further the next time.
Several inmates are let out of their cells around 2 a.m. each night to receive medications. When unlocking cells, Hartshorn also unlocked the victim’s cell and motioned for her to come downstairs after the other inmates returned to their cells. “I was excited,” she said. “It was kind of exhilarating.” She went into the supply room with Hartshorn and continued giggling while Hartshorn unbuckled his belt. “I knew it was wrong,” she said. “It was a big risk. It was like going bungee jumping or something.” She said she assured Hartshorn she wouldn’t tell anyone and performed oral sex for “no more than five minutes.” The victim then stopped while Hartshorn got dressed and complimented her. The two talked again later that night. “(I was on an) adrenaline rush,” the victim said. “I think we both were.”
Hartshorn had informed the victim that it might be a good idea to switch cells. The following day, she asked and was moved downstairs to a cell directly across from the desk, where she and Hartshorn would be able to see each other at all times. Hartshorn, who was married and was expecting a child when the incidents are said to have occurred, switched shifts at times to see the victim. He “implicated the sexual aspects of things that could happen after I was released,” said the victim, who was convicted of violating probation and sentenced to 30 days in jail. The victim said Hartshorn also looked up her Facebook page and looked up her then-boyfriend’s criminal history, which he said was extensive.
The victim’s testimony was interrupted for the end of the day. The trial, which is being heard in front of Oakland County Circuit Judge Shalina Kumar, will resume at 8:30 a.m. Friday. Earlier Thursday, opening arguments were heard. Hartshorn's Defense attorney said the victim attempted to seduce Hartshorn by applying lotion in front of him. She said her client told her to put a shirt on, but other inmates saw what was happening, and “that’s how rumors start.” Officials were made aware of the incidents after four inmates separately reported them to another deputy at the jail. Kelley implied that the inmates had something to gain by passing along some information, noting that one of the inmates who reported the incident was scheduled to be sentenced soon and said “I have information, I’m going to court today to be sentenced. What can I get for this?”
“I think you will see that at best, this investigation was incomplete, and at worst, it was biased,” his lawyer said. The attorney also said records show that the victim called her grandmother and described how she was “throwing up sick all night long” on the night that she said she performed oral sex on Hartshorn. The victim was placed on work release and released to a rehabilitation center 25 days early, said the attorney. “The only evidence is her statement, and it’s a suspect statement,” his lawyer said said. “It’s important not to rush to judgment.”
Officer Chester!
May 27, 2011
Colorado Springs police officer Joshua Carrier will have to do without a paycheck from the Police Department while he faces charges that he sexually exploited children. Carrier was suspended without pay at 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to a statement issued by the department. For the past two weeks, he had been on paid administrative leave. Police had been waiting until charges were formally filed against Carrier before suspending him without pay, as required by the city’s civil service rules.
On Tuesday, prosecutors with the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office charged Carrier with 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a child, a Class 4 felony. He also faces an additional charge of sexual exploitation of a child, a Class 6 felony. Rule 8 of the city’s Civil Service Commission code maintains Police Department employees can be suspended without pay for any of a laundry list of offenses, ranging from workplace violence to immoral conduct to “any other reasonable and just cause.”Carrier was arrested May 11 after police were notified by Air Force investigators looking into Internet crimes against children that Carrier may have bought child porn online. A detective found child pornography DVDs in Carrier’s bedroom, along with a laptop that had child pornography pictures on it, according to an arrest affidavit. He was released on $3,000 bail but re-arrested a week later following accusations that he sexually assaulted five children.
The mother of one of the children said Carrier inappropriately touched her son on four separate instances while checking for ringworm and bedbugs at Horace Mann Middle School. Carrier was well-known at the school, having served as a school resource officer as well as a volunteer wrestling coach. He also spent time as a coach in the Police Athletic League and mentored teenagers and young adults in the CSPD Explorer program. Prosecutors have yet to file charges against Carrier concerning the allegations made by the five children.
Carrier remained in the El Paso County jail on Wednesday in lieu of $500,000 bond. his next court date is 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Pete Tomitsch, president of the Colorado Springs Police Protective Association, said the organization has decided not to defend or represent Carrier if he challenges the loss of pay. “In this case, we are extremely confident that the department has done due diligence in its investigation and we are standing by the department,” Tomitsch said.
Deputy Chester!
May 24, 2011 - 12:27 PDT
MARTINEZ -- A former Alameda County sheriff's deputy who had been accused of child molestation pleaded guilty Monday to child endangerment as part of a deal with prosecutors, authorities said. Michael Bareno, 43, of San Ramon was sentenced by Judge Brian Haynes of Contra Costa County Superior Court to a year in jail and five years of probation. With credit for time served, Bareno could be released in about a month, said his attorney. San Ramon police arrested Bareno in November on suspicion of molesting three children. Prosecutors originally charged him with 10 counts of molestation, alleging that he abused a girl and two boys between 2005 and 2009 while off duty.As part of a plea deal, Bareno admitted to three counts of felony child endangerment, said Deputy District Attorney Paul Graves. The prosecutor cited the alleged victims' ages and "factual issues" as reasons for offering a plea deal, but declined to elaborate. His attorney said there were credibility issues involving the alleged victims, and that he was satisfied with the resolution of the case.
Bareno resigned several weeks ago from the sheriff's office, where he had been employed for 15 years, said sheriff's Sgt. J.D. Nelson. Bareno worked at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and previously was in the patrol division.
NYPD RAPE TRIAL!
Not Legally Guilty!
... but factually guilty!
May 26, 2011
New York - Two New York City police officers have been acquitted of rape, but convicted of official misconduct. Officers Kenneth Moreno and Franklin Mata were called to help the drunken woman get home from a taxi in December 2008. She'd been out celebrating a job promotion.
Surveillance video shows the officers went back to her building three times within four hours after initially ushering her inside, and they told dispatchers each time they returned that they were either on a meal break or responding to other calls. Defense lawyers have said the woman asked them to check on her during the night. The officers didn't tell dispatchers where they were as they repeatedly returned to her apartment. Moreno, a police officer for 17 years, admitted he invented an excuse for one of the visits by calling 911 with a phony report of a homeless man sleeping in a nearby building's lobby.
Moreno was accused of raping the now 29-year-old woman while she was physically helpless after passing out. She testified she awoke to being raped but couldn't move. Prosecutors say Mata stood watch. "I was in shock. I couldn't believe what had happened," the woman testified.
Under cross-examination, Moreno's lawyer asked her questions that underscored her heavy drinking and spotty memory on the night. Her blood alcohol content was about three times the legal limit for driving.
Moreno says the woman made sexual advances, and they cuddled in her bed but didn't have sex.Mata says he was asleep on the couch while the pair were in the bedroom.
May 24, 2011
The fifth day of deliberations in the case of two NYPD officers charged with raping a drunken woman in her Manhattan apartment has been stalled as lawyers continue to argue which portions of the alleged victim's testimony should be read back to the jurors.
The jury asked Monday to review the accuser’s testimony, specifically about the events in her apartment the morning of the December 2008 incident. The readback was supposed to begin when court opened session at 9:30 a.m. today, but still has not happened.
The request to rehear the woman’s testimony came on the fourth day of deliberations and may imply the jury is zeroing in on the rape charges levied against the officers.
Kenneth Moreno is accused of raping the now 29-year-old woman while his co-defendant, Franklin Mata, served as a lookout. In addition to the rape charge, both have been charged with multiple counts of burglary, official misconduct and falsifying business records.
The officers have denied a rape occurred on the December evening they were called to assist the intoxicated woman out of a taxi and up to her apartment. Moreno says the woman made sexual advances, and they cuddled in her bed but didn't have sex. He also maintains that he and Mata had returned to the woman's home so that Moreno could counsel her about her drinking.
May 21, 2011
Jury deliberations continued for a third day Friday, but no verdict was reached for two police officers charged with the rape of a drunk woman in her East Village apartment. Officer Kenneth Moreno is charged with raping the 27-year-old after she came home from a night of drinking in December 2008 while Officer Franklin Mata allegedly acted as lookout.
Jurors had a short day of deliberations and asked the judge to clarify the charge of falsifying business records. It emerged that the two allegedly told their supervisors they were going to lunch when they returned to the woman's apartment over the course of that night.
The defense argued Moreno did not have sex with the woman and that Mata was asleep on the couch. There is no DNA evidence in the case. The two officers each face up to 25 years in prison if convicted. Jurors will reconvene for deliberations on Monday in the eighth week of this trial.
May 18, 2011 01:02 p.m. PDT
“Does this roach look like a roach that was stepped on and squished?”
--NY Prosecutor Colleen Balbert in closing arguments to jurors in the NYPD Rape Trial.
NEW YORK (WCJB) – Jurors are deliberating in the rape trial of two New York City police officers accused of preying on a woman they were summoned to help in December 2008. The jury of seven men and five women listened intently Wednesday as the judge explained the counts from the top, rape in the first degree to the fifteenth, criminal facilitation. Now, jurors get the chance to mull over the seven weeks of testimony and evidence to determine the fate of officers Kenneth Moreno and Franklin Mata. The two are charged in the rape of a then, 27-year-old drunk fashion executive in December, 2008. Moreno is accused of the sex act and Mata is accused of helping Moreno by standing by in her apartment monitoring a police radio while they were on duty.
The accuser testified she remembers throwing up and passing out that night and she was awakened to a cop having sex with her on her bed and then passed out again. Moreno and Mata took the stand in their own defense during the trial, saying they helped the drunken fashion executive home. Morneo said she came onto him and they cuddled in her bedroom, but says there was no sexual activity.
“Implausible, incredible,” were the words prosecutor Colleen Balbert used to describeMoreno’s story that he had befriended the young woman. Moreno said she depended on him to take her keys and returned to her apartment again and again to check on her. “This wasn’t to check on her,” Balbert told the jury. “Moreno wanted to have sex with her.” She told jurors during closing arguments on Tuesday that the only honest thing Moreno told them was his name.
As deliberations continue, jurors will be interpreting some buggy bits of evidence. Moreno claimed that the accuser actually came onto him after stripping down to nothing but her pink bra. According to Moreno, while she was trying to vomit in the bathroom, he stomped on and killed a roach, startling her and caused her to spill water on herself. That, Moreno says, is why she took off all her own clothes.
Balbert seized on the roach as her “Ah-ha” moment. “This roach is speaking from the dead,” she declared, zooming in on a crime scene photo of the dead roach. “Does this roach look like a roach that was stepped on and squished?” she asked the jurors. The prosecutor concluded that was just another of Moreno’s lies. Balbert called this a crime of opportunity and said if it hadn’t been a struggling and pretty 27-year-old girl he helped out of a cab that night, we wouldn’t be here.
Moreno and Mata face up to 25 years in prison if they’re convicted.
May 9, 2011
NEW YORK (WCJB) – New York City police officer Kenneth Moreno took the stand during his own trial Monday and told jurors he didn’t have sex with an intoxicated woman who has accused him of raping her after being called to help her get home. He did, however, admit to making a fake 911 call to police that evening to return to woman’s apartment, media sources reported. The officers helped the drunken woman to her apartment and then returned three times within hours. The woman said she passed out but awoke to being raped. Somber but forthcoming, Moreno took the stand as the key defense witness:“Did you commit rape, Officer Moreno?” asked his lawyer.
“No,” Moreno said frankly.
“Did you have sex with (the woman)?”
“No,” said Moreno, who has been an officer for 17 years.
As media sources report, Moreno’s version of what took place with the woman was stunning.
(Moreno, pictured left, Mata, pictured right)“She told me to come over to the bed. I said ‘I’m good where I’m at.’ She only had a pink bra on. She came over to me and asked me if I liked her. She tried to kiss me, but I smelled the alcohol. I said ‘you don’t like me.’ She got upset. I kissed her forehead. She took my hand and put it on her stomach and turned so my hand was on her lower back. She started moving her buttocks around my groin area. It was getting crazy,” Moreno testified.An issue in this trial has been whether the woman was too drunk to say no and whether the cops should have called an ambulance instead of taking her to her apartment, the place of the alleged rape.
“I asked her what was going on. The cab driver said she was drunk. She heard what he said. She said, ‘I’m not drunk. I’m just sick,’” Moreno testified.
His lawyer then asked, “Did she respond to your questions?”
Moreno answered: “Yes she did. I told her, if you can’t stand on your own [I was going to have to call an ambulance]. She said she did not want to go to the hospital. ‘Then you’re going to have to stand up.’ She got up.”
Officer Moreno tried to show that his time with the woman was friendly. But he stunned many in the courtroom when he said he tried to comfort the intoxicated, vomiting woman with, “We talked about music. I even sang to her. I sang Bon Jovi’s ‘Living On A Prayer.’”
Video News Report
A.M. Trial Cross-Examination:
NEW YORK (WCJB) — Assistant District Attorney Coleen Balbert picked up where she left off Friday, aggressively cross-examining NYPD officer Franklin Mata about his partner’s alleged rape of a young, drunk, fashion executive inside her apartment in December 2008. When asked if he could recall anything that was said between the woman and his partner, Officer Kenneth Moreno, Mata testified she told Moreno: “No, she doesnt have a boyfriend,” and later, “I don’t want an ambulance.”
Balbert: “Was it flirty?”
Mata: “She was touching his arm. She was laughing. Giggling. It seemed flirty to me.”
Balbert then went after the cops’ characters, trying to get Mata to admit that he and Moreno intentionally lied to their superior officers by lying on a patrol log about their whereabouts during a lunch break and later placing a fake 911 call to buy them more time inside the apartment.
Balbert: “For that hour, you were not in the precinct stationhouse, were you?”
Mata: “No, we were not.”
Instead, surveillance video shows the officers returning the woman’s Village apartment yet again.
Mata testified that shortly after, his partner went into the bathroom to assist the woman as she tried to vomit.
Mata said about ten minutes later, while he was in the living room sitting on the couch, drowsy, the woman led Officer Moreno out of the bathroom, and into the bedroom where, prosecutors said, he raped the 29-year-old on her bed.
This is where the cross examination turned contentious, because Mata testified that’s exactly when he fell asleep for the next thirty minutes.
Balbert: “So you don’t know whether she was passed out?”
Mata: “I don’t know.”
Balbert: “You said in direct examination Ken did not commit any crimes. But isn’t it true you were asleep and didn’t know what was happening in that bedroom?”
Mata: “I know Ken. Ken wouldn’t do something like that.”
Balbert: “But he would commit a crime like making a false 911 call.”
Mata: “I didn’t know it was fake.”
Mata said he awoke when Moreno nudged him and said they were leaving. He didn’t ask his partner anything about what had happened, he said.
Mata and Moreno have been suspended until a Police Department review after their trial. If convicted, each could face up to 25 years in prison.
Online Slime!
Posted: 05/02/2011 04:06:22 PM EDT
Updated: 05/06/2011 03:27:11 AM PDT
HARTFORD, CT — Granby Police Captain David L. Bourque, 50, of West Suffield, was arrested on April 26 on a federal criminal complaint charging him with possession of child pornography, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release. The criminal complaint alleges that, on two occasions in March 2011, a Connecticut State Police trooper assigned to the Connecticut State Police Computer Crimes Unit, acting in an undercover capacity, logged into a publicly-available Internet file-sharing program and downloaded several images of suspected child pornography from an account maintained by Bourque.
On April 11, 2011, members of the Connecticut State Police were given consent to search Bourque’s office and work computers at the Granby Police Department. The search of Bourque’s office revealed a laptop and other computer components, including an external hard drive, that were personally owned by Bourque. These items, most of which were encrypted, were seized pursuant to a state search warrant. The Connecticut State Police also executed a state search warrant at Bourque’s residence. Preliminary analysis of one of Bourque’s encrypted hard drives has revealed thousands of images and videos of child pornography.
Bourque surrendered to law enforcement and appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Thomas P. Smith in Hartford on Tuesday, April 26. After signing a $150,000 non-surety bond, which was co-signed by his wife, Bourque was directed by Smith to return to a hospital where he has recently been receiving medical care. Following his health care treatment, Bourque will be subject to several conditions of release, including that he receive mental health counseling, have no Internet access, have no unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18 without first receiving permission from the U.S. Probation Office, and that he not hold any position of authority or guidance over children or youth groups involving children who are under the age of 18. Bourque also must not loiter around schools, playgrounds, arcades, or any other places where children under 18 congregate.
U.S. Attorney Fein stressed that a complaint is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, according to the press release. If convicted of the charge of possession of child pornography, Bourque faces a maximum prison term of 10 years and a fine up to $250,000.
This case is being investigated by the Connecticut State Police Computer Crimes Unit, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Connecticut Computer Crimes Task Force, which includes federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ray Miller. U.S. Attorney Fein said this prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov. To report cases of child exploitation, visit www.cybertipline.com.
Norton PD Rape!
May 6, 2011
NORTON -- The preliminary hearing for the Norton police officer who was arrested on two counts of rape has been continued until May 27.
Ryan L. Zweygardt, 27, had been scheduled to appear in court today, but the hearing was continued, according to the Norton County attorney's office.
Zweygardt was arrested in late April in connection with an incident that was reported to authorities April 11.
Published 4/22/2011, 10:59 AM; Updated: 04/23/2011 04:37:26 PM PDT
NORTON, Kansas -- A Norton police officer was arrested Thursday on two counts of alleged rape, according to a press release from the Norton County attorney's office. Ryan L. Zweygardt, 27, was scheduled to make his first appearance in Norton County District Court today. A preliminary hearing tentatively has been scheduled for May 6, 2011. Bond was set at $500,000.
County Attorney Doug Sebelius said this morning the alleged incident was reported to law enforcement April 11, 2011. "Shortly after that, the police chief had placed (Zweygardt) on suspension," Sebelius said. He was unsure if Zweygardt's status with the department had changed since his arrest. He has been with the Norton police for less than a year.
The Norton County sheriff's department and Kansas Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation. Sebelius said Zweygardt was not on duty when the alleged incidents occurred. They were brought to law enforcement's attention by the victim, an adult female, and by her seeking medical attention, Sebelius said.
Zweygardt is being held in Graham County jail, due to renovations taking place in the Norton County Sheriff's department.
Rapist-N-Blue!
William Fox!
Updated: Sunday, 01 May 2011, 3:26 PM PDT
Published : Saturday, 30 Apr 2011, 9:50 PM EDT
On March 21, Pennsylvania State Police arrested 65-year-old William Fox on 21 charges of sexual misconduct, including rape and other offenses for allegedly abusing juvenile boys he adopted. According to the criminal complaint, the abuse took place from 1996 to 2009. Pennsylvania prosecutors reached out to the Brevard State Attorney's office last week because of allegations of possible sexual abuse when Fox lived in Brevard. "If a victim reaches out to us, we would connect him with the appropriate law enforcement agency," said Julia Lynch, who heads the sex crimes unit at the Brevard State Attorney's Office.
(On March 21, Pennsylvania State Police arrested 65-year-old William Fox on 21 charges of sexual misconduct, including rape and other offenses for allegedly abusing juvenile boys he adopted. According to the criminal complaint, the abuse took place from 1996 to 2009.)New Yorkers of a certain age might remember Fox, a NYPD officer who rocketed to fame in 1981 when he rescued a teenager threatening to commit suicide and then adopted him. The teenager's name was Michael Buchanan. He was in despair when he threatened to jump from the roof of a flophouse in south Manhattan. Newspaper reports from the time portray a dramatic incident and the adulation that followed. "Jump, jump," the crowds below shouted, according to a media reports at the time. Fox, who was 36, arrived at the scene and started a long conversation with the 17-year-old. The teen told him about his life. Fox told him he could live with him in Staten Island and then grabbed him.
Timeline
•» 1978: William Fox is alleged to have sexually abused Frank Spinelli, an 11-year-old boy Boy Scout at the time.
•» 1981: Fox, then a 36-year-old New York Police Department officer, convinces Michael Buchanan, a 17-year-old boy, not to jump from a Manhattan building. He then becomes the boy's legal guardian.
•» 1983: Fox co-authors a book called "The Cop and the Kid" about the Buchanan experience.
•» 1990: Fox moves to Palm Bay. He has four adopted boys living with him, according to a neighbor.
Mid-1990s: Fox leaves Florida to go live in Pennsylvania.
•» 2008: Three decades after the alleged abuse, Spinelli talks to NYPD, leading to an investigation by Pennsylvania State Police.
•» March 21, 2011: Fox is arrested in Liberty, Pa., and charged with sex crimes against his adopted children.
"I committed the ultimate sin for a policeman -- I took my job home with me," Fox told the media about the adoption. The story made national headlines. CBS wanted to make a two-hour television movie. Women wrote letters proposing marriage. Fox won a national father of the year award and co-wrote a book, "The Cop and the Kid." But he soon parted ways with the juvenile, according to reports, and Buchanan subsequently got into more trouble.
More than two decades later in 2008, a Manhattan doctor who says he was sexually abused in 1978 by Fox when the officer was a Scoutmaster, did a Google search. Frank Spinelli was outraged when he found out about the adoption. "At that point, I called Mr. Fox. He told me he had adopted 15 boys," he said. "Some were mentally challenged, three were living with him." The doctor talked to NYPD and two wiretapped conversations followed. "I was confronting him. He said he did not remember. . . . I asked for an apology," Spinelli said. At one point in the conversation, Fox reportedly told Spinelli: "If what you say is true, I am sorry."
In his telling, when Spinelli refused Fox's sexual advances, he would be punished. He was not allowed to ride in the front seat, Fox made fun of him in front of other boys and denied him ice cream. Because the alleged sexual assaults on Spinelli happened more than two decades ago, the statute of limitations in the state of New York has expired. But NYPD contacted police in Pennsylvania, where Fox had lived since the mid-90s, leading to a two-year investigation and his arrest in March.
Spinelli said he has been in touch with others allegedly sexually abused by Fox. He said one, now a 32-year-old man, lived in Palm Bay with the retired policeman before they moved back to Pennsylvania. Trooper Todd Wagaman of the Pennsylvania State Police said the three victims who complained about sexual abuse by Fox are young men. "They were living with him . . . they are foster kids or from troubled homes or were special-need kids," he said. "I do not know if it gets any worse than that." The charging documents allege an array of sex-related charges, from oral intercourse to forced sexual intercourse. Fox's attorney declined comment.
Demetrie Dixon!
Updated: Monday, 09 May 2011, 1:09 PM PDT
Published: 04 May 2011
Demetrie Dixon, the Houston police officer accused of forcing hookers to give him blow jobs on duty, got a six-year sentence for rape yesterday. Dixon will have to serve at least half of his sentence before being eligible for parole. Dixon had his defenders after he was charged last June -- "Demetrie is a good man and would never do anything of the sorts," one commenter to our original piece said -- but jurors convicted him of forcing a prostitute to go down on him without paying.
An Internal Affairs investigator went undercover and found evidence the allegations were true. Eventually Dixon faced four felony counts of sexual assault. Dixon still faces an identical charge involving a second woman. His defense attorney said after one such incident Dixon went to an ATM to withdraw money to pay the woman, but prosecutors said it was "hush money," the media reported. Dixon, 26, had been on the force for about 18 months before a tipster alerted HPD to his activities.Updated: Sunday, 01 May 2011, 1:47 PM PDT
Published : Friday, 29 Apr 2011, 9:00 PM CDT
HOUSTON, TX - A Houston Police officer could be going to prison for a very long time. It was last year when 26-year-old Demetrie Dixon (pictured above, center) was arrested for sexually assaulting at least 2 prostitutes near West 34th Street in northwest Houston. Dixon, a 2-year veteran of the Houston Police Department, used his authority to detain and sexually assault the hookers, investigators said. Friday morning, a Harris County jury returned a guilty verdict on 2 counts of Sexual Assault against the rookie cop.
Prosecutors paraded a string of street walkers into the court to tell how they were victimized by Dixon. One woman, who we're not identifying, told jurors in the punishment phase, "I know I'm a prostitute but I didn't deserve that." That woman said Dixon forced her to strip nude and told her to spread. Another woman, who said she no longer works the streets, testified, "I was forced to perform oral sex on him. I didn't ask for this. He did this to me."Dixon's attorney said they could not comment until after sentencing which is likely to take place Monday. Dixon faces 2 to 20 years for the convictions.
Our Defenders!
Published 04/22/2011 - 2:40 p.m. CST; Updated: 04/22/2011 04:46:26 PM PDT
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Matthew McMullen, a 27-year-old police officer working for the Department of the Defense, pled guilty Wednesday to traveling interstate to engage in illicit sexual conduct and enticing a minor, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
McMullen (pictured left) of California, Md., entered the guilty plea in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The Honorable Gladys Kessler is to sentence him July 12, 2011. McMullen faces a maximum sentence of 30 years of imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. Under federal sentencing guidelines, he faces a likely sentencing range of 46 to 57 months in prison.According to the government’s evidence, on February 4, 2011, an undercover officer with the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force entered a social network site. The defendant contacted the undercover officer and they subsequently began communicating that day by e-mail. During their conversation, McMullen expressed interest in having sexual contact with an underaged child. The defendant traveled from Maryland to a pre-arranged meeting place in Washington, D.C. When he arrived at the meeting place, he was arrested.
This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative and investigated by the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of the FBI’s Washington Field Office and MPD. In February 2006, the Attorney General created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims.
In announcing the guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Machen, Assistant Director McJunkin and Chief Lanier praised the MPD detectives and special agents of the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force. They also commended Assistant U.S. Attorney Julieanne Himelstein, who is prosecuting the case.
Lavander E. Barkley!
Posted: 04/29/2011
QUINCY, Fla. — After more than two hours of deliberations Thursday, jurors found a former Gretna reserve police officer guilty of sexual battery by a law-enforcement officer. Family members of Lavander E. Barkley, arrested in September 2010, held hands and cried as the verdict was read.
A woman said that Barkley, 39, baited her to the Gretna Police Station after he discovered she had a suspended driver's license during a traffic stop. When she arrived at the station, Barkley coerced her into having sex in exchange for letting her go, she said.
"I'm shocked," said Barkley's cousin, Tanesha Hall, outside the Gadsden County Judicial Complex. "I know it was wrong because he was on the job, but I don't think it was rape.
"We're his family. We're behind him," Hall added. "I'm hopeful for the appeal process though." The second day of the trial consisted of Barkley's testimony and closing arguments.
At the stand, Barkley began to sob as he described his remorse for what happened the night of Sept. 4, 2010, after he pulled the woman over in a routine traffic stop.
"I've done wrong that night. I broke my marriage vows, the law of God, but I didn't rape nobody," he said. "I would never do that to somebody."
Barkley's defense attorney contended that the woman met Barkley at the station after the traffic stop and voluntarily had sex with him. Barkley admitted that he did ask the woman for oral sex, but she refused and instead agreed to have intercourse with him. He denied physically restraining her. "What we have here is a fake slip-and-fall," Barkley's attorney said. "(She's) trying to get money."
Assistant State Attorney Richard Combs countered that Barkley was on duty and had the authority to arrest her; thus he was in control of the situation.
"You weren't just two people talking," Combs said. "You were a police officer."
Barkley, who was released on bail before the trial, was remanded to the Gadsden County Jail by Circuit Judge Jonathan Sjostrom. His sentencing will follow a Florida Department of Corrections pre-sentencing investigation and was set for June 9 at 1:30 p.m.
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