DE: Pediatrician Indicted in Child Sex Abuse Scandal

Excerpt from The Associated Press:

http://tinyurl.com/ygdmjwe

By RANDALL CHASE, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 7 mins ago

DOVER, Del. – A Delaware grand jury returned a sweeping indictment Monday against a pediatrician accused of serial molestation in what could be one of the worst child sex abuse cases in the nation's history.

The 160-page indictment returned by a Sussex County grand jurycharges Dr. Earl Bradley of Lewes with 471 counts of sexual crimes against 103 children.

Attorney General Beau Biden said all of the alleged victims, including one boy, were caught on more than 13 hours of video recordings, some dating to 1998, that were seized from Bradley's office and home.

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The charges against Bradley include rape, sexual exploitation of a child, unlawful sexual contact, continual sexual abuse of a child, assault and reckless endangering.

Bradley, who was arrested in December and initially charged with 29 felony counts for allegedly abusing nine children, is being held with bail set at $2.9 million. His medical license was permanently revoked by the state Board of Medical Practice last week.

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Authorities would not say whether they think Bradley had videotaped all of his alleged assaults or whether there may be more victims.

Please read the complete article for more information: http://tinyurl.com/ygdmjwe

PA/DE: Many missed horrors of Dr. Earl Bradley's alleged sex abuse

Excerpt from DelawareOnline.com:

By Chris Barrish

January 10, 2010

Despite suspicions, no action was taken

Pediatrician Earl Bradley's strange behavior, especially with the young girls he treated, became known in recent years to many medical professionals, police and prosecutors.

At Beebe Medical Center in Lewes, administrators knew police had investigated him in 2005.

Doctors who worked with him were told by parents of Bradley's former patients that he forced reluctant girls to undress, performed long vaginal exams and took girls alone to get treats. One doctor didn't mince words with police, calling Bradley a pedophile.

Workers in the Lewes and Milford offices of his BayBees Pediatrics knew he kissed, hugged and cuddled girls. An office manager said Bradley took antidepressants from the office and told police she wrote a letter about his problems to the Medical Society of Delaware.

Police had tried since at least 2005 to build a criminal case against Bradley. They documented his questionable behavior and reputation in reports that were not made public until last week about Bradley, 56, who was charged in December with raping nine girls since August -- eight of whom he videotaped. Authorities said there could be 100 victims.

As allegations piled up over nearly five years, though, unaware parents kept sending their girls and boys to his one-man, Disney-themed medical practice, which drew patients from nearby resorts and distant farming towns.

Yet no one in the medical or law enforcement communities did what Delaware law mandates -- put their observations and suspicions in writing to the Delaware Board of Medical Practice, which investigates physician misconduct. Failure to report such behavior, which the law deems an "affirmative duty," can bring a fine of $250 to $5,000.

If even one had followed the law, the 16-member board's medical professionals and lay persons would have had to investigate, and if warranted, discipline him publicly.

Though police said officers questioned Bradley in 2005 about kissing a toddler, he grew bolder and his alleged crimes, many of which he filmed, became brutal.

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After his arrest, police searched his office and said they found haunting videotapes of rapes against eight girls on a computer flash drive -- all since August.

In one, he had intercourse with a girl between 2 and 3 who was naked from the waist down, police said. In another, he forced a girl 3 to 6 months old to perform oral sex while the baby "screams and resists.''

For the full article, please click the following link: http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20100110/NEWS01/1100367

DE: In lawsuit, man alleges sex abuse at St. Edmond's Academy

The News Journal • December 11, 2008
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20081211/NEWS01/812110358

WILMINGTON -- Kermit Justice Jr. -- son of the state's former secretary of transportation and New Castle County's former county executive -- filed suit Wednesday in Superior Court against St. Edmond's Academy, the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, the religious order known as Brothers of the Holy Cross of the Eastern Province, and a former lay teacher at the school, John James Fleming.

In the suit, Justice, now 39, says he was sexually abused by Fleming in the early 1980s while he was a student at the school. Fleming was a teacher and wrestling coach from 1981 to January 1984.

Fleming pleaded guilty in 1985 to sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy -- not a student at the school -- during a five-month period in 1984. Prosecutors at the time criticized the school for allowing Fleming to resign with a "glowing letter of recommendation" despite reports of molestation by two students.

Justice is represented by three firms: Dalton & Associates, Flowers Counsel Group, and Manly & Stewart.

The suit was filed under the provisions of the 2007 Child Victim's Act, which eliminated the civil statute of limitations in cases of child sexual abuse and opened a two-year window during which previously time-barred claims could be made. That period ends in July 2009.

School Headmaster Michael Marinelli says the school is a safe place, the Associated Press reported.