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Thursday, December 8, 2016

Hundreds of police in England and Wales accused of sexual abuse | UK news

1:57 AM Bilal Muazin No comments

Hundreds of police officers are being accused of sexually abusing victims and suspects in what a senior police watchdog has called â€œthe most serious corruption issue facing the serviceâ€.

Forces across England and Wales received 436 allegations of abuse of power for sexual gain against 306 police officers, 20 police community support officers and eight staff in the two years to March but inspectors believe the problem is even more prevalent than the numbers suggest.

Despite the large numbers, there is evidence that only 40 officers or staff have been dismissed for abusing authority for sexual gain in a similar period.

Vulnerable individuals, including domestic abuse victims, alcohol and drug addicts, sex workers and arrested suspects were among those targeted by officers and staff, Her Majestyâ€™s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) said.

Victim groups have said the findings are â€œdeeply concerningâ€ and involved some of the most vulnerable people in society.

Mike Cunningham, inspector of constabulary and former chief constable of Staffordshire police, said: â€œThis is the most serious corruption issue facing the service. What can be worse than a guardian abusing the trust and confidence of an abused person? There can be no greater violation of public trust.â€

â€œIt is probably more likely the problem is more serious than the numbers reported back to us,â€ he added.

â€œIn many cases the victims are vulnerable people. They are victims of domestic abuse, theyâ€™re victims who might have been arrested and they have drug or alcohol dependency. It is an exploitation of power where the guardian becomes the abuser.â€

One of the most high-profile cases of police officers abusing their power in recent history was that of Stephen Mitchell, who was jailed for life in 2011 for raping and sexually assaulting vulnerable women he had arrested.

Mitchell, who was a constable with Northumbria police, abused heroin addicts, shoplifters and a disabled teenager by offering them help while in custody, then demanding sexual favours afterwards.

Earlier this year, DS Robert Dawson, a Metropolitan police officer who had sex with a vulnerable alleged rape victim, was formally dismissed from the force. A tribunal heard that in 2010, while investigating an allegation of serious sexual assault, Dawson engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship with the victim.

PC Simon Salway, who had sex with vulnerable witnesses and victims of crime, and fathered a child with one of the women he exploited, was found guilty of six charges of misconduct in a public office at Luton crown court last year.

HMIC found that more than a third (39%) of the allegations of abuse of authority for sexual gain involved victims of domestic abuse. As part of its research the inspectorate carried out an online survey of domestic abuse practitioners between July and August. Sixty-eight practitioners (16%) of the 414 who took part said victims of domestic abuse had disclosed that an officer or member of police staff had abused their authority to exploit them or develop an inappropriate relationship with them.

The chief executive of the domestic violence charity Refuge, Sandra Horley, said: â€œWidespread reports of police officers exploiting women for sexual gain â€¦ are horrific â€" but unsurprising.

â€œRefuge is glad HMICâ€™s report has shone a light on this issue, following a consultation with domestic violence practitioners including our frontline staff. The police are meant to protect the public from harm; how can women be expected to report their abuse, if they fear the police will abuse them all over again? Women have the right to safety and protection.

â€œRefuge commends the work HMIC has already done in improving the police response to domestic violence; we hope this report will mean an end to what is an appalling abuse of power.â€

Mark Castle, chief executive of the independent charity Victim Support, said: â€œThese allegations are deeply concerning. The victims involved are some of the most vulnerable people in our society, who have been exploited by the people they should be able to trust the most, the police.

â€œIn order to maintain public confidence in the police itâ€™s critical that forces recognise this behaviour as the serious corruption that it is and report all cases to the IPCC to ensure that they are thoroughly and robustly investigated.â€

The HMIC findings formed part of a broader inspection of police legitimacy, which concluded victimsâ€™ satisfaction with the way they were treated by police remained high. The investigation was ordered by the then home secretary, Theresa May.

But the inspectorate said forces still needed to become more proactive in rooting out officers and staff abusing power for sexual gain. This could involve profiling officers to single out those who might be likely to commit such abuse.

Cunningham said one of the reasons the inspectorate believed the figures belied a greater problem was that forces in England and Wales did not have a consistent and coherent approach to tackling the problem.

Not all forces class the abuse of authority for sexual gain as a serious corruption issue, which HMIC says they should. This would mean any allegation would be automatically referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) for investigation.

HMIC was only able to find 40 cases on the national disapproved register in which officers or staff were dismissed for abusing power for sexual gain during the period in which more than 400 allegations were received.

â€œWhatâ€™s less clear is whatâ€™s happening with those allegations, how those allegations are being pursued, how they translate into gross misconduct hearings and sackings,â€ Cunningham said.

HMIC said the problem remained despite recommendations in a 2012 IPCC report on the issue, which appear to have not been acted on.

In her speech to the Police Federation conference earlier this year, May said: â€œWe know of officers who develop inappropriate relationships with victims of domestic abuse. They have ignored their professional duty and their moral responsibility, and instead abused their position of power to exploit victims. We do not know the true scale of this, but everyone in this room will know it goes on far more than we might care to admit.â€

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Hundreds of police in England and Wales accused of sexual abuse | UK news

7:01 AM Bilal Muazin No comments

Hundreds of police officers are being accused of sexually abusing victims and suspects in what a senior police watchdog has called â€œthe most serious corruption issue facing the serviceâ€.

Despite the large numbers, there is evidence that only 40 officers or staff have been dismissed for abusing authority for sexual gain in a similar period.

Victim groups have said the findings are â€œdeeply concerningâ€ and involved some of the most vulnerable people in society.

â€œIt is probably more likely the problem is more serious than the numbers reported back to us,â€ he added.

Mitchell, who was a constable with Northumbria police, abused heroin addicts, shoplifters and a disabled teenager by offering them help while in custody, then demanding sexual favours afterwards.

â€œRefuge commends the work HMIC has already done in improving the police response to domestic violence; we hope this report will mean an end to what is an appalling abuse of power.â€

HMIC said the problem remained despite recommendations in a 2012 IPCC report on the issue, which appear to have not been acted on.

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Metropolitan police to investigate sexual abuse claims at London clubs | Football

3:30 PM Bilal Muazin No comments

The Metropolitan police has launched an investigation into historical sexual abuse claims involving London football clubs, becoming the 21st force across the country to have begun similar inquiries into teams in their areas.

Britainâ€™s largest police force said specialist officers would look into allegations of â€œnon-recentâ€ crimes, but refused to say which clubs it was investigating.

â€œWe take all the allegations we receive very seriously and they will be dealt with sensitively,â€ said DCS Ivan Balhatchet of the Metâ€™s sexual offences, exploitation and child abuse command. â€œAnyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse, whatever the circumstances, or has any relevant information should contact their local police or the NSPCC.â€

Football sex abuse scandal: how the story unfolded

According to police, more than 350 potential victims have come forward since the former Crewe defender Andy Woodward waived his right to anonymity to reveal in an interview with the Guardian that he had been a Âvictim of sexual abuse

Gary Johnson, the former player who was paid Â£50,000 by Chelsea not to go public with allegations that he was abused by their former chief scout Eddie Heath, has said that a personal apology from the clubâ€™s board, delivered in person on Wednesday, was â€œtoo little, too lateâ€.

Johnson was a member of Chelseaâ€™s first team from 1978 to 1981 after joining the club as an 11-year-old in 1970. The 57-year-old spoke out recently to say he was groomed from the age of 13 by Heath, who was chief scout from 1968 to 1979 and is now dead. Chelseaâ€™s insurers paid Â£50,000 in compensation, without liability, in return for a confidentiality clause.

Johnson told the BBC that the Â£50,000 he received was â€œnot enough for the pain and suffering Iâ€™ve hadâ€, adding: â€œIt [the abuse] took away my childhood â€" I can never get that back.â€

In Holyrood, Nicola Sturgeon resisted calls for the inquiry into historical child sexual abuse in Scotland to be widened to include football clubs, after the Scottish Labour leader, Kezia ÂDugdale, pressed her during first ministerâ€™s Âquestions about revelations of abuse in Scottish clubs.

The first minister said: â€œMy view is we should allow that inquiry to get on with its job and we should allow the police to get on with their job of investigating allegations of abuse in football.â€

Earlier, a former chief Âexecutive of the Scottish Football Association called for a separate inquiry as the revelÂations across the UK continued to mount. Gordon Smith told BBC Radioâ€™s Good Morning Scotland that an investigation into how clubs and national bodies had responded to allegations was needed.

â€œThere should be an inquiry, an inquiry into anybody who knew anything about this sort of thing,â€ he said. â€œIf this was happening at a club, what action did they take? Weâ€™re now finding out some of the cases down in England where the club tried to hush the situation, even paid a player money to not say anything about it.â€

The SFA has said it is part of a task force set up to coordinate complaints and information relating to child sexual abuse within football and that it is passing on all information it receives to Police Scotland.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Premiership club Patrick Thistle have admitted firing one of their employees in 1992 over abuse claims. The club disclosed that a former physiotherapist, named as John Hart, who died in 1995, was dismissed after the allegations came to light more than 20 years ago.

In a statement, the club denied any cover-up, stating: â€œThe current board and management knew nothing of this until an internal investigation uncovered it in the last few days. As a result, the club informed the SFA and Police Scotland.â€

This follows revelations concerning a former youth coach for Celtic, Hibernian and Falkirk football clubs, who was on Wednesday charged with a child sex offence and has been remanded in custody.

Jim McCafferty, who worked in football across the central belt of Scotland and in Ireland from the 1980s, was arrested in Belfast on Tuesday after presenting himself at a police station. He was charged with engaging in sexual activity with a child aged 13-16 between December 2011 and December 2014.

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Football sex abuse: Met Police launches investigation

5:00 AM Bilal Muazin No comments

Image copyright Thinkstock

The Metropolitan Police has launched an investigation into allegations of historical sexual abuse in football at clubs in London.

A dedicated team of officers from the Met's sexual offences, exploitation and child abuse command will work alongside Operation Hydrant.

Hundreds of people have reported abuse to UK police so far, the National Police Chief's Council said.

The Met is not discussing the number of allegations or the clubs involved.

Det Ch Supt Ivan Balhatchet from the Met said the force takes allegations seriously and they "will be dealt with sensitively".

"Anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse, whatever the circumstances, or has any relevant information, should contact their local police or the NSPCC," he added.

Football clubs across the UK have been implicated in a growing number of child sex abuse allegations.

Child sex abuse claims - story so far

The Met's announcement comes as the Football Association has been criticised for "dismissing" concerns about sexual abuse in football when they emerged in the 1990s.

A dedicated football abuse hotline set up by the NSPCC received more than 860 calls since it was set up about two weeks ago.

The phone line is available 24 hours a day on 0800 023 2642.

Police forces investigating allegations:

North Wales
North Yorkshire
Dorset
Staffordshire
Greater Manchester
Cambridgeshire
Hampshire
Cheshire
Northumbria
Metropolitan
Police Scotland
Avon and Somerset
Essex
Norfolk
Derbyshire
Warwickshire
Devon and Cornwall
South Wales
Dyfed-Powys
PSNI

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Friday, December 9, 2016

Yorktown pastor arrested, accused of having sex in church with 15-year-old girl

10:00 AM Bilal Muazin No comments

Terry Dobbs

YORKTOWN, Ind. â€" Police arrested a Yorktown pastor who admitted heâ€™d had sex with a teenage girl he was counseling.

According to court documents, Terry Dobbs, 53, gave police a full confession after being confronted about his activities with the teen. Dobbs is pastor of Old Fashion United Baptist Church in Yorktown.

Police first learned about Dobbs and the teenager on Dec. 2, when they were contacted about a possible sexual relationship between the two.

The 15-year-old girl told police sheâ€™d been having sex with Dobbs for the last two months. During an interview, the teen said it started when Dobbs began counseling her for some problems she was having over the summer.

During those conversations, Dobbs talked about kissing her, the teen told police. After they kissed, they fondled one another and then progressed into sex acts and sexual intercourse at the church.

The teen told police she had text messages from Dobbs on her computer and that the two of them had taken nude photos and exchanged them via computer and phone.

On Thursday, Dec. 8, Yorktown police brought Dobbs in for questioning. He â€œgave a full confessionâ€ about what had taken place, according to court documents, and was arrested.

Charges against Dobbs include sexual misconduct with a minor, vicarious sexual gratification with a minor, child exploitation and child solicitation.

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Thursday, December 8, 2016

Pizzagate gunman refuses to dismiss online conspiracy theory claims about child sex ring

1:00 PM Bilal Muazin No comments

Edgar Maddison Welch, 28 of Salisbury, N.C., surrenders to police Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016, in Washington. Welch, who said he was investigating a conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton running a child sex ring out of a pizza place, fired an assault rifle inside the restaurant on Sunday injuring no one, police and news reports said. (Sathi Soma via AP) Â (Sathi Soma)

The man accused of firing an assault rifle inside a Washington pizza shop refused to completely dismiss the online conspiracy theory accusing the eatery of running a child sex ring that brought him there in the first place -- although he said he regretted how he handled the situation.

Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, told the New York Times in a Wednesday videoconference that the online articles he read about Comet Ping Pong pizzeria â€" which linked the supposed ring to Hillary Clinton â€" left him with the â€œimpression something nefarious was happeningâ€ and he wanted to â€œreally able to look into it.â€

Court documents showed that Welch entered the eatery and fired an AR-15 rifle several times inside the restaurant but later exited with his hands up. He surrendered to police when he found no signs of children being held as sex slaves.

"I just wanted to do some good and went about it the wrong way," he told the newspaper.

While Welch acknowledged that his â€œintelâ€ on the restaurant was not 100 percent, he refused to dismiss that what he had read online was untrue, conceding only that there were no children "inside that dwelling."Â

He also rejected the term â€œfake newsâ€ believing that it diminishes stories shared outside the mainstream media.

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Welch told the newspaper he started driving to Washington from his Salisbury, N.C., home intending only to give the restaurant a "closer look." But while on the way, he said he felt his "heart breaking over the thought of innocent people suffering."

Welch would not say why he brought an AR-15 into the pizza shop and fired it, the newspaper reported.

On Thursday, a judge delayed a preliminary hearing for Welch. His public defender requested the delay, saying she needed more time to investigate the case. He will be back in court Tuesday.

Welch appears to have lived an aimless life that became turbulent in the weeks before he was drawn to the nation's capital by a fake news story.

Friends and family say he is a well-meaning father of two girls who wanted to be a firefighter. But he also unnerved some with his religious fervor and sometimes had trouble detaching himself from the internet.

In the weeks before his Washington arrest, there were other signs of turbulence. In late October, Welch struck a teenage pedestrian with his car in his hometown, requiring the boy to be airlifted to a hospital, according to a police report that said he wasn't immediately charged. More recently, days before he drove to Washington, he was dropped from the rolls of a volunteer fire department.

In past years, he was convicted of drunken driving and minor drug charges.

But the one constant, friends and family say, was his love for his two young daughters.

"He's a father and a very loving man, very concerned about children," said his aunt Tajuana Tadlock, adding: "He's not a vigilante, by no check of the words."

Tadlock said Welch's parents haven't been able to talk to him to ask what he was thinking, and the family's only information comes from the news and the public defender.

In recent years, Welch often mentioned his Christian faith. Interspersed with Facebook posts about his daughters are the registered Republican's musings on the Bible and religion.

Danielle Tillman of Raleigh said she met Welch a few months ago and has known his current girlfriend for years. She recalls Welch made her uncomfortable while talking at length about religion. At one point, he grabbed her hand and prayed, asking for "the demons to come out of me," she said.

Welch's family has roots in the Salisbury area, where his father and grandfather served in local government, according to the Salisbury Post. Friends say he attended West Rowan High School. A woman at the family's property declined to answer questions this week.

Around age 18, Welch pleaded guilty to misdemeanor drug possession charges in neighboring Cabarrus County, according to online records of the January 2007 offense.

Welch enrolled at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, but court records say he didn't graduate.

On a break from college in 2009, Welch was interviewed by the Salisbury Post after he made it halfway through a hike of the 500-mile Colorado Trail. He told the newspaper the hike helped him overcome an addiction to the internet.

"It's a good feeling, going solo," he told the newspaper. "There's something spiritual about it."

In April 2013, Welch was charged with impaired driving with a blood-alcohol content of .09, court records show. He pleaded guilty, was sentenced to probation and community service and underwent alcohol counseling.

Rowan County records show that after a short marriage, his wife filed for divorce in November 2014. The thin file doesn't say why they split up. The divorce complaint was dismissed in 2015 after neither attended a scheduled hearing. Documents related to his arrest say they remain separated, and his two children live with him.

Welch twice served briefly as a volunteer firefighter, and his aunt said he was recently taking classes needed to get a paying job as a firefighter.

Locke Fire Chief Rusty Alexander said Welch barely showed up at the fire station after joining in 2012, and lasted about six months.

"He tried it, and basically it wasn't for him," Alexander said.

In May 2016, Welch became a volunteer firefighter in the town of Spencer, Chief Gray Grubb said. Grubb said Welch stopped attending training sessions and didn't answer alarms, so he was removed from the active roster Nov. 30.

"When we interviewed him, he seemed like a good guy," Grubb said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Thursday, December 8, 2016

Friday, December 9, 2016

Yorktown pastor arrested, accused of having sex in church with 15-year-oldÂ girl

Thursday, December 8, 2016

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