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BELVIDERE — Last week’s arrest of a Belvidere North High School teacher charged with multiple counts of criminal sexual assault shined light on a crime often referred to as “the silent epidemic.”
The crime is silent, in part, because nearly three out of four children or 73 percent of the victims do not tell anyone about the abuse for at least one year, while many never say anything at all, said Darkness to Light President and CEO Jolie Logan.
It’s also an epidemic in part because child sexual abuse ranks second to homicide as the most expensive victim crime in the U.S., where immediate and long-term costs exceed $35 billion annually, according to the Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse & Neglect. The study is a congressionally mandated periodic research to assess the incidence of child abuse and neglect in the United States.
Cathy Townsend of Darkness to Light said educating adults about the steps they can take to prevent, recognize and react to child sexual abuse is the mission of the Charleston, S.C.-based non-profit.
Darkness to Light has provided training to more than 30,000 of South Carolina’s 54,000 teachers. School districts in the state are recognized as some of the country’s most progressive in preventing child sex abuse.
Jenee A. Blackert, 30, of Poplar Grove was charged Thursday with four counts of criminal sexual assault. It marks the second time in six years a Belvidere School District teacher has been charged with a sexual crime involving a student.
School District Superintendent Michael Houselog said all complaints of sexual abuse are taken seriously and investigated by school officials and, if necessary, law enforcement.
“Our students have not been bashful in reporting,” he said. “When kids are made to feel uncomfortable, we follow up on it.”
Townsend said one of the best steps a school district can take to prevent child abuse by a teacher is eliminate the opportunity for it by limiting one-on-one encounters.
She said a code of conduct should specify where and when a teacher can touch a child.
“A pat on the shoulder, a high-five? Fine. A pat on the butt? No.”
She also said a child should never ride alone with a teacher.
Red flags or precursors to child sex abuse include signs of “grooming.”
“Showing increasing affection to a child, patting and then hugging, gift giving. The child loses sense of where the boundaries lie,” Townsend said. “When the offender makes their move, the student often thinks, ‘Oh. I owe it to him.’”
Townsend said families also can be groomed.
“The teacher will baby-sit a child, take the child to a ball game. Parents are often honored that a teacher is taking extra time and attention with their child.”
While parents are left feeling betrayed upon learning their child was abused by a teacher, Townsend said the short- and long-term effects on the child can include changes in behavior, teen pregnancy, dropping out of school and alcoholism.
According to Darkness to Light, in 95 percent of all child sexual abuse cases, the offender is someone the child knows and trusts.
Lobbyists against access to justice for child sex abuse victims are making a deal with the devil:
“If the bill loses, the molester protectors win,” Beall said after it failed 6-4 along party lines in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Beall was granted reconsideration next week. Seven Assembly members did not vote, including six Democrats.
The newly created California Council of Nonprofit Organizations poured $258,000 into fighting the bill in the first six months of this year. The California Council, an umbrella organization of the California Catholic Conference, hired five lobbying firms, including heavyweight Lang Hansen O’Malley and Miller Governmental Relations.
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Article published Aug 15, 2013 The Day, New London, CT
Sex charges dismissed against former teacher, administrator Karen Florin
New London Superior Court Judge Susan B. Handy dismissed sexual assault charges against former school psychologist and administrator Allison M. Robinson this morning based on the recent discovery by the state that the statute of limitations in the case had expired.
“You are free to go,” Handy told Robinson, 38, of New London, who left immediately with a small group of supporters.
State police charged Robinson in May 2011 with sexually assaulting a middle school student while working as a school psychologist in East Lyme in 2000 and 2001. The victim told his attorney about the incidents, and the attorney, Thomas Simones, contacted state police.
The state charged Robinson under the impression that the case fell under a 2002 Public Act that amended the statute of limitations on juvenile sexual assault to allow rape victims who are minors to come forward for up to 30 years after they reach the age of majority.
Prosecutor Theresa Anne Ferryman, in reviewing the case, discovered the 30-year statute does not apply retroactively to Robinson’s case as a result of a 2012 Connecticut Appellate Court decision, State v. Brundage. Ferryman notified the court and Robinson’s attorneys from the Pattis Law Firm.
Attorney Heather E. Rolfes filed a motion to dismiss based on the statute of limitations issue and Ferryman said in court this morning that she was not opposing the dismissal, since “the Appellate Court has spoken.” She noted her lack of opposition did not reflect on any weaknesses in the state’s case.
“This case in the state’s mind is a very strong case in the facts,” Ferryman said.
The judge said the Appellate decision is “quite clear.”
The alleged victim, now 26, has also brought a civil lawsuit against Robinson and school officials, claiming that as a result of the sexual assaults, he has suffered a wide range of negative symptoms, including emotional distress, low self-esteem, distrust of people and trouble dealing with authority figures.
He was 13 or 14 years old when he met Robinson, then known as Allison Hitte, while attending mandatory counseling for anger management, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. The state alleged Robinson solicited a personal and sexual relationship with the boy, providing him and his friends with alcohol and nitrous oxide (an inhalant), and having sex with the boy in her office at the middle school, in her car, at state parks and forests, and at her parents’ home in Rhode Island.
Prior to the discovery that the charges were brought outside the statute of limitations, Robinson was mulling an offer to plead guilty in exchange for a six-month prison sentence and strict probation.
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Mendel Tevel is accused of abuse. Photo courtesy of Jewish Community Watch
Sitting with his back hunched, his wife by his side and a kippah on his head, a 23-year-old bearded Orthodox man nervously told a gathering of parents at a private residence near Pico-Robertson that a young man named Mendel Tevel had sexually abused him when he was 14. Tevel now lives in Los Angeles and is believed to have worked in recent months at JEM, a Jewish youth center in Beverly Hills.
The alleged victim did not tell the group his name and demanded that all cell phones be placed in a separate room — and although he told the Journal his full name, because of the sensitivity of the subject he asked that it be withheld from this story. This was his first public accounting of his alleged abuse, talking to about 40 community members on the evening of Aug. 5. As people trickled into the home of David and Etty Abehsera, he began his story:
When he was a 14-year-old student — in around 2004 — at the since-closed Shterns Yeshiva in upstate New York, Tevel, then a mentor at the school, initiated what was at first a friendly relationship with the speaker. Tevel, who is now about 30, was around 21 years old at the time.
At first, the man alleged, Tevel offered simply to be the student’s exercise partner. But eventually, he said, Tevel came up with extreme ways to motivate him to work out harder, including repeatedly whipping him with a metal coat hanger, which he said lacerated his skin and caused bleeding.
He claimed that as the relationship grew, Tevel would crawl into bed with him at night, inappropriately massage him, and rub his clothed body against the boy’s. He claimed Tevel also bent him over and spanked him when he refused to immerse himself in what was sometimes a very cold outdoor mikveh (ritual bath). These incidents occurred multiple times, the speaker said.
“He wasn’t exactly trying to hide the fact that he had an erection at the time,” the alleged victim told the gathering, describing his incidents with Tevel in the mikveh.
“I was a very naïve 14-year-old, but something just didn’t feel right, so I cut off ties with him.”
Because these acts occurred in New York, where the statute of limitations for charging someone with sexual abuse expires when the victim turns 23, the State of New York would not be able to press charges against Tevel based on this man’s testimony alone. The man said he currently lives in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights but on the night he spoke he was in Los Angeles on vacation.
Following this accounting, three more people alleging to be victims of Tevel shared their stories with the Journal via telephone from Brooklyn, where Tevel was born and raised, and where he lived before he moved to Los Angeles in 2012. All of the alleged victims interviewed by phone, when asked, told the Journal they do not know personally any other people who say they’ve been abused by Tevel. The instances described by those who spoke with the Journal took place as early as around 1995 and as recently as around 2004.
Tevel himself did not respond to multiple phone calls to his personal cell phone, nor to voicemails, text messages and e-mails from the Journal over several days. Searches of both civil and criminal public records did not reveal any convictions, or any closed or pending charges against Tevel in either New York or California.
Two local residents, both of whom asked that their names not be made public, identified Tevel as recently working at the JEM Center. One said that Tevel and his wife, Bracha, were directing JEM’s Hebrew High School Program as recently as one month ago. On the Web site jewishcommunitywatch.org, Tevel is labeled as the “counselor/director of JEM center.”
Another person confirmed seeing Tevel at a farbrengen (a Chasidic celebratory gathering) on Monday, Dec. 3, 2012, at JEM. The gathering included both adults and children.
On the morning of Aug. 13, just before press time, Rabbi Hertzel Illulian, director and founder of the JEM Center, answered one of many phone calls made by the Journal to him over a period of three days. Illulian said he was not able to immediately comment because he was dealing with a recent death in the community.
Illulian’s daughter, Bracha, married Tevel in 2012. Bracha also did not respond to multiple attempts to reach her.
The accounts from the four alleged victims who spoke with the Journal provided vivid details of both sexual and physical abuse. Two of the alleged cases occurred in Brooklyn, N.Y. The other two occurred at Machane Menachem, a since-closed Chabad-Lubavitch sleepaway camp in Lackawaxen, Penn., where two former staff members have confirmed that Tevel worked in 2001.
All four of the alleged victims currently live in Brooklyn, and each asked that their names not be made public.
One alleged victim, now 25, who spoke to the Journal on the phone from Brooklyn, described an incident indicating that Tevel’s abuse might have begun at a very early age. The 25-year-old said that when he was 6 or 7 years old, his family lived near Tevel’s family in Brooklyn.
The alleged victim said that Tevel, then 11 or 12, would go to the basement of his home multiple times per week with him, lock the door, tie him down, remove some or all of his clothing, and whip him (he does not remember with what).
“One thing I do remember very clearly is that it was very painful, and saying ‘Ow’ a lot of times,” the 25-year-old told the Journal.
“I had just a T-shirt on and socks,” he continued. “Of course, pants and any sort of underwear, that was gone.” He said that this continued for several months.
The alleged victim, who was raised an observant Jew, said he has since attended therapy for years, on and off. It was not until he was 19 or 20 that he opened up to his therapist about the incidents. He said that he is no longer particularly observant.
A third alleged victim said that when he was 11, likely in 2001, he was a camper at Machane Menachem. Now 23, he said that Tevel, who was likely about 18 at the time, was a counselor at the camp, and worked closely with the campers.
“I was on my [bunk’s] front porch and he called me to the side of the pool,” the alleged victim said during a phone interview with the Journal. “He started smacking me on my bum with a pingpong paddle.”
He said that although “he didn’t make much of it in the beginning,” when Tevel began smacking him harder and tried to pull down his pants, he asked Tevel, “What are you doing?” Tevel’s response, according to the alleged victim, was that he “brushed the whole thing off.” No further incidents followed.
A fourth alleged victim who spoke with the Journal is currently 21 years old. He said that when he was about 9 and Tevel was about 18, he was a first-time camper at Machane Menachem. One day, he alleged, Tevel brought him into a sports equipment room.
As another person watched the door, the 21-year-old man claimed, Tevel bent him over his lap and smacked him on the rear with a pingpong paddle. He then pulled down his bathing suit and continued smacking him.
This alleged victim, who is also no longer observant, said that when he grew up, he would become very anxious when he would occasionally see Tevel walking in the streets of Crown Heights.
According to Pennsylvania law, both of the alleged victims from the sleepaway camp would be able to press charges, should they choose to do so, until they turn 50.
Allegations of sexual abuse by Tevel first became public in October 2012, when Meyer Seewald, the New York-based 24-year-old founder of Jewish Community Watch (JCW), posted about him on the Web site’s “Wall Of Shame,” after multiple alleged victims came to Seewald to accuse Tevel of sexual abuse.
JCW, which regularly publicizes information about suspected sexual abusers within the Jewish community — mostly in Crown Heights, where Seewald lives — currently lists 40 people on its Wall Of Shame. The Journal confirmed that neither Seewald nor JCW has ever been sued for libel or defamation regarding its publicizing of accused abusers.
That review process includes personal interviews with multiple alleged victims and what appears to be a thorough investigation process. Following that, JCW will only post a suspect if its board unanimously agrees that the person is a child predator. JCW has a database of about 200 suspected predators that it is still investigating.
In one instance, JCW posted the name and a photo of a man, Daniel Granovetter, on its Web site after he was mistakenly charged by New York authorities with abuse when a student accused him, only to later retract the accusation.
The authorities dropped the charges, and JCW removed Granovetter from its Web site, but the damage to his reputation had been done.
In June, though, Granovetter penned an op-ed on chabadinfo.com commending JCW for its work, saying that Seewald should continue to post the names of people charged with abuse in order to protect children who could become victims in the time between the arrest and possible conviction.
Seewald claimed to have spoken with at least four more people alleging to have been victims of Tevel, but none of them would speak with the Journal.
Refusal to go public with sexual abuse accusations, Seewald believes, is a common problem in the Orthodox community.
Seewald, who was at the Aug. 5 gathering, said that in his two years of running JCW and speaking with hundreds of victims, not one had ever told his or her story publicly to so many people.
Ben Forer, a local Orthodox Jew who is also a district attorney for Los Angeles County, wrote a public letter praising JCW’s “impeccable review process before exposing any predators.” (In speaking with the Journal, Forer said he was speaking only as a concerned community member, and not in any way on behalf of the district attorney’s office.) Rabbi Avraham Zajac, a local Orthodox rabbi, also said he respects JCW’s process. “I trust the methodology of Jewish Community Watch,” Zajac said. “The biggest thing is keeping our children safe.”
Forer was at the Aug. 5 gathering; he said that from his experience, “people don’t want to believe” allegations of sexual abuse.
“Families come out in support, in every community, in support of the predator, no matter what the evidence is,” said Forer, who currently specializes in technology-related crimes but has previously prosecuted sexual abuse cases.
In 2012, not long after Tevel’s arrival in Los Angeles, a local Orthodox Jew, Danny Fishman, briefly met Tevel on Shabbat morning at a local synagogue. Fishman said he did not know at the time about the allegations against Tevel.
“I met him,” Fishman told the Journal. “He came across as personable and charming.”
Tevel has also been known to occasionally attend other synagogues in Hancock Park and Pico-Robertson.
A statement posted late last week on JEM’s Web site addressing the recent controversy surrounding Tevel did not mention him or any of the specific allegations against him, but stated that “JEM Center wishes to reassure the community that every precaution has been taken to resolve the concerns and bring this matter to a closure.”
The statement continued: “The local authorities have been contacted and are thoroughly investigating all issues that have been raised (and if needed action will be taken).”
JEM has surveillance cameras in all areas of its building, the statement continued, and no rooms or offices in the building are allowed to be locked.
Lt. Lincoln Hoshino of the Beverly Hills Police Department confirmed on Aug. 13 that it is conducting an investigation involving the JEM Center. He declined to say whether Tevel is involved in the investigation.
Toward the end of the alleged victim’s account on Aug. 5, the former Shterns Yeshiva student explained why he came forward.
“It actually did take a lot for me to come out here and speak,” he said. But when he heard that Tevel is working around children in Los Angeles, he felt he had an obligation to do something.
“He [Tevel] has damaged a lot of people,” the man alleged. “He cannot be around schools; he cannot be around the community.”
With anger in his voice, he expressed his frustration with what he sees as the Orthodox community’s preference to not bring such cases into public light.
“Keeping it close-knit is not going to help,” the alleged victim asserted, his voice rising. “Keeping it close-knit is what the Jewish community has done for years.”
If you have concerns about possible instances of abuse in your community, you can e-mail us at abusetips@jewishjournal.com. Tipsters’ names will be treated with confidentiality, as requested.
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WASHINGTON, August 9, 2013 — Michael Reagan is the adopted son of former president Ronald Reagan and actress Jane Wyman. He is also a survivor of child abuse and child pornography.
After he was adopted in 1945 by former president Ronald Reagan and actress Jane Wyman, Michael Reagan fell victim to circumstances that defy our perception of the life of children of celebrities.
Michael Reagan’s descent into a world of pain and suffering began in 1948 at the age of three with the divorce of Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman. This event changed Michael’s world as he was placed in the custody of his mother and the time spent with his father became a shadow of their former relationship. Divorce can be difficult to process in the mind of a young child, and many internalize the blame for the breakup of their parents, saddling themselves with a lifetime of guilt.
Michael struggled with feelings of loneliness and abandonment as he tried to make sense of his father’s absence and a sometimes emotionally distant mother. Michael always knew that his mother and father loved him but with their busy schedules as actors, there were times that he felt alone and isolated. The loneliness he felt as a child would only be amplified when at age six he was sent to boarding school. Michael speaks of crying himself to sleep every night during his time away from home.
At the age of eight, Michael and his sister moved to a “day” school, where they returned home every night. Due to their mother’s busy schedule as an actress, the two children were enrolled in an after- school program, and it was here that Michael was targeted by a pedophile.
The man who ran the after school program began working his way into Michael’s life, filling the void left by the absence of his father. He taught him how to throw a baseball and attended all of his sporting events. Michael says, “There was a point where he owned me and molested me sexually three days a week. This continued for a year, and even though I knew it was wrong, for an eight year old it was just too much to process. There was no one I could tell about the sexual abuse. My relationship with my parents was strained due to their divorce and my struggles with being adopted. I knew what was happening to me was wrong but children always bear the greatest burden as victims of child abuse and they keep that secret at their own expense.”
Pedophiles “groom” their victims by psychologically manipulating them into a trap that leaves them powerless. They often threaten to withdraw the affection the child craves, stop giving them expensive gifts or threaten to tell the family the child is a “bad seed.”
Childhood sexual abuse has no sense of economic status, ethnicity, gender or celebrity. One in four girls and one in six boys are victims of child sexual abuse. There are over forty-two million survivors of child sexual abuse in the world today. According to a Centers for Disease Control study, the lifetime costs for the victims of child sexual abuse reported in one year is $124 billion.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports that there are currently 500,000 registered sex offenders in the United States, and typically 100,000 of those are unaccounted for. Other pedophiles are not on records or in databases. Pedophiles like Jerry Sandusky walk silently among us, and Sandusky showed us just how well they can disguise themselves.
Research has also shown that each victim of child sexual abuse has to tell an average of seven adults before they are believed, and those who make it to the seventh adult are few in number.
Michael Reagan’s abuser did not stop at molesting him, and soon he was using him for child pornography. Michael remembers the moment as a young boy he believed that his life was over. His abuser would often drive him home at the end of the day, and one evening, as his mother waited at the front door, he asked, “Mind if I take him to dinner?” Jane Wyman waved standing on the porch and said, “Fine, see you in a bit!”
Instead of taking him to dinner, Michael’s abuser took him back to his apartment. In the kitchen, his abuser drew back the curtains to reveal a photography developing studio. As his abuser began moving a sheet of paper from pan to pan, an image of mountains appeared. He allowed Michael to try, and to Michael’s horror, the image he developed was not a landscape but a picture of a nude eight-year-old Michael Reagan.
It was at that point that Michael knew his life was over. He was consumed with an uncontrollable anger and hatred of himself that would haunt him throughout his life.
Michael Reagan remembers as a young boy smashing his bike with a hammer when the chain came off and as an adult taking a sledgehammer to a 1965 Oldsmobile at his father’s ranch when the battery died. The car and the bike represented his abuser, and Michael’s anger towards the man who stole his innocence was a bottomless well.
The anger he felt towards his abuser became directed not only outwards but inwards as well. After the abuse, Michael struggled with his own sexuality, and he speaks of how at sixteen he stole money from his father’s wallet to pay for prostitutes as a means of reinforcing his masculinity.
Rates of suicide among male victims of childhood sexual abuse are 14 times higher than the norm, and they are 38 times more likely to die from a drug overdose. Male victims are also prone to more aggressive behavior than female victims. A male victim is 53% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile compared to others and 38% more likely to be arrested for violent crime as an adult. Victims face a lifetime battle with depression, anger, addiction and possibly suicide, and the cost to society is the loss of a productive individual who could have changed the world if it were not for their victimization.
In 1965, Ronald Reagan announced he would run for Governor of California. Michael remembers the moment his father decided to run and his thoughts about that decision.
“At that point I was angry and frustrated. Everybody expects me to be a success but I was scared of the entire concept of success. I would have been living a nightmare expecting the photographs that my abuser took of me as an eight year old to surface. I was praying that my dad runs for Governor and that the love that people have for him will rub off on me, but I was also deathly afraid that those photographs would come out and hurt my father’s political career. I was bearing the burden for my abuser, and that is what victims of child abuse are forced to do. It’s despicable what children are put through by these predators and then they spend their lives suffering because they were innocent victims targeted by evil.”
In 1987 Michael Reagan was offered two million dollars to write a “tell all” book about his parents, Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman. As he began writing, something unexpected happened; he began getting angry, and as he struggled with a whirlwind of emotions, he finally realized he could no longer keep silent about his molestation.
Michael met with then President Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan. Michael began to shake and tears welled up in his eyes as he told his father how his innocence was stolen. He remembers First Lady Nancy Reagan rubbing his back and his father’s hand on his shoulder. Michael also remembers his father’s words “Where is he so I can kick his ass!”
Michael’s book, “On The Outside Looking In,” was published in 1988 and chronicles his early life and the abuse he suffered.
Michael Reagan has beaten the odds by surviving childhood sexual abuse, and when asked what gave him the strength to avoid the self-destructive path many take, there is no hesitation. “God has given me the strength to survive and my wife Colleen is my North Star. She guides me when I feel lost and teaches me every day the meaning of unconditional love and dedication.”
In 1975 Michael and Colleen were married. He thanks God for bringing Colleen into his life and for their two children, son Cameron and a daughter, Ashley.
Michael Reagan has achieved many things in his life, including becoming the founder and chairman of Reagan Legacy Foundation, a New York Times bestselling author, Townhall columnist and former talk radio host. He has also dedicated himself to ending the scourge of child abuse, and today he works with the organization Childhelp to educate and empower parents and children.
Along with Childhelp, Michael is working to protect our children from predators through the 1-2-3 formula. The first component of this is the implementation of “Erin’s law” created from the courage and determination of author and advocate Erin Merryn. “Erin’s law,” implements child sexual abuse education in grades Pre-K through eighth grade.
The second component of the 1-2-3 formula is the implementation of Childhelp’s Speak Up Be SafeTM (SUBS) premier curriculum for grades one through six. Through education and empowerment of parents and children, the program combats the ever-growing threat to our children from cyber bullying, Internet predators and “sexting.” The final component is the utilization of technology such as smart phones as aids in the education and prevention of child abuse.
Michael Reagan’s abuse as a child haunts him every day, and his voice the pain is palpable as he speaks of the trauma he suffered as an eight-year old boy. His tone soon changes, however, when he talks of his fight with Childhelp to save the next innocent child, and the force and conviction of his determination not to let another child suffer as he did are patently obvious.
—
To find out more about Michael Reagan go to his website here (http:/ www.michaelereagan.com). Please join Childhelp, Michael Reagan and me in our fight to save an innocent child from the next Jerry Sandusky.
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Governor Signs Bill Eliminating Criminal SOL in Illinois
/in Illinois /by SOL ReformBill Text:
AN ACT concerning criminal law.Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,represented in the General Assembly:Section 5.The Criminal Code of 2012 is amended by changingSection 3-6 as follows:(720 ILCS 5/3-6)(from Ch. 38, par. 3-6)Sec. 3-6.Extended limitations.The period within which aprosecution must be commenced under the provisions of Section3-5 or other applicable statute is extended under the followingconditions:(a) A prosecution for theft involving a breach of afiduciary obligation to the aggrieved person may be commencedas follows:(1) If the aggrieved person is a minor or a personunder legal disability, then during the minority or legaldisability or within one year after the terminationthereof.(2) In any other instance, within one year after thediscovery of the offense by an aggrieved person, or by aperson who has legal capacity to represent an aggrievedperson or has a legal duty to report the offense, and isnot himself or herself a party to the offense; or in theabsence of such discovery, within one year after the properprosecuting officer becomes aware of the offense. However,in no such case is the period of limitation so extendedmore than 3 years beyond the expiration of the periodotherwise applicable.(b) A prosecution for any offense based upon misconduct inoffice by a public officer or employee may be commenced withinone year after discovery of the offense by a person having alegal duty to report such offense, or in the absence of suchdiscovery, within one year after the proper prosecuting officerbecomes aware of the offense. However, in no such case is theperiod of limitation so extended more than 3 years beyond theexpiration of the period otherwise applicable.(b-5) When the victim is under 18 years of age at the timeof the offense, a prosecution for involuntary servitude,involuntary sexual servitude of a minor, or trafficking inpersons and related offenses under Section 10-9 of this Codemay be commenced within one year of the victim attaining theage of 18 years. However, in no such case shall the time periodfor prosecution expire sooner than 3 years after the commissionof the offense.(c) (Blank).(d) A prosecution for child pornography, aggravated childpornography, indecent solicitation of a child, soliciting for ajuvenile prostitute, juvenile pimping, exploitation of achild, or promoting juvenile prostitution except for keeping aplace of juvenile prostitution may be commenced within one yearof the victim attaining the age of 18 years. However, in nosuch case shall the time period for prosecution expire soonerthan 3 years after the commission of the offense. When thevictim is under 18 years of age, a prosecution for criminalsexual abuse may be commenced within one year of the victimattaining the age of 18 years. However, in no such case shallthe time period for prosecution expire sooner than 3 yearsafter the commission of the offense.(e) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (j), aprosecution for any offense involving sexual conduct or sexualpenetration, as defined in Section 11-0.1 of this Code, wherethe defendant was within a professional or fiduciaryrelationship or a purported professional or fiduciaryrelationship with the victim at the time of the commission ofthe offense may be commenced within one year after thediscovery of the offense by the victim.(f) A prosecution for any offense set forth in Section 44of the "Environmental Protection Act", approved June 29, 1970,as amended, may be commenced within 5 years after the discoveryof such an offense by a person or agency having the legal dutyto report the offense or in the absence of such discovery,within 5 years after the proper prosecuting officer becomesaware of the offense.(f-5) A prosecution for any offense set forth in Section16-30 of this Code may be commenced within 5 years after thediscovery of the offense by the victim of that offense.(g) (Blank).(h) (Blank).(i) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (j), aprosecution for criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminalsexual assault, or aggravated criminal sexual abuse may becommenced within 10 years of the commission of the offense ifthe victim reported the offense to law enforcement authoritieswithin 3 years after the commission of the offense.Nothing in this subdivision (i) shall be construed toshorten a period within which a prosecution must be commencedunder any other provision of this Section.(j)(1)When the victim is under 18 years of age at thetime of the offense, a prosecution for criminal sexual assault,aggravated criminal sexual assault, predatory criminal sexualassault of a child, aggravated criminal sexual abuse, or felonycriminal sexual abusemay be commenced at any time whencorroborating physical evidence is available or an individualwho is required to report an alleged or suspected commission ofany of these offenses under the Abused and Neglected ChildReporting Act fails to do so.(2) In circumstances other than as described in paragraph(1) of this subsection (j), when the victim is under 18 yearsof age at the time of the offense, a prosecution for criminalsexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual assault, predatorycriminal sexual assault of a child, aggravated criminal sexualabuse, or felony criminal sexual abuse, or a prosecution forfailure of a person who is required to report an alleged orsuspected commission of any of these offenses under the Abusedand Neglected Child Reporting Act may be commenced within 20years after the child victim attains 18 years of age.(3)When the victim is under 18 years of age at the time ofthe offense, a prosecution for misdemeanor criminal sexualabuse may be commenced within 10 years after the child victimattains 18 years of age.(4)Nothing in this subdivision (j) shall be construed toshorten a period within which a prosecution must be commencedunder any other provision of this Section.(k) A prosecution for theft involving real propertyexceeding $100,000 in value under Section 16-1, identity theftunder subsection (a) of Section 16-30, aggravated identitytheft under subsection (b) of Section 16-30, or any offense setforth in Article 16H or Section 17-10.6 may be commenced within7 years of the last act committed in furtherance of the crime.(Source: P.A. 96-233, eff. 1-1-10; 96-1551, Article 2, Section1035, eff. 7-1-11; 96-1551, Article 10, Section 10-140, eff.7-1-11; 97-597, eff. 1-1-12; 97-897, eff. 1-1-13.)We all pay
/in Uncategorized /by SOL ReformExpert: Child sex abuse an ‘epidemic’
BELVIDERE — Last week’s arrest of a Belvidere North High School teacher charged with multiple counts of criminal sexual assault shined light on a crime often referred to as “the silent epidemic.”
The crime is silent, in part, because nearly three out of four children or 73 percent of the victims do not tell anyone about the abuse for at least one year, while many never say anything at all, said Darkness to Light President and CEO Jolie Logan.
It’s also an epidemic in part because child sexual abuse ranks second to homicide as the most expensive victim crime in the U.S., where immediate and long-term costs exceed $35 billion annually, according to the Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse & Neglect. The study is a congressionally mandated periodic research to assess the incidence of child abuse and neglect in the United States.
Cathy Townsend of Darkness to Light said educating adults about the steps they can take to prevent, recognize and react to child sexual abuse is the mission of the Charleston, S.C.-based non-profit.
Darkness to Light has provided training to more than 30,000 of South Carolina’s 54,000 teachers. School districts in the state are recognized as some of the country’s most progressive in preventing child sex abuse.
Jenee A. Blackert, 30, of Poplar Grove was charged Thursday with four counts of criminal sexual assault. It marks the second time in six years a Belvidere School District teacher has been charged with a sexual crime involving a student.
School District Superintendent Michael Houselog said all complaints of sexual abuse are taken seriously and investigated by school officials and, if necessary, law enforcement.
“Our students have not been bashful in reporting,” he said. “When kids are made to feel uncomfortable, we follow up on it.”
Townsend said one of the best steps a school district can take to prevent child abuse by a teacher is eliminate the opportunity for it by limiting one-on-one encounters.
She said a code of conduct should specify where and when a teacher can touch a child.
“A pat on the shoulder, a high-five? Fine. A pat on the butt? No.”
She also said a child should never ride alone with a teacher.
Red flags or precursors to child sex abuse include signs of “grooming.”
“Showing increasing affection to a child, patting and then hugging, gift giving. The child loses sense of where the boundaries lie,” Townsend said. “When the offender makes their move, the student often thinks, ‘Oh. I owe it to him.’”
Townsend said families also can be groomed.
“The teacher will baby-sit a child, take the child to a ball game. Parents are often honored that a teacher is taking extra time and attention with their child.”
While parents are left feeling betrayed upon learning their child was abused by a teacher, Townsend said the short- and long-term effects on the child can include changes in behavior, teen pregnancy, dropping out of school and alcoholism.
According to Darkness to Light, in 95 percent of all child sexual abuse cases, the offender is someone the child knows and trusts.
Chris Green: 815-987-1241;cgreen@rrstar.com; @chrisfgreen
Read more: http://www.rrstar.com/news/x1592820063/Expert-Child-sex-abuse-an-epidemic#ixzz2c5aP0KXc
California SB131 has been rescheduled for reconsideration by the Assembly Appropriations Committee next Tuesday, August 20th.
/in California /by SOL ReformLobbyists against access to justice for child sex abuse victims are making a deal with the devil:
Justice denied again—Perp walks due to CT criminal SOL.
/in Connecticut /by SOL ReformBrave Jewish survivors and more cases needing SOL reform!
/in New York /by SOL ReformMichael Reagan speaks out about child abuse
/in Uncategorized /by SOL ReformView article on the Washington Times site
WASHINGTON, August 9, 2013 — Michael Reagan is the adopted son of former president Ronald Reagan and actress Jane Wyman. He is also a survivor of child abuse and child pornography.
After he was adopted in 1945 by former president Ronald Reagan and actress Jane Wyman, Michael Reagan fell victim to circumstances that defy our perception of the life of children of celebrities.
SEE RELATED: Childhelp, Erin Merryn and Michael Reagan team up to protect children
Michael Reagan’s descent into a world of pain and suffering began in 1948 at the age of three with the divorce of Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman. This event changed Michael’s world as he was placed in the custody of his mother and the time spent with his father became a shadow of their former relationship. Divorce can be difficult to process in the mind of a young child, and many internalize the blame for the breakup of their parents, saddling themselves with a lifetime of guilt.
Michael struggled with feelings of loneliness and abandonment as he tried to make sense of his father’s absence and a sometimes emotionally distant mother. Michael always knew that his mother and father loved him but with their busy schedules as actors, there were times that he felt alone and isolated. The loneliness he felt as a child would only be amplified when at age six he was sent to boarding school. Michael speaks of crying himself to sleep every night during his time away from home.
At the age of eight, Michael and his sister moved to a “day” school, where they returned home every night. Due to their mother’s busy schedule as an actress, the two children were enrolled in an after- school program, and it was here that Michael was targeted by a pedophile.
The man who ran the after school program began working his way into Michael’s life, filling the void left by the absence of his father. He taught him how to throw a baseball and attended all of his sporting events. Michael says, “There was a point where he owned me and molested me sexually three days a week. This continued for a year, and even though I knew it was wrong, for an eight year old it was just too much to process. There was no one I could tell about the sexual abuse. My relationship with my parents was strained due to their divorce and my struggles with being adopted. I knew what was happening to me was wrong but children always bear the greatest burden as victims of child abuse and they keep that secret at their own expense.”
SEE RELATED: Sinead O’Connor reveals her abuse in Catholic Magdalene Laundries
Pedophiles “groom” their victims by psychologically manipulating them into a trap that leaves them powerless. They often threaten to withdraw the affection the child craves, stop giving them expensive gifts or threaten to tell the family the child is a “bad seed.”
Childhood sexual abuse has no sense of economic status, ethnicity, gender or celebrity. One in four girls and one in six boys are victims of child sexual abuse. There are over forty-two million survivors of child sexual abuse in the world today. According to a Centers for Disease Control study, the lifetime costs for the victims of child sexual abuse reported in one year is $124 billion.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports that there are currently 500,000 registered sex offenders in the United States, and typically 100,000 of those are unaccounted for. Other pedophiles are not on records or in databases. Pedophiles like Jerry Sandusky walk silently among us, and Sandusky showed us just how well they can disguise themselves.
Research has also shown that each victim of child sexual abuse has to tell an average of seven adults before they are believed, and those who make it to the seventh adult are few in number.
Michael Reagan’s abuser did not stop at molesting him, and soon he was using him for child pornography. Michael remembers the moment as a young boy he believed that his life was over. His abuser would often drive him home at the end of the day, and one evening, as his mother waited at the front door, he asked, “Mind if I take him to dinner?” Jane Wyman waved standing on the porch and said, “Fine, see you in a bit!”
Instead of taking him to dinner, Michael’s abuser took him back to his apartment. In the kitchen, his abuser drew back the curtains to reveal a photography developing studio. As his abuser began moving a sheet of paper from pan to pan, an image of mountains appeared. He allowed Michael to try, and to Michael’s horror, the image he developed was not a landscape but a picture of a nude eight-year-old Michael Reagan.
It was at that point that Michael knew his life was over. He was consumed with an uncontrollable anger and hatred of himself that would haunt him throughout his life.
Michael Reagan remembers as a young boy smashing his bike with a hammer when the chain came off and as an adult taking a sledgehammer to a 1965 Oldsmobile at his father’s ranch when the battery died. The car and the bike represented his abuser, and Michael’s anger towards the man who stole his innocence was a bottomless well.
The anger he felt towards his abuser became directed not only outwards but inwards as well. After the abuse, Michael struggled with his own sexuality, and he speaks of how at sixteen he stole money from his father’s wallet to pay for prostitutes as a means of reinforcing his masculinity.
Rates of suicide among male victims of childhood sexual abuse are 14 times higher than the norm, and they are 38 times more likely to die from a drug overdose. Male victims are also prone to more aggressive behavior than female victims. A male victim is 53% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile compared to others and 38% more likely to be arrested for violent crime as an adult. Victims face a lifetime battle with depression, anger, addiction and possibly suicide, and the cost to society is the loss of a productive individual who could have changed the world if it were not for their victimization.
In 1965, Ronald Reagan announced he would run for Governor of California. Michael remembers the moment his father decided to run and his thoughts about that decision.
“At that point I was angry and frustrated. Everybody expects me to be a success but I was scared of the entire concept of success. I would have been living a nightmare expecting the photographs that my abuser took of me as an eight year old to surface. I was praying that my dad runs for Governor and that the love that people have for him will rub off on me, but I was also deathly afraid that those photographs would come out and hurt my father’s political career. I was bearing the burden for my abuser, and that is what victims of child abuse are forced to do. It’s despicable what children are put through by these predators and then they spend their lives suffering because they were innocent victims targeted by evil.”
In 1987 Michael Reagan was offered two million dollars to write a “tell all” book about his parents, Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman. As he began writing, something unexpected happened; he began getting angry, and as he struggled with a whirlwind of emotions, he finally realized he could no longer keep silent about his molestation.
Michael met with then President Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan. Michael began to shake and tears welled up in his eyes as he told his father how his innocence was stolen. He remembers First Lady Nancy Reagan rubbing his back and his father’s hand on his shoulder. Michael also remembers his father’s words “Where is he so I can kick his ass!”
Michael’s book, “On The Outside Looking In,” was published in 1988 and chronicles his early life and the abuse he suffered.
Michael Reagan has beaten the odds by surviving childhood sexual abuse, and when asked what gave him the strength to avoid the self-destructive path many take, there is no hesitation. “God has given me the strength to survive and my wife Colleen is my North Star. She guides me when I feel lost and teaches me every day the meaning of unconditional love and dedication.”
In 1975 Michael and Colleen were married. He thanks God for bringing Colleen into his life and for their two children, son Cameron and a daughter, Ashley.
Michael Reagan has achieved many things in his life, including becoming the founder and chairman of Reagan Legacy Foundation, a New York Times bestselling author, Townhall columnist and former talk radio host. He has also dedicated himself to ending the scourge of child abuse, and today he works with the organization Childhelp to educate and empower parents and children.
Along with Childhelp, Michael is working to protect our children from predators through the 1-2-3 formula. The first component of this is the implementation of “Erin’s law” created from the courage and determination of author and advocate Erin Merryn. “Erin’s law,” implements child sexual abuse education in grades Pre-K through eighth grade.
The second component of the 1-2-3 formula is the implementation of Childhelp’s Speak Up Be SafeTM (SUBS) premier curriculum for grades one through six. Through education and empowerment of parents and children, the program combats the ever-growing threat to our children from cyber bullying, Internet predators and “sexting.” The final component is the utilization of technology such as smart phones as aids in the education and prevention of child abuse.
Michael Reagan’s abuse as a child haunts him every day, and his voice the pain is palpable as he speaks of the trauma he suffered as an eight-year old boy. His tone soon changes, however, when he talks of his fight with Childhelp to save the next innocent child, and the force and conviction of his determination not to let another child suffer as he did are patently obvious.
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To find out more about Michael Reagan go to his website here (http:/ www.michaelereagan.com). Please join Childhelp, Michael Reagan and me in our fight to save an innocent child from the next Jerry Sandusky.