850 BBC staff complain of bullying and sexual harassment in wake of Savile scandal, Shame of ‘theft, fraud and under-age sex’ at the BBC: Dossier reveals crimes that have never been reported to police

850 BBC staff complain of bullying and sexual harassment in wake of Savile scandal
Hundreds of BBC employees contact consultants as part of internal inquiry
Accusations involve harassment, sexual harassment and bullying
One senior BBC executive believed to be subject of more than 20 complaints
By Simon Cable 1 April 2013

More than 850 BBC employees have come forward to raise concerns about bullying and sexual harassment at the corporation, it has emerged.

The staff members have contacted private consultants brought in by the BBC as part of an internal inquiry set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

The Rose Review, overseen by human rights lawyer Dinah Rose QC, was launched last October following a wave of damaging claims from female presenters including Liz Kershaw and Sandi Toksvig who said they were routinely groped while working for the BBC.

Staff were asked to detail their experiences under a guarantee of anonymity, while one-to-one sessions have also taken place between BBC staff members and an outside company, Change Associates.

It is believed that one senior BBC executive is the subject of more than 20 complaints of bullying….

Among the hundreds who came forward to the enquiry, up to 20 former employees initially thought they would not be give evidence because they been paid off and made to sign contracts to stop them turning whistleblower.

Gagging clauses are typically part of ‘compromise agreements’ signed when an employee agrees to drop an employment tribunal claim in return for a pay-off.

However, it is understood that, following negotiations, their evidence was eventually allowed to go forward.

The BBC insists no-one has been barred from giving evidence, despite any previous agreements which may have been signed….

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2302558/850-BBC-staff-complain-bullying-sexual-harassment-wake-Savile-scandal.html

Shame of ‘theft, fraud and under-age sex’ at the BBC: Dossier reveals crimes that have never been reported to police
Dossier spanning four years show many crimes never reported to the police
High number of suspects in the 500 crimes a year were BBC employees
By Paul Revoir and Christian Gysin
1 April 2013

BBC staff are suspected of  a catalogue of crimes at work – many of which have never been reported to police.

A dossier spanning four years shows theft and fraud allegations running at more than 500 a year.

A significant number of the suspects were employees at the broadcaster.

Documents also reveal allegations of sexual or indecent assault, as well as incidents of suspected drug use.

Thefts of TVs, radios, iPhones, Blackberry devices and computers from BBC staff were endemic.

In one instance, an employee was accused of having under-age sex while on assignment. Because the allegation could not be proved, the log showed the staffer was given only a warning.

This allegation, like many others, was not passed on to police for further investigation because the BBC’s internal investigations service – which employs former police officers – decided it could not be substantiated.

The disclosures follow the Jimmy Savile revelations which saw the corporation accused of turning a blind eye to decades of sex abuse by the presenter….

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2302540/Shame-theft-fraud-age-sex-BBC-Dossier-reveals-crimes-reported-police.html

Rape charge against Stuart Hall deepens BBC scandal, Paedophile sent extreme net child-abuse images, Dr. Phil – The Rest of the Story – By Judy Byington, Author, Twenty-Two Faces

Rape charge against Stuart Hall deepens BBC scandal

LONDON Wed Jan 23, 2013

(Reuters) – A veteran British TV presenter was charged with rape and 14 counts of indecent assault on underage girls, police said on Tuesday, deepening concerns about sex abuse by top BBC personalities decades ago.

Stuart Hall, 83, best known for hosting “It’s a Knockout” in the 1970s and 1980s, was questioned after late broadcaster Jimmy Savile was exposed last year as a serial child sex abuser, prompting a flurry of further sex crime allegations.

Hall, who was still appearing regularly on BBC radio until recently, had already been charged with three counts of indecent assault, in December. He denied all charges….
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/01/23/uk-britain-bbc-arrest-idUKBRE90M00720130123

Paedophile sent extreme net child-abuse images
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
By Ted Davenport

A COMPUTER engineer has been jailed for sending extreme child-abuse images to other paedophiles on the internet.

Keith Gibson, 50, was found with more than 2,300 photos and movies after police were alerted by colleagues in the national Child Exploitation and Online Protection squad in London.

He was jailed after a judge at Exeter Crown Court told him his activities amounted to the worst case of child pornography he had encountered.

Gibson formed part of an internet paedophile ring which exchanged child sex fantasies and images in chat rooms where some posed as children.

The victims of the abuse included babies under six months old and two of the movies he distributed showed girls aged about three and 10 being raped….
http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/Paedophile-sent-extreme-net-child-abuse-images/story-17929033-detail/story.html

forwarded with permission

Dr. Phil – The Rest of the Story – By Judy Byington, Author, Twenty-Two Faces
Dr. Phil: “Mentally Ill Moms” – January 11, 2013

As a retired Supervisor of Alberta Mental Health, CEO of Provo Family Counseling Center and therapist for 23 years, I have known and worked with many Dissociate Identity Disorder (DID or multipule personality) sufferers who claimed being ritually abused. Twenty years ago Jenny asked that I write her biography. Since then I have served as a friend, biographer and counselor, though have never done, nor been paid for doing therapy with her.

We intended Twenty-Two Faces as a voice for the ritually abused, explaining DID, exposing the rampant practice of ritual abuse and hopefully saving children from the trauma Jenny endured. We applied to be on the Dr. Phil show in anticipation viewers would gain a better understanding of DID and its tie-in to childhood trauma, specifically ritualized abuse.

We were optimistic, that with Dr. Phil’s help, we might secure Jenny an evaluation at the Colin A Ross Institute. For the last 29 years since she was diagnosed DID at the Utah State Psychiatric Hospital, Jenny has not received therapy for her multiplicity. She is seen by a clinician at Wasatch Mental Health who “maintains” her, but does no treatment for multiplicity. She also sees a psychiatrist twice a year for medication adjustment. For many years she has suffered from DID-related symptoms including Depression.

The Dr. Phil show was taped in 4 sessions. On September 10 just as we left to tape before the live audience, I was informed by staff:

1. Dr. Phil had not read Twenty-Two Faces.

2. Jenny would not be offered treatment.

3. The show producers did not believe Jenny’s story.

As I watched the version that viewers saw on January 11th, I was shocked at what they had done. Jenny’s actual life was apparently not what Dr. Phil intended to portray. His staff had cut and pasted the individual interviews and the taping done before a live audience which resulted in changing the story from a woman who has been without therapy for her multiplicity into describing a mentally ill woman who appears to have been taken advantage of by her therapist. Again, I have never acted as Jenny’s therapist.

Below are some examples of what was left out of “Mentally Ill Moms.”

Producers Revised Jenny’s Story

(1) During my individual taping sessions I was asked to corroborate what is in Jenny’s biography 22 Faces. In the version that aired, none of my answers from the individual tapings were included.

(2) Dr. Phil claimed that major segments of the mental health community believed that DID was a very controversial diagnosis; that some professionals felt it was “near on to impossible to have alter personalities” and in his 30 years of “doing this” he had never met a multiple personality.

Yet, a woman with multiple personalities was on his show last April. Viewers were not told that DID had been an accepted diagnosis included in the APA diagnostic manual, the DSM, since 1994.

(3) On the show Jenny stated that she hadn’t read 22 Faces. She clarifies in a notarized “Open Letter to Dr. Phil” on the 22 faces website ( http://www.22faces.com ) that the book is difficult for her to read because doing so “brings out bad memories” for her. However, she is aware of the contents portraying her life because she lived it and helped write her own biography.

(4) It was not until the very week the show aired in January that I realized they were portraying me as her therapist. I immediately emailed the producer and asked that he change my title to retired therapist. He emailed back that he changed my title on the CBS website, but could not change anything on the actual show.

(5) In August, 2013 producers asked for a video of Jenny changing personalities. We videotaped her changing into Alter J.J. and Homicidal Alter Jenese. It was not a therapy session as labeled on the show, but done with Jenny’s consent and at their request.

(6) I did not sue Robert as Dr. Phil announced. During the break Robert reminded him that it was not a lawsuit, but a Cease and Desist letter from my lawyer. Dr. Phil did not correct that fact that it was not a lawsuit and gave me no opportunity to correct it.

(7) In the taping before a live audience Dr. Phil appeared very surprised when I told him that multiple personalities could only be caused by childhood trauma. His eyes widened, he sat back, and immediately changed the subject. This also did not appear in the final version.

(8) Story rights and book proceeds

Dr. Phil asked, “What happens to the money? Does it go to you?”

I answered, “It’s placed in the 22 Faces account.”

Dr. Phil, “Then why did you make her sign over her rights to the story? You get the money, right?”

I was given no opportunity to answer as the audience was directed to applaud Dr. Phil’s question. After the applause I tried to explain more, but was cut off. My attempt to explain was not included in the final version.

The applause was later pasted in after Robert’s question to me. Again, I was given no time to respond to Robert.

The answer that I would have said if given the opportunity: I signed a legal contract with my literary agent, Paul McCarthy, so he could represent film, electronic and manuscript rights to Jenny’s story. He wanted to make sure that we had a contract with Jenny showing I had the rights to her story. If we were to spend time and money publishing the biography assurance was needed that we had copyright to the story. Thus, Jenny agreed to sign over her story rights. Jenny understood this legality as shown in her notarized “Open Letter to Dr. Phil” on the website ( http://www.22faces.com )

Also in that notarized “Open Letter to Dr. Phil” Jenny states, “I am fully capable of making my own decisions and if I wanted to set up a bank account for monies received from sale of my book I could and would do so. It has been my decision not to set up an account at this time.”

In my individual interviews it was related that the Hill family was upset that I was receiving money for 22 Faces while Jenny wouldn’t benefit from book proceeds. I replied that thus far I had received two royalty checks for $4.00 and $20.00, invested over $20,000.00 of my own money to edit, publish and publicize the biography, plus spent 20 years of my life writing it. It would be quite a while before the book made a profit, if ever. I explained that Hill’s story had never been about money for either Jenny nor myself. It was our purpose to publish Twenty-Two Faces so it could be a voice for the ritually abused and help make the public aware of children who are being traumatized through satanic worship. This answer from me was not in the final version of the show. What was portrayed to viewers was a “therapist” who was taking advantage of her mentally ill client.

Conclusion

I’ve been asked if I regret appearing on Dr. Phil. In part, yes.

Within a couple of days after the program aired 33 one-star negative reviews had been placed on the Amazon Twenty-Two Faces sale site. The majority didn’t refer to the book, but how I was portrayed on the Dr. Phil show. These also included personal attacks on my character. There are hundreds of negative comments under the reviews, while new negative one-star reviews and more personal attacks appear there daily.

On the other hand, the book has been highly publicized. And, many who experienced abuse similar to Jenny’s and their therapists have placed comments refuting these demeaning attacks. Most have thanked us for speaking out through Twenty-Two Faces and appearing on Dr. Phil.

My hope for Jenny is that we can find treatment for her multiplicity. The APA psychiatric manual DSM states that Dissociation affects a large section of the population. Thus, I am also in hope that Dr. Phil will revist DID or multiplicity and it’s relationship to childhood trauma with the purpose of educating his viewers on this growing problem.
http://22faces.com/dr-phil-the-rest-of-the-story/

Satanic ritual murderers jailed for 17 years, Stuart Hall denies sexual abuse of three girls, In Roman Catholic Child Molestation Files, Judge Weighs How Many Priest Names Can Be Blacked Out

Satanic ritual murderers jailed for 17 years
The mother of a teen girl killed during a so-called satanic ritual hugged and kissed the mother of her daughter’s killer at the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
29 March 2012 PULENG MASHABANE

JOHANNESBURG – The mother of a teen girl killed during a so-called satanic ritual hugged and kissed the mother of her daughter’s killer at the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Kirsty Theologo’s mother Sylvia and Myrtle Moody comforted each other after Lester Moody  and co-accused Jeremy King pleaded guilty to murdering Kirsty, 18.

They were sentenced to 17 years  imprisonment, with five years suspended.

“I’m glad they showed remorse, admitted and spoke out about it. But no sentence will bring her back,” Sylvia Theologo said….

In statements read to the court by their lawyer, Rod Montano, King and Moody admitted to planning to “sacrifice” Theologo three weeks ahead of the incident.

Two evening meetings were held, one at Wagner’s apartment and another at the minor’s home, to discuss the “sacrifice” which Wagner said he had seen in his dream….

http://www.citizen.co.za/citizen/content/en/citizen/local-news?oid=268878&sn=Detail&pid=146826&Satanic-ritual-murderers-jailed-for-17-years

Stuart Hall denies sexual abuse of three girls
Former It’s a Knockout presenter, 83, pleads not guilty to three charges of indecent assault in the 1970s and 80s

Helen Pidd and Tamsin Rutter
guardian.co.uk, Monday 7 January 2013
The veteran BBC broadcaster Stuart Hall has appeared in court charged with indecently assaulting a nine-year-old girl 30 years ago.

Hall, 83, who is best known for presenting It’s a Knockout, is accused of touching the girl in Cheshire in 1983. He is also accused of indecent assault involving a 16- or 17-year-old girl in the autumn of 1974 in Blackpool and a 13-year-old girl in 1984.

Standing in the dock at Preston magistrates court wearing a dark suit and striped tie, he said he was not guilty of all charges. He also confirmed his Cheshire address and his full name, James Stuart Hall….

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jan/07/stuart-hall-denies-sexual-abuse

In Roman Catholic Child Molestation Files, Judge Weighs How Many Priest Names Can Be Blacked Out
By GREG RISLING 01/07/13 LOS ANGELES — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles must release the names of church leaders and pedophile priests identified in thousands of pages of internal documents recounting sexual abuse allegations dating back decades, a judge ruled Monday.

The decision by Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias overturned much of a 2011 order by another judge that would have allowed the archdiocese to black out the names of church higher-ups. Victims, as well as The Associated Press and Los Angeles Times, argued for the names to be public.

Elias said she weighed the privacy rights of priests and others – including those who are mentioned in the documents but were not accused of any wrongdoing – versus the public’s interest in learning details of the child abuse that prompted the archdiocese to agree to a record $660 million settlement with victims in 2007.

“Don’t they have the right to know what happened in their local church?” Elias said before ruling from the bench.

The documents include letters and memos between top church officials and their attorneys, medical and psychological records, complaints from parents and, in some cases, correspondence with the Vatican about abusive priests. There are approximately 30,000 pages and it wasn’t immediately clear how soon they would be released….

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/07/roman-catholic-child-molestation-files_n_2425444.html

Pair jailed over witches’ coven ‘ritualistic’ sex abuse, Abuse in ‘devil church’

Pair jailed over witches’ coven ‘ritualistic’ sex abuse      
Ryan Hooper  Friday 14 December 2012

Two men accused of being part of a paedophile ring involving murdered “witch” Peter Solheim have been given lengthy jail sentences for their part in “ritualistic, sickening” sex abuse of young girls.

Jack Kemp and Peter Petrauske spent years tormenting their female victims, one said to be as young as three. Both men had denied any involvement in the abuse, claiming they were victims of a witch hunt or conspiracy.

But a jury at Truro Crown Court dismissed their protestations, convicting the pair of a string of offences dating back to the 1970s, as well as finding Kemp guilty of several more recent sexual assaults unconnected to Petrauske.

Jailing Kemp for 14 years and Petrauske for 18, Judge Graham Cottle told them: “The offences range from the extremely serious to the truly horrifying.

“You are two of the surviving members of a paedophile ring, together with others whose names have repeated frequently in this trial who were members of a ring that operated in Falmouth (Cornwall) in the 1970s and 1980s….

“It (the trial) has featured ritualistic, sickening abuse of young, young children. The scars left on (two victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons) are so obvious that it would seem extremely unlikely that either of them have any real prospect of recovery….

Petrauske was convicted of rape, aiding and abetting an attempted rape, and indecent assault. Judge Cottle sentenced him to 18 years in prison.

Kemp was guilty of 10 sexual offences including indecent assault and indecency with a child, and was handed a 14-year term.

Both men were given a discount because of their age, the judge telling Petrauske he was likely to die in prison.

Petrauske was said to be the “high priest” of a witches’ coven in St Ives, Cornwall, and ordered the girls to carry out his sick fantasies. The court heard Kemp videoed the abuse, but also took part in the assaults, along with friends Solheim and Stan Pirie – a notorious paedophile who died in jail following his conviction for sex abuse in the mid-2000s.

The duo’s victims gave harrowing evidence from behind a screen during the three-week trial. They said they were then abused by their tormentors, before being given money and sweets to buy their silence.

The abuse was only investigated further by police last year when Kemp was arrested in connection with another incident, causing rumours to spread around his home town of Falmouth and prompting the alleged victims of the historic offences to contact detectives.

Speaking after the case, Detective Constable Rick Milburn praised the bravery of the pair’s victims, adding: “It was truly horrific abuse, the worst my officers and myself have ever seen. It was truly distressing for everyone involved….

“I have no doubt Kemp and Petrauske were key players (in child sex abuse in Cornwall).”

Prosecutor Jason Beal said some of the assaults took the form of rituals with the young girls’ wrists tied.

Mr Beal said: “(One victim) was taken to a house where pagans were present, Jack Kemp was present and ‘German Pete’ (Petrauske) was also there….

When Petrauske was arrested last year, detectives discovered daggers, sheets, candles and a mask, the court heard. He immediately mentioned the names Kemp and – in a dramatic twist in the case – Solheim.

The latter was a 56-year-old parish councillor whose body was found five miles off the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall, by fishermen on June 18, 2004. He had been drugged and mutilated by a machete or an axe….

But counsel for the defendants told the jury that Petrauske and Kemp played no part in the abuse….

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/pair-jailed-over-witches-coven-ritualistic-sex-abuse-8417739.html

Girl ‘was abused in churchyard’ STEPHEN WARD
Tuesday 08 June 1993

A COURT at the Old Bailey was told yesterday that a young girl was taken to a churchyard each Hallowe’en by three men, then sexually abused in front of a group of adults who wore black cloaks and balaclavas, writes Stephen Ward.

The girl, now 11, is one of seven children who were allegedly victims of sexual and physical abuse by a man aged 67, his daughter, 29, and his two sons- in-law, aged 41 and 31. The offences span 1978 to 1989. The defendants deny 28 specimen charges.

The court was told that all the defendants and all the victims are related. None can be identified to protect the children.
The rector of St Mary’s church, Northolt, west London, is to testify that over 10 years witchcraft has taken place in the church at Hallowe’en.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/girl-was-abused-in-churchyard-1490250.html

Girl, 10, tells of sexual abuse in ‘devil church’: Child accuses relatives in video shown to jury
Wednesday 09 June 1993
A VIDEO in which a 10-year-old girl wept as she told of being sexually abused in a church by her father and grandfather was shown to a court at the Old Bailey yesterday.

The one-and-a-half hour interview was conducted by a policewoman in the presence of the girl’s foster mother and a social worker last autumn. The girl also described a catalogue of abuse at the hands of her uncle and other adults.

The father, 41, grandfather, 61, another uncle, 31, and an aunt, 29, variously deny 28 specimen charges against seven children, including rape, buggery, indecent assault and cruelty.

The girl, now 11, described her father as ‘horrible’ and said he frequently beat her. She said he started sexually abusing her when she was three and having full sex with her when she was five.

She described being taken late at night by her father and others to a ‘devil church’ where she was stripped, tied up, had knives held in front of her face and was abused by adults in black cloaks and balaclavas….

Linda Stern QC, for the prosecution, has told the jurors they will hear from the rector of St Mary’s Church, Northolt, west London, who had noticed ‘unpleasant practices connected with witchcraft’ had taken place at Hallowe’en ‘in various parts of the church’.

Once the taped interview was over, the girl was cross-examined through a live video link running between the court and a private room in the Old Bailey. She said other children were at the church – four or five, along with 20 adults. She denied that she had made up details of the church from watching horror videos.

Mrs Stern has alleged that the defendants made the children watch obscene tapes. Several of the children described seeing ‘rude’ videos.

She said that as well as being sexually abused, the children were physically neglected and were kept silent through fear and threats.

They were cowed into submission, and ‘sexual abuse and neglect of their other needs was the only way of life they knew’.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/girl-10-tells-of-sexual-abuse-in-devil-church-child-accuses-relatives-in-video-shown-to-jury-1490468.html

Four people in one family are jailed for child sex
DAVID TAYLOR Wednesday 30 June 1993
FOUR MEMBERS of the same family were jailed at the Old Bailey yesterday for sexually abusing seven children over an 11-year period, writes David Taylor.
A father, aged 41, who was found guilty of 16 charges of rape, indecent assault, buggery, cruelty and indecency, was jailed for life with an order that he serve a minimum of 12 years. He was said to have ‘behaved like a monster’.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/four-people-in-one-family-are-jailed-for-child-sex-1494769.html

Cornish ‘white witches’ guilty of ritual sex abuse on girls, Prosecutor: Man raped, abused 13 infants, children and videotaped attacks, Boy Scout Child Sex Abuse Files Must Be Surrendered, Court Says

Cornish ‘white witches’ guilty of ritual sex abuse on girls
Police say children as young as three may have been involved in coven’s ceremonies
Steven Morris
guardian.co.uk, Friday 14 December 2012
Two members of a Cornish white witch coven have been convicted of carrying out ritualistic sex abuse on young girls.

Peter Petrauske, 72, who claimed to be a high priest, and Jack Kemp, 69, donned robes and carried pagan artefacts when they attended ceremonies during which children were forced to strip and then abused. Police believe children as young as three may have been involved.

The abuse only emerged after Kemp was arrested on an unrelated charge, prompting victims of past offences to come forward.

The pair showed little emotion as they were led from the dock at Truro crown court on Friday. Petrauske, who described himself as the high priest of a white witches’ coven in St Ives, was convicted of one count of rape, one count of aiding and abetting an attempt to rape and one count of indecent assault.

Kemp was found guilty of indecent assault and indecency with a child. He was cleared of four other sexual offences. The jury is still considering verdicts on several other sexual offences.

Police launched an investigation last year when Kemp’s arrest caused rumours to spread around their home town of Falmouth.

Alleged victims claimed that Kemp, an ex-soldier and tin miner, and Petrauske, a former member of the merchant navy, had taken part in rituals during which children as young as three were plied with alcohol, forced to strip in front of men wearing white robes and abused. They were given money and sweets to buy their silence and were too frightened to report what had happened, it was claimed.

Prosecutor Jason Beal said children’s wrists were tied and some reported having hot wax poured over their bodies; one said a dagger had been drawn over her body.

Beal said the duo “used the cloak of paganism” to commit the offences against children, arguing they were not pagans but child abusers.

One woman told how, at the age of five, she and other children attended a ritual at a stone circle with a fire in the centre. Petrauske and Kemp were among the men there, wearing “gown things” and necklaces, she said….

The woman, who cannot be named, also said she was raped by another man, a former parish councillor called Peter Solheim who was associated with witchcraft in Cornwall.

Solheim’s body was found by fishermen five miles off the Lizard Peninsula in 2004. He had been drugged and mutilated with a machete or an axe.

The woman told the Truro jury that she was bound and raped by Solheim when she was nine on a bed fitted with chains and a black whip with “star things on the ends”.

In the witness box Petrauske – also known as German Pete – said he had been a pagan for 55 years and had an altar in his bedroom. He accepted he had a dagger and whip but insisted they were all for ceremonial purposes only. He said he had no doubt the victims who gave evidence had been abused by men in robes but said he was not involved….

The pair had denied all the offences, which date back to the 1970s.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/14/cornish-white-witches-guilty-ritual-abuse

Prosecutor: Man raped, abused 13 infants, children and videotaped attacks

John Burbine, 49, of Wakefield, Mass., is accused of sexually abusing more than a dozen young children.
By NBC News staff 6 Dec 2012

A Massachusetts man raped and sexually abused more than a dozen young children in their homes and videotaped the assaults, a prosecutor said Thursday.

The purported victims were as young as 8 days old, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said….

John Burbine, 49, of Wakefield, was indicted Thursday by a Middlesex grand jury on more than 100 counts of child sex offenses. He gained access to many of the children through a child care service operated by his wife, Leone said at a news conference Thursday.

According to authorities, Burbine and his wife advertised child care and tutoring services on various websites including parenting websites and coupon service websites. They also transported children to another family’s home for day care and ran a summer activities program in which they took children to various places, prosecutors said.

Burbine raped and sexually assaulted at least 13 infants and young boys and girls who were in his care from August 2010 through August 2012, according to the indictment. Many of the children were abused multiple times over several months or years, the charges allege.

The victims ranged in age from 8 days to 3½ years old and are from Stoneham, Medford, Newton, Reading, Melrose, Woburn and Waltham, prosecutors said.

Investigators said they found images and videos on Burbine’s home computer of the victims “posed in various states of nudity and engaged in sexual acts” “It is alleged the defendant videotape recorded the assaults on the victims,” the prosecutor’s office said.

“He committed these unspeakable crimes in the victims’ homes and communities. Further, the defendant filmed the repeated, unthinkable abuse,” Leone said. “The defendant gained access and opportunity to abuse young children through advertising child care services with his wife, who operated a tutoring and child care business, which was not licensed. Children are our most vulnerable victims and we will continue to prosecute to the fullest extent those who harm or exploit them.”

Burbine’s wife, Marian Burbine, 46, of Wakefield, has been indicted on charges of reckless endangerment of a child and operating an unlicensed day care business. Prosecutors said she was not present during the alleged rapes and did not know about them….
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/06/15735891-prosecutor-man-raped-abused-13-infants-children-and-videotaped-attacks

Boy Scout Child Sex Abuse Files Must Be Surrendered, Court Says
12/13/12 AP

LOS ANGELES — A California appellate court has upheld a Santa Barbara judge’s order saying the Boy Scouts of America must surrender decades of confidential files detailing alleged child sex abuse.

A lawsuit alleges that a local Scouts official tried to keep a boy’s mother from reporting his 2007 abuse by a volunteer leader to police.

The youth group denies the allegations.

“The BSA believes confidentiality of the files helps to encourage prompt reporting,” spokesman Deron Smith told the Times.

Lawyers for the former Scout who was sexually abused by a volunteer leader in 2007 say the files they seek will expose a culture of hidden sexual abuse….

In January, a Santa Barbara judge ordered all files since 1991 be turned over to the boy’s lawyers, but not the public. The Boy Scouts filed an appeal in April.

The order involves different files than the more than 1,200 made public in October by order of the Oregon Supreme Court. Those files ranged from 1965 to 1985.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/13/boy-scout-child-sex-abuse_n_2297354.html

Catholic officials knew of teacher’s abuse, court files indicate

also: Brother convicted of sex abuse a church ‘treasure’

Catholic officials knew of teacher’s abuse, court files indicate
John Merzbacher, sent to prison, now seeks release
By Tricia Bishop, The Baltimore Sun
November 25, 2012

The Catholic-school teacher had a pre-teen student pinned to the ground in his Baltimore classroom, the girl’s blouse open and her chest exposed when the doorknob suddenly turned and the school principal — a nun — burst in.

The screaming girl thought she was about to be rescued, according to court records that describe the scene at the Catholic Community Middle School in Locust Point. But Sister Eileen Weisman, who had a key to the room, merely chastised the teacher, John Joseph Merzbacher, for locking the door.

“[Weisman] looked down and her exact words were ‘John, oh John, I told you never to lock the classroom door,’” Linda Tiburzi, who described the incident in a civil court deposition in the mid-1990s, said in a recent interview. “And then she looked at me and said ‘I never want you staying after school again.’ … That’s all she said, that’s all she did, there was nothing, there was no investigation, there were no questions.”

That incident is one of several outlined in court documents, analyzed in a Baltimore Sun investigation, indicating that Weisman and other Catholic officials were aware of the lay teacher’s sexual abuse of students in the 1970s but did not report it until Merzbacher was criminally investigated in the 1990s.

Recent accounts from more than two dozen former pupils and a review of hundreds of pages of documents describe several situations in which critics claim the church had opportunities to protect schoolchildren from Merzbacher, but did not notify police of the allegations against the teacher.

The alleged failures took place in two phases. In the 1970s while the abuse was occurring, Weisman and at least two archdiocesan priests ignored the behavior, even when confronted with it directly, according to accusations in court records. Years later, Weisman and archdiocesan officials delayed reporting Merzbacher to enforcement agencies, despite a victim’s allegations of abuse….

In court records, former students describe Merzbacher, now 71, as a charmer who drew them in with rock records, forbidden foul language, alcohol and marijuana, then terrorized them. The potbellied English teacher beat the boys and humiliated the girls, engaging in sexual acts with both genders and forcing the kids to turn against one another, his accusers claim in the documents. He once fired a revolver in class, students testified during Merzbacher’s trial, and routinely used the weapon to threaten children with death….

Weisman and two archdiocesan priests — identified in court documents as Herbert Derwart and Richard Tillman — were involved in firing another teacher who said he brought concerns about Merzbacher to them in 1974. The officials allegedly told the teacher, Gary Homberg, that he could continue in his position “only under the condition [he] made no mention to anyone of [his] observations of John Merzbacher’s sexual misconduct, the allegations and rumors about John Merzbacher, or the school’s or church’s knowledge of these allegations.”

Weisman went to the archdiocese for guidance after Homberg’s allegations, telling officials that Merzbacher may have brought a gun to school and may have been “interacting inappropriately with the students.” Merzbacher was placed on leave, but reinstated after Weisman said she conducted an internal investigation….

Merzbacher was put on administrative leave while Weisman investigated the claims against him and reinstated shortly thereafter via a Feb. 22, 1974, letter from archdiocese attorney Joseph P. McCurdy Jr., which was submitted in court during the criminal case. That same day, the attorney sent a letter to Homberg advising him of his termination….
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-archdiocese-merzbacher-20121124,0,163396.story

Brother convicted of sex abuse a church ‘treasure’
By Emma Alberici  11/26/12

The head of the Patrician Brothers in Australia has apologised after a brother jailed for child sexual abuse was referred to as a “treasure” in a church publication.

Patrician Brother Thomas Grealy was convicted of molestation and buggery charges in 1997.

He spent four years in jail for the rape and indecent assault of two boys when he was principal at the Patrician Brothers’ Primary School at Granville in Western Sydney.

During his trial the court heard Brother Augustine, as Grealy was then known, would cover the statue of the Virgin Mary in his office with a coat to hide his shame before abusing the nine and 10-year-old boys in his care.

Not only does he remain a Patrician brother, but in a September newsletter Grealy is pictured standing alongside leaders of the Patricians in Australia and is referred to in the caption as one of three “Patrician treasures”.

Lawyer Jason Parkinson represents five men who allege they were abused by Grealy in the 1970s.

“It’s had such a detrimental effect on their life that there’s been a number of suicide attempts and a number of serious issues in relation to self-harm,” he said.

“[I] just couldn’t believe that the order would refer to a child molester as a treasure.

“It just goes beyond belief that they would even be inviting him to remain within their group. He should’ve been shunned, should’ve been sent away. Shouldn’t be allowed in the order.”

Nearly 40 years later, Mr Parkinson said the Patrician Brothers had not taken responsibility for Grealy’s behaviour and was squabbling with The Archdiocese of Sydney over responsibility….

Brother Philip Mulhall, the head of the Patrician Order in Australia, was until recently also the executive officer for national standards around dealing with child sex abuse claims for the entire Catholic Church in Australia.

He says the publication describing Grealy as a treasure was a “dreadful, sad mistake”….

Brother Mulhall said Grealy had never been dismissed from the order….

Another Patrician Brother was charged with child sexual abuse at the Patrician Brothers College at Blacktown about 12 months ago but remained at the school for two months before his removal….
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-27/brother-convicted-of-sex-abuse-a-church-treasure/4393618

Rabbi’s sentence angers victims

Rabbi’s sentence angers victims
August 03, 2012 By Wesley Lowery, Globe Correspondent

Despite tearful pleas from victims, a judge sentenced a one-time religious instructor for a prominent Brookline school to 10 years probation Thursday for sexually abusing three of his students in Boston during the 1975-1976 school year.

The sentence for Rabbi Stanley Z. Levitt, who pleaded guilty Wednesday to four counts of ­indecent assault and battery on a child, stunned and angered the victims, who gathered in the ­Suffolk Superior courtroom to face their abuser and witness the sentencing. Levitt was also ordered to stay away from children, register as a sex offender, and wear a GPS monitor….

“He should have served jail time,” said Michael Brecher, who along with the two other former students at the Maimonides School, an Orthodox Jewish school, said that Levitt touched him sexually when he was a sixth-grader.

Delivering a victim-impact statement before the sentencing, Brecher said Levitt groped him while Brecher was recovering at Boston Children’s Hospital after part of his finger was sliced off in a classroom door….

The Globe has reported that after leaving Massachusetts in 1980, Levitt was charged with molesting three boys in Philadelphia. In the first of those cases, Levitt was found not guilty. In the second case, he pleaded no contest to accusations that he had showered with a young boy and received five years’ probation. The third allegation was withdrawn.
http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/08/02/rabbi-stanley-levitt-gets-years-probation-for-abusing-three-boys/5iygfQPcpYpvPcJ8SPI0cK/story.html