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Josh Raykin had never spent even a night away from his parents. That is, until Arapahoe County snatched the 8-year-old from his home after an abuse allegation that social workers dragged their feet investigating. The ordeal began while Josh was playing outside one day before dinner in April. A neighbor knocked on the door to tell his dad that police had come to take Josh away. The strawberry-blond kid with pale blue eyes was born in 1999 after Michael and Melanie Raykin tried for 15 years to conceive. Michael, a courier, and Melanie, a hairstylist, work extra hours to send...

"Review of statements and video surveillance vindicated students accused of assaulting a 13-year-old student at Athens Middle School, said Athens Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Fred Hayes. The female student will be charged by Athens District Police for making a false report, he said."'It's disappointing that we have an issue like this going on,' he said. 'It's certainly disappointing when a student lies, anytime.' "The incident began as part of a history class assignment on Friday. She and the other students were asked to create 'protest signs' dealing with current and past topics. 'If you love your nation, stop illegal...

Last week Tim, a reader, wrote: "This sort of story should send chills...A college professor spent nine days in jail, and was suspended from his job because of a false rape accusation. The lying accuser was sentenced -- to EIGHT (8) days in jail. That's right, eight days for the criminal as opposed to nine days for the innocent man. This is not to mention suspension from the college where he worked, and the agony he most assuredly endured over facing 30 years in prison for something he didn't do. "The enlightened judge at sentencing made sure to add that...

Background: Research demonstrates that a significant percentage of allegations of sexual assault are false. To learn more, see my recent column U. of Maryland Correct to Deny Clothesline Project Protesters a Forum to Publicly Name Alleged Rapists (Baltimore Sun, 10/15/07).Also, see my blog posts College Student Creates Campuswide Crime Alert over Double False Rape Accusation, False Rape Accuser Almost Ruins 8 Men's Lives, but Police Say Real Danger Is Her Lies 'May Deter Women Who've Been Attacked from Coming Forward', and Outrageous MSNBC Video of False Sexual Abuse Allegation Against Police Officer.It is rare that false accusers are held accountable...

In Wednesday's coverage of the Duke lacrosse case, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) for the first time identifies the accuser, Crystal Gail Mangum, of Durham, N.C., by name. During the year since Mangum told police she was assaulted at a lacrosse team party, The N&O followed its longstanding policy of not naming claimants in sexual assault cases. This policy is accepted practice among most print and broadcast media in the United States. The N&O has upheld this approach, which the newspaper has followed for at least 15 years, to avoid discouraging victims of rape and sexual assault from reporting...

March 16, 2007 — The woman who accused three members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team of sexual assault is not being forthcoming with special prosecutors, law enforcement sources close to the case tell ABC News. The accuser has met at least twice with prosecutors from the North Carolina attorney general's office, which took over the case from Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong in January. In those interviews, she gave incomplete answers when asked about the alleged assault and the events surrounding it, according to sources. The same sources added that Kim Roberts, the second dancer who attended the...

Justin Timberlake is not in awe of Taylor Hicks’ talent. “People think he looks so normal, and he’s so sweet and he’s so earnest, but he can’t carry a tune in a bucket,” Timberlake told Fashion Rocks, a supplement of Vanity Fair. Timberlake also thinks that Hicks’ fame is fragile. “If [Hicks] has any skeletons whatsoever, if God forbid, he’s gay, and if all these people in Mississippi who voted for him are like [then he takes on a thick southern accent], ‘Oh my god, I voted for a queer!’ It’s just too much pressure.” The “Justified” singer has mixed...

11 p.m. Two dancers are scheduled to arrive and work for two hours. The second dancer arrives in her own car. 11:30-to-11:39 p.m. The accuser receives four calls with no caller id. 12:00-to-12:03 a.m. Time stamped photos show two women dancing in the living room. 12:04 a.m. Time stamp photos show two dancers leaving living room. 12:05-to-12:14 a.m. Accused attacker Reade Seligmann uses his cell phone to call his girlfriend and another person. 12:19 a.m. Taxi picks up Seligmann and a friend at Watt and Urban streets, a block away from the location of the player's house. 12:26 a.m. The...

A second exotic dancer who performed at a March 13 Duke University lacrosse team party where a woman says she was raped and assaulted by three athletes made an obscene gesture at a television camera during court proceedings on Tuesday. When Kim Roberts noticed WRAL's camera in the courtroom, she made the gesture and then stuck out her tongue.

Americans love to poll, test and otherwise assess themselves. A news item barely hits the wires before a poll follows indicating Americans' reaction. Applying for a new job? Just fill out this short questionnaire to determine whether you're racist, sexist, homophobic, heterophobic, ageist, height-ist, or a fat-o-phobe. In that spirit of sensitivity, I submit the following pop quiz to gauge your bias as a news consumer. After reading the following characteristics, please select the college group that most likely fits the description: The group has a 100 percent college graduation rate. Sixty percent have a 3.0 grade point average or...

Defendant faced life in prison NEWARK — Facing life in prison, Kevin Walters cried with joy and hugged his family after a jury returned innocent verdicts on 12 sex-abuse charges. Walters, 33, had been accused of four counts of rape, first-degree felonies, and eight counts of gross sexual imposition, fourth-degree felonies. Because of the accuser’s age, the rape counts carried mandatory life imprisonment if he had been found guilty. The charges alleged that Walters forcibly engaged in sexual conduct with a female family member over a two-year period beginning in 2002 when the girl was 11 years old. Without physical...

A 23-year-old Central Florida woman has been charged with making false statements about a rape that left Rollins College students scared to walk the campus, according to WKMG-TV in Orlando. In November, Desiree Nall, (pictured, left) told Winter Park police that she was raped by two men in a Rollins College bathroom. "The college was on high alert and the neighborhood was in confusion because there was a lot of fear," Winter Park police spokesman Wayne Farrell said. Investigators told WKMG-TV that Nall confessed to making up the story. Nall is the president of the Brevard Chapter of the National...

The True Cost of False Witness March 2, 2005 by Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D. It is the "nuclear option" in divorce and custody cases. It is the nightmare scenario for foster parents. It can be the end of a teaching or child-care career. What is it? It is a false allegation of child abuse. This is not only a particularly vicious form of fraud; it is one of the few lies that the legal system makes no effort to punish. There is, for all practical purposes, no penalty for making a false accusation of child abuse. Many different characters can...

By Susan Vela Lansing State Journal LESLIE - The Ingham County prosecutor dismissed sexual assault charges against a Leslie High School teacher Friday after an investigation revealed his accuser lied. Popular special education teacher Craig Fry, 49, of Lansing was charged last month with three counts of felony criminal sexual conduct after he was accused of nonconsensual penetration and touching. A 16-year-old special education student told authorities that Fry assaulted her last spring and fall. But it never happened. Fry's lawyer, Lawrence Emery - a former county prosecutor - said Friday his client faced life in prison if the charges...

By Troy Anderson , Staff Writer Up to half of Los Angeles County's foster children were needlessly placed in a system that is often more dangerous than their own homes because of financial incentives in state and federal laws, a two-year newspaper investigation has found. The county receives nearly $30,000 per year from federal and state governments for each child placed in the system money that goes to pay the stipends of foster parents, but also wages, benefits and overhead costs for child-welfare workers and executives. For some special-needs children, the county receives up to $150,000 annually. "Called the 'perverse...

Teen surrenders in death of 3-week-old 08:33 PM CDT on Thursday, August 21, 2003 By DEBRA DENNIS / The Dallas Morning News NORTH RICHLAND HILLS – A 16-year-old girl surrendered to police Thursday to face possible charges in the death of a 3-week-old foster baby who died of a head injury Saturday. Accompanied by her lawyer, the teenager turned herself in to authorities at the North Richland Hills police station. She was later taken to the Tarrant County Juvenile Detention Center in Fort Worth, where she is being held on suspicion of capital murder by delinquent conduct, said her attorney,...

Cops probed, cleared 20 men she accused. A Park Ave. businessman was interrupted by detectives while taking a bath, and then stopped while walking his dog. An upper East Side lawyer was questioned about his wife's mental illness at his home late at night. And a billionaire art mogul was followed as he traveled to his Manhattan haunts. All three men were on a list of about 20 litigants who had been fingered by Acting Supreme Court Justice Marylin Diamond as potential authors of a series of bizarre messages that threatened her life, law enforcement sources told the Daily News....