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Post by artemis on Aug 5, 2011 4:34:59 GMT -5
"Polygamist leader convicted of child sex abuse
SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) — A jury convicted polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs of child sexual assault, in a case stemming from two young followers he took as brides in what his church calls "spiritual marriages."
The head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints stood stone-faced Thursday as the verdict was read. Jeffs, who acted as his own attorney, stood mostly mute for his closing argument, staring at the floor, for all but a few seconds of the half hour he was allotted.
At one point he mumbled, "I am at peace," and said no more. The only noise in the courtroom was the creaking of wooden benches brimming with spectators.
Jeffs, 55, had claimed his religious rights were being trampled on and that God would seek revenge if the trial continued. He now faces up to life in prison. The sentencing phase of the trial began after the verdict was announced, and Texas' attorney general said it could take three days.
Prosecutors used DNA evidence to show Jeffs fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl and played an audio recording of what they said was him sexually assaulting a 12-year-old. They also played audio recordings in which Jeffs was heard instructing young women on how to please him sexually.
The FLDS, which has at least 10,000 members, is a radical offshoot of mainstream Mormonism and believes polygamy brings exaltation in heaven. They see Jeffs as God's spokesman on earth.
Police had raided the group's remote West Texas ranch in April 2008, finding women dressed in frontier-style dresses and hairdos from the 19th century as well as seeing underage girls who were clearly pregnant. The call to an abuse hotline that spurred the raid turned out to be a hoax, and more than 400 children who had been placed in protective custody were eventually returned to their families.
But authorities brought charges against several men from the group, with Jeffs by far the highest-profile defendant.
As the sentencing phase began, prosecutors told jurors they will present evidence that Jeffs had 78 wives, in addition to his legal spouse, and that 24 of them were under the age of 17. Lead prosecutor Eric Nichols also said he would show that Jeffs either witnessed or performed hundreds of polygamist marriages, including 67 church marriages involving underage girls.
Jeffs stood up and made several incoherent objections to what was being said.
"I object to anything pertaining to a religious manner," he said at one point. "A constitutional guarantee involving things sacred must be invoked."
Prosecutors have relied heavily on information seized from the compound, which is in the town of Eldorado, 45 miles (72 kilometers) south of San Angelo, and features a four-story temple of white limestone. Much of the material was discovered in a vault at the end of a secret passageway in the temple and another vault in an annex building.
"You might have asked yourselves," Nichols told jurors during closing arguments, "a lot of people may ask, why would someone record sex? ... This individual considers himself to be the prophet. Everything he did, hour after hour, he was required to keep a record of that."
On one of the tapes played at the trial, Jeffs made a reference to "drawing close" or "being close," which authorities testified is how church members refer to sex. Two female voices said "OK."
"A good wife is trained for her husband and follows the spirit of peace," Jeffs was heard saying.
Another audio tape included Jeffs and the younger girl from a recording made in August 2006 at the Texas compound, according to testimony from Nick Hanna, a Texas Ranger involved in the 2008 raid.
Played in court, it was difficult to decipher, but Jeffs' and a female voice are heard. He says, "I perform this service in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen," then mentions the alleged victim by name. When she says something, he responds, "don't talk while praying." Several minutes of heavy breathing followed.
Jeffs represented himself after firing seven attorneys in the six months leading to the trial. He broke his courtroom silence with an objection marked by a nearly hourlong speech defending polygamy, and twice threatened the judge and the court with warnings of punishment from God.
He refused to cross-examine the state's witnesses, and delayed giving an opening statement until he began presenting his own defense. In that statement, he evoked images of the civil rights movement and mentioned former Mormon leader Joseph Smith Jr. He also asked the jury to remember constitutional guarantees of religious freedom.
The lone defense witness Jeffs called, church elder JD Roundy, spent about 10 minutes on the stand Thursday discussing FLDS history after 4½ hours of testimony the previous evening.
One of Jeffs' many former defense attorneys, Deric Walpole, was asked if it was frustrating to watch him defend himself.
"It took me a while to get used to the idea, but it's about him, it's about what he wanted to do," Walpole said. "It's about that man doing what he sees fit."
Jeffs failed three times to remove state District Judge Barbara Walther from the case, the last rejection coming even without a hearing. He claimed Walther was biased because she issued the warrant for the original raid and was frequently updated as it progressed.
Eleven other FLDS men were charged with crimes including sexual assault and bigamy. All seven of those who have been prosecuted were convicted, receiving prison sentences of between six and 75 years."
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Post by artemis on Aug 12, 2011 4:32:11 GMT -5
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Post by artemis on Aug 17, 2011 5:29:27 GMT -5
"'It's entirely inappropriate': Fashion industry outraged after French label launches lingerie for girls as young as FOUR
In a move that has shocked fashion onlookers, scantily-clad young girls wearing make-up and sporting voluminous up-dos are promoting a new range of lingerie that is targetted at girls as young as four years old.
Combining lingerie and lounge wear to form 'loungerie,' the Jours Après Lunes line for four to 12-year-olds features a range of panties, bras, camisoles and T-shirts with lace edges, ribboned bow detailing and nautical stripes.
The shots feature young girls in poses and styling that seem far too premature for their ages.
Wearing striped bras and panties, they play with make-up and jewellery, strings of pearls wrapped around their small frames.
Most of the photos are too risque to feature on MailOnline, the bare legs and stomachs of the girls deeming them inappropriate for publication.
In one shot, a girl wears Jackie O-style sunglasses while lounging back on a pillow, her modesty protected by just panties and a cropped polka-dot tied top.
In another, three young girls play together, their hair set in Amy Winehouse-style beehives and their lips painted bright pinks and reds.
Fashionista, which broke the story, says: 'What’s disturbing about Jours Après Lunes is... that it’s lingerie for people who probably shouldn’t be old enough to even know what lingerie is.'
The label also includes a range for babies and another for older teenagers and ladies, or 'femmes'. The 'unsettling' styling sees a grown model 'made to look like a child, while the actual children are made to look like adults,' according to the site.
One of the promotional pictures for the 'femmes' range features a teenager in a bra and panties wearing little make-up and cuddling a giant teddy bear.
The 'loungerie' underwear is sold 'to be worn over and under, inside and outside,' says the collection's designer, who credits herself with being the first designer brand dedicated to ‘loungerie’ for children and teenagers.
Commentators have expressed concern over the apparent sexualisation of the young girls.
Marilisa Racco, author of Le Snob Lingeries told NY Daily News:
'It's cute when a little girl dresses up in her mom's clothing and jewelry and high heels.
'These pictures are not cute. It's entirely inappropriate to put a 4-year-old in a bouffant like she's Brigitte Bardot in And God Created Woman.
'It's inappropriate to sexualize children. A pearl-encrusted triangle bra on a little girl does not sit well with me.'
Her opinion may only express an American position on the subject, however. Luis Paredes, from Lingerie Journal said that the Europeans will be less offended by the pictures:
'Recently, a lot of fashion magazines and fashion brands have come under fire for using kids in their photo spreads.
'I think that at least here stateside, this company will come under fire as well,' the publisher told NY Daily News.
The Jours Après Lunes photographs are reminiscent of a Thylane Blondeau shoot for Vogue that just last week whipped up a global storm over the 10-year-old's languid poses for the Tom Ford-edited January edition of French Vogue.
Outcry over her vampish make-up, sexualised styling and pouting lips forced the young model's TV-personality mother to close her fan site on Facebook."
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Post by artemis on Aug 26, 2011 4:36:20 GMT -5
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Post by artemis on Aug 27, 2011 6:49:31 GMT -5
"'Dance Crew' Judge DISTURBING Details In Child Sex Case
Former "America's Best Dance Crew" judge Shane Sparks allegedly sexually abused at least 6 young girls IN ADDITION to the woman who claims Sparks raped her when she was 12 years old ... this according to court documents obtained by TMZ.
The documents were just made public ... following a plea deal Sparks made with the L.A. County District Attorney in which he received 270 days in jail after pleading no contest to having unlawful sex with a minor under 16.
The allegations in the documents are extremely disturbing -- with the victim telling police Sparks forced her to have sex with him after driving her home from a dance class he had taught in 1994 when she was only 12 years old.
According to the docs, the victim claims Sparks took her to HIS home where he started to "make out" with her ... and then he "rolled on top of her and pinned her beneath him."
The docs explain, "The victim told him she was a virgin and not ready for intercourse" but Sparks "ignored her pleas and penetrated her vagina for several minutes. He then drove her home."
According to the docs, investigators found "at least six other victims, whom between the ages of 12-17, were also abused by [Sparks]." No further details about the other alleged victims are included in the docs.
Sparks is expected to begin his sentence sometime in the next year."
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Post by artemis on Sept 3, 2011 16:31:21 GMT -5
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Post by artemis on Sept 7, 2011 4:55:39 GMT -5
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Post by artemis on Sept 7, 2011 4:56:35 GMT -5
"Torture Alleged at Chain of Children's Homes
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
SALT LAKE CITY (CN) - Hundreds of parents claim a group of boarding schools tortured their children: locked them in dog cages, forced them to lie in feces and eat vomit, masturbated them and denied the troubled teens any religion "except for the Mormon faith."
The Utah-based World Wide Association Of Specialty Programs and Schools and its owners - Robert Lichfield, Brent Facer and Ken Kay - went to great lengths to hide the "torture," which began in the mid-1990s and continued for a decade, the 357 plaintiffs claim in Salt Lake County Court.
The plaintiffs say that 59 schools and owners tied to the company "jointly promoted, advertised, and marketed defendants' residential boarding schools as a place where children with problems could get an education while receiving instruction and direction in behavior modification for emotional growth and personal development."
But they say the children were subjected to physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the schools including, Cross Creek Center for Boys, Brightway Adolescent Hospital and Red Rock Springs. They say the abuses inflicted upon some children for years "could be accurately described as torture."
According to the complaint, students were locked in boxes, cages and basements at the schools, denied medical and dental care, and forced "to carry heavy bags of sand around their necks or logs throughout the day over many days."
They were sexually abused, "which included forced sexual relations and acts of fondling and masturbation performed on them," according to the 119-page complaint.
Students were "forced to eat their own vomit ... bound and tied by hands and/or feet ... chained and locked in dog cages ... forced to lie in, or wear, urine and feces ... forced to sleep on cold concrete floors, boxspring, or plywood," and put to forced labor, the complaint states.
Children were "kicked, beaten, thrown and slammed to the ground ... forced to eat raw or rotten food ... poked and prodded with various objects while being strip searched ... denied any religious affiliation, except for the Mormon faith ... [and] threatened [with] severe punishment, including death, if they told anyone of their abuses and poor living conditions," according to the complaint.
Their mail was confiscated, and personal visits and telephone calls were forbidden or discouraged, the parents say.
"At all times relevant, defendants did not disclose to the parents the physical, emotional, mental, and/or sexual abuse to which their children were subjected at their facilities and conspired, even to this day, to prevent them from discovering such abuse," the complaint states.
The defendant company still operates residential centers in Utah, South Carolina and Costa Rica, but has faced school shutdowns in Mexico, Jamaica and Samoa amid child abuse investigations, according to the complaint. It says that more than 2,100 students were enrolled in its schools in 2003.
The plaintiffs filed a similar lawsuit in Federal Court in 2006, which U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups dismissed in August for lack of jurisdiction.The parents seek punitive damages for fraud, gross negligence, false imprisonment, assault and battery, and breach of contract, and a protective order to prevent spoliation of evidence.
They are represented by Windle Turley of Dallas, Texas and James McConkie II with Parker & McConkie of Salt Lake."
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Post by artemis on Sept 14, 2011 3:52:31 GMT -5
"Child sex abuse claims mount against Boy Scouts
PORTLAND, Ore/SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Four Oregon men sued the Boy Scouts of America on Tuesday over childhood sexual abuse they say they suffered at the hands of a pedophile knowingly appointed as their scoutmaster in the 1970s.
The lawsuits, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court in Portland, accuse the national Boy Scouts organization of negligence and fraud in connection with the repeated molestation of the men, then aged 12 to 15, their Portland-based lawyer Kelly Clark said.
The suits are the latest in a barrage of such claims facing the Boy Scouts, headquartered in Texas, since the group was found liable and ordered to pay nearly $20 million in damages last year for a pedophile case from the 1980s.
Clark brought a separate case against the Boy Scouts last week on behalf of five women who say they were sexually abused as girls by the leader of a coed Scouting program in Montana during the 1970s.
The Montana suit and the impending cases in Oregon bring to at least 35 the number of individuals who have lodged child sexual abuse claims against the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) in 11 states since 2007, Clark said.
BSA officials say allegations of sexual abuse over the years represent a small fraction of the organization's 1.1 million adult volunteers.
The group cites new safeguards instituted during the past decade, including tighter screening of volunteers, though it acknowledges that criminal background checks for existing volunteers only became mandatory in 2008.
"Youth protection is part of the DNA of our program," said Deron Smith, a spokesman for the Boys Scouts of America, adding that while the group is "proud of the program and volunteers, even one incident of abuse is too many."
The mounting litigation has tarnished the wholesome image a 100-year-old largely volunteer organization that prides itself on building good character, citizenship and personal fitness among the 2.7 million youth -- mostly boys aged 8 to 17 -- who are its members.
The nonprofit group reported cash and other assets in excess of $1 billion last year from sources that included dues, fund-raisers, corporate giving and private donations.
'DOMINO EFFECT'
Clark said publicity from last year's trial in Portland had prompted hundreds of former Scouts to contact his law firm.
He likened the "domino effect" of that case to the tide of allegations against Roman Catholic priests in the United States triggered more than a decade ago by reports of clergy abuse that surfaced in the Boston Archdiocese.
"What these institutions have in common is the sense that their mission is important and that they can't afford to have their good works sullied by what they consider isolated incidents," Clark told Reuters earlier this week.
Last year's trial shed light on records the BSA kept on suspected or confirmed sexual abuse by leaders and volunteers. The jury was permitted to review 20,000 pages from what were termed the "perversion files" or "ineligible volunteer files," dating from 1965 to 1985, before rendering a verdict.
Those files show that during the 20-year period, an average of nearly 60 leaders or volunteers a year were discovered molesting children, Clark said.
The Boy Scouts dispute that figure, and the organization is fighting to keep those documents from being made public in a case awaiting a ruling by the Oregon Supreme Court.
All four bringing suit in the new case claim they were abused in the 1970s by then-scoutmaster Steven Terry Hill, who was put in charge of their troop even though the Boy Scouts learned he had been accused of molesting three other boys while serving as a Scout leader in California, Clark said.
The plaintiffs also say that the Boy Scouts organization became aware that Hill was molesting boys in Portland's Troop 76 but did nothing to stop it.
Hill was acquitted in the late 1970s of sex abuse charges related to the Boy Scouts in Portland. But he was convicted in 1991 on four counts of sodomy and furnishing drugs and alcohol to a minor stemming from an unrelated sex-abuse case involving a 17-year-old boy. He was released from prison in 2011 after serving 20 years, Clark said."
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glassonion
New Member
Life is strange, life is good, life is all that it should be
Posts: 43
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Post by glassonion on Sept 14, 2011 20:18:46 GMT -5
Artemis, you are on fire lately! What a fine researcher you are.
I'd like to respond to this article you found about the Scouts.
I always hate to hear about this stuff with the Scouts. I was a scout myself, and became an Eagle Scout and also an assistant Scoutmaster for a while before becoming too busy with other things. I started with Cub Scouts, and Boy Scouts was a major part of my upbringing and education.
When I talk to people about Scouts, I find that there is a wide disparity between experiences. For me, I was lucky. I had great Scoutmasters and was part of a great overall program, and by the age of twelve was climbing mountains, canoeing rivers, and becoming educated in everything from ecology to history to first aid. It also gave me a chance to have a relationship with my father and brothers. I can't imagine what my life would be like had I not gotten the education and social skills that Scouts gave me.
Where I come from, if anyone had been found out to be molesting a boy, he would have been strung up. He would have been skinned alive and hung from a tree. The Scoutmasters throughout our state were very protective of the boys, and I come from a State where molesting a boy would have been a suicide mission.
But America is a big place, and I know for a fact that most scout troops are not run like mine was.
As far as comparing it to the Catholic Church, well, the two are different situations. With the Catholic Church, you have an ancient system of control going back over a thousand years in which the Vatican has controlled the world through secrecy, fear, and intimidation.
The Catholic Church has long been a place where boys have been thrust into a system in which the leaders are infallible, cannot be questioned, and have taken a vow of celibacy, living a life devoid of sexual outlets.
I don't want to offend any Catholics on this thread, but I think the issue of the Catholic Church being a longstanding haven for high level pedophiles is something to be researched. The research is already there.
With Scouts, I do believe these are isolated incidents, although some of them were certainly and unfortunately allowed by the powers at the top of the organization for a time. Still, the Boy Scouts is not an ancient secret society. It's a lot more transparent than the Catholic Church.
We already know what the Catholic Church has done: it destroyed the native peoples and Earth-loving spiritual traditions of Europe, it murdered millions of innocents in the Spanish Inquisition, it murdered millions and destroyed the Spiritual traditions of the Americas, it signed concordats with Hitler and other fascists, and it has kept people living in ignorance, poverty, and fear throughout the world. It also has clearly been a hotbed for child molestation going back who knows how long.
Boy Scouts is an Earth-friendly educational organization that unfortunately has been tarnished by a few creeps that see it as a way to ingratiate themselves to unsuspecting boys, many of whom may not have a father at home. The decline of Boy Scouts is part of the overall decline of America, and the American breakdown of the family unit and general decency. America just may not be a place where Scouts, as it was intended, can survive.
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Post by artemis on Sept 15, 2011 4:03:45 GMT -5
Thank u so much for ur appreciation, Glass. Put it like that, Im just doing my "job". And thanks for the very interesting and enlightening piece of info u provided.
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Post by artemis on Sept 21, 2011 4:26:47 GMT -5
"“Mr. Mike”: Children’s Book Author Charged With Child Molestation, Again
A children’s book author, already charged with molesting a 12-year old girl, is now accused of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl.
In the most recent case, Michael William Snyder, 44, is charged with felony oral copulation of a child 10 years or younger and a lewd act upon a child under 14, with a sentencing enhancement allegation for committing a sexual offense on more than one victim.
Prosecutors say the 9-year-old visited his home between January 2008 and September 2010 and that in at least one instance Snyder took her to Sea World and orally copulated her.
On another occasion, Snyder is accused of putting his hand up the girl’s shirt and rubbing her back.
In March, Snyder was charged with sexually assaulting a 12-year-old female relative at his home in 2010.
He was arrested after the girl’s mother went to authorities stating the writer may have molested her daughter.
Snyder allegedly rubbed the girl’s chest and stomach under her shirt “with a sexual intent” and sat her on his lap and put his hands up her skirt, the Orange County district attorney’s office said in a statement.
Known as ‘Mr. Mike,’ Snyder wrote and illustrated “Lemon Drop Raid,” “Over the Top,” and “Swimming in Chocolate,” according to his website, beetlebugbooks.com.
Snyder often spoke at local elementary schools and provided in-home services to mentally disabled people and their families, as a contractor through the state’s Department of Developmental Services.
“Because of the children’s books, the fear is there may be additional victims,” says OC Sheriff Spokesman, Jim Amormino.
Anyone with additional information or who believes they have been a victim is encouraged to contact investigator Lou Gutierrez of the Orange County district attorney’s office at (714) 347-8794.
Snyder is being held on $1-million bail."
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Post by treegenus on Sept 23, 2011 15:20:12 GMT -5
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Post by artemis on Sept 27, 2011 6:22:14 GMT -5
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Post by artemis on Oct 5, 2011 4:40:07 GMT -5
"Baby girl feared abducted from crib in Kansas City
KANSAS CITY, Mo (Reuters) - Police searched for a 10-month old girl feared abducted from her bedroom in Kansas City on Tuesday but canceled an Amber Alert issued earlier in the day.
Lisa Irwin was discovered missing from her crib in her bedroom at 4 a.m. on Tuesday, triggering the alert and an intense foot search in wooded areas near her home involving 100 local and state law officers and the FBI.
Police said it appeared someone had entered and left through a bedroom window and evidence suggested an abduction.
"We are pulling out all the stops and doing all we can do find Lisa," said Sgt. Stacey Graves, a police spokeswoman. "We have not been able to make any kind of family connection."
In a later statement, Kansas City police said that while the search would continue throughout the night, the Amber Alert was "no longer necessary", adding that such an alert was designed to raise awareness early in an investigation.
Lisa had been living with her parents, who were part of the search for her, Graves said. Other relatives have been interviewed by authorities.
Police have spread the word about Lisa's disappearance through the media and on electronic bill boards above major highways in the area.
Lisa is described as having blue eyes and blond hair and was last seen wearing purple shorts and a purple shirt with white kittens on it. Police are asking that anyone with information call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477."
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