|
Archives > Volume 8 Issue 59 - October 13, 2010 Stepmom Confesses to Writing Ransom Note...The search for a missing North Carolina girl turned from a missing person's case to a homicide investigation after the girl's stepmother admitted to writing a fake ransom note found at the family's home, police said Tuesday. Fox News story here 
Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins said Elisa Baker confessed under police interrogation to writing a ransom note found on the windshield of one of the family's vehicles.
Adkins said Baker has been charged with felony obstruction of justice in the disappearance of 10-year-old Zahra Clare Baker, who was reported missing by her father, Adam Baker, on Saturday. A police search of the home a day earlier turned up what appeared to be a ransom note addressed to Adam Baker's boss. The note, which asked for $1 million, said, "Mr. Coffey, you like being in control now who is in control we have your daughter," WRAL-TV reports. Police went to that man's house, and found him and his daughter to be fine. Adkins said at a news conference Tuesday that he "cannot confirm with any confidence how long Zahra has been missing." "We can't confirm anyone has seen Zahra within the past month," Adkins said. "Without this information, we cannot positively select the area to search for her." K-9 units detected the smell of human remains on a sedan and SUV belonging to Adam and Elisa Baker during a search of the couple's home on Monday. Zahra, described by neighbors as an upbeat girl who was battling bone cancer that left her with a prosthetic leg and hearing aids, was reported missing Saturday afternoon -- nearly 12 hours after Elisa Baker said she last saw her sleeping in her room. Authorities, however, said it's unclear when the girl was last seen alive. Elisa Baker was already being detained after she was arrested Sunday on a dozen charges unrelated to Zahra's disappearance -- including communicating threats, writing worthless checks, larceny and driving with a revoked license. 1,000 Kenyan Teachers Fired for Sexually Abusing Young Girls... More than 1,000 teachers have been fired for sexually abusing girls over the last two years, according to a new report from the Kenyan government. ABC News story here Last year, 600 teachers were dismissed over allegations of sexual abuse, and 500 more have been let go this year. The allegations range from inappropriate kissing and touching to impregnating girls as young as 12. 
Although the number of reported cases represents less than half of 1 percent of Kenya's 240,000 teachers, the firings underscore a serious epidemic of sexual abuse in the country, say child advocacy and women's rights groups.
"In this year's report of abuse in relation to children, sexual violence topped the list at 86 percent," said Brian Weke, the program manager of the Cradle, a Kenyan child advocacy group. The report states the highest number of abusers were fathers, followed closely by neighbors and teachers. Weke said he'd witnessed the abuse himself while visiting an elementary school in western Kenya where a teacher had impregnated at least 10 girls. The extent of sexual abuse in Kenya came to light after the government set up a hotline for the victims. "Initially, we were not able to know what was happening in the country because of the poor communication, but now communication is everywhere. There's mobile [phones] across the country," Ahmed Hussein, the director of children's services at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Development, told the BBC. Hussein said that some of the teachers had already been arrested and prosecuted. Many, however, were simply fired and sent home. Technically, it is against Kenyan law for an adult to have sex with a minor under the age of 18, but the law is hard to enforce, particularly in rural areas. The victim's family has to press charges and become heavily involved in the investigation, so most accused sexual abusers escape prosecution. In the case of teachers, the accused and school officials often pay off the the girl's family, who is often poor, to keep the family from prosecuting. For more information of educator abuse, visit eGuide/vol3_iss33. In other news... 
Eight out of 10 children under the age of two have their pictures online via sites like Facebook, raising privacy and even pedophilia concerns, an Internet security company said. Breitbart story here A study by Melbourne-based AVG found an average of 81 percent of toddlers in 10 western countries have a digital presence; 92 percent in America, followed by 91 percent in New Zealand and 84 percent in Australia and Canada. A third of children have their photos online at just a few weeks of age, while a quarter appear on the Web before they are even born in the form of ante-natal scans, the company said. "It's a sobering thought," said managing director Peter Cameron. "The vast majority of children today have online presence by the time they are two years old -- a presence that will be built on throughout their whole lives." "It reinforces the need for parents to be aware of the privacy settings they have set on their social network profiles. Otherwise, you may be sharing your baby's picture not only with your friends and family but with the whole online world." The company said parents should keep tight privacy settings to guard against identity theft or unauthorised use of the pictures which could dog the child as it grows up.
More than two hours a day spent watching television or playing computer games could put a child at greater risk for psychological problems, suggests a new study. MSNBC story here British researchers found the effect held regardless of how active kids were during the rest of the day. A Philadelphia-area school district agreed to pay $610,000 to settle two lawsuits over secret photos taken on school-issued laptops. Washington Post story here The Lower Merion School District admitted it captured thousands of webcam photographs and screen shots from student laptops in a misguided effort to locate missing computers. For background on this story, see vol8_iss14. 
A company that provides electronic monitoring to track sex offenders, parolees and others said its system shut down after unexpectedly hitting its data storage limit, leaving authorities across 49 states unaware of offenders' movement for about 12 hours. ABC News story here Prisons and other corrections agencies were blocked from getting notifications on about 16,000 people being tracked, BI Incorporated spokesman Jock Waldo said. The system operated by the Boulder, Colo.-based company reached its data threshold - more than 2 billion records - last Tuesday morning. Tracking devices continued to record movement Tuesday, but corrections agencies couldn't immediately view the data. The company has substantially increased its data storage capacity and hasn't heard of any safety issues, Waldo said. People being monitored were unaware of any problems.
A California county has passed a measure barring people convicted of child sex crimes from decorating their homes and handing out treats to kids on Halloween. CBS News story here A Kentucky audit discovered at least 12 instances of children living or being cared for in state-regulated homes where sex offenders lived. ChildLaw story here The report, released by the Kentucky state auditor, compared the addresses of registered sex offenders with those of foster homes; the residences of other children under state care; and homes that provide state-subsidized day care for low-income families. *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" |
Survivors And Victims Empowered
1725 Oregon Pike, Suite 106
Lancaster, PA 17601
(717) 569-0550 voice
(717) 569-3039 fax
http://www.childprotectionprogram.org