CANADA — A defrocked Catholic priest has been found guilty of raping dozens of children and a sled dog in the Canadian Arctic, where he worked as a missionary for decades. The Belgian-born Eric Dejaeger, 67, was on Friday convicted of 31 counts of sexual offences against children and one count of bestiality. At the start of his trial last November in Iqaluit, the capital of Canada’s northernmost Nunavut territory, Dejaeger acknowledged and pleaded guilty to eight out of 80 original charges.

A former daycare worker has been found guilty of abducting a 5-year-old girl from her Philadelphia elementary school and then brutally sexually assaulting her with a sharp object. The jury’s verdict marked the culmination of a nearly two-year ordeal that has horrified city leaders and residents. Christina Regusters was convicted of all six charges, including kidnapping and sexual assault of a child. The 21-year-old sat emotionless Friday morning as the jury of seven women and five men threw the book at her inside a packed courtroom at Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center.

UNITED NATIONS — One in 10 girls worldwide have been forced into a sexual act, and six in 10 children ages 2 to 14 are regularly beaten by parents and caregivers, according to a report issued Thursday by the United Nations’ children’s agency, Unicef. The report, drawing on data from 190 countries, paints a picture of endemic physical and emotional violence inflicted daily on children, mostly at home and in peacetime rather than on the streets or during war. Homicide is especially common in some of the Latin American countries from which children are fleeing by the tens of thousands into the United States: It is the leading killer of adolescent boys ages 19 and under in El Salvador, Guatemala and Venezuela. Central and Eastern Europe report the lowest rates of homicide among children.

Police say they have every reason to believe that the remains of a small child found in Southeast Austin are those of two-year-old Colton Turner. Cedar Park police reported Colton as missing and in danger Thursday. A candlelight vigil is planned for Colton at 7 p.m. on Saturday, September 13th next to the Cedar Park Police Department. Police say at around 2:05 p.m. they located a body off Felter and Burleson Road. Officers say the body was in a small grave. Colton’s mother, Meagan Work, was booked into the Williamson County Jail for abandoning and endangering a child without the intent to return. She was later moved to the Travis County Jail where she was booked for tampering evidence with additional charges pending.

Police say the mother of a toddler found dead in an Oceanside home has admitted to drowning her child after suffering depression over a custody battle. Detectives arrested Veronica Rivas, 28, on Friday in the death of her 22-month-old son Elijah. She was booked into the Vista Detention Center on a first-degree murder charge. Officers were called to Rivas’ condo on Woodpark Way Wednesday night when the child’s grandmother called 911.

MAYFIELD, Kentucky -A mother and her teenage son have both died in an incident that started in Mayfield but ended in Ohio. The investigation began at a convenience store on the southside of Paducah. Paducah Police got a call Friday morning of a possible abduction. Video showed a woman getting out of a white 2004 Yukon SUV and being forced back inside the vehicle. Around 10:00 a.m., friends of 34-year-old Kimberly Thomas (Jackson) went to her home in Mayfield after she did not report to work. When they arrived they found her son, 17-year-old Michael Eli Mohney, dead inside. The Graves County Coroner Phillip McClain says Mohney died of 2 gunshot wounds.

Minnesota Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson turned himself in to Montgomery County, Texas, authorities early Saturday morning. He was booked into the Montgomery County jail at 1:06 a.m. CT and released at 1:35 a.m. CT after posting the $15,000 bond. Peterson had been indicted by a grand jury on charges of reckless or negligent injury to a child and a warrant had been issued for his arrest. He flew back early Saturday morning to Minnesota, where he has been deactivated for the Vikings’ home game against the Patriots on Sunday.

A family in Mexico has been jailed for scooping out the eyes of their 5-year-old boy during a satanic ritual. Fernando Caleb Alvarado Rios was told to close his eyes by his mother, grandparents, aunt and uncle as they danced in a circle and called upon Lucifer to appear. When the little boy was too scared to do so, his mother, Maria del Carmen Garcia Rios, fetched a spoon and gouged out his eyes, with the help of the rest of the family.

SALINA, Kansas — A Salina woman who pleaded no contest to first degree murder charges in connection with the death of her 3-month-old son is sentenced to life in prison. Judge Patrick Thompson on Monday sentenced 21-year-old Desirah Overturf to life with no chance of parole for 25 years. The case stems from the death of 3-month-old Jordan Corbin in December. Police were called to the home that Oveturf shared with Jordan’s father, 27-year-old Nicholas Corbin, to the report of an unresponsive child. The infant was pronounced dead at the scene. Nicholas Corbin has pleaded no contest to first-degree murder.

Sascha Marie Garcia’s decision to leave 5-month-old “Baby Andres” with her boyfriend turned tragic. On Thursday, the child was barely clinging to life at Miami Children’s Hospital, and Garcia’s boyfriend, Antwan James Sawyer, 27, was jailed on charges of child abuse. “He’s got lung contusions, two black eyes. [Sawyer] said the child fell off the bed. It’s really bad,” said Miami-Dade police detective Robin Pinkard.

BLACKSTONE, MA — The bodies of three infants were found Thursday in a filthy house where four other children were removed by authorities last month, a Massachusetts prosecutor said. Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. said authorities don’t know when or how the babies died, or their ages and genders, and no one has been arrested in connection with their deaths. He said the state medical examiner will conduct an investigation. Detectives investigating a case of reckless endangerment of children at the house found the bodies. Investigators working in the house have been wearing hazmat suits, and are decontaminated when they leave, the prosecutor said. “The house is filled with vermin,” Early said. “We have flies. We have bugs. We have used diapers, in some areas, as much as a foot-and-a-half to two-feet high. The house is in a deplorable condition.”

MICHIGAN – A former Grand Rapids Christian radio host pleaded guilty Tuesday to raping an 11-year-old boy in Battle Creek. John Richard Balyo, 35, pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal sexual conduct in the May 17 assault in a Beckley Road motel room. He faces a minimum of 25 years in prison and could be sentenced to a maximum of life. Balyo also faces a minimum of 15 years in prison after pleading guilty in July in U.S. District Court to sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child pornography. He will be sentenced there Nov. 6 and in Calhoun County on Nov. 10.

BANGOR, Maine —According to court documents, a New Hampshire man is accused of placing a 2-year-old boy in a clothes dryer in Bangor last month. Adam Morton is charged with aggravated assault. The court documents said on Aug. 2 the boy was taken to the hospital with burns to back and arms, as well as burns and blisters on this feet.

During the summer of 2014, I met with six groups of people who have sexually abused children: Four groups of men who, as part of their probation, attend a treatment group; one group of female offenders in their treatment program; and then one group of men in prison. I participated in these offender groups with the sole purpose of better understanding this crime so I can better equip parents and professionals to prevent it. Nearly all of the men and women were glad to have me participate because they don’t want to offend again and they want you to know how to keep children safe and to speak up on children’s behalf every chance you get.