Woman claims Michael Jackson molested her as a child, paid almost $1M as hush money, Cardinal George Pell faces more questions over sex abuse claims, Bill to aid sex abuse victims dies in Pa. House, Iran rocked by abuse allegations against top Qur’an reciter

– Corporate Shells Hid Jacko’s Kiddie Abuse, Woman Says
” A 42-year-old woman claimed in court Tuesday that Michael Jackson sexually abused her for three years, beginning when she was 12, and that he set up two companies as “the most sophisticated public child sexual abuse procurement and facilitation organizations the world has known.”

– Woman claims Michael Jackson molested her as a child, paid almost $1M as hush money

– (Cardinal) George Pell faces more questions over sex abuse claims “Police said yesterday that investigators were drawing on the interview to help determine whether the world’s third most powerful Catholic will be charged with child sex offences.”

Bill to aid sex abuse victims dies in Pa. House
“Both the GOP-controlled House and Senate had supported expanding victims’ rights to sue but split sharply on whether those rights should be applied retroactively for victims abused decades ago. The House approved such a provision, but the Senate, after fierce lobbying from the insurance industry and the Catholic Church, removed it from the bill this summer and sent it back to the House”

– Iran rocked by abuse allegations against top Qur’an reciter
Complainants use banned media outlets to accuse Saeed Toosi of sexually abusing them when they were aged 12 to 13

has graphic descriptions

Corporate Shells Hid Jacko’s Kiddie Abuse, Woman Says
By MIKE HEUER   Courthouse News Service  Wednesday, October 26, 2016

LOS ANGELES (CN) – A 42-year-old woman claimed in court Tuesday that Michael Jackson sexually abused her for three years, beginning when she was 12, and that he set up two companies as “the most sophisticated public child sexual abuse procurement and facilitation organizations the world has known.”
Jane AA Doe sued Doe 1 and 2, both California corporations, in Superior Court. She says Jackson controlled both companies, which “were held out to the public to be businesses dedicated to creating and distributing multimedia entertainment by Michael Jackson,” but they served a “dual purpose.”
“The thinly veiled, covert second purpose of these businesses was to operate as a child sexual abuse operation, specifically designed to locate, attract, lure and seduce child sexual abuse victims,” Jane Doe says in the complaint. “In fact, under this dual purpose, Michael Jackson and select few managing agents/employees of Does 1’s and Doe 2’s inner circle designed, developed and operated what is likely the most sophisticated public child sexual abuse procurement and facilitation organizations the world has known.”
Jackson created Los Angeles-based Doe 1 as his “primary business entity,” which “held most or all of the copyrights to Michael Jackson’s music and videos,” Jane Doe says.
“Michael Jackson was the company’s president, owner, and representative/agent,” and used it to “facilitate and arrange meetings and encounters between Michael Jackson and the minor plaintiff and other children for the purpose of Michael Jackson’s engaging in childhood sexual abuse,” according to the complaint.
Attached as exhibits to the lengthy complaint are three handwritten love notes, apparently signed by Jackson, and photocopies of at least three checks, each in six figures.
Jane Doe describes defendant Doe 2 as a Los Angeles-based entertainment company Jackson set up “in part for the purpose of placing children, like Jane AA Doe, in contact with Michael Jackson on various projects … for the purpose of Michael Jackson engaging in childhood sexual abuse of plaintiff and others.” She calls the two companies Jackson’s “co-conspirators, collaborators, facilitators and alter egos for the childhood sexual abuse alleged herein.”
Jane Doe says the sexual abuse started in 1986, when she was 12 years old and continued until she reached puberty at 15….

Jane Doe says the sexual abuse “included Michael Jackson fondling plaintiff sexually on her genitals and body, digitally penetrating plaintiff, giving plaintiff what he termed ‘movie kisses’ where he tongue-kissed her mouth and body, orally copulated plaintiff, forced plaintiff to orally copulate him, rubbed his clothed and unclothed body against plaintiff’s, and rubbed his penis on plaintiff’s vagina and attempted to fully insert it into her vagina, only partially inserting it and causing plaintiff to bleed.”
She says Jackson used his “position of trust and authority over her, for his own sexual gratification,” without her legal consent, as she was a minor….

Doe says the sexual abuse occurred in many places, including Jackson’s Hayvenhurst home, Universal Studios, at the Universal Sheraton hotel, at his Neverland ranch, in the back of his limousine, at Lorimar Studios in Studio City and at his personal apartment/condo, which he called the “Hideout.”
She seeks punitive damages for negligence, negligent supervision, negligent retention and hiring, negligent failure to train, warn or educate, breach of fiduciary duty and intentional infliction of emotional distress….
http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/10/26/corporate-shells-hid-jackos-kiddie-abuse-woman-says.htm

Woman claims Michael Jackson molested her as a child, paid almost $1M as hush money

BY Nancy Dillon  NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Michael Jackson has a new child sex accuser – and this time it’s a woman.

A California plaintiff identified only as Jane Doe filed a negligence lawsuit against the late King of Pop’s production companies Tuesday claiming Jackson molested her as a child then paid close to a million dollars in hush money to keep her quiet.

The anonymous woman claims she was 12 years old in 1986 when her parents took her and her brothers on a sightseeing trip that included a stop at Jackson’s teen home in Los Angeles.

The family was outside the Hayvenhurst mansion when Jackson rolled up in a Mercedes and invited the accuser and her mother inside to see his “candy area,” the lawsuit states.

Jackson allegedly acquired the family’s phone number and began grooming and sexually abusing the woman over a three-year period that ended when she was 15 years old in 1989, the paperwork states.

The “Thriller” singer allegedly gave the underage girl what he termed “movie kisses” – where he tongue kissed her on the mouth and body – and also digitally penetrated her, forced her to give him oral sex and rubbed his genitals on hers with partial penetration, the lawsuit states….
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/woman-claims-michael-jackson-molested-child-article-1.2844883

Abuse Royal Commission
George Pell faces more questions over sex abuse claims
The Australian October 27, 2016
Tessa Akerman    Reporter     Melbourne
John Ferguson     Victorian Editor     Melbourne

Victoria Police has broadened its investigations into historical sexual assault allegations against ­George Pell after an interview in Rome led to blanket denials from the cardinal in the presence of an Australia-based lawyer.

Amid growing signs police are refusing to surrender their pursuit of Cardinal Pell, the church is ­increasingly bewildered by what it sees as factually flawed allegations by several people.

Police said yesterday that ­investigators were drawing on the interview to help determine whether the world’s third most powerful Catholic will be charged with child sex offences.

Cardinal Pell has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and agreed to be interviewed in Italy. The interview was conducted in the presence of an Australian lawyer, but not criminal barrister Robert Richter QC, who was engaged by Cardinal Pell earlier this year after some of the allegations were made public.

The Australian understands several key claims by alleged victims have fallen over because of basic factual errors, but police are using the contents of the interview to conduct further inquiries.

It comes after prosecutors ­received a brief of evidence from police but failed to recommend he be charged, leaving it to the force to improve its case against Cardinal Pell.

A police spokeswoman yesterday said three Victoria Police ­investigators went to Rome last week and interviewed Cardinal Pell.

“As a result of the interview further investigations are continuing,” she said.

Victoria Police made an appeal in December for people who may have been sexually abused at St Patrick’s Cathedral in East Melbourne in the 1990s to come forward. A similar call was made for witnesses to any possible sexual assaults at Ballarat, west of Melbourne, in the 1970s and 80s…..
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/royal-commission/george-pell-faces-more-questions-over-sex-abuse-claims/news-story/75c6403631895f576573c73652050462

Bill to aid sex abuse victims dies in Pa. House
October 25, 2016
By Maria Panaritis and Karen Langley / Harrisburg Bureau

HARRISBURG — A controversial proposal to extend the civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse victims appeared to collapse Tuesday after supporters in the House of Representatives said it was unlikely to move an amended version of the bill or reintroduce the original measure.

With little chance of it passing, they said they would try to revive it when the assembly reconvenes next year.

“The process is over at this point,” said Rep. Mark Rozzi, a Reading Democrat and clergy abuse victim who had been the bill’s fiercest advocate.

Both the GOP-controlled House and Senate had supported expanding victims’ rights to sue but split sharply on whether those rights should be applied retroactively for victims abused decades ago.

The House approved such a provision, but the Senate, after fierce lobbying from the insurance industry and the Catholic Church, removed it from the bill this summer and sent it back to the House….
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2016/10/25/Bill-to-aid-sex-abuse-victims-dies-in-Pa-house-1/stories/201610250171

Iran rocked by abuse allegations against top Qur’an reciter

Complainants use banned media outlets to accuse Saeed Toosi of sexually abusing them when they were aged 12 to 13

Saeed Kamali Dehghan Iran correspondent

Wednesday 26 October 2016

Iran has been shaken by scandalous allegations against a top Qur’an reciter, who is accused of sexually abusing underage trainees, in the first case of its kind to cast a spotlight on the taboo topic.

The allegations are unprecedented in the Islamic republic, where such figures are generally trusted by the public and claims of this nature are usually kept in the dark, with few victims known to have ever dared to come forward.

In the past week, at least three male complainants have given separate interviews accusing Saeed Toosi, a prominent qari (someone who recites Muslims’ holy book with a melodious sound), of sexual misconduct including rape while they were between the ages of 12 and 13.

The allegations first surfaced widely on social media, which in the absence of a free press have a huge reach in Iran. Some of the alleged victims then went public, speaking to Voice of America’s Persian TV network after their calls for justice fell on deaf ears in the Iranian judiciary.

Local agencies and newspapers, including the reformist Shargh and Etemaad, have also carried reports identifying Toosi as the alleged abuser.

Toosi has since issued a statement denying the accusations, which he described as “bogus and total lies” aimed at tarnishing the image of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei….

According to VOA, four years ago several complainants filed a suit against Toosi, who was initially indicted, but charges were later dropped.

The complainants, who are from families with conservative religious backgrounds, eventually broke their silence and spoke to VOR, as well as the London-based BBC Persian service, because they lost hope in being able to bring the alleged abuser to justice. More alleged victims came forward, and as many as 10 people have now claimed abuse….
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/26/iran-abuse-allegations-quran-reciter-saeed-toosi

stopritualabuse – Google+ https://plus.google.com/+stopritualabusetoday  stopritualabuse – child abuse, ritual abuse and mind control research

stopchildabuse
Stop Mind Control and Ritual Abuse Today
We publish scientific information about ritual abuse and trauma crimes.
https://stopchildabuse.tumblr.com/post/151367031549/stop-mind-control-and-ritual-abuse-today

Information on Neil Brick
In 1995,  Neil Brick founded the SMART newsletter.  In 1996, SMART was on the Internet and in 1998 SMART started having ritual abuse conferences.
https://stopchildabuse.tumblr.com/post/151406886909/neil-brick

Amnesty demands investigation by UK child abuse inquiry of Kincora Boys’ Home, Mass priest defrocked for sexual abuse

Paedophile child psychiatrist revelations – Amnesty demands investigation by UK child abuse inquiry
“It’s too late to save the children abused by Fraser. It’s not too late for the truth to come out.” – Patrick Corrigan

Amnesty International has called again for allegations of involvement by UK security services in child abuse at Kincora Boys’ Home in Northern Ireland to be investigated by the Westminster child abuse inquiry.

The latest Amnesty call comes as a new report reveals that Dr Morris Fraser, a child psychiatrist who has been linked to Kincora, and who was convicted of sexually assaulting a child while working for a Belfast hospital in 1972, was allowed to remain on the British medical register for 24 more years during which he was convicted on abuse charges on two further occasions.

Report author Dr Niall Meehan cites a number of sources linking Dr Fraser to abuse at Kincora Boys’ Home. Allegations have persisted for decades that a paedophile ring at Kincora Boys’ Home in Belfast was linked to the British intelligence services….

Three senior staff at Kincora – William McGrath, Raymond Semple and Joseph Mains – were jailed in 1981 for child abuse, but there have been suggestions of a mass cover-up by MI5, which was rumoured to be protecting high-ranking paedophiles in the military, Civil Service and politics.

One of the child sex abuse victims from Kincora is challenging the home’s exclusion from the inquiry in a judicial review being considered in Belfast High Court. Gary Hoy, who was abused by two of the men who were subsequently convicted, is taking legal action to force a full independent inquiry with the power to compel witnesses and the security services to hand over documents.

The judicial review case has heard allegations that MI5 was involved in covering up the sexual abuse of children in order to protect an intelligence-gathering operation it ran in the 1970s. A decision in the judicial review case is due to be delivered on April 8th.

Government papers disclosed last year revealed that the Belfast boys’ home was at the heart of correspondence involving the security services.

The papers also named former government figures alleged to have been involved in paedophile rings. These include the late Sir William van Straubenzee, who was a government minister in Northern Ireland between 1972-74 when the allegations of a paedophile ring at Kincora were first made; and Sir Peter Hayman, former deputy director of MI6.

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/paedophile-child-psychiatrist-revelations-amnesty-demands-investigation-uk-child

Massachusetts priest defrocked for sexually abusing minor: archdiocese
BOSTON By Scott Malone  Thu Mar 31, 2016

A suburban Boston priest has been defrocked by the Vatican after an investigation by the Roman Catholic church found him guilty of child sexual abuse, the Boston Archdiocese said on Thursday.

The priest, Thomas H. Maguire, was serving as pastor of Saint Helen Mother of the Emperor Constantine church in Norwell, Massachusetts, about 25 miles (40 km) southeast of Boston, when he was accused in 2012 of inappropriate sexual activity with minors. Maguire was suspended from priestly duties at that time.

Police investigated that allegation but did not find evidence of a crime.

However, following the news of Maguire’s suspension, other people came forward to accuse him of sexual abuse dating to the mid-1990s and earlier, the Boston Archdiocese said in a statement.

A probe by church officials into those earlier allegations concluded that Maguire was guilty of abuse of a minor, the archdiocese said.

It was unclear if there was one or more victims, and the earlier incidents were too old to be criminally prosecuted….

The 2015 film “Spotlight,” which chronicled the Globe’s reporting of the clergy sex abuse scandal, earlier this year won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

The Vatican unveiled in 2014 that it had defrocked more than 800 priests since the start of the crisis.

Insurance experts told a Vatican conference in 2012 that as many as 100,000 U.S. children may have been the victims of clerical sex abuse. Some 12 U.S. dioceses have filed for bankruptcy since the scandal broke, in part due to more than $3 billion in settlements paid to victims.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-massachusetts-priest-idUSKCN0WX2GS

Catholic bishops not obliged to report clerical child abuse, Vatican says, Beyond clergy: Ex-Boy Scouts tap Minn. law to press sex abuse claims

Catholic bishops not obliged to report clerical child abuse, Vatican says
Vatican guide says ‘not necessarily’ bishop’s duty to report suspects to police despite Pope Francis’s vows to redress Catholic church’s legacy of child abuse

Cardinal Bernard Law, who was forced to resign over sexual abuse scandals in his Boston archdiocese, where 150 priests were accused of molesting children.

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome
Wednesday 10 February 2016

The Catholic church is telling newly appointed bishops that it is “not necessarily” their duty to report accusations of clerical child abuse and that only victims or their families should make the decision to report abuse to police.

A document that spells out how senior clergy members ought to deal with allegations of abuse, which was recently released by the Vatican, emphasised that, though they must be aware of local laws, bishops’ only duty was to address such allegations internally.

According to the state of civil laws of each country where reporting is obligatory, it is not necessarily the duty of the bishop to report suspects to authorities, the police or state prosecutors in the moment when they are made aware of crimes or sinful deeds, the training document states.

The training guidelines were written by a controversial French monsignor and psychotherapist, Tony Anatrella, who serves as a consultant to the Pontifical Council for the Family. The Vatican released the guidelines – which are part of a broader training programme for newly named bishops at a press conference earlier this month and is now seeking feedback.

Details of the Catholic church’s policy were first reported in a column by a veteran Vatican journalist, John Allen, associate editor of the Catholic news site, Cruxnow.com.

Allen noted that a special commission created by Pope Francis, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, had appeared to play no role in the training programme, even though it is supposed to be developing “best practices” to prevent and deal with clerical abuse.

Indeed, a church official familiar with the commission on abuse said it was the committee’s position that reporting abuse to civil authorities was a “moral obligation, whether the civil law requires it or not”. The official said the committee would be involved in future training efforts….
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/10/catholic-bishops-not-obliged-report-clerical-child-abuse-vatican-says

Beyond clergy: Ex-Boy Scouts tap Minn. law to press sex abuse claims
Todd Melby Feb 10, 2016
Jim McDonough is suing the Boy Scouts of America and its North Star Council claiming he was sexually abused by his scoutmaster….

Many stories like McDonough’s have come to light in the nearly three years since the Legislature passed the Minnesota Child Victims Act. Most have been focused on the hundreds of claims made against priests accused of sexually abusing children.

But the law, which extends the statute of limitations for older abuse claims, wasn’t written to respond exclusively to clergy abuse. And the Catholic Church hasn’t been the only target of lawsuits aimed at shedding light on a hidden past. Boy Scout organizations are also grappling with accusations of child molestation.

McDonough decided to use the law to sue the Boy Scouts of America and one of its local affiliates, the Northern Star Council. At least 16 lawsuits are pending in Minnesota against the Boy Scouts, including McDonough’s civil action. Most target the Northern Star Council. Three other lawsuits list another council as a defendant. At least 12 additional suits are expected to be filed before the law’s May 25 deadline….

McDonough’s suit seeks at least $50,000 from the Scouts. The Northern Star Council, which represent troops in 21 Minnesota counties and four counties in western Wisconsin, declined to talk about abuse suits filed by McDonough and others….

One of McDonough’s lawyers, Peter Janci, won a $19.9 million verdict against the Boy Scouts in 2010 in Portland, Ore. Janci says that when it comes to sexual abuse against children, the Boy Scouts have some things in common with the Roman Catholic Church.

“They both involve organizations that really believe in their mission. At times, that has led to them to make decisions where they put reputation of the organization above safety and health of individuals,” he said.

In the case of the Boy Scouts of America, that included the creation of what it called “ineligible volunteer” files, Janci said. When the Scouts learned that a volunteer had sexually molested or raped a child, it often created a file so it could bar that person from volunteering in another city or state.

Between 1955 and 1984, the Boy Scouts of America created 1,300 of these files. A judge ordered those files released, with some information redacted, after the Portland trial.

A small percentage of the “ineligible volunteer” files were atheists or homosexuals. The Scouts barred gay men and lesbians from the organization until just recently. But the vast majority of files focused on sexual molestation. They became known as the “Perversion Files.”

The Boy Scouts has been keeping secret tabs on suspected abusers since the 1920s, but it didn’t routinely report those people to police. The organization began requiring “mandatory reporting of suspected abuse” in 2011….
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/02/10/ex-boy-scouts-tap-minnesota-sex-abuse-law

Spotlight: the reporters who uncovered Boston’s Catholic child abuse scandal

Spotlight: the reporters who uncovered Boston’s Catholic child abuse scandal

A Boston Globe investigation into widespread child abuse by Catholic clergy has been turned into a new film starring Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams. The Pulitzer-winning team talk small-town secrets, collective guilt – and whether anything has really changed within the church

Henry Barnes Wednesday 13 January 2016

n 2002, the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team, a group of five investigative journalists, uncovered the widespread sexual abuse of children by scores of the district’s clergy. They also revealed a cover-up: that priests accused of misconduct were being systematically removed and allowed to work in other parishes.

The team’s investigation brought the issue to national prominence in the US, winning them the Pulitzer prize for public service. The journalists’ story, and those who suffered at the hands of the clergy, are the subject of Spotlight, a Hollywood movie starring Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams. It is a love letter to investigative journalism and a reminder that, 13 years and some $3bn in settlement payments later, survivors in Boston and beyond are still waiting for satisfactory long-term action from the Vatican….
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jan/13/spotlight-reporters-uncovered-catholic-child-abuse-boston-globe

Pope Francis says Chilean protests over alleged child abuse cover-up are ‘dumb’, ‘Open Secret’ Reveals Hollywood child abuse problem, Japan’s child abuse cases to record high

– Watch: Pope Francis says Chilean protests over alleged child abuse cover-up are ‘dumb’
– Calling Protesters in Chile ‘Dumb,’ Pope Francis Sets Off Uproar

– Controversial ‘Open Secret’ Reveals Hollywood Child Abuse Problem

– Poverty, isolation push Japan’s child abuse cases to record high

Watch: Pope Francis says Chilean protests over alleged child abuse cover-up are ‘dumb’
By Adam Taylor  October 8, 2015

Few global figures have enjoyed a more positive public image recently than Pope Francis, the remarkably popular leader of the Catholic Church. But a newly released video that appears to show the pope calling critics of the church’s actions in Chile “dumb” has prompted fresh protests in the Latin American country – and could also harm the pontiff’s reputation internationally.

The video, aired by a Chilean TV channel last week, was initially filmed at the Vatican in May. According to Catholic news Web site Crux, the video shows Jaime Coiro, a former spokesman for the Chilean Bishops Conference, greeting Francis in St Peter’s Square.

In the video, Francis talks about criticism that the Catholic church in Chile was facing at the time. The appointment of Bishop Juan Barros Madrid to the Osorno, Chile, diocese had drawn protests throughout the country due to accusations that Barros had helped cover up the sexual abuse of minors by his then-superior, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, and may have witnessed some of the abuse himself.

The Vatican found Karadima guilty of sexually abusing minors in 2011 and sentenced him to a “life of prayer and penitence.” While Barros spent more than 30 years working with Karadima, he has denied any cover-up, and the Vatican released a short statement offering a defense of the bishop’s appointment in March. The newly released video, however, shows Francis going much further – not only angrily defending Barros’s appointment, but seemingly insulting the intelligence of protesters.

In the footage, the pope tells a group of tourists that Osorno’s church has “lost its freedom, allowing politicians to fill people’s heads, judging a bishop without any evidence, a man who’s been a bishop for 20 years.” Francis goes on to say: “Think with your heads. Don’t let them lead you by the nose, all these fools who have stirred this thing up.”

The pope adds that “the only accusation against this bishop was dismissed by the court,” drawing out the syllables for emphasis. “Please, don’t lose your calm. Osorno is suffering, yes, but for being dumb,” he says in the video….

Notably, while the pope appears to say that the investigation into an alleged cover-up of Karadima’s abuses was closed, the New York Times notes that the investigation is, in fact, still ongoing. The pope’s reference to politicians in the video appears to be a reference to Chilean members of parliament who had signed a petition opposing Barros’s nomination.

The video of Francis’s comments was published online Friday and has sparked outrage against the Chilean Catholic Church, with renewed protests in St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Osorno over the weekend calling on the Vatican to remove Barros from his post….
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/10/08/watch-pope-francis-says-chilean-protests-over-alleged-child-abuse-cover-up-are-dumb/

Calling Protesters in Chile ‘Dumb,’ Pope Francis Sets Off Uproar
By PASCALE BONNEFOY OCT. 7, 2015

….In the video, Pope Francis asserted that the accusations against Bishop Barros were unfounded and that a Chilean court had dismissed such claims. However, a judicial investigation into the presumed negligence and cover-up of church officials regarding Father Karadima’s abuses is still in progress.

Three of Father Karadima’s victims filed a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Church in 2012, demanding nearly $660,000 in compensation after a criminal investigation into abuses committed from 1980 to 1995 was dismissed in 2011 because the statute of limitations had expired.

One of the victims, Juan Carlos Cruz, contends that Bishop Barros was frequently present in Father Karadima’s bedroom when he and others were abused; threatened seminarians who dared denounce them; and destroyed letters reporting the abuses to the archbishop of Santiago at the time, Juan Francisco Fresno, when Bishop Barros was the archbishop’s personal secretary in the 1980s.

Bishop Barros is one of two dozen witnesses who the plaintiffs have requested be interrogated as part of the lawsuit.

“The pope’s statements are not surprising, but it is sad,” Mr. Cruz said. “The vision of a pope closer to abuse victims has been unmasked.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/08/world/americas/calling-protesters-in-chile-dumb-pope-francis-sets-off-uproar.html

Controversial ‘Open Secret’ Reveals Hollywood Child Abuse Problem  By David A. Patten    Thursday, 08 Oct 2015

When actress Ashley Judd recently revealed that an unnamed studio executive tried to “groom” her for sex by using his powerful position, Gabe Hoffman, a film producer and hedge-fund executive, was hardly surprised.

“The casting couch is almost as old as time,” he told Newsmax. But he adds, “I think the casting couch has just about run its course in our society. We don’t tolerate that stuff anymore. We shouldn’t.”

Hoffman is considered an authority on the subject because his documentary film “An Open Secret” reveals an even darker, unrelated predilection that he says plagues the entertainment industry: Sexual exploitation of child actors.

The film’s director, Amy Berg, was nominated for an Oscar for “Deliver Us From Evil,” her 2006 examination of sex abuse cases in the Roman Catholic Church.

Berg deftly wields all the narrative tools of the storyteller’s craft – rising action, suspense, plot twists, interludes, surprise endings – to create a documentary that holds together surprisingly well considering the abject subject matter. She offers a gut-wrenching, un-hyped account of the emotional carnage wreaked on children by industry predators.

The documentary introduces five erstwhile child actors identified only by their first names and last initials. Each story follows a predictable arc, how they were discovered, groomed, and ultimately used….

Many of the film’s sordid tales involve Marc Collins-Rector, the co-founder of the now-defunct Digital Entertainment Network, an attempt at online video streaming….

According to the film, Collins-Rector would invite high-profile entertainment mavens to join in sybaritic parties at an Encino, California, mansion. There, aspiring child actors would cavort about the pool and powerful adults – who held the power to realize or destroy their dreams of stardom – enticed them into the hot tub. Some of the children had not yet even reached their teens.

In 2004, Collins-Rector pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child sexual abuse. Among other heinous acts, he admitted to luring five minors across state lines for sex. At sentencing, he was credited with the time he’d spent in a Spanish jail prior to his extradition. He later fled the country after a court awarded a $4.5 million judgment to his accusers….

Sexual abuse involving children is hardly new. In 2011, actor Corey Feldman, who starred in the 1980s films “The Goonies” and “Stand By Me,” wrote a memoir, “Coreyography,” in which he stated he and his late co-star Corey Haim were sexually abused as children….
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/hollywood-open-secret-documentary/2015/10/08/id/695357/

Poverty, isolation push Japan’s child abuse cases to record high
Kyodo     Oct 8, 2015

Child welfare authorities dealt with nearly 90,000 child abuse cases in the fiscal year ending March, a government survey showed Thursday, with experts blaming the record-high figure on increased poverty and the isolation of some families.

Logging the largest-ever increase of 20.5 percent from the previous year’s 73,000, the preliminary survey by the health ministry showed the number of cases handled by 207 child consultation centers across the country in fiscal 2014 reached 88,931, up for the 24th consecutive year since the survey started in 1990.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare attributed the rise to the widened scope of circumstances that can be reported as abuse following an August 2013 notice that instructed the centers to deal with siblings of abused children as they may also be suffering from psychological abuse.

The number of cases reported by police to the centers in which children witnessed abuse of a parent or other family member has also increased, it said….
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/10/08/national/social-issues/poverty-isolation-push-japans-child-abuse-cases-record-high/

Paedophile witch wants supervision conditions eased, Former Archbishop Dies Ahead of Vatican Child Abuse Trial, Inquiry into historic child abuse to focus on homes allegations

– Paedophile witch Robin Fletcher wants supervision conditions eased
Convicted rapist has spent nearly more than nine years under strict order after serving jail sentence.
– Former Archbishop Dies Ahead of Vatican Child Abuse Trial
Jozef Wesolowski had been the most senior Vatican official arrested on allegations of child sex abuse
– Inquiry into historic child abuse to focus on homes allegations
Cardinal Sean Brady leaves after giving evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry at Banbridge Courthouse, County Down

Paedophile witch Robin Fletcher wants supervision conditions eased
September 1, 2015   Mark Russell

Convicted rapist has spent nearly more than nine years under strict order after serving jail sentence.

Robin Fletcher is living in a facility for offenders who have finished their sentences but are deemed an unacceptable risk of reoffending. Photo: Craig Abraham

Paedophile witch Robin Angas Fletcher wants authorities to relax the conditions of a strict supervision order he has been under since 2006.

Fletcher, 59, who is legally blind, has been living in the Corella Place sex offender facility in Ararat since his release after serving eight years’ jail for raping and prostituting two 15-year-old girls.

He had pleaded guilty to three counts of committing an indecent act with a child under the age of 16, one count of sexual penetration of a person between 10 and 16, one count of child prostitution and one count of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Under his current supervision order, Fletcher is not allowed to have access to whips or chains capable of providing sexual stimulus, his internet access to sites has to be approved by authorities and he has to comply with electronic monitoring…..

In an interview with Fairfax Media in July this year, Fletcher said he was not confident of being released in June 2016.

“They believe that because I’m a witch, I’m a Satanist,” he said. “They also believe all Satanists are liars. I can express remorse and they can say, ‘But you’re lying.’ I can say, ‘I don’t intend to reoffend’, and they simply say, ‘But you’re lying.'”

During a review of Fletcher’s extended supervision order in 2010, the Court of Appeal outlined how Fletcher had been working as a drug abuse and sexual guidance youth counsellor in South Caulfield in the 1990s when he subjected two vulnerable 15-year-old girls to violent sexual acts.

“These acts involved their being whipped and beaten on their naked backs and buttocks with objects including a riding crop, causing pain and physical injury,” the appeal judges said.

“He [Fletcher] explained his behaviour as being part of a pagan ritual, justified by his religious beliefs which he described as ‘Wiccan’.

“Subsequent to his arrest for these offences he sought the assistance of a fellow prisoner to have the two girls killed so that they could not give evidence against him.”….
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/paedophile-witch-robin-fletcher-wants-supervision-conditions-eased-20150901-gjcaba.html

Former Archbishop Dies Ahead of Vatican Child Abuse Trial
Jozef Wesolowski had been the most senior Vatican official arrested on allegations of child sex abuse
By Liam Moloney   Aug. 28, 2015

VATICAN CITY—The former papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic, who was under house arrest on charges of child abuse and possession of child pornography, died early Friday, according to the Vatican.

The Vatican said in a statement initial indications were that Jozef Wesolowski, the Polish born-priest who had been the most senior Vatican official arrested on allegations of child sex abuse so far, had died of natural causes….

Mr. Wesolowski, 67, was recalled as ambassador to the Caribbean country in 2013, after a five-year posting, in the wake of reports of sexual misconduct.

He was defrocked as archbishop by a Vatican tribunal last year for sexual abuse of minors in the Dominican Republic. In June, after the pope gave his permission, a Vatican criminal court indicted him on charges of sexually abusing boys in the Dominican Republic and of possessing child pornography. He had been under house arrest inside the Vatican awaiting the start of his trial….
http://www.wsj.com/articles/former-archbishop-dies-ahead-of-vatican-child-abuse-trial-1440759820

Inquiry into historic child abuse to focus on homes allegations
31/08/2015
Cardinal Sean Brady leaves after giving evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry at Banbridge Courthouse, County Down

A long-running public inquiry will examine allegations of historic child abuse at juvenile justice institutions when it resumes this week….

In June, the HIA, spent a week examining the failings that allowed notorious paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth to continue abusing children over four decades.

Retired Catholic Primate Cardinal Sean Brady was among those who gave evidence and said he hoped light would be shed on a “dark chapter” in the church’s history.

The inquiry was set up in January 2013 by the Northern Ireland Executive to investigate child abuse which occurred in residential institutions over a 73-year period from 1922 to 1995.

A total of 16 child care facilities are under investigation and around 300 witnesses are expected to give evidence….
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/inquiry-into-historic-child-abuse-to-focus-on-homes-allegations-31490453.html

Two of Bill Cosby’s accusers join push to have entire deposition unsealed, Vatican delays trial of pope’s ex-diplomat accused of child porn, pedophilia, Only Half of Abused Children Evaluated for Occult Fracture

Two of Bill Cosby’s accusers join push to have entire deposition unsealed

Beth Ferrier and Rebecca Lynn Neal, ‘Jane Does’ in the 2005 case, join motion as Neal also spoke out against National Enquirer for pulling an interview with her

Nicky Woolf

Monday 13 July 2015

Two more of Bill Cosby’s accusers have joined a motion to have the whole of a deposition unsealed from a 2005 case in which the former comedian testified to having given a woman the sedative quaaludes before having sex with her.

Bill Cosby’s defenders split after revelation comedian drugged women

One of them has also attacked the National Enquirer for allegedly suppressing a 2005 interview with her in exchange for an exclusive from Cosby about his daughter’s drug use.

Beth Ferrier and Rebecca Lynn Neal were unidentified witnesses – known as “Jane Does” – in a 2005 case in which Cosby was sued by Andrea Constand, the first of more than two dozen women to come forward with allegations of sexual abuse against the comedian.

Last week a judge granted a motion by the Associated Press to unseal part of Cosby’s deposition. Constand has now been joined by Ferrier and Neal in a motion to have the rest of the deposition, which has so far been barred from public view, unsealed.

In a statement Gloria Allred, the lawyer representing both Ferrier and Neal, said she was concerned the partial testimony, “if believed”, would cause reputational damage to her clients.

….“The National Enquirer, more than any other publication, was unflinching in our aggressive coverage of allegations against Mr Cosby beginning in 2000 when everyone else avoided the story,” a spokesman told the Wrap. “We continue to remain aggressive in our reporting today and stand by the integrity of our coverage of this story which we have taken the lead on for more than a decade.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/13/bill-cosby-deposition-quaaludes-motion-unseal

Only Half of Abused Children Evaluated for Occult Fracture
Jenni Laidman   July 13, 2015

Despite some 20 years of recommendations to perform a skeletal survey on infants and toddlers with injuries associated with abuse, hospital personnel failed to conduct such surveys in roughly half of suspected abuse cases, according to results from a study published online July 13 in Pediatrics.

Joanne N. Wood, MD, MSHP, from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and colleagues examined data from 4486 children younger than 2 years with a diagnosis of abuse or injuries often associated with abuse at 366 hospitals from 2009 to 2013.

The study indicated that 48% of children with an abuse diagnosis and 51% of infants with traumatic
brain injury were evaluated with a skeletal survey for occult fracture. Only 53% of infants with femur fractures were examined for further fractures, the researchers found.

Previous studies suggest that skeletal surveys would have revealed occult fractures in approximately 25% to 30% of the children in the study, which means about 1 in every 7 or 8 children might have had an undiagnosed occult fracture, the authors report….

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/847835

Vatican delays trial of pope’s ex-diplomat accused of child porn, pedophilia
By Faith Karimi, Delia Gallagher and Hada Messia, CNN
Sat July 11, 2015

A former papal ambassador accused of sexually abusing minors has been hospitalized in an intensive care unit — pushing back his trial once set to start Saturday in Vatican City.

Jozef Wesolowski, 66, was under house arrest in Vatican City when he fell ill Friday night and was rushed to a public hospital.

A judge held a short hearing and adjourned Wesolowski’s trial to a yet undetermined date, the Vatican Press Office said. It did not provide any details on his condition.

Wesolowski, 66, is the highest-ranking Catholic official arrested for alleged sexual abuse of minors.

In addition to sexual abuse allegations, he is accused of possession of child pornography during his time as papal nuncio — or ambassador — to the Dominican Republic. The maximum punishment for these crimes could be 9 years in prison, although sentencing is entirely at the discretion of the judges.

The Vatican, which operates as a city-state, has its own judicial system. This is the first trial on charges of sex abuse to be heard by the Vatican tribunal, which is composed of 3 lay Italian judges….

Before arriving in the Dominican Republic seven years ago, Wesolowski was nuncio to Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

He began his career as a priest in Poland in 1972, and became a bishop in 2000….
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/11/europe/vatican-sex-abuse-trial/

2 Bishops Resign in Minnesota Over Sexual Abuse Scandal, Vatican ex-envoy Wesolowski faces child sex abuse trial

2 Bishops Resign in Minnesota Over Sexual Abuse Scandal
By MITCH SMITH and LAURIE GOODSTEIN JUNE 15, 2015

CHICAGO — Two bishops in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis resigned their posts Monday, the second time this spring that American church leaders have stepped aside after complaints over their handling of sexual abuse claims involving priests.

In Minnesota, Archbishop John C. Nienstedt and an auxiliary bishop, Lee A. Piché, announced their departures less than two weeks after prosecutors in St. Paul accused the archdiocese of willfully ignoring warning signs of a pedophile priest. Their resignations followed the April exit of Bishop Robert W. Finn from the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri, who had been convicted of a misdemeanor for failing to report a priest who took pornographic pictures of girls….

John J. Choi, the prosecutor in Ramsey County, Minn., said the resignations would not affect his office’s criminal and civil cases against the archdiocese, which accused church leaders of failing to intervene against a priest despite repeated complaints of misconduct. That priest, Curtis Wehmeyer, has since been defrocked and imprisoned on sexual abuse charges involving boys in his parish.

“While today’s resignation will be viewed as a positive development by many in our community, the pending criminal action and civil petition and the ongoing investigation will continue,” Mr. Choi said in a statement. “As we have said, the goals of our actions are to hold the Archdiocese accountable, seek justice for the victims and our community, and to take appropriate steps to ensure that what we have alleged and intend to prove about the past conduct of church officials will never be repeated.”….

The Minnesota and Missouri church leaders are hardly the first bishops to resign under scrutiny or accusations that they failed abuse victims. Since the papacy of John Paul II — now St. John Paul — began in 1978, 16 other bishops have resigned or been forced from office under a cloud of accusations that they mishandled abuse cases, according to research by BishopAccountability.org, an advocacy group in Waltham, Mass. Archbishop Nienstedt is the 17th, by that group’s count.

Archbishop Nienstedt had become one of the most embattled figures in the American Catholic hierarchy, under fire in the courts, in the pews and on newspaper editorial pages. He had refused to resign about a year ago after coming under sharp criticism from his own former chancellor for canonical affairs, Jennifer M. Haselberger, who charged that the church used a chaotic system of record keeping that helped conceal the backgrounds of guilty priests who remained on assignment….
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/15/us/archbishop-nienstedt-and-aide-resign-in-minnesota-over-sex-abuse-scandal.html

Catholic Archdiocese in Minnesota Charged Over Sex Abuse by Priest

By MITCH SMITH JUNE 5, 2015

CHICAGO — Prosecutors in Minnesota filed criminal charges on Friday against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, accusing church leaders of mishandling repeated complaints of sexual misconduct against a priest and failing to follow through on pledges to protect children and root out pedophile clergymen.

The charges and accompanying civil petition, announced by the Ramsey County prosecutor, John J. Choi, stem from accusations by three male victims who say that from 2008 to 2010, when they were under age, a local priest, Curtis Wehmeyer, gave them alcohol and drugs before sexually assaulting them.

The criminal case amounts to a sweeping condemnation of the archdiocese and how its leaders have handled the abuse allegations — even after reforms were put in place by church leaders to increase accountability — and the charges are among the most severe actions taken by American authorities against a Catholic diocese….

Mr. Wehmeyer, 50, who was dismissed as a priest in March, was sentenced to five years in a Minnesota prison in 2013 for criminal sexual conduct and possession of child pornography. He also has been charged with sex crimes in Wisconsin.

The six criminal charges filed Friday, misdemeanors with a maximum fine of $3,000 each, accused the archdiocese of failing to protect children. Mr. Choi also filed a civil petition against the archdiocese that he said was intended to provide legal remedies to prevent similar inaction from happening again.

The 44-page criminal complaint states that concerns about Mr. Wehmeyer date to the 1990s, when he was in seminary and supervisors suggested that his past sexual promiscuity and alcohol abuse made him a poor candidate for the priesthood….

The charging documents also say that archdiocese officials knew that Mr. Wehmeyer used a boys’ bathroom at a parish elementary school instead of the staff restroom; tried to give an elementary-age boy a tour of the rectory in violation of policy; and took camping trips with boys where some of the sexual abuse was said to have occurred.

The archdiocese placed Mr. Wehmeyer in a monitoring program for priests facing complaints of abuse or other problems, but prosecutors said in court documents that the supervision and follow-through was “lax or nonexistent.”….
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/06/us/catholic-archdiocese-in-minnesota-charged-over-sex-abuse-by-priest.html

Vatican ex-envoy Wesolowski faces child sex abuse trial
15 June 2015

The Vatican is to put its former envoy to the Dominican Republic, Jozef Wesolowski, on trial on child sex abuse and child pornography charges.

Pope Francis has also accepted the resignations of a US archbishop and his deputy, accused in Minnesota of having ignored a priest’s child abuse.

Jozef Wesolowski is accused of sexually abusing children in the Dominican Republic from 2008 to 2013. He is under house arrest in the Vatican.

The trial is to begin on 11 July.

Wesolowski, 66, is also charged with possession of child pornography, dating from his return to Rome in 2013….

Wesolowski, who is originally from Poland, was recalled from the Dominican Republic in 2013, after allegations surfaced accusing him of abusing Dominican boys.

He had spent five years in the Caribbean country as the papal envoy.

He was defrocked in June last year after he was found guilty by a Church tribunal – he is the highest-ranking church official to be defrocked for such abuse.

He will now be tried by a Vatican criminal court….
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33136393

US Government trying to block Prince Andrew’s alleged ‘sex slave’ from Jeffrey Epstein case, Images of child abuse found in Vatican City

US Government trying to block Prince Andrew’s alleged ‘sex slave’ from Jeffrey Epstein case Monday, 2 February 2015 – Washington ANI

US Government is trying to bar Prince Andrew’s alleged ‘sex slave’ Virginia Roberts from Jeffrey Epstein lawsuit case with a new filing.

On January 30, the government filed the declaration of FBI Special Agent Timothy R Slater, who joined the investigation of Epstein in 2006, Radaronline.com reported. It was noted in the declaration that sometime during January – February 2007 Slater called Roberts and told about the investigation of Epstein but she quickly became uncomfortable and expressed her desire to let everything in the past and demanded to not be bothered about this again.

So now the government has been trying to prevent her from having any say in the ongoing civil suit. Sources have revealed that they are filling this evidence in order to do everything they could do to prevent the release of documents about what really went on relating to Epstein’s plea deal….
http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-us-government-trying-to-block-prince-andrew-s-alleged-sex-slave-from-jeffrey-epstein-case-2057560
Woman’s Claims About Prince Andrew, Others Reignite Sex Case
MIAMI — Feb 2, 2015 By CURT ANDERSON AP Legal Affairs Writer
First came the allegations late last year that Britain’s Prince Andrew and a prominent American lawyer took part in a wealthy sex offender’s abuse of teenage girls aboard private jets, in luxury homes and on the financier’s Caribbean island.

The story, part of a long-running U.S. legal fight focused on the rights of the women, gained steam when Buckingham Palace took the unusual step of issuing a carefully worded denial of the kind of salacious claims that royal officials rarely acknowledge. Defense attorney Alan Dershowitz, who represented the highly connected Jeffrey Epstein and was himself named in the latest court filings, then called the most outspoken of the four women a serial liar and practically dared her to prove her accounts.

Instead of letting the case play out from there, the woman known as Jane Doe No. 3 hit back with a 23-page affidavit detailing dates, locations and more about the powerful men she says Epstein forced her and the others to satisfy.

More than six years after Epstein pleaded guilty to Florida charges involving sex with underage girls, the case has erupted anew….

Dershowitz has accused Jane Doe No. 3 of making up most or all of her claims, including a story about seeing Clinton on Epstein’s island years ago.

Jane Doe No. 3 and three others who say Epstein victimized them want a federal judge to make public and throw out the part of Epstein’s plea deal that guaranteed that neither he nor any co-conspirators would face federal charges. Federal prosecutors oppose the request, contending they did their best to confer with the victims but that the women aren’t entitled to details of the plea negotiations….
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/womans-claims-prince-andrew-reignite-sex-case-28657678

Images of child abuse found in Vatican City
Holy See’s prosecutor general says two cases involving indecent material came to light last year, along with other crimes Rosie Scammell in Rome Sunday 1 February 2015

Two cases of child pornography possession were uncovered within the walls of the Vatican last year, along with numerous other crimes in the city state, the Holy See’s prosecutor general has announced.

Following worldwide allegations of sex abuse by priests, Gian Piero Milano, the Holy See’s Promoter of Justice, said the Vatican was now taking action against paedophilia in the heart of the Catholic church.

Unveiling the Vatican’s justice report, Milano stopped short of naming those accused of possessing child pornography. Holy See spokesman Federico Lombardi however identified Josef Wesolowski, a disgraced former ambassador, as one of the people facing charges.

Wesolowski was stripped of his diplomatic immunity last year following accusations that he abused young boys during his time as envoy to the Dominican Republic. The Polish former archbishop is currently awaiting trial at the Vatican, in what will be the first sex abuse trial ever held at the Holy See….
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/01/images-child-abuse-found-vatican

Pope sacks Paraguay bishop accused of protecting abuser priest

Pope sacks Paraguay bishop accused of protecting abuser priest 

Pope Francis’s latest crackdown on clerical sex abuse comes days after Vatican ordered Polish archbishop to be put on trial for allegedly abusing young boys
Livieres Plano, a member of the conservative Opus Dei movement, has been removed by Pope Francis from a Paraguayan diocese

By Nick Squires, Rome  25 Sep 2014

Pope Francis has sacked a bishop in South America who for years protected a priest accused of sexual misconduct.

The Pope, who has vowed to adopt a much tougher stance than his predecessors on priests accused of sexual abuse, forcibly removed Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano from his post as bishop of a diocese in Paraguay.

The bishop is accused of protecting an Argentine priest whose former superiors in the United States had described as a “serious threat to young people.”

The bishop’s removal was the result of an investigation instigated by the Vatican earlier this year.

He had refused to resign, leaving the Pope no option but to remove him in what the Vatican described in a statement as a “hard decision”….
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/the-pope/11121607/Pope-sacks-Paraguay-bishop-accused-of-protecting-abuser-priest.html