San Diego Diocese Sex Abuse Case: Lawyers Release 10,000 Unsealed Documents

SAN DIEGO — Attorneys for nearly 150 people who claim sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests made nearly 10,000 pages of previously sealed internal church documents public Sunday, revealing at least one previously unknown decades-old case in which a priest under police investigation was allowed to leave the U.S. after the Diocese of San Diego intervened.

After a three-year legal battle over the Diocese of San Diego’s internal records, a retired San Diego Superior Court judge ruled late Friday that they could be made public. The records are from the personnel files of 48 priests who were either credibly accused or convicted of sexual abuse or were named in a civil lawsuit.

The 144 plaintiffs settled with the diocese in 2007 for nearly $200 million, but the agreement stipulated that an independent judge would review the priests’ sealed personnel records and determine what could be made public.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/24/san-diego-diocese-sex-abu_n_773178.html

A former vice principal in the North Penn School District was ordered held for trial this morning on charges that he influenced a student to masturbate and then tell him about it for money. Charles Daniels Hurst, 37, of the 200 block of Somerset Court, Lansdale, appeared at a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Justice David A. Keightly in Montgomeryville. The charges alleged in the criminal complaint, which was filed Sept. 24, accuse Hurst of one count each of endangering the welfare of a child and corrupting the morals of a minor.

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http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/105780863.html?cmpid=15585797

Houston, TX — A former soccer coach accused of sexually abusing one of his players was found dead in his car the other day. Authorities found the body of 38-year-old Ian Crowe in his vehicle where he had committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. Crowe had been accused of multiple sexual assaults against a 15-year-old girl he was supposed to be private coaching. I guess her parents should have been more specific about what he was to teach her as it turns out that out of all their meetings, only one was about soccer. The reset were about kissing, groping and oral sex. The wife found out somehow and contacted the girl’s family letting them know what her husband had been up to.

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http://www.dreamindemon.com/2010/10/27/coach-accused-of-sexual-assault-found-dead-in-apparent-suicide/

HARTFORD, CT — The mother of a 12-year-old has been arrested for sending her son to school with weapons because he was being bullied, according to police. Police said that they were notified that a child at Burns Elementary School had a pistol-style BB gun and a folding knife in his backpack Friday afternoon. The child’s mother told police that she had put the knife and the gun in the child’s backpack because the boy was being bullied by bigger children, according to police.

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http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-mom-arms-bullied-son,0,3384058.story

MURRIETA, Calif. ( KTLA) — Sex offenders in Murrieta are once again being asked to leave their porch lights off on Halloween to prevent children from knocking on their doors. Police have mailed letters to 43 of the city’s registered sex offenders, saying, “To avoid any unnecessary allegations of impropriety with minors, I strongly suggest you protect yourself by voluntarily refraining from interacting with the children during the trick-or-treat holiday.”

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http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-murrieta-sex-offenders-halloween,0,7838427.story

PALMDALE, Calif. ( KTLA) — A Palmdale father has been arrested on suspicion of repeatedly raping and molesting his 11-year-old daughter over the past two years. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials arrested 33-year-old Christopher Martinez Tuesday afternoon following a two-month investigation. He had been charged in September with five felony counts while authorities attempted to track him down.

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http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-palmdale-father-daughter-rape-arrest,0,5268701.story

When Thomas Conroy was arrested last year for having sexual contact with an underage boy, his best friend thought Eastlake police had made a huge mistake. “He presented an all-around good image,” the Willowick woman said of Conroy. “He was a children’s baseball, football and soccer coach. He was a Cub and Boy Scout leader. He was harmless-looking. He joined our church. (My family) always believed in him. We visited him weekly during his (60) days in jail. He convinced me his ex-wife plotted to get him in jail to prove he was an unfit parent.” At the time, the woman was unaware her friend also had been molesting a different young boy — her own son.

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http://news-herald.com/articles/2010/10/26/news/doc4cc5ad153e442693287979.txt

Updated: $50K cash bonds ordered

Three suspects in the case of a 9-year-old girl reportedly raped over the past several weeks were ordered held today on $50,000 cash bonds. The 9-year-old’s mother, who is not being named to protect the identity of the child, was charged in Marathon County Court Friday with failure to protect her child. The mother’s boyfriend, Bryan Hearron, 41, was charged with first-degree sexual assault of a child, and Hearron’s friend, registered sex offender Clyde McCollum Jr., 38, was charged with nine counts of possession of child pornography.

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http://www.sheboyganpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201010150946/WDH0101/101015028

Police are calling 24-year-old David Bradt a prolific Facebook user. From July to October he allegedly contacted and had sex with a number of 15 and 16-year-old girls from Albany and Schenectady Counties. Tonight Bradt faces a number of charges including 5 counts of rape in the 3rd degree, 2 counts of criminal sex act in the 3rd degree, and 3 counts of criminal sale of marijuana in the 2nd degree, all felonies. He also faces 6 counts of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor.

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http://www.fox23news.com/news/local/story/Police-say-man-used-Facebook-to-have-sex-with-teen/pCWWr9ZyLkW9yP_4Lxp0Xw.cspx

STILLWATER, Okla.– A former Stillwater police officer has been sentenced to a year behind bars for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl. Louis Morris, 49, pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of rape by instrumentation and three counts of lewd acts with a child under 16. He was also given a 10-year suspended sentence.

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http://www.ksbitv.com/news/Former-Officer-Pleads-Guilty-to-Sex-Charges-105806303.html

DOVER — Two men were arrested for plotting to have sex with a fictitious 9-year-old boy by negotiating with a person they believed to be the child’s father in an Internet chat room, officials said. The Internet contact was an undercover officer. Shane E. Kiser, 29, of Millsboro — a nurse at Beebe Medical Center — was arrested at a Dover hotel, and a 41-year-old Maryland man was arrested outside a restaurant near Christiana Mall. Both were charged with first-degree attempted rape. Kiser also was charged with solicitation.

“Predators can and do contact our kids online,” Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden said in announcing the arrests at a news conference in the Dover offices of the Delaware Child Predator Task Force.

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http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20101026/DW01/10260309

ROCK CREEK — A 20-year-old Rock Creek man arrested earlier this month and accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl is wanted on more accusations of sex crimes, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said today.  Jeffrey Erickson was lodged in the Washington County Jail following his arrest on first-degree rape, third-degree rape and first-degree sex abuse charges, said Sgt. David Thompson, sheriff’s office spokesman. He reportedly posted $25,000 bail on Oct. 22.

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http://www.oregonlive.com/north-of-26/index.ssf/2010/10/rock_creek_man_accused_of_sexually_abusing_15-year-old_girl_wanted_on_more_sex_crime_charges.html

MUNCIE — A Muncie man accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a mentally handicapped woman hopes his trial, which began Monday, turns out differently than his wife’s. Duane Ray Tackett, 51, is charged with rape, sexual misconduct with a minor, criminal deviate conduct and child solicitation. Chief Deputy Prosecutor Jeffrey Arnold told Delaware Circuit Court 1 jurors on Monday they would hear “an absolute horror story” about more than a decade of sexual assaults on the woman. The rapes allegedly began when the woman was in her early teens and went on for as long as 14 years, while she was in the care of Tackett and his wife, Patricia Ann, 49.

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http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20101026/BUSTED/10260340

VERMILION — A 30-year-old Vermilion man, Louis Bernard, was arrested Sunday afternoon after being accused of raping a 9-year-old girl, according to Vermilion police Lt. Richard Labis. Labis said the girl told her mother about the alleged rape, and the mother contacted police. Police conducted an interview with the victim and an examination was conducted at the Nord Center’s Sexual Assault Unit.

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http://www.morningjournal.com/articles/2010/10/26/news/mj3548196.txt