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Archives > Volume 9 Issue 4 - January 26, 2011 California second graders engage in sex act during class...A second-grade teacher in Northern California was placed on leave while a school and police investigate accounts by students that classmates engaged in oral sex and stripped off some of their clothes during class, officials said. AP story here 
The investigation was under way at Markham Elementary School in Oakland, where the principal notified parents of the situation in a letter Thursday.
"We believe if the reports are true, there was a serious lapse of judgment or lack of supervision in the classroom," said Troy Flint, a spokesman for the Oakland Unified School District. "We're investigating how could this have happened. It seems unthinkable to us, just the same way it does to the public." The male teacher, whose name has not been released, told investigators he did not see any of the acts that authorities suspect occurred last week. The teacher is barred from campus at least until the investigation is completed. The principal learned of the allegations Wednesday after a student gave an account to a teacher's assistant, Flint said. "Upon hearing these reports, we immediately launched an investigation which, to date, suggests that the reports have merit," Principal Pam Booker wrote in the letter to parents. "We have interviewed all the student participants who were implicated, as well as their teacher, and we continue to investigate the matter aggressively." One incident involved several students who partially undressed and acted disruptively during class, while the other involved students who engaged in oral sex, district officials said. Ann Pettway confesses to kidnapping Carlina White... Ann Pettway confessed to authorities that she kidnapped Carlina White 23 years ago after enduring several miscarriages and was ordered held without bail. ABC News story here Pettway was arraigned on one federal kidnapping charge in Manhattan federal court. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison. 
Pettway, 49, looked defeated and downcast as she was arraigned. She did not enter a plea and was ordered held without bail.
Earlier she told officials that she is "truly sorry," according to the criminal complaint filed today. "Pettway was dealing with the stress of trying to be a mom and had had several miscarriages. She did not believe she would ever be able to be a parent," according to a court document filed by FBI Special Agent Maria Johnson who interviewed Pettway. Johnson is a member of the FBI's Crimes Against Children Squad. Pettway told the FBI that she took White, then just 19 days old, from Harlem Hospital in 1987. "When no one stopped Pettway, Pettway took the victim with her on a train to Pettway's home in Bridgeport, Connecticut," according to Johnson's court document. "Pettway told her friends and family members that the victim was her child. " She told authorities that she tried to create a fake birth certificate for White, renaming her Nejdra Nance, but was unable to create a fake document that appeared real, according to court documents. The lack of a birth certificate was one of the things that made Carlina White suspicious that something was not right. According to court documents, when White asked Pettway for her birth certificate, the woman lied, saying she didn't have one because White had been given to her by a woman who used drugs. White ultimately discovered that she had been kidnapped as a baby by searching missing children web sites, and earlier this year was finally reunited with her real family. In other news... 
New Jersey teenagers caught texting or posting sexually explicit photos online could avoid prosecution under a measure that would give first-time offenders the chance to complete a diversionary program. AP story here The measure targets "sexting," the practice of sending sexually explicit or suggestive photos by cell phone, as well as e-mailing similar images and posting them online. It's a nationwide problem that has confounded parents, school administrators and law enforcers. Prosecutors in several states including Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Wisconsin have tried to stop it by charging teens who send and receive the pictures. Charges include possession and distribution of child pornography. Lawmakers in New Jersey agreed that criminal prosecutions are better avoided when possible. For more on "sexting", visit eGuide/cellphones.
An 8-month-old Arkansas baby was found safe Tuesday after he was allegedly snatched by his father, who is wanted for murder and who remains at large, Fox16.com reports. Fox News story here 
The wife of an Arizona county supervisor has pleaded guilty in a sexual misconduct case involving a teenage boy. AP story here Prosecutors say Susan Brock pleaded guilty Monday to three counts of attempted sexual conduct with a minor. Brock was arrested in October by police in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler after the parents of a 17-year-old boy learned of steamy text messages reportedly exchanged between their son and the 48-year-old Brock. Officers interviewed the boy, who reported he had been meeting Brock for sexual trysts since he was 14. Brock's husband, Maricopa County Supervisor Fulton Brock, announced in November that he is filing for divorce.
The audience for MTV's racy teen drama "Skins" plunged to 1.6 million Monday night, a drop-off of more than half from its premiere a week earlier, according to Nielsen Co. ratings. CBS News story here The viewer slump may signal a triumph for the Parents Television Council, a watchdog group that had blasted the series' content and accused MTV of aiming the show at underage viewers. Based on an acclaimed British series of the same name, MTV's Americanized "Skins" depicts teens engaging in sexual activity as well as drug and alcohol abuse. The premiere was seen by 3.3 million viewers, 1.2 million of them under 18. Since then, a number of advertisers - including Schick, Taco Bell, L'Oreal and the Subway sandwich chain - have pulled their commercials from the program. The furor was further inflamed by a newspaper story suggesting that scenes with the series' age-appropriate actors, some of whom are minors, might violate federal child pornography laws. Last Thursday, The New York Times reported that unnamed executives at the network were concerned that the show may have crossed the line legally as well as graphically.
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