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Archives > Volume 7 Issue 15 - March 4, 2009 Stiles convicted of sexual assault on 2-year-old...A man who was tracked down after a video of him sexually assaulting a 2-year-old girl was found in the Nevada desert was convicted Tuesday of that attack and another on a 6-year-old. MSNBC News story here 
Chester Arthur Stiles remained sitting, showed no emotion and stared straight ahead as guilty verdicts were read against him for 22 felonies, including sexual assault.
He faces multiple life prison terms at sentencing, which was set for May 8. Nineteen of the charges stemmed from acts Stiles videotaped of himself with the 2-year-old sometime from April to August 2003. The jury somberly viewed the graphic homemade VHS tape late Friday in a hushed courtroom where the judge excluded the public but allowed five news reporters to remain. Outside the presence of the jury, Clark County District Court Judge Jennifer Togliatti called the recorded images "clearly child pornography in its most graphic form." A man gave the tape to authorities in 2007, five months after he found it hidden in a desert lot about 60 miles west of Las Vegas. That man later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct a public officer for the delay in turning in the video. With clear evidence of a sex crime on a toddler but neither the victim nor the abuser identified, investigators released images from the video in a nationwide hunt for both people. See more at vol5_iss64, vol5_iss65, vol5_iss66, and vol5_iss68. Stiles, 38, of Las Vegas, was arrested after he was identified as the man on the video and a fugitive in a case involving a 6-year-old girl. Prosecutors said he molested the older child in late 2003. Florida detectives search dumpster in Haleigh Cummings' disappearance... Detectives in Florida looking for a missing 5-year-old girl sorted through tons of trash in a dumpster near the family home after cadaver dogs picked up a scent, but turned up no new evidence. Fox News story here 
Investigators from the Putnam County Sheriff's Office spent several hours going through the garbage piece by piece in their search for Haleigh Cummings, Captain Dick Schauland said in a news release.
The dumpster search was prompted by three cadaver dogs that apparently picked up a scent at the receptacle, according to Schauland. Haleigh vanished from her bedroom about three weeks ago. See vol7_iss11, vol7_iss12, and vol7_iss13. Seven teams of canines spent the day Thursday in the area around the mobile home where Haleigh lives with her father Ronald Cummings Jr., his girlfriend Misty Croslin and her 4-year-old brother Junior. Schauland said the endeavor wasn't the result of any new information in the case but a "routine procedure of re-checking areas that had been previously searched to be sure that nothing had been overlooked." In other news... 
The Orlando mother accused of killing her young daughter will go on trial for the murder in October. Fox News story here Casey Anthony's first-degree murder trial was tentatively set for October 12 by Circuit Judge Stan Strickland. Caylee disappeared in mid-June but wasn't reported missing until a month later. Her remains were found in December in a wooded lot about a half-mile from her family's home. The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide. The judge also agreed to temporarily stop the public release of a jailhouse video of Casey Anthony reacting to news that Caylee's remains had been found until her defense attorney can view the video. The trial was originally scheduled to begin this month.
Five children who were unrestrained in a moving vehicle were taken by Oregon authorities after their parents were discovered to be under the influence of methamphetamine, police said. KPTV News story here William and Tracy Duncan, who are both 38, were arrested on charges of possession of meth and child endangerment after police stopped their vehicle when they saw that none of their children, who range in age from 5 to 10 years old, was wearing a seat belt, police said. A McMinnville police officer saw the vehicle driving on Highway 99W with the five unrestrained children at about 11:45 p.m. Wednesday and pulled it over near the Paragon Motel. The officer realized that the Duncans were both under the influence of methamphetamine and after investigating further found meth inside the vehicle and in a motel room the couple had rented, police said.
An Indiana school bus driver has been charged with felony child neglect for allegedly doing nothing to stop three teenage boys from terrorizing female students on his route. AP News story here Court documents say Terry Burch, 67, of Portage, failed to prevent physical abuse to the girls or failed to report it. The documents filed Friday also say Burch did nothing when the three boys-two 17-year-olds and one 16-year-old-threatened Burch and others, exposed their genitals on the bus, exposed their buttocks to passing motorists, ignited a flammable body spray and created other disruptions. Burch denied knowing such behavior was occurring on the bus, said Corporal Troy Williams, a Portage Township schools resource officer. A message seeking comment left Saturday at Burch's home was not immediately returned. Burch told the Portage Township School Board on Monday that drivers cannot see what happens in the back of buses and that no parents notified him of problems. One girl who claims to have been repeatedly groped on the bus told officers she reported the abuse to Burch more than once. 
A man who allegedly held his daughter captive for 24 years and fathered her seven children said his family led a "completely normal family life," the Daily Mail reported. Fox News story here Josef Fritzl told an Austrian psychologist he was trying to protect his daughter Elisabeth from herself. 'It was in the summer of 1984 that I found my daughter lying totally apathetic in bed," he told the doctor in an interview leaked to a magazine, the Mail reported. "She had been sniffing cleaning fluids and I decided I should talk with her in my cellar. We did that but she reacted to my accusations with a couldn't-care-less attitude. A dreadful anger developed in me and out of this anger I decided to lock her up." "And because in the coming days she showed no improvement in her attitude, I decided to keep her locked up," the 73-year-old reportedly said, according to the British newspaper.
The Tacoma, Washington woman who attacked a convicted sex offender with a baseball bat last summer has been sentenced to 90 days in jail for assault. KIRO TV News story here Tammy Gibson, 40, admitted going after William Baldwin with the bat last June, saying she was angry that Baldwin was seen talking to her daughter. She said she attacked him after she saw a flyer stating that he was convicted of child molestation. In a jailhouse interview after the attack, Baldwin said he had committed his crime as a teenager and was turning his life around. He received minor injuries from the assault. Gibson became a minor Internet celebrity after granting an interview to KIRO 7 while behind bars. She tearfully claimed she had no regrets for hitting Baldwin, saying she "would do it again" to protect her children. Gibson received offers of support and bail money from people around the country. She pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of third degree assault in exchange for dismissal of first-degree assault charges and felony harassment. Gibson was booked into the Pierce County Jail following her sentencing hearing to begin serving her term. She is being given credited for eleven days already served.
As text messaging has boomed in recent years, it has also given rise to so-called "textual harassment." Text messages antagonize recipients in a way that is not easily ignored: Most people are never far from their cell phones, and the gadgets tend to blink and chirp until unopened messages are acknowledged. MSNBC News story here Adding another sting, the victims are often charged by their cell phone companies for receiving the messages. A study of stalking by the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics released last month confirmed that stalking by texting has become a pervasive problem. The report found 23 percent of stalking or harassment victims reported in 2006 that the stalker had used some form of cyberstalking, such as cell phone texting or e-mail, to harass them. It was the agency's first measure of the emerging practice, said Katrina Baum, one of the study's authors. "Technology has become a quick and easy way for stalkers to monitor and harass their victims," the report said. 
A 3-year-old girl who was allegedly kidnapped from a family friend's home in a small northern California town has been found unharmed and the man suspected of abducting her is in custody, police said. ABC News story here An Amber Alert was issued for Francis Ann Collins. Yreka, California, police say the girl was abducted at about 4:30 Monday morning by 22-year-old Kody Lee Kaplon. Roxie West of the Yreka police said the girl was found unharmed this evening in a remote area northwest of the city, which is near the Oregon border. No other details of the incident were immediately available. Police Sgt. Ray Boutin told ABCNews.com earlier today that Collins and her parents were staying overnight at a friend's house when the girl's parents heard Francis scream around 4:30 a.m. While her father tore through the house looking for Francis, her mom raced outside to find her daughter sitting on Kaplon's lap as he drove away, Boutin said.
British authorities have admitted a "serious error of judgement" after a disturbed teenager was placed with a foster family and sexually abused their children. Sky News story here Social workers failed to tell them the youth-who cannot be named for legal reasons-had a history of sexual behavior involving youngsters. He then went on to attack their two young children, and was jailed indefinitely at Cardiff Crown Court after admitting rape and sexual assault. Judge Nicholas Cooke QC said the case was a tragedy for the couple, whose only wish was to serve the community by helping the teenager. Vale of Glamorgan council has launched an investigation into the case, and said it deeply regrets the distress and harm caused to the family. Phil Evans, Director of Social Services, added: "Although the inquiry is still at an early stage, it has become clear that there was a serious error of judgement in placing the young man in this family." Allegations about the teenager's sexual behaviour were first made in 2004, when it was claimed he acted in a sexually inappropriate way to another boy. In 2005, he is said to have sexually touched a boy while they were both living at a hostel in England. Last year, he allegedly sexually assaulted a 16-year-old while they were staying in the same hostel.
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