“Everyone wants to blame Hollywood when they take a fall,” Bridges said in an exclusive interview with BV on Books. “When people read my memoir, they will see I’m not blaming Hollywood. I’m taking full responsibility for my actions. Not a lot of people do that. A lot of people spend their lives blaming somebody else. But I will say this: No child should ever endure what I had to go through.”

Bridges was one of the biggest stars of his time, winning roles on ‘Roots,’ ‘Fish,’ ‘Little House on the Prairie,’ ‘The Waltons’ and others before becoming Willis on ‘Diff’rent Strokes,’ a sitcom about a wealthy white widower who adopts two black sons, Bridges (Willis) and Gary Coleman (Arnold). It ran from 1978 to 1986. Dana Plato, who played older sister Kimberly on the show, died of a prescription drug ovedose in 1999.

READ MORE:

http://www.bvonbooks.com/2010/03/15/todd-bridges-memoir-molestation/

Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church are facing acute embarrassment by repeated revelations of sexual abuse of children by homosexual priests whether in Ireland, Austria, Holland, the United States or Germany.

It has now been reported that members of the world famous Vienna Boys Choir, a Catholic-run institution, also suffered sexual abuse at the hands of their orchestra conductor. And, for the first time, the allegations have touched the Pope’s brother as well as the Pontiff himself, albeit indirectly. Worse, the charges reveal that the Church, instead of punishing the guilty shielded and sheltered them, transferring abusive priests instead of excommunicating them or giving them up to the authorities.

The increasingly serious church sex-abuse scandals have been blamed on what many consider to be obsolete rules, such as absolute celibacy, applied to the Catholic clergy, rules that Pope Benedict XVI, known for his conservative views, continues to defend.

Most of the allegations date back to the 1950s and because of the statute of limitations, many of the guilty now cannot be prosecuted.

However, German Catholic church authorities have launched two investigations into charges of abuse by members of the clergy. One will try to establish how much the clergy’s top echelon, including the Pope, who was then a Cardinal, knew about the abuse.

READ MORE:

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/international/article244452.ece

ORANGE PARK – Somer Thompson’s grandmother was among 300 people who came to hear child safety expert Ken Wooden give advice on how parents and other adults can teach children how to protect themselves from increasing numbers of sexual predators.

When the two-hour presentation held at First Baptist Church on Saturday, March 6, was over, Debbie Bowling said she can only hope Wooden’s message might someday spare others from living the nightmare she has endured the past four months.

“It’s too late for Somer, but I hope this will help other families,” she said, standing near a pew where she and her daughter, Diena Thompson, cried together during an October memorial service for the 7-year-old child who was abducted and murdered on her way home from Grove Park Elementary School.

“It was very compelling,” Bowling said. “There are evil people living out there.”

Wooden, a former journalist, told his audience that the best way to protect children is to teach them the ploys predators use most often.

“Pedophiles are organized and they don’t give up,” he said to an even mix of men and women, including Clay County School Board members, county commissioners and Sheriff Rick Beseler. “If predators are using lures, shouldn’t we be teaching our kids the lures?”

Based on interviews he has had with convicted child abductors, rapists and murderers about their methods, he presented several examples of those lures, the most common of which is exploiting a child’s “endless need for affection or attention.” He said pedophiles engage children in conversation to learn what types of relationships they have with their parents — and what type of relationship their parents have with each other.

READ MORE:

http://www.claytoday.biz/content/2066_1.php

Police Release Serial Killer’s Photos of Women

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (March 11) — Detective Patrick Ellis leafed through hundreds of photographs depicting young women in nude or provocative poses, nameless muses captured on film more than 30 years ago by convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala.

(The public can see all photos here; The Huntington Beach Police Department may be reached at 714-375-5066).

“Look at this, this person is posed like they’re dead,” Ellis, of the Huntington Beach Police Department, told AOL News. “And how old do you think this one is — 13? I’m wondering how many of these people are still alive.”

Indeed, it was Alcala’s fascination with photography — police seized more than 2,000 photographs — that helped seal his doom. Many of the images, which were shown to jurors, depicted a stalker-type obsession with girls and young women.

Police have now released hundreds of those photos, hoping members of the public will help identify the girls and women depicted. They fear some of the women who were charmed into letting Alcala snap their picture may have ended up dead.

Huntington Beach Police / AP

Authorities seized more than 2,000 photographs from Rodney Alcala’s California home and a storage locker he rented in Seattle. Officials in Huntington Beach, Calif., are asking for the public’s help in identifying any potential victims shown in the photos. Alcala was convicted in the murders of four women and a 12-year-old girl.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.aolnews.com/crime/article/police-release-photos-taken-by-serial-killer-rodney-alcala/19395704

SEE IMAGES HERE:

SEE ALL 2,000 PHOTOS HERE

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (CBS 8) – Sadly, Chelsea King and Amber Dubois are not the only victims of child abductions in San Diego. There have been nearly two dozen cases over the past 50 years, which means there are people out there capable of harming our children.

After searching through News 8 archives, it didn’t take us too long to find San Diego’s dark history of child abductions, including many that ended in death.

February 6, 1977

A six-year-old Golden Hill Boy, Jose Luis Ramirez is reported missing. Two days later, his nude body is found by searchers in a nearby park. Robert McFarlane, 34, a convicted child molester, pleaded guilty to the child’s slaying and was sentenced to life in prison.

July 5, 1978

Two 16-year-old boys, John Mayeski and Michael Baker, were kidnapped from the parking lot of a Mira Mesa Jack in the Box and shot to death. Eleven years later, Robert Alton Harris was convicted, sentenced to death and executed in 1992 for their murders. Michael’s dad, San Diego police Detective Steven Baker actually arrested Harris before he discovered one of the victims was his son.

READ MORE:  http://www.cbs8.com/global/story.asp?s=12120578

PUTNAM COUNTY — They are children who have committed serious crimes, and their victims are other children. And it’s an epidemic, Juvenile Court officials say. They are talking about child sex offenders, children raping other children.

“We currently have three child rape cases on the Juvenile Court docket, and there have been so many of these cases in the past couple of years,” said Greg Bowman, administrator of the Juvenile Court here. In the current three cases, which are unrelated, a 16-year-old boy is charged with two counts of rape of a child under 13, a 14-year-old boy is charged with rape of a child under 13, and a 17-year-old is charged with rape of a child under 13.

“Unfortunately, this type of case is becoming an epidemic, and the offenders seem to be getting younger all the time,” said Juvenile Court Judge John Hudson. Asked for his opinion on the cause of this increasing problem, the judge said, “It’s Internet access — and the fact that the traditional family structure of the previous generations doesn’t seem to exist any more.”

READ MORE:  http://www.herald-citizen.com/index.cfm?event=news.view&id=36A3DC4E-19B9-E2E2-675440E42BE57AAA

Filed under: Child Abuse, Crime, Torture

Tavares, FL – It takes a special breed of asshole to go around pinchin’ babies and bending their little fingers and toes back with the intent to cause pain and tears. And look, we have a member of that special breed right here. Demonites, meet Robert Young. He’s a monster. Just ask him, he’ll tell ya.

A woman, who I am assuming is Young’s girlfriend, had her 2-month-old daughter seen at the hospital early Tuesday morning because the child just wouldn’t stop crying. And for good reason – poor little thing had multiple rib fractures, both old and new.

During questioning, Young admitted that he was responsible for the baby’s injuries. “I am the monster,” he said. He told police that on at least seven separate occasions in the last month, he had beaten and squeezed the infant’s chest hard enough to cause injury. And that was just the beginning…

READ MORE:  http://www.dreamindemon.com/2010/03/03/i-am-the-monster/#more-9408

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Robin Sax: How to Stop a Sex Offender? Chelsea King Murder Should Never Have Happened

(CBS)

(AP Photo )

(AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

(AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

(BringHomeAmber.com)

LOS ANGELES (CBS) Now that convicted sex offender John Albert Gardner III has been charged with murdering 17-year-old Chelsea King we are again asking “How could this happen?”

How could a man who admitted he molested a 13-year-old girl in 2000 serve only five years in jail when he could have served 30? How could he wind up living yards away from an elementary school?

Just two years ago Gardner’s electronic monitoring bracelet came off and already a 23-year-old jogger says he attacked her, and prosecutors say he raped and murdered King and might be linked to the disappearance of 14-year-old Amber Dubois.

How could this happen?

READ MORE:  http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/03/04/crimesider/entry6266420.shtml

After two years of child abuse instances decreasing in the state, the Iowa Department of Human Services reported an increase in 2009.

Those numbers are mirrored throughout the four-county region, except in Louisa County where the downward trend continued last year.

Last year, Des Moines County had 147 founded and 29 confirmed cases of child abuse of 501 total incidents. That’s up from 2008, which had 119 founded and 25 confirmed cases of child abuse of 438 total incidents. Confirmed cases are minor and isolated cases of maltreatment where the perpetrator is not listed on the child abuse registry, according to DHS.

“When people see the words ‘child abuse,’ immediately conjured in their head is an image of some child locked in a room with a broken arm or burns … and truth be told, that does happen but it’s extremely rare,” DHS spokesman Roger Munns said.

Instead, he said most instances of child abuse are considered a denial of critical care or neglect. That means more than extreme poverty but ignoring a child’s needs due to being absent or substance abuse, for instance.

READ MORE:  http://www.thehawkeye.com/story/child-abuse-030510

SAN ANTONIO – Deaths from child abuse and neglect in Texas soared 31 percent to 280 last fiscal year, according to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

The largest increase was seen in Houston and Harris County, where child deaths from abuse or neglect rose 90 percent from 2008, according to the department’s annual Data Book.

Harris County’s 67 deaths accounted for nearly a quarter of the state’s deaths in fiscal year 2009, which ended Aug. 31.

In Dallas County, 29 children died of causes related to abuse or neglect in fiscal 2009. That was up from 24 deaths in fiscal 2008, though down from 31 the previous year.

READ MORE:  http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-childabuse_05tex.ART.State.Edition1.fdac23.html

(March 5) — Jaycee Dugard is in the spotlight again, but this time it’s on her own terms.

Tonight ABC will air home videos that show the 29-year-old kidnapping victim alive, well and at home with her family six months after she emerged from her captivity.

The video is a public plea for privacy. On the tape, Dugard’s mother, Terry Probyn, says that while she wants to share her “miracle with the world,” she cannot put the pieces of her family back together while they are being hounded by the press. “What my family needs is privacy during our healing process,” she says.

READ MORE:  http://www.aolnews.com/crime/article/jaycee-dugard-speaks-out-in-haunting-new-video/19384806?icid=main|main|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fcrime%2Farticle%2Fjaycee-dugard-speaks-out-in-haunting-new-video%2F19384806