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HOUSTON, Texas--Earlier this week a service was held at the George W Spencer Funeral Home for 12-year-old Octavia Marie Watkins, according to a recent report by a local Fox News affiliate. Octavia's death was easily preventable: she died because she was thrown from the hood of a moving vehicle. But it's the reason she was on the roof of the car that has investigators puzzled. Allegedly, her friend's mother, who was giving her a ride home from a local pool, ordered the girls to ride on the hood and trunk of the car because she felt their swimsuits were too...

BJ Barone and Frankie Nelson recently became dads to a beautiful baby named Milo, and Canadian photographer Lindsay Foster captured the first time they held their newborn son. Heartstrings of people all over the world were tugged by these amazing, intimate moments, and the photos have since become viral.

A 63-year-old Romeoville man who authorities say was a police officer and church camp leader was charged today with the distribution of child pornography. Miguel Luna, of the 500 block of North Frieh Drive, was charged with one count of dissemination of child pornography and two counts of possession of child pornography, according to the Will County State’s Attorney’s office. Bail was set at $500,000 this afternoon for Luna, who was ordered not to have unsupervised contact with anyone under 18. He also was ordered to surrender his passport.

FULL TITLE: High school teacher, 27, charged with child seduction after she 'made out with and fondled' male student A former teacher has been accused of seducing one of her students and engaging in 'touching, fondling and kissing' during two dates. Brooke Wilson was charged with child seduction following a police investigation in Goshen, Indiana. The 27 year old is alleged to have gone on two dates with the student who was aged between 16 and 18. A probable cause document filed in Elkhart Superior Court reveals that the Spanish teacher admitted she had 'made out' with the student. The...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Police found a child restrained in a southeast Memphis home Thursday. Police say a girl inside the home called them and said her brother was chained up. Officers arrived and found an 8-year-old boy restrained inside the home. Neighbors say the girl got a hold of a cellphone when her mother went to the grocery store. Valerie Golden lives nearby and said her son played at the home and returned home to say the children there were hungry and one boy was chained to a fence one day and locked inside a shed another. “My son has...

SHELBY COUNTY, TN - A once trusted Hope Presbyterian Church music teacher is now at the center of a child sex investigation. Officials are releasing very few details about the investigation, but they do say that it involves multiple agencies. On Wednesday, Matthew Williams was charged with child sex abuse involving a family member. On Saturday, Hope Presbyterian Church found out and terminated Williams' contract immediately. Collierville Police Department confirmed there is an investigation, but that is all it would say. Williams taught piano lessons at Hope Music Academy at the church for almost a year. A spokesperson for Hope...

MINNEAPOLIS - A Minneapolis high school teacher is charged with stalking and attempted criminal sexual conduct involving a student at his school. Hennepin County Prosecutors say 46-year-old Dan Arlen Anderson, a social studies teacher at Minneapolis South High School, attempted to use his position of authority to coerce the girl into having sexual relations with him.

A Maryland mother was arrested Monday after she poisoned her young sons with eye drops, police in Pennsylvania said. State police in Gettysburg announced they had arrested 23-year-old Samantha Unger, of Thurmont. She allegedly told state police in Gettysburg that she put drops of Visine into water and juice for her 3-year-old and that her 1-year-old became sick by drinking them accidentally. Unger faces charges of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children. A police affidavit says both children became sick this spring, and the older boy required hospitalization. Doctors at Hershey Medical Center suspected poisoning, and tests found...

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican's former ambassador to the Dominican Republic has been convicted of sex abuse by a church tribunal and defrocked pending further criminal proceedings in the first case of its kind. Polish archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, who was recalled to Rome last year amid claims that he sexually abused a number of children in the slums of Santo Domingo, was found guilty by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican said on Friday. It is the first time that a Vatican ambassador has been defrocked for sexual abuse. Wesolowski, who has two months to appeal,...

SHAMELESS sponger Josie Cunningham has admitted she smoked through her pregnancy because her unborn baby isn't the gender that she'd prefer.The glamour model, who had her boob op funded by the taxpayer, said she lit up a ciggie after learning her child was a boy. Despite being fully aware of the harmful side effects that nicotine can have on a vulnerable foetus, Josie has been puffing on 20 fags a day. Ms Cunningham became notorious after publicly announcing she'd have an abortion if it granted her access to the Big Brother house. After an angry outcry from critics, the 23-year-old...

... State child services workers got a tip June 17 and found the boy in a dark room with only a mattress, a box spring and a plastic jar apparently used as a toilet, Gwinnett County police said in a statement. The boy had been in the room, without toys or books and without going to school for most of two years, and a lock was put on the outside of the door in January 2013, police said. Investigators found no signs of malnourishment or abuse to the 13-year-old or his nine siblings, who were not confined, according to police....

FULL TITLE: 'Don't come out, whatever you hear': 12-year-old Detroit boy missing nearly two weeks claims stepmother hid him in the basement of his family's condo The stepmother of the 12-year-old Detroit boy missing for 11 days until being found in the basement of his father's home knew he was down there, police have revealed. Monique Dillard-Bothuell barricaded young Charlie Bothuell V behind boxes and told him 'not to come out, no matter what he hears,' the boy told police, according to court documents filed after she was arrested Thursday. Prosecutors also revealed the boy's body is covered in scars...

FULL TITLE: Texas parents who kept their adopted son locked in the garage for five years claim he is a sexual predator who is a danger to their children A Texas couple accused of kidnapping and imprisoning their adopted son for five years in a garage apartment was busted by police after the 22-year-old was arrested for burglarizing a neighbor’s home. Koystya Thyssen, of Dripping Springs, told investigators that parents Jenifer and Dane Thyssen kept him in isolation for six days a week, according to court documents. His parents claim it was for the safety of their family. The accused...

At long last, a mainstream movie about a procedure that millions of American women have undergone. It also happens to be really funny. Regardless of what one thinks about abortion, it cannot be denied that it is a common medical procedure for women. Roughly 30 percent of American women will obtain one. And yet, as Slate’s Dana Stevens has observed, abortion has virtually disappeared as a subject from popular American film and television. Dramas featuring young women routinely use convenient miscarriages as plot devices to avoid having characters make realistic choices, while movies like Knocked Up and Juno follow all...

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As North Carolina lawmakers debated a proposal to prevent charter schools from discriminating against applicants based on sexual orientation, one representative suggested Tuesday that adult sexual attraction to children is a sexual orientation like homosexuality. The amendment was tabled by Republicans, preventing a vote on it. But during the debate, Republican Rep. Paul Stam, R-Wake, said pedophilia, masochism and other illegal sexual practices are sexual orientations like homosexuality and he questioned the role adults who are sexually attracted to children might have in schools. Several lawmakers called those comments offensive. After the House session, Twitter lit up with criticism of...

In case you missed the exciting news, Massachusetts Juvenile Court Judge Joseph Johnston has signed the order for Justina to go home today. After months of fighting this legal battle on behalf of the Pelletier family, we are thrilled that Justina is finally returning home. Lou Pelletier said in a text message, “This battle has been finally won. The WAR will not be won until we stop this from happening to ALL CHILDREN!!” justinapelletier22bJustina said, “I’m so happy. I’m so excited, oh, my gosh. It’s such big news.” The Pelletier family looks forward to putting this 16-month nightmare behind them....

Jesse Brisbin, a 30-year-old twice-convicted sex offender allegedly attempted to abduct a six-year-old girl from a Seattle park on Thursday evening, but he picked the wrong park to act on his compulsion. According to witnesses, he made it about three blocks with the girl after grabbing her by the hand and wrapping his shirt around her face before a group of about 20 neighborhood children and adults caught up with him. According to the Seattle Police Department, the six-year-old girl broke free and Brisbin tried to run away. The men tackled Brisbin, who lives only about a half-mile from Benefit...

Our Cover Story this morning deals with children grappling with a very grown-up issue: gender identity -- boys or girls believing they're the opposite sex, saying they were born this way. Here's Rita Braver: She could be any 12-year-old girl, hanging out with her mom and sister, but Zoey was biologically born a boy. "So how did you handle it when people related to you as a boy?" asked Braver. "Yeah, I always get upset," she replied. "I would be like, 'No, I'm not a boy. I'm a girl. You know, like, I like the color pink, I scream like...

Share Update 16 7 A Peoria couple faces felony child abuse charges after two of their adoptive daughters outlined a pattern of ongoing physical and psychological abuse at the hands of their parents that began five years ago as an attempt, the mother said, to “train” the girls to be “loving and nurturing. Johann Glenn Jorg, 61, and his wife, Kimery Lynn Jorg, 53, were arrested Thursday afternoon at their home in the area of the Loop 101 Agua Fria Freeway and Bell Road in Peoria. Each face four charges of felony intentional child abuse with intent, according to a...