Free Republic

ATLANTA — A pilot from Washington state was arrested in Atlanta this week on charges he sexually assaulted at least 20 boys at his home over a six-year period and videotaped much of the abuse. Police and FBI agents arrested Weldon Marc Gilbert, 47, in Atlanta on Thursday and charged him with nine sex crimes, including child rape, child molestation and sexual exploitation of a minor. The Lake Tapps, Wash., resident and pilot for the United Parcel Service was in jail in Atlanta late Friday awaiting extradition to Washington. Pierce County, Wash., sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said more charges are...

Samaritans Disrupt Alleged Rape in Progress Five Young Adults Tackle, Detain Rape Suspect Until Police Arrive By DAVID SCHOETZ Oct. 29, 2007 Five good Samaritans disrupted the alleged rape of a 22-year-old Oregon woman, chasing down and tackling the suspect until authorities arrived, police said. Police in Salem, Ore., responded to a 911 call early Saturday morning from a young woman who reported that she and four friends had just confronted a man who appeared to be raping an unidentified woman along a busy road about three miles from the city's downtown. When police arrived, they found a bloodied 37-year-old...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A 59-year-old convicted sex offender in Illinois tried to castrate himself using a filet knife after he got the urge to "touch and hurt children," according to the Daily Herald. The man, who was not identified, removed one of his testickes, flushed it down the toilet and severely injured the other one. He called a friend for help and when paramedics and police arrived, they found him bleeding profusely. Read the full report from the Daily Herald. The man's sex offense happened in 1984 and as a result was required to register as a offender

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. -- A North Carolina man arrested in South Florida faces 87 sexual offense charges, including accusations of statutory rape and incest of a child, police said. John Granger, 33, was arrested at 11 a.m. Thursday during a traffic stop in Boynton Beach. According to a police report, Granger was a passenger in a red Hyundai Accent that was stopped for improperly backing up on Seacrest Boulevard. Upon further investigation, Officer Rick Lauture discovered that Granger was wanted by Gaston County, N.C., law enforcement on 30 counts of statutory rape, 17 counts of incest with a child,...

Renown Somali Author Wanted for Decade-Old Rape of Missouri Girl Tuesday , October 16, 2007 MINNEAPOLIS — A noted Somali writer, whose role in Somali literature has been compared to Shakespeare's place in English, has been added to Hennepin County's "Ten Most Wanted" list for the rape of a 10-year-old girl a decade ago, authorities said. Mahamud A. Isse, 72, of Minneapolis, is wanted on a felony bench warrant for criminal sexual conduct stemming from the alleged rape. A phone number for Isse was not listed. Defense attorney Richard Cohen said he hasn't seen or heard from Isse in a...

A CBS producer was arrested Saturday after deputies say he attempted to arrange sex with 11-year-old girl by communicating with undercover investigators posing as the fictitious girl's father, authorities said. Daniel J. Barron, 56, a 15-year producer with CBS News who lives in New Jersey, allegedly told an undercover St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office detective to bring his 11-year-old daughter to the Fort Lauderdale hotel where he was staying while in town to cover Sunday's Miami Dolphins game, according to an arrest report. Barron allegedly told the undercover detective, whom he met Saturday afternoon in an America Online chat room...

The Detroit Free Press is reporting that federal prosecutor J.D. Roy Atchison of Gulf Breeze, who was charged last month after allegedly flying to Detroit to have sex with a 5-year-old child, committed suicide today. The newspaper cited authorities who said Atchison hanged himself this morning at the federal prison in Milan, Mich., where he was taken after previously trying to commit suicide at Sanilac County Jail. They said the 53-year-old Atchison, who worked in the U.S. attorney’s office in Pensacola, had been housed in solitary confinement and was under close supervision, the newspaper reported. Lawyer James Thomas of Detroit...

DETROIT -- A U.S. Justice Department official has been arrested on suspicion of traveling to Detroit over the weekend to have sex with a minor. John David R. Atchison, 53, an assistant U.S. attorney from the northern district of Florida, was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Detroit Monday afternoon. An undercover officer posed as a mother offering her child to Atchison for sex, according to police. Prosecutors said Atchison flew from Pensacola, Fla., to Detroit on Sunday intending to have sex with the 5-year-old girl. He was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. He is charged with enticement of a...

DETROIT (AP) - An assistant U.S. attorney from Florida was arrested in an Internet sting operation after flying to Michigan to have sex with a 5-year-old girl, authorities said Monday. John D.R. Atchison, 53, was arrested Sunday at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after several weeks of Internet conversations between the prosecutor and a detective posing as the mother of a 5-year-old girl, authorities say. "There wasn't much reaction from him at all," Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel said. Atchison was cooperative with authorities, he said. He was charged with using interstate communication to entice a minor to have sexual contact and...

STEELE, N.D. - School boards across the country are debating how to deal with parents like Cody Mittleider. The 28-year-old married father of three young children spent a year in prison for a 2005 rape conviction, but has since worked to become a respected member of the community. He quit drinking, attends counseling, got a job at a potato farm and joined the volunteer fire department in this central North Dakota town of about 760 residents. But as a convicted sex offender, Mittleider, is not allowed to attend his children's school programs or athletic events, pending a Steele School Board...

Man sentenced for raping girl By BRIAN SCHEID A 30-year-old illegal immigrant was sentenced to at least five years in state prison in Bucks County court Friday, five months after he admitted to repeatedly raping an adolescent girl. Carlos Salustio, a Mexican immigrant who was living illegally in Warminster, pleaded guilty in April to rape of a child and related charges for as many as 25 sexual incidents with the girl over a two-year period, starting when the girl was 10. In a tearful speech in front of Judge Albert Cepparulo, the girl, who is now 13, said her family...

AN assistant US attorney from Florida has been arrested for allegedly flying to Michigan to have sex with a five-year-old girl. John D.R. Atchison, 53, was arrested after he participated in internet conversatons with a detective posing as a mother who was interested in letting men have sex with her young daughter, Associated Press reported. According to court documents, Atchison initiated the online chat on August 29. His correspondence with the detective lasted several weeks. At one point, Atchison allegedly said: "I'm always gentle and loving; not to worry; no damage ever; no rough stuff ever ever". He has been...

2 Howell boys accused of forcing classmate to have sex on bus Lansing State Journal Created: 9/18/2007 8:41:02 PM Updated: 9/18/2007 8:41:30 PM Special to the State Journal HOWELL - Two Howell elementary school boys - ages 9 and 11 - have been charged as juveniles with criminal sexual conduct for allegedly making a 7-year-old boy perform oral sex while on a school bus in May. The father of the 11-year-old boy, however, said his son merely witnessed the attacks and was himself a victim of a similar attempted sexual assault by the 9-year-old. He questioned the safety of students...

8:44 PM Sep 17, 2007 “This is probably one of the worst cases of child abuse I’ve seen since I’ve been working for Blackman Township,” said Mike Jester, Blackman Township’s Public Safety Director. 27-year-old Kirk Coleman stood quietly in Chief Judge R. Darryl Mazur’s courtroom, facing first-degree charges of criminal sexual conduct and child abuse, patiently waiting for the Jackson County judge to set his bond. The judge set bond at $100,000. Coleman was living in the Spring Glen Apartments just days ago, working as a painter. That all changed Saturday. Coleman, the father of a three-month-old baby girl, along...

CORSICANA, Texas — Authorities named the live-in boyfriend of the mother of a 6-year-old girl found hanged and sexually assaulted as the primary suspect on Thursday. Kevin Wayne Anders was arrested late Wednesday on charges of unlawful possession of child pornography after an analysis of computer files revealed pornography, said Chief Deputy Mike Cox of the Navarro County Sheriff's Office. Anders is being held on a $100,000 bond.

CORSICANA, Texas — The live-in boyfriend of the mother of a 6-year-old found hanged and sexually assaulted has been arrested in connection with the child's death in Texas, KDFW-TV reported Thursday. Kevin Anders was arrested after the lifeless body of Hannah Mack was found hanging in the garage by a rope around the neck.

6-year-old girl found hanged in TexasBy PAUL J. WEBER - The Associated Press Posted on Wed, Sep. 12, 2007 Family Photo via KTVT-TVShown in this undated family photo is 6-year-old Hannah Mack of Corsicana, Texas. Her body was discovered Monday, Sept. 10, 2007, hanging inside her family's garage. Police said Wednesday the child was sexually assaulted. CORSICANA, Texas --A 6-year-old girl was found hanged inside her family's garage and had been sexually assaulted before she died, police said Wednesday. Authorities have made no arrests or named any suspects since Hannah Mack's body was discovered by her mother on Monday. They...

DELTONA, Fla. (AP) - No need for a photo lineup to capture this teenager burglar. A Deltona girl helped police nab the naked boy who broke into her home Tuesday by showing them his photo in her school yearbook. The unidentified girl told police she knew the boy and that they rode the same school bus together. The boy, who lived nearby, opened a sliding glass door into her house Tuesday wearing nothing but his birthday suit. He asked if he could hide in her house. The boy told police he was playing hide and seek with friends, but wouldn't...

A former Arlington County youth sports coach and civil rights lawyer who once headed Virginia's American Civil Liberties Union chapter was sentenced today to seven years in federal prison for buying child pornography that prosecutors labeled sadistic and masochistic. Charles Rust-Tierney, 51, pleaded guilty in June to downloading hundreds of pornographic images of children as young as 4. Authorities said Rust-Tierney used a computer in his 11-year-old son's bedroom to view the files, which included a six-minute video that depicted sexual torture of children, set to a song by the rock band Nine Inch Nails.

These days, if Rian Romoli accidentally bumps into a child, he quickly raises his hands above his shoulders. "I don't want to give even the slightest indication that any inadvertent touching occurred," says Mr. Romoli, an economist in La Cañada Flintridge, Calif. Ted Wallis, a doctor in Austin, Texas, recently came upon a lost child in tears in a mall. His first instinct was to help, but he feared people might consider him a predator. He walked away. "Being male," he explains, "I am guilty until proven innocent." In San Diego, retiree Ralph Castro says he won't allow himself to...