Tag: sexual predators

Santa Monica cops who ignored warnings that staffer Eric Uller allegedly molested boys should be prosecuted: lawyer

A California attorney who represented more than 80 victims allegedly molested and raped by a Santa Monica, Calif., police employee said cops and other officials who ignored warnings also should face criminal charges.

Attorney Brian Claypool said decades of abuse could’ve been prevented if officers listened to his clients’ pleas to fire the late Eric Uller, who worked for the nonprofit after-school Police Activities League program since the late 1980s.

The City of Santa Monica this week agreed to a whopping $122.5 million settlement involving 124 victims but court records show Uller molested more than 200 victims, who were minors at the time.

“The fact that this was a nonprofit connected to police makes it even worse,” Claypool told The Post. “Police are hired to protect and serve, and the fact that they had this guy around children … it never should’ve happened.

“They knew this guy had a propensity for molesting kids but did nothing. They were protecting a dangerous sexual predator.”

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Billionaire T. Denny Sanford Was Investigated For Child Pornography—Newly Unsealed Documents Reveal Why

Nude photos of underage girls between the ages of 8 and 15 were discovered in the email account of billionaire T. Denny Sanford, who is the wealthiest person in South Dakota, newly unsealed documents show, shedding light on a child pornography investigation into the philanthropist which was closed without charges in 2022.

In the summer of 2019, images of nude underage girls were discovered in an AOL email linked to Sanford, prompting an investigation into the founder of First Premier Bank who is worth $2 billion and has donated large sums to children’s causes, according to documents released Thursday.

The images were revealed in unsealed court documents this week after a court battle by the news organizations ProPublica and South Dakota’s Argus Leader newspaper.

In 2019 the parent company of AOL sent information about the images to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which in turn made the referral to law enforcement, sparking an investigation that included five search warrants for Sanford’s email, phone, and internet data; one investigator wrote he believed there was evidence of criminality, according to the documents.

Sanford’s attorney Stacey Hegge said Thursday that after an “exhaustive” investigation, no prosecutable offense was discovered, partly because many individuals had access to Sanford’s devices, including, potentially, hackers.

The investigation was closed last year after the South Dakota attorney general, who was leading it, was impeached, but it isn’t fully clear why Sanford was not indicted.

Sanford fought to keep the documents sealed, but, after a years-long battle led by news organizations ProPublica and the Argus Leader to publicize the affidavit, South Dakota courts ruled to unseal them on April 6.

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Accused Pedophile Socialite Worked at Pro-Trans ‘Ready Kids’

Eleanor Hoppe, the Virginia socialite and ex-wife of a federal judge who was arrested by the FBI in an anti-pedophile sting operation, previously worked at pro-trans, pro-gay ReadyKids, a Charlottesville non-profit that maintains direct access to children through “counseling” and “family support” programs. Hoppe, whose ex-husband was appointed to the federal bench under the Obama Administration, is the “scion” a major Virginia legal family that donates millions of dollars to the uni-party.

According to Hoppe’s LinkedIn profile, the accused pedophile and child porn trafficker formerly worked as the “ReadySteps Program Leader and Early Learning Specialist” at ReadyKids in Charlottesville, while overseeing “all early learning playgroups” in a trio of Charlottesville, Virginia neighborhoods.

“As the ReadySteps Early Learning Specialist in charge of all early learning playgroups in [the Charlottesville neighborhoods of] WestHaven, Friendship Court, and Greenstone,” Hoppe’s LinkedIn summary of her ReadyKids employment, which lasted from 2016-2017 reads, “I exceeded the agency targets for both enrollment and engagement…”

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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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Prominent DeSantis ally who shot himself dead last year was under investigation for using sold out Taylor Swift tickets to lure teen to his office and show him her breasts – then trying to buy family’s silence

The political donor behind Ron DeSantis‘s rapid rise to prominence took his own life after he was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with an underaged teen, a DailyMail.com investigation has revealed.

Kent Stermon’s suicide in December came shortly after the girl’s father turned down a ‘five-figure sum’ in a hush-money deal and reported him to the police instead, we have learned.

The prominent DeSantis ally and GOP donor, who was based in Jacksonville, Florida, was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with the girl, for whom he obtained highly sought-after Taylor Swift concert tickets which he said he’d give her if she sent him a photo of her breasts.

After the girl reluctantly complied, Stermon insisted she collect the tickets at his office – but when she turned up he refused to let her leave until she ‘showed him the real thing,’ law enforcement sources say.

The teenager balked at the idea and he eventually let her go.

She later told her boyfriend and her father about the encounter, prompting her dad to furiously confront Stermon at an arranged meeting at a diner in Atlantic Beach, according to sources. 

It was there that Stermon offered him the five-figure sum to keep quiet, but the dad refused.

Not too long after on December 8, Stermon killed himself just as Jacksonville police were launching their probe into the girl’s claims.

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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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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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REPORT DETAILS ‘STAGGERING’ CHURCH SEX ABUSE IN MARYLAND

More than 150 Catholic priests and others associated with the Archdiocese of Baltimore sexually abused over 600 children and often escaped accountability, according to a long-awaited state report released Wednesday that revealed the scope of abuse spanning 80 years and accused church leaders of decades of coverups.

The report paints a damning picture of the archdiocese, which is the oldest Roman Catholic diocese in the country and spans much of Maryland. Some parishes, schools and congregations had more than one abuser at the same time — including St. Mark Parish in Catonsville, which had 11 abusers living and working there between 1964 and 2004. One deacon admitted to molesting over 100 children. Another priest was allowed to feign hepatitis treatment and make other excuses to avoid facing abuse allegations.

The Maryland Attorney General’s Office released the findings of their yearslong investigation during Holy Week — considered the most sacred time of year in Christianity ahead of Easter Sunday — and said the number of victims is likely far higher. The report was redacted to protect confidential grand jury materials, meaning the identities of some accused clergy were removed.

“The staggering pervasiveness of the abuse itself underscores the culpability of the Church hierarchy,” the report said. “The sheer number of abusers and victims, the depravity of the abusers’ conduct, and the frequency with which known abusers were given the opportunity to continue preying upon children are astonishing.”

Disclosure of the redacted findings marks a significant development in an ongoing legal battle over their release and adds to growing evidence from parishes across the country as numerous similar revelations have rocked the Catholic Church in recent years.

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