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San Diego, California – 58-year-old Kelly Daffara is facing a possible child abuse felony charge today after she was seen allegedly roughing up her grandson on Saturday.
Daffara and her 2 ½ year old grandson were on their way to visit a relative when they got off of a bus on Broadway, near L Street around 11:15 am. According to witnesses, when they got off of the bus, the boy ran off. He failed to respond to Daffara when she yelled at him to come back, but she did end up catching up with him in the Chula Vista parking lot next to the bus stop. Daffara picked up the toddler and slammed him onto his back on the pavement. “She admitted to losing control,” Chula Vista police Lt. Dan Hardman said.
Witnesses indicated she also slapped the boy once or twice. Paramedics arrived on the scene to evaluate the boy, who appeared to have scratches and bruises on his body. He was transported to Rady Children’s Hospital to check for head trauma and other injuries.…
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Raleigh, North Carolina — Not too many details are available on this case yet, but a 57-year-old Raleigh man is in jail after police said he tried to rape and strangle a woman Thursday night. Clarence J. George is being held on a $2 million bond.
Raleigh police believe the victim was unwillingly restrained by George before he grabbed her neck and pinched her trachea all while attempting to rape the woman. It isn’t clear if the man was only trying to hold the woman down and keep her quiet, or if he was actually attempting to strangle her.
George is in custody in Wake County Jail and is facing one count of second-degree kidnapping, one count of assault by strangulation and one count of attempted first-degree rape, according to arrest warrants filed in the Wake County Magistrate’s Office.
With the online dating and networking sites available nowadays, I’m surprised people still find the need to attempt to rape unwilling women.…
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Grants, New Mexico — A high school teacher was arrested Thursday night after being accused of beating his two sons in the locker room of the school. 27-year-old Armando Melendez faces two counts of child abuse and one count of tampering with evidence.
Melendez’s two 8-year-old sons were playing basketball in the gym at the high school after school hours last week. As of now, it is not clear why Melendez took the boys in the locker room, but once there he spanked them with a metal stick he found in the school. Melendez admitted to police that he used a metal stick on the boys and then disposed of it in a trash bin.
Police plan to further investigate to make sure no other children outside of his family have been abused. ”Very high concern,” Grants Police Detective Sergeant John Castaneda said. “I was a school resource officer. I still play a big part with our schools through the Grants Police Department. (These incidents are) always a big concern.”
Outside Grants High Thursday night, students were shocked to hear one of their teachers had been arrested. ”I’m just surprised, really surprised,” Grants High School student Cayden Wilson said.…
Continue ReadingMan Caught In Forest Preserve With Half-Naked Girl He Met On Myspace
January 28, 2011 at 11:19 am by Wanderer
Chicago, Illinois — A 20-year-old man has been charged with criminal sexual assault after he was caught with a half-dressed 13-year-old girl in his car. Steve Burton admitted having sex with the girl and was arrested after a Des Plaines police officer saw him and the girl getting dressed in a car parked in Lions Woods at Golf and River Roads.
I’m glad police are taking the time to investigate suspicious vehicles in woods because this seems to happen more often than I previously thought. Are forest preserves a known hangout for pedophiles and their prey?
Burton indicated the two had met online. The girl told police that she met Burton on MySpace when she was 12 and they had been texting, chatting on Facebook and talking by phone for about six months, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office.
On Jan. 15, Burton must have wanted another booty call because he called the girl several times, then showed up at her home and drove her to the forest preserve, where they engaged in sex.…
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Kingsport, Tennessee — Joshua Seal allegedly kidnapped his son-in-law, assaulted him and would not release him until someone offered their Xbox 360 up for the ransom.
Allen Begley, the victim in the case, told police that Seal is his boss and father-in-law. Seal apparently called Begley Sunday afternoon and asked that he come into work to help him move a saw. Seal and another co-worker, Bradley Marshall picked up Begley and drove him to Seal’s Flooring.
Once they walked into the business, Seal locked the door behind the three men. Seal then accused the victim of stealing $245 in jewelry from a job site. Marshall guarded the door while Seal assaulted Begley. When Seal demanded the money, Begley began calling friends and family. Begley’s mother-in-law, Linda Begley, received a call from Allen Begley around 3:30 or 4:00 Sunday afternoon. During the phone call, Linda Begley also spoke with Joshua Seal, who told her he already gave Begley a black eye and it would get a whole lot worse unless she brought the money.…
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Winona, Minnesota — One man is in custody following accusations that a woman was raped in Goodview on Friday while another man held her down and a third videotaped the assault.
Jerard Braboy, 39, was taken into custody on a first degree criminal sexual conduct charge. The 22-year-old victim reportedly met him and another man at a party and he offered her a ride home. The two men along with a woman the victim knew as “Jackie” brought her to “Jackie’s” apartment, where a third man was present. “Jackie” soon fell asleep. When the victim exited the bathroom, she was tackled. She blacked out after her head hit the floor. The next thing she recalled was being thrown on the bed.
Braboy allegedly raped her while the second suspect held her down and the third man videotaped the incident. According to court documents, the victim told the men to stop several times, said she would call police and scratched the man holding her down. After reviewing the videotape, court documents show Braboy’s cousin was the man holding the victim down and he can be heard saying, “We don’t get action like this where we’re from.”
Braboy must have thought the victim was impressed by his performance because he left her with his phone number and said his name was “Cakes”.…
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Fort Wayne, Indiana – A state conservative officer reportedly witnessed an 18-year-old man attempting to rape an 11-year-old girl on Monday. Luckily for the girl, the officer was there and was able to break up the alleged attack.
Conservative Officer Patrick Heidenreich was on patrol when he decided to investigate a car parked near the Tri State Motorcycle Club. According to the news release, Heidenreich saw a man attempting to rape a girl inside the parked vehicle. The man, identified as Jacob DeLong, was taken into custody and transported to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department. After being interviewed, DeLong was charged with Class B felony attempted rape.
Police say DeLong knew the victim. He had not abducted her, but authorities declined to specify how the girl ended up in the vehicle. The news release stated that DeLong may have victimized others, but Friedel declined to elaborate on what that meant, instead saying anyone who may have been a victim should contact him at the Sheriff’s Department.
The girl was taken into protective custody by the Department of Family and Children Services.…
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Norwalk, California — Sometimes justice is sweet. A 66-year-old Whittier man sexually abused an 11-year-old girl over a two-year period and was sentenced on Tuesday to a prison term of hundreds of years behind bars. Yes, hundreds of years… 675 to be exact. Michael Burch was convicted in December of three counts each of forcible rape, oral copulation on a child and committing a lewd act on a child.
Burch already had a 1983 Orange County conviction for sexually abusing two other relatives. The most recent victim was the third underage relative Burch molested. Prosecutors referred to Burch as a “vicious predator who has destroyed the lives of three. ”The public should know that there is no tolerance for this type of behavior and it will be met with the harshest of penalties,” said Deputy District Attorney Michael Michelena in a sentencing memorandum.
Lucky for us, Burch will have to spend the rest of his life behind bars where fellow inmates give special attention to molesters like him.…
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Covina, California — Two girls, ages 10 and 11, were hospitalized on Monday after eating some cookies laced with marijuana.
When the girls came home from school on Monday, they found a baggie on the kitchen counter with a chocolate chip cookie inside. Covina police Lt. Tim Doonan told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that the girls felt ill, complaining of numbness and pale, clammy skin. They were both taken to the hospital where they showed traces of marijuana.
Their mother, 33-year-old Veronica Sylvester, was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment. She remains jailed today on $100,000 bail. Sylvester told detectives she got the cookie from a friend for medical purposes. Doonan says Sylvester has no prescription for the drug.
When are people going to learn that sharp objects and drugs need to be kept out of reach of children? Of course kids are going to eat cookies they find on the counter. The article does not say if the girls were released from the hospital, but common sense tells me their symptoms have since passed and they are probably doing just fine.…
Continue ReadingPolice: Man Sends Sexual Messages To Little Girls On Myspace, Facebook
January 25, 2011 at 11:26 am by Wanderer
Medford, Oregon — A 21-year-old man is accused of sending sexually explicit messages to young children. Zachariah Pergish Griffin was arrested by Talent Police and the Southern Oregon High Tech Crimes Task Force last Thursday.
Griffin contacted his victims through Facebook and MySpace. Victims included a 6-year-old from Grants Pass, an 11-year-old from Lake County, and a 10-year-old from Medford. All three received sexually explicit messages from Griffin. Aside from this guy obviously being a pedophile, why on earth do these kids have Myspace and/or Facebook accounts?! What kind of parents would let a 6-year-old have an online profile?
Back to the issue at hand, police say the investigation into Griffin began in June of 2010, when the task force received a tip about the messages being sent to the alleged victims. In October, the task force searched Griffin’s home, seizing computers, and reportedly finding evidence of those explicit messages, along with videos of child sexual abuse. Griffin also had child pornography on his computer.
An Oregon Supreme Court ruling states that child porn that is streaming, or not downloaded to a computer, is not considered illegal.…
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Cumberland County, NC — This story was originally posted by Morbid in November of 2008, but now Sheriff’s deputies and US Marshals are on a manhunt in Cumberland County for Todd Louis Lanford. The 36-year-old man was the live-in boyfriend of Tonia Michelle Powers. And it was her 11-year-old son that Lanford threatened, beat, and attempted to cut off the genitals off of. Investigators said the boy suffered bruises all over his body and was cut along the pelvic area.
Lanford was charged with abuse and attempting to sever a child’s genitalia. He was out of jail on a $35,000 bond, when on Monday he walked out of a plea bargain proceeding. He is now a wanted man. Powers was also charged in the case with aiding and abetting a felony and accessory after the fact, so she must have had a role in this brutal crime, as well.
Lanford is described as six feet tall with brown hair and hazel eyes. He has a scar on the left side of his chest and another on his stomach.…
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Troy, Ohio — Jason Durig was sentenced yesterday morning to 15 years to life in prison after being convicted of killing his infant son back in July.
The death of 8-month-old Caleb was caused by blunt force trauma to the head according to the coroner. Both of Caleb’s parents, Jason Durig and Tara Durig, were arrested on July 26th after police found their infant son dead inside their apartment. Tara Durig had called them to the scene at about 11:45 am that morning. Jason Durig caused the death by beating, biting, and strangling the baby.
In December, Durig changed his plea to guilty just before he was scheduled to go on trial for murder and child endangering. Both parents were being held on $1 million bond each. Tara is charged with permitting child abuse and child endangering and is expected to be sentenced next week.
Jason Durig has been in trouble with the law before. In 2007 he was convicted and sent to prison on charges of child abuse and endangering after causing second-degree burns to another one of his children while he was giving him a bath in a kitchen sink.…
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Waveland, IN — Chester Mills lost his wife, 43-year-old Amber, and his two children within four days of each other. Amber Mills passed away at home last Monday after a long battle with lung cancer.
On Thursday, as Mills was preparing for Amber’s funeral, his two children, Amanda Mills, 25, and Logan Mills, 21, were driving to the services in Indiana from Florida with their friend Anthony Suggs. They had completed most of their drive when just a few miles from the funeral home, Suggs lost control of the car on the snow-covered road. The car spun out into the northbound lane of traffic, where it was broad-sided by an oncoming tractor-trailer. The car then tumbled into a ravine, where the truck landed on top of it.
Amanda and Logan Mills and Anthony Suggs were pronounced dead at the scene. The truck driver was not injured. It took crews hours to clean up the wreckage. The news about the accident quickly traveled to the funeral home where Amber’s funeral was scheduled to begin at 10:30 am.…
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San Francisco, California — When dealing with a slum lord, it’s probably best to pay your rent in a timely fashion. Although I can’t find much on this story yet, it looks like a tenant got quite the beating when he couldn’t pay up.
The alleged slum lord showed up at the tenant’s house Wednesday afternoon with a gang of thugs and a shovel. The group then carried out a vicious beating on the tenant. When cops arrived at the tenant’s apartment, they saw the victim “covered in blood”. The victim informed the cops that the landlord showed up with five others and they beat him with a shovel. A nearby witness confirmed the victim’s account.
After a brief manhunt, cops were able to contact the suspect on the phone and arranged to meet him. The landlord then showed up at the police station on his own. Police arrested him and one other suspect and booked them on charges of assault with a deadly weapon. The victim is still recovering in the hospital and is expected to survive, police said.…
Continue ReadingEx-Cleveland Cop Pleads Guilty To Seeking Sex With 12-Year-Old
January 20, 2011 at 11:49 am by Wanderer
Cleveland, Ohio — Robert Bonness is a retired police officer who apparently thinks the law doesn’t apply to him. He pleaded guilty on Wednesday to attempted rape and 24 other counts related to his collection of child pornography.
Police say Bonness responded to an advertisement posted on Craigslist for a father and daughter interested in a special person. For two months this pervert allegedly communicated with an undercover detective he thought was the father of a 12-year-old girl and arranged to meet them in North Olmsted in late October to have sex with the girl. When Bonness arrived, a search of his car turned up condoms, lubricant and sex toys. His home computer reportedly revealed hundreds of videos and photos of child pornography. After serving as a patrolman for 23 years, I’m surprised Bonness didn’t see this sting coming. It just goes to show how strong his urge was.
I know how much prison inmates love cops… and knowing that they love sex offenders, especially the kiddie kind, even more, I was really looking forward to a nice prison sentence for this guy.…
Continue ReadingTeacher Arrested on Rape Charges After Relationship With Student Comes to Light
January 20, 2011 at 11:37 am by Wanderer
Dover, Delaware — Joseph Tighe, 62, was arrested yesterday for allegedly carrying on a relationship with a 16-year-old high school student. The Dover Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Unit arrested Tighe for eight counts of rape in the fourth degree and other charges after an investigation revealed that Tighe had an ongoing relationship with a Dover High School student.
Tighe and the student had allegedly been meeting at hotels in the area. Tighe is a music instructor at the high school the girl attends. He teaches string instruments at a middle school as well and has been teaching at the schools for about a year and a half. He is now on paid suspension from the district. An unpaid suspension is not an option according to Tighe’s contract, Superintendent Dr. Michael Thomas said. The Dover Police Department called Thomas late Wednesday afternoon regarding impending charges against Tighe. Thomas said he can’t divulge the details of the district’s internal investigation now in effect.
Tighe is currently in James T. Vaughn Correctional under a $45,500 secured bond.…
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Jacksonville, North Carolina — Martha A. Martin, 55, was in court yesterday on charges of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, assault on a handicapped person and interfering with an emergency communication.
Jacksonville Police allege the woman hit her mother in the head with a hammer, and then disconnected the telephone when she tried to call 911. Jacksonville Police responded to a domestic dispute at the Decatur Road home at 5:53 p.m. and then returned at 8:23 p.m. when Pilar Martin’s call was disconnected, JPD spokeswoman Beth Purcell said. “We have been there several times, and they haven’t followed through at the magistrate’s office,” Purcell said.
The 83-year-old victim, Pilar Martin was taken to the hospital Tuesday with serious injuries and has since been released. Martin is being held in the Onslow County Jail on a $50,000 bond. I’d really like to know what that argument was about.…
Continue ReadingPolice: Man Rapes 12-year-old, Forces Girl’s Mother To Watch
January 20, 2011 at 11:12 am by Wanderer
Punta Gorda, Florida — Jerome Nubin has been charged with sexual battery on a 12-year-old, aggravated assault, kidnapping and domestic battery after an incident that happened Wednesday morning.
Police say the 32-year-old man forced his girlfriend to watch him sexually assault her 12-year-old daughter three times. Prior to assaulting the child, Nubin allegedly slapped and punched the mother and threatened both the mother and child with a baseball bat. The child’s grandfather is the one who actually contacted the sheriff’s office. He indicated that Nubin threatened him with a bat and threw bricks, a child’s scooter and a lamp at him.
The child told detectives that Nubin sexually battered her while she was in her mother’s bedroom with her mother present. Detectives said the child and the mother were held against their will by Nubin, who used verbal threats and a baseball bat. According to the press release, Nubin told the girl to take her clothes off or he would cut her throat. He then raped her three times.
Nubin is being held in the Charlotte County Jail without bond.…
Continue ReadingPolice: Physician Used Craigslist To Trade Prescriptions For Sex
January 19, 2011 at 6:46 am by Wanderer
Chicago, Illinois – A physician from RUSH University Medical Center in Chicago has been suspended from his job because of the pending investigation resulting from his January 13th arrest. Police say 37-year-old Joshua Baron attempted to trade prescription medication for sexual favors on Craigslist.
An investigator noticed the ad the week before the arrest. “We routinely check Craigslist for anything that could be criminally related to Wilmette, whether it’s property crime, drugs, etc.,” Detective Kyle Murphy said. Baron is a pediatric neurologist at Rush, specializing in epilepsy. “He is being suspended pending further investigation,” said Deb Song, Rush spokeswoman. “He won’t be allowed on campus or allowed to see or admit patients here.”
During the Craigslist correspondence, Baron attempted to trade prescription medication for sex acts. He then traveled to Wilmette to make the exchange. Baron was arrested at a private residence in Wilmette and charged with felony attempt delivery of a controlled substance and misdemeanor solicitation of a sex act. His bond was set at $2,000.
According to the Rush University Medical Center Web site, Baron joined the Rush Pediatric Neurology division in July 2006.…
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Columbus, Ohio – Not a big surprise, but the man accused of killing his child by repeatedly slamming him on the ground has been indicted on aggravated murder charges and had his bail set at $2.5 million.
As Jaded reported in November, 20-year-old Quindell Sherman was charged murdering his 3-month-old son, Jayden Sherman after getting into an argument with the child’s mother. During this argument, Sherman slammed the infant onto a concrete landing. He then struck the baby’s mother, Sonja Mitchell, and great-grandmother, Carolynne Holmes, before picking the baby up and throwing him an estimated 25 feet, into the middle of E. 16th Avenue.
Sherman then ran into the street, grabbed the infant by an arm and “dragged him down the street like a rag doll,” police reported. Not quite finished, this monster then ran into an alley, turned around to face the house and slammed his son on the ground again. He grabbed the baby again and hid in a trash bin, where officers said they found him standing on the child.…
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