Tag: child abuse

Transgender Minnesota lawmaker introduces bill removing anti-pedophile language from state’s Human Rights Act

A transgender state lawmaker in Minnesota introduced a measure that would remove language from the state’s Human Rights Act that currently declares pedophiles are not included in protections based on “sexual orientation.”

The proposed language has shocked and bewildered Republicans, but the bill’s author says nothing in the text would weaken pedophilia laws. The “Take Pride Act” (HF 1655) was introduced earlier this year by state Rep. Leigh Finke, a member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party and the first transgender legislator in Minnesota House history.

The bill would amend Minnesota’s Human Rights Act, which is described by the state as “one of the strongest civil rights laws in the country.” The current Human Rights Act protects against discrimination based on sexual orientation, defined as “having or being perceived as having an emotional, physical, or sexual attachment to another person without regard to the sex of that person or having or being perceived as having an orientation for such attachment, or having or being perceived as having a self-image or identity not traditionally associated with one’s biological maleness or femaleness.”

The law also includes this caveat: “‘Sexual orientation’ does not include a physical or sexual attachment to children by an adult.” That language would be removed under Finke’s proposal.

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Shocking Allegation: Jan. 6th Provocateur Ray Epps Accused of Pedophilia by Adopted Daughter

The adopted daughter of notorious Jan. 6 provocateur Ray Epps, Tiffany, has come forward with startling allegations of pedophilia against the man who raised her.

In recent Twitter Space interviews hosted by independent journalist Dom Lucre, Tiffany Epps revealed she suffered years of physical and mental abuse and sexual molestation at the hands of her adopted father “James” Ray Epps.

After admitting she last spoke to her adopted father at her brother’s funeral six years ago, Tiffany said, “I don’t speak to him, because he’s a — he’s a fuckin’ pedophile. That’s why I don’t speak to him.”

Lucre acknowledged to Tiffany the FBI looks for people who are “compromised” to hire as assets.

Tiffany evidently brought receipts, with Lucre showing a certificate of adoption from the state of Arizona showing James Ray Epps and his wife Robyn indeed adopted her.

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Socialite mom, 45, is arrested in child porn sting at Virginia hotel where she allegedly planned to sexually abuse eight-year-old girl. Now federal judge ex-husband launches court battle to win full custody of their daughters – aged 10 and 12

A federal judge in Virginia is fighting for full custody of his two young daughters after his high society ex-wife was arrested at a hotel where she allegedly planned to sexually assault an eight-year-old girl, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.

Eleanor Hunton Hoppe, 45, a member of one of Virginia’s most prominent families, was snared in an FBI sting last month after messaging an undercover agent explicit and sickening details about what she wanted to do to the child, according to court filings. 

The mother-of-two – who has been charged with child porn and child sex abuse offenses – is also accused of sending the agent a 30-second video and three still images of young minor girls being horrifically sexually abused by men.

Her arrest has stunned communities in Charlottesville, where she lives, and in Richmond where she grew up amid wealth and prestige as a member of a legal powerhouse family who helped found the city’s biggest law firm, now known as Hunton, Andrews, Kurth.

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Oregon teachers’ aide, ‘drag mom’ to child drag queen sentenced to less than 1 year in jail for 11 felony child sex crimes

A former Oregon elementary school teaching assistant and “drag mom” to a controversial child drag performer has been convicted of 11 felonies over the distribution of child sex abuse content and sentenced to less than a year in a local jail. 

Kelsey Meta Boren, 33, was convicted in Lane County, Ore. on March 23 of 11 felony counts of encouraging child sexual abuse in the first degree. A single charge of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct was dismissed as part of the plea deal. Boren was sentenced to 330 days in county jail—30 days for each felony count—in a sweetheart deal agreed upon between the district attorney’s office and her counsel.

“Our office must decide each case individually, taking into account the facts of the offenses, and the nature of the offender,” wrote Lane County Deputy District Attorney Robert Lane to The Post Millennial. “This case was assigned to me, and I made those decisions.”

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Survivors Alleging Satanic Ritual Abuse Raise Awareness Amid Media Claims of ‘Panic’

Survivors alleging satanic ritual abuse (SRA) and their advocates are continuing a decades-long fight to advance their cases as media companies push a narrative that the type of abuse they allege is largely the creation of a social panic.

Last month, the South by Southwest film festival screened “Satan Wants You,” which “tells the untold story of how the Satanic Panic of the 1980s was ignited,” according to the festival’s website. Echoing years of skeptical news coverage, the description adds that “satanic rumors spread through panic-stricken communities across the world, leaving a wave of destruction and wrongful convictions in their wake.” Other “satanic panic” warnings can be found in recent coverage of cases in Scotland and Utah while the backlash against Sam Smith’s Grammys performance has prompted similar caution.

But for advocates like Cindy Metcalf, the “Satanic Panic” narrative is false and degrades the stories she encounters on a regular basis. In March, Metcalf’s newly formed group Relentless Hope held a meeting in the Salt Lake area for survivors to discuss potential legal options for pursuing allegations involving the Church of Latter-Day Saints (LDS).

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Koskan pleads guilty to two charges of incest, sentenced to 10 years in prison

Disgraced former South Dakota state senate candidate Joel Koskan has been sentenced to ten years in state prison on two charges of incest.

Judge Margo Northup, a Sixth Circuit Court Judge, opted to sentence Koskan to the maximum sentence, and to pay roughly $20,000 in fines during a sentencing hearing Tuesday at the Hughes County courthouse.

The charges Koskan pleaded guilty to stem from crimes committed at his residence.

“He acted like a jealous lover more than a father,” Northup said. “He took advantage of a child that viewed him as a father.”

But Koskan’s need for control didn’t end once the investigation began. Immediately after Koskan found out that the victim had reported his crimes to the Spink County Sheriff’s office, Koskan sought to pressure the victim to back off the allegations against him.

Shortly after the victim approached police for the first time, Koskan reported the victim’s vehicle as stolen to the police.

As a result, the victim struggled with mental health issues, having intermittent panic attacks most specifically when speaking with law enforcement and prosecutors.

“She would not be in the position she is if not for the defendant’s actions,” said Brent Kempema, a Deputy Attorney General who represented the prosecution.

Koskan’s family also pressured the victim to not cooperate with law enforcement. According to the prosecution, family members of Koskan’s sent the victim a news article, detailing how a former South Dakota state lawmaker had rape charges dismissed against him because the victims chose not to cooperate in the investigation.

“The defendant’s gamble didn’t pay off. He gambled she would fold and she didn’t,” Kempema said in his closing remarks. “He needs to pay for his failed gamble.”

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Former Planned Parenthood Director Commits Suicide as Child Porn Investigation Intensifies

A former Planned Parenthood director, Tim Yergeau, 35, was found dead in his New Haven, Connecticut, apartment on Tuesday from suicide.

His death comes as a police investigation into a child pornography case intensified but was hampered by a botched raid on the apartment building in which Yergeau resided.

The Middletown Press reports:

Investigators are looking into the city police department’s botched child pornography raid last week at the apartment building of Long Wharf Theatre staffer Tim Yergeau who died by suicide on Tuesday, officials said.

“The person who died was definitely the suspect in a child pornography investigation and the person who committed suicide,” New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson told Hearst Connecticut Media Group on Wednesday.

The chief has requested an internal affairs investigation after members of the Special Victims Unit investigating the child pornography case broke down the door of Yergeau’s neighbor and handcuffed the woman before realizing they raided the wrong apartment.

“They obviously hit the wrong door,” Jacobson said.

The internal affairs investigation will also examine how Yergeau wound up taking his own life five days later, the chief said.

“Unfortunately, a mistake was made,” Jacobson said. “We feel for the woman and we’re going to do everything we can to make it right.”

“The investigation is part of holding my department accountable and transparent,” he added.

Jacobson, who said he plans to reach out to the woman, declined to confirm Yergeau was the suspect in the child pornography investigation. But Yergeau’s neighbor and the state Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner both confirmed he died Tuesday morning. The medical examiner also confirmed Yergeau died by suicide.

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Mormon church doesn’t have to report confessed child sex abuse, Arizona Supreme Court rules

The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can refuse to answer questions or turn over documents under a state law that exempts religious officials from having to report child sex abuse if they learn of the crime during a confessional setting.

The ruling was issued April 7 but not released to the public until Tuesday. A lawsuit filed by child sex abuse victims accuses the church, widely known as the Mormon church, two of its bishops, and other church members of conspiracy and negligence in not reporting church member Paul Adams for abusing his older daughter as early as 2010. This negligence, the lawsuit argues, allowed Adams to continue abusing the girl for as many as seven years, a time in which he also abused the girl’s infant sister.

Lynne Cadigan, an attorney for the Adams children who filed the lawsuit, criticized the court’s ruling.

“Unfortunately, this ruling expands the clergy privilege beyond what the legislature intended by allowing churches to conceal crimes against children,” she said.

In a statement, the church concurred with the court’s action.

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Dalai Lama speaks out after bizarre video showed him asking to kiss boy’s tongue

The Dalai Lama has apologized following outcry over him kissing a young Indian boy on the lips and asking him to “suck” his tongue.

The spiritual leader’s office released a statement on Monday after footage of the bizarre interaction, which occurred last month during an event for India’s M3M Foundation, went viral on social media.

The statement said he “wishes to apologize to the boy and his family, as well as his many friends across the world, for the hurt his words may have caused,” according to CNN.

“His Holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras,” the statement read, also saying he “regrets” the interaction.

The leader of Tibetan Buddhism, Tenzin Gyatso, was hosting students and members of the foundation at his temple in Dharamshala, India, where he lives in exile.

In the video, the boy approaches the microphone and asks, “Can I hug you?”

The 87-year-old says “OK, come” and invites him on stage.

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Founder of “Protect Our Kids First” arrested for allegedly downloading child sex abuse material

Michael Dolce, a 53-year-old lawyer known for representing child sexual abuse survivors, was recently arrested by FBI agents at his West Palm Beach, Florida home. Dolce, who founded a group called Protect Our Kids First Inc., was allegedly laying in his bed and downloading sexually explicit images of children when agents broke down his front door.

According to an FBI affidavit, after Dolce’s March 15 arrest, agents found 1,997 images and five videos of child pornography on his computer. The images were of male and female children ages five to 12, including several of a prepubescent girl in a subfolder titled “Sweet Pedo Stars.” Dolce could receive a minimum of 20 years in prison if found guilty of possessing child pornography.

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