PITTSBURGH, PA – Just when you think it can’t get much worse than stealing from kids with cancer, along comes 38-year-old Jody Lynn Bennett. He has been arrested and accused of stealing items from the casket of a teen who died in a Christmas Day car crash. Bradley McCombs, 17, was on his way to pick up a relative but was killed after losing control of his vehicle and flipping it. During Bradley’s open-casket viewing on Monday night, Bennett allegedly reached inside Bradley’s coffin and stole a Game Boy, Game Boy Light and three games that had been placed inside by Bradley’s family.

A Belgian Catholic priest and would-be Nobel Peace Prize holder has admitted that he sexually abused an eight-year-old boy 40 years ago. The case only came forward when his cousin, the sister of his victim, came forward in reaction to a campaign to nominate Francois Houtart for the accolade. She told the Belgian church authority that looks into child abuse, the Adriaenssens commission, that the abuse on her brother happened in 1970 while he stayed at their house.

A disturbing increase in child abuse cases across the city this past year has prompted police to investigate what’s behind the spike. Cases of severe injury — including infants with broken bones — are climbing, police say. In 2010, 24 children suffered physical assault resulting in serious injury or broken bones. “We’re researching it right now trying to figure out why,” said Calgary’s police Chief Rick Han-son. The Calgary Police Services child abuse unit investigated nearly 250 files this year. There were 180 cases of female sexual abuse, 43 males sexually abused and 24 cases of physical abuse.

A 5-month-old baby is in critical condition after police say he was shaken violently. Waterbury police responded to a home Sunday night in responded to a medical call of a child having a seizure. The boy was taken to the hospital where doctors determined he was the victim of child abuse, police said. Officers arrested Luis Colon, 21, and charged him with first-degree assault and risk of injury to a minor.

TIGARD, Ore. — A maintenance man is accused of sexually abusing a young boy at the Tigard apartment complex where he works.Last week, deputies arrested Doroteo Perez-Tapia, 54, after getting a call about sex abuse at the Beef Bend Court Apartments.Law enforcement officials say the caller claimed Perez-Tapia fondled an 11-year-old boy inside an empty apartment at the complex.After the arrest, detectives say, other allegations began to surface and now they believe Perez-Tapia might have more victims.

WEST PALM BEACH — A woman convicted of stabbing her infant son and slicing open the arm of her daughter was sentenced by a judge this afternoon to 27 1/2 years in prison. During her trial earlier this month, lawyers for 30-year-old Wendy Harden argued she was not guilty by reason of insanity on the charge of attempted first-degree murder of the infant, and jurors found her not guilty. But on Dec. 16, they did find Harden guilty of other felonies with the same potential penalty: two counts of aggravated child abuse for Harden’s attacks on her then 8-month-old son and 8-year-old daughter, each count punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

Legislation that would create a state registry of child abusers could die on the House floor if no one takes up the cause in the new legislative session. Rep. John Espinoza, D-Croswell, introduced House Bill 6568 in November. He had hoped to expedite the process and get the bill signed before his term ends Friday. But, by the time he introduced the bill, Espinoza said there wasn’t enough time for a committee hearing, and his colleagues didn’t feel comfortable voting without one. While no one has approached him about sponsoring the bill, Espinoza said he plans to pitch the idea to incoming legislators in the next several days.

It’s sad when the a person whom you assume to have the best interests of the children at heart turn out to be quite the opposite. An Oneida County Child Protective Services case worker has been released on his own recognizance while he faces pending charges of possessing child pornography, according to federal court documents. The conditions of his release include:

Sacrament, CA – In May, 2004, Truly Lo who was only 6 years old was hit with a clothes hanger and beaten with fists, and strangled for four to six minutes according to prosecutors. Her injuries were so severe that she lost consciousness and has been in a coma since due to brain damage. She was beaten by her stepmother, Weili Kao, who was charged at the time with four felony counts. In August, 2005, Kao was sentenced to 16 years in prison. The beatings and strangulation were dealt out as punishment because the child had told a lie.

Roseville, CA – Scott Carlson, 20, was watching his girlfriend’s baby at a house near Martin and Gratiot while she was at work. The 13-month-old baby was getting into the wrapping paper and Carlson “lost his temper a little”. The baby suffered second-degree burns apparently from a Bic lighter and had a multitude of bruises on the back, buttocks and head that were consistent with intentionally-inflicted abuse.

Last month, a 3 year old boy was taken to the hospital by his grandparents. “I couldn’t even recognize his face was so bruised and he had bumps and lumps,” Karl Andersen Senior, the grandfather, said. Prosecutors say 21-year-old Jessica Carder, the boy’s mother, and Andrew Richards, 27, her boyfriend pulled his teeth and his toenails. How? “There’s evidence to support that pliers were used to extract the teeth and that there is damage to the gum and gum line.” prosecutor Chad Lewis said.

Sexually assaulted at age 8 by her father in her Gretna home, Rachel Fletcher did something rare and courageous: She told a concerned relative what happened. And when the case came to trial in a Jefferson Parish court two years later, she bravely testified against her father. Fifteen years later, her father, David Boudreaux, is serving a life sentence in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for aggravated rape.

DALLAS — Dallas police are looking for a capital murder suspect who attempted to wrestle a gun away from an officer who was trying to arrest him Wednesday night. The suspect, identified as Simon Lopez, 26, may have been shot before he fled. He is wanted in connection with the death of his girlfriend’s one-year-old son in Tyler. The struggle happened around 9:30 p.m. at the Red Crown Inn, C.F. Hawn Freeway at St. Augustine Road in Southeast Dallas. Lopez was last seen wearing a blue hoodie and dark jeans.

SAN ANTONIO — He was brutally attacked and left for dead in a southeast Bexar County field. Now, a new arrest in this case brings the total to three people behind bars charged with murder. Could the late April killing of Mark Gabler be a case of vigilante justice gone too far? The suspects reportedly took justice into their own hands after Gabler allegedly molested a seven year old girl. Richelle Vasquez is now behind bars on murder and theft charges in connection with the April 26 murder. The 31-year-old joins Shawn Phillips and Kenneth Nelsen behind bars for the same crime.