Multiple media reports indicate a U.S. Marine training at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville has been charged with the rape of a 12-year-old girl he reportedly met on the internet. Brandon Bowman is charged with first-degree rape of a child, first-degree sex offense on a child and indecent liberties with a child.

DOUGLASS (Montgomery County) — A Pottstown man formerly of Douglass (Mont.) is free on bail awaiting a preliminary hearing on charges he raped and sexually assaulted a child multiple times between 2006 and 2007. Thomas Lee Kelley, 30, whose current address is listed as 935 Queen St., Pottstown, allegedly assaulted the female child at his former address, 229 Montgomery Ave., in Douglass (Mont.), according to court records.

TOWN OF VERONA — An Oswego County man is facing 16 sex abuse charges accused of abusing a 12-year-old girl over a four-month period. Frederick C. Kimball Jr., 47, of Pennellville, was indicted May 9 on six counts of predatory sexual assault against a child, three counts each of first-degree rape, first-degree sex abuse and first-degree criminal sexual act, and one count of endangering the welfare of a child. He is scheduled for arraignment before County Court Judge Barry M. Donalty on May 15.

Rohtak (Haryana), May 10 — Nearly 120 people, including women, girls and children, were rescued from a protection home in Haryana’s Rohtak town following a raid conducted by a team of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). Police have arrested the care-taker of the protection home, Jaswanti, and registered a case of rape, molestation, wrongful confinement and criminal intimidation against her son-in-law Jai Bhagwan. Both have also been booked under the Immoral Trafficking Act and Child Protection Act.

A scandal broke out in a school in Mexico after a mother exposed a video where her underaged son is seen participating in sexual acts with two other boys. The video is shot in a classroom in a school in the southern Mexican state of Campeche. The video shows three boys having sex, one boy filming and a fifth one watching, according to the Mexican Spanish-language newspaper Milenio. The kids implicated are all 12 years-old and in the sixth grade.

SAN ANTONIO — Authorities say a 4-year-old girl who was allegedly beaten and burned by her mother and her mother’s boyfriend has died from her injuries. The Bexar County Medical Excaminer said Kayla Garcia was pronounced dead at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. The girl’s mother, 20-year-old Melanie Garcia, and 23-year-old Matthew Carrillo were arrested on charges of assault and bodily injury to a child after taking the unconscious girl to Christus Santa Rosa emergency room on Monday night.

Despite the moral imperative and sound fiscal basis for protecting the legal rights of abused and neglected children, half of U.S. states cheat them of appropriate legal representation, denying them an effective voice in proceedings that determine their futures, according to a state-by-state study conducted by two national child advocacy organizations. The report – A Child’s Right to Counsel: A National Report Card on Legal Representation for Abused and Neglected Children – was released today on Capitol Hill by First Star, a national organization working to improve the lives of America’s abused and neglected children, and the Children’s Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego School of Law (CAI).

Children who are traumatized by sexual, physical or psychological abuse are more likely to develop chronic fatigue syndrome as adults, new research suggests. The study also states that the increased risk for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) might be based in biology. The reason: There appears to be a connection between the nervous system and endocrine system abnormalities, called neuroendocrine dysfunction, in people with CFS who suffered childhood trauma, the researchers said.

A woman has been charged with child abuse after she spanked two children so badly that they couldn’t attend school for three days. Megan Elizabeth Shipman, 22, used a belt to spank the 4-year-old boy and 6-year-old girl as punishment for taking $100 from their home. One of the children showed a teacher the bruises six days after the beating and the teacher contacted the Department of Human Services.

A babysitter faces 30 years behind bars after she admitted broadcasting a sex attack on a 5-year-old girl to other alleged predators using the live video-chat programme Skype on her iPhone. Jennifer Mahoney, 33, of Manalapan, New Jersey, pleaded guilty in US District Court Wednesday to the sexual exploitation of a child that took place on at least two separate occasions in her home.

A horrified father returned home from work to find his two young children dead after seemingly being smothered and his wife had apparently tried to slit both her wrists. A 10-week-old baby boy and a one-year-old girl were later pronounced dead after investment banker Jeff Boots made frantic efforts to save them before raising the alarm. Police arrived at the £1.2million family home, in a well-heeled area of Wandsworth, south London, and arrested Felicia Boots, who did not require treatment despite apparently trying to harm herself. She is now being held over the deaths of 14-month-old Lily and her baby son. She is being questioned by detectives, who are understood to be investigating the possibility that she was suffering from post-natal depression.

The mother of a 3-year-old Taft girl was arrested Tuesday on a murder charge, more than three months after Sheriff’s deputies say the toddler was beaten to death. Deputies say Angela Hanna’s daughter was tortured by her then live-in boyfriend in January. Hanna was booked into the downtown jail Tuesday morning on $2 million bail. Hanna’s boyfriend at the time of her daughter’s death, Eric Foster, was arrested and charged a day after the girl died.

LONG BEACH, CA — A Long Beach police officer charged with multiple counts of possessing child pornography has been re-arrested. 40-year-old Noe Yanez is facing additional sex crimes charges, after prosecutors say he arranged to meet a minor for sex.

Old fashioned torture techniques never went out of style apparently. Josue Manrique, 35, came home to find $1 missing from his bedside drawer, accused his son of taking it, hit him with his leather belt and repeatedly burned his arms, hands and face with a hot iron to make him confess.