The Child Protection eNewsletter

Boulder DA:  New DNA clears JonBenet Ramsey’s family… 

KUSA - 9NEWS has learned that newly discovered DNA evidence in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case does not match any Ramsey family members or anyone in law enforcement DNA databases.  Full KUSA story here

The recent testing was done on a different area of the child's clothing and it matches previous DNA tested from the child's panties in 1997.  It is DNA from a male.

The discovery, from a new testing method, has prompted the Boulder District Attorney's office to release a letter officially clearing the Ramsey family, including John, Patsy and their immediate family of any involvement in the December 1996 death of the 6-year-old.

District Attorney Mary Lacy met with John Ramsey and his defense attorneys, Bryan Morgan and Hal Haddon, on Wednesday morning to formally deliver the letter clearing the family of any involvement.  click here for DA letter

Vermont girl missing, stepfather and sex offender uncle arrested on unrelated molestation charges…  

The investigation of a Vermont girl's disappearance has led to charges against her stepfather in a separate case, authorities said.  Full CNN story here

The arrest of Ray Gagnon, 40, is a "byproduct" of the search for 12-year-old Brooke Bennett, said Colonel James Baker, director of the Vermont State Police.  Baker said Gagnon is suspected of sexually assaulting another child in 2007.  He would not provide details.

Federal agents are preparing to also charge Gagnon, of San Antonio, with obstruction of justice for destroying evidence in the Brooke Bennett investigation, FBI Special Agent John Pikus said.  Watch CNN video here  Gagnon "has family members in this area, and he has been in Vermont on a regular basis," Baker said.

Brooke disappeared last Wednesday, after visiting a convenience store in Randolph, Vermont, investigators said.

Police said Gagnon's arrest stemmed from the investigation of the missing girl's uncle, Michael Jacques, 42, who has been charged for his alleged role in a sex ring known as "Breckenridge," CNN affiliate WPTZ reported.  The charge against Jacques, a registered sex offender in Vermont, does not involve his niece.

Jacques' alleged victim told police that her first contact with "Breckenridge" occurred when she found a note under her pillow saying that she had been chosen to participate in a "program for sex," according to an affidavit cited by WPTZ.

Michael Jacques, a registered sex offender who was one of the last people seen with Brooke Bennett before she vanished, pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggravated sexual assault and was held in lieu of $250,000 bail.  ABCNews story here  Colonel Baker called Jacques a "person of interest" in Brooke's case at a Monday press briefing.

The other girl, a relative of Jacques', says he assaulted her over a five-year period, beginning when she was 9 years old and ending a few weeks ago, Orange County State's Attorney Will Porter said.

Meanwhile, investigators in the Bennett case say posts on the social networking site MySpace may have played a part in her disappearance.  WCAXTV Vermont report here  While summer campers at Burlington's Boys and Girls Club log on for fun and games, Bennett's disappearance has Kaitlyn Callahan looking at the computer in a whole new way.  She says, "It shocked a lot of people."

Callahan is the same age as Bennett, and like the missing girl, has used social networking sites including MySpace.  But her mom just pulled the plug.  Callahan explains, "She hasn't let me on since the Amber Alert."

The Boys & Girls Club actually blocks MySpace for young users.  High schoolers can log on, but only with a staff member monitoring their online behavior.  They also go home with advice on safe computer use.

The Club's teen director LeVar Barrino says, "We always make sure they ask their parents' permission before getting on the internet.  Anytime there isn't an adult around, they shouldn't be online at any time."

For more on what parents need to know about online safety, MySpace and other social networking sites visit  childprotectionguide/vol1_iss24  and  childprotectionguide.org/vol1_iss25.

Missouri governor signs bill outlawing cyberbullying… 

Missouri Governor Matt Blunt signed a bill Monday outlawing cyberbullying, just miles from where a 13-year-old girl committed suicide nearly two years ago after being harassed on the Internet.  MSNBC story here

The bill updates state laws against harassment by removing the requirement that the communication be written or over the telephone.  Supporters say the bill now covers harassment from computers, text messages and other electronic devices.

"Social networking sites and technology have opened a new door for criminals and bullies to prey on their victims, especially children," Blunt said.  "This new law will ensure that we have the protections and penalties needed to safeguard Missourians from Internet harassment."

Megan Meier killed herself in October 2006, shortly after receiving mean-spirited messages over the Internet.  Her suicide prompted the bill.  See vol5_iss76

The teenager's mother, wearing a picture of her daughter in a pin on her dress, stood over the governor's shoulder as he signed the bill.

Child prostitutes sell themselves on Craigslist… 

For more than two years, undercover cops on the Sacramento Police Department's vice squad have been working one of the most draining beats: trying to crack down on online child prostitution.  Full CNN story here

Police have nabbed nearly 70 girls under the age of 18 since 2005.  Most of the girls were released to foster or group homes.  Those are just the official figures; investigators think there are many more child prostitutes out there.

Sacramento police are working with the FBI as part of a nationwide campaign to combat underage prostitution called Innocence Lost.  The goal of the program, which is now in almost 30 U.S. cities, is to decriminalize the girls and concentrate on catching the pimps who control them.

Police say most of the ads appear on Craigslist, the popular and free Internet classifieds site, under a category named "Erotic Services."  Even though Craigslist has posted a bold disclaimer warning against human trafficking and the exploitation of children, law enforcement officials said it doesn't seem to deter girls from posting the ads or men who are searching for sex.

Nationally, the FBI said that 345 people were arrested and 21 young victims rescued in a recent round-up of child prostitution suspects.  FoxNews story here

"The mission of the 'Innocence Lost' national initiative is to combat the growing problem of sexual exploitation of children through prostitution," said Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller in making the announcement at headquarters.

Among those arrested are pimps and prostitutes–some of whom are in their 20s but are said to have admitted selling sex since their early teens, federal law enforcement sources told FOX News.

To date, the federal child protection initiative has resulted in the recovery of about 433 victims, Mueller said.

In other news… 

In California, a 44-year-old convicted sex offender has been sentenced to more than a millennium in prison.  KTLA story here  Horace Mann Williams was convicted in February of 11 felony counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14 and one count of digital penetration of a child under 14, along with a sentence-enhancing allegation of multiple victims.  He molested three girls between 1999 and 2005.  On Monday, a judge sentenced Williams to a record-breaking, 1,330-year prison term after the defendant verbally attacked the creditability of his former attorney, the prosecutor and the judge.  In 1992, he pleaded guilty to molesting a 5-year-old Riverside girl, for which he spent six years in prison.

A Pennsylvania school district has such a high number of students with sexually transmitted diseases that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stepped in to track down students at risk for HIV.  FoxNews story here  It’s estimated that 10 percent of the 3,000 middle and high school students in the Delaware Valley School District in Milford, Pennsylvania are infected with an STD–including one confirmed case of HIV, Times Herald Record reported.  On top of those figures, about two dozen teenage girls in the school system have tested positive for pregnancy.  A non-profit health clinic in Milford said they estimate more than 300 students contracted a sexually transmitted disease in the past year.  Officials also told the paper students as young as 12 years old reported being sexually active.  The clinic eventually alerted the school district to the alarmingly high numbers.  School officials then sent a letter home to parents on June 15.

More than 40 percent of the nation’s estimated 10.8 million underage current drinkers (persons aged 12 to 20 who drank in the past 30 days) were provided free alcohol by adults 21 or older, according to a nationwide report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.  The study also indicates that one in 16 underage drinkers (6.4 percent or 650,000) was given alcoholic beverages by their parents in the past month.  SAMHSA.gov press release here  The report is based on a nationwide study which for the first time asked detailed questions about the behavior and social situations involved in underage drinking–a problem responsible for the deaths of more than 5,000 people under the age of 21 every year in the United States.  The survey asked persons aged 12 to 20 about the nature and scope of their drinking behavior as well as the social conditions under which they drank.  Among the report’s more notable findings:

• More than half (53.9) of all people aged 12 to 20 engaged in underage drinking in their lifetime, ranging from 11.0 percent of 12 year olds to 85.5 percent of 20 year olds.
• An average of 3.5 million people aged 12 to 20 each year (9.4 percent) meet the diagnostic criteria for having an alcohol use disorder (dependence or abuse).
• About one in five people in this age group (7.2 million people) have engaged in binge drinking–consuming five or more drinks on at least one occasion in the past month.

The full report is available on the Web at Full SAMHSA report here.  Copies may be obtained free of charge by calling SAMHSA’s Health Information Network at 1-877-SAMHSA-7 (1-877-726-4727).  Request inventory number SMA 08-4333.  For related publications and information, visit http://www.samhsa.gov/.

*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"