MADISON HEIGHTS, Michigan — A female teacher at a Catholic school in metro Detroit accused of having a sexual relationship with a male student has been charged. After the Madison Heights police investigation concluded, The Oakland County Prosecutors Office charged 29-year-old Kathryn Ronk, of Birmingham, with five counts of first degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to life in prison. READ MORE HERE

SANFORD, N.C. — Authorities in North Carolina say a registered sex offender ran a home child care as a front for a child porn production operation involving a Special Forces soldier and other adults. Harnett County investigators say Bailey Joe Mills ran the unlicensed child care from his home. Mills has three felony convictions involving sexual activity with children and was charged in January with raping a 13-year-old girl. READ MORE HERE

Couple arrested after police find two children, starving dogs living in feces-filled home

CLARKSVILLE, Tennessee — A Clarksville couple has been charged with felony child abuse and neglect, and animal cruelty after Clarksville Police went to their home for a welfare check late Monday night and found two children covered in bug bites living in deplorable conditions with eight extremely emaciated dogs. Daniel Kevin Thompson and Jessica Dawn Thompson, both 33, were each charged Tuesday with one counts of felony child abuse and neglect, one count of child abuse and neglect and one count of animal cruelty after their home at 714 Green Valley Court was found filled with urine and feces, according to an arrest warrant. READ MORE HERE

SEATTLE – The Archdiocese of Seattle has agreed to pay about $12.125 million to 30 men who alleged they were sexually abused as children and teens at two Seattle-area schools from the 1950s until 1984, their attorney said. The men alleged in lawsuits filed in King County Superior Court that the Catholic district failed to shield them from known abusers at Seattle’s O’Dea High School and at Briscoe Memorial School, in nearby Kent, plaintiffs’ attorney Michael Pfau said in an interview. READ MORE HERE

AUTHORITIES FEAR THERE MAY BE MORE VICTIMS

NEW MIAMI — A wooden backyard shed outfitted with toys, alcohol and drugs was where a 34-year-old New Miami man victimized boys all under the age of 13, according to Butler County Sheriff’s detectives. Detectives on Friday were processing evidence from a 10-foot by 18-foot shed towed from the backyard of Luke D. Buchanan, who is accused of raping four boys. Detectives say Buchanan, 34, was living in the shed and assaulted his young victims in the wood structure that sat beside his North Riverside Drive home. READ MORE HERE

A second man was arrested Friday as part of a Battle Creek investigation into manufacturing child pornography and having sex with minors. John Balyo, 35, of Caledonia was arrested in Gaylord as part of a joint investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Battle Creek Police Department and Michigan State Police. Balyo, an on-air personality at WCSG-FM, a Christian radio station associated with Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, was arrested on a state charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, according to Khaalid Walls, a spokesman for ICE. READ MORE HERE

Child abuse may actually impact a person long after they’ve left their childhood behind. Scientists have found that the volume of cerebral grey matter, which is responsible for processing information, actually is impacted by maltreatment. Child abuse is defined as all forms of physical or emotional maltreatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation. Until now, though, the results of structural neuroimaging studies carried out on these children have been inconsistent. Now, scientists may have found out exactly how childhood maltreatment can impact the brain. READ MORE HERE

Illegal immigrant children forced to cut off fingers and ears of other kids by ‘coyote’ gangs

Human traffickers are forcing illegal immigrant children to cut off the ears and fingers of other kids traveling into the U.S. in order to extort money from their families, a Texas senator claimed on Monday. Lashing out at President Barack Obama for a 2012 policy shift that he said encourages Central American parents to send their children northward, Sen. Ted Cruz said the children are being placed in ‘unspeakable’ peril when the traffickers,known as ‘coyotes,’ take over. READ MORE HERE

CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Florida -Todd Akers was slapped with a life prison sentence today for the 2006 murder of his former fiance’s 2-year-old daughter, Abby Boran. He was also sentenced to 30 years prison to run concurrently for a conviction of aggravated child abuse. In court on Friday, Akers maintained his innocence after a jury found him guilty last month of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse. READ MORE HERE

14-YO Boy Killed Classmate Who Demanded Cell Phone Back

The story that’s emerging about former friends Timothy Crump and his 14-year-old murderer, Noel Estevez, brings into focus the tragic intersection of two troubled lives. In the days before his murder, Crump had been staying in a homeless shelter, and ABC 7 reports that he had been expelled from school in December for punching another student, but was often seen hanging out near the building. READ MORE HERE

READING, Pennsylvania – A respected brain surgeon was among the group of 12 men and one teenager arrested Thursday in a child pornography sweep across Berks County. “Possessing images of child sexual abuse is a heinous crime and will not be tolerated in Berks County,” said District Attorney John Adams. Adams, along with detectives working with his office’s child abuse unit and the Lower Heidelberg Township Police Department, announced results of the 18 month investigation during a news conference in downtown Reading. READ MORE HERE

Horrific abuse of 8-year-old only uncovered when her own mother bashed her to death with a vacuum cleaner pipe 

A Queensland girl, who was bashed to death by her mother, became ‘invisible’ in the system as her one year absence from school went undetected until it was too late, a court heard on Friday. The eight-year-old was found dead at her Cairns home after being repeatedly hit with a vacuum cleaner pipe in November 2011. Her mother, who can’t be named for legal reasons, is serving a seven-year sentence after last year pleading guilty to manslaughter.  The girl’s stepfather was receiving Centrelink payments while the child’s school was told the family had moved overseas. He was sentenced to three years in jail on the same charge for ignoring the abuse. READ MORE HERE

Reward Offered in Amber Alert Abduction of 2-Year-Old Edwin Vargas

A $50,000 reward was expected to be announced Tuesday in the case of 2-year-old Edwin Vargas who was allegedly kidnapped by his father on May 23, according to the LAPD. The toddler was last seen sitting in his mother’s van on a street in Boyle Heights while she ran up to her sister’s house to pick up another child, Officer Norma Eisenman with Los Angeles Police Department Media Relations said. READ MORE HERE

Critics are outraged after a chronic DWI offender hit and killed a 4-year-old boy and walked away with a 5-year prison sentence. The Missouri highway patrol said Ricky R. Weeden Sr. killed 4-year-old Traye-Shon and injured his brother Jay’shard after hitting them with his pick-up truck in St. Louis, Missouri in 2012. Weeden apparently sped off after the accident but cops were able to track him down when they found his truck days later. READ MORE HERE