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Beckley , West Virginia A Raleigh County man is in jail for the alleged abduction of a nine year old boy. Beckley Police say Christopher Jarrett of Crab Orchard allegedly lured the boy into an empty exam room at a local medical facility over the weekend. Once there, police say he removed the child's shoes and tried to restrain the boy. The boy then screamed and Jarrett let him go. Police believe there are other victims. They say Jarrett would lure young boys into restrooms at local businesses sniff their shoes or socks and become sexually aroused.

Would you accept an ad from a religious sect touting a divine revelation given to a convicted sex abuser of two girls under 16? That's what the Star Tribune did Friday morning, running two ads from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. One (on page A5 of my Minneapolis edition), simply says, "Jesus Christ, Son Ahman." The second, on A6, proclaimes "Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ Given to President Warren Jeffs," and offers serveral writings for sale. Jeffs, the president of the polygamist sect, was convicted in 2011 of molesting two "child brides" aged 12 and...

Introduction I was elected to the Penn State Board of Trustees more than two decades ago, and served on it as an alumni Trustee for twelve years — from 1988 to 2000. I came onto the Board thinking that it was a deliberative body such as one reads about in civics books. It is not. It took me years to understand what was really going on. In what follows, I hope to shed some light on the inner workings of the Board, as well as to explain both why the Board remains so secretive, and why it has offered so...

OHIO - A Northwest Side woman is accused of sexually abusing her 10-month-old son, videotaping the acts and sending them to her boyfriend in Michigan. Ashley N. Jessup, 24, of 4338 Camden Circle, was indicted on two counts of rape, one count of endangering children and one count of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor. If convicted of raping the baby, she could be sentenced to life in prison, said Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien. Jessup was arrested on Sept. 1 and is being held in the Jackson Pike jail in lieu of $1 million bond set by Municipal...

If a spate of recent allegations proves true, Hollywood may have a hideous epidemic on its hands. The past two weeks have brought three separate reports of alleged child sexual abuse in the entertainment industry. Martin Weiss, a 47-year-old Hollywood manager who represented child actors, was charged in Los Angeles on Dec. 1 with sexually abusing a former client. His accuser, who was under 12 years old during the time of the alleged abuse, reported to authorities that Weiss told him "what they were doing was common practice in the entertainment industry." Weiss has pleaded not guilty. On Nov. 21,...

To certain Catholics, Peter Kreeft is a rock star. That was evident Nov. 18, when nearly 500 people filled an auditorium at the Bishop O'Connor Center in Madison to hear him talk. Kreeft, a Catholic author and Boston College philosophy professor, had been asked by the Catholic Diocese of Madison to speak on whether "a Catholic can be a liberal." Kreeft called it "a very challenging question" and said he'd never spoken on it before. Kreeft is a strong defender of the Catholic Church against what some people call "modernists" or, more derisively, "cafeteria Catholics," people who pick and choose...

PASADENA – Charmaine Carnes had only been at Flairs, a Pasadena gymnastics club, a few months in 1978 when she was chosen to ride in the front seat of coach Doug Boger's car. Carnes beamed as she shut the car door, convinced that the ride with Boger, then 30, to a competition later that day was the first leg of a journey that would make her an Olympian. Instead, Carnes said, Boger took her and many of her Flairs teammates to a much darker place. A newspaper clipping featuring Doug Boger, right, with Flairs gymnast Denise Gallion. Gallion said Boger...

Vatican City, Nov 21, 2011 / 05:55 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict accepted the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law, former Archbishop of Boston, and appointed Spanish Archbishop Santos Abril y Castelló as the new archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major. Cardinal Law, who resigned in 2002 as Archbishop of Boston in the wake of the sex abuse scandal, turned 80 on Nov. 4.A Vatican official explained to CNA on Nov. 21 that although the official retirement age for a post such as archpriest is 80, it is customary for cardinals to hold their positions for a longer period of time....

One of victims accusing Jerry Sandusky the former Penn State football coach has been bullied out of school, pennlive.com reports, citing the teen’s psychologist. Students blame the 17-year-old high school senior - identified as Victim 1 in the grand jury report - for the university’s firing of legendary football coach Joe Paterno, psychologist Mike Gillum told the site. Watch the video to see In Session contributor Sara Ganim discussing the bullying Victim 1 has endured.

DUNBAR WVa- Dunbar Police have arrested a man on charges of sexual abuse. Edwin Albert Smuda, 58, of Dunbar, is charged with sexual abuse by a parent, guardian, custodian or person of trust. He is a Junior ROTC instructor at South Charleston High School. According to release from Chief E. E. Whittington Smuda was arrested at him home Thursday afternoon. He was arraigned by a Kanawha County Magistrate. Bond is set at $25,000. Smuda will be back in court at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey on Tuesday asked for a hearing into how federal laws apply to the investigation of the child sex-abuse case that has enveloped Penn State University.

Two teachers, including a former teacher of the year, are suing the Catholic Archdiocese of Miami, claiming they were fired for reporting suspected sex abuse involving the principal and a seventh grade girl. Chanell Morello and Lynn Hoffman immediately contacted the Florida Department of Children and Families and the Miami Archdiocese after the student made Morello aware of an incident allegedly involving St. Anthony Catholic School principal Norma Kramer.

With a thick piece of black duct tape covering the Penn State logo on his baseball cap and a pair of signs criticizing the university, Jon Matko knew he wasn’t going to make many friends at Beaver Stadium on Saturday. But he didn’t care. The 2000 Penn State graduate and father of a 4-year-old boy said he felt he had to do something to remind Nittany Lions fans about the victims in the school’s sexual abuse scandal. So while kids posed for pictures next to the Joe Paterno statue and others chanted, “We Are” before Saturday’s game, Matko stood on...

In a story today, the Legal Intelligencer points out the loophole through which Tim Curley and Gary Schultz—Penn State's athletic director and former vice president of business and finance, respectively—will likely try and escape prosecution on charges they failed to report allegations that Jerry Sandusky raped a boy in a university shower.

A Harrisburg civil attorney who has been advising some of the alleged victims of former Penn State defensive coach Jerry Sandusky released a statement today about the board of trustees action last night firing coach Joe Paterno. "The board of trustees got it wrong. They should have consulted the victims before making a decision on Mr. Paterno," Ben Andreozzi said. "They should have considered these victims watch TV and are aware of the students' reaction and may not want to be associated with the downfall of Mr. Paterno. The school instead elected to do what it felt was in its...

Scandals of all kinds have tarnished college sports for decades, though what is unfolding at Penn State is hard to compare to any of them. It's simply on another scale, both in terms of the charges - former Nittany Lions defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky is accused of serial child sex abuse, which he denies - and the other person whom the case is bringing down, Joe Paterno. The 84-year-old Paterno announced Wednesday he will retire at the end of this season, though the school's board of trustees might not let him coach even that long. Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/09/2493376/penn-state-scandal-dwarfs-others.html#ixzz1dFPqKATf

Joe must go. Joe Paterno must resign or be fired before Penn State's next game. Today would be good. Remember the outrage over trinkets for tattoos, the scandal that rocked Ohio State earlier this season? That coach is gone. Why is Joe Paterno still strapping on a whistle? And where was JoPa's whistle when defenseless young boys really needed it? Paterno, his athletic director and the school's vice president all knew something horrible occurred involving former team assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, and they all let it slide. For a decade. Why? The way it smells from here: The alleged predator...

Former Penn State football defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky sexually abused eight young men, state prosecutors said.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands-- Clergy sex abuse victims upset that no high-ranking Roman Catholic leaders have been prosecuted for sheltering guilty priests went to the International Criminal Court on Tuesday, seeking an investigation of the pope and top Vatican cardinals for possible crimes against humanity. The Center for Constitutional Rights, a New York-based nonprofit legal group, requested the inquiry on behalf of the Survivors Network, arguing that the global church has maintained a "long-standing and pervasive system of sexual violence" despite promises to swiftly oust predators. The Vatican said it had no immediate comment on the complaint. The complaint names Pope...

Police charged a man with molesting his 9-year-old daughter at the sold-out Selena Gomez concert in St. Augustine Sunday night. Several women sitting behind the 52-year-old father and daughter alerted volunteers at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre about what they considered inappropriate touching. The volunteers told police, who arrested the man after he became aggressive with them and initially wouldn't let them talk to his daughter. The Times-Union is not identifying the father to protect the girl's identity. The man was charged with lewd and lascivious molestation on a victim under 12. He is being held in the St. Johns County...