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The Child Protection eNewsletter

Mohamed al Fayed quizzed over child sex assault allegations...

Mohamed al Fayed was questioned under caution by British police in connection with an allegation of sexual assault against a girl under 16, sources said. The Times story here 

Mr. Fayed, the owner of the Harrods department store and Fulham football club, whose wealth was estimated this year as £555 million, has not been arrested in connection with the allegation, which was made in May.

In a press statement, the Met Police refused to confirm Mr. Fayed's name, saying only: "A man attended a West London police station by prior consent and was questioned under caution this morning. He was questioned in relation to an allegation of sexual assault on a girl under 16, at a business premises in central London. The allegation was received in May 2008. No arrests have been made and inquiries continue."

The Mail on Sunday newspaper reported this week that a 15-year-old girl had accused an unnamed "senior Harrods executive" of fondling and kissing her after meeting him while shopping with her mother.

Mr. Fayed's son Dodi was killed alongside Diana, Princess of Wales, in car crash in Paris in 1997 and he has waged a decade-long battle to expose what he claimed was the truth about an establishment plot to stop the princess marrying a Muslim.

When the inquest into their deaths ended in London in April, the Egyptian-born tycoon said that he accepted its verdict of unlawful killing, which blamed the couple's chauffeur and pursuing photographers, but he said he had "reservations".

Mr. Al Fayed, 75, strenuously denied any wrongdoing and said he was concerned that details of the police interview had been revealed shortly after it ended. The Times story here

The inquiry is being led by Scotland Yard's Operation Sapphire, which investigates sexual offences across London. There have been no arrests so far.

Witness: Alamo Had 9-Year-Old Wife...

A federal magistrate called Tony Alamo a flight risk Wednesday as he ordered the evangelist held without bail until his trial on charges that he took a minor across state lines for sex. CBS News story here

The ruling came after Alamo's former followers testified at a hearing that they were often beaten at his instructions and one said Alamo practiced polygamy with several females, including a 9-year-old girl.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Bryant noted that Alamo is charged with a violent crime and said he also considered that Alamo fled a California child-abuse charge in 1989 and was arrested two years later in Tampa, Florida living under an assumed name. Alamo has access to various vehicles, he said.

One witness called to the stand by prosecutors Wednesday, Jael Sprinkle, 32, testified that she was taken as Alamo's wife at age 17 and was considered his wife for two years. She said that Alamo had five other wives at the time and that she knew of him taking a 9-year-old girl as one.

Alamo is an advocate of allowing girls to marry when they reach puberty but has denied such unions took place within his organization.

Sprinkle said she, her parents and others were beaten. She said a 12-year-old boy was paddled to the point of bleeding through his clothes and could walk only with assistance.

Hunt on for missing Missouri teens...

Police have issued an Amber Alert for two teens who were last seen between 7 and 8 p.m. at the Lathrop Football Game in Lathrop, Missouri on Friday, October 17. MyFox KC News story here

Christina "Paige" Alley, 14, was with her boyfriend, Levi S. Carlson, 16, in a maroon 1996 Toyota Avalan with Missouri license PD0 A5U. Originally, Carlson was identified as a victim before police named him as a suspect.

Alley performed in the band at the football game's halftime show and was then given permission to leave. The teen's parents said she told her band director she had an emergency. Her mother called police after they didn't come home that night.

"We're planning the Marine Corps Ball next weekend. We've got her dress. Her first youth symphony concert was Sunday. She'd been practicing for it and ya know, there's nothing missing," said Kim Alley, Paige's mother.

There's untouched cash in her room, her iPod is still on the charger, and her parents said there's no way she planned to leave.

"She was frazzled. She was upset because he'd been calling her apparently saying, well, we heard one student say he was going to commit suicide," said Kim Alley.

The Clinton County Sheriff's Department said there was concern Carlson was suicidal, but no weapons were taken from his home.

The Alleys think Paige's boyfriend, Levi Carlson, was in emotional distress after getting into a fight with his father which may have lead to his step-mother's heart attack Thursday night. Carlson has a medical problem and is without his medication.

"Would he hurt her? We've been told probably not. I've had nightmares. It's not like her to be gone," said Kim Alley.

Paige's father, Jeff Alley, has been doing national media interviews to bring attention to the case.

He's also using the internet to get out information on the couple. They've launched a website, http://www.paigeandlevi.com/, which includes pictures of the kids and a description of the car the teens left in.

In other news...

A Connecticut legislator who paid $100,000 to a woman who claimed he sexually abused her as a child announced his resignation Tuesday and said he is withdrawing from next month's election. AP News story here State Rep. George Wilber said he will step down November 1. The Democrat made the announcement in a two-sentence resignation letter delivered to the Secretary of the State's Office shortly after 5 p.m. on Tuesday. The allegations and payment were made public over the weekend, but Democratic legislative leaders have known about the woman's claims since 2002. Governor M. Jodi Rell and other Republicans have criticized them for keeping quiet. Wilber, 63, who is awaiting a kidney transplant, told The Register Citizen of Torrington on Monday that he would resign, and that his health entered into his decision. "My dialysis and stuff is shutting down due to nerves," he said. Wilber paid $100,000 in 2005 to avoid a lawsuit threatened by a woman now in her 40s who claimed Wilber sexually abused her when she was between the ages of 11 and 18. Wilber, who was never charged with a crime, denies the allegations and has said he paid the woman to avoid long and costly court proceedings.

Two New Mexico residents were arrested on child abuse charges after Luna County Sheriff's investigators found four children living in an unkempt home where rattlesnakes were caged in chicken wire. Fox News story here Frederick Probst, 31, and Heather Billy, 22, each face four counts of child abuse, a third-degree felony. The children–ages 7, 3, 1 year and 6 months–were taken into custody by state social workers. Deputies responded to a report of a 3-year-old boy walking and running barefoot. They discovered the children at a home that had a non-working toilet, dirty dishes piled in a sink, no running water and a child in soiled diapers. The home had animal and human feces inside and other evidence of poor child care.

Two small children were photographed playing on the edge of a rooftop in a bizarre child endangerment investigation that has led to the arrest of a New Jersey mother, MyFOXNY.com reported. Fox News story here The disturbing photos, taken last Thursday by a neighbor, showed the toddlers–a boy and a girl–walking around on the roof of a Jersey City apartment building and even sitting on the edge, sometimes looking down some 30 feet to the ground below. The mother of the boy, Grecia Taveras, was working and at school that day, and left her child in the care of her 21-year-old sister, Sasha Taveras, who is the mother of the girl, MyFOXNY.com reported. The grandmother of the children told MyFOXNY.com that Sasha Taveras had a friend over who wanted to smoke a cigarette on the roof, but they accidentally left the door open. On Friday, child protective services took both children into custody.

A Maryland woman suspected of killing two daughters and keeping their remains in a freezer has been indicted on attempted murder charges in the abuse of a third, surviving daughter, according to court records. AP News story here The indictment issued by a Calvert County grand jury charges Renee Bowman, 43, of Lusby with attempted first- and second-degree murder, assault and child abuse. Bowman initially faced assault and child abuse charges. Sheriff's deputies were investigating an abuse complaint regarding the surviving daughter last month when they discovered the remains encased in ice. Police say the 7-year-old was found by neighbors after she jumped from second-story window of the home in southern Maryland. Bowman is a suspect but has not been charged in the deaths of the girls tentatively identified as her adopted daughters Jasmine Nicole Bowman, who would be 9, and Minnet C. Bowman, who would be 11. See vol6_iss61 and vol6_iss60.

Three Silsbee, Texas High School football players have been charged with raping a cheerleader at a post-game party. CBS News story here Christian Paul Roundtree, 18, Rakeem Bolton, 17, and a 16-year-old boy, whose name was not released because he is a minor, have been charged with sexually assaulting a child, the Beaumont Enterprise reported. Roundtree and Bolton were both released on $100,000 bond late Monday. Information about the 16-year-old, who was taken to the Hardin County Juvenile Correction Center, was not immediately available. The cheerleader and the suspects were at a house party early Saturday when the alleged assault occurred, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed by the Silsbee Police Department, reports The Beaumont Enterprise. The girl told police that three males forced her into a room, held her down and sexually assaulted her, the affidavit states.

A mother being sent to prison for doing nothing while her daughter was dying on a bedroom floor thanked Kansas City for loving the slain girl known for four years only as "Precious Doe." AP News story here Michelle Johnson, 33, also apologized in court for not being a better parent to Erica Green, then was sentenced to 25 years for the girl's murder. Prosecutors had recommended that sentence after Johnson testified at her husband's murder trial. "Certainly, there is no further departure from the essence of humanity than this–a mother whose selfish indifference kills her small daughter," Judge John O'Malley said as he imposed the sentence. In 2001, Harrell Johnson kicked 3-year-old Erica in the head when she wouldn't go to bed, and the adults didn't seek medical help for her because they feared going to jail on outstanding warrants. Erica's beheaded body was found in woods in Kansas City, and she wasn't identified until 2005, when Harrell Johnson's grandfather in Oklahoma tipped an activist prominent in trying to identify "Precious Doe." See vol6_iss63 and vol6_iss62.

*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"


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