The Child Protection eNewsletter

Brittany Spears child abuse case opens…

Child welfare investigators are looking into "multiple child abuse and neglect" allegations in the custody battle between Britney Spears and ex-husband Kevin Federline, according to court documents. Read More

In a request to unseal parts of the case file, an attorney for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services wrote that there are concerns about the safety and welfare of the two toddlers, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, if they are left in their mother's care.

Though the agency mentioned investigating referrals relating to Federline, the documents don't provide details.

After-hour calls to attorneys representing Spears and Federline were not immediately returned.

The agency requested the court not alter the current custody and visitation arrangements until their investigation is completed. Federline has temporary custody of the boys after Spears defied court orders about regular drug testing. (See Volume 5, Issue 62 and Volume 5, Issue 66)

The latest tidbits on the custody battle are in 300 pages of documents released by Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Scott M. Gordon.

LA cardinal was assaulted over Church abuse…

Leading U.S. Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony was attacked on the street by a man enraged by the Church's sex abuse scandal just days after his Los Angeles diocese agreed to make a record payout to more than 500 victims, a Los Angeles newspaper reported. Read More

Mahony, 71, spoke of the July attack at a recent conference of priests and said it gave him a deeper understanding of the suffering endured by victims of the nationwide scandal.

Father Sal Pilato, principal of Junipero Serra Catholic High School in Los Angeles who heard Mahony speak at the conference, said the cardinal was dropping off letters at a mailbox near the downtown Los Angeles cathedral where he lives.

"Somebody recognized him and attacked him. It was shocking because it was an act of violence and it was someone we know and respect," Pilato told the Los Angeles Daily News.

Mahony told the priests that the man began shouting expletives and knocked him to the ground. It took a month for his injuries to heal after the attack.

Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of New York is handing out coloring and comic books that warn children about sex predators, the first such effort by a Roman Catholic diocese in the United States. Read More

In the coloring book, a perky guardian angel tells children not to keep secrets from their parents, not to meet anyone from an Internet chat room and to allow only "certain people" like a doctor or parent to see "where your bathing suit would be."

In a comic book version for children over 10, a teenager turns to St. Michael the Archangel for strength to report that two schoolmates are being sexually abused.

Sea Scouts leader arrested…

The leader of the Berkeley, California Sea Scouts was arrested yesterday on suspicion of molesting several young boys in the organization. Read More

Eugene Evans, 64, was booked at the Berkeley Jail Facility on six felony charges, said Berkeley police Seargeant Mary Kusmiss. Evans, who has been the leader of the Berkeley Sea Scouts for the past 35 years, is a retired teacher from Encinal High School in Alameda, Kusmiss said. The organization is made up of teenage boys who meet to conduct maritime activities.

An investigation began Nov. 14 when a young man and his family contacted detectives and identified him as a victim of sexual assault by Evans. “With an investigation like this, our concern is that too much window of opportunity may exist for someone like Mr. Evans to continue to sexually abuse young people, so detectives worked as quickly as they could in order to ... arrest Mr. Evans,” Kusmiss said.

Since the initial report, Kusmiss said detectives have interviewed three additional victims willing to participate in the investigation, and she said she expects more to come forward. Thus far, Kusmiss said all reports have been of molestation of boys between the ages of 13 and 17 and have taken place on the Sea Scouts’ boat. “We are quite certain that there are more victims of Mr. Evans, just based solely on the longevity of his work with youth,” Kusmiss said.

Police served a search warrant at several locations, including Evans’ residence, and are searching his computer for evidence of any media that may refer to the molestations, Kusmiss said.

The Sea Scouts had enjoyed free berthing privileges at the Berkeley Marina from 1945 until 1997, when the city rescinded its subsidy because of the scouts’ refusal to admit gays and atheists. The California Supreme Court defeated an appeal last year by the Sea Scouts, with Evans as the lead plaintiff

In other news…

The first of seven Hosanna Church (Louisiana) members accused of molesting children as part of a devil-worshipping ritual was in jail Tuesday after being found guilty of molesting his daughter and a boy. Read More

A state district court jury in Amite voted unanimously to convict Austin "Trey" Bernard III in the rape of his 2-year-old daughter. All but one of the 12 jurors found him guilty in the rape of a 12-year-old boy, District Attorney Scott Perrilloux said. Mr. Bernard, 39, denied the charges, but three confessions and a journal that seemed to detail the practices of the group were too much to overcome, said Al Bensabat, the public defender who represented him. Mr. Bernard faces a mandatory life prison term without parole. No trial date has been set for the remaining six suspects. Perrilloux said he anticipates bringing Louis Lamonica to trial in early 2008. Read More

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the New York City Department of Probation announced the arrests of 22 child predators and criminal alien sex offenders in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan. The initiative is a part of the on-going Operation Predator initiative and a national priority for ICE. Read More All of those arrested were on probation in New York City for prior felony or misdemeanor convictions for sex crimes including rape, sexual abuse, sexual misconduct, endangering the welfare of a child, sodomy and promoting prostitution. The youngest victim was a six-year-old girl and one of the victims was a 15-year-old boy.

The founder of social networking site Facebook Mark Zuckerberg has apologized to users for the way it launched a social advertising system. Read More

Called Beacon, the system tracks web shopping on partner sites outside Facebook and then sells adverts to the social network based on purchases. After complaints the site was invading privacy, Facebook changed Beacon from an opt-out system to opt in. Mr. Zuckerberg has said users can now switch off Beacon completely. Facebook’s apology stated “About a month ago, we released a new feature called Beacon to try to help people share information with their friends about things they do on the web. We've made a lot of mistakes building this feature, but we've made even more with how we've handled them. We simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize for it. While I am disappointed with our mistakes, we appreciate all the feedback we have received from our users. I'd like to discuss what we have learned and how we have improved Beacon.” Read More

Longtime San Francisco Bay area talk show host Bernie Ward has been indicted on two federal Internet child pornography charges. In a brief court appearance Thursday morning he pleaded not guilty. Read More Ward, a self described progressive and former Catholic priest, hosts the weeknight Bernie Ward Show and the Sunday morning Godtalk show on KGO Radio.

It was a tearful day in a Florida court for former Wharton High School basketball coach and math teacher Jaymee Wallace. Read More The now 30-year-old was sentenced to three years in prison, for carrying on a sexual relationship with one of her players, a then fourteen-year-old female. The victim, now 20 years old and serving in the military was not in the courtroom, but previously testified it was her wish Wallace not serve prison time. But the victim’s parents disagreed. They believed prison time was the only option. The judge sentenced Wallace to three years in prison followed by an additional three years of probation.

With the number of preschool-age children being prescribed stimulants, antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs on the rise, a group of researchers has suggested a standardized approach to treatment. Read More Child mental health professionals from Bradley Hasbro Children’s Research Center in Rhode Island and 11 other institutions have developed recommendations for specific disorders to help clinicians who are considering medications for children ages 3 to 6. The guidelines are published in the December issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

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