It was easy to lose amid all the serial killer coverage, but late last week serial rapist James Ernest Bledsoe, 30, of Huntington Beach, was sentenced to 129 years to life in state prison for sexually assaulting four women in his apartment and surreptitiously videotaping the rapes without the victims’ knowledge or consent. At the time of his crimes, Bledsoe was a registered sex offender thanks to a 2005 child molestation conviction.

Allegations of child sexual abuse by a former assistant football coach at Penn State University have dominated the news this week. On Wednesday legendary football coach Joe Paterno released a statement in which he said, “With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.” How lame is that, coach? Would you have accepted that excuse from one of your players? “With the benefit of hindsight, coach, I wish I had run the route we rehearsed a thousand times in practice.” See how stupid that sounds? It doesn’t take “hindsight” to know that when some monster is raping children in your locker room, you call the police.

SEAFORD, Del.- Delaware State Police on Monday announced the arrest of a high-risk sex offender accused of raping a girl who was 9 years of age when the crime allegedly occurred. Brent L. Kane, 22, of Seaford is charged with first-degree rape. Kane’s arrest stemmed from an investigation that got under way last month, according to police. They said detectives were contacted by the father of a Seaford girl who told them that his daughter, who was currently visiting him in Georgia, had revealed to him that she had been sexually assaulted at her home in Seaford when she was 9-years-old.

FARMINGTON A district judge denied a request for a 24-hour furlough for the man accused of stomping and killing 17-month-old Taegen McKinney.\ Jose Garcia, 23, is accused of killing McKinney on April 14, 2007, after he allegedly stomped on the toddler’s chest while his girlfriend was asleep. The couple was babysitting the child when she was killed. Shoe impressions that matched Garcia’s shoes remained on the child’s abdomen, according to court records.

How safe are the people in whose care parents leave their children, and have those people had proper criminal background checks? The recent case involving a Pocono Summit karate instructor charged with raping a 12-year-old female student raises those questions. “Prospective employees applying to engage in occupations with a significant likelihood of regular contact with children, in the form of care, guidance, supervision or training, must obtain background checks as a condition of employment,” according to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare.

Sexual abuse victims often struggle for years with memories of the traumatic abuse they suffered as children. In some cases, the experiences are so traumatic that they block out (or repress) the memories. This week the Minnesota Supreme Court is hearing a motion to determine whether a survivor of sexual abuse can present evidence of repressed memory syndrome. In the United States, courts will not consider expert scientific evidence unless the party seeking to submit the evidence can establish that the evidence is scientifically reliable. The motion is called a Daubert motion.

Marlon Iverzander Lopez is wanted in connection with allegations of continual sexual abuse of six children over a span of several years, beginning in approximately 1997. A state arrest warrant was initially issued on September 28, 2002, by the Riverside Superior Court in California after Lopez was charged with 30 counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child. He was located and arrested on March 12, 2005; however, after posting bond, Lopez failed to appear for subsequent court dates. A second arrest warrant was issued in Riverside Superior Court on August 15, 2005. Lopez was charged federally with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution and a warrant for his arrest was issued by the United States District Court, Central District of California, on July 17, 2006.

A one-month-old baby boy who was allegedly raped and battered so badly that his heart stopped has made a remarkable recovery. The tiny child was beaten viciously, leaving both his lungs punctured, and all his ribs were broken along with his collar bone and arm. There was reportedly also a sexual injury and internal wounds, suggesting rape.

MEXICO CITY — Investigators say four women are being held in the western Mexican city of Guadalajara in connection with an apparent child-trafficking ring that aimed to supply babies to childless Irish couples. The Jalisco state prosecutor’s office says a 21-year-old woman has been arrested after a relative reported that she was “renting out” one of her children.

Island Lake, Illinois – Brandon Stancliff and Lauri Ruble have been jailed after they allegedly brought a 5-year-old child along to a bank robbery. According to police, the couple was arrested after an informant seeking a reward provided a tip to police that identified the couple as suspects in a bank robbery that occurred last month. Investigators say Lauri Ruble admitted to the robbery and expressed regret over bringing her 5-year-old son along.

BRUSSELS — Belgian authorities on Monday raided three bishops’ administrative offices as an official said investigators were nearing the end of a two-year probe into whether church officials protected child abusers at the expense of their victims. Belgian Catholic Church spokesman Geert Lesage said the offices in the Hasselt, Mechelen and Antwerp cooperated during the raids and handed over requested files as much as possible.

After mopping the floors one morning just over a year ago, a Hendry County mother of five left the bucket of water in the garage, out of reach of her 1-year-old daughter. When the older children came home from school, she asked her 8-year-old to watch the baby as she cleaned. Maybe 10 minutes later, she checked in. The toddler was gone and the garage door was open.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa revealed a painful childhood secret in an interview with CBS2 on Monday. Villaraigosa, who has long been an advocate for victims of domestic violence, told CBS2 that some of his earliest memories include hiding under the bed with his little sister while his father was attacking his mother. “We had to witness the terror that comes with watching your mom getting beat,” said Villaraigosa. Though he was under five years old when the abuse would happen, he had always harbored a feelings of guilt that he wasn’t able to protect his mother from violence. “Deep inside was this feeling of helplessness, that I kind of failed her,” Villaraigosa said.

A drunken father who tossed his seven-year-old son overboard in a busy California harbour, forcing another boat to veer to avoid hitting the boy, has been sentenced to rehab. Thirty-five-year-old Sloan Briles, a former Marine from Irvine, avoided jail by pleading guilty on Monday to felony child abuse and endangerment. He was sentenced to three years of probation, one year in a treatment program for child abusers and six months in a residential alcohol-treatment program run by the Veterans Administration.