Monday, August 16, 2010
www.OregonLive.com
A 22-year-old Portland man faces federal sex-trafficking charges for allegedly transporting a 13-year old girl to three other states where he forced her into prostitution and beat her when she resisted.
Jefferson Bryant Davis, 22, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Court Judge Janice Stewart today who denied him bail. A jury trial for the sex-trafficking and transportation counts has been set for October 19, 2010, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.
According to the indictment, Davis transported the girl from Portland to Washington, California and Nevada with the intent that she engage in prostitution. He allegedly beat her and threatened her when she tried to refuse.The victim and her family sent statements to the court expressing their fears if Davis were to be released, the justice department said.
Davis allegedly got the girl’s address and threatened to kill her family if she talked to the police. He also made references to a gang affiliation.Davis faces a mandatory minimum 15-year sentence to a maximum of life imprisonment if convicted of sex trafficking of a minor under 14. He faces a mandatory minimum 10-year sentence to a maximum of life imprisonment for conviction of each of the counts of transporting her.
The FBI and Salem Police investigated the case which was brought by the Oregon Human Trafficking Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kemp Strickland is prosecuting the case.To provide a local tip on a human trafficking, authorities ask that callers contact Multnomah County Sheriff Deputy Sgt. Keith Bickford at (503) 251-2479.
by JEFF BARNARD, Associated Press Writer
kgw.com
August 19, 2010
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — James Auchincloss — who as a boy carried the wedding train of his half-sister Jackie up the aisle as she married John F. Kennedy — was jailed Wednesday after admitting to possessing child pornography.
Auchincloss, 63, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of encouraging child sex abuse, the charge generally brought against people possessing child pornography, for having computer images of naked boys.
Jackson County Circuit Judge Mark Shiveley ordered Auchincloss to serve 30 days in jail on each count, to be served concurrently, as part of three years of supervised probation. Auchincloss also registered as a sex offender, and agreed to undergo treatment as such, with no unauthorized contact with minors.
He was indicted a year ago on 25 counts after his longtime personal assistant, Edward McManus, told investigators he had seen Auchincloss and co-defendant Dennis Vickoren viewing pictures of naked boys in sexual poses at Auchincloss’ home in Ashland.
Vickoren, 58, of Ashland, also pleaded guilty to two counts Wednesday and received the same sentence.
McManus said outside the courtroom that the sentence was “not enough.” “I do not feel justice was served, nor was it swift,” he said. “I thought I would feel differently today. I thought I would have a sense of closure. I am disappointed.”
McManus noted that the sentencing came two years after he told authorities that Auchincloss and Vickoren kept an extensive collection of child pornography in books, slides and computer files at Auchincloss’ hillside bungalow.
Prosecutor David Hoppe said investigators reviewed the images seized from Auchincloss’ home and identified local residents in them, but after interviewing them were unable to elicit any complaints of actual sexual abuse of a child.
Defense attorney Carl Caplan told the judge that none of the photos depicted sex acts, and Auchincloss and Vickoren “did not realize they were operating in the world of child pornography.”
Auchincloss and Vickoren will pay $1,000 in assessments and forfeit seized images deemed to be pornography. Others will be returned to them.
Caplan read a statement in which Auchincloss apologized to the victims of his crimes, declaring the acts unacceptable and stupid.
“I will do whatever is necessary to prove to them and society that I will be a better person,” Caplan read.
An heir to a wealthy family that made a fortune in oil and financing, Auchincloss is the half brother of the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. He went on to be a patron of the arts and an amateur historian, and moved to Ashland, home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, 15 years ago.
Friends of Auchincloss said Jackie later treated him like a pariah. Various reasons have been given, including the fact that Auchincloss served as a source for the racy Jackie biography titled “Jackie, Oh,” by author Kitty Kelley.
YahooNews.com
August 11, 2010
By BROOKE DONALD, Associated Press Writer Brooke Donald, Associated Press Writer
SAN JOSE, Calif. – A California woman sued the governing body of U.S. competitive swimming and her former coach, claiming he sexually abused, humiliated and harassed her when she was a teenager training under his supervision.
The suit announced Wednesday is one of several around the country alleging USA Swimming covered up wrongdoing and allowed a culture of abuse to exist in coaching ranks.
USA Swimming declined to comment on the latest case but said it investigates misconduct complaints and revokes membership if behavior was inappropriate.
The lawsuit claims swim coach Norman Havercroft sexually abused Jancy Thompson over a five-year period in the 1990s, beginning when she was about 15.
The Associated Press generally does not identify victims of alleged sexual abuse. However, the now 28-year-old has chosen to speak publicly.
Thompson, who graduated from police academy and does gang intervention for a nonprofit group, said she came forward to help affect change.
“I was robbed of my childhood and never performed to my full capabilities,” she said. “I want to ensure that no one has to endure what I went through and carry such a burden the rest of their lives.”
A telephone message left at a listing for Norman Havercroft in Corona del Mar was not immediately returned.
The alleged abuse took place at various locations in Santa Clara County, including a Los Gatos swim club where Thompson trained, the homes of Thompson and Havercroft, and at a school, according to the 44-page lawsuit first filed June 18 and amended July 30.
Havercroft is accused in the lawsuit of groping, engaging in sexual acts, providing pornography and buying an Internet camera for “cyber” sex.
The abuse carried on after Thompson turned 18, even though she never gave consent, according to the suit filed in Superior Court in San Jose.
The suit also claims Havercroft abused another female and says USA Swimming knew about that case and did nothing to remove Havercroft from his position. That woman is not a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
“In the worst of ways we claim that he took advantage of the coach-athlete relationship, exerting his power and authority,” attorney Robert Allard said.
The suit also claims Thompson witnessed Havercroft inappropriately touch and massage several underage females.
USA Swimming has come under fire for its handling of alleged abuse cases but said it was taking steps to keep young athletes safe. At least 46 coaches and officials have been banned for life, mostly for sexual misconduct.
The organization will vote on measures at its national convention in September that include a new athlete protection policy, expanded background checks, and a requirement that all adults who interact with swimmers become members of the organization.
In the lawsuit, Allard called it a belated effort that demonstrates a “callous indifference to the health and safety of the young swimmers across the country.”
In the Thompson case, simple steps would have prevented the alleged abuse, he said.
“Just a basic look into it, do something about it and remove the man from coaching,” Allard said. “It’s not hard.”
(This version CORRECTS Corrects date lawsuit filed to June 18 instead of 19. Updates with details from lawsuit, ADDS background, byline. photo links. This story is part of AP’s general news and sports services.)
by David Krough, kgw.com Staff
kgw.com
Posted on August 3, 2010 at 2:27 PM
Updated Wednesday, Aug 4 at 8:08 AM
PORTLAND, Ore. — Child sex criminals were put in the cross hairs by the federal government Tuesday with new tools for law enforcement in Oregon.
Department of Justice officials on Tuesday released a report on the National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction.
Law enforcement wants to focus on prevention of child pornography, online enticement, child sex tourism and sexual exploitation on Native American reservations.
U.S. Marshals Service targeted the top 500 most dangerous, non-compliant sex offenders in the country. In Oregon, a full-time deputy marshal was added as the Sex Offender Investigations Coordinator.
“Sometimes an investigator needs to step back and take a look and communicate with other agencies that are also working on it. The goal in the end is to bring all these individuals to justice,” said Deputy U.S. Marshal Cory Cunningham.
The agency also created a new database to coordinate efforts statewide. The department also re-launched a website to combat sex crimes against children at ProjectSafeChildhood.gov.
Multnomah County Commissioner Dianne McKeel applauds to the focus on child exploitation, but believes the Portland Metro is also in desperate need for a shelter to house and treat the victims of the child sex trade.
“The shelter is a safe place for them to be and it’s also learning the skills that you need to go out into the world,” said McKeel.
McKeel believes newly approved federal funding could have a local shelter open within a year.
If you or anyone you know need help recovering or escaping from the child sex trade, the Sexual Assault Resource Center can be reached 24 hours a day. 503-640-5311.
by Teresa Blackman
KGW.com
August 2, 2010
VANCOUVER, Wash. – A high school band teacher in Vancouver was arrested Sunday for allegedly having sexual encounters with a 17-year-old girl who had been his student since her freshman year.
Tyler Benedict, 30, was charged in court Monday with two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor.
Benedict was working as a band teacher at Heritage High School in Vancouver when the sexual acts occurred, according to Sgt. Kevin Allais with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
Police were alerted by the teen’s parents who said they became suspicious after noticing inappropriate messages on her cell phone and computer that turned out to be from Benedict, Allais said.
The teen later told police that her relationship with Benedict was romantic and sexual. The detectives also said that when they interviewed Benedict, he admitted that he had a sexual relationship with his student.
Court documents obtained by KGW said that Benedict had performed oral sex on the teen on two occasions.
Jerry Piland, Executive Director of Human Resources for the Evergreen School District, released the following statement via email on Monday: “The district is waiting for the police report. The allegations are very serious and the district will take extremely strong actions if this has occurred. Those strong actions will be that he would no longer have a job.”
Benedict has worked at Heritage for the past three years.
Bail at the Clark County Jail was set at $10,000. The court documents also said that Benedict was placed on suicide watch while in custody.
Benedict is married and lives in Ridgefield, Wash. with his wife.
by KGW.com Staff and Anne Yeager
August 2, 2010
VANCOUVER, Wash. – A Vancouver man who police described as “violent” was arrested for allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl and also forcing her to commit sex acts on his friend, according to investigators.
Samuel Chapman, 28, of Vancouver was charged with kidnapping, rape, burglary and harassment, according to police spokeswoman Kim Kapp.
Court documents obtained by KGW said that the girl told investigators Chapman has assaulted her 10 times in the past, but she was afraid to tell police because he threatened to hurt her family.
The girl said she met Chapman at a park in January and had since engaged in a “fear-based” relationship. She said he told her that he would kill her mother if she told anyone about what was happening.
The girl said that Chapman told her he loved her, but at the same time, forced her to do things sexually she didn’t want to do.
Friday morning she said he forced her into a van where he punched her with a closed fist 30 to 40 times, then forced her to perform a sex act.
On Friday morning at 2:30 a.m., the girl’s family called 9-1-1 for help after they said Chapman came to their home, grabbed the girl by the ponytail, slammed her against a wall and then dragged her into a van.
“He showed up my house at 2:45 and pulled me out of bed by the hair,” the girl said. “Pulled me out of bed, threw my little sister into the entertainment center, and then pushed me back into bed.”
“It kind of hurts because I haven’t had that much of a childhood.”
By SCOTT K. PARKS / The Dallas Morning News
sparks@dallasnews.com
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Pedophilia has dogged the Boy Scouts for decades, and the issue shows no signs of going away. No one knows how many men have infiltrated the organization for immoral sexual purposes.
News organizations and child advocates are awaiting an Oregon court’s ruling on whether thousands of internal files documenting suspected pedophiles in Scouting should be released to the public.
The so-called “ineligible volunteer” files are kept at the Boy Scouts’ national headquarters in Irving.
Spanning two decades between 1965 and 1985, they tell unspeakable stories.
The files were entered into evidence during a civil court case pitting former Boy Scout Kerry Lewis against the Scouts’ national council and its Portland-area branch.
Lewis alleged that a Scoutmaster had sexually abused him repeatedly when he was a Scout during the 1980s – even after the Scoutmaster had been identified as a pedophile.
The case ended in April when a jury returned an $18.5 million verdict against the Scouts.
Kelly Clark, one of Lewis’ attorneys, successfully argued that the BSA had reacted defensively to allegations that it hadn’t done enough to identify and prosecute pedophiles in its ranks, preferring instead to quietly expel them.
Evidence showed that Scout leaders often did not tell parents that pedophile Scoutmasters had abused their children. The Oregon jury’s verdict sent a clear message to Scouting, Clark said.
“The short version is that you cannot put the mission of the organization above the safety of kids, no matter how divinely inspired you think it is,” Clark said.
The Scouts plan to appeal the Oregon verdict, but they face similar pedophile cases around the U.S.
Virginia Starr, a spokeswoman for the Scouts, addressed the issue in e-mailed answers to questions from The Dallas Morning News. She said the organization established a Youth Protection Program in the late 1980s and has repeatedly improved it during the last 20 years.
Scout leaders are no longer allowed to meet one on one with boys. Mandatory youth-protection training for all Scoutmasters and other adult volunteers was adopted just last month. Criminal background checks for volunteers are required.
In addition, Scoutmasters and Scouts cannot sleep in the same tent unless they are father and son. Separate shower arrangements are made for adults and children on campouts.
Jim Brunner, Scoutmaster of Troop 300 in Plano, is among the many adult volunteers watching the pedophile cases as they go to court. He said the allegations are decades old and do not reflect today’s reality.
He praised chief Scout executive Bob Mazzuca and the national office for adapting to the times, even to the point of including warnings against pedophiles in the legendary Boy Scout Handbook.
“The Boy Scouts are on the cutting edge of youth protection,” Brunner said. “They’ve led the way.”
Pedophiles present one problem for the Scouts. The ban on gays presents another challenge. It essentially forces families to decide whether it’s ethical to belong to a group that discriminates against people based on sexual orientation.
Mazzuca said his organization’s position is essentially synonymous with the U.S. military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
“The issue only becomes an issue when a person makes it an issue,” he said in an interview with The News. “Sexuality has no place in Scouting in any context.”
In a two-page document titled “2009 Report to the Nation,” Mazzuca makes no mention of youth protection or any of the other issues that threaten to distract Scouting from its mission.
Instead, the report is filled with facts: Scouts collaborate with 118,000 educational, faith-based and community organizations; 52,470 Scouts earned the Eagle rank in 2009; Scouts contributed more than 700,000 hours to projects beneficial to streams, lakes, oceans and other bodies of water.
Concluding his interview with The News, Mazzuca said, “We plan to be here for another hundred years.”
By MAUREEN DOWD
July 16, 2010
TheNewYorkTimes
If the Vatican is trying to restore the impression that its moral sense is intact, issuing a document that equates pedophilia with the ordination of women doesn’t really do that.
The Catholic Church continued to heap insult upon injury when it revealed its long-awaited new rules on clergy sex abuse, rules that the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said signaled a commitment to grasp the nettle with “rigor and transparency.”
The church still believes in its own intrinsic holiness despite all evidence to the contrary. It thinks it’s making huge concessions on the unstoppable abuse scandal when it’s taking baby steps.
The casuistic document did not issue a zero-tolerance policy to defrock priests after they are found guilty of pedophilia; it did not order bishops to report every instance of abuse to the police; it did not set up sanctions on bishops who sweep abuse under the rectory rug; it did not eliminate the statute of limitations for abused children; it did not tell bishops to stop lobbying legislatures to prevent child-abuse laws from being toughened.
There is no moral awakening here. The cruelty and indecency of child abuse once more inspires tactical contrition. All the penitence of the church is grudging and reactive. Church leaders are merely as penitent as they need to be to protect the institution.
Can you imagine such a scene in the confessional?
“Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. I am as sorry as my job or school requires me to be.”
“But my daughter, that is not true penitence. That’s situational penitence.”
After the Belgian police bracingly conducted raids on the church hierarchy, inspired in part by the horrifying case of a boy molested for years by his uncle, the bishop of Bruges, a case that the church ignored and covered up for 25 years, the pope did not applaud the more aggressive tack. He condemned it.
In a remarkable Times story recently, Laurie Goodstein and David Halbfinger debunked the spin that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had been one of the more alert officials on the issue of sexual abuse:
“The future pope, it is now clear, was also part of a culture of nonresponsibility, denial, legalistic foot-dragging and outright obstruction. More than any top Vatican official other than John Paul, it was Cardinal Ratzinger who might have taken decisive action in the 1990s to prevent the scandal from metastasizing in country after country, growing to such proportions that it now threatens to consume his own papacy.”
If Roman Polanski were a priest, he’d still be working here.
Stupefyingly, the new Vatican document also links raping children with ordaining women as priests, deeming both “graviora delicta,” or grave offenses. Clerics who attempt to ordain women can now be defrocked.
On Beliefnet, Mark Silk, a professor of religion at Connecticut’s Trinity College, suggested that the stronger threat against women’s ordination is not “a maladroit add-on” but the medieval Vatican’s “main business.”
After the Vatican launched two inquisitions of American nuns, it didn’t seem possible that the archconservative Il Papa and his paternalistic redoubt could get more unenlightened, but they have somehow managed it.
Letting women be priests — which should be seen as a way to help cleanse the church and move it beyond its infantilized and defensive state — is now on the list of awful sins right next to pedophilia, heresy, apostasy and schism.
Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, the chairman of the Committee on Doctrine of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, asserted, “The Catholic Church, through its long and constant teaching, holds that ordination has been, from the beginning, reserved to men, a fact which cannot be changed despite changing times.”
But if it was reserved to celibate men centuries ago simply as a way for the church to keep land, why can’t it be changed? If a society makes strides in not subordinating women, why can’t the church reflect that? If men prove that all-male hierarchies can get shamefully warped, why can’t they embrace the normality of equality? The Vatican’s insistence on male prerogative is misogynistic poppycock — enhancing American Catholics’ disenchantment with Rome.
In The New Republic, Garry Wills wrote about his struggle to come to terms with the sins of his church: Jesus “is the one who said, ‘Whatever you did to any of my brothers, even the lowliest, you did to me.’ That means that the priests abusing the vulnerable young were doing that to Jesus, raping Jesus. Any clerical functionary who shows more sympathy for the predator priests than for their victims instantly disqualified himself as a follower of Jesus. The cardinals said they must care for their own, going to jail if necessary to protect a priest. We say the same thing, but the ‘our own’ we care for are the victimized, the poor, the violated. They are Jesus.”
A version of this op-ed appeared in print on July 18, 2010, on page WK8 of the New York edition.
CourthouseNewsService
By Travis Sanford
PORTLAND, Ore. (CN) – "Secrecy is the fertilizer of sexual abuse!" attorney Kelly Clark thundered in his opening remarks, urging Multnomah County Judge John Wittmayer to vacate a protective order on nearly 20,000 pages of evidence documenting sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts of America. The trial ended in May with the jury awarding Clark’s client $18.5 million in punitive damages. The documents, the so-called "perversion files," were admitted after the Boy Scouts lost a long legal battle to keep them out of court. The issue went all the way to the Oregon Supreme Court.
But Judge Wittmayer ordered that access to the files be restricted to attorneys for both sides and their employees, and the jury, during the course of the trial.
Clark wants the secrecy order vacated. He cites Article 1 Section 10, the Open Courts section of the Oregon Constitution, which states: "No court shall be secret, but justice shall be administered, openly and without purchase, completely and without delay, and every man shall have remedy by due course of law for injury done him in his person, property, or reputation."
Clark says that means that the public has the right to see the evidence upon which the jury reached its decision.
But Rob Albiset, representing the Boy Scouts, claimed that Article 1 Section 10 merely protects the right of the public to have access to court proceedings, but does not grant the public the right to see evidence that was admitted but not shown or reproduced publicly during the trial.
In the case at hand, involving the molestation of plaintiff Kerry Lewis, parts of the files were read to the jury by both sides and extractions of text were projected onto screens for the jury to read. Albiset said the public had the right only to this representation of the evidence.
But Clark said that that would mean the public had a right to review only whatever was small enough to be read aloud or projected in a comprehensible way, and that the state constitution did not intend to discriminate against evidence because it was unwieldy.
A third group, news organizations, including Courthouse News, seeking access to the records, was represented by Daniel Lindahl. He noted that Article 1 Section 10 was subtitled "Administration of Justice" and that this suggests that every activity and item that was presented or entered into evidence was covered by the Oregon Constitution. Lindahl cited case law holding that even evidence or testimony later found to have been admitted in error was a mater of public record.
All three attorneys answered Judge Wittmayer’s questions on other points of law. During one exchange Albiset said the plaintiff lacked standing to challenge Wittmayer’s order because his access to the files was not restricted, and he had been able to successfully make his case.
Albiset told the judge that he should balance the possible prejudice that public release of the documents could have on several molestation trials still on Wittmayer’s docket, involving from the same abuser.
Wittmayer responded, "Isn’t the solution to prejudicial pretrial publicity the voire dire process?"
Albiset answered that it would unnecessarily complicate the selection process because the Oregonian newspaper had a circulation of 300,000 in a potential jury pool of 700,000.
"Couldn’t that be remedied by a change of venue?" Wittmayer asked.
Albiset persisted, saying potential jurors had become sophisticated at hiding their biases in the face of pervasive media coverage.
Clark angrily suggested during his rebuttal that elimination of the jury system and open courts might serve the Scouts as a solution to any perceived prejudice.
"The Boy Scouts of America still doesn’t get it that for healing to begin, the evidence must be made public," Clark said. "Plaintiffs believe abuse thrives in secrecy and it is time to get rid of the secrecy."
On the public interest in making the files public, Lindahl said, "The public wants to judge the merits of government-sanctioned liability, especially in damages cases, and how can the public judge fairness if they can’t review the data?"
Lindahl said that constitutional mandates allow no consideration of prejudice to parties in future litigation and that no balancing of prejudice versus access is allowed. For or the public to have faith in the system, he said, the evidence on which the jury adjudicated the case must be made public.
Judge Wittmayer aid he would rule the motion as soon as possible.
A new law goes into effect Thursday to crack down on child sex trafficking, imposing heavy fines and jail time.
By Susan Gilmore
Seattle Times staff reporter
June 9, 2010
Laurie was in Olympia in April when Gov. Chris Gregoire signed into law a bill that toughens the state’s child-sex-trafficking law.
She had a personal reason to cheer.
Laurie’s 13-year-old daughter was a runaway when she met a 17-year-old pimp who lured her with jewelry and clothes, and the promise of a better life.
Laurie, whose last name is not being used for her daughter’s sake, was frantic.
“I spent endless nights searching for her,” the Tacoma woman said. “Passing out fliers and searching the streets.”
Over the next two years, Laurie would see her daughter only briefly. When the girl was jailed several times as a runaway, for example. Once the teenager was out of custody, however, she would run away again, her mother said. Her daughter was arrested for prostitution once.
Today, with the pimp in prison, Laurie’s daughter, now 15, is home and back in school, but Laurie can’t relax.
“Every day I wonder, will she run away tomorrow?” she said at a news conference Wednesday in downtown Seattle.
On Thursday, the law goes into effect, setting tough penalties for those who engage in sex trafficking with children.
“The bill may be the strongest in the nation,” said former U.S. Rep. Linda Smith, who highlighted the new law with Laurie and others whose children have been involved in sex trafficking. “Now you will pay,” she said. “If you’re buying someone’s child, there’s a penalty.”
Smith was surrounded by supporters wearing T-shirts with the words, Kids Are Not For Sale.
Smith appeared with members of Shared Hope International, which works to prevent trafficking and to help those who have been subject to sexual abuse. The group estimates there are at least 100,000 children in the United States who are victims of sex trafficking and prostitution.
The new law toughens penalties for those involved in the illegal trade:
• Before the law change, customers paid a $550 fine for soliciting sex. Now they face 21 months to 12 years in jail and a $5,000 fine, which will be deposited in a special prostitution prevention and intervention account.
• Under the old law, pimps were not subject to a fine. Now they face nearly 8 to 26 ½ years in jail and a $5,000 fine.
• Buyers of prostitution previously could say they did not know the age of the victim. That is no longer a defense. Defendants have to prove a reasonable attempt was made to determine the true age of the victim.
• A child-sex-trafficking victim charged with a crime previously may have been ineligible for crime-victim’s compensation because of participating in the crime of prostitution. Under the new law, a minor is considered a victim and can receive benefits through a compensation program.
Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com
