LINDEN, CA — A Sacramento bounty hunter says the sole surviving member of the so-called ‘Speed Freak’ killers, Wesley Shermantine, has revealed the location of a third burial ground. Shermantine, who is on death row, has been providing maps and information leading to the burial grounds of 10 or more victims of the drug fuel killing spree in the 1980’s and 90’s. His partner, Loren Herzog, served 14 years on a plea deal and was paroled in 2010. READ MORE HERE

SUSPECT IS A LEVEL 3 CONVICTED SEX OFFENDER

VAN BUREN, AK– An autopsy Tuesday identified a body found in a barrel as that of missing 16-year-old Angela Allen of Arkansas, according to authorities in Sebastian County. The barrel was found buried in a shallow grave Friday on property belonging to relatives of convicted rapist Lloyd Jones, according to a Sebastian County Sherriff’s Dept. press release. Allen was last seen wearing about 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 10 when she left her grandmother’s Van Buren home for a walk around the neighborhood and never returned. READ MORE HERE

Lorna Valle, 32, Is Now Responsible for Killing Both Her Children

SOUTH LOS ANGELES — A 5-year old girl who survived a drowning attack that killed her baby sister will be taken off life-support, her father said. Lorna Valle, 32, is accused of drowned her one-year-old daughter, Lindsay and attempting to drown her 5-year-old daughter, Marian, by shoving their faces into a small tub. Marian’s father, Jose Lopez, said Monday that he has made the heart-breaking decision to remove his daughter from life support and donate her organs to help save other children. READ MORE HERE

11 Children, Some Tied to Beds, Removed From Sex Offender’s Home

DAYTON, Texas — Eleven children, some of whom were found tied to their beds, have been removed from the home of a registered sex offender. In all, authorities say 10 adults and 11 children, ranging in age from 5 months to 11-years-old, were living in the 1,700-square-foot home outside Houston. Court documents show authorities found two 2-year-old children tied to a bed when Child Services raided the home in January.  READ MORE HERE

LOS ANGELES, CA — Former Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to nearly two dozen counts of lewd acts against children. In addition to entering the plea, the attorney for 61-year-old Mark Berndt voiced concerns about his client’s safety at the L.A. County Jail. Victor Acevedo, an attorney with the L.A. County public defender’s office, says Berndt is being harassed at Twin Towers by deputies who staff the jail. READ MORE HERE

Kids Found In Trailer Littered With Trash, Infested With Roaches, No Water

A 46-year-old man and his two adult step-daughters have been jailed for child neglect after they were founding living in a filthy trailer home with nine children. Police investigating a car break-in discovered 14 people living in the three-bedroom Orange County, Florida trailer, littered with trash, infested with roaches and with no running water. Felix Frano, 46, and his wife’s daughter’s Kelly Frano, 39, and Blake Frano, 20, were taken into custody. The children were temporarily placed with their paternal uncle. As local WTFV reports, authorities discovered the children living in the home on Friday and arrested the Franos. READ MORE HERE

CANNABIS FOOD Used To Maintain Mother’s Illegal Marijuana Crop

A toddler died in agony 11-days after drinking plant food that his mother was using to feed her cannabis crop that she kept in his bedroom, a court heard today. Aaron Booth, two, found the bottle of liquid in his hunt for food and drink whilst his mother slept in bed with her boyfriend until lunchtime. Lauren Booth, 23, had cleared Aaron’s bedroom in Almondbury, West Yorkshire, and turned it into a cannabis growing factory to ‘make some money’, a jury heard. But the dehydrated toddler had not had a drink since the previous day and mistook her plant feed for a Fruit Shoot squash drink.  READ MORE HERE

Dreamcatchers Announcement

Benford Standley, CFO and Board Chair of Dreamcatchers for Abused Children, surprised us this evening with an amazing and heartfelt gesture. Benford helped produce a tribune film clip for Bruce Ricker. They put a DREAMCATCHERS FOR ABUSED CHILDREN ANNOUNCEMENT at the end of the Bruce Ricker Tribue Reel asking that donations be made to our organization in his memory.

Bruce was very close working with Clint Eastwood for over 30 years on many projects, and was a big fan of Benford’s annual Paso Robles Film Festival and State and Fate of the Children — and the gesture of Benford’s work with Dreamcatchers and for the concerns of children and youth.

PLEASE CHECK OUT THIS WONDERFUL TRIBUNE TO BRUCE RICKER

For more information on Bruce Ricker, please visit:

BRUCE RICKER

For more information on Benford Standley, please visit:

Paso Robles Film Festival Website

Benford Standley’s Paso Robles Film Festival Facebook Page

(Pictured: Bruce Ricker, Benford Standley, and Clint Eastwood)

MSNBC NEWS COVERAGE: PEDOPHILE CAUGHT IN ACT

Shocking Statistics

• One in five U.S. teenagers who regularly log on to the Internet say they have received an unwanted sexual solicitation via the Web. Solicitations were defined as requests to engage in sexual activities or sexual talk, or to give personal sexual information.
  – Crimes Against Children Research Center
• 25% of children have been exposed to unwanted pornographic material online.
  – Crimes Against Children Research Center
• Only 1/3 of households with Internet access are actively protecting their children with filtering or blocking software.
  – Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• 75% of children are willing to share personal information online about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services.
  – eMarketer
• Only approximately 25% of children who encountered a sexual approach or solicitation told a parent or adult.
  – Crimes Against Children Research Center
• One in 33 youth received an aggressive sexual solicitation in the past year. This means a predator asked a young person to meet somewhere, called a young person on the phone, and/or sent the young person correspondence, money, or gifts through the U.S. Postal Service.
  – Your Internet Safety Survey
• 77% of the targets for online predators were age 14 or older.  Another 22% were users ages 10 to 13.
  – Crimes Against Children Research Center

• With an estimated 24 million children now online, one out of five have been solicited for sex in the last year. (Congressional Study)
• One in four children were sent pictures of people who were naked or having sex.
• An estimated 725,000 children have been “aggressively” asked for sex, defined as an offer to meet in person.
• A top Disney executive was recently arrested and charged with using the Internet to solicit sex with a minor
• 75% of children are willing to share personal information online about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services.
• Only 25 percent of the youth who encountered a sexual approach or solicitation told a parent
• One in five U.S. teenagers who regularly log on to the Internet say they have received an unwanted sexual solicitation via the Web. Solicitations were defined as requests to engage in sexual activities or sexual talk, or to give personal sexual information.
• 77% of the targets for online preditors were age 14 or older. Another 22% were users ages 10 to 13
• 75 percent of the solicited youth were not troubled, 10 percent did not use chat rooms and 9 percent did not talk to strangers
• Only 17 percent of youth and 11 percent of parents could name a specific authority, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), CyberTipline, or an Internet service provider, to which they could report an Internet crime.
• Experts, both within the FBI and in the private sector, revealed that the utilization of computer telecommunications was rapidly becoming one of the most prevalent techniques by which some sex offenders shared pornographic images of minors and identified and recruited children into sexually illicit relationships.
• Only 1/3 of the households with Internet access are proactively protecting their children!

REPORT CHILD SOLICITATION OR EXPLOITATION:

CyberTipline (www.cybertipline.com) or call (800) 843-5678

An American mother and her boyfriend were charged yesterday in the fatal beating of a toddler whose injuries initially were blamed on a hit-and-run accident. Online court records of Morgan County in Missouri show that 21-year-old Thomas Presley and 25-year-old Jamie Ann Litton face one count of second-degree murder in the death of 3-year-old Blake Litton. Litton also faces two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.  READ MORE HERE

ABBEVILLE, S.C. — The Abbeville police chief says a 4-month-old is lucky to be alive after being abused for his entire life.Police say they were called a home on Tuesday afternoon about a possible child abuse case.Officers say a Department of Social Services worker told them the child was taken to Abbeville Hospital for a swollen leg. READ MORE HERE

GREENWOOD COUNTY, S.C. — A 50-year-old Greenwood man is accused of raping a 13-year-old boy in a stairwell at a church and forcing the boy to perform sex acts on him.Greenwood police said that the boy was in a parking lot near a playground when he was approached by Gregory Jerome Thomas. The boy said Thomas touched him on the face and said, “I like your type.” He said Thomas asked if he was gay, and when the boy answered no, Thomas said he was going to have sex with him. READ MORE HERE

GRANT LAVELLE HUDSON, III

WANTED FOR: Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution – Child Molestation

Grant Lavelle Hudson, III, a convicted sex offender, is currently wanted in Santa Rosa, California, on a felony arrest warrant issued on October 28, 2003. Grant is charged with nine counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under fourteen years of age, two counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child who was 14/15 years old, and two counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under fourteen years of age by the use of force, violence, duress, menace, and threat of bodily harm. These charges stem from Hudson’s alleged sexual molestation of a young female family member which occurred over a period of approximately eight years. Hudson has also been charged with failure to register as a sex offender. A federal arrest warrant charging Hudson with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution was issued on March 31, 2006, in the United States District Court, Northern District of California, San Francisco, California. READ MORE HERE

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