Counter Pedophilia Investigate Unit

Joe Elias, The Patriot-News

A Hampden Township man has been indicted on federal charges of producing and distributing child pornography of local girls from Perry County and elsewhere, some of whom he was baby-sitting, officials said.

Mark Anthony Permenter, 32, of the 300 block of Belaire Drive, Lower Allen Township, was indicted Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg.

Terry Eagleton welcomes a coolly devastating inquiry into the Vatican’s handling of child abuse

Terry Eagleton

The Guardian,September 2010

Article history

The first child sex scandal in the Catholic church took place in AD153, long before there was a “gay culture” or Jewish journalists for bishops to blame it on. By the 1960, the problem had become so dire that a cleric responsible for the care of “erring” priests wrote to the Vatican suggesting that it acquire a Caribbean island to put them on.

What has made a bad situation worse, as the eminent QC Geoffrey Robertson argues in this coolly devastating inquiry, is canon law – the church’s own arcane, highly secretive legal system, which deals with alleged child abusers in a dismayingly mild manner rather than handing them over to the police. Its “penalties” for raping children include such draconian measures as warnings, rebukes, extra prayers, counselling and a few months on retreat. It is even possible to interpret canon law as claiming that a valid defence for paedophile offences is paedophilia. Since child abusers are supposedly incapable of controlling their sexual urges, this can be used in their defence. It is rather like pleading not guilty to stealing from Tesco’s on the grounds that one is a shoplifter. One blindingly simple reason for the huge amount of child abuse in the Catholic church (on one estimate, up to 9% of clerics are implicated) is that the perpetrators know they will almost certainly get away with it.

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BCN/CBS

Hedge fund mogul Jeffrey Epstein becomes a free man today, five years after he was first accused of sexually abusing underage girls. After months of reporting, The Daily Beast’s Conchita Sarnoff reveals exclusive details of the investigation and the legal wrangling that saved him from a long prison term. She reports:

• Palm Beach’s police chief objected to Epstein’s “special treatment” and gave The Daily Beast an exclusive look at his nine-hour deposition about the investigation.

• Earlier versions of the U.S attorney’s charges, including a sealed 53-page indictment, could have landed Epstein in prison for 20 years.

• Victims alleged that Epstein molested underage girls from South America, Europe, and the former Soviet republics, including three 12-year-old girls brought over from France as a birthday gift. (more…)

A father who lost his son to suicide joined local lawmakers Monday as they announced new legislation to strengthen and broaden bullying policies in Pennsylvania.

http://www.univision.com/uv/video/Anti-Bullying-Legislation-Announced-At-P/id/2147329731

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Children’s author K.P. Bath has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.

Bath made the plea Thursday before U.S. District Judge Ancer L. Haggerty. The Oregonian newspaper reports the 51-year-old author of “The Secret of Castle Cant” is expected to spend six or seven years in prison.

The Portland resident was arrested last April after federal agents discovered thousands of sexually graphic images and more than 125 videos on Bath’s computer and thumb drives.