PA: Drug Arrest at Facility Where Autistic Man Died

By Teresa Masterson
NBCPhiladelphia.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38598523/ns/local_news-philadelphia_pa/

A long-time employee of Woods Services, the facility where an autistic man died after being left in a hot car for hours, was arrested for allegedly selling cocaine, police say.

Uron Brinson, 34, of Pennington Avenue in Trenton, N.J., sold an ounce of cocaine for $1,120 to an undercover person on July 26 in the parking lot of Woods Services, police say.

Brinson then sold 110 grams of cocaine for $5,000 in the same parking lot of the special needs organization on Friday Aug. 6, Bristol Township Police say.

To read the full article, please click the following link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38598523/ns/local_news-philadelphia_pa/

PA: 1st Grade Teacher, Camp Counselor Arrested on Child Porn Charges

By Teresa Masterson, Vince Lattanzio

NBCPhiladelphia.com

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38576157/ns/local_news-philadelphia_pa/

A first grade teacher in West Chester and director of a local summer camp was arrested on charges of having hundreds of images of child pornography, authorities say.

David Devine, a first grade teacher for the West Chester Area School District and director of Camp Flying Hawk day camp, possessed more than 500 sexually explicit images of elementary-school-age children, according to Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green.

Devine, 34, taught first graders at Penn Wood Elementary for a year and a half, officials said. The district said Devine passed all required background tests before starting at the school.

"Devines clearances were completed prior to his employment," the district said in a statement. "No infractions were reported in these clearances, and we have had no reports of any improper conduct by Mr. Devine during his employment with the district."

School district officials say their Internet filtering system prevents anyone from accessing pornographic sites on school property.

Investigators were tipped off to Devine's alleged habits by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

It is unknown whether or not the photos are of any children with which Devine was in contact, but D.A. Green says there's no reason thus far to believe that to be the case.

For the complete article, please follow the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38576157/ns/local_news-philadelphia_pa/

PA: 1st Grade Teacher, Camp Counselor Arrested on Child Porn Charges

By Teresa Masterson, Vince Lattanzio

NBCPhiladelphia.com

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38576157/ns/local_news-philadelphia_pa/

A first grade teacher in West Chester and director of a local summer camp was arrested on charges of having hundreds of images of child pornography, authorities say.

David Devine, a first grade teacher for the West Chester Area School District and director of Camp Flying Hawk day camp, possessed more than 500 sexually explicit images of elementary-school-age children, according to Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green.

Devine, 34, taught first graders at Penn Wood Elementary for a year and a half, officials said. The district said Devine passed all required background tests before starting at the school.

"Devines clearances were completed prior to his employment," the district said in a statement. "No infractions were reported in these clearances, and we have had no reports of any improper conduct by Mr. Devine during his employment with the district."

School district officials say their Internet filtering system prevents anyone from accessing pornographic sites on school property.

Investigators were tipped off to Devine's alleged habits by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

It is unknown whether or not the photos are of any children with which Devine was in contact, but D.A. Green says there's no reason thus far to believe that to be the case.

For the complete article, please follow the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38576157/ns/local_news-philadelphia_pa/

Announcement: Dr. Phil Show on School Abuse/Arrests 4/15/10

From Dr. Phi:

Fighting for Your Child

Parents: What should you do when you feel your child’s rights are being violated? Twelve-year-old Alexa made headlines when she was arrested for doodling on her desk at school. Her mother, Moraima, says she feels outraged and helpless by the incident. Areva Martin, attorney and author of The Everyday Advocate, weighs in. Then, dramatic surveillance video captures a mute, autistic 14-year-old boy being dragged out of a classroom and placed in a dark room. Hear how his father, Vikas, claims his son was being abused. And, a technique known as prone restraint is being used in schools across the country to subdue out-of-control students. Is this method discipline or abuse? Dr. Phil examines the story of an eighth grader who died after he was physically restrained by a teacher.

OR: Volunteer, 19, arrested/Charged with sexual abuse of middle-schooler

Excerpt from Statesman Journal.com:

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20100413/NEWS/4130330/1001

Man made advances at orchestra event, document says

BY STACEY BARCHENGER AND ALAN GUSTAFSON • STATESMAN JOURNAL • APRIL 13, 2010

A Salem-Keizer school volunteer has been arrested on accusations of sexually abusing a 13-year-old middle school student at a music competition.

Salem police arrested Darian Seth Laughlin, 19, of Salem on Friday on a charge of first-degree sexual abuse, said Salem police spokesman Lt. Dave Okada.

The suspect allegedly rubbed the girl's knee and upper thigh several times while they sat together at the Thursday event at South Salem High School, according to jail documents released Monday.

*********

The girl told police that she pushed Laughlin's hand away to stop his sexual advances, according to a probable-cause statement written by Salem Police Detective Jeff Staples. The document was released Monday after Laughlin made his first court appearance.

In an interview with Staples, Laughlin acknowledged that he knew that the girl was 13, and he reportedly said that he would have had sexual intercourse with her if she would have let him, Staples wrote.

Laughlin also talked to the alleged victim and her friend, also 13, about "having a threesome" at his apartment, according to the detective's report.

Please follow the link for the full story: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20100413/NEWS/4130330/1001

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.

*********

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.

**********

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

FL: 6 yr old Arrested & Committed to Mental Hospital after Temper Tantrums in School

From wpbf.com:

February 10, 2010

http://www.wpbf.com/news/22526263/detail.html

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- A Port St. Lucie first-grade student was handcuffed and committed to a mental health facility because of her classroom behavior, and her parents are furious that the school took such extreme measures.

Mickey Shalansky explained Wednesday what he said happened to his 6-year-old daughter at Parkway Elementary.

"She couldn't put her in two handcuffs because her wrists are that small, so she put them both in the same handcuff and left marks on my daughter's arms," Shalansky told WPBF 25 News' Bob Kaple.

*******

Deputies said his daughter, Haley, got upset and stormed out her classroom when her teacher asked her to do something. The report said it then escalated into a temper tantrum in the principal's office.

According to the incident report, a deputy said Haley was out of control. It said she "kicked the wall, went over to the desk and threw the calculator, electric pencil sharpener, telephone, container of writing utensils and other objects across the desk."

She was then handcuffed.

*******

Even worse is what happened the next day, Haley's parents said.

A deputy was called to the school again after Haley had another tantrum in the classroom and principal's office.

The sheriff's report said she was yelling, throwing things and hit the principal, who is eight months pregnant. This time, she wasn't handcuffed. She was committed to a mental facility.

********

Haley's parents said their daughter has a temper problem, but has no history of mental illness. Her mother said the school should have called her so she could pick up her daughter rather than have her committed.

Slideshow: 9 Most Ridiculous Reasons Kids Have Been Arrested

The Huffington Post is currently running a slideshow of story excerpts on the most ridiculous reasons why kids have been arrested.

Most of the stories involved arrests from schools, and include some stories we've previously covered here, such as the boy who was arrested for "passing gas," the twelve year old who was recently arrested for doodling on her desk with an erasable marker, and the 8 yr old girl with autism who was arrested after she was physically restrained and banned from attending her class Christmas party for refusing to take off her "cow" sweatshirt.

To view the slideshow in its entirety, please follow the link: http://tinyurl.com/yl84op6

Opinion: Should a Child Be Arrested for Doodling on a Desk?

February 6, 2010

By: Jennifer Searcy

Founder/Director of Public Policy & Affairs

The Coalition for Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports

The Associated Press is running a story on how twelve-year-old Alexa Gonzalez was taken from her school, Junior High School 190 in Queens, NY, in handcuff's for doodling "Lexa was here 2/01/10" and "I love my friends Abby and Faith" on her desk in erasable marker.

That's right: She was taken away in handcuffs for doodling on a desk with an erasable marker. Not because she was excessively violent, or because she'd assaulted someone; not because she'd committed or threatened murder or was selling drugs on school property - but because she "vandalized a desk" with an erasable marker.

What are our school systems becoming?

Should a twelve-year-old have known better than to "doodle" on a desk? Most likely, yes. Should she have been punished for vandalizing school property? Again, most likely yes. But should she have been arrested? Absolutely not.

Wouldn't a more appropriate punishment have been requiring her to wash the marker off of the desk and/or given her after-school detention?

Eric Cantor, a NY Education Department spokesperson, agrees the school over-reacted: "[T]he incident shouldn't have happened, and that common sense should prevail."

What kind of message is this sending to our children, when relatively normal childhood behaviors are criminalized? Is this really where our "Zero Tolerance" policies have led us?

The AP also reported that the ACLU filed a lawsuit just last month which alleges that more than 20 instances of wrongful arrests and assaults by school safety officers occurred.

As for Alexa, she was released from the police station after several hours and was assigned 8 hours of community service, a book report, and an essay.

What are your thoughts on this?

Plea for Colo. man accused of Haiti school abuse

Excerpt from The Atlanta Journal

By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN

The Associated Press

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/plea-for-colo-man-288857.html

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Colorado man charged with sexually abusing boys at a school he founded for street children in Haiti pleaded not guilty Tuesday to new charges that raise the number of alleged victims to 18.

Authorities accuse Douglas Perlitz of enticing children at the Project Pierre Toussaint school in Cap-Haitien into sex acts by promising them food, shelter, cash, cell phones, electronics and shoes. They say he also withheld benefits and threatened to expel the boys if they refused his wishes.

Perlitz pleaded not guilty in federal court in New Haven to nine counts of traveling outside the United States with the intent to engage in sexual conduct with minors and 10 counts of engaging in sexual conduct in foreign places with minors.

The 39-year-old Perlitz, of Eagle, Colo., was charged last year with sexually abusing nine boys. Prosecutors doubled the number of alleged victims with a new indictment announced last week.

For the full article, please click the following link: http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/plea-for-colo-man-288857.html

India: Teacher sent to 3-month jail for beating student

Excerpt from The Times of India

TNN, 3 February 2010, 06:55am IST

AHMEDABAD: To set an example in order to curb corporal punishment in schools, a city court on Tuesday punished a teacher and sentenced him three-month imprisonment for beating a student. The court has also awarded compensation of Rs 5,000 to the student.

[The teacher, Ranjitsingh] Yadav teaches Hindi language at Rashtriya Bharti Hindi School located at the CTM in Amraiwadi and went to standard IX on February 20, 2002 to [seek] books from students [and] to check home work assigned to them. A student named Mukesh Kushwaha, who had forgotten to bring the book to school that day, could not satisfy the teacher's queries.

Angry with the student, the teacher twisted Kushwaha's left arm and caused a fracture. The student was then rushed to the hospital for treatment, but his parents lodged a complaint with the Amraiwadi police station.

For the full article, please click the following link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Teacher-sent-to-3-mnth-jail-for-beating-student/articleshow/5529070.cms

CA: D.A. to review case against Del Norte coach

Excerpt from the San Diego Tribune:

BY DEBBI BAKER, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

KRISTINA DAVIS, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JANUARY 8, 2010 AT 1:45 A.M., UPDATED JANUARY 8, 2010 AT 5:20 P.M.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/08/del-norte-coach-charged-sex-crimes/

NORTH COUNTY — A 35-year-old high school soccer coach was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of committing sex crimes and fired from his job after reports of inappropriate behavior.

Robin Alarcon, who coached the girls freshman soccer team at Del Norte High School in 4S Ranch, was arrested by San Diego police officers on suspicion of luring a minor for a sexual offense and sending harmful material to a minor with intent to seduce, San Diego sex crimes Lt. Rick O’Hanlon said yesterday.

Alarcon, a coach on other campuses as well, is accused of sending a few “very inappropriate” text messages to a female student Tuesday night, O’Hanlon said.

The victim’s mother told The San Diego Union-Tribune that the incident began when her 14-year-old daughter, a freshman on the soccer team, texted Alarcon asking what color jersey she was supposed to wear in the upcoming game.

****

His response was flirty, and the girl tried to end the conversation, her mother said. The texts started up again the next morning and got more sexually explicit, including one text in which he reportedly invited the girl and a fellow teammate to join him and his girlfriend in an “orgy.”

****

“She didn’t do anything to provoke that kind of behavior. I’m thankful nothing worse happened,” she said.

The girl informed school officials about the messages shortly after, and police were immediately notified, O’Hanlon said. Alarcon was arrested at the school about 2 p.m. and is being held on $75,000 bail at the downtown San Diego jail.

For the full article, please click the following link: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/08/del-norte-coach-charged-sex-crimes/

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.

*****

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

NY: Albany preschool teacher arrested in sex-abuse of boy

By Lynne Terry, The Oregonian
December 03, 2009, 12:21PM

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/12/albany_preschool_teacher_arres.html

A preschool teacher in Linn County has been arrested on suspicion of sex abuse with a 14-year-old boy.

Jenifer Stitzel, 34, faces two counts of third-degree sex abuse following a complaint from the boy's parents last Saturday, according to the Linn County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff Tim Mueller said the boy's parents recovered his cell phone after grounding him. That was when they discovered the sexual messages, Mueller said.

"They were the kind of thing that you might read in Penthouse Forum," Mueller said. "They were X-rated."

Once they had the boy's cell phone, investigators quickly tracked the messages to Stitzel, Mueller said.

He said Stitzel is also suspected of kissing the boy and having sexual contact with him on and off school grounds.

The boy is an eighth-grade student at Central Valley Christian School in Tangent, a Seventh-day Adventist institution serving preschool through ninth grade.

Stitzel teaches preschool there, Mueller said.

Central Valley Principal Mike Meadows declined to make any comments about the case. In fact, he would not even confirm that she is a teacher there.

Neither Stitzel Nor her lawyer could be reached for comment.

Mueller said that Stitzel, who lives in Albany, is married. With no criminal history and because suffers from diabetes, she was booked into Linn County Jail and released on her own recognizance on the condition that she have no contact with the boy.

She is due to appear in Linn County Circuit Court on Dec. 23 on two counts of third degree sex abuse, a Class A misdemeanor.

Mueller said she faces as much as a year in jail and a fine.

"Had this happened after January 1st, it would have been a Class C felony because of the sexting part of it," Mueller said.

House Bill 2641, which passed March 31, added text and video messages to the felony of online sex abuse of a child.

-- Lynne Terry

Breaking News: 3rd County Judge Charged with Corruption

Breaking news from KWY Newsradio: http://www.kyw1060.com/pages/5801715.php?contentType=4&contentId=5154532

December 2, 2009

A third judge in northeastern Pennsylvania has been charged with corruption on the bench.

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday filed fraud and tax charges against Luzerne County judge Michael Toole (above). Court documents indicate he will plead guilty.

Prosecutors say Toole "corruptly abused" his position by concealing his financial relationship with an attorney who appeared before him in court. They say the 49-year-old judge "improperly ruled" in the attorney's favor in an arbitration case.

Two other Luzerne County judges were charged in January with accepting millions of dollars in kickbacks to place youth offenders in privately owner detention centers.

A total of 20 people have been charged this year in a wide-ranging federal corruption probe in Luzerne County.

TX: Freshman says fellow student sexually abused her in school gym

November 19, 2009 9:55 AM
By JARED TAYLOR/The Monitor

http://www.valleymorningstar.com/news/div-63924-marginmidside-class.html

ALAMO — Police arrested a high school senior after an alleged sexual assault behind the bleachers in a high school gymnasium.

A 14-year-old freshman girl told a school counselor about 1 p.m. Monday that Moises Martinez, 17, had sexually assaulted her there, said Alamo Police Chief Arturo Espinoza.

The alleged incident reportedly occurred Monday morning during school hours. No one else was in the gym at the time.

Investigators are “going under the assumption” that the girl and Martinez did not know each other before the suspected sexual assault, Espinoza said. He added that the girl was “doing OK” and underwent an exam that supported her sexual abuse claim.

It is The Monitor’s policy not to identify those who may be victims of sex crimes.

Because Martinez is 17 years old, authorities charged him as an adult. He was arraigned Tuesday in Alamo Municipal Court on one count of sexual assault, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 upon conviction. He remained at the Hidalgo County Jail late Wednesday afternoon in lieu of an $80,000 bond.

Alamo police plan to turn the case over to the Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office, which will present it before a grand jury, Espinoza said.

“It’s probably something where they met and it happened and now they have to deal with that,” he said of the alleged incident.

In a prepared statement, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo school district officials confirmed the sexual assault investigation and said they were cooperating with Alamo police.

IN: Tennis coach gets 2 yrs. in prison for abusing students

Kawamoto pled guilty in August

Updated: Thursday, 19 Nov 2009, 10:40 PM EST
Published : Thursday, 19 Nov 2009, 9:06 PM EST

http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/crime/Greenwood-coach-sentenced-for-abuse

FRANKLIN, Ind. (Daily Journal) - A former Greenwood tennis coach has been sentenced to two years in prison after inappropriately touching three teen girls who came to him for private lessons.

Don Kawamoto, 53, pleaded guilty in August to three felony counts of sexual misconduct with a minor as part of a plea agreement with the Johnson County Prosecutor's Office.

He was joined at his sentencing hearing Thursday afternoon by friends and family, including his wife and four children, who spoke of Kawamoto as a good man, father and tennis coach.

Eight years in prison was the maximum sentence Kawamoto could have received. Factors such as a lack of criminal history balanced with the fact that Kawamoto broke a trust relationship with the victims led Johnson County Magistrate Richard Tandy to hand down a sentence of six years at the Department of Correction with all but two years suspended.

Kawamoto was arrested in January after a 15-year-old girl told police that he put his hands down her shirt and touched her breasts during a private lesson at a school facility, according to a probable-cause affidavit.

Kawamoto was fired from his first-year job as the boys varsity tennis coach at Greenwood Community High School.

At Thursday's hearing, the mother of one victim read a statement aloud, detailing how her daughter's life was affected by Kawamoto. Her daughter has problems sleeping and seldom goes out with friends, instead opting to stay home.

Kawamoto's family painted a different picture of him. His wife, Cindy, spoke of an attentive, devoted husband who would do anything for his children, on the tennis court and at home.

Getting fired from his job and having to register as a sex offender and endure media attention has been enough of a punishment, Cindy Kawamoto said.

Her husband apologized to his victims and wished them good luck in the future in both academics and athletics.

"I'm truly sorry for what I did," Kawamoto said during his hearing.

He originally faced another felony charge, sexual battery, but the prosecutor's office could prove only one of the two felonies from the first victim, Johnson County Prosecutor Brad Cooper has said.

Prosecutors opted to pursue sexual misconduct with a minor instead of sexual battery because the former charge is a higher-class felony and comes with a harsher sentence.

Two other girls came forward after the first teen made a report, and both said that similar incidents had happened to them over the past two years, the affidavit said.

The girls told police they couldn't remember how many times the incidents happened because they occurred often. In the case of one of the girls, Kawamoto told her parents not to come with their daughter to her lessons because their presence made her not practice as well, the affidavit said.

In two cases, Kawamoto called the girl a crybaby. He called one girl a crybaby after she wouldn't lift up her shirt for him and told another girl she was one, too, according to the affidavit.

After the first victim came forward, Kawamoto told police that he was trying to improve the girl's swing and accidentally touched her breast, Greenwood Police Chief Joe Pitcher has said.

Kawamoto later told officers that he touched the girl for sexual gratification and that in the past he had paid extra attention to positioning students because it gave him sexual gratification, Pitcher said.

As part of his sentence, Kawamoto will have to continue counseling.

NJ: Judge: Denville teacher's rights weren't violated in sex abuse probe

BY PEGGY WRIGHT • DAILY RECORD • NOVEMBER 17, 2009

http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20091117/UPDATES01/91117057/Judge--Denville-teacher-s-rights-weren-t-violated-in-sex-abuse-probe

Police did not violate any constitutional rights of a former Denville teacher -- who is accused of molesting a student -- when they obtained his unlisted cell phone number and had the victim call him.

''I find nothing egregious about the manner in which the phone number was obtained,'' Superior Court Judge John B. Dangler said.

After a near-five-hour hearing today, Dangler rejected defense arguments that police violated a reasonable expectation of privacy that Patrick DeFranco had in regard to keeping his cell phone number confidential.

DeFranco, 43, of Fairport, N.Y., was charged in November 2005 with sexually assaulting a student at the Valley View Middle School in Denville when he was a 13-year-old, 8th grade student in DeFranco's computer class.

To corroborate the victim's claims of a long-ago assault, police asked if he would contact DeFranco while they listened in, or conducted a so-called ''consensual intercept.'' The victim had an outdated number, so the help of a school resource officer -- Denville Officer Jeff Tucker -- was enlisted and he secured DeFranco's phone number from school administrators. The victim called DeFranco and the ex-teacher incriminated himself on tape about a past sexual liaison with the student.

Defense lawyer Edward Byrne argued that law enforcement should have gotten a grand jury subpoena to get the number but instead trampled on DeFranco's privacy right and expectation that the district wouldn't give out his number.

DeFranco also testified today, saying he is very protective of his privacy. But Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Meg Rodriguez noted that he freely disseminated his phone number to students and parents when he was coordinating a school trip abroad and expressed no surprise as to how the victim got his phone number.

TX: Juvenile jail sex abuse trial postponed

11/17/2009

Associated Press

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D9C1EBC00.html

A former Texas juvenile jail official won't face trial in a sexual abuse case until April.

State District Judge Jay Gibson this week postponed the trial of former West Texas State School administrator Ray Edward Brookins from December until April 19.

Brookins, along with John Paul Hernandez, is accused of sexually abusing teen inmates at the Texas Youth Commission jail in remote Pyote (PYE'-oht), Texas. Brookins' case was originally set to be tried in Monahans, but it was moved earlier this year about 35 miles north to Odessa.

A trial date for Hernandez hasn't been set.

SC: Deciding the Fate of Charged School Officials

November 12, 2009

http://www.wciv.com/news/stories/1109/677633.html

Dorchester County, SC - Some Dorchester District Two principals and teachers are accused of covering up child abuse at Knightsville Elementary.

Heather Martin, 38, is a teaching assistant who worked with special education students. She is charged with nine felony counts of unlawful conduct towards a child. 38-year-old Rebecca Piersol-Crosby is a lead special education teacher. She is charged with three felony counts of unlawful conduct towards a child and four counts of misprision of a felony.

While, 47-year-old Assistant Principal Mary Rita Watson and 42-year-old Principal Anita Ruff-Putillion were charged with one count of failure to report child abuse.

Knightsville Elementary is a small school rocked by big accusations. The allegations are shocking to Knightsville parent Kristy Greenwood. Her son Bryce is in the first grade.

"It's scaring me a lot. When I first heard about it, I thought it was mild and blown out of proportion. This is just heartbreaking," Greenwood said.

Investigators say the abuse began in August. Heather Martin is accused of grabbing one of her autistic students and dragging him by the hair. She's also accused of covering another students nose and mouth of long periods of time.

"I wish someone would have told us what happened," said Greenwood.

Greenwood knows firsthand how challenging working with autistic children can be because her son Bryce is being evaluated for Asperger Syndrome.

"They have a lot of trouble communicating what is going on in their minds. If you aren't a patient person, it can get frustrating very quickly," Greenwood explained.

State law mandates that school officials report suspected abuse. Investigators say that wasn't done in the case at Knightsville Elementary and that is why the principal and assistant principal were also charged.

"We're talking about children who dont have a voice for themselves," Evelyn Turner with the Charleston Disabilities Board said. "If anyone suspects abuse and doesn't report it, they're not protecting children."

Greenwood is concerned about her son's safety and wants to know how the district will handle the situation. All of the women except Heather Martin have been reassigned to other schools in the district.

Piersol-Crosby is working in the districts special services department. Watson was reassigned to Oakbrook Elementary and Putillion is at Beech Hill Elementary. A district spokesperson says Heather Martin no longer works for the district.