Tag: child abuse

Chicago priest accused of molesting kids makes bombshell claim against Pope Leo

A defrocked priest who was accused of sexually abusing at least 13 children has made a bombshell claim against the new pope. 

Robert Prevost, who was named the new head of the Vatican earlier this month, has been accused of turning a blind eye to the Church’s sexual abuse scandal in Chicago when he served as the head of the Midwest Province of the Catholic Church’s Augustinian order.

Now, former priest James M Ray also claims Prevost signed off on his move to a Hyde Park monastery near a Catholic elementary school – despite the fact that Ray had already been accused of molesting children.

‘He’s the one who gave me permission to stay there,’ Ray recently told the Chicago Sun-Times. 

The priest is included on an Archdiocesan list of accused sexual offenders, which claims he was subject to ‘limited ministry with restrictions’ starting in 1990 following sexual abuse allegations.

Still, he worked for three parishes – and in 2000, the Archdiocese of Chicago stepped in to help him find a place to live where he would not pose a threat to the public.

However, they ultimately let Ray stay for two years at the St. John Stone Friary – which is less than one block from the St. Thomas the Apostle Elementary School and across the ally from a child care center. 

The school was never notified that Ray – who has never been convicted of any crime and is not included on any government sex offender registries – was moving into the area, and there is no indication that the child care center was notified either.

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Washington State Dems vote against informing parents about sexual assault of a child by a school employee

In a move that has sparked fierce backlash from Republican lawmakers and parental rights organizations, Washington Governor Bob Ferguson signed House Bill 1296 into law on Tuesday, effectively dismantling key provisions of Initiative 2081—a voter-backed parental rights initiative supported by over 454,000 Washingtonians.

HB 1296, sponsored and passed by the Democratic majority in the Legislature, revises the parental rights measure that was enacted with bipartisan support just one year ago. The original initiative outlined 15 rights for parents of public school students, including the right to be notified of academic, medical, safety, and law enforcement matters involving their children, and the right to access educational and medical records.

Critics say the new legislation guts the core of Initiative 2081. Among the most controversial changes:

  • Schools can delay parents from receiving information about their students and entirely removes access for parents receiving medical and mental health records. 
  • The bill removes the requirement to notify parents when their child receives medical services from government employees in schools. 
  • It allows government employees up to two days to notify parents that their child was the victim of a crime or sexual assault in school. 
  • The bill creates significant legal and bureaucratic hurdles for parents seeking to hold schools accountable when rights under I-2081 are violated.
  • The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) is granted expanded authority to penalize school districts that fail to comply with its directives.

The bill passed along party lines, with every Republican legislator voting against it. Rep. Travis Couture (R-Allyn), a vocal opponent of HB 1296, denounced the measure as a “slap in the face to democracy” and criticized Democrats for overturning a measure they had previously supported. “We have seen a stunning amount of sexual misconduct and sexual assaults by educators in our schools just in the last year,” Couture said. He proposed an amendment that would have required immediate parental notification if a student was sexually abused by a school employee—an amendment Democrats voted down.

Let’s Go Washington, the citizen-led group that spearheaded the original initiative, issued a sharp rebuke following the bill’s signing. Founder Brian Heywood said in a statement to The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, “This is a direct assault on parents and a damnation of Governor Ferguson’s claim to be a moderate for Washingtonians.” Heywood emphasized the group’s commitment to repealing the new law, stating, “We will do everything in our power to reverse this gutting of the Parental Rights Bill.”

The legislation has also drawn national attention. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) called the changes “utterly insane,” while former President Donald Trump weighed in on Truth Social, claiming, “Washington State Democrats voted not to inform parents if a child is sexually abused by a school employee.” Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk also shared the news, amplifying conservative criticism.

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Police: Fmr NFL linebacker among over 250 people arrested in human-trafficking sting operation 

A former NFL linebacker is among more than 250 individuals arrested in connection with a human trafficking sting operation in Florida.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office has announced that Adarius Taylor – who played seven NFL seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Carolina Panthers, and the Cleveland Browns –  was arrested last month as part of the “Operation Fool Around and Find Out.” 

The former athlete’s original last name was Glanton, but he legally changed it to Taylor to honor his father. 

According to a report by the Orlando Sentinel, Taylor, 34, even brought his 6-year-old to the alleged “sting site” — leaving the child in the car as he went inside.

Sheriff Grady Judd explained that the child has since been taken into custody by the Florida Department of Children and Families.

“Obviously he must have hit one too many people as a linebacker, because his brain cells are scrambled,” Judd said.

The former NFL line-backer has now been charged with felony negligent child abuse without bodily harm and misdemeanor solicitation of prostitution.

Taylor was one of 255 people — including 36 illegal immigrants— who were arrested in the nine-day police operation, between May 2nd and May 10th. 

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Trans kids: the must-have accessory for A-list celebs

There are some points a society gets to on various issues and you think: ‘Yes! This is just right! This bit could stop right here and it would be perfect!’ And then some bright-spark no-mark goes and thinks: ‘I know what – let’s take it a bit further and see what happens…’ The results are invariably rubbish.

‘Anti-racism’ goes from colourblindness to DEI. ‘Equality of the sexes’ becomes lots of simple-minded babble about Strong Women who shout ‘Yas, Kween!’ at random intervals. The labrador and the poodle become the labradoodle, just for the hell of it. (The man who invented the breed has since noted that healthy labradoodles are ‘few and far between’ and most are ‘crazy or have a hereditary problem’.)

Think of reproduction. What could have been a better idea for couples having trouble reproducing than adoption, whereby a child languishing in an orphanage would be chosen by an infertile couple and, in the best version of outcomes, told every day how ‘special’ they are to have been picked from all those other orphans. But then some greedy and maybe mad scientist invented surrogacy. Suddenly, the orphans could go hang. Narcissistic rich people started seeking babies who look like them. Then the gays got in on it. So, women are good for something, after all!

Gay surrogacy reached critical mass some years back when a storyline in the Archers had the resident Lovely Gay Couple, Adam and Ian, hiring a Bulgarian fruit-picker to have a baby for them. Lexi, the surrogate mother, has two children she is separated from due to economic circumstances. At this point, she is in the early stages of a relationship with a man who was once a racist but now understands that love sees no passport. After initial hostility to the fact that his lover would be renting out her womb to a pair of polenta-bothering ponces, former racist Roy saw the light and came to believe that there should be no just impediment to a Lovely Gay Couple’s right to Complete Their Family.

One becomes immune to headlines like the one in the Daily Mail this week: ‘Scott Mills reveals why he “can’t imagine” ever having children as he discusses life with husband’ – the ‘reveal’ obviously being that the Radio 2 presenter is a gay man married to another gay man. There is something risibly mimsy about men who can’t bring themselves to have sex with women but want to enjoy the benefits of reproduction. Can’t they just grit their teeth and do it the traditional way, as the late Paul O’Grady did? ‘People ask me how I’ve got a daughter and I say: “The same way your mum and dad had you!”. Someone held your chips and you cracked on with it in the bus shelter.’

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The USA has a child marriage epidemic—it’s even worse than you think

Children today have it tough, between grades, drugs, alcohol—and apparently, the threat of child marriage. This isn’t hyperbole. To this day in 2025, thousands of children are forced into child marriage in the United States—and Republicans seem to want to keep it that way. With several thousand documented child marriages every single year—some involving as children as young as 10—we need need legislative solutions and penalties for those who exploit children. But where do we begin?

Let’s Address This.

How Widespread Is Child Marriage in America?

Despite widespread condemnation and international treaties against it, child marriage continues in the United States unabated. As reported in numerous outlets including the Washington Post and The Independent:

At least 207,468 minors married in the US between 2000 and 2015, according to data compiled by Unchained At Last, a group campaigning to abolish child marriage, and investigative documentary series Frontline. The true figure is likely to be much higher because 10 states provided no or incomplete statistics.

The youngest wedded were three 10-year-old girls in Tennessee who married men aged 24, 25 and 31 in 2001. The youngest groom was an 11-year-old who married a 27-year-old woman in the same state in 2006. Children as young as 12 were granted marriage licences in Alaska, Louisiana and South Carolina, while 11 other states allowed 13-year-olds to wed. More than 1,000 children aged 14 or under were granted marriage licences.

And the problem persists. Unchained At Last conducted another study in 2021 and found more than 300,000 documented cases of child marriage, as reported by Rolling Stone:

A 2021 study by the advocacy group Unchained at Last found that 300,000 minors were married between 2000 and 2018 in the United States. According to the group, 60,000 of those marriages involved an age difference that would have otherwise been considered a sex crime.

Remember, this is yet incomplete data as 10 states do not adequately report this data. But there’s yet another element of horror to this situation. In many states, children who are married cannot divorce—making child marriage a daunting one way ticket. As divorce lawyer Nancy Zalusky Berg explains:

A minor can’t file for a divorce because they’re not considered old enough to do it. That’s because marriage is considered a contract, and most laws stipulate that only adults can enter into contracts. So, if a minor wants to change their marriage contract, they need an adult to help them do it.

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Minneapolis ‘nonbinary’ leftist educator arrested on child sex crime charges after citizen sting

A radical nonbinary leftist educator has been arrested on child sex crime charges in Minneapolis. Preston Palmer, 35, an anti-police activist, was booked into Hennepin County Jail on Wednesday without bail. He has been charged with pornographic work involving minors, according to records.

Palmer, a third-grade substitute teacher at Sullivan STEAM school in Minneapolis, was busted during an undercover child sex sting conducted by citizen “child predator hunter” Alex Rosen. Palmer arrived at Brackett Park with the intention to meet a 13-year-old boy for sex, along with his father, according to Rosen, who claimed Palmer came with a flash drive that included more than 4,000 child pornographic images.

Palmer arranged the encounter with the person he believed was a minor boy, corresponding with him via text messages. However, the boy was Rosen posing as a 13-year-old child. After Palmer arrived at the park, Rosen confronted him and reported Palmer to authorities, resulting in the Minneapolis Park Police taking him into custody.

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Chris Hansen Busts BLM Activist in Child Sex Sting

Cameras were rolling when veteran predator poacher Chris Hansen and his team busted a Black Lives Matter activist who was allegedly attempting to procure a child for sex.

Joining Fox News’ Jesse Watters, the “To Catch a Predator” star commented on his recent capture of Aston Mack, 35, a Florida activist who participated in and led several George Floyd protests in 2020.

Footage shows sheriff’s deputies raiding Mack’s residence and tackling him after he fled on foot.

“Can you grab my shoe?” the activist asked as he was hauled away, with officers denying his request.

“35-year-old Aston Mack, BLM activist, worked with challenged children in Orlando, claimed to me that he had the sex trafficking hotline number on his phone in his pocket and was just gonna help this girl out,” Hansen explained to Watters.

“But the texts tell a very different story,” Hansen added.

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FBI Has Launched 250 Probes Tied To Online Networks That Prey On Minors

The FBI has been investigating at least 250 subjects allegedly tied to violent online networks that prey on minors.

The networks, under investigation by all of the FBI’s 55 field offices, are known as “764” but have other names.

“The FBI is growing increasingly concerned about a loose network of violent predators who befriend minors and other vulnerable individuals through popular online platforms and then coerce them into escalating sexual and violent behavior,“ the FBI said in a May 8 statement to The Epoch Times, noting this includes ”pushing victims to create graphic content, child sexual abuse material (CSAM), harm family pets, cut themselves with sharp objects, or attempt suicide.”

“Some of these predators even watch live-streamed self-harm and other violent content.”

The FBI had issued a public service announcement on March 6, warning about “a sharp increase” in the activity of “764” and other such online networks.

In targeting minors, the bureau said, these networks “use threats, blackmail, and manipulation to coerce or extort victims into producing, sharing, or live-streaming acts of self-harm, animal cruelty, sexually explicit acts, and/or suicide.”

“The footage is then circulated among members of the network to continue to extort victims and exert control over them,” it said in the March announcement.

The platforms exist on social media, gaming platforms, and mobile applications, with the victims usually being between the ages of 10 and 17, though some aged 9 have also been targeted, according to the FBI.

“These violent actors target vulnerable populations to include children, as well as those who struggle with a variety of mental health issues, such as depression, eating disorders, or suicidal ideation,” the bureau said.

Predators, they said, usually “groom their victims by first establishing a trusting or romantic relationship before eventually manipulating and coercing them into engaging in escalating harmful behavior designed to shame and isolate them.”

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Gloucester Police Officer Charged with Child Pornography Offense

A police officer with the Gloucester Police Department has been charged with receipt of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).  

Alexander Aiello, 34, of Gloucester, was charged with one count of receipt of child pornography. Aiello will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.

According to the charging documents, Aiello is a patrol officer employed with the Gloucester Police Department. It is alleged that Aiello was identified as a user with a registered account for a dark website, which provided a platform for users to download, view, advertise and distribute CSAM. Searches of Aiello’s person and residence on April 28, 2025, resulted in the seizure of the defendant’s cell phone and laptop as well as a USB thumb drive, which was found in Aiello’s nightstand in his bedroom.

It is alleged that a preliminary examination of the devices revealed that a TOR Browser – an application that provides anonymous web access and access to dark web hidden services – was installed and actively running on Aiello’s laptop. It is further alleged that the application had evidence of downloaded files consistent with recent use. Additionally, the preliminary examination allegedly located encrypted folders on the USB drive and laptop computer.

“As a law enforcement officer, Mr. Aiello was entrusted with safeguarding the community – and that includes protecting children from exploitation and abuse. Instead, he allegedly participated in one of the most reprehensible forms of exploitation,” said United States Attorney Leah B. Foley. “This case underscores our unwavering commitment to combating child exploitation in all its forms. Whether the offender is a private citizen or a public official, our mission remains the same: to protect children and pursue justice for victims.”

“As a police officer, Alexander Aiello was sworn to protect and serve, but today, the FBI charged him for receiving images of children being sexually abused,” said James Crowley, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division. “Those who seek out this despicable material are perpetuating the victimization of innocent children. That’s why the FBI Boston’s Child Exploitation – Human Trafficking Task Force diligently pursues these cases. Protecting kids from this physical and emotional trauma is our priority.”

The charge of receipt of child pornography provides for a sentence of at least five years and up to 20 years in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

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Pope Leo XIV ‘looked the other way’ when confronted with child sex abuse allegations against priest in his Chicago church

The newly-elected Pope Leo XIV is facing accusations of ‘looking the other way’ when confronted with child sex abuse allegations against a priests in his Chicago and South American churches, it has emerged.

Robert Prevost, who became the first North American pontiff on Thursday, was accused by a survivors’ group of failing to act upon allegations of abuse in the U.S. and in Peru – concerns they relayed to the cardinals who selected him.

‘Staying silent is a sin. It’s not what God wants us to do. Jesus wants us to stop these things, not make a heathy garden for sexual abuse to grow,’ Lopez de Casas, a victim of clergy abuse and national vice president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), told DailyMail.com.

Prevost was said to have looked past allegations in Chicago, where he grew up, after Augustinian priest Father James Ray was allowed to live at the St. John Stone Friary in Hyde Park despite having been removed from ministering to the public years prior over accusations of abusing minors.

The new pope allegedly didn’t notify the heads of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic school, an elementary school half a block from the friary because, the church said at the time, Ray was supposed to be closely monitored in the friary.

Prevost also faced criticism for not having opened a formal church investigation into alleged sexual abuse carried out by two priests in the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, which he led from 2014 to 2023. 

SNAP and other groups say they had made the 135 eligible cardinals who selected him well aware of Prevost’s alleged inaction on the allegations.

‘This person will be scrutinized from left to right,’ said Lopez de Casas, who hopes Prevost’s election will shine a brighter light on abuse within the Church.

‘That’s helpful for victims everywhere because we have this pope who will be under the public eye in terms of things he was involved with in the past,’ he said.

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