Free Republic

Just days before Tuesday’s election in the tight race for San Diego’s 52nd Congressional District seat, a second former staffer for Republican candidate Carl DeMaio is accusing him of sexual harassment. Navy veteran Justin Harper, 25, said he began interning with DeMaio’s campaign in February and was hired as a regional political director a month later. His job was to make phone calls and knock on doors to ask voters for their support. Harper said he quit on July 12, two days after an incident involving DeMaio in a restroom at campaign headquarters.

Penn State students and fans Saturday showed support for late coach Joe Paterno with a “Joe-Out” – wearing clothing or displaying images of the Hall of Famer at the Nittany Lions' football game. As a Penn State alumnus, I am proud of my university and I remain proud of the work that JoePa did on and – more importantly – off the football field, with respect to inspiring students and improving academics at the institution.Yet there remains in the public sphere this erroneous belief that JoePa was a conspirator in the alleged cover-up of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Sandusky, a...

PARK CITY — A teacher at Parley's Park Elementary and area Boy Scout leader is accused of possessing child pornography. Jose Maria Ardanaz Ezcurdia, 31, was charged Monday in Summit County's 3rd District Court with five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.

IN HINDSIGHT, Joe Paterno wrote, the day after he got fired with a phone call, he wished he had done more. He had not committed a crime, he had not witnessed a crime, he had reported what sounded like a crime to his superiors. The haters jumped all over that sentence, like it was some kind of a confession that the legendary Penn State football coach had somehow enabled Jerry Sandusky to sexually abuse those kids, while he looked the other way. The haters spent a lot less time debating the note he scribbled on a pad before going to...

It's the Joe Biden you didn’t know — and might not want to see. Secret Service agents dread being assigned to protect the vice president, in part because Biden’s a big fan of skinny dipping, according to a new tell-all book. In “The First Family Detail,” author Ronald Kessler quotes unnamed Secret Service agents dishing about the supposedly “hidden lives” of Presidents and the other important people they protect.

A new book claims that Vice-President Joe Biden upsets female Secret Service agents by swimming naked wherever he goes. 'Agents say that, whether at the vice president's residence or at his home in Delaware, Biden has a habit of swimming in his pool nude,' Mr Kessler writes. 'Female Secret Service agents find that offensive.' The Secret Service is also concerned by Mr Biden's insistence that the motorcade that accompanies him everywhere does not disturb his neighbours in his home state of Delaware, says Mr Kessler.

CLARKSTOWN - A Clarkstown South High School teacher was arrested for allegedly exposing himself while driving on an upstate highway.

A Daytona Beach father beat an 18-year-old man unconscious after finding him sexually abusing his 11-year-old son early Friday morning, police said. The father called 911 around 1 a.m. after he walked in on the alleged abuse, police said. When officers arrived, they found Raymond Frolander motionless on the living room floor. He had several knots on his face and was bleeding from the mouth. "He is nice and knocked out on the floor for you," the father told the 911 dispatcher. "I drug him out to the living room."

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. - A decade-old allegation accusing a local teacher is being re-investigated after the teacher was arrested for similar charges. Matthew Graziotti, who works at the Warner Christian Academy in South Daytona, was arrested on Monday for producing and distributing child porn. Graziotti had been accused of misconduct with minor children in 2004, according to Edgewater police, but no evidence was discovered at that time. With this new arrest, the past allegation is being re-investigated, police told Local 6.

Two former administrators at Linwood Monroe Arts Plus School in St. Paul have been charged for failing to report alleged sexual abuse by a former custodian. Beth A. Behnke, 48, of Burnsville was principal in 2011 when Walter Happel allegedly spied on an 11-year-old boy in a bathroom. Craig A. Guidry, 52, of Arden Hills was assistant principal. On Monday, Behnke and Guidry were both charged with one count each of misdemeanor failure to report the maltreatment of minors. According to the criminal complaint, on Dec. 26, 2011, a mother of the boy reported to St. Paul police her son...

Mike Dickinson, the Virginia liberal Democrat seeking the House seat currently held by Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., despite not being on the ballot, offered a $100,000 reward for nude photos and videos of Kendall Jones, the 19-year-old Texas Tech cheerleader who recently made news with a series of hunting photos on her Facebook page.

A sex offender convicted of sex crimes against young children who were under his supervision took advantage of a legal loophole and became the father of a girl through an overseas surrogacy arrangement. The story was brought to the attention of the National Council for the Child by a woman who learned of the man's past convictions. "She told us of the screening tests candidates for adoption must undergo in Israel, and inquired why those seeking to adopt children abroad are not subjected to the same rigorous procedures," NCC Executive Director Dr. Yitzhak Kadman told Yedioth Ahronoth. An inquiry launched...

VERNON — A former nurse practitioner from Vernon admitted in court on Thursday that he raped a 3-year-old girl and conspired to rape an 18-month-old baby. Jay Mohler-Avery, 46, in pleading guilty, also admitted trying to get the mother of the 18-month-old to move her four children and herself in with him so they could be his sex slaves. He claimed, according to the police investigation, as outlined by prosecutor Elizabeth C. Leaming, that children would not be harmed by having adults sexually exploit them. "Children should be able to explore their sexual curiosity in the home with other children...

A 19-year-old University of Maryland lacrosse player was arrested at an outdoor concert in Virginia Sunday night after allegedly groping a 49-year-old mother passed out on the lawn. Prince William County Police say the woman fell asleep on the Jiffy Lube Live lawn during a Zac Brown Band concert, when she woke up to find teen Benjamin Chisolm touching her inappropriately. Chisolm walked away after the attack but was later arrested for public intoxication and now faces additional charges of aggravated sexual assault. The victim, identified as 'Donna', has come forward to dispute details of the police report and reveal...

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...

<p>A Florida man was charged Friday in an alleged plot to lure a 9-year-old girl to a vacant home, kill the girl's family members and then videotape himself raping the child.</p> <p>State law enforcement officials said Friday that 29-year-old Shawn Thomas was charged with attempted premeditated homicide, attempting to commit capital sexual battery and possession of child pornography.</p>

A Minneapolis middle school teacher has been charged with electronic solicitation of a child after prosecutors say he drove to meet someone he believed to be a 14-year-old girl for sex. Joel Daniel Fowler called in sick Tuesday at his job as a social studies teacher at Olson Middle School and drove to the Cherokee Park area of St. Paul with plans to meet the girl, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday in Ramsey County District Court. The girl turned out to be a St. Paul police sergeant. Fowler was arrested. The school's principal told families in a letter...

Last month, Illinois State Rep. Keith Farnham announced his immediate resignation from the position. Though he said at the time his decision was based on health concerns, his recent arrest cast doubt on the actual reason behind the Democrat’s move. The 66-year-old had state-owned computers seized by federal authorities just before his resignation; and along with evidence found on his personal computers, officials prepared multiple charges related to child pornography and allegations of sexual abuse.

A baptist church that made headlines two years ago for allowing a registered sex offender to preach is now free to allow children in worship services.

Former Pennsylvania State University president Graham B. Spanier is again asking a judge to dismiss charges against him regarding the alleged cover-up stemming from the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse case, this time alleging misconduct by the prosecutor in the case. In a lawsuit filed Monday against Attorney General Kathleen Kane in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg, Spanier accuses former deputy Attorney General Frank Fina of violating his civil rights and acting in "bad faith" by bringing charges based on testimony from attorney Cynthia Baldwin, who was representing Spanier at the start of the investigation.