December 31, 2009
Aaron Brian Sands, 41, of Tampa, Florida, is a married math teacher at King High School. He resigned his position after he was caught possessing images of children, some as young as two-years-old, being sexually abused. As is unfortunately common, some of the images may include bestiality.
According to Tampa Bay Online, he was discharged from the U.S. Army in 1993 after three years and nine months as an infantryman. He received several citations, including the Army Service Ribbon, Good Conduct Medal and Overseas Service Ribbon. Before joining the Army, he lived in Maine.
He also reported in his application that he had worked in schools in Pasco and Polk counties.
Sands told federal agents he had child pornography on his laptop and said his wife didn’t know anything about it, documents state.
If convicted, Sands faces up to 10 years in federal prison.
December 17, 2009
The Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force has made a sweep to clean out pedophiles and child rapists from 26 Cuyahoga County, Ohio, cities. The Ohio ICAC was able to find the offenders by following the digital trail of those trading in and enjoying the pain, misery and humiliation of young American children being sexually assaulted.
Ohio ICAC Commander Frankie Goldbery warns, “Individuals that have this sick interest in viewing and collecting child pornography can be your next door neighbor, a family member or individuals in the community. As parents we have to educate our children and be vigilant,” according to WKYC.com.
If the ICAC could pick up 50 offenders in one county in Ohio at one time, how many are there in your county, in your town, in your neighborhood?
December 13, 2009
Gary Becker, former mayor of Racine, Wisconsin, has apparently decided to plea guilty this month to at least some of the charges filed against him last January. He was arrested for going to meet a 14-year-old girl with whom he planned to have sex, possessing child sexual assault images, and misconduct in public office. His predilection to rape children was discovered when he asked city workers to fix his computer.
According to the Journal Times, Becker has been out on bond since the days after his arrest. He spent several weeks at a sex addiction treatment program in Pennsylvania. Since his return he has been wearing a GPS monitoring device which allows officials to track his whereabouts. He was allowed to leave the county for therapy and group sessions.
We certainly hope Judge Stephen Simanek and Racine County District Attorney Mike Nieskes understand that sex offender treatment has not been proven successful in stopping child molesters, and that a study from Butner Federal Prison has shown that most, if not all, child pornography possessors had raped at least one child before being caught with child sexual abuse images.
December 10, 2009
Gary Kendall, Jr., pastor of Bridge Street Church of Christ in Chillicothe, Ohio, has been sentenced to 70 months in prison for the possession and distribution of images of children being sexually abused. According to the Columbus Dispatch, Kendall was intercepted by an undercover FBI agent in an Internet chat room where pedophiles swap child pornography.
November 24, 2009
School janitor Paul B. Garland, 54, of Phoenix, Arizona, was captured after a weeks-long investigation by the Arizona Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.
Since studies show a high correlation between viewing child sexual assault images and being a child molester, we congratulate the Phoenix Police Department’s ICAC in making a significant move towards keeping Arizona children safe.
If you know anyone who could have been a victim of Garland, or have any other further information, please call 602-650-3170.
November 23, 2009
From July 28, 2008 to August 11, 2008, Robert William Godwin, 31, a navy sailor of Jacksonville, Florida, did his best to entice a young child – age 14 – to have sex with him. He travelled to meet the child, but instead of satisfying his pedophilic desires, he met up with Clay County Sheriff’s Office detectives working in conjunction with the Florida Attorney General’s Child Predator CyberCrime Unit and the FBI.
According to the California Chronicle, he received 10 years and 1 month in federal prison and will be under supervised release for his entire life following his sentence.
November 16, 2009
Robert Travis Scott, Capital Bureau Chief of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, writes the second in a series of articles on child sexual abuse images, investigations and perpetrators. To read the article entitled: “Child porn collectors feed a growing poison,” click here, to get to the entire packet of articles, videos, sidebars, and informational resource pages, click here.
November 15, 2009
Reporter Robert Travis Scott, Capital Bureau Chief of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, has put out a two-part series of articles detailing the work of Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces and their work to help rescue American children from sexual abuse.
Please take the time to read these articles today.
PART 1
* Child pornography fight gets new weapons – computer software that can ferret out offenders, rescue children
* One brave victim speaks out, and her father goes to prison
* Child porn traffickers being caught in their own world: computers
* Resources: Where to go for more information
* Keeping safe on the Internet – tips for parents
PART 2: COMING MONDAY
* Child porn collectors feed a growing poison
* Child porn offenders no longer falling through the cracks
November 9, 2009
Timothy Earl Bottomley, 24, Brett M. Fenimore, 21, Gregory Andrew Clerico, 22, of Aston, Pennsylvania, and Tyrell Celvin Alston, 26, of Yeadon, Pennyslvania have been arrested on child sexual abuse image possession charges. According to the Daily Times of Delaware County, Bottomley admitted to being a youth pastor of Zion Community Church on Kings Highway in Clarksboro, New Jersey. Fenimore told investigators he was a Neumann University sophomore, majoring in criminal justice. Clerico said he viewed children as young as 2 or 3 being sexually abused, and had an “obsession” for it.
Since there is a high correlation between viewing images and being a child molester, we commend the work of the Pennsylvania ICAc in taking these predators off the streets. Although it may already be too late for some victims (the Abel study shows that child molesters act out as adolescents), it may prevent dozens of future victimizations.
November 5, 2009
Thomas Westerlund, 51, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was a trusted member of the community who helped to organize the local Tulip Time festival for 33 years – until he was caught producing child sexual abuse images. Westerlund plans to plead guilty to federal charges of producing and possessing child sexual abuse images involving children he had lured into volunteering at the festival, and then given drugs and alcohol to.
According to mlive.com, federal sentencing guidelines will call for between 30 and 80 years behind bars, with a likely lifetime period of supervised release. The lowest possible sentence is 15 years.
