On August 12th, 2009, suburban Philadelphia resident John Jackey Worman was sentenced to life in prison for organizing and carrying out a child pornography ring. Evidence, which included in the vicinity of 11,000 videos, showed Worman sexually abusing at least a dozen children. Many of them were girls forced to comply in a sexual act for school lunch money.
An investigation led by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has resulted in the arrest and sentencing of a Clemons, Iowa man on charges of child pornography distribution and possessing a firearm. Ralph Edwin Ellison, 52, pleaded guilty on both counts on April 3, 2009, and will serve up to 15 years in a federal prison for these crimes.
A Clovis, Missouri man, Jerry D. Klinker, was arrested again for child sexual abuse. Klinker had been serving time in a detention center for the same arrest, but was subsequently released because he wasn't charged on all counts. St. Louis quickly remedied this error, arresting him for the second time, two weeks later in Curry County, on May 12th, 2009.
A Rocky River, Ohio man convicted of rape, drug and pandering charges is widely known for his belief that children should have the right to consent to sexual activities with adults. Philip Distasio, 37, defended himself in court in 2006 where he claimed that his sex acts and drug use were of ritualistic nature and defendable by God. He has recently been sentenced to life in prison.
Wayne Nelson Corliss, of Union City, New Jersey was arrested on May 8th, 2009 after confessing to sexually abusing three boys during a trip to Thailand six years ago. It was subsequently discovered that the encounters were videotaped and that Corliss admitted the trysts gave him a sense of euphoria.
Michael Marcotte, 20, of Somerville, Massachusetts, has pled guilty to 6 counts of child pornography related crimes. He has been sentenced to seven years of probation in a Middlesex Superior Court, as reported by Attorney General Martha Coakley's office. The crimes came to light during a March 2006 investigation.
Julie M. Carr, a resident of Mars Hill, Maine, was arrested on June 12, 2009 for felony exploitation of a child and gross sexual assault. The mother of four was first discovered of wrongdoings when a British investigation caught her in the act of sexual abusing her own child via the Internet. Maine authorities were quickly notified and a formal arrest was made.
Dennis O. Cobb of Farmington, NH, commonly known as the "Pumpkin Man", is currently protesting his inclusion into the highest group of sex offenders in the Sex Offender Registry. Cobb was arrested in August of 1995 of attempting to lure and kidnap a 12-year old boy in the surrounding environs of his Farmington summer cottage.
In January 2008, former state lawmaker, Ted Klaudt, 49 year-old, of Pierre, South Dakota, was sentenced to 44 years in prison for the rape of his two foster daughters. It was also revealed that in the fall of 2006, he attempted to solicit minors over the Internet by posing as a modeling agent. He engaged in sexually explicit conversations and asked them to send him nude photos.
A Madison County, Kentucky man was sentenced on June 11, 2009 to 12 years in prison for distributing online child pornography. Mark William Smither, 47, had pleaded guilty in March of the same year on charges that he had been responsible for distributing over 7000 photos and videos of minors engaging in sexual activities between February and May of 2007.
18 years after being abducted, an Antioch, California woman has been found, police reported Thursday, August 27, 2009. Jaycee Lee Dugard, 29, was taken by the defendant, Philip Garrido, in front of her house in 1991, and subsequently bore him two children, now aged 11 and 15 years, respectively. Garrido had previously served time for a rape and kidnapping conviction in 1971.
Wayne Nelson Corliss, of Union City, New Jersey was arrested on May 8th, 2009 after confessing to sexually abusing three boys during a trip to Thailand six years ago. It was subsequently discovered that the encounters were videotaped and that Corliss admitted the trysts gave him a sense of euphoria.
In January 2008, former state lawmaker, Ted Klaudt, 49 year-old, of Pierre, South Dakota, was sentenced to 44 years in prison for the rape of his two foster daughters. It was also revealed that in the fall of 2006, he attempted to solicit minors over the Internet by posing as a modeling agent. He engaged in sexually explicit conversations and asked them to send him nude photos.
Angel-Loria Tamaya, a 22-year-old Bismarck, North Dakota native has been charged and pleaded guilty to gross sexual imposition in the rape of a 14-year-old girl. Tamaya could face up to life in prison for the crime, which was carried out with co-defendant Estanislado Jilpas-Tamez. The act took place at the men's residence in the 700 Block of Poplar Lane on May 26th, 2009.
A 14-year-old teenager has been charged as an adult in a gang rape case. Steven Tuopeh of Liberia, Phoenix, was one of four teens to lure an 8-year-old girl into an empty storage shed and rape her on July 16, 2009. Tuopeh was also charged with kidnapping, sexual assault and attempted sexual conduct with a minor, and five counts of sexual conduct with a minor.
A Clovis, New Mexico resident was arrested on August 6th, 2009 on child pornography charges. Zebulon Benne, a 24-yr-old airman working out of Cannon Air Force Base was charged with 50 counts of sexual exploitation of children and 10 of producing child pornography. An investigation of Benne's computer revealed many images of young children engaging in sex acts.
Leslie Denise Nichols of Stagecoach Drive, North Carolina was arrested and charged with, notably, a first-degree sex offense and five counts of child abuse by sexual act on July 29, 2009. According to warrants, the 39-year-old Camp Lajeune Marine Corps Base officer began the alleged abuse on June 29, and continued on for a month before the arrest was made.
In September of 2008, Tony Alamo, a minister residing in Texarkana, Arkansas, was arrested on charges of child abuse on his property. Infamously known for believing that the age of consent is puberty, Alamo is currently on trial facing a 10-count indictment claiming he persuaded adolescent girls to come across state lines for sex.
Julie M. Carr, a resident of Mars Hill, Maine, was arrested on June 12, 2009 for felony exploitation of a child and gross sexual assault. The mother of four was first discovered of wrongdoings when a British investigation caught her in the act of sexual abusing her own child via the Internet. Maine authorities were quickly notified and a formal arrest was made.
Steve R. Houck, 52, of Fairfax, VA was arrested on July 2nd, 2007 on federal charges of distributing child pornography as well as attempting to arrange a sexual rendezvous with a minor. Houck is a registered sex offender, having previously served a four year prison sentence for child pornography distribution.
A Petersburg, Illinois man, Keith E. Chambers, was charged with possessing and distributing child pornography by a federal grand jury in Springfield today. The investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement uncovered evidence that the perpetrator distributed child pornography via Internet between February and May of 2008.
A Mcalester, Oklahoma man was arrested on May 13th, 2009 for the rape and sodomy of a 4-year old girl he was baby-sitting. David Earls, 64, pleaded no contest to the charges, and subsequently received a 20-year sentence, 19 of which were suspended. The sentence was greatly reduced after a plea agreement was arranged between the defendant and the victim's family.
Michael Marcotte, 20, of Somerville, Massachusetts, has pled guilty to 6 counts of child pornography related crimes. He has been sentenced to seven years of probation in a Middlesex Superior Court, as reported by Attorney General Martha Coakley's office. The crimes came to light during a March 2006 investigation.
Milton Scott Pruitt, 41, a former Forsyth County cop faces a maximum of 20 years in a Georgia prison for accessing illegal images from the County Sheriff's Office computer database. A federal jury deemed that the sexually explicit images Pruitt was accessing was sufficient evidence to convict him for receiving child pornography. The sentencing will be conducted on October 8, 2009.
Former Davis, California resident Ajay Kumar Dev was convicted and sentenced in August of 2009 to 378 years and 4 months in a state penitentiary. It was discovered that Dev repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted his adopted daughter over the span of 5 years, between 1999 and 2004, which resulted in 3 pregnancies that required being terminated.
