A ‘predatory pedophile’ who changed his name to Michael Jackson has been jailed indefinitely for snatching a ten-year-old boy off the street in broad daylight. The sex attacker – who took the name of the late singer to impress a former wife – was branded the ‘stuff of every parent’s nightmare’ by the judge who sentenced him yesterday. Jackson, 50, marched the victim to his housing association flat and threatened him at knifepoint, telling him, ‘Scream and I’ll kill you’, before pushing him into an airing cupboard, trussed up and naked from the waist down. READ MORE HERE

NEW YORK – Vindalee Smith, a pregnant mother of four, was found stabbed to death in her New York city apartment on the day before her wedding. Cops are now looking for a suspect. Authorities say that Smith, 38, was eight months pregnant when she was died from slash and stab wounds to the neck. Her unborn child did not survive. Smith was found on the floor of her home in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn on Oct. 20 . Neighbors said she had moved into the area in recent weeks. Her other children are older and did not live with her.  READ MORE HERE

SAN JOSE – A California jury has convicted a former San Jose principal of failing to report suspected sexual abuse of a child by a teacher. Lyn Vijayendran was found guilty Monday of the misdemeanor after jurors deliberated for two days. The former principal of O.B. Whaley Elementary School was sentenced to six months court probation, $602 in fines and 100 hours of community service. READ MORE HERE

Lancaster, Kentucky  – Curtis Howard, a 32-year-old Kentucky man was jailed Thursday – accused of committing 250 sex offenses including rape, sodomy and incest. According to Kentucky State Police, an investigation was launched Wednesday when Howard’s wife contacted police while the family was preparing to move to Mercer County. Investigators say Howard is accused of physically and sexually abusing his wife and a family relative. The alleged sexual abuse was occurred on an ongoing basis over a 5-6 month period. READ MORE HERE

Top Penn State officials- including the school’s former president- now face criminal charges for perjury and obstruction of justice because of their role in allegedly covering up Jerry Sandusky’s years of child sex abuse.  The Pennsylvania state’s attorney general focused her attention on the school’s former president Graham Spanier, announcing his eight criminal charges including three felony counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and child endangerment. ‘This was not a mistake, oversight of misjudgment. This was a conspiracy by top officials at Penn State,’ attorney general Linda Kelly said at a Thursday press conference. READ MORE HERE

Amid disturbing accusations an elementary school teacher molested his students while blindfolding them in seclusion it was the principal who took the stand in her own defense on Thursday. Former San Jose Principal Lyn Vijayendran testified that Craig Richard Chandler told her it was all a lesson plan on Helen Keller. ‘Now looking back, I have a different lens,’ the former principal of O.B. Whaley Elementary School told the courtroom according to MercuryNews.com.  READ MORE HERE

ATHENS, Ga. – Police in north Georgia say an infant was stabbed to death at an Athens house, hours after being born. Athens-Clarke police say the newborn’s 21-year-old mother, Cassandra Elyse Norwood, was charged with murder in connection with the baby’s death on Thursday afternoon. The Athens Banner-Herald reports that Norwood was under guard at a hospital, where she was being treated for blood loss from giving birth. It wasn’t clear early Friday whether she has an attorney. READ MORE HERE

A young boy lost his life for not studying hard enough. 7-year-old Yaseen Ali Ege died after his mother allegedly beat him to death and set him on fire because he failed to learn the Koran fast enough. Sara Ege has been accused of brutally beating her son and then setting his corpse on fire to hide her crime. It was initially believed that Yaseen’s death had been an accident, however a post-mortem revealed that he had been suffering beatings for months leading up to his July 2010 death. READ MORE HERE

According to the W.Va. State Police Dept., a doctor, who is also a pastor, was charged with battery and child abuse creating risk of injury to a child. Sgt. Hammack, with the W.Va. State Police Dept., says he received a complaint in Sept. from the daughter of a 77-year-old patient with Parkinson’s, dementia and a broken hip. Dr. Kenneth Seen operates a practice in Spencer, W.Va. Through an investigation and search warrants, it was revealed that Dr. Seen’s account of events could not have happened.  The investigation discovered that a significant portion of Seen’s tongue had been bitten off. READ MORE HERE

Illinois Mom Stabbed Son and Girl 150 Times

The Illinois woman charged with the murder of her 7-year-old son and a 5-year-old girl she was babysitting stabbed them dozens of times in order to get attention from her husband, according to police. Elzbieta Plackowska, 40, of Naperville, Ill., was denied bail by a Chicago-area court today on two counts of first-degree murder. She was ordered held in DuPage County. Plackowska, who was babysitting Olivia Dworakowski, was arrested after the 5-year-old and her son Justin Plackowski, 7, were found by police slashed and stabbed “numerous, numerous times” at approximately 10:15 p.m. Tuesday at Dworakowski’s family home. READ MORE HERE

Kids told to ‘get on their knees and pray’

Woman charged in fatal stabbing of 2 children

Erin Merryn: The Guardian Angel

WIU social work alumna Erin Merryn was recently recognized as a 2012 “Woman of the Year” by Glamour.com for her personal crusade to educate children about sexual abuse prevention. “I’m really scared,” reads a passage from Erin Merryn’s diary, written when she was just 11 years old. “Something happened last night, but I don’t know who to tell.” The untellable secret: She’d been molested by an older cousin. Time and again he preyed on her at family gatherings—locking her in closets, bathrooms, basements. Shockingly, it wasn’t the first time Merryn had endured such horrors; from the ages of six to eight, she’d been molested and raped by a friend’s uncle. But when her younger sister revealed that she, too, had been a victim of their cousin’s abuse, Merryn decided it was time to tell their parents. Then, after years of graphic flashbacks and even a suicide attempt, “it just hit me that I did nothing wrong,” she says. “I didn’t need to be ashamed.” READ MORE HERE