The Child Protection eNewsletter

Florida child porn investigation nets 21…

An undercover operation in central Florida resulted in felony charges against 21 child pornography suspects and the recovery of more than 100,000 sexual images and 200 videos of children as young as a month old. Read More

Nineteen of the 21 men are in custody following a six-month undercover online child pornography investigation, according to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, and deputies have arrest warrants to apprehend the two remaining suspects.

The operation "Defender" bust represents the largest number of arrests made at one time in the history of Polk County and uncovered a library of disturbing videos and still photographs featuring sex between adults and children, among children and between children and animals.

"It is absolutely despicable," Judd told ABC News. "It is the absolute worst deviant behavior anyone can imagine."

One suspect, a 38-year-old car salesman named Joseph Allen, described by Judd as the investigation's "poster child," had more than 80,000 child pornography images on his computer alone. Allen admitted to authorities that he had been collecting child pornography for more eight years, Judd said.

Another startling discovery was a four-minute PowerPoint presentation that explained how to have sex with children from birth until age eight. The tutorial, which offered tips for avoiding getting caught, ended with a note to viewers to "have fun" and "be creative."

Judd declined to provide specific details about how investigators initially found the suspects, but said that sources were able to identify child pornographers and provide enough evidence for the sheriff's office to obtain search warrants for each of the 21 suspects' homes. Computers were seized and the computer crimes unit combed them for child pornography.

The suspects, who face various charges, range in age from 17 to 64. There is a busboy, a convenience store clerk, a cook, a handyman and a high school student among them, according to the sheriff's office. Some have criminal histories, but none of the suspects arrested had ever been convicted of any crimes of a sexual nature.

"And that's what worries us--it's the ones we don't know," Judd said, adding that his department's investigation is ongoing. "We don't know who took these photographs or made these video clips and we don't know where these child victims are."

"You cannot imagine how reprehensible these folks are and their conduct was," Judd said. "It should shock the conscience of every person in our society."

Jury finds Nixzmary's stepfather guilty of manslaughter…

A jury found Nixzmary Brown's stepfather guilty of first-degree manslaughter and unlawful imprisonment in a case that led to a shakeup in New York City's child welfare agency. Read More

The jury also found Cesar Rodriguez guilty of the lesser charges of criminal possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a minor. He was found not guilty of murder, the top count.

Rodriguez faces a maximum of 28 years in prison. Jurors had deliberated for more than 17 hours over four days after hearing nine weeks of testimony.

Nixzmary was 7 years old when she was found dead, battered, bruised and underweight in her Bedford-Stuyvesant home January 11, 2006. Both adults in the home at the time, Nixzmary's stepfather and mother, were charged with murder. Mother Nixzaliz Santiago will be tried later.

The case came down largely to a battle of medical experts. A deputy chief medical examiner called by prosecutors said Nixzmary died from "child abuse syndrome," described as a pattern of neglect over a period of months.

A former chief Suffolk County medical examiner called by the defense told jurors that the "mechanism of death" was a single blow or series of blows at one time. Defense attorneys argued that the analysis is accurate, and that it was the mother who delivered the fatal strike and was the only killer.

The defense also called as a witness a jailhouse informer who'd befriended Nixzaliz behind bars on Rikers Island. The informer testified that Nixzmary's mother admitted "beating the girl with her husband," adding "after he walked away" that she kept "beating until Nixzmary was lifeless."

But the informer also provided a motive for the killing, seemingly unhelpful to the defendant. She testified that Santiago had become enraged after catching her husband and Nixzmary "having oral sex."

The trial began with opening statements January 16. The 10-woman, two-man jury heard 23 witnesses and did not hear from the defendant on the witness stand. But Nixzmary's stepfather was heard on a DVD in which, while interrogated by police and a prosecutor, he admitted to beating and sometimes restraining the little girl by tying her to a chair. See vol6_iss12.

In other news…

British readers and journalists got a shock when they saw the headlines in the Daily Express and the Daily Star: "Kate and Gerry McCann: Sorry." Read More Both newspapers ran rare Page 1 apologies to the parents of missing child Madeleine McCann, acknowledging there was no evidence to support claims they caused their daughter's death. The words--and the papers' million-dollar libel payout to the McCanns--sent a chill through the British media. In their apologies, the newspapers said, "Kate and Gerry are completely innocent of any involvement in their daughter's disappearance." "Express Newspapers regrets publishing these extremely serious, yet baseless, allegations," said the papers' lawyer, Stephen Bacon. Madeleine's story has fascinated Britain since she vanished May 3, 2007--a few days before her 4th birthday--during a family vacation in Portugal. No trace of her has been found. See vol6_iss11 and vol6_iss3 for more background. In the meantime, British media have published sensational stories claiming to be based on leaks, apparently from Portuguese officials. The Express and Star led the pack, running front page stories for months, many attributed to anonymous sources. One day the McCanns were depicted as victims--in headlines like "Madeleine: Her Mother is Innocent"--the next as suspects. Stories asked whether the child's blood had been found in the couple's rental car and whether her body had been dumped in the sea. The McCanns filed a lawsuit complaining that more than 100 articles in the two papers were defamatory. The newspapers--both owned by the Express Group--settled out of court, agreeing to apologize and pay $1.1 million in damages. The McCanns said the money would go into a fund they set up to help find their daughter.

Researchers have long believed that an individual's response to trauma--whether in battle, or as result of a natural disaster, a violent crime or some other horror--depends not only on the intensity of that trauma but also on a complex interplay of past experiences and genetic factors. Read More A new paper, published in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, provides remarkable support for this explanation and identifies a specific gene that influences susceptibility to PTSD. "What we're finding across the board is that what we've inherited makes us more or less vulnerable to the impact of childhood abuse," explains Dr. Rebekah Bradley, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Emory University. "Certain genes can either amplify or dampen the impact of the abuse." Both Dr. Thomas Neylan, Director of the PTSD Program at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, and Bradley say the research underscores the powerful interplay between childhood trauma, genes and mental health. Childhood abuse is a risk factor for multiple mental illnesses, including depression, eating disorders and substance abuse, as well as PTSD. "If we could simply reduce childhood abuse," says Bradley, "it would have a major impact on mental health."

Another Tampa Bay area educator is accused of having sex with a minor. Read More Substitute teacher Lisa Robyn Marinelli, 40, was charged with unlawful sex with a minor, the Pasco County, Florida Sheriff's Office said. She also is accused of giving the 17-year-old boy a pair of her underwear as a memento of their sexual relationship, sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said. Communication between Marinelli and the boy began in January, when the boy was 16, records state. It was unclear how Marinelli met the boy. "The victim's father provided documents of hundreds of cell phone calls, and there were about 35 text messages still on the victim's cell phone," Doll said. "One of the messages asks, 'How about a quickie 2morrow afternoon?' The boy showed investigators several locations where he said he had sex with Marinelli in her vehicle, Doll said. Under Florida law, a 17-year-old cannot consent to sex with a person 24 and older.

For years, three members of the Clement family endured sexual abuse by their Ashville, North Carolina church’s music minister. Read More Leonard Smith was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison November 29 for crimes that spanned 20 years. Alvin Clement, now a state trooper in Guilford County, filed suit with four John Does and Sylvia Clement, guardian for a minor John Doe. Family spokesman David Clement said the local church knew what was happening, and the state and national offices of Church of God in Christ knew about Smith’s crimes but allowed him to continue in his church and jurisdiction jobs. “This is a long process,” David Clement said. “If we hadn’t contacted the state and national offices and been blown off by them, we wouldn’t be doing this.” The lawsuit charges that the church, state office and denomination “knew, or should have known about the lengthy history of child abuse and sexual molestation engaged in by their employee, defendant Leonard Smith,” and that they “failed to take steps to stop Smith’s behavior and conduct.” The lawsuit brings claims of civil battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence, and asks a minimum of $10,000 for each plaintiff, legal fees and “such other relief as the court shall deem reasonable and appropriate.”

A Lancaster County, Pennsylvania man has been charged with sexually assaulting eight children. Read More Northwest Regional police said Frederick Shambaugh, 52, of Elizabethtown was arrested in the Bahamas on sexual assault charges while vacationing there in November. Police said that arrest led to an investigation involving eight local children. "These weren't random acts. The perpetrator was known by the victims in all these instances to our knowledge. Mr. Shambaugh allegedly preyed on individuals that were acquainted with him," said Chief Sam Gatchell. Police said the children were sexually assaulted between 1998 and 2006 at Shambaugh's former residence in Mount Joy Township. Gatchell said at the times of the crimes, the victims' ages ranged from 6 to 13.

New Jersey prosecutors have subpoenaed records of JuicyCampus.com, a Web site that publishes anonymous, often malicious gossip about college students. Read More Language on the site ranges from catty to hateful and offensive. One thread, for example, on the "most overrated Princeton student" quickly dissolves into name-calling, homophobia and anti-Semitism. JuicyCampus may be violating the state's Consumer Fraud Act by suggesting that it doesn't allow offensive material but providing no enforcement of that rule--and no way for users to report or dispute the material, New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram said. The investigation began last month when a student came forward who had been terrorized by posts on the web site that included her address. Prosecutors have subpoenaed information from JuicyCampus on how it is run, citing concerns about "unconscionable commercial practices." "There's an unbelievable amount of offensive material posted and absolutely no enforcement," said Milgram, noting insults about students' appearance, race and sexual history as "just the tip of the iceberg." The site launched last fall on seven college campuses and recently expanded to 50 more, including Princeton University. Free to use and supported by advertising, JuicyCampus promises total anonymity to people who post on it. Many of the postings indicate they've been viewed thousands of times. The site seems designed to shield its users from the threat of libel claims. "It is not possible for anyone to use this Web site to find out who you are or where you are located," assures a JuicyCampus privacy page. "We do not track any information that can be used by us to identify you." Mainstream social networking sites, on the other hand, maintain detailed logs of users' numeric Internet protocol addresses and their posting history.

*for access to member only sites like the New York Times, use the ID "JohnDoeID" and the password "whatever". On sites asking for an email address, feel free to use "info@childprotectionprogram.org"