Ex-child prostitute sues Village Voice over sex ads, Palmdale group update

Ex-child prostitute sues Village Voice over sex ads
By Jacqui Cheng 9/19/10
A teenage child trafficking victim has filed a lawsuit against Village Voice Media, for knowingly allowing her pimp to post ads for her “services” on the popular backpage.com. The pimp, Latasha Jewell McFarland, has already pleaded guilty to prostitution charges, but the victim (going by M.A. in the complaint, as she is still a minor) says that Village Voice knew that the photos being posted of her were illegal but “failed to investigate for fear of what it would learn.”

M.A. says she was 14 when she was found as a runaway by McFarland, who began pimping out M.A. for $100 per sex act (McFarland took half the earnings). In order to advertise M.A.’s services, McFarland took pornographic photos of M.A. and posted them on backpage.com in the personals section for those seeking sex. McFarland pleaded guilty earlier this month to photographing M.A. in pornographic poses, posting child porn on backpage, paying the site for the postings, transporting M.A. for the purpose of pimping her out for sex, and collecting money for M.A.’s sexual services.
In the complaint, however, M.A. accuses Village Voice of having knowledge that the explicit photos were 1) of a minor, and 2) for prostitution services. No evidence is outlined in the complaint that explicitly points to Village Voice having this knowledge, but M.A. says the company aided and abetted her pimp in facilitating prostitution and child pornography. She also argues that Village Voice should not be granted immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act—a law that has historically protected websites from being held liable for the content posted by users.

“Defendant had a strong suspicion that the aforementioned crimes were being committed,” reads the complaint. “Defendant had a desire that these posters accomplished their nefarious illegal prostitution activities so that the posters would return to the website and pay for more posting.”
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/09/ex-child-prostitute-sues-village-voice-over-sex-ads.ars

PDF copy of complaint
http://ia360705.us.archive.org/3/items/gov.uscourts.moed.108973/gov.uscourts.moed.108973.1.0.pdf

Leader of religious sect held for evaluation
Group found safe hours after going missing in Southern California Missing sect members found, but questions remain
By JACOB ADELMAN  9/19/2010 PALMDALE, Calif. — The leader of a breakaway religious sect was hospitalized Sunday for a mental evaluation, after members of her group went missing and left behind evidence that they were awaiting the rapture or some catastrophic event. Reyna Marisol Chicas was placed under a 72-hour mandatory hold after it was determined she was not able to care for herself or others, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Thomas Kim. Chicas gave investigators a false name and was rambling during questioning, Kim said. She told deputies she had no children, even though her two kids were with her.

Ending a frantic search, deputies found Chicas and 12 others just before noon at Jackie Robinson Park near Palmdale after getting a tip from a local resident, said sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore. He said all members are safe.
….The men told investigators they believe group members had been “brainwashed” by Chicas, and one expressed worries that they might harm themselves, Parker said. One of the children is 3, and the others range from 12 to 17. When deputies arrived at the park they found the children playing on swings and the adults on a blanket praying out loud in Spanish.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39255711

Protest the Pope rally, Palmdale Cult-like group, East Congo rapes

Protest the Pope rally sees 10,000 march through London’s streets – Crowd carries messages condemning papal stance on condoms, homosexuality, women’s rights and child abuse scandal
Tracy Mcveigh guardian.co.uk 18 September 2010 Day three of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain and it was a day for protests and anti-papists under bright blue skies in central London. Around 10,000 people took to the capital’s streets for a Protest the Pope rally and march against what the organisers called “papal intolerance” and to condemn the state funding of the visit.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/18/pope-benedict-xvi-protest

Abuse victims call pope’s apology ‘PR, not penitence’ – Faith & Reason Sep 18, 2010
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2010/09/pope-sexual-abuse-scandal-apology/1

Victim’s message to pope: Our souls were ‘murdered’
Americans travel to U.K. to demonstrate against abuse ‘cover-up’ Video By Ian Johnston  msnbc.com 9/16/2010 Barbara Dorris, outreach director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) victims’ group, told msnbc.com that they wanted to see a publicly accessible, worldwide register of priests who were “credibly accused predators,” so parents could find out if their children were at risk. They also want the pope to hand over internal church documents about sex-abuse accusations to local police for investigation and bishops who were complicit in the “cover-up” of sexual abuse to be disciplined.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39207699/ns/world_news-europe

Eight Children & Four Adults Missing with Palmdale Cult Leader
9/18/2010
Reyna Marisol Chicas (LACSD)
PALMDALE – Five adults and eight children from Palmdale, including one whom authorities described as a “cult-like leader,” are missing under “questionable circumstances,” but there’s no evidence they are planning to commit group suicide, a Los Angeles sheriff’s captain said.

However, an all-out search was in progress Saturday night in the Antelope Valley area to check on their welfare, said sheriff’s Capt. Mike Parker.

All are El Salvadoran immigrants, and left behind evidence they are waiting for the Rapture, or end of the world, he said.

The situation began at 1:45 p.m. when two husbands went to the Lancaster sheriff’s station to report that their wives were missing, he said.

The husbands said they believe their wives had joined a cult-like group that broke off from an unidentified Palmdale church, he said.

One of them said he had been told by the leader, Reyna Marisol Chicas, 32, to pray over a purse that was in a Palmdale residence.

After several hours, the man became curious and opened the purse.  Inside, he found five cell phones, cash, beads, titles to vehicles and property, identification cards and numerous letters written in Spanish and English.

Parker stressed there was no indication of a crime, but that authorities “do believe vulnerable people have been led to an unknown area in the Antelope Valley,” and that based on the letters, they are “possibly awaiting the Rapture or some catastrophic event.”

http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/story/Eight-Children-Four-Adults-Missing-with-Palmdale/9Xef5KdsEUaf_mfwxtFGlg.cspx

Authorities search for missing members of cult-like Palmdale group
Five adults and at least eight children are sought in what a CHP alert describes as a potential suicide plot. A sheriff’s captain points out, however, that documents left behind don’t mention suicide and the group has no history of harming themselves.
By Patrick J. McDonnell, Richard Winton and Robert Faturechi
September 19, 2010
http://www.latimes.com/la-me-0919-suicide-20100919,0,7901802.story

describes crimes
Violence spirals out of control in east Congo By MICHELLE FAUL (AP) 9/18/10 WALIKALE, Congo — First the rebel soldiers told residents of the villages in the mineral-rich eastern Congo not to worry. They were just there for a rest and would do no harm. But as dusk fell, the fighters encircled five villages simultaneously, and the gang rapes began. Six or seven men lined up to take their turn. The victims ranged from a month-old baby boy to a 110-year-old great-great-grandmother. They forced husbands and children to watch as they gang-raped the villagers for four days….News of the most brutal gang rapes in eastern Congo came in August, bringing international outrage. The U.N. said more than 500 women were raped in that period, and Buna Altunbas, a regional director for Doctors Without Borders, said some Congolese women have been raped repeatedly. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iYkMnixep9EBya04kIxKO2bqet9QD9I9TT300