New York joined more than a dozen states this year in significantly extending statutes of limitations for filing lawsuits over sexual abuse.

He Says a Priest Abused Him. 50 Years Later, He Can Now Sue.

A new law has created a “look-back window,” during which claims that had passed the statute of limitations can be revived.

By Rick Rojas Aug. 13, 2019

Major institutions across New York State, from the Catholic Church to the Boy Scouts of America to elite private schools, are bracing for a deluge of lawsuits now that adults who said they were sexually abused as children will be entitled to pursue formal legal action.

New York joined more than a dozen states this year in significantly extending statutes of limitations for filing lawsuits over sexual abuse. Previously, the state had required that such suits be filed before a victim’s 23rd birthday.

Under the new law in New York, the Child Victims Act, which was approved by the Legislature in January, accusers will be able to sue until they are 55.

The new law includes a one-year period, known as a look-back window, that revives cases that had expired, in many instances decades ago, under previous statutes of limitations.

The one-year period begins on Wednesday, and the impact could cause major financial stress for many institutions in New York, including the state’s eight Catholic dioceses, which have faced a series of scandals involving abuse by clergy….

In lobbying for the new law, advocates for abuse victims have highlighted the toll of sex abuse on children, and the decades it can often take before they are able to speak up about it, if they can at all.

It took Charlie d’Estries years to process the sexual encounters that he said he remembered having with a priest as a boy. They were naked together, as he recounted it, and their relationship became sexual. Still, for decades, Mr. d’Estries, 64, did not describe it as abuse, and refused to see himself as a victim.

But last year, when Mr. d’Estries returned to his Catholic school on Long Island for a reunion, a nun he had known as a student offhandedly called him “Billy’s buddy,” a reference to the priest.

In a moment, he said, everything shifted. He was deeply shaken. He realized he had been abused. He was a victim. And he wanted justice, he said.

But he discovered he could not sue until the law changed….

This year, far more than in past years, legislatures in nearly 40 states introduced proposals to expand statutes of limitations. New laws were enacted in 18 states and the District of Columbia. New Jersey was among them, passing a law that includes a two-year look-back window that opens later this year.

“The significance of it is a switch in the balance of power,” said Marci A. Hamilton, the chief executive of Child U.S.A., a think tank focused on child protection at the University of Pennsylvania. “There was a severe imbalance of power that led to their abuse in the first place. The culture shut them out of the legal system until now. For them, this is validation.”….

Lawmakers in New York had tried and failed for well over a decade to expand the state’s statutes of limitations, which were regarded as among the most restrictive in the country. “We used to call New York a ‘shut down state,’” Mr. Amala said.

Each time, the law’s supporters were thwarted in the Legislature by opposition from the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts, Orthodox Jewish groups and the insurance industry.

In years of jostling over the legislation, the look-back window had been the single most disputed element.

The New York Catholic Conference said before the law passed that the look-back window would “force institutions to defend alleged conduct decades ago about which they have no knowledge and in which they had no role.” (Many of the clergy members named as credibly accused of abuse are dead, infirm or no longer affiliated with the church.)

The State Assembly had passed the legislation multiple times, but before this year, the Senate never took it up for a vote. The political calculus in New York changed, however, after Democrats won control of the Senate in November…..

In future cases, the Child Victims Act allows prosecutors several more years to bring criminal charges, and decades more to victims weighing lawsuits. But advocates and lawyers stressed that the new law does not apply retroactively, meaning that virtually every abuse survivor older than 23 must bring any claims through the look-back window.

In the Rockefeller University case, the endocrinologist, Dr. Reginald Archibald, who died in 2007, is accused of abusing scores of boys and teenagers….

The Rockefeller University Hospital, through a spokesman, declined to comment. In a statement last year, the hospital acknowledged reports of “certain inappropriate conduct during patient examinations,” and sent a letter alerting about 1,000 former patients to the allegations.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/13/nyregion/child-victims-act-lawsuit.html

The 2019 Annual Child and Ritual Abuse Conference with Alison Miller, Neil Brick and Daniel Roemer

S.M.A.R.T.’s conference on August 17 – 18, 2019 in Connecticut Special low income prices are available.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-2019-annual-child-and-ritual-abuse-conference-with-alison-miller-neil-brick-and-daniel-roemer-300885349.html

https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/

Dr. Barto sentencing sexual assault two dozen children, Shambhala Buddhist org. allegations of sexual assault, Syracuse Diocese ritual abuse, Bill eliminates statute of limitations child sex abuse “ritual abuse of a minor”, Ritual Abuse Conferences 2019

– Dr. Johnnie Barto, a sexual predator pediatrician, gets up to 158 years in prison

– Shambhala discloses allegations of sexual assault, child abuse within Boulder-born Buddhist organization’s ranks

– Bill giving victims more time on child sex abuse lawsuits, criminal cases gets support

– Ahead Of Diocese Report, Reaction To Syracuse Abuse Compensation Program

– The 2019 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference

– The Survivorship Ritual Abuse and Mind Control 2019 Conference

Dr. Johnnie Barto, a sexual predator pediatrician, gets up to 158 years in prison
“He held himself out as a pillar in his community — a family pediatrician, an elected member of the school board, a regular attendee at church,” the state attorney general said.

Dr. Johnnie Barto heads into Cambria County Courthouse in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, on March 18, 2019, for his sentencing in the sexual assault of more than two dozen children.
March 18, 2019 By Corky Siemaszko

A Pennsylvania pediatrician who admitted to molesting several generations of children was sentenced Monday to spend the rest of his life in prison after 18 now-grown women took turns pleading with the court to throw the book at him, with many calling him a “monster.”

Dr. Johnnie “Jack” Barto, 71, was hit with a sentence of 79 to 158 years in prison, virtually guaranteeing that he will die behind bars, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said….

Barto’s sentencing came a day after several women — who said the doctor molested them when they were children — described in a lengthy interview with NBC News how the Johnstown community rallied behind him in 2000, the first time he was accused of abusing children.

Twenty years ago, this predator could have been stopped,” Jennifer Goetz, 42, said on the steps of the Cambria County Courthouse.

Goetz, who said she was about 8 when Barto violated her in 1984, said, “Today is a bittersweet day for me.”

Erika Brosig, who said she was 12 when Barto molested her in 1994, said the doctor had enablers who also need to be called to account.

“Parents were making complaints frequently about Dr. Barto,” she said. “We want to find out who did know and what was the level of their responsibility.”….

arto was hit with the staggering sentence two months after he first pleaded guilty to molesting the two relatives, and no-contest to three other allegations brought by children he was accused of sexually abusing at his practice.

Under questioning, Barto also admitted to sexually assaulting dozens more children during the four decades he practiced medicine in and around Johnstown, Shapiro said.

Barto targeted girls and boys, most between the ages of 8 and 12, the chief prosecutor said. The youngest victims were a toddler and a 2-week-old.

Most of the assaults happened after Barto got his medical license back in 2000. It had been suspended after he was accused the first time of sexually abusing three children in 1998. His license was restored in 2000 by the Pennsylvania Board of Medicine.

“When he was first accused in 1998, Barto thought he was immune from prosecution and played a long game to make sure the families thought well of him and allowed their children near him,” Shapiro said.

Despite the rumors that Barto was still molesting children, he managed to elude law enforcement until Dec. 21, 2017, when a 12-year-old girl told her mother that at the end of an examination, the doctor had her sit on his lap while he molested her, according to a probable-cause affidavit.

Barto was arrested by the Richland Township police Jan. 18, 2018. That same day, The Tribune–Democrat newspaper reported, a “Support for Johnnie ‘Jack’ Barto” page went up on Facebook, complete with testimonials from local parents whose children were his patients.

The page quickly came down after Barto finally admitted his guilt.

Shapiro noted that in addition to the 31 incidents of assault charged, at least a half-dozen other cases could not be charged because of the criminal statute of limitations laws in Pennsylvania….

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sexual-predator-children-s-doctor-gets-158-years-prison-people-n984491

Shambhala discloses allegations of sexual assault, child abuse within Boulder-born Buddhist organization’s ranks
Report by An Olive Branch includes unsubstantiated allegations, details failure to address issues

By Jackson Barnett The Denver Post March 19, 2019

Shambhala, the Buddhist organization founded in Boulder in the 1970s, released a report Tuesday detailing — but not substantiating — new allegations of sexual assault and child abuse within the organization, along with an internal failure to adequately address that abuse….

Allegations of abuse within Shambhala — now based in Halifax, Nova Scotia — first were brought to light last year by Buddhist Project Sunshine, which published anonymous allegations of sexual abuse by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, the organization’s leader, and other high-ranking teachers.

In July, Mipham acknowledged he had caused “harm” in relationships and would step aside from his leadership position. Shambhala then retained the Canadian law firm Wickwire Holm to conduct a third-party investigation. The firm, in a report released last month, found two credible claims of sexual abuse and a pattern of inappropriate behavior by Mipham, but its investigation was criticized for being too narrow in scope by former Shambhala members….

The report that contained self-reported accounts of abuse found several “themes” of abuse, including sexual misconduct by Shambhala teachers and staff, child abuse and abuse of power. People who self-reported also claimed backlash, concerns about speaking up and efforts by Shambhala to protect teachers and the organization from accusations.

Unverified firsthand stories included acts ranging from unwelcomed kisses from older teachers to child molestation. The report did not include the names of those accused nor the locations where the alleged abuse occurred. An Olive Branch said it reported crimes that had been brought to its attention to the appropriate law enforcement agencies. The report also found that many people did not trust Shambhala to execute proper procedures to address abuse….

An Olive Branch also noted that Mipham in 2015 was excluded from signing Shambhala’s pledge to understand and abide by the policy and not have sexual relationships with students….

Beyond the Buddhist organization’s own internal reviews, an investigation by the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office into “possible criminal activity” at the Shambhala Mountain Center near Red Feather Lakes remains ongoing. And Boulder police earlier this year arrested a former Shambhala teacher, William Karelis, 70, on charges of sexual assault on a child by someone in a position of trust….

https://www.denverpost.com/2019/03/19/shambhala-an-olive-branch-abuse-report-sakyong-mipham/

Ahead Of Diocese Report, Reaction To Syracuse Abuse Compensation Program
By Gabe Altieri (WSKG) March 19, 2019….

This month, the Syracuse Roman Catholic Diocese hopes to release a report on how its settlement program for people who have been abused by clergy has gone.

It’s called an independent reconciliation and compensation program, or IRCP. The Syracuse Diocese covers part of Central New York and the Southern Tier including Binghamton and Cortland.

WSKG looked into how this program went for the diocese and those who participated. A listener note: this story contains graphic details of sexual abuse.

Remembering Abuse

….What happened to Lightbody is detailed in her testimony to the independent mediator who ran the victims compensation program for the Syracuse Diocese.

….This was the early 1970s. She was about ten years old.

“It was not typical, what you consider typical sexual abuse,” Lightbody said. “What he did to me was ritual abuse which involves physical abuse, sexual abuse, mind control and brainwashing.”

….Here’s what we know about her alleged abuser: his name is Paul Slavetskas. He served at Blessed Sacrament in Johnson City from March 1973 until September 1974.

Slavetskas died in 2015.

The Syracuse Diocese put his name on a list of priests with credible accusations against him. That was released in December. Lightbody’s testimony is the only known abuse claim against him.

https://www.wrvo.org/post/ahead-diocese-report-reaction-syracuse-abuse-compensation-program

Bill giving victims more time on child sex abuse lawsuits, criminal cases gets support
PHOEBE TOLLEFSON Mar 14, 2019

….The bill, HB 640, would eliminate the statute of limitations for criminal cases and extend from age 21 to age 27 the time frame during which a victim can sue over alleged abuses.

It makes no change to current law that allows victims to sue after the statute of limitations has expired, but within three years of recognizing their abuse. Experts say victims can repress memories of abuse and struggle to come to terms with its lifelong impacts.

The bill beefs up penalties against mandatory reporters who fail to act by making it a felony in cases involving sexual abuse allegations.

….The bill pertains to victims younger than 18 of the following crimes: sexual assault, sexual intercourse without consent, aggravated sexual intercourse without consent, indecent exposure, sexual abuse, ritual abuse of a minor, incest and sexual exploitation.

https://www.fairfieldsuntimes.com/news/state/bill-giving-victims-more-time-on-child-sex-abuse-lawsuits/article_c29b4d2a-887f-5738-8bf2-df5771d405cf.html

The 2019 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference August 17 – 18, 2019 DoubleTree near Bradley International Airport Windsor Locks, CT Internet conference information: http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/

The Survivorship Ritual Abuse and Mind Control 2019 Conference
When:

Regular Conference – Saturday and Sunday May 4 – 5, 2019

Clinician’s Conference (CEUs are available) Friday May 3, 2019

Where: Courtyard Marriot Long Beach Airport Long Beach, CA

https://survivorship.org/ritual-abuse-and-mind-control-2019-conference/

Survivorship Conference Speakers
Clinician’s Conference – Friday May 3, 2019
Deception by Organized Abuser Groups: Helping Yourself and Your Clients Think Through the Issues by Alison Miller

The Use of Music and other Auditory Stimuli in Psychological Therapy with Extreme Abuse Survivors by Randy Noblitt

Regular Conference – Saturday and Sunday May 4 – 5, 2019
Deception by Organized Abuser Groups: Helping Your Front People and Your Insiders Recognize the Lies and Tricks Which Keep You Enslaved by Dr. Alison Miller

Talking About Triggers Without Being Triggering by Dr. Randall Noblitt

Barriers encountered by RA Survivors when accessing Support in Offline Spaces (Services) By Joseph Lumbasi

A Survivor’s View of Recovery from Ritual Abuse by Neil Brick

SMART Child and Ritual Abuse Newsletter – Issue 142 – September 2018

https://ritualabuse.us/2018/09/issue-142-september-2018/ 

This issue includes information on: Ritual Abuse, Child Abuse Wiki, http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Ritual_Abuse, Ritual Abuse and Mind Control Conference, https://ritualabuse.us, Randy Noblitt, Severe Abuse, Child Abuse Crimes, Neil Brick, Organised Abuse in the UK Conference 2018, Laurie Matthew, Eighteen And Under, Izzy’s Promise, Sarah Nelson, Joseph Lumbasi, Izzy’s Promise, Myth of the Satanic Panic, backlash, sexual harassment, rape, Cult and Ritual Abuse, Satanic ritual killing, sacrifice, Teodora Quispe Ccayllahua, escabroso ritual satánico, Diablo, Larry Nassar, Michigan State, Nxivm Sex-Trafficking Case, Clare Bronfman, pyramid scheme, cult, Keith Raniere, sexual slavery, sex trafficking, Backpage.com, Mike Lacey, John Brunst, pedophiles, darknet, pedophile ring, forced prostitution, religious ritual, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, demonic spirits, 1000 victims of priest abuse, Roman Catholic priests, systematic cover-up by senior church officials, Vatican, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Edward Ganster, predator priests, I Am a Killer Interviews, Miguel Martinez, Miguel Venegas, Satan, Maryland private school, Key School in Annapolis Maryland, St. Paul’s School, Nuns charged in Smyllum Park child abuse investigation, satanic rituals, Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul, Sisters of Nazareth, St. Joseph’s orphanage, Pope Francis, CIA Mind Control, CIA Secret Cold War, CIA Secret Experiments, Ewen Cameron, Clergy abuse survivors, statute of limitations

Ritual Abuse – Child Abuse Wiki Ritual abuse exists all over the world. There have been reports, journal articles, web pages and criminal convictions of crimes against children and adults. http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Ritual_Abuse

The 2018 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2018-conference/ 

The Credibility of Ritual Abuse Allegations Presenter: Randy Noblitt, PhD Synopsis: To what extent do mental health and other helping professionals believe the stories of ritual abuse survivors? This presentation systematically reviews the empirical research on the credibility of ritual abuse allegations. After presenting the findings there will be a discussion that welcomes the opinions of the attendees regarding their own conclusions including considerations of the community standard, professional ethics, related forensic questions, and advocacy for extreme abuse survivors.

Randy Noblitt, PhD, is a clinical psychologist (licensed in Texas) and professor of clinical psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University, Los Angeles. In the course of his practice, Randy has treated more than 300 individuals who met the criteria for dissociative identity disorder. He is the principle author of Cult and Ritual Abuse: Its History, Anthropology and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America (Praeger, 1995. 2000), and its third edition, Cult and Ritual Abuse: Narratives, Evidence and Healing Approaches (Praeger, 2014). He is also co-editor and contributing author of the book, Ritual Abuse in the 21st Century: Psychological, Forensic, Social and Political Considerations (Robert Reed, 2008). https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2018-conference/the-credibility-of-ritual-abuse-allegations/

Changes in Awareness of Severe Abuse and Child Abuse Crimes Over Twenty Five Years Presenter: Neil Brick
The awareness of severe abuse and child abuse crimes has changed over the last 25 years. In the early 1990s, severe abuse survivors were often believed and supported. Then a backlash started and severe abuse survivors and their supporters were harassed and attacked. The child abuse survivor movement changed and adapted. Ten years ago, research began again to help expose severe abuse crimes. More recently, first in the UK and Australia and now in the United States, a variety of child abuse, severe abuse, sexual harassment and rape cases are bringing public awareness again to the mainstream media of severe abuse crimes. This presentation will discuss the changes of the last 25 years, with an emphasis on the more recent exposures of organized child abuse crimes and social systems that have been part of the cover up of these crimes.

Neil Brick is a survivor of ritual abuse and mind control. His work continues to educate the public about child abuse, trauma and ritual abuse crimes. His child abuse and ritual abuse newsletter S.M.A.R.T. https://ritualabuse.us has been published for over 22 years. http://neilbrick.com
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2018-conference/changes-in-awareness-of-severe-abuse-and-child-abuse-crimes-over-twenty-five-years/

Child and Ritual Abuse Conference Helps Educate Survivors and Their Helpers; Speakers included Dr. Randy Noblitt and Neil Brick
Child and Ritual Abuse Conference Speakers Included:
• Dr. Randall Noblitt • Neil Brick
• Jillian Jackson • Manjot Singh Khalsa
• Mike Skinner – Musician
https://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=227656

Explosive Report on Catholic Church Abuse, Protections for pedophile priests, Ritual Abuse Conference – Dr. Randy Noblitt and Neil Brick

–  Why the Explosive Report on Catholic Church Abuse Is Unlikely to Yield Criminal Charges

–  Tear down the protections for pedophile priests

–  The Credibility of Ritual Abuse Allegations

– Changes in Awareness of Severe Abuse and Child Abuse Crimes Over Twenty Five Years

–  Child and Ritual Abuse Conference Helps Educate Survivors and Their Helpers 

Why the Explosive Report on Catholic Church Abuse Is Unlikely to Yield Criminal Charges
By Dan Levin Aug. 15, 2018

The searing grand jury report issued Tuesday in Pennsylvania that accuses bishops and other Roman Catholic Church leaders in that state of covering up child sexual abuse by more than 300 priests has prompted growing calls for justice, while leaving Americans wondering about the broader impact of the revelations on the church and other institutions.

But a web of legal barriers stands in the way of prosecuting most of the cases, and efforts to ease those barriers have repeatedly run into political opposition and fierce lobbying by the church and other groups. Pennsylvania lags behind many other states in coming to grips with the problem, despite a series of grand jury investigations stretching back 15 years….

The nearly 900-page grand jury report is unlikely to lead to any new criminal charges or civil lawsuits over the abuse that it catalogs, because the statute of limitations has expired on those cases. Current state law allows victims of abuse as children 12 years to sue after they come of age at 18, meaning they must do so by age 30. Criminal complaints must be filed by the time the victim is 50. Those rules leave the vast majority of abuse survivors, who came forward later in life — the grand jury said they include people as old as 83 — with no legal recourse. Only two of the cases in the report have so far led to criminal charges….
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/15/us/pennsylvania-sex-abuse-statute-of-limitations.html

Tear down the protections for pedophile priests
By Editorial Board August 20
IN AN extraordinary communique to the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, Pope Francis on Monday acknowledged the “atrocities” committed by pedophile priests and the church hierarchy that systematically covered up their crimes, recognized the inadequacy of efforts “to beg pardon” and admitted that the victims’ “wounds never go away.” In so doing, the pontiff provided a powerful rationale for dropping the church’s long-standing opposition to allowing decades-old cases of rape and molestation by priests to be subject to prosecution and lawsuits.

At last, after years of half-measures and tone-deaf remarks, the pope seems to have woken up to the scale of abuse and corruption sanctioned by the church. The question now is whether he is willing or able to turn the tide of institutional resistance in the Vatican and dioceses worldwide that too often has blocked victims from seeking justice and recompense….

Many states have extended or dropped limits on the number of years within which prosecutors are able to charge child sexual abuse felonies. In other states, including Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania, efforts to extend criminal statutes of limitations have failed. And the church has spent millions of dollars fighting changes in statutes of limitations to give victims, who often cannot speak for decades about the abuse they suffered as children, more time to bring civil lawsuits.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/tear-down-the-protections-for-pedophile-priests/2018/08/20/f2d6376a-a4ab-11e8-97ce-cc9042272f07_story.html

The Credibility of Ritual Abuse Allegations
Presenter: Randy Noblitt, PhD
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2018-conference/the-credibility-of-ritual-abuse-allegations/

Changes in Awareness of Severe Abuse and Child Abuse Crimes Over Twenty Five Years Presenter: Neil Brick
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2018-conference/changes-in-awareness-of-severe-abuse-and-child-abuse-crimes-over-twenty-five-years/

Child and Ritual Abuse Conference Helps Educate Survivors and Their Helpers; Speakers included Dr. Randy Noblitt and Neil Brick
https://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=227656

Archdiocese fund for abuse victims to reach $130M, Former Guam priest admits abuse, says church knew, “Hyena” who had sex with kids in sexual cleansing ritual, Locals raid witch doctors after kids mysterious deaths

– Twin Cities Archdiocese fund for abuse victims to reach $130M
– Former Guam priest admits abuse, says church knew
– 3 more child sex abuse lawsuits filed against Guam priests
– HIV-ridden ‘DEVIL’ who had sex with kids in £3 ‘cleansing’ faces just FIVE YEARS in jail
– Naivasha locals raid witch doctors havens after kids mysterious deaths

Twin Cities Archdiocese fund for abuse victims to reach $130M
New insurance settlements boost archdiocese payout plan for 400 abuse victims.
By Jean Hopfensperger Star Tribune
November 15, 2016

The fund for victims of clergy sex abuse would double from a proposed $65 million to $130 million under an amended bankruptcy reorganization plan filed Tuesday by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The increase comes primarily from new insurance settlements with the archdiocese. The archdiocese would contribute about $13 million to the fund, as would the parishes.

The proposal was swiftly criticized by victims’ attorneys as being too easy on insurers and too stingy on the part of the archdiocese.

More than 400 people have filed claims against the archdiocese in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, alleging its clergy sexually abused them as children. Under the new plan, each victim would receive an average payout of about $300,000….
http://www.startribune.com/130m-twin-cities-archdiocese-raises-amount-for-clergy-abuse-victims/401313485/

Former Guam priest admits abuse, says church knew
11 November 2016

A retired priest in Guam says the island’s Catholic Church leadership has known for decades about sex abuses committed by clergy since the 1950s.

Louis Brouillard, who is a confessed abuser, made his comment in a statement released in connection with civil lawsuits filed by several former altar boys, who allege sexual abuse at the hands of Guam priests decades ago.

Pacific Daily News reports Mr Brouillard saying his only form of punishment for molesting at least 20 boys at the time was to say prayers – as instructed by the then Archbishop Apollinaris Baumgartner.

Mr Brouillard, who is now 95 and living in Minnesota, said his sexual contact with children was known to other priests, including the Archbishop Baumgartner, who led the church on Guam for 25 years from 1945.

Mr Brouilliard served as a priest on island from the late 1940s to 1981.

He says the Catholic Church should be honest and truthful regarding what happened on Guam during his time there.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/317899/former-guam-priest-admits-abuse,-says-church-knew

3 more child sex abuse lawsuits filed against Guam priests
USA Today Network Haidee V Eugenio, Pacific Daily News (Guam) November 17, 2016

HAGATNA, Guam — Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron and former priest Louis Brouillard, along with the Archdiocese of Agana, face three new lawsuits alleging child sex abuse, which were filed Thursday afternoon by two former altar boys and by the estate of a deceased former altar boy.

The lawsuits are possible because of a recently passed Guam law that lifts the civil statute of limitations for those accused of abusing children, as well as the institutions that supported them….

Diaz, a resident of Barrigada, alleges that other priests and representatives of the Archdiocese of Agana, including Bishop Apollinaris Baumgartner and other defendants, were aware of Brouillard’s sexual abuses.

But Diaz said these other priests deliberately remained quiet and withheld such information from third parties, including his parents and law enforcement authorities in order to protect Brouillard and the archdiocese “thereby placing their loyalty above their duty to protect the minor children and their legal responsibilities.”

On Oct. 3, Brouillard released a signed statement admitting to sexually abusing at least 20 boys, and asked for forgiveness from his victims. Brouillard’s first public admission of his sexual abuses of boys on Guam was in August, during a phone interview with Pacific Daily News.

Brouillard has said the Catholic Church leadership on Guam knew about his actions for decades but he was only told to say prayers as a penance….
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/11/17/3-more-child-sex-abuse-lawsuits-filed-against-guam-priests/94052114/

HIV-ridden ‘DEVIL’ who had sex with kids in £3 ‘cleansing’ faces just FIVE YEARS in jail
A MONSTER with HIV who claims he was paid £3-a-time to have sex with children as young as 12 for “sexual cleansing” is facing only five years in prison.
By Henry Holloway / Published 17th November 2016

Eric Aniva, better known as the Hyena, claims the girls as young as 12 took “pleasure” in the abuse he subjected them too while he was paid by their parents in a “sexual cleansing ritual”.

HIV-positive Aniva confessed to having unprotected sex with 104 women and girls as part of a his bizarre rentalservice.

He did not tell families who hired him for the sexual initiation about his status before having sex with the women and girls….

The “sexual cleansing” is common practice in the southern region of his home nation Malawi.

Women and girls are expected to participate at various points in their life – such as when they hit puberty, if they have an abortion, or if their husband dies.

Young girls are sent to “initiation camps” by their family before they hit puberty where they are taught how to have sex by older men….

Presidential spokesman Mgeme Kalilani said: “While we must promote positive cultural values and positive socialisation of our children, the president says harmful cultural and traditional practices cannot be accepted in this country.”

He added: “These horrific practices, although done by a few, also tarnish the image of the whole nation of Malawi internationally and bring shame to us all.”….

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/562792/Hyena-Rapist-HIV-Eric-Aniva-Malawi-104-Rape-Sexual-Cleansing-Ritual-Girls-Camps-Court-Jail

Naivasha locals raid witch doctors havens after kids mysterious deaths
Nov. 17, 2016   By GEORGE MURAGE

Operations came to a standstill in Karagita estate, Naivasha, after residents conducted a major operation targeting witch doctors.

They moved door to door looking for the “traditional healers” accused of being behind their woes.

Trouble started two weeks ago when two children were reported missing and later found murdered in what are believed to have been ritual killings.

Police are holding a 12-year old boy in connection to the mysterious murders.

During the raids, residents found paraphernalia used by witch doctors to ‘treat’ their patients. Pictures of church pastors, women, and men from neighbouring areas were also found in one of the homes that was raided by more than 300 residents.

Youth leader Elijah Ngotho said the witch doctors were to blame for the disappearance of the minors in the area.

He said the operation was meant to rid the area of fake healers, a majority of whom he noted were from neighbouring countries.
http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2016/11/17/naivasha-locals-raid-witch-doctors-havens-after-kids-mysterious-deaths_c1457570

S.M.A.R.T.’s Ritual Abuse Page  https://ritualabuse.us

S.M.A.R.T (Stop Mind control And Ritual abuse Today) Newsletter
Issue 131 – November 2016
https://ritualabuse.us/2016/11/issue-131-november-2016/

Child abuse wiki – ritual abuse  http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Ritual_Abuse

Articles by Neil Brick
http://neilbrick.com 

New child abuse suits filed against Catholic Church in Guam, Three men jailed over Bristol child abuse ring, Ritual Abuse Research, Neil Brick

 

– New child abuse suits filed against Catholic Church in Guam
– Three men jailed over Bristol child abuse ring

New child abuse suits filed against Catholic Church in Guam
November 01, 2016

HAGATNA, Guam –  The latest on allegations of child sex abuse in Guam’s Catholic Church
A lawyer for four former altar boys has filed a new civil lawsuit against the Catholic Church in Guam, Archbishop Anthony Apuron and Father Louis Brouillard over child sexual abuse.

A statement was released by the men’s attorney Tuesday afternoon in Hagatna. Three of the men, now in their 50s, were altar boys in the 1970s under Apuron, who was a pastor at the time. They allege Apuron molested them during sleepovers.

The fourth man, now in his 70s, was a student and former altar boy in the 1950s when he says Brouillard molested him. Brouillard, 95, admitted to The Associated Press in August that he may have molested 20 boys during his time in Guam.

Guam passed a law in September lifting the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits in child molestation cases.

The new leader of the Catholic Church in Guam will immediately assume all responsibilities in the archdiocese while its suspended archbishop faces a church trial for allegedly sexually abusing altar boys….
Guam had been under an apostolic administrator since June when Archbishop Anthony Apuron, 71, was relieved of his duties after several former altar boys accused him of sexual abuse. He is facing a canonical trial in the Vatican.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/11/01/new-child-abuse-suits-filed-against-catholic-church-in-guam.html

Three men jailed over Bristol child abuse ring

One man sentenced to 16 years and two to eight years after girls as young as 14 were subjected to ‘degrading and violent’ abuse  Press Association  Tuesday 1 November
Three men have been jailed for their part in an inner-city sex ring involving the abuse, rape and trafficking of young girls.

Victims as young as 14 were subjected to sexual abuse that was “degrading, violent and horrible” in Bristol. Some of the girls were given drugs and alcohol and “pestered again and again” for sex by the men, who were mostly older teenagers.

Bristol crown court heard that the rapes became “routine” and the men regarded some of the victims, who cannot be named, as “cheap and easy”….

Seven men went on trial accused of 46 charges. Three were acquitted after the jury failed to reach verdicts and another man was found not guilty of the two charges against him.

The trial, which came after an investigation codenamed Operation Button, was the third in a series of prosecutions of Somali men for child sexual exploitation and drug offences.

In two earlier trials in 2014, after an investigation codenamed Operation Brooke, 14 men were jailed for more than 100 years between them….

“These defendants befriended these vulnerable young people who were still at school, grooming and sexually exploiting them,” she said. “Their systematic abuse over a number of years slowly eroded their confidence and made them think these crimes were normal behaviour.”…
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/01/three-men-jailed-over-bristol-child-abuse-ring

Neil Brick, Editor of S.M.A.R.T. Newsletter, 20 Years of Child and Ritual Abuse Research http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=205239

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

How Cues and Programming Work in Mind Control and Propaganda by Neil Brick
https://stopchildabuse.tumblr.com/post/151646619759/how-cues-and-programming-work-in-mind-control-and

The Battle to Stop Ritual Abuse by Neil Brick
For over 25 years, survivors and their advocates have worked to stop ritual abuse by educating the general public about these crimes. Through an intense struggle this research has been made public and survivors have been helped.

A backlash continues, covering up crimes against children and protecting a hierarchical and unjust social structure that exists by propagandizing and mind controlling its members. Exposing the backlash and its true motives and how their work continues to promote social injustice will be discussed in this presentation.
https://stopchildabuse.tumblr.com/post/151646961279/the-battle-to-stop-ritual-abuse

How to Avoid Being Mind Controlled at a Conference by Neil Brick
https://stopchildabuse.tumblr.com/post/151646833224/how-to-avoid-being-mind-controlled-at-a-conference

Doing the right thing and getting stronger at the same time, a survivor’s path to recovery and helping others by Neil Brick
https://stopchildabuse.tumblr.com/post/151776613334/doing-the-right-thing-and-getting-stronger-at-the

Evolving as a Movement – Taking a Step Forward by Neil Brick
The survivor movement needs to take a step forward. No longer can it avoid public education and advocacy.
https://stopchildabuse.tumblr.com/post/151776407764/evolving-as-a-movement-taking-a-step-forward

 

Hastert Protected by Child Abuse Law, Truth about Thalidomide, Thailand-U.S. sex trafficking ring, Urban Legends of Those Attacking Ritual Abuse Theories

– Victim Says Hastert ‘A Monster’ Protected by Child Abuse Law
– Film explores Harold Evans’s work to expose the truth about thalidomide
– Arrests made in Thailand-U.S. sex trafficking ring

Victim Says Hastert ‘A Monster’ Protected by Child Abuse Law
By Ivan Moreno, Associated Press
CHICAGO — Oct 4, 2016
A man who said Dennis Hastert sexually abused him decades ago told Illinois lawmakers Tuesday the former U.S. House speaker was “a monster” who was protected by the statute of limitations and wasn’t appropriately punished.

The comments from 54-year-old Scott Cross came as lawmakers are considering joining 37 other states that don’t have a statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases. Hastert was sentenced in April to 15 months in prison for violating banking laws while trying to silence one of four victims identified by prosecutors, but Illinois’ statute of limitations meant he couldn’t be charged with sexual abuse, which could’ve sent Hastert to prison for decades.

“This topic, while difficult for me to discuss, is one that cannot be swept under the rug,” said Cross, his voice at times shaking as he urged a panel of lawmakers to change the limits of current law.

Lawmakers have four similar proposals pending that would eliminate Illinois’ statute of limitations for sexually abusing children….
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/hastert-illinois-pushes-change-child-abuse-law-42547014

Film explores Harold Evans’s work to expose the truth about thalidomide
Marsha Lederman
The Globe and Mail
Friday, Apr. 17, 2015

The film connects the dots between Hitler and thalidomide. One of the inventors of sarin gas was ordered by Hitler to develop an antidote to the nerve gas. Otto Ambros (the “A” in sarin), a Nazi official involved in Auschwitz, convicted at Nuremberg but later freed, went on to work at Chemie Gruenenthal – the German company that developed thalidomide. In the film, the Thalidomide Trust presents convincing (although still circumstantial) evidence that the drug may have been tested on concentration camp inmates. “My God, I never thought I’d see the likes of that again,” said the uncle of a thalidomide baby when he first met him. He was one of the soldiers who liberated Bergen-Belsen, where he saw small children who looked a lot like his new nephew….

Thalidomide, as the film documents, was developed by Chemie Gruenenthal, and marketed as a miracle drug for pregnant women suffering from morning sickness, beginning in 1957. The results were devastating: Thousands of babies were born with severe birth defects (one father recounts seeing his newborn daughter who could “only be described as a torso with sort of little flowers where the arms and legs should be,” he says in the film). Many babies were stillborn – or left to die, the film explains in one of its many heartbreaking details….

The children who did survive were often shunned by society (and sometimes by their abandoning fathers) and they presented terrific challenges for loving but desperate parents, including mothers who were also dealing with a tremendous (if completely unfounded) guilt. By 1962, widespread bans were implemented. In Britain, to Evans’s astonishment, no inquiry was called, no compensation offered. The families, frantic for help, were left to sue. But once the case was before the courts, newspapers were prevented from reporting on the issue until every case was settled.

At the Sunday Times, Evans sicced the paper’s investigative Insight team on the injustice. Risking jail time, Evans launched what he called a moral campaign in his paper, which eventually produced significant results: a debate over compensation in the House of Commons, which opened the door for other media to report on the story. The company manufacturing the drug in Britain, Distillers (which no longer exists), reeled – consumers boycotted its alcohol products; share prices plummeted. Distillers finally agreed to pay the £20-million in compensation Evans had been calling for….
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/film-explores-harold-evans-work-to-expose-the-truth-about-thalidomide/article24009573/

Watch the trailer for Attacking the Devil: Harold Evans and the Last Nazi War Crime
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/video/video-watch-the-trailer-for-attacking-the-devil/article24105902/

Arrests made in Thailand-U.S. sex trafficking ring
Amy Forliti, Associated Press · Minneapolis · Oct 4, 2016

About a dozen people were arrested in cities across the U.S. on Tuesday for running what authorities called a sophisticated sex trafficking operation in which hundreds of women were brought from Thailand to America under fraudulent visas and forced to work as prostitutes to pay off tens of thousands of dollars in bondage debts.

The women — including one who was forced to have sex with strangers for 12 hours a day, six or seven days a week — were not allowed to move about freely and were “effectively modern day sex slaves,” according to a redacted indictment unsealed Tuesday.

The arrests, along with the recent arrest of the organization’s boss in Belgium, will effectively dismantle the operation, said Alex Khu, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Minneapolis….

Tuesday’s indictment charges 17 people with various counts, including conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, conspiracy to commit forced labor, conspiracy to engage in money laundering and conspiracy to commit visa fraud. About a dozen people were arrested in the Minneapolis area, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles.

Khu said his office began investigating a sex trafficking case in the Twin Cities in January 2014 and discovered it was part of an international ring and “a very sophisticated, complex network operating throughout the United States … where women are really placed on a circuit, traveling from one city to the next.”

According to the indictment, since 2009, hundreds of women were brought from Bangkok, Thailand, to several U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Washington and Dallas. The women were from poor backgrounds, spoke little English and were lured with promises of a better life….
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/10/04/thailand-us-sex-trafficking-ring-arrests-made


Exposing Doug Mesner/Lucien Greaves – co-founder of the Satanic Temple and Grey Faction presenter
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/exposing-doug-mesnerlucien-greaves-co-founder-of-the-satanic-temple-and-grey-faction-presenter/

The Urban Legends of Those Attacking Ritual Abuse Theories
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2016-conference/the-urban-legends-of-those-attacking-ritual-abuse-theories/  Satanic Temple, Grey Faction, Doug Mesner/Lucien Greaves

Petition to Stop Attacks Against Child Abuse and Ritual Abuse Survivors and Neil Brick
https://www.change.org/p/protect-child-abuse-survivors-petition-to-stop-attacks-against-child-abuse-and-ritual-abuse-survivors-and-neil-brick

N.Y. pol says Brooklyn bishop offered $5G bribe for her to drop child-abuse reform, 22 life sentences for British pedophile who pleaded guilty to 71 child abuse offenses in Asia

EXCLUSIVE: N.Y. pol says Brooklyn bishop offered $5G bribe for her to drop child-abuse reform; diocese calls her allegation ‘patently false’

BY  Kenneth Lovett  Michael O’keeffe  Stephen Rex Brown  NEW YORK DAILY NEWS  Monday, June 6, 2016

The head of the Catholic Church in Brooklyn offered a $5,000 bribe to an Albany politician in exchange for dropping her support for the reform of a state law preventing victims of child sexual abuse from seeking justice, the pol claimed Monday.

Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, who has for a decade advocated for an overhaul of the state’s statute of limitations on claims of child sexual abuse, said she turned down the unholy hush money from Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio in 2010.

“I’m not a billionaire, but I don’t need $5,000 to buy me off,” Markey told the Daily News.

The offer came across as a payoff, not a campaign donation, she added.

Pol proposes constitutionally questionable child-sex abuse law

The Brooklyn Diocese called the allegation “patently false.”….

After declining the offer, DiMarzio targeted her with robocalls as she ran for reelection against Republican challenger Anthony Nunziato, saying she did not have Catholic values, Markey said.

“I do have Catholic values — but my Catholic values don’t include raping children,” said Markey, who easily won reelection in 2010….

The offer isn’t the first time DiMarzio allegedly played hardball with politicians over Markey’s bill, which would make it easier for victims to sue and also grant a one-year window for those whose statute of limitations had expired to bring a civil lawsuit.

In 2009, DiMarzio reportedly threatened lawmakers who supported Markey’s Child Victims Act, telling them he would close parishes in their districts — and say they were to blame.

The diocese denied that threat was ever made.

The state’s Catholic Conference spent $2.1 million between 2007 and 2015 lobbying against efforts to reform the law, as well as other measures. Others, like yeshivas and private schools, have also opposed Markey’s bill.

The church supports other bills that would extend the statute of limitations, but that does not include the one-year lookback, Erstad said…..
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/n-y-pol-claims-bishop-bribed-give-child-abuse-law-article-1.2663673

22 life sentences for British pedophile who pleaded guilty to 71 child abuse offenses in Asia
June 6, 2016, by CNN Wire Service

A London court handed 22 life sentences to a man Monday after he pleaded guilty to 71 child abuse offenses while in Southeast Asia.

Richard Huckle, 30, was arrested at Gatwick Airport near London in 2014 as he returned home from Malaysia, where he committed most of his crimes, Britain’s National Crime Agency said.

He confessed to abusing almost 200 children on a blog he published on the dark web, an area of the Internet not easily accessible to the general user.

According to Court News UK, Huckle posed as a Christian English teacher to groom and abuse children, including one as young as six months, in a poor Malaysian community over nine years.

He also committed child abuse in Cambodia, the National Crime Agency said. British law allows nationals to be prosecuted in their home country for offenses committed abroad.

The court heard the amateur photographer took pictures and videos of himself raping children that he groomed from schools and orphanages, and shared the images with other pedophiles on the dark web, according to Court News UK.

In his blog, Huckle awarded himself “Pedopoints” on a type of scorecard, claiming to have abused 191 children, according to Court News.

Huckle then tried to monetize his behavior, accepting bitcoin, the online currency, to continue the abuse and publish it online, Court News said.

He forced victims to pose with signs to advertise his business and wrote a 60-page guide entitled “Pedophiles & Poverty: Child Lover Guide” that the judge called a “truly evil document,” Court News said.

Huckle was caught when Australian police tipped off authorities in an investigation into a pedophile website that officials said had 9,000 members before it was shut down.

The NCA said officials had recovered more than 20,000 indecent images of children from Huckle’s computers and cameras, including more than 1,000 of which showed him raping and abusing children in his care….
http://fox6now.com/2016/06/06/22-life-sentences-for-british-pedophile-who-pleaded-guilty-to-71-child-abuse-offenses-in-asia/

Child, Clergy and Ritual Abuse Research https://ritualabuse.us

 

Catholic Church spent $2M on major N.Y. lobbying firms to block child-sex law reform, Child abuse inquiry turns to Kincora home and claims of MI5 blackmail, Hostages, drugs, grenades — Colombia cracks down on notorious “Bronx” slum, How child sexual abuse became a family business in the Philippines, Child sex abuse and the internet

– Catholic Church spent $2M on major N.Y. lobbying firms to block child-sex law reform
– Child abuse inquiry turns to Kincora home and claims of MI5 blackmail
– Hostages, drugs, grenades — Colombia cracks down on notorious “Bronx” slum
– How child sexual abuse became a family business in the Philippines
– A crime scene of unspeakable horror: child sex abuse and the internet

EXCLUSIVE: Catholic Church spent $2M on major N.Y. lobbying firms to block child-sex law reform
BY Kenneth Lovett NEW YORK DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF Monday, May 30, 2016

ALBANY — Not leaving it to divine chance, the state Catholic Conference has turned in recent years to some of Albany’s most well-connected and influential lobby firms to help block a bill that would make it easier for child sex abuse victims to seek justice.

The Catholic Conference, headed by Timothy Cardinal Dolan, has used Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, Patricia Lynch & Associates, Hank Sheinkopf, and Mark Behan Communications to lobby against the Child Victims Act as well as for or against other measures.

All told, the conference spent more than $2.1 million on lobbying from 2007 through the end of 2015, state records show. That does not include the conference’s own internal lobbying team.

Filings show the lobbyists were retained, in part, to work on issues associated with “statute of limitations” and “timelines for commencing certain civil actions related to sex offenses.” Other issues included parochial school funding and investment tax credits….

While a far cry from the millions in lobbying top special interests spend in Albany each year, advocates for child sex abuse survivors say the $2.1 million spent likely represents a worthwhile investment to the Catholic Conference if it can continue to block legislation that would eliminate the statute of limitations on child sex abuse civil cases and open a one-year window to bring lawsuits for victims who can no longer sue under current law.

The Catholic Conference has argued that opening a one-year window to revive old cases could ultimately bankrupt the Church….
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/catholic-church-hired-lobby-firms-block-n-y-kid-rape-laws-article-1.2655010

Child abuse inquiry turns to Kincora home and claims of MI5 blackmail
Inquiry will hear from men abused as boys at Northern Ireland children’s home and allegations that perpetrators were protected by working as spies  Henry McDonald Ireland correspondent Monday 30 May 2016

An inquiry into child abuse across a range of institutions in Northern Ireland will focus on Tuesday on the Kincora boys home scandal including allegations that MI5 blackmailed a paedophile ring which operated there in the 1970s.

The historical institutional abuse inquiry will hear evidence from men who were abused at Kincora when they were children and their allegations that the perpetrators were protected because they were state agents spying on fellow Ulster loyalists.

A number of Kincora abuse victims have tried through the courts to force the scandal to be included in the national investigation into allegations of establishment paedophile rings operating in Westminster.

Gary Hoy tried and failed last month to force the home secretary to include Kincora in the Westminster inquiry. Hoy and others fear that the Kincora inquiry, which is based in Northern Ireland and taking hearings at the court in Banbridge, County Down, will not have access to sensitive MI5 intelligence files on the people who ran Kincora.

Amnesty International has described the Kincora scandal as one of the most disturbing to emerge from the Ulster Troubles….

At least 29 boys were sexually abused by Kincora housemaster and prominent Orange Order member William McGrath and others at the east Belfast home….

Another of the abuse victims at Kincora, Clint Massey, told the Guardian last year that he even tried to file a report at a local police station in east Belfast about what was happening to him and other boys at the home in the mid-1970s. However, Massey said he was forcibly marched out of the RUC station by police officers and that his complaint was not recorded.

Former army intelligence officer and whistleblower Colin Wallace has consistently claimed that MI5, RUC special branch and military intelligence knew about the abuse going on at Kincora and used it to blackmail the paedophile ring to spy on hardline loyalists….

The historical institutional abuse inquiry is investigating 22 orphanages, care homes and other institutions where child sexual abuse took place. The inquiry team is expected to hear from around 450 witnesses, some of whom have travelled from as far as the United States and Australia to give evidence….
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/may/30/n-ireland-child-abuse-inquiry-turns-to-kincora-home-and-claims-of-mi5-blackmail

Hostages, drugs, grenades — Colombia cracks down on notorious “Bronx” slum
May 31, 2016  By Jim Wyss  BOGOTA, Colombia

It’s known as “El Bronx,” and for decades the slum in the heart of Colombia’s capital has been the stuff of nightmares: a sordid stew of drug dens, vagrants, prostitution and gambling.

Close to government buildings and tourism hotspots, the area has been a no-go zone for police — and anyone else who cared for their pocketbook or their safety.

Mayor Enrique Peñalosa calls it an “independent republic of crime.”

Starting Saturday, the police and heavily armed military began seizing control of the area, and the reports that have emerged prove the neighborhood’s fearsome reputation is merited.

Guns, Hostages, Grenades

Police said they had removed more than 2,000 people — many of them homeless drug addicts — from the neighborhood and rescued 136 minors, some of them victims of the sex trade. They also seized stockpiles of cocaine, marijuana and bazuco, an addictive crack-like substance.

In addition, they found hidden passageways used to smuggle drugs and weapons, and rescued a 23-year-old man who was being held hostage in a derelict building, bound hand and foot and with a chain around his neck.

“What we found in the Bronx went far beyond what we knew,” Daniel Mejía, the city’s undersecretary of security, told RCN radio on Tuesday. “We found caches of weapons and grenades, large amounts of drugs [hidden] in walls and ceilings, houses for satanic worship and places for the sexual exploitation of minors….

Luz Estela Cardenas, the director of Renacer, a foundation that works with sexually exploited children, said that many of the 18,000 minors her organization has helped over the last 28 years have emerged from the Bronx and neighborhoods like it.

Many victims start off visiting the areas to buy drugs, she said, before getting snared by criminal networks.

“This goes well beyond sexual abuse,” she said. “The issue is exploitation and the trafficking of girls and boys. Some of these children are sexual slaves…. Others have literally been kidnapped off the streets surrounding the Bronx….
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/colombia/article80874132.html

How child sexual abuse became a family business in the Philippines
Tens of thousands of children believed to be victims of live-streaming abuse, some of it being carried out by their own parents
by Oliver Holmes in Manila  Monday 30 May 2016

When Philippine police smashed into the one-bedroom house, they found three girls aged 11, seven and three lying naked on a bed.

At the other end of the room stood the mother of two of the children – the third was her niece – and her eldest daughter, aged 13, who was typing on a keyboard. A live webcam feed on the computer screen showed the faces of three white men glaring out.

An undercover agent had infiltrated the impoverished village two weeks before the raid. Pretending to be a Japayuki, a slang term for a Filipina sex worker living in Japan, she had persuaded a resident to introduce her to the children, who played daily in the gravel streets.

Her guise was intended to put them at ease, to show them she worked in the same industry; she was one of them. She became close to the eldest, referred to as Nicole although that is not her real name. After a few days of chatting, Nicole causally told the agent about their “shows”.

“It was the first time we heard of parents using their children,” said the middle-aged woman.

Authorities considered that operation in 2011 to be a one-off case. But the next month, another family was caught in the same area. Then more cases of live-streaming child abuse appeared in different parts of the Philippines.

Now, the United Nations says, there are tens of thousands of children believed to be involved in a rapidly expanding local child abuse industry already worth US$1bn.

In some areas, entire communities live off the business, abetted by increasing internet speeds, advancing cameraphone technology, and growing ease of money transfers across borders.

And while perpetrators used to download photos and videos to their hard drives – providing authorities with a virtual paper trail and usable evidence – criminals have found anonymity in encrypted live-streaming programs….
“We think that what we are seeing, what we are dealing with, is a small part of what is out there,” she said. “It is big money. Big business.”

Children are made to perform around the clock, with morning live-streams catering to Europeans and Americans, and later in the day, an Australian-based clientele.

The number of ongoing live-streaming criminal cases in the Philippines is rising, from 57 in 2013, growing to 89 in 2014, and up to 167 in 2015….
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/31/live-streaming-child-sex-abuse-family-business-philippines

A crime scene of unspeakable horror’: child sex abuse and the internet
Perpetrators of online child sexual abuse will continue to take advantage of the latest technology to serve their purposes
Joanna Shields  Baroness Joanna Shields is the UK minister for internet safety and security Monday 30 May 2016

….Faster internet, anonymous access and cryptocurrency mechanisms all provide opportunities for criminals to access child sexual abuse images.

Images of child sexual abuse are uploaded and shared everyday. Some of these images are screen captures of live-streamed sexual abuse of children of all ages, even infants. Each image, each video depicts a crime scene of unspeakable horror.

Child sexual abuse is a global crime that transcends borders, and demands a global response. The WePROTECT Global Alliance to end online child sexual exploitation is that response.

The goal of WePROTECT is to eradicate child sexual exploitation online. Full stop. Its mission is to empower everyone with a responsibility to protect children online, to identify and safeguard victims, remove child sexual abuse material from the internet and track down perpetrators all over the world….
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/may/31/a-scene-of-unspeakable-horror-child-sex-abuse-and-the-internet

Feds May Seek Racketeering Suit for Clergy Abuse in Diocese, Sex Abuse by UN peacekeepers

Feds May Seek Racketeering Suit for Clergy Abuse in Diocese
By The Associated Press PITTSBURGH  Apr 3, 2016

A federal prosecutor may file a racketeering lawsuit against a Roman Catholic diocese where a state grand jury found two former bishops helped cover up the sexual abuse of hundreds of children by more than 50 clergy over a 40-year period.

The ongoing investigation of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese grew out of the prosecution of the Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr., U.S. Attorney David Hickton said Friday.

The 71-year-old Somerset County priest was convicted last year of molesting two street children during missionary trips to Honduras. He was sentenced to nearly 17 years in prison, fined $50,000 and forced to pay his victims $10,000 each.

Hickton said the ongoing investigation concerns whether diocesan officials engaged in a pattern of criminal activity that would fall under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as RICO.

The statute of limitations has lapsed on criminal racketeering charges, but there is no time limit for filing a RICO lawsuit, Hickton said. KDKA-TV first reported that Hickton was considering such a lawsuit. A diocesan spokesman didn’t immediately comment.

“The remedy that would be available under a civil RICO would be some sort of injunctive relief,” Hickton said. “If we were able to get a consent decree, that would be one route.”

Injunctive relief is simply a court order requiring the diocese to do something. A consent decree is a voluntary agreement between prosecutors and a target that certain reforms would be enacted…. http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/feds-seek-racketeering-suit-clergy-abuse-diocese-38118342

The vile sex abuse by UN peacekeepers is leaving the United Nations in tatters
Cathy Newman Channel 4 News Presenter
14 April 2016

Sexual violence in war “is as destructive as any bomb or bullet”, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said a couple of years ago….

Sexual violence in conflict is one of the oldest crimes….

There were no fewer than 99 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by the “blue helmets” – as UN military personnel are nicknamed – last year, and there have been 25 new claims this year. And those are just the ones we know about.

What’s perhaps even more shocking is that this isn’t the first time such claims have surfaced about the conduct of UN peacekeepers. There was an alleged paedophile ring in the Democratic Republic of Congo, UN police officers in Bosnia were paying for prostitutes and trafficking young women from Eastern Europe, and Pakistani peacekeepers were found guilty of sexual abuse in Haiti. There’s a track record going back decades…. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/politics/the-vile-sex-abuse-by-un-peacekeepers-is-leaving-the-united-nati/