Students Sue ‘Troubled Teen’ School for Systematic Sexual, Emotional Abuse

Nine former students of Mount Bachelor Academy, a now-defunct school in Oregon for “troubled teens,” have filed a $14.25-million lawsuit against the school for emotional, sexual and physical abuse. The suit was filed on behalf of the plaintiffs on July 6 in Multnomah County Circuit Court by attorney Kelly Clark, who specializes in child sex abuse cases and who has successfully represented survivors of abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy. Clark recently won a $20 million judgment in a case of sexual abuse involving the Boy Scouts.

The mother of Serenity Anne Deal, 5, who was beaten to death, now sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in a separate case.

CHANDLER — The mother of a child who was beaten to death has been sentenced in a separate case to 15 years in prison for molesting a 10-year-old boy. The Chandler woman, Samantha Deal, 21, is the mother of Serenity Anne Deal, 5, who died June 4, a month after child welfare workers recommended she live with her father. Deal was sentenced July 5 in Lincoln County District Court. She pleaded no contest to felony forcible sodomy in connection with the May 28, 2009, sexual assault of a child.

The Casey Anthony story grabbed headlines around the world.  It tore at people’s emotions, and brought up the topic of child abuse once again. Though there are hundreds of thousands of cases of child abuse, most don’t make the headlines. The children simply suffer in silence. Child abuse is much more than bruises and broken bones. No caring person would want to let a child suffer, yet many people are either scared to interfere, aren’t sure what to do, or they don’t recognize the signs of child abuse.

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http://www.wfaa.com/news/health/kids-doctor/125400873.html

OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma County prosecutors formally charged Tuesday two women in connection with a severe case of child abuse. Jennifer Chapman-Ragland is accused of allowing two men to rape a 3-year-old boy in exchange for drugs. The boy’s mother, Leana Lauck, is accused of waiting nearly a day before bringing her son to the hospital. According to new court documents, the nightmare for the 3-year-old boy possibly lasted for three days at an Oklahoma City hotel on the southwest side. On June 19, the boy was sent to Children’s Hospital with a long list of injuries. The injuries include chemical burns on his face, a head injury and a torn rectum.

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http://www.news9.com/story/15071242/two-okc-women-formally-charged-in-severe-case-of-child-abuse

Related Story: OKC Police: Meth-Smoking Mom Delays Abused Child’s Medical Care

The Oklahoma Department of Human Services had two previous investigations of alleged child abuse and neglect involving a Glenpool man and his girlfriend charged in the death of a 21-month-old girl, records show.

David Eugene Bridgeman, 28, is charged in Tulsa District Court with one count of child-abuse murder and child neglect in the May 4 death of his niece, Adriana Hernandez.  Paula Christine Najar, 21, is facing charges of child neglect and permitting child abuse. Glenpool police allege that Bridgeman threw Adriana around her bedroom and to the floor, hitting her several times. She had brain trauma, a lacerated bowel and multiple bruises to her face and head, according to the charges.

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http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=14&articleid=20110712_14_0_TheOkl46295&allcom=1

ORANGE CITY — A 4-week-old may die after his father, frustrated over the baby’s crying, threw him against a couch, then the boy landed on the floor. Ivan Charles, 23, was arrested today and charged with aggravated child abuse and child neglect, a charging affidavit showed. The child suffered eight fractured ribs, detachment and bleeding of his retinas, multiple skull fractures and bleeding from the brain. He also had a fractured right arm and right leg, the police arrest report states.

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http://www.news-journalonline.com/breakingnews/2011/07/orange-city-man-arrested-for-throwing-baby.html

NEW YORK — America uses flawed methods to tally and analyze the deaths of children who have been maltreated, and the latest annual estimate of 1,770 such fatalities is likely too low, the Government Accountability Office says in a new report to Congress. Better data, says the GAO, would aid in developing strategies that could save many children’s lives in the future. The GAO report, the subject of a House Human Resources subcommittee hearing Tuesday, says state agencies and the Department of Health and Human Services should broaden the scope of data collection, improve coordination, and seek uniform definitions of abuse and maltreatment.

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hleAAvmjXWoEH7IqiVeRd1Jrmiqg?docId=883ba35174cc4b01a87bae962f0299c9

HAMILTON — A Madison Twp. man was given a life sentence today for repeatedly raping three juvenile members. Benjamin Vargo, 27, pleaded guilty in May to 24 felony counts, 22 counts of rape and two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. Butler County Judge Patricia Oney sentenced Vargo today to 15 years to life in prison. He has also been declared a Tier III sex offender and will be required to register his address every 90 days for life if he is released from prison.

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http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/madison-man-gets-life-in-prison-for-raping-family-members-1204877.html

Police were close to Amber Alert for 2 children later found dead

Madison police were close to requesting an Amber Alert on Tuesday for two young children found dead early Wednesday but held off in part because the children’s mother and other family members were in phone contact with the man accused of taking the children, police said Thursday.

The number of reports of family violence within the military, which had been in decline over several years, has been rising over the last two years, and reports of abused children and spouses increased significantly last year, a report by the Defense Department’s Family Advocacy Program shows. But what it means — more people reporting who had kept silent in the past, better record-keeping or more people in the military abusing their spouses and children — is unknown.

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http://www.stripes.com/reports-of-family-violence-abuse-within-military-rise-1.148815

Goa is becoming a child sex trade hub after Thailand’s crackdown on its thriving child abuse industry, Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao said on Saturday. “Till recently, Thailand was considered to be the capital of the child sex tourism industry in this part of the world. It is now known how the Thai government, pushed by international child protection organisations, cracked down on the industry in that country,” Ferrao said. “As a result, the lords of the sex trade have been looking out for fresh locations in South-East Asia. India, with her almost magical name, presents herself as an ideal alternative and Goa, which is being presented as a land on a holiday for 365 days, is increasingly seen as the most viable place for such a shift of operations,” Ferrao said.

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http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_foreign-child-abusers-operating-in-goa-church_1564021

Protecting children from abuse and neglect would seem the first duty of any civil society. But only in 1912 did the United States adopt its first child-protection laws, and not until 1967 were such laws on the books in every state. Today, those early efforts sound almost quaint. In 1967, for example, Pennsylvania required only doctors to notify authorities if they suspected a minor in their care was being abused or neglected.

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http://www.philly.com/philly/news/125329178.html