A Saudi Arabian air force sergeant who arrived in Las Vegas for New Year’s Eve two years ago may never get to leave Nevada after being sentenced Wednesday to a minimum of 35 years in state prison for kidnapping and raping a 13-year-old boy at a Las Vegas Strip hotel. Mazen Alotaibi, 25, stared at the courtroom floor as the boy’s mother sobbed that her son’s life was ruined and Clark County District Court Judge Stefany Miley imposed the mandatory sentence for sexual assault with a minor under the age of 14.

Laws intended to protect children from abuse and neglect are not being properly enforced, and the federal government is to blame. That’s according to a study by the Children’s Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego School of Law, which says children are suffering as a result. The numbers are grim. Almost 680,000 children in the United States were the victims of abuse and neglect in 2013. More than 1,500 of them died. Federal officials say they’re encouraged that the numbers are lower than they were in 2012. But children’s advocates say abuse is so often not reported that it’s impossible to know if there’s really been a decline.

CALIFORNIA – A lawsuit alleging the Boy Scouts of America negligently allowed boys to be sexually molested by Scout leaders has been settled during the first week of a trial in a Santa Barbara courtroom. The final settlement, announced on Thursday, involved undisclosed financial terms, said Timothy Hale, an attorney for the plaintiff, who was identified in court papers as “ John Roe. ” The victim had been molested as a 13-year-old boy in 2007 by a volunteer scout leader, according to a court filing by his attorneys. The filing further alleged the Boy Scouts had concealed records of abuse of boys by Scout leaders and other volunteers over the years.

SOUTHERN PINES – An employee at a Southern Pines daycare was charged with felony child abuse inflicting serious injury after a 10-month-old received a serious head injury Wednesday. Wendi Jean Hargrove, 35, of Aderdeen, was charged after the Southern Pines Police Department began investigating reported child abuse at the Humpty Dumpty Daycare.

NEVADA – A 39-year-old North Las Vegas woman pleaded guilty to felony child abuse Wednesday for keeping a filthy home where eight children lived. Geneva Morgan’s 3-month-old son, Donald Hemmings III, died Jan. 20, while she was jailed on eight felony charges of child abuse, neglect or endangerment. She accepted a deal with prosecutors Wednesday to plead guilty to one of those charges, which names all eight victims, while the other counts were dismissed.

WASHINGTON – A Washington State mother took the law into her own hands after discovering her daughter was part of a human trafficking ring. Police say the mother found her teenage daughter’s photo on Backpage.com and called the number listed. She then arranged a meeting at one of the hotels used in the ring. Investigators say the operation was run by three men in their twenties who marketed the teenage girls for sex online and arranged for meetings at different hotels.

23-year old Kevin Motyka, of Howell Township, was indicted on Friday by a Monmouth County Grand Jury. The 17-count indictment charges Motyka with 2 counts of first degree Aggravated Sexual Assault, 7 counts of second degree Sexual Assault, 5 counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child involving the manufacture and distribution of child pornography; as well as permitting a child to engage in child pornography. Motyka is also charged with 2 counts of third degree Endangering the Welfare of a Child involving sexual conduct and the possession of more than 100 items of child pornography, as well as a lone count of fourth degree Endangering the Welfare of a Child related to possession of child pornography.

INDIANA – Charley Hollin is wanted for kidnapping and child molestation. On January 20, 1999, a ten-year-old female resident of Seymour, Indiana, was allegedly abducted at knife point outside a local girl’s club and later sexually assaulted. After the molestation occurred, Hollin reportedly made the victim leave the car naked, and her clothes were thrown out of the car after her. On February 3, 2000, an arrest warrant was issued for Charley Hollin in the state of Indiana, Jackson County, for two counts of confinement and three counts of child molesting. Additionally, on April 5, 2007, a federal arrest warrant was issued by the United States District Court, District of Indiana, after Hollin was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

CHICAGO – A 15-year-old Chicago-area girl pleaded guilty in juvenile court on Tuesday to the fatal stabbing of her younger sister in a quarrel over household chores, local media reports said. The girl, who was not identified because she was charged as a minor, stabbed her 11-year-old sister 40 times with a kitchen knife. The Daily Herald in suburban Chicago reported the attack took place last January when the two girls were home alone in Mundelein, Illinois.

CINCINNATI, Ohio — A grand jury indicted a West Virginia mother on charges that she intentionally put fecal matter into her son’s IV as he received treatment at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Candida Fluty, of Kermit, is charged with felonious assault and two counts of endangering children. Her nine-year-old son Elijah was born with Hirschsprung, which affects the bowels. The Hamilton County prosecutor’s office said the nine-year-old has had several surgeries and has a colostomy bag. He was last admitted to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital this month.

LOS ANGELES — Matthew Brendan Warner, 30, of Newhall, Calif., is accused of sexually abusing and killing his 19-day-old daughter, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced on Tuesday. Warner faces one count each of murder, assault on a child causing death, torture, oral copulation or sexual penetration with a child 10 years old or younger and aggravated sexual assault of a child, Deputy District Attorney Julie Kramer said in a news release.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) offers these tips for parents. Please feel free to use them in any print or broadcast story with appropriate attribution of source. Sexual abuse is a difficult subject for most people to discuss, and especially difficult for parents to discuss with their children. But as frightening as the topic may be, sexual abuse is a serious and, unfortunately, common problem that affects both boys and girls. In most cases, the person who sexually abuses a child is an adult or older child known to the victim, often an authority figure that the child knows, trusts or loves. The offender usually uses coercion and manipulation, not physical force, to engage the child.

A Michigan couple faces life behind bars after being charged with first-degree child abuse after torturing their relative’s 2-year-old son. Steven A. Torres and Erica Jackson-Torres were watching the boy in their home. Then last weekend, the boy’s injuries, thought to have occurred on January 18, were discovered. It is unclear, according to the police report, if the mother found the injuries or if they were reported by someone else. However, the report does make it clear the injuries were disturbing.

A woman has shared the shocking story of how she was sexually abused by her father and had his baby when she was a teenager. Helen Rees (not her real name) agreed to appear on today’s This Morning and be interviewed by presenters Phillip Schofield and Christine Bleakley on the condition she would not be identified. Speaking to them with her face turned away from the cameras, she revealed how she and her younger sister and older brother grew up In Ireland in fear of their father.