November 27, 2008

Leonardo Ramirez Lozano charged with molestation

November 27, 2008

Kristin M. Kraemer, Tri-City Herald

Bail is set at $200,000 for a 28-year-old Kennewick, Wash., man charged with repeatedly molesting two grade-school girls while watching pornographic movies.

Leonardo Ramirez Lozano pleaded innocent Wednesday in Benton County Superior Court to two counts of first-degree child rape.

Lozano, when asked by the judge if he's aware of the charges, said through an interpreter that he is innocent.

But prosecutors claim in court documents that after Lozano's arrest Nov. 17, he admitted to inappropriately touching the girls. His trial is Jan. 12.

Kennewick police were called last week when the sexual assaults came to light. Lozano allegedly was caught watching a porn movie with one of the girls.

Both girls told officers that Lozano had been touching them and showing porn for "a long period of time," and that he often would sexually abuse the girls together, court documents said. One girl said she was made to perform sex acts with him, documents said.

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/kennewick_pasco_richland/story/398568.html

Teacher Brenton James Unferth charged with committing lewd acts

November 27, 2008

San Bernadino Sun

APPLE VALLEY, Calif. -- A middle-school teacher charged with lewd and lascivious acts with a former student is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.

Brenton James Unferth, 38, was charged Wednesday and the Apple Valley School District has placed the physical- education teacher on administrative leave.

He will be arraigned at 8 a.m. Tuesday in Victorville Superior Court.

Unferth, who taught at Sitting Bull Middle School, is accused of committing the lewd acts with a 15-year-old girl this year.

Text messages between Unferth and the girl, who was in his seventh- and eighth- grade classes, were discovered last week by her parents.

http://www.sbsun.com/ci_11091268

November 26, 2008

Earl Buchanan pleads guilty to child pornography

November 26, 2008

By Elliott Spagat, Associated Press

SAN DIEGO -- A man suspected of molesting children of his low-income tenants pleaded guilty to child molestation Wednesday, authorities said.

Earl Buchanan, 65, admitted in federal court that he produced a video of himself molesting a boy - believed to be 5 to 7 years old - in the bedroom of his home in Bloomington, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego said. He took the video to Arizona, Mexico and back to California.

Buchanan faces between 15 and 30 years in prison when he is sentenced March 2 for sexual exploitation of a child. He also agreed to forfeit his Bloomington house.

Prosecutors agreed to drop charges of kidnapping a minor and transporting child pornography.

Buchanan faces charges of child molestation in San Bernardino Superior Court. That complaint alleged he committed lewd acts with six children as young as 7 years old between November 1998 and October 2006.

Buchanan was arrested in July 2006 while crossing the border in Calexico, 120 miles east of San Diego, with a 5-year-old boy who was not related. Prosecutors said authorities found lubricants, condoms, children's videos and hotel receipts in his van.

It was unclear if the boy in the van was the child shown in the video. Alessandra Serano, an assistant U.S. attorney, said Buchanan did not tell prosecutors.

"I think it was the same kid," Serano said.

At the time of his arrest, authorities said Buchanan rented homes to low-income tenants east of Los Angeles, won the parents' trust and showered the children with amusement park trips, dirt bikes, clothes and video games. They said a search of his home turned up a warehouse containing a bedroom and adjoining children's room stocked with video games and DVDs of children's movies. Several children's U.S. birth certificates were also found.

Buchanan's attorney, Robert Boyce, did not immediately respond to a phone message.

http://www.modbee.com/state_wire/story/513526.html

Former School Principal James Kirkman Placed On Probation

November 26, 2008

WXII 12 News

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. -- A former elementary school principal in Mount Airy recently was put on probation after entering a no-contest plea in a molestation case.

James "Jay" Kirkman, 63, was scheduled to go on trial for a second time in a Blair County courtroom on charges of indecent assault, corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children.

Kirkman, who was tried on similar charges in Surry County during the 1980s, was accused of fondling a boy, now 16, at a church in southwestern Pennsylvania in 2005.

However, Kirkman, who was the principal of B.H. Tharrington Elementary School in Mount Airy from 1975-80, opted to enter the no-contest plea before the second trial began. His first trial in June ended with a hung jury.

Though Kirkman had maintained his innocence heading into the second court proceeding, he opted to enter the plea, thereby avoiding a jail sentence that could have resulted from his being tried and convicted. Instead, the former Surry County resident was placed on probation for 12 years by Judge Hiram Carpenter.

Kirkman also was ordered to undergo a sexual offender evaluation. He is not allowed to have unsupervised contact with children who are related to him and no contact with other youths.

Three years after resigning from Tharrington Elementary in 1980, Kirkman was charged with four counts of taking indecent liberties with a child by the Surry County Sheriff’s Office. The former resident of Pinecreek Trail in Mount Airy was accused of molesting two brothers from a troubled family, the oldest of whom was 14, while they were living in Kirkman’s home in 1983.

At the time, he was operating a counseling service on West Lebanon Street.

Kirkman pleaded guilty in the Surry County case and served 13 months in prison before being paroled in 1985.

He eventually moved to New Enterprise, Pa., and took an administrative position as church counselor at Faith Assembly of God Church near Roaring Spring.

The most recent criminal case against Kirkman stemmed from alleged acts at the church between October and December 2005 while he was counseling another teen. At the first trial, the alleged victim told the court that "astor Jay" put his arms around him and fondled him while he was playing the church keyboard.

Also, the youth accused Kirkman of taking him into a prayer room, where he allegedly molested him and told him not to tell.

The prosecution said that one reason it agreed to Kirkman’s no-contest plea was that it prevented the youth from having to testify again. The boy’s mother said that his grades had fallen and he is now being home-schooled. He also fears further counseling because of what happened with Kirkman, she said.

Another reason for accepting the plea was that Kirkman, had he been found guilty by a jury, likely would have received the same probationary sentence, prosecutors said. They also said that the sentence given Kirkman essentially will prevent him from further counseling of youth.

A no-contest plea basically means that the defendant does not admit guilt to charges, but is not willing to fight them through legal proceedings.

An attorney for Kirkman said it was important for his client to stay out of jail because he wants to assist with handling health problems within his wife’s family.

The prosecution had attempted to introduce testimony at the second trial from Kirkman’s victims in the Surry County abuse case, now 37 and 38, who still live in North Carolina. However, the judge ruled against that pre-trial request, saying there were differences in the two cases.

http://www.wxii12.com/news/18150764/detail.html#-

November 25, 2008

Deputies: Maximo Cobos Ramirez, 30, admits sex with 13-year-old girl

November 25, 2008

Ocala.com

OCALA, Florida - Marion County sheriff's deputies charged Maximo Cobos Ramirez, 30, on Monday after he reportedly admitted having sex with a 13-year-old girl.

The girl told law enforcement officials on Nov. 12 that she had been having sex with the horse groomer, who works on a farm in northwest Marion County, according to a Sheriff's Office report. She said the sexual relations occurred at her home when her parents were not there.

At some point during the relationship, the girl said Ramirez began treating her badly and criticized her. She said at that point she decided to tell someone about the relationship.

Officials then went to Ramirez's job on Monday, found and questioned him. Ramirez told Detective Miriam Diaz that he had sex with the girl and knew she was 13, according to the report. He was then arrested at 11:50 a.m. and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with three counts of lewd and lascivious battery.

http://www.ocala.com/article/20081125/ARTICLES/811250297/-1/news?Title=Deputies__Man__30__admits_sex_with_13_year_old_girl

November 20, 2008

Robert Dudley Theile sentenced for committing sexual acts on a 12-year-old girl

November 20, 2008

Chico Enterprise-Record

WILLOWS, Calif. -- A man prosecutors identified as a teacher retired from the Chico Unified School District entered a plea of no contest to committing sexual acts on a child and was found guilty Nov. 13 in Glenn County Superior Court.

When sentenced on Jan. 9, 2009, Robert Dudley Theile Jr., 67, faces up to eight years in state prison.

He will also be required to register as a sex offender for life. The charge stemmed from allegations Theile performed lewd and lascivious acts on a 12-year-old girl during visits to his Capay home. Glenn County District Attorney Robert Holzapfel said four counts were originally filed, but three were dropped. He said the other three counts can still be factored into the sentence.

Theile was first charged in March. He remains free on bail until sentencing.

http://www.chicoer.com/advertise/ci_11030115

November 11, 2008

Registered sex offender Earl Withrow accused of abusing girl

November 11, 2008

Columbia (MO) Tribune

Earl F. Withrow, 53, of 504 N. Garth Ave. was arrested yesterday on suspicion of first-degree statutory sodomy and sexual exploitation of a child. He remained in custody today at the Boone County Jail with bond not yet set.

Columbia police Sgt. Ken Hammond said police began their investigation in July after being notified of a hot line call to the Division of Family Services. Withrow was interviewed yesterday and made incriminating statements about the abuse, Hammond said. The first instance of alleged abuse occurred at a Columbia residence of a relative of the girl, Hammond said. The suspect and victim are not related but acquaintances through family members, Hammond said.

Hammond did not provide a timeframe for the alleged abuse, but he said it is believed to have occurred for months. According to state law, a person commits first-degree statutory sodomy if he is 21 or older and has "deviate sexual intercourse" with someone younger than 14.

Withrow pleaded guilty in St. Francois County in 1996 to first-degree statutory sodomy and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to court records. He is listed on the Boone County sheriff’s and Missouri State Highway Patrol online registry of sex offenders.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Nov/20081111News013.asp

Valerie Posey sentenced in playground molestation

November 11, 2008

By Tom Blakey, The Norman (OK) Transcript

A 27-year-old Moore woman was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison for molesting a 13-year-old boy on a Moore elementary school playground.

Valerie Faye Posey entered pleas of guilty and was sentenced by District Judge Tom Lucas to serve 20 years with 12 suspended for lewd acts with a child; and 10 years with two suspended for forcible oral sodomy, with the sentences to run concurrently.

The convictions requires she serve 85 percent of her sentence, or 6.8 years, before she is eligible for parole recommendation, officials said.

According to court records, March 22, the mother of the juvenile victim, found sexually explicit text messages on her son's cell phone, along with nude photos. The victim's mother contacted police, and officers arrived and observed more text messages indicating Posey wanted to meet the victim at a fast food restaurant at 12th and City Avenue in Moore. Officers went to that location and contacted the defendant, court records show.

In a subsequent forensic interview, the victim said Posey knew he was 13 years old when they met in January 2008.

Posey admitted meeting the victim the evening of Feb. 23, at Kelley Elementary School, and engaging in sexual acts on playground equipment.

Assistant District Attorney Rick Sitzman said Posey admitted knowing what she was doing was wrong, but stated she was "sexually attracted" to the juvenile victim.

Posey was represented by an attorney with the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System.

http://www.normantranscript.com/localnews/local_story_316011527

Pastor James Wilson faces kidnapping charges in molestation case

November 11, 2008

By Janet Morales, Moberly Monitor-Index

Moberly, Mo. - James M. Wilson, pastor of Terrill Road Free Will Baptist Church, has been charged with felony kidnapping in connection with a May incident in Boone County that led to his arrest for child molestation.

Wilson, who is also principal of the Terrill Road Christian School, was charged October 9 with second degree child molestation involving a 16-year-old female student of the school.

The incident allegedly occurred May 6 when, according to a Columbia Police probable cause statement, the girl’s mother dropped her off at a gas station near the Christian school in Moberly and she waited there for Pastor Wilson. Wilson allegedly picked her up around 8 a.m. and drove her to the Motel 6 in Columbia. The girl stated she and Wilson sat on a large bed in the hotel and watched cartoons. She said, according to the statement, that Wilson threw her onto the bed, took off her shirt and began to fondle her breasts. When the girl protested, saying they shouldn’t be doing it because he was married, Wilson stopped touching her and apologized. The two then returned to Moberly where Wilson dropped the girl off at the gas station at about 10:30 a.m.
The victim reported the incident on September 10.

According to Randolph County Sheriff Mark Nichols, Randolph County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Fusselman discussed the case with Boone County officials and decided there was sufficient evidence to support a charge of kidnapping against Wilson. Wilson was arrested Monday night and was released on a $100,000 bond. Wilson is not to have contact with the victim or anyone under the age of 18.

http://www.moberlymonitor.com/news/x1362874863/Pastor-faces-kidnapping-charges-in-molestation-case

November 10, 2008

David Cross pleads guilty to enticing minor

November 10, 2008

The Examiner

BALTIMORE - A Middle River man has pleaded guilty to enticing a minor for sex and possessing and distributing child pornography.

Thirty-four-year-old David Cross admitted to federal prosecutors that he molested two prepubescent girls, including once at a swimming pool. He also had a document that explained ways to trick children into isolated places and encourage them to have sexual contact with adults.

In addition, Cross had images of child pornography on his computer that he had e-mailed to others.

He was caught after police got a complaint about the content of his Internet chats. An undercover detective posed as a 13-year-old boy and chatted online with Cross, who solicited sex.

Cross faces mandatory minimum sentences of 10 years for enticing a minor and five years for distributing child pornography. He could get up to 10 years for possession of child porn, plus supervision for life.

http://www.examiner.com/a-1683600~Child_predator_pleads_guilty_to_enticing_minor.html