Tag: child abuse

AI tool used to spot child abuse allegedly targets parents with disabilities

Since 2016, social workers in a Pennsylvania county have relied on an algorithm to help them determine which child welfare calls warrant further investigation. Now, the Justice Department is reportedly scrutinizing the controversial family-screening tool over concerns that using the algorithm may be violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by allegedly discriminating against families with disabilities, the Associated Press reported, including families with mental health issues.

Three anonymous sources broke their confidentiality agreements with the Justice Department, confirming to AP that civil rights attorneys have been fielding complaints since last fall and have grown increasingly concerned about alleged biases built into the Allegheny County Family Screening Tool. While the full scope of the Justice Department’s alleged scrutiny is currently unknown, the Civil Rights Division is seemingly interested in learning more about how using the data-driven tool could potentially be hardening historical systemic biases against people with disabilities.

The county describes its predictive risk modeling tool as a preferred resource to reduce human error for social workers benefiting from the algorithm’s rapid analysis of “hundreds of data elements for each person involved in an allegation of child maltreatment.” That includes “data points tied to disabilities in children, parents, and other members of local households,” Allegheny County told AP. Those data points contribute to an overall risk score that helps determine if a child should be removed from their home.

Although the county told AP that social workers can override the tool’s recommendations and that the algorithm has been updated “several times” to remove disabilities-related data points, critics worry that the screening tool may still be automating discrimination. This is particularly concerning because the Pennsylvania algorithm has inspired similar tools used in California and Colorado, AP reported. Oregon stopped using its family-screening tool over similar concerns that its algorithm may be exacerbating racial biases in its child welfare data.

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Former Vermont Police Chief Cited For Sexual Assault Of Minor During Ride-Along

Following a yearlong investigation, the Vermont State Police has cited Jeffrey Noyes, 54, of Bloomfield, Vermont, on a charge of felony sexual assault arising from an incident that occurred in October 2017 involving an underage girl. Noyes is the former chief of the Brighton and Canaan police departments and was on duty at the time of the incident.

The incident was reported in February 2022 to the Vermont State Police, which opened an investigation. A detective from outside the area was assigned as the lead investigator, with assistance from the Technology Investigation Unit and troopers from the Derby Barracks. VSP worked closely on the case with the Lamoille County State’s Attorney’s Office.

According to the findings of the investigation, Noyes and the victim knew each other, and she had accompanied him on multiple ride-alongs in his cruiser. In October 2017, Noyes was in uniform and on duty when he drove with the victim to a remote area and had sexual contact with the victim, who was under the age of consent.

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Former Democrat Mayor to Get 7 Years in Prison for Child Sex Crime Charges

The former Democrat mayor of Sebastopol, California, has pleaded no contest to child sex crime charges and will spend seven years in prison.

Robert Jacob, a 45-year-old Democrat who served as Sebastopol’s mayor from 2013 to early 2016 after serving on the city council, pleaded no contest after he was charged in 2021 with six counts of child sex crimes.

The no contest plea allows Jacob to accept a conviction and sentence without admitting to guilt. As part of his plea deal with the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office, Jacob will be sentenced to seven years in prison.

After his arrest, prosecutors alleged that Jacob had met an underage boy on the gay dating app Grindr sometime before December 2019 after he had already left the mayor’s office. The boy told prosecutors that his being underage did not stop Jacob from sexually assaulting him in his home from late 2019 to March 2021 on a number of occasions.

Jacob was also accused of sending the boy nude photos and inviting other men to have sex with the boy. Sometime in 2021, the boy or his parents reported the alleged sexual abuse to authorities, prompting them to arrest Jacob in April of that year.

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North Carolina Couple Arrested After Allegedly Performing Exorcism On Child Who Later Died

North Carolina court records allege a 4-year-old child died after suffering from severe abuse from his adoptive parents which included the young boy being subject to amateur exorcisms.

Joe Paul Wilson and Jodi Ann Wilson, the adoptive parents of four-year-old Skyler Wilson, allegedly restricted food to Skyler and performed an amateur exorcism on him and his brother.

Both are now facing murder charges for Skyler’s death.

After police conducted search warrants on the Wilson’s phones, they discovered a message Joseph Wilson sent to his wife that said he had a problem with “swaddling.”

The correspondence also revealed Joseph reportedly sent a picture of Skyler wrapped up tightly in a blanket and duct taped to the floor.

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‘Child Protection’ Org Fought Against Efforts To Crack Down On Childlike Sex Dolls, Cartoon Child Porn

The Prostasia Foundation, a tax-exempt nonprofit organization that claims to work to prevent child sex abuse, has fought against measures cracking down on fetish activities involving sexually fantasizing about children, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation found.

Prostasia’s stated mission is to prevent child sex abuse before it happens through research, consulting, “defending the innocent” and advocating for “effective laws” that could help prevent abuse, according to the group’s website. In practice, however, Prostasia has advocated for policies that would expand adults’ access to childlike sex toys and fictitious child pornography while making life easier for convicted sex offenders; the organization argues that these activities do not harm children and may help pedophiles avoid committing crimes.

“Prostasia Foundation is a child sexual abuse prevention organisation, led by survivors and experts,” Jeremy Malcolm, founder and former executive director of Prostasia, told the DCNF in September. “One of the ways that we can prevent abuse is by ensuring that mental health services are available to those who may otherwise be at risk of offending. We have zero tolerance for child sexual abuse, and have never offered any excuse to those who abuse children.”

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Two retired Met Police officers are charged with child porn offences after serving chief inspector was found dead before he could also be charged

Two retired Metropolitan Police officers have been charged with child sex offences as part of an investigation into a serving Met chief inspector who was found dead before he could also be charged.

In a statement, the Met said the charges followed a ‘lengthy and complex’ investigation into Richard Watkinson, 49, who was a serving Met Chief Inspector for neighbourhoods policing at the West Area Command Unit.

He was found dead in Buckinghamshire on Thursday, January 12, the same day he was due to answer bail to be charged with conspiracy to distribute or show indecent images of children, three counts of making indecent photos of a child, voyeurism and two counts of misconduct in public office.

The Crown Prosecution Service had authorised charges against him.

His death is being treated as unexplained but not suspicious and an inquest has opened and adjourned.

Met officers found Watkinson’s body having attended the address following welfare concerns.

He had been suspended from duty following his arrest in July 2021.

Jack Addis, 63, of no fixed address but from Perthshire, Scotland, and Jeremy Laxton, 62, from Lincolnshire, will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, February 9.

Addis has been charged with conspiracy to distribute or show indecent images of children. He was arrested in November 2021.

Laxton has been charged with conspiracy to distribute or show indecent images of children, three counts of making indecent photos of a child, possession of prohibited images of a child, possession of extreme pornographic images and intentionally encouraging or assisting an offence (misconduct in public office). He was arrested in September 2021.

They both left the force over a decade ago.

The alleged offences took place between January 1, 2018 and September 20, 2021.

Commander Jon Savell, said: ‘Chief Inspector Watkinson was facing extremely serious and concerning charges, as the result of a painstaking and thorough police investigation.

‘Before this matter came to light, we had no previous information about these allegations or to indicate the officer posed any risk to the public.

‘He had not faced any other criminal or conduct matters during his Met career.

‘He had been suspended from duty since his arrest.

‘Two other men were also arrested during the course of the investigation and have been charged, their matters will now progress through the courts.’

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Educator Sexual Misconduct Is On The Rise In US Public Schools

From sexting to rape, there is a disturbing uptick in sexual misconduct by public school teachers and other staff against students across the United States.

The growing problem was recently highlighted by an audit of Chicago public schools where dozens of staff members ranging from teachers, administrators, and counselors, to security officers—even a sign language interpreter—were found guilty of committing a variety of sex crimes against students while in school.

The audit was conducted by the Sexual Assault Unit of the Chicago school’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

The OIG did not respond to inquiries by The Epoch Times about the audit’s findings.

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Satanic child abuse ring shut victims in oven, forced them to kill animals and filmed themselves gang raping them, court hears

A satanic child abuse ring tortured children by putting them in an oven, forcing them to kill animals and gang raping them, a court has heard.

Seven men and four women are accused of abusing three young children over the course of 10 years in Glasgow which saw them attempt to ‘call on spirits and demons’. 

Two girls – one of whom was allegedly shut in a microwave, fridge, oven and freezer in an attempted to kill her – and one boy were forced to kill animals as well as being sexually abused by the group, it is claimed.

Members of the group have been charged with 43 offences with among the most serious being attempted murder and rape of young children.

Iain Owens, 44, Elaine Lannery, 38, Lesley Williams, 41, Paul Brannan, 40, Marianne Gallagher, 38, Scott Forbes, 49, Barry Watson, 46, Mark Carr, 49, Richard Gachagan, 45, Leona Laing, 50, and John Clark, 46, all deny the offences.

Four other people alleged to have been involved in the ring –  Maureen Goudie, Steven McHendrie, Robert Brown, James McLean and Douglas Gachagan – have since died, according to court papers.

The High Court in Glasgow was told on Friday that the offences took place between January 2010 and March 2020 at a number of addresses in the city.

The group are alleged to have run a wheelchair over the legs of one of the girls, as well as putting a plastic bag over her head.

It’s claimed she was made to eat cat food, as well as take drugs and alcohol, with the other girl also made to eat pet food.

The second girl was allegedly chased by an adult wearing a devil mask and hung by her jumper from a nail on the wall. 

This culminated with her being pushed into and trapped inside a microwave, an oven, a fridge freezer and various cupboards, the court heard.

It is claimed one of the girls was threatened with being sent to Turkey with a male stranger, while the boy was put in a bath which they said was filled with blood. 

The boy and older girl are alleged to have been made to take part in ‘seances (and) use a Ouija board…to call on spirits and demons’.

The children were also involved in ‘witchcraft’ leading them to believe that they themselves had ‘metamorphosed into animals’.

The 11 are further said to have worn cloaks and devil horns as well making the young boy stab a budgie to death.

The group are also accused of killing a number of dogs including getting the children to attack the animals.

It is claimed that all three children were raped and sexually assaulted by members of the ring, with some cheering and clapping while recording the offences.

Prosecutors allege that some members of the group paid for ‘sexual services’ from three of the children.

The court heard that when the older girl called the police she was threatened by members of the group and had her call disconnected. 

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Chicago schools watchdog finds hundreds of employees groomed, sexually assaulted students

Hundreds of Chicago teachers and school officials sexually groomed and assaulted students last school year, according to a report released this week. 

The Chicago Public Schools Office of the Inspector General released its annual report Sunday, saying it substantiated more than 300 misconduct allegations out of more than 600 complaints for the 2021-22 school year.

An OIG investigation concluded one teacher groomed and sexually assaulted a 17-year-old student three times. That teacher was charged with multiple counts of sexual assault. After a November 2022 trial, the teacher was acquitted on all counts, the report said, despite evidence provided by the student and social media records. 

Another investigation revealed a former JROTC staff member had sex with a high school girl over the course of a year when she was 16 to 17 years old, the report said. The girl was also given alcohol and marijuana and purchased marijuana for him, the OIG said.

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Top Cop Gets 100 Years for Feeding Semen to Wife’s Students, Raping Kids & Filming It

As TFTP reported in 2019, a high-level Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy — who commanded the SWAT team — and his wife, were indicted on more than 150 felonies for unspeakable crimes against children and animals. Dennis Perkins and his wife Cynthia Perkins were accused of multiple counts of child rape and the production of child pornography, among other disturbing charges — including secretly feeding Dennis Perkins’ semen to children who were students of Cynthia Perkins.

On Tuesday, this vile disgraced cop took a plea deal, and although he didn’t admit to all 150 charges, he pleaded guilty to enough of them that he will be going to jail for the rest of his life. Perkins was sentenced to 100 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of second-degree rape, two counts of sexual battery of a child, one count of video voyeurism, two counts of production of child porn of children under the age of 13, and one count of the mingling of harmful substances.

Cynthia took a plea deal in 2022 and received a 41-year sentence after agreeing to testify against her husband. The case that dragged on for years has finally come to an end and the victims will be spared the horrific experience of reliving the events in the courtroom.

“Not just for the victims but for the jurors who had to watch it, it would have been very disturbing,” prosecutors said after the sentencing. “That’s why we’re so happy that we were able to achieve what we did today without having to go through that.”

“No one has to worry about Dennis Perkins hurting anyone ever again,” one prosecutor added. “The victims were consulted and were all OK with this.”

WARNING: The details in the story below are exceedingly disturbing and contain extremely graphic descriptions of the alleged crimes.

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