Free Republic

The NYPD is questioning a New Jersey man in connection with the Etan Patz case, the 6-year-old boy who vanished more than 30 years ago as he walked to the school bus from his SoHo home, NBCNewYork.com reported Thursday

A man from Maple Shade has confessed to killing 6 year old Etan Patz in New York in 1979. New York City police commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday a person who’s in custody has implicated himself in the death of Patz, the 6-year-old boy whose disappearance 33 years ago on his way to school helped launch a missing children’s movement that put kids’ faces on milk cartons. The Star Ledger identifies the man as Pedro Hernandez of Maple Shade who reportedly confessed to kidnapping and strangling Patz during an interview yesterday with NYPD. Hernandez lured the boy to a nearby...

Rep. Dale Kildee, Michigan Democrat, will be responding to accusations on Monday that he sexually abused his second cousin decades ago. I spoke to Kildee on his way to the airport on Sunday and he denied the charges. The Washington Times affiliated radio program America's Morning News also discussed the charges with the 17 term Congressman who is retiring this year and who previously headed up the now defunct House Page program.

Saint Paul Police officers arrested a teacher at St. Paul elementary school Thursday for probably cause of criminal sexual conduct with a 9-year-old. Mathew Christopher Curran, 52, was arrested without incident outside Aerospace Magnet School on St. Paul's East Side, according to St. Paul police. Just before 10 a.m. Thursday, school officials learned of allegations sexual contact between Curran and a 9-year-old student and contacted police.

The invasion of Iraq was a crime of gigantic proportions, for which politicians, the media and the public share responsibilityThe White House's acknowledgement last month that the United States has formally ended its search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq brought to a close the most calamitous international deception of modern times. This decision was taken a month after a contentious presidential election in which the issue of WMD and the war in Iraq played a central role. In the lead-up to the invasion, and throughout its aftermath, President Bush was unwavering in his conviction that Iraq had WMD,...

Personal liberties are the hallmark of the Libertarian Party, but party leaders are fretting that a Mountain View man convicted of a sex-related crime is just a few votes from becoming their candidate for a state Senate seat this fall.

Prosecutor: Inmate Planned Ex-Priest's Slaying for 'well Over a Month'By Adam Gorlick Associated Press WriterPublished: Aug 25, 2003 WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) - The inmate accused of strangling John Geoghan in his prison cell hated homosexuals and began plotting the attack on the child-molesting former priest weeks ago, a prosecutor said Monday. "He looked upon Father Geoghan as a prize," District Attorney John J. Conte said. "No question he had been planning it for well over a month." Joseph L. Druce, who is serving a life term for killing a gay man 15 years ago, cut apart a book to make...

Setting the record straight By Fr. Douglas K. Clark Unequal coverage It goes without saying that even one pedophile priest is one too many. The same can and should be said of other clergy. But when two Jewish leaders, one a rabbi and the other a cantor, were recently convicted of sexual acts with minors, the press reported their stories differently from the way in which they reported the corresponding crimes of priests. Not only were their stories buried in the inner pages of the newspapers, rather than on the front page, but the convicted men were portrayed simply as...