The Child Protection eNewsletter

Michael Devlin gets multiple consecutive life terms for Shawn Hornbeck abduction 

A former pizzeria manager said that he attempted to kill a boy he kidnapped and held captive in his apartment, but the child persuaded him not to do it. Read More Michael Devlin, 41, pleaded guilty to kidnapping, sexually assaulting and attempting to murder Shawn Hornbeck, and received multiple life sentences. He pleaded guilty to kidnapping another boy, and is expected to enter more guilty pleas in other courts. (see volume 5 issue 3, volume 5 issue 4, volume 5 issue 5 and volume 5 issue 6)

During Tuesday's hearing, Devlin -- standing just feet away from Shawn's weeping parents -- admitted in graphic detail how he abducted Shawn in 2002. He described the point at which the boy apparently turned from being an abduction victim to a captive forced to stay alive by following Devlin's horrific orders.

After Shawn was abducted at gunpoint while riding his bike in rural Washington County, Devlin took the then-11-year-old to his apartment in suburban St. Louis where he repeatedly sexually assaulted the boy. Days later, Devlin took Shawn back to rural Washington County in his pickup truck, apparently intent on killing him.

He said he pulled Shawn from his truck and began to strangle him. Shawn resisted. "I attempted to kill (Shawn) and he talked me out of it," Devlin said.

Devlin stopped the choking, but then sexually assaulted the boy again. Prosecutors said it was at that point that Shawn told Devlin he would do whatever was asked of him in order to stay alive. "This boy made this contract, this deal with the devil, only to survive," Washington County prosecutor John Rupp said.

Devlin kidnapped William "Ben" Ownby in January, and police who found Ben four days after he was taken were shocked to discover a 15-year-old Shawn in Devlin's apartment. Devlin pleaded guilty Monday to one charge of child kidnapping and one charge of armed criminal action in Ben's abduction.

Prosecutors said the combined pleas mean Devlin will not be eligible for parole until he is more than 100 years old. He was sentenced to three life terms plus 60 years in prison Tuesday in Washington County, in addition to a life sentence he received in Franklin County Monday.

After the Washington County hearing, Devlin pleaded guilty to 71 counts in St. Louis County Circuit Court -- two counts of kidnapping and 69 counts of forcible sodomy of Ben and Shawn.  Read More  He was then sentenced to 18 consecutive life sentences in St. Louis County. Devlin faces additional charges in federal court Wednesday morning. He is expected to plead guilty to charges of videotaping himself torturing Shawn after kidnapping him, and transporting the boy across state lines.

Interpol unscrambles blurred internet image in hunt for pedophile 

He apparently travels the world sexually abusing young boys, but remained unidentifiable -- until now.  Read More  Police in Europe have unscrambled digitally altered images found on the Internet to reveal the face of a man shown abusing boys in Vietnam and Cambodia.

Interpol released four reconstructed photos of the suspected pedophile in an unprecedented public appeal for help, hoping that someone, somewhere, will recognize the man whose identity and nationality remain a mystery.

The response has been heartening: about 200 messages in just over 12 hours, Interpol said. But the decision to unmask the suspect is not without risk: tipping criminals off to the techniques that police have at their disposal could also prompt them to hide their identities better.

Interpol said 12 boys, apparently ranging in age from 6 to early teens, appeared in about 200 photographs posted on the Internet. But the face of the man inflicting the abuse was disguised in a digital whirl.

Using techniques that neither they nor Interpol would discuss, German police produced identifiable images of the man from the original pictures. The reconstructed photos showed a white man who looked to be in his 30s, with uncombed short brown hair. One showed him wearing glasses, in another he smiled, and another showed that he has a hairy chest. Interpol, which is headquartered in Lyon, southeast France, posted the images on its Web site. They are all available online here.

New sex abuse settlement renews scandal for Orange County Roman Catholic diocese 

Bishop Tod D. Brown was lauded three years ago for quickly handling Orange County's share of the nationwide church abuse scandal, reaching settlements totaling $100 million for some 90 victims. Read More But a source of nearly a fifth of those cases two prestigious parochial high schools continues to haunt the diocese and has now exposed Brown to old allegations of child abuse and the possibility of being held in contempt of court this week.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange settled four more lawsuits Friday for just shy of $7 million. Three were filed by former students at Mater Dei and Santa Margarita high schools who said lay teachers sexually abused them.

In a deposition in one of the lawsuits, Brown acknowledged being accused of abusing a young boy more than 40 years ago when he was a priest in Bakersfield. He said the accusation, reported in 1997, is false, but police said they can find no indication it was ever investigated.

Despite the settlement, Brown still faces a hearing Tuesday to determine whether he should be held in contempt of court for sending Monsignor John Urell to Canada for psychological treatment before he could complete a deposition.

Urell, who was responsible for handling sexual abuse allegations against the diocese, became distraught during a deposition in the case of a 27-year-old woman who said an assistant basketball coach had sex with her multiple times when she was a 16-year-old student at Mater Dei.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Diocese of San Diego is asking parishioners and priests to make contributions to help pay for the recent $198.1 million sexual abuse settlement. Read More A memo issued this week by Bishop Robert Brom asked priests to contribute one month's salary, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

"We cannot ask of others what we are unwilling to do ourselves," Brom wrote in the memo to about 280 priests, whose monthly salary can be as much as $1,535.

In other news 

Portuguese authorities have named a more senior police officer to head the investigation into missing British girl Madeleine McCann, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday.  Read More

Paulo Rebelo, will replace Goncalo Amaral, who was removed last week after accusing the British police of being influenced by the girl's parents over which leads to follow in the case. His appointment was made amid reports in Portugal that detectives have evidence contradicting Kate and Gerry McCann's version of the events of the night that they reported their daughter missing. Read More Police believe that Madeleine and her twin brother and sister may not have been alone in the McCann holiday apartment, but that the children of seven British friends who were on holiday with the McCanns were also present when Madeleine disappeared on May 3, the 24 Horas newspaper claimed.

A Delaware teen is facing charges for the alleged rape of a 2-year-old girl. Read More State police said the 15-year-old boy allegedly sexually assaulted the girl while baby-sitting her and one other child October 2nd in their Felton home. The boy watched their children five or six times in the past, according to the victim's parents.

The ascent of the Internet as the supermarket of choice for deviants has spurred law enforcement authorities to step up their trolling of the darkest corners of the Web in an effort to lure sex offenders to their arrests. Read More Most worrying to law enforcement, however, is a small but apparently growing subset of these predators who are hooking up online with parents or guardians willing to prostitute their children, sometimes as young as infants.

More than three dozen people in New Jersey have been charged with sending child rape photos and videos over the Internet. Read More The arrests cap a two-month investigation in which a state police technology investigations unit combed the Internet for New Jerseyans who distributed such images. Forty-one people were arrested. Officials said the photos and videos have been made available worldwide. "Many who have sexually assaulted children started down that road with child porn," State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes said. "This operation places a roadblock in their path."

Colorado authorities are searching for a convicted sex offender and 16-year-old girl who they believe had a consensual relationship and ran away together. Read More Matthew Preston Caulk, 40, is wanted by police for not registering as a sex offender in Montana and Colorado. He was convicted in Washington in 2002 for sexual misconduct with a child. Caulk was last seen September 26 in Morrison, Colorado.

A 30-year-old Las Cruces, New Mexico woman was charged with having sexual contact with an 8-year-old boy, Las Cruces police reported. Read More Michelle A. Tufts, 30, was arrested and is charged with two felony counts of criminal sexual penetration of a child younger than 13 and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The boy's grandmother notified police that Tufts might be having an inappropriate physical relationship with the boy, Las Cruces Police Department spokesman Dan Trujillo said.

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