Counter Pedophilia Investigate Unit

Because he is acting as his own lawyer and may see the evidence, an accused pedophile in Washington state is being allowed to watch child pornography, including videos of him allegedly having sex with young boys, according to news reports.

Weldon Marc Gilbert, a millionaire and former commercial pilot arrested in November 2007, has unlimited access to the 28 hours of footage on more than 100 DVDs seized by police, KOMO-TV reported. He is in the Pierce County Jail in Tacoma awaiting trial. But he won’t be alone while watching the evidence, KIRO-TV points out. An investigator will be in the room. (more…)

WASHINGTON— Two years ago, a 13-year-old American boy from Indiana, Christian Choate, died after years of abuse, allegedly at the hands of his father, that authorities discovered only after it was too late.

“After his death, police found letters he had written about how he wondered when anyone would check on him or give him any food or water,” US Congressman Geoff Davis said Tuesday as he convened a hearing on Capitol Hill into the under-reporting of deaths of US children from abuse and neglect.

“It is hard to know which child deaths are more tragic — those we know about, or those we do not. (more…)

(Reuters) – Pennsylvania next month will become the third state in the nation with a court dedicated to bringing sex offenders to justice.

In an effort to stop repeat offenders, particularly those who target children, a pilot program will open June 23 in Allegheny County, according to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. After a year, if deemed effective, it may be expanded statewide.

Judges hope that channeling sex abuse cases through a specialized court will speed up the process so that “victims and witnesses don’t have to wait before getting their day in court,” said Steve Schell, a spokesman for the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts. (more…)

A Level 3 sex offender who spent more than 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman was arrested Thursday and charged with sending indecent text messages to a minor, city police said.

Marlek E. Holmes, 37, who was released from prison in October, was arrested after two separate investigations into complaints against him, detectives Todd Crossett and Charles Dudek said. (more…)

Experts Lisa Paul, deputy prosecuting attorney at the Dawson Place Child Advocacy Center, and Dusty Olson, an advocate of Providence’s Intervention Center for Assault and Abuse and co-founder of the Snohomish County Sexual Exploitation and Intervention Network, discuss the problem of sex trafficking of children in Snohomish County.

When many think of sex trafficking, they think of prostitutes in Southeast Asia, Nepal, Bangladesh or another faraway country – anywhere but here in the United States, and especially not of our own kids in our own communities.

But it is happening here. (more…)

Forest Grove police say a 19-year-old man accused of rape and sex abuse has been indicted on more sex crime charges.

, who uses middle names of both Joseph and James, was indicted Tuesday on two counts of attempted first-degree sex abuse and one count each of second-degree rape, second-degree sodomy, first-degree sex abuse, attempted first-degree rape, attempted first-degree sodomy and third-degree sex abuse, said Capt. Aaron Ashbaugh, Forest Grove police spokesman. He’s being held in the Washington County Jail.

Ashbaugh said the new charges stem from tips detectives investigated after police initially arrested Matthews in February on accusations that he raped a 16-year-old girl at a Forest Grove residence in September. A Washington County grand jury on Feb. 22 indicted him on one count of first-degree rape, one count of second-degree sex abuse and one count of furnishing liquor to a minor in connection with that case, court records show. (more…)

A seventh-grade science teacher and swim coach at one of the largest co-ed Pre-K through 12 independent day schools in New Jersey was downloading kiddie porn for nearly eight years, said federal authorities who took him into custody today, seizing what they said were images that included boys as young as 6 giving oral sex to men who also had anal sex with them.

Brian Stern, 34, was trying to destroy evidence on his computer’s hard drive when FBI agents forced their way into his Montclair home, authorities said.

Among hundreds of images were videos of boys no older than 6 giving men oral sex and men having anal sex with boys, the FBI said. (more…)

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Lying on his family room floor with assault weapons trained on him, shouts of “pedophile!” and “pornographer!” stinging like his fresh cuts and bruises, the Buffalo homeowner didn’t need long to figure out the reason for the early morning wake-up call from a swarm of federal agents.

That new wireless router. He’d gotten fed up trying to set a password. Someone must have used his Internet connection, he thought.

“We know who you are! You downloaded thousands of images at 11:30 last night,” the man’s lawyer, Barry Covert, recounted the agents saying. They referred to a screen name, “Doldrum.”

“No, I didn’t,” he insisted. “Somebody else could have but I didn’t do anything like that.”

“You’re a creep … just admit it,” they said. (more…)

A 21-year-old Citadel cadet was arrested Monday on child pornography charges, authorities said.

Joshua Heyward Hughes Rumph, of Knollwood Drive, Clemson, is charged with one count of third-degree criminal exploitation of a minor. He was being held in the Cannon Detention Center.

The Charleston Police Department was called to The Citadel in February after workers in the school’s information technology department discovered inappropriate images in a folder on a cadet’s computer, according to a police incident report. Police took custody of the computer and began a forensic examination. The arrest warrant accuses him of “knowingly possessing material that contains a visual representation of minors engaged in sexual activity.”

At a bond hearing today, Charleston County Magistrate Linda S. Lombard set bail at $50,000.

Rumph’s parents were present during the hearing. Rumph’s attorney, Timothy Kulp told Lombard that his client’s parents were hoping he would be able to return with them to their home in Clemson.

As a condition of his release, Rumph is prohibited from using a computer or any other device to access the Internet and is prohibited from contact with anyone under the age of 18.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Because of incorrect information provided to The Post and Courier, previous versions of this story incorrectly stated the charge against Rumph.

Source: postandcourier