Trinity Mount Ministries

Showing posts with label child abuse cases. Show all posts
Showing posts with label child abuse cases. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Six Men Sentenced for Their Roles in an International Child Pornography Production Ring



Office of Public Affairs

Six men from around the country were sentenced today and yesterday for participating in an international child pornography production ring, announced Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, United States Attorney Matthew Schneider of the Eastern District of Michigan, and Special Agent in Charge Timothy R. Slater of the FBI, Detroit Division. 
  • Terry Kovac, 49, a dispatcher of a package delivery company of Las Vegas, Nevada, was sentenced to 37 years in prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release. 
  • Felipe Dominguez-Meija, 31, a painter of Springdale, Arkansas, was sentenced to 41 years in prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release. 
  • Noel Eisley, 38, a research scientist of Wappinger Falls, New York, was sentenced to 35 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release. 
  • Eric Robinson, 42, a restaurant manager of Duluth, Minnesota, was sentenced to 34 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release. 
  • Bret Massey, 47, a sales coordinator and design specialist of Portland, Maine, was sentenced to 32 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release. 
William Phillips, 39, a cook of Highland Park, New York, pleaded guilty to the charge of child exploitation enterprise in two cases for his participation in the above-described group as well as another, similar group with the same objective.  Phillips entered guilty pleas on Dec. 21, 2017 and May 11, 2018.  On the first case, Phillips was sentenced to 33 years in prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release.  On the second case, Phillips was sentenced to 33 years in prison, to run concurrently, followed by 5 years of supervised release.  
In addition to their prison sentences and terms of supervised release, all of the defendants were ordered to pay 5,000 dollars in restitution to each of the identified victims, reaching a total of over 1.4 million dollars.  U.S. District Judge Stephen J. Murphy III for the Eastern District of Michigan imposed the sentences.  
According to court records, these six men worked together from 2013 to April of 2017, with other men both inside and outside of the United States, to lure juvenile girls to two different unmonitored video chat websites and sexually exploit them.  The men recruited the victims from common social media platforms by pretending to be teenage boys interested in chatting with the girls in real time.  Once the victims arrived in the chatrooms, the group—all pretending to be teenagers—worked together to build trust and convince the child to engage in sexually explicit conduct on web camera.  The group members then recorded that activity and shared it with each other.  The girls were unaware that the men were making recordings, or what they dubbed “captures,” of the sexual activity.  
Through their scheme, the group successfully recorded tens of thousands of sexually explicit videos of minors, some as young as 11 years old.  The defendants preyed on more than 100 victims, some of whom were present for the sentencing hearing and made statements to the Court.  Still other victims have not been identified.  The FBI has so-far identified 48 victims in the United States. 
“The six men sentenced today are an example of a disturbing and reprehensible new trend: the ‘crowdsourcing’ of child exploitation,” said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski.  “These highly organized and coldly calculating defendants worked together over the course of several years, pretending to be teenage boys in order to entice more than 100 minor girls—some as young as 11 years old—into producing child pornography which the defendants then shared with each other. Thanks to the outstanding efforts of the agents and prosecutors who worked on this case, these men will spend years behind bars, and their victims—some of whom were present at the sentencing and addressed the Court—have received some measure of justice for the terrible harm done to them.”
“These predators committed truly horrific crimes against innocent girls, and they deserve decades in prison.  Shockingly, some of these defendants have young children themselves,” said United States Attorney Schneider.  “Parents, please speak with your children about the dangers of chatting online so we can keep all of our children safe.”
“These appalling crimes victimize and exploit innocent children”, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Slater.  “The arrest and prosecution of perpetrators who commit these heinous acts of violence will continue to be a high priority of the FBI’s SEMTEC task force.”
Assistant United States Attorneys April N. Russo and Kevin M. Mulcahy of the Eastern District of Michigan, along with Trial Attorney Leslie Fisher of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, prosecuted the case.  The FBI’s Detroit Field Office and Southeast Michigan Trafficking and Exploitation Crimes task force investigated the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc.
Updated July 18, 2018


Sunday, April 22, 2018

Former Foster Carer jailed For 12 Years For Sexually Abusing Children

by David Clarkson

Rex Lawrence Wilson, 64, has been jailed for sexually abusing children.

"I hate you and I hope you burn in hell," a sex abuse victim told former Child, Youth and Family Services (CYF) caregiver Rex Lawrence Wilson before he was jailed for 12 years.

The 64-year-old's two victims – he was found guilty at an eight-day Christchurch District Court jury trial in January – both read emotional victim impact reports at his sentencing in the same court on Wednesday.

Judge Paul Kellar said the two women, now aged in their 20s, had been done "incalculable harm" over six years of his offending.

"I was singularly impressed with both of them during the course of the trial, and even more so today."

He said the offending was "about as serious as it gets".

A jury had found Wilson guilty of 15 charges: two charges of rape, 12 of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection and indecent assault on a child aged under 12.

One complainant said she refused to be a cowering "rape victim" and asked how Wilson felt now that he was a "victim" himself of the criminal justice system. She said she saw no remorse or shame from him.

After his offending, which ended when she was aged 13, she had turned to drugs, alcohol and self-harm and she had tried to kill herself more than once. She was now a mother.

The other complainant, also now a mother, told of turning to drugs and alcohol to try block out what he had done.

"You ruined my life," she told him, but now said she had an amazing partner and beautiful children.

She said she hoped that what she had done in reporting Wilson to police would inspire other victims to speak up and be heard.

"I have no idea when the nightmares will stop and the depression will go away," she said.

At the end of her statement, she abused Wilson across the court room, telling him: "I hate you and hope you burn in hell."

Defence counsel Andrew McKenzie said Wilson faced a long jail term at an advanced age and would not be released until he no longer posed a risk.

"He will have to move a long way from his stance now, for that to be no longer the case."

He told the court Wilson planned to appeal the convictions.

Judge Kellar made an allowance for Wilson having no other relevant convictions, and for his age, which reduced his sentence by four years, to 12 years. He imposed no non-parole term, but said the likelihood was that Wilson would not be eligible for parole unless he showed some significant remorse.

CYF is now known as Oranga Tamariki, Ministry for Children. Its Canterbury regional manager, Blair McKenzie, said he was "appalled by this situation".

"I want to acknowledge the bravery of [Wilson's] victims, who have taken great steps to ensure this offender has been held accountable for his crimes."

An allegation was made against Wilson in 2007 and the child was removed from his care as soon as CYF was made of aware it from police. No further children were placed in Wilson's care.

Before the allegation, about 15 children had been in the care of Wilson and his wife.

CYF worked with police to assess whether there was further need for criminal investigations, and no charges were laid at the time.

McKenzie said Oranga Tamariki's caregivers underwent an extensive vetting process, which included assessment by trained social workers, personal and professional character references, and the usual police checks.

"I don't believe someone like Mr Wilson would pass the Oranga Tamariki assessment process."

Trinity Mount Ministries

Child Abuse Neglect Data 2018

Child abuse, neglect data released
February 1, 2018  27th edition of the Child Maltreatment Report
TOPICS: Children & Youth, Communities, Families

Newly released federal data on child abuse and neglect shows an increase from Fiscal Year 2015 to 2016 in three key metrics: referrals to child protective services (CPS) agencies alleging maltreatment (3.6 percent), referrals CPS agencies accepted for investigation or alternative response (4.0 percent) and the number of children who were the subject of an investigation or alternative response (3.3 percent).

The Children’s Bureau at HHS' Administration for Children and Families (ACF) published the 27th edition of the Child Maltreatment Report, which analyzes data collected by state CPS agencies. The report is based on Fiscal Year 2016 data, which is the latest data available.

Of the 3.5 million children who were the subject of an investigation or alternative response in Fiscal Year 2016, a national estimate of 676,000 children were victims of abuse and neglect, representing a 1.0 percent decrease from Fiscal Year 2015. In total, 74.8 percent of victims suffered neglect either by itself or in combination with any maltreatment type.

The number of children experiencing neglect decreased from Fiscal Year 2015 to Fiscal Year 2016, while victims experiencing physical or sexual abuse have increased. 49 states reported 1,700 fatalities as a result of child maltreatment in Fiscal Year 2016, which is an increase from the 1,589 fatalities reported by 49 states in 2015.

“Helping state child welfare agencies prevent and address child abuse and neglect is one of our top priorities this year,” said Steven Wagner, acting assistant secretary for children and families at ACF. “Collaborating with state child protective services helps us collect case-level data to better understand what’s occurring in a home when a child is neglected or abused.”

When states submit their data, they also are afforded the opportunity to submit commentary that may provide context to the data published in the report. States’ commentaries suggest the implementation of alternative response, increased public awareness of child maltreatment and staff training in screening and assessment of child maltreatment referrals, led to the changes noted in the 2016 metrics.

“To be effective in reducing the incidence of child abuse and neglect, service providers need access to a range of support services that help to strengthen the protective capacities of families and increase flexibility of providers to tailor child welfare intervention to the needs of individual children,” said Jerry Milner, acting commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) and associate commissioner at the Children’s Bureau.

The child maltreatment report is from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS). NCANDS is a voluntary national data collection and analysis program of state child abuse and neglect information based upon data received from the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Administration for Children and Families

Trinity Mount Ministries

Friday, April 6, 2018

Deputy Principal Among Men Charged After Child Porn Raid

Catholic secondary school has been charged with child porn offences following raids across Melbourne that allegedly uncovered abuse material featuring victims as young as newborns.

The man appeared at the Melbourne Magistrates Court last week charged with a string of offences including accessing child abuse ­material and knowingly possessing material.

Police confirmed on Wednesday that a 48-year-old man from Richmond who had been charged after recent raids had appeared in court last week and was due to appear again on July 6.

It is understood that he has been handed an interim suspension from teaching by the Victorian Institute of Teaching.

Another one of the men charged was a primary school teacher working in a non-classroom role as an administrator in a school office.

In a major operation, Victoria Police and the Australian Federal Police raided homes across 19 suburbs and one country town over several days in March.

They discovered horrific child abuse material, child sex dolls, weapons and drugs.

“The material that we're talking about here that's been seized relates to images of children as young as newborn children to the age of 17 years," Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton told reporters on Wednesday.

"It involves them in sexually provocative poses, it involves them being subject to violence, it involves them being in degraded acts and it also involves torture."


The joint task force is now trying to identify the children in the thousands of videos and photos. No Australian children were in need of rescue at this stage.

Mr Patton warned people accessing "millions" of child abuse videos and photos monthly in Australia that they were "onto them."

original article

Trinity Mount Ministries

Monday, April 2, 2018

Inside the world of child sex trafficking and the high-tech approach to saving victims

Produced by Chris Young Ritzen  

According to the FBI, sex trafficking of children in this country has become a nationwide problem. And traffickers target troubled girls with low self-esteem -- girls like Alyssa Beck.

Beck was just a naïve 15 year old living in Jacksonville, Florida, when she found herself trapped in a sex trafficker's web.  She would be in and out of their trap for almost five years.

CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller has been following Beck's story and the horrific world of sex trafficking of kids. It could happen to anyone – that's why actor and activist Ashton Kutcher has taken on this cause to save other young victims.

ALYSSA'S STORY

Alyssa Beck: I was searching for something. …But I didn't know what I was searching for. …I just wanted to be free. …I don't remember being popular when I was growing up. But I always got good grades. …I was really nice and sweet as a child. …But we had problems at home. … There has to be something else. Something better than living like this. …I'm just gonna run away.

Heather Beck | Alyssa's mom: The first couple of times Alyssa ran away, you know, we would get in the car, we would drive around. …I have no idea where she was. I was terrified. Is she in the dumpster or is she in that trash bag on the side of the road and will I ever see her again?

Alyssa Beck: I was a naïve 15-year-old.

Alyssa Beck: I didn't know the streets, so I didn't know the bad things that came with it.

Alyssa Beck: I just thought that it would be fun, you know, maybe party, maybe drink. …But I never would of been prepared for what really happened.

Lawanda Ravoira | President, Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center: I would describe Alyssa when I first met her as afraid. As cautious. …Her experiences were some of the most violent, the most traumatic, that I've seen.

Alyssa Beck: My every day life was laying there, naked, beaten and allowing guys to come and pay 10, 20 dollars to do whatever they wanted to me.

Alyssa Beck: I didn't know the streets, so I didn't know the bad things that came with it.

Alyssa Beck: I just thought that it would be fun, you know, maybe party, maybe drink. …But I never would of been prepared for what really happened.

Lawanda Ravoira | President, Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center: I would describe Alyssa when I first met her as afraid. As cautious. …Her experiences were some of the most violent, the most traumatic, that I've seen.

Alyssa Beck: My every day life was laying there, naked, beaten and allowing guys to come and pay 10, 20 dollars to do whatever they wanted to me.

Mac Heavener| Prosecutor: She was being forced to do it.

Mac Heavener: We are talking about buying and selling children for sex acts.

Michelle Miller: How many men?

Shannon Schott | Juvenile justice expert and lawyer:  Fifty. …Over the course of two weeks.

Heather Beck: It never crossed my mind in my wildest dreams that my child was involved in human trafficking.

Ashton Kutcher testifies at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on modern slavery, Feb. 15, 2017.  "I've seen things that no person should ever see," he said.

Sen. Bob Corker | R-Tenn: Our first witness today is Mr. Ashton Kutcher.

Ashton Kutcher [ to Congress]:  As part of my anti-trafficking work, I've met victims in Russia, in India, victims in New York and New Jersey and all across our country. …I've been on FBI raids where I've seen things that no person should ever see.

Kutcher gives emotional testimony at hearing on ending modern day slavery

Ashton Kutcher: I have a hard time talking about this issue without being emotional.

Michelle Miller: Why this cause?

Ashton Kutcher: I was just so appalled … If you don't do something about it, then who are you?

Ashton Kutcher: It can happen to anyone … Traffickers prey on people and they know exactly what's gonna turn their trigger.

READ MORE

Trinity Mount Ministries

Sunday, March 25, 2018

Jehovah's Witnesses accused of silencing victims of child abuse:

Scores of alleged victims come forward and describe culture of cover-up in religious group in UK.

by Sarah Marsh

More than a hundred people have made allegations of mistreatment.

More than 100 people have contacted the Guardian with allegations of child sexual abuse and other mistreatment in Jehovah’s Witness communities across the UK.

Former and current members, including 41 alleged victims of child sexual abuse, described a culture of cover-ups and lies, with senior members of the organisation, known as elders, discouraging victims from coming forward for fear of bringing “reproach on Jehovah” and being exiled from the congregation and their families.

A Guardian investigation also heard from 48 people who experienced other forms of abuse, including physical violence when they were children, and 35 who witnessed or heard about others who were victims of child grooming and abuse.

The stories told to the Guardian ranged from events decades ago to more recent, and many of those who came forward have now contacted the police.

They told the Guardian about:

An organisation that polices itself and teaches members to avoid interaction with outside authorities.

A rule set by the main governing body of the religion that means for child sexual abuse to be taken seriously there must be two witnesses.

“I was sexually abused many times a week from the age of three until I was 12. Congregation elders knew that when I told them, at 12, what had been happening. No steps were taken to tell the police. I had to tell three male senior figures what had happened. Imagine that? A young girl telling a bunch of men what this man did to me. I wasn’t even allowed to have my mother there with me.”

After she went to the police about what had happened, the person who abused her pleaded guilty and was eventually convicted. “The Jehovah’s Witnesses should lose their charity status as they are not protecting children,” she added. She said she had mental health issues as a result of what happened and how it was dealt with.

Jason Munro says he was abused for 10 years.

Jason Munro, another alleged victim of sexual abuse who waived his right to anonymity, could not give details of his case due to a current investigation but said: “I am completely horrified by the Jehovah’s Witnesses ... I didn’t get support and I experienced 10 years of abuse. Elders knew in my teens about the abuse but it was never a case of ‘let’s get this person the professional help he needs’.”

When a Jehovah’s Witness experiences sexual abuse they are supposed to report it to elders, who are always men, who will take further action if there is a second witness to the offence. The perpetrator will then be called before a judicial committee if they admit abuse or if there is a second witness.

“This causes further trauma to the victim and coupled with the two-witness rule, is undoubtedly the reason that so many victims have never reported it,” said Kathleen Hallisey, senior solicitor in the abuse team at Bolt Burdon Kemp, who is currently acting on behalf of 15 alleged victims.

She also noted that the problem with the two-witness rule in the context of sexual abuse was that there were rarely witnesses to it, “meaning that [these] reports ... are usually dismissed”.

It has been reported that the headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in the UK, the Watch Tower, holds a database of abuse allegations made within the organisation but has yet to hand it over to authorities.

The Charity Commission launched an investigation in 2013 looking into the Manchester New Moston congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, concluding that it did not deal adequately with allegations of child abuse made against one of the trustees.

READ MORE

Trinity Mount Ministries

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Five defendants convicted of child sex trafficking

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Western District of Oklahoma

Five Who Purchased and Sold Children for Sex in Oklahoma City Ordered to Serve Combined 38 Years in Prison and Pay Over $635,000 in Restitution to Victims

OKLAHOMA CITY – Five defendants convicted of child sex trafficking were ordered to serve a combined 38 years in federal prison and pay over $635,000 in restitution to victims, announced Robert J. Troester, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

According to court records, in October 2014, Maurice M. Johnson engaged in sex trafficking of two girls (aged 14 and 15) and an adult female.  As soon as the 14-year-old girl was recruited, Johnson instructed her to start calling phone numbers from the escort section of the Yellow Pages to find Tonya Gay Gum, whom he knew as "Carmen."  At the time, Gum operated at least twenty phone numbers listed in the escort section of the Oklahoma City Yellow Pages.  The 14-year-old victim made contact with Gum and sent her photographs of herself and the adult female.  After that, Gum began arranging commercial sex transactions between her established customer base (or new customers who called her phone lines) and the females under Johnson’s control.  Johnson drove the girls to hotels, residences, and commercial spaces, where the customers paid in cash for sex.  After each commercial sex transaction, Gum met the girls at different locations in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area to receive the proceeds, which Gum and Johnson split.  They did not give any money to the victims they trafficked.

A federal grand jury indicted Johnson on December 3, 2014.  He pleaded guilty to child sex trafficking on January 30, 2015, before U.S. District Judge Robin J. Cauthron.  In August 2017, he was sentenced to 240 months in prison and five years of supervised release.

Gum and three customers who purchased sex with the children were indicted by a federal grand jury on June 16, 2015.  On  November 19, 2015, Gum pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking, also before Judge Cauthron.  In August 2017, she was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.

The three customers—William M. Baker, Trung N. Duong, and Curtis A. Anthony—purchased sex with the children in October 2014.  Before their convictions, their cases went before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, which held in February 2017 that they could be convicted of child sex trafficking even if they did not know or recklessly disregard a child victim’s age, so long as they had a "reasonable opportunity to view" the child victim.

On May 9, 2017, Duong pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking.  On November 2, 2017, Baker also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking.  In August 2017, Judge Cauthron sentenced each of them to 24 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release.

Anthony went to trial and was convicted by a federal jury on June 19, 2017, of both conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking and child sex trafficking.  He was sentenced in October 2017 to 120 months in federal prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release.

All of these defendants will be required to register as sex offenders for 25 years after released from custody.

At the time of the sentencings, the court deferred a determination of restitution.  Today Judge Cauthron amended the judgments and ordered all five defendants to pay $635,247 in restitution to victims, with each defendant jointly and severally liable for the full amount immediately.  "Although the innocence of these children cannot be restored, we are pleased that the Court is holding the defendants responsible for paying for the future care and treatment caused by their crimes," said Acting U.S. Attorney Troester.

This case is the result of an investigation by United States Department of Homeland Security and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys McKenzie Anderson and David Petermann prosecuted the case.

Department Of Justice

Trinity Mount Ministries

Sunday, December 3, 2017

79 alleged child predators have been arrested across New Jersey:

TRENTON, N.J. (WPVI) --

A total of 79 alleged child predators have been arrested across New Jersey.

Attorney General Christopher Porrino announced the massive roundup of predators and child pornography offenders on Friday.

Among those accused include a camp counselor, a youth minister and several adults who allegedly tried to have children transported across state lines for the purposes of sex.

The attorney general has a strong message for those engaging in these disturbing acts.

"If you're lurking in a chat room looking to exploit a child, our investigators are lurking alongside you," Porrino said.

The roundup was part of Operation Safety Net.

Those arrested were identified as:

William Esker, 22, of Bayonne, N.J., was charged on Sept. 7 by the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office with aggravated criminal sexual contact for allegedly engaging in sexual conduct with a girl, 14, over whom he had direct supervision as a camp counselor. He also is charged with providing obscene material to a child and endangering the welfare of a child.

Donald Beckwith, 34, of Browns Mills, N.J., is charged in Delaware with sexual solicitation of a minor and attempt to commit unlawful sexual contact with a minor. Beckwith, a captain in the Air Force stationed in New Jersey, met a girl, 14, through an online chat group for children and allegedly engaged her in sexual conversations, ultimately asking her to meet him in person. He allegedly met the girl twice in Delaware. The first time, he allegedly reached under her shirt and tried to touch her breast, and the second time he allegedly hugged her and repeatedly asked her to lie on a bed in the back of his vehicle and watch a movie with him. The New Jersey State Police arrested Beckwith on Aug. 16 in an investigation initiated by the Delaware State Police. Detectives allegedly found over 10 nude images of an underage girl on his phone.

Michael DeBlock, 22, of Hopatcong, N.J., a youth minister, was arrested on Oct. 10 and charged by the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office with possession of child pornography and conveying obscene materials to a child. DeBlock allegedly exchanged sexual photos and texts with a girl, 14, including a photo of his penis.

Brandon Morris, 24, of Hammonton, N.J., was arrested on Oct. 17 and charged by the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office with manufacturing child pornography, endangering the welfare of a child by sexual conduct, conveying obscene materials to a child, and possession of child pornography. Morris allegedly engaged multiple underage girls in conversations on FaceTime, instructing them to perform sexual acts on themselves, which he recorded.

A 17-year-old student from Bergen County, whose name is not being released due to his juvenile status, was arrested on Aug. 17 and charged by the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office with manufacturing, distributing and possessing child pornography, as well as invasion of privacy. The juvenile allegedly had over 1,000 files of suspected child pornography on his electronic devices, including video recordings he allegedly made by hiding his smartphone in a private bathroom in order to record underage boys who were nude, showering or urinating.

Craig Kirschner, 39, of Marlboro, N.J., was arrested on Aug. 21 and charged by the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office with luring a child, attempted sexual assault of a minor, and conveying obscene material to a minor. Kirschner allegedly solicited an undercover detective, whom he believed to be a 15-year-old male, to meet for oral sex. The detective was monitoring a mobile app when he encountered Kirschner. After the undercover detective identified himself as a 15-year-old boy, Kirschner allegedly sent him photos of an erect penis, asked him to meet for oral sex, and stated "I can be generous for your trouble."

Isaac Toney, 40, of Trenton, N.J., was arrested on July 17 by the New Jersey State Police and charged with luring a child. He allegedly used a mobile app to solicit an undercover detective, whom he believed was a 14-year-old male, for oral sex. He was arrested at Veterans Park in Hamilton, Mercer County, where he allegedly was to meet the "boy" for a sexual encounter.

READ MORE

Trinity Mount Ministries Website: http://www.TrinityMount.Info

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

DOJ - Denaturalization Sought Against Five Child Sexual Abusers in Florida, Illinois, and Texas

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Denaturalization Sought Against Five Child Sexual Abusers in Florida, Illinois, and Texas

Today, the U.S. Department of Justice filed denaturalization lawsuits against five individuals who, according to the Department’s complaints, unlawfully procured their U.S. citizenship by concealing sexual abuse of minor victims during the naturalization process. The civil complaints were filed in federal court in the Southern District of Florida, the Northern District of Illinois, the Northern District of Texas (two cases), and the Southern District of Texas.

“Committing fraud in any immigration matter undermines the integrity of our immigration system, and is a betrayal of the American people’s generosity,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “It is especially appalling when it also involves the sexual abuse of children. The Department of Justice has a duty to prosecute these crimes vigorously, particularly so for individuals who commit fraud in the naturalization process. I am confident that justice will be done in these cases, and I want to thank ICE, CBP, USCIS, our Civil Division, and our U.S. Attorneys’ offices for their hard work. This Department will continue to fight to denaturalize immigration fraudsters and to protect the American people from sex offenders.”

The cases were referred to the Department of Justice by the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection with investigative support from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

“I commend the DHS personnel working diligently to remove dangerous criminals from our streets,” said Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Elaine Duke. “Those who unlawfully procured citizenship by concealing crimes – especially sexual abuse of minors – should have their citizenship revoked.”

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the citizenship of a naturalized U.S. citizen may be revoked, and his or her certificate of naturalization canceled, if naturalization was illegally procured or procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.

The five defendants committed crimes of sexual abuse of minor victims prior to naturalizing. As the civil complaints allege, such crimes rendered the defendants ineligible for citizenship from the start. By willfully concealing child sexual abuse crimes, the defendants also independently rendered themselves subject to denaturalization.

A description of each of the five cases and the allegations of the United States follows:

Jorge Luis Alvarado

Jorge Luis Alvarado, 56, a native of Mexico, naturalized on March 9, 2000. Shortly before filing his naturalization application, Alvarado made unlawful sexual contact with a sixteen-year-old child. In March 2007, he pleaded guilty in Texas state court to committing indecency with a child by sexual contact, a second-degree felony. Alvarado was ordered to community supervision and to register as a sex offender. He has been residing in southern Texas. United States of America v. Jorge Luis Alvarado (S.D. Tex.).

Alberto Mario Beleno

Alberto Mario Beleno, 64, a native of Colombia, naturalized on Feb. 26, 2001. Before Beleno naturalized as a U.S. citizen, he committed lewd and lascivious acts on a six-year-old child. In 2001, less than three months after he naturalized, Beleno was arrested and ultimately pleaded guilty/nolo-contendere in Florida state court to committing felony lewd and lascivious exhibition and felony lewd and lascivious molestation on a minor in 1993 and 1994. Beleno was ordered to register as a sex offender for his conduct. His last known residence in the United States is in Miami, Florida. United States of America v. Alberto Mario Beleno (S.D. Fla.).

Eleazar Corral Valenzuela

Eleazar Corral Valenzuela, 49, a native of Mexico, naturalized on June 15, 2000. Prior to applying to naturalize, he sexually abused a minor child. In November 2000, after he had naturalized, Corral pleaded guilty in Illinois state court to aggravated criminal sexual abuse, a Class 2 felony. He was ordered to register as a sex offender. He has been residing in Aurora, Illinois. United States of America v. Eleazar Corral Valenzuela (N.D. Ill.).

Moises Herrera-Gonzalez

Moises Herrera-Gonzalez, 55, a native of Mexico, naturalized on Sept. 25, 1999. On Jan. 1, 1996, before he filed his naturalization application, Herrera-Gonzalez sexually assaulted and injured a six-year-old child. He filed his naturalization application in September 1996, nine months after the sexual assault. On July 8, 2002, after he naturalized, Herrera-Gonzalez pleaded guilty in Texas state court to committing bodily injury to a child, a third-degree felony. He was sentenced to five years in prison. He has been residing in Arlington, Texas. United States of America v. Moises Herrera-Gonzalez (N.D. Tex.).

Emmanuel Olugbenga Omopariola

Emmanuel Olugbenga Omopariola, 60, a native of Nigeria, naturalized on July 1, 2004. Before he filed his naturalization application in May 2003, Omopariola made unlawful sexual contact with a seven-year-old child. In 2015, after he naturalized, Omopariola pleaded guilty in Texas state court to Indecency with a Child – Sexual Contact, a second-degree felony. He was ordered to five years of community supervision and placed on the sex offender registry. He has been residing in Grand Prairie, Texas. United States of America v. Emmanuel Olugbenga Omopariola (N.D. Tex.).

These cases were investigated by ICE, CBP, and USCIS, and the Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation, District Court Section (OIL-DCS). These cases are being prosecuted by OIL-DCS and its National Security and Affirmative Litigation Unit (NS/A Unit) with support from the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Southern District of Florida, Northern District of Illinois, Northern District of Texas, and Southern District of Texas.

The claims made in the complaint are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

Monday, November 20, 2017

Victims 'told not to report' Jehovah's Witnesses child abuse - BBC U.K.

Children who were sexually abused by Jehovah's Witnesses were allegedly told by the organisation not to report it.

Victims from across the UK told the BBC they were routinely abused and that the religion's own rules protected perpetrators.

One child abuse lawyer believes there could be thousands of victims across the country who have not come forward.

The organisation said it did not "shield" abusers and any suggestion of a cover-up was "absolutely false".

'Bring reproach on Jehovah'

BBC Hereford and Worcester spoke to victims - men and women - from Birmingham, Cheltenham, Leicester, Worcestershire and Glasgow, one of whom waived her right to anonymity.

Louise Palmer, who now lives in Evesham, Worcestershire, was born into the organisation along with her brother Richard Davenport, who started raping her when she was four. He is serving a 10-year prison sentence for the abuse.

The 41-year-old, formerly of Halesowen, West Midlands, said she was told not to go to police.

Former Jehovah's Witnesses have been speaking to the BBC about abuse:

"I asked [the organisation], 'what should I do? Do you report it to the police, [or] do I report it to the police'?

"And their words were that they strongly advised me not to go to the police because it would bring reproach on Jehovah."

Another woman, from Worcestershire, said she was sexually abused as a child by a friend of her brother.

She said she told her parents and elders in the congregation what happened and they advised her not to report it.

"It started off just being very cuddly and I was always a very tactile little girl, but it gradually got worse and worse.

"It escalated until... he started raping me."

Jehovah's Witnesses movement at a glance:

Jehovah's Witnesses are members of a movement best known for their door-to-door evangelistic work.
Child abuse lawyer Kathleen Hallisey said there were concerns that the organisation's procedures compromised child safety.

"[For example] in order for [victims] to take allegations of sexual abuse further, they have to have two witnesses to the abuse," she said.
The 'two witness' rule - Felicity Kvesic, BBC News

I've spoken to multiple victims who have told me of the abuse they have suffered while in the Jehovah's Witnesses organisation.

What most of them keep coming back to is something known as the "two witness rule".

It is a procedure set by the main governing body of the religion and means for any sin committed, there must be two witnesses to it in order for the elders of the congregation to take any action.

The problem with this is it can be rare to have witnesses in cases of abuse.

The victims I've spoken to said the organisation self-polices and teaches members to avoid interaction with outside authorities or to take another member of the religion to court.

To do so, they say, could lead to expulsion from the religion.

In a statement the organisation said "any suggestion that Jehovah's Witnesses covered up child abuse was absolutely false".

It said victims and their parents had "the absolute right to report the matter to the governmental authorities" and reporting so was "not contingent on the number of witnesses to the offence".

It described child abuse as a "heinous crime and sin" and said the congregation did not "shield abusers from the authorities of the consequences of their actions".

The statement added "loving and protective parents" were the "best deterrent to child abuse" and elders provided "abuse victims and their families with spiritual comfort from the Bible".

In 2013 the Charity Commission started an inquiry into safeguarding issues in the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain - the UK's main Jehovah's Witnesses organisation which the commission regulates.

Its inquiry continues.

For information and support for anyone affected by sexual abuse, including sources of support for children, young people and concerned parents, visit listings on BBC Action Line.

Photos - The Watchtower pamphlets - a free monthly publication of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Original Article

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Investigative report details 110 child abuse and neglect deaths:

A new report by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting revealed at least 110 children 17 and younger whose deaths were linked to abuse and neglect between 2009 and 2013 in Massachusetts, a third of whom had at some point been under the watch of the state Department of Children and Families. Pictured here are some of those 110 children. (Graphic by Joshua Eaton for NECIR)

By Jenifer McKim, New England Center for Investigative Reporting

Christopher Berry's troubles started long before he killed his infant son in 2013. After surviving a suicide bombing and returning from Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress in 2011, Berry racked up arrests for allegedly shoving his teenage girlfriend, deliberately running over pigeons, and stealing from his employer.

Yet, when state social workers got a report that the Lowell couple was neglecting month-old William James Berry in the spring of 2013, records show they assigned the family to the "lower risk" category of state protection for children they believe are not in immediate danger. These families are targeted for increased social services rather than a full abuse investigation.

A month later, Christopher Berry lost his temper over the baby's crying, shaking him for 30 seconds until his body went limp.

"I was holding him, and I was like, 'Oh, my God, oh my God, what did I just do?' " Berry told police in recorded confession.

William is one of at least 110 children 17 and younger whose deaths were linked to abuse and neglect between 2009 and 2013 in Massachusetts, a third of whom had at some point been under the watch of the state Department of Children and Families. Many others were likely known to the state but never subject to DCF supervision. The rest died without ever having a chance at state protection.

Records obtained by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting show that the vast majority of the dead were under the age of three, beaten, drowned, smothered or otherwise abused or neglected by caretakers. And their numbers have steadily increased, records show, from 14 reported abuse and neglect deaths in 2009 to 38 in 2013 – and state officials say numbers will likely remain elevated when the 2014 death toll is made public.

Most of these children's stories have gone untold, either because their plight wasn't known to the state until they died, or because the state's missteps and failures to protect dozens of them was long concealed by confidentiality laws and secrecy.

An examination of these sad cases shows that mistakes occur at all levels of the child welfare process – from at-risk youths the system failed to catch, to infants with open social services cases who fell through the cracks, to babies like William who were funneled into a program meant for lower-risk youths that couldn't save them.

DCF already has faced harsh criticism for failing to protect children under its watch, including Jeremiah Oliver, the Fitchburg toddler who disappeared and was later found dead by a highway in 2014 and 7-year-old Jack Loiselle of Hardwick who fell into a coma in July after his father allegedly starved and beat him. Just Sept. 18, DCF faced more criticism with the revelation that Baby Doe, the child found dead in a garbage bag on Deer Island this summer, was Bella Bond, a 2-year-old who had twice been under supervision of state social workers.

Earlier this month, Gov. Charlie Baker held a press conference to say that DCF "has many systemic problems and we are going to fix them ... No one is standing here and saying everything is fine."

But many child specialists worry the state swings from one tragedy to the next without learning from past mistakes or implementing lasting reform. The state's own child fatality data is faulty, review teams set up to analyze fatalities don't often meet, and DCF social workers say they often are kept from learning anything about what went wrong when a child dies, the Center's review found.

"It's a very dysfunctional system. Not only is DCF failing, but the other eye of the state, the child fatality review teams, are largely nonfunctional," said Dr. Robert Sege, vice president at the Boston-based nonprofit Health Resources in Action who sits on a county-level review team in Suffolk County that has not met for over a year. "How do you make improvements if you don't open your eyes and look at what is going on?"

The New England Center and the Boston Globe obtained information about child abuse and neglect deaths caused by parents and caretakers through a public records request that took seven months to complete and cost nearly $4,500 to obtain.  Center staff also spent months reviewing court and police records, interviewing families and child experts for this story, and found that:

• Thirty-eight children who died between 2009 and 2013 had received services from state social workers, and 26 of those were under state supervision at the time of their deaths. Other deceased children undoubtedly had contact with DCF, either to receive voluntary services or because their family was the subject of a complaint that social workers dismissed. But DCF declined to release information about complaints that had been rejected.

• A six-year-old DCF intake system for maltreatment complaints – opposed by the union that represents social workers – divides children into high-risk and lower-risk categories, with less risky cases assigned to workers with less required training. Between 2009 and 2013, 10 children on the lower risk track died, including 7 in 2013, records show, raising questions about whether the system has enough safeguards to protect children.

• The DCF screening system does not require social workers to do criminal background checks of a child's caretakers when analyzing neglect and abuse complaints – an oversight that some child advocates say leaves a huge gap in assessing risk.

• The state keeps shoddy data on child deaths and its child fatality review system is crippled by lack of funds and resources. The New England Center found 10 children who were not included in state data even though their deaths were ruled to be homicide and, in most cases, parents or other caretakers were implicated.

Commissioner Linda Spears, named to run DCF in January, would not discuss individual cases that predated her tenure, but said that, much as a hospital emergency room has to determine the patients in most urgent need, DCF has to better identify and protect the most vulnerable children.

DCF faces a daunting task: responding to more than 92,000 child abuse complaints last year alone and figuring out which situations are so dire that children need to be removed from home, even though that could mean sending to foster homes that have their own problems. Last year, social workers substantiated 62,452 maltreatment complaints, a 34 percent increase over 2013, records show.

What needs refinement, Spears said, is "how do we make decisions based on risk factors that we know in the case ... I'm taking a very broad systemic view."

In contrast to the headlines about Oliver and Loiselle, most abuse and neglect victims die with little public notice. That includes Dejalyse Alcantara of Boston, who was put under state watch at birth in 2011 because of her mother's drug abuse. She died six months later in an overheated car, her mother asleep or unconscious in the front seat. Two-year-old Yarelis Rosario-Pereyra of Boston died allegedly of abuse and neglect in 2013 even though social workers had confirmed that she suffered bouts of maltreatment throughout her life. No one yet has been charged in her case.

Peter MacKinnon, DCF chapter president of the SEIU union local 509, said social workers are devastated when a child dies on their watch, but seldom learn from their managers about what went wrong or how they could improve their work.

"If you are truly looking to get a sense from DCF about what you did well, what you might have missed, you need to see what that analysis is," he said. "If you don't know what you are doing, how can you fix it? It goes into this black hole."

Child fatalities – from natural and abuse-related causes – are supposed to be reviewed by a panel of experts, but that system has ground to a halt. The state review team, chaired by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, has filed only four reports since its launch 15 years ago, even though state law requires it to file findings and recommendations annually.

State officials say the review teams lack funding to do their work, but regular appeals for more money from the state Office of the Child Advocate, have gone nowhere.

Informed of 10 homicide cases of children not included in the 2009-2013 data, DCF officials acknowledged that they sometimes miss maltreatment deaths entirely – because they don't always hear about them. In some cases, they said, medical examiners did not always alert DCF when a child's death was linked to abuse and neglect as required by law. As a result, the agency has undercounted child abuse deaths and may be leaving abusive parents with other children.

Spears called the increase in child maltreatment deaths "tragic but not surprising," blaming the jump on affects of the state's opioid crisis as well as an increase in reporting of infants who die suddenly due to unsafe sleep practices, like sleeping with an adult, which state officials consider a form of neglect. Sixteen child deaths in 2013 were sleep-related, state records show, five of those had histories of maltreatment.

And Spears said she expects 2014 death levels, not yet finalized, to remain elevated. "I don't think anything in the caseload and the community would give me any indication that the number will go down," she said.

***

William James Berry's shaking death, some say, points to weaknesses in a system launched in 2009 to help social workers separate cases where children are in imminent danger from those where the family simply needs help.

The policy, part of a national movement, was quickly embraced in Massachusetts: in 2013, 38 percent of child abuse reports were assigned to the lower risk group, DCF records show.

The higher risk cases, including allegations of sexual or serious physical abuse or neglect, are referred to social workers whose "primary purpose" is to investigate and "determine the safety of the reported child," state documents show. Social workers are supposed to "engage and support families" when the child is in the lower risk group.

The state social worker's union opposed the state's two-tier system from the onset, MacKinnon said, because of concerns that families considered lower risk may get short shrift. The social workers who do the full child abuse investigations are provided more training on how to interview children and ferret out signs of child abuse, he said, leaving people with less specialized training to handle lower risk cases.

Currently, caseworkers who handle lower risk cases are less likely to interview the child away from parents -- often a key to getting at the truth, explained Taunton DCF social worker Laurie Cyphers. They are less capable, she said, of pushing parents to cooperate if they refuse state help. She worries that social workers with less experience and less training won't be able to accurately assess safety risks.

"They don't have the training and they don't have the experience to fall back on," said Cyphers, a 14-year DCF veteran who mainly oversees lower-risk cases.

There is no national data tracking deaths of children who had been placed on the lower risk track. But there have been enough incidents, here and elsewhere, to lead some child welfare advocates to question the idea of a two-tier system. In Minnesota, for example, the murder of a 4-year-old boy who had been placed on the lower risk track prompted statewide scrutiny and recommendations to narrow, and perhaps do away with, the program.

In Massachusetts, 3-year-old Alyvia Navarro was put on the less severe track months before the autistic preschooler drowned in a pond behind a Wareham trailer home in a death DCF ascribed to neglect, state records show. There's also 10-year-old Isaiah Buckner from Athol who died from abuse and neglect-related injuries in July 2013, according to DCF, a case that remains unsolved. At least four other children on the lower risk track died of what DCF determined are neglect-related unsafe sleep issues, records show.

Sharon Crawford, Buckner's maternal grandmother, said she was not aware that her daughter was being visited by social workers, much less in what is considered a lower risk track. She said the state should have taken special care since her grandson was deaf and legally blind. She's angry that social workers never reached out to her, since she was very involved in Isaiah's life.

"Something is not right here," said Crawford, 53, who lives in Whitinsville. "Why would he be (placed on the lower risk track) if he couldn't hear and couldn't talk?"

Before taking charge of DCF, Spears last year oversaw a critical report on the agency by the Child Welfare League of America. The report found that DCF's budget cuts, lack of staff support and growing caseloads compromise the effectiveness of the two-tier system. The report also said DCF needs to put a higher priority on a "child's right to basic safety."

Now, Spears says the two-tier program needs to be tightened up. She noted that, when the system works properly, children can be shifted to the higher risk group as social workers learn more about the families.

"We may walk in and find that something else is going on, at which point the case can then go back over to the investigation response track," said Spears. "The paths are not so distinct."

A new DCF review on Loiselle, the Hardwick boy now in a coma, showed that social workers had dismissed multiple allegations of abuse and neglect as far back as 2008. But when they finally opened a case on the boy in February 2015 in response to two new complaints, the social workers placed him in the lower risk category, records show.

Elizabeth Bartholet, a Harvard law professor and national critic of the two-track program, said the Hardwick report "screams out" that social workers involved with the family were more concerned with keeping the family together than ensuring the boy's safety.

Especially for children in the lower risk category, Bartholet said, "Best interest of the child is clearly not the standard."

William Berry's case, which did not get the same kind of public scrutiny as Loiselle's, also raises questions about how closely social workers studied the baby's home life before concluding he was at low risk of harm.

When a maltreatment call comes in, individual caseworkers must decide which track to place a family on based largely on agency files and phone conversations, according to DCF documents. They can also request a criminal background check – a "Criminal Offense Record Information" or CORI – though it's not required.

DCF won't say whether staffers checked Christopher Berry's CORI when they received a neglect complaint in 2013. If they did, the record would have shown Berry was facing a series of pending criminal cases, including an allegation that he repeatedly shoved Tabatha Cupan, his 18-year-old girlfriend who was pregnant with William, during a dispute in their Lowell apartment.

Mary McGeown, president of the Boston-based Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said simply knowing that Berry was a veteran should have prompted a closer look at the family because so many people return home suffering from mental issues, leading to increases in domestic and child abuse.

In the end, DCF assigned the family to the lower risk group a month before Berry killed his son, state records show.

Boston pediatrician and child abuse expert Eli Newberger said he was "appalled" to learn that social workers are not required to request a person's criminal history as part of a screening – saying that the state is ignoring key evidence that puts a child at risk.

Commissioner Spears said that DCF hasn't traditionally believed every neglect case requires that level of scrutiny, but agrees that the agency needs to re-examine the role CORI checks play in evaluating abuse and neglect complaints.

"We need to look at when CORI should be done and we should make those things routine," Spears said.

Of course, even a fullscale investigation by DCF is no guarantee children will be safe. Dejalyse Alcantara, for instance, died in March 2012 even though she had been under state supervision since birth because of her mother's substance abuse, DCF documents show.

D.J. Alcantara of Boston, Dejalyse's father, had separated from the girl's mother before the child's birth to deal with his own drug problems. But now he can't stop thinking of what he could have done to save his baby, who died of heat exposure in the back seat of a car while her mother was seemingly passed out in front. He said he told Boston police a month before Dejalyse's death about his concerns about his daughter's safety, because of the mother's drug use. But the police report shows the concern was not relayed to DCF.

Marivette Morales, the mother, declined requests to comment for this story. But Alcantara wonders how social workers could have failed to see that his daughter was in danger. He said the baby didn't even have a crib and slept on the couch for months.

Some argue that, until DCF makes a clear commitment to put child safety above all else, including keeping families together, child deaths like Dejalyse's will continue to be a troubling problem.

"Strengthening families and keeping children safe are both vital, but child safety must always take precedence," said Gail Garinger, former head of the state Office of the Child Advocate. "In some cases it may not be possible for vulnerable infants, especially those born prematurely or with drugs in their systems, to be safely maintained in their homes."

Perhaps as troubling as children who die under the watch of social workers tasked to protect them are the stories of the children who died of abuse and neglect between 2009 and 2013 that were never brought into the state system at all – there were 72 of them.

Social workers either dismissed reports of alleged maltreatment or never heard from concerned teachers, police, hospital workers or other mandated reporters at all, records and interviews show.

Some cases reviewed by NECIR include clear signs that the state missed opportunities to save them. For example, state officials knew that Alexis Medina Sr. had repeatedly assaulted his baby daughter – he served 18 months behind bars for that crime. But, released on probation, he suffocated his three-month-old son from a new relationship in 2013. State officials at the time said Medina's case had been closed and social workers were not aware he was again living with children.

It's also unclear how many times social workers dismissed abuse and neglect claims about children who later died of abuse and neglect. The state, citing legal issues, refused to provide this information for the children who died between 2009 and 2013. NECIR is appealing this decision to the Secretary of State. But it's likely that many had been known to state agencies: A 2013 state report, for example, found that in 65 percent of all child maltreatment deaths between 2001 and 2010, families were known to DCF.

For Laura Cyphers, the Taunton social worker who handles low risk cases, each new tragedy is a painful reminder of problems that front line workers know only too well. She wishes the agency would be more transparent and introspective, but, in her experience, that has not been the case.

When a child dies, she says, co-workers are interrogated by higher ups about what happened, but never see a final report or learn about findings – unless it involves losing their jobs.

"They go in saying, 'I did nothing wrong,' and they come out devastated," she said. "If we can learn from something, it is important."

 http://www.TrinityMount.Info

Friday, August 7, 2015

Queensland child safety IT bungle worsens:


A senior Queensland bureaucrat has stood down amid growing embarrassment over the IT glitch that resulted in the mishandling of hundreds of cases of suspected child abuse in public schools.

Last week, it was revealed that 644 cases of suspected abuse were not passed on to police because a new reporting system, introduced in January, was not tested properly before it went live.

A political blame has game ensued, with the Labor government accusing the Liberal National Party of bungling the system's introduction during caretaker provisions before the January election.

The opposition, however, says Education Minister Kate Jones should have requested regular updates about the malfunctioning system's progress during the subsequent six-month period.

The Education Department's acting deputy director-general of corporate services has voluntarily stood down as investigations continue, Ms Jones has revealed.
In a separate error, a further 27 reports of suspected abuse have not been forwarded to authorities, she says.

"I have directed the director-general of the department to broaden Deloitte's independent investigation to examine all issues relating to the online student protection reporting system since its introduction in September 2013," Ms Jones said in a statement on Thursday.

The latest revelations came after a manual check of all 3822 cases of suspected abuse.
The Queensland Police Service has scrambled to follow up each of the reports and officers are conducting welfare checks in the most serious of cases.

The revelations showed the bungle was far from fixed, opposition education spokesman Tim Mander said.

"Given the new figures she (Ms Jones) has released, it raises more questions than answers," he said.

"The minister needs to be upfront and tell Queenslanders exactly what's happening."

Source: http://goo.gl/FLiMQk

 http://www.TrinityMount.Info