LAPD combing through 12,000 pages of priest sex abuse records for leads

Reuters | Feb 6, 2013

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Los Angeles police are combing through some 12,000 pages of priest abuse records released last week by the city’s Catholic archdiocese to determine whether to open any new criminal investigations, authorities said on Tuesday.

Many of the cases detailed in the more 120 personnel files were already known to law enforcement, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman said, and others could not be prosecuted because the statute of limitations had run out.

But detectives wanted to make sure no leads had been missed in documents made public by the archdiocese as part of a 2007 civil court settlement, officer Bruce Borihanh said.

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“Now that the list is available we want to be proactive and look at that list,” Borihanh said. He said he was not aware of any specific case that investigators were focused on and that it was possible no new leads would be discovered.

The probe marks the latest development following Thursday’s release of the files, which has already led Archbishop Jose Gomez to strip his predecessor, Cardinal Roger Mahony, of all public and administrative duties.

Mahoney’s former top aide, Thomas Curry, also stepped down as bishop of Santa Barbara. Both men had been linked to efforts to conceal the abuse.

In further fallout, the Los Angeles Unified School District severed its ties on Monday with a priest who, the files show, was once accused of molesting a teenage girl.

Father Joseph Pina, 66, took a job working for the school district in 2002, several years after he resigned as a pastor and was placed on inactive leave by the church. An attorney for Pina has declined to comment to Reuters on the matter.

The Los Angeles archdiocese, which serves 4 million Catholics, reached a $660 million civil settlement in 2007 with more than 500 victims of child molestation in the biggest such agreement of its kind in the nation.

Mahony at the time called the abuse “a terrible sin and crime.”

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Lisa Shumaker)

Pentagon battles military rape epidemic image problem

cbsnews.com | Jan 27, 2013

(CBS News) NEW YORK – Jennifer Norris has always described herself as a good soldier, a hard worker, and someone who stayed out of trouble.

At 24, the Bethel, Maine, native was looking for a bit more structure in her life while aiming for a graduate degree, so she went to her local military recruiting office and enlisted in the Air Force.

Her dream of serving her country was marred by countless incidents of sexual harassment, three attempted sexual assaults, and one rape.

The most violent attack occurred just weeks after Norris enlisted, when her recruiting officer invited her to what she believed was a party for fellow recruits at his home.

“I was excited to go and meet other new recruits,” Norris said in an interview. “And I showed up at his house, and he proceeded to immediately start pressuring me to want to drink.”

Because she had driven, Norris did not consume any alcohol, but believes he put something in a glass that made her pass out.

“When I woke up, the whole house was dark. Nobody was there, and he picked me up, my basically powerless, lifeless body, and carried me into a bedroom, and he raped me,” Norris said.

She did not file a formal complaint.

“Because I hadn’t even started my career yet. I wasn’t about to go in and say the recruiter just raped me,” Norris said.

Norris went on to become a Technical Sergeant handling satellite communications. But she says she was subjected to repeated sexual advances by another superior officer and was afraid to report it.

“It’s the retaliation,” Norris said. “I was scared to tell the commander, who it seemed like he was best friends with this man.”

Norris points out, once you’ve committed to the military, you can’t just walk away.

“We can’t quit,” she said. “We are basically stuck in the situation unless someone in that chain of command helps us get out of it.”

Former Marine Anu Bhagwati is the executive director of the Service Women’s Action Network, which advocates for civil rights of the 15 percent of U.S. military personnel who are women.

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“There’s very few deterrents within the military to predators, to commanders who are negligent. In the civilian world, you have more access to redress as a victim,” Bhagwati said. “In the civilian world, you can use the civil court system to sue your employer for damages. That is the biggest deterrent to discrimination and harassment in the workplace in the United States of America. That is not available to U.S. service members, and it’s a crying shame. ”

According to the Air Force’s own figures, there were more than 790 cases of sexual assault and harassment by service members reported last year, up from 614 the year before.

In 2011, there were also 883 reports of sexual assault and harassment in the Navy and Marines and 1,695 cases in the Army.

Most cases involved one service member allegedly attacking another, usually a woman.

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Despite more than 3,000 reports of sexual misconduct for the third year in a row, only one in four attacks is reported. The Defense Department estimates the actual number of incidents is around 19,000 a year.

Norris told her story to the House Armed Services Committee last Wednesday, calling the “thousands and thousands of male and female survivors” victims of “the military’s sexual assault epidemic.”

Forty percent of female victims identify a perpetrator was of higher rank, and 23 percent say it was someone in their chain of command, Norris told the committee.

At that hearing, General Mark Welsh, the Air Force Chief of Staff, told members of Congress: “The Air Force goal for sexual assault is not to lower the number. The goal is zero.”

Welsh announced that he was designating 60 Air Force attorneys to handle these complaints and was stationing one victims’ advocate at every base.

In a written statement to CBS News, the Air Force added: “Sexual assault is a crime and it violates our core values. Every allegation will be thoroughly investigated and commanders will consider the full range of disciplinary and administrative measures to include courts-martial while protecting the Constitutional rights of the accused.”

In 2004, the Pentagon established Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office to combat sexual assault in the military, but the number of annual incidents keeps climbing.

“Congress continues to hold hearings, and nothing changes,” said California Congresswoman Jackie Speier, a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Speier has proposed legislation to take sexual assault investigations out of the military chain of command and have cases reviewed by independent panels comprised of civilians and military experts.

Speier said, “The victims often times are treated like they are pariahs, and they are ostracized, they are marginalized and over the course of very few months, often times they are diagnosed with what’s called a personality disorder and involuntarily discharged from the military.”

That’s what happened to Jennifer Norris, and after her 14 year Air Force career ended sooner than planned, she considered suicide.

 

“We had a gun,” Norris said of her and her husband, Lee. “I wanted to use it, but my husband stopped me.”

 

Norris’ attackers were never punished, and all were eventually honorably discharged with full benefits, she said.

Norris now works with Protect Our Defenders on behalf of service members victimized by sexual assault and harassment, and for a military rape crisis center.

She doesn’t have children, but does not believe she would encourage a daughter to pursue a military career.

“Not in this lifetime,” Norris said. “My daughter would not join the military, knowing what I know.”

Boy Scouts employ aggressive tactics in sex abuse defense

“They will tear you to shreds…”

Associated Press | Dec 25, 2012

When a lawsuit alleged that two young brothers in Michigan had been molested “hundreds of times” by a troop leader, the Boy Scouts denied responsibility and pointed the finger at someone else — the boys’ recently widowed mother.

The Scouts faulted the woman “for her failure to provide adequate parental supervision,” suggesting in court papers that she was responsible for any harm to her sons.

One of the boys’ lawyers called that argument excessive.

“The day their dad died, the perpetrator began to befriend the boys,” Kelly Clark said. “Then the Boy Scouts turn around and file papers saying Mom was the problem?”

The Scouts’ legal tactics in the ongoing lawsuit are part of an aggressive approach that the youth group has long used in defending itself in child sex abuse cases, some victims, their families and lawyers say.

Since 1,247 confidential files were unsealed in October detailing allegations of sexual abuse in its ranks, Scouting has taken a more conciliatory stance.

“We have heard from victims of abuse and are doing our very best to respond to each person with our utmost care and sensitivity,” Scouting spokesman Deron Smith said in October, offering an apology, counseling and other assistance.

But in the years before the files’ release, some who alleged abuse say, their accusations were met with denial, blame and legal hardball.

“The knives are out and you’d better get your knife out because if you don’t, they will tear you to shreds,” said Timothy Hale, who represents a Santa Barbara County, Calif., teenager who was abused in 2007 at the age of 13 by volunteer Scout leader Al Steven Stein.

Stein had a history of inappropriate behavior with children but a local Scout official tried to keep the boy’s mother from reporting the abuse to police, according to the teenager’s lawsuit. She did anyway, and Stein later pleaded no contest to felony child endangerment.

Some plaintiffs’ lawyers, including Clark, say the Scouts deserve credit for the victims it has helped, even when it had no legal obligation. And the Boy Scouts is entitled to defend itself: It’s not unusual for large organizations to employ aggressive legal strategies, including accusing plaintiffs of causing their own injuries.

Hale and others contend, however, that discouraging victims of sexual abuse from reporting crimes, or blaming them when they do, goes too far.

An Oregon man’s lawsuit alleged that Scouting allowed troop leader Timur Dykes to continue in the group after he admitted molesting 17 boys in the early 1980s.

At the trial in 2010, regional Scouts official Eugene Grant faulted parents for letting their sons go to Dykes’ apartment for merit badge work and sleepovers.

“His parents should have known better,” Grant said of one victim. “I think it’s criminal.”

The jury rejected that assertion, finding the Scouts liable for nearly $20 million in damages.

The Scouts’ files made public in October were submitted as evidence in the Portland, Ore., trial and spanned 1965 to 1985. More recent instances of the Scouts’ tactics are detailed in court records across the country.

In 2002, Jerrold Schwartz, a 42-year-old former scoutmaster in New York, admitted abusing a boy in his troop in the 1990s. After being secretly recorded saying he “did something very, very wrong” and apologizing to the boy, Schwartz pleaded guilty to four counts of sodomy and was sent to prison.

Despite the conviction and the victim’s testimony that Schwartz “raped me and forced me to perform oral sex on him,” the Scouts, in a motion to dismiss a subsequent lawsuit, contended that the sex was consensual, records show.

“To argue that an adult scoutmaster in his 30s can have consensual sex with a 13-year-old in his Scout troop is something dreamt up in pedophile heaven,” attorney Michael Dowd told the New York Law Journal in 2006 after a judge rejected the Scouts’ motion. The lawsuit was later settled; terms were not disclosed.

Boy Scouts officials declined to be interviewed or make their lawyers in sex abuse lawsuits available. In a statement, the group stressed its multifaceted child protection efforts, enhanced in recent years to include criminal background checks for all volunteers and mandatory reporting to police of all suspected abuse.

“We deeply regret that there have been times when Scouts were abused, and for that we are very sorry and extend our deepest sympathies to victims,” it said.

The Michigan lawsuit, which is pending, alleges that Assistant Scoutmaster Roger E. Young, a 25-year volunteer, had raped or otherwise abused both Scouts repeatedly at their home, his house and the church where the troop met.

The abuse occurred in 2006 and 2007, when both boys were younger than 14, according to the lawsuit. It also says that local Scouting officials knew of Young’s inappropriate behavior, including time he spent alone with the boys — in violation of the Scouts’ child-protection policies — but ignored warnings by police and others.

In 2007, a member of the Big Sister organization found the boys not wearing pants while alone with Young at their home and at a motel where the family was staying, according to court papers and a police affidavit. In at least one instance, Young was in his underwear, the records state.

Local Scouts officials took no action, allowing Young to continue with the troop even after police raised red flags about him, the lawsuit states. In October 2009, he was charged with possessing child pornography and criminal sexual conduct involving one of the boys.

He killed himself the next month.

Two years later, in November 2011, the Scouts filed court papers saying the mother had in effect abdicated her role and delegated “parental authority” to Young after her husband died.

“For the Scouts to say this is her fault, when they have said to single mothers all over the country … ‘We know you’ve got it tough: Give us your boys and we’ll help you raise them’ — to me, this is absolutely astonishing,” said Clark, the boys’ lawyer.

In at least one case, local Scout leaders faulted the victim and defended the perpetrator.

“They threw my son under the bus,” said the father of a Florida Scout who was 12 when a 16-year-old Scout lured him into a tent and molested him in March 2007.

The boy was so traumatized that he told no one for months, he and his father said in an interview. When the boy did speak up, local Scout leaders accused him of lying.

“(He) is quick to make up stories,” the troop’s merit badge counselor, Chuck Janson, wrote in a two-page memo supporting the assailant, who later admitted to the sexual assault in a plea deal.

The abuse occurred on a camping trip when the older Scout, Robert “Robbie” Brehm, who as senior patrol leader was the top elected troop member, invited the Sarasota boy into a tent to play cards, court records show. Instead, Brehm pulled a knife from a duffel bag and put it to the boy’s throat.

“I told him I wanted him to perform oral sex on me,” Brehm later said in a lengthy sworn statement. “I told him that he had to or else I was going to hurt him.”

Brehm testified that he also threatened the younger Scout if he told anyone.

“I was just so freaking scared, like, I didn’t know what the hell to do,” the boy, now 18, told the Los Angeles Times. “I just went back into my tent. … I was in shock. I was so violated.”

Six months later, he revealed his secret to his high school counselor, who notified authorities.

Local Scout leaders including Janson, who had clashed with the boy’s father over troop issues, sided with Brehm and said the boy was lying.

He and at least two other adult leaders planned to testify for the accused, according to interviews and Brehm’s sworn statement.

“The worst thing you can do to a child victim is call him a liar,” said Adam Horowitz, the victim’s lawyer in a pending lawsuit. “The reason so many children don’t come forward in the first place is that they fear adults won’t believe them.”

In a recent interview and a follow-up email, Janson defended his actions.

“I came up with an honest interpretation of what I knew,” he said. “Can you fault someone for having an honest opinion?”

The boy said he felt betrayed by Janson and the other leaders.

His father said their support of Brehm made it nearly impossible for his son to get justice.

For more than three years, he said, he pressed prosecutors to file charges. When they did, and confronted Brehm with the prospect of 15 years in prison, he confessed to the sexual assault and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of aggravated battery.

“Looking back, I was a bully,” Brehm said in statement.

The victim’s father calls the five-year ordeal “beyond a nightmare.” His son’s relationships have been affected, his grades have suffered and he’s had flashbacks, the father said.

At times during the first year after the attack, he said, the boy was in twice-weekly therapy, with only part of its cost covered by his health plan.

Had the Boy Scouts stepped up early on, he said, his son’s lawsuit might never have been filed.

“After we got the conviction, one would have thought they’d say, ‘Oh, my God, we were wrong in our assumptions. What can we do to help this child and his family?’ ” he said. “But it was just more of the same — attack, attack, attack.”

Secret Boy Scout sex abuse claims posted online

mercurynews.com | Dec 26, 2012

LOS ANGELES — Thousands of previously unpublished Boy Scouts of America files that detail suspected sexual abuse by employees and volunteers have been posted online.

The Los Angeles Times published the database containing redacted victims’ names on Tuesday, including material that was released earlier by an Oregon Supreme Court judge’s ruling. The names of the alleged abusers — including doctors, teachers, priests — are included.

The updated Times database (at http://spreadsheets.latimes.com/boyscouts-cases/) identifies 34 Bay Area residents and also includes 26 more individuals who are identified only by a reference number.

The newspaper’s database map depicts alleged incidents of abuse that affected, or are in some way connected to, Scouts in every state in the nation, as well as South America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

The Boy Scouts kept the files for internal use for nearly a century and have said they’ve improved youth protection policies. The group has conducted criminal background checks on volunteers since 2008. In 2010, the organization mandated any suspected abuse be reported to police.

In an analysis of the records, the Times found that reports increased over time, which may be the result of greater awareness of child sexual abuse. The reports are not believed to account for all abuse, because the Scouts say an unknown number of files were destroyed over the years and not all victims report crime.

The organization’s inaction, and its efforts to keep allegations from police, parents and the public, allowed molesters to continue sexually abusing children, according to the Times.

The newly released files span from 1985 to 1991, and reveal that a Scouts committee chairman of four years, Samuel J. Becker of Canoga Park, Calif., had a record of child molestation, had served prison time and was on probation for exposing himself.

In another file, a scoutmaster said he had reported suspicions of abuse about Scout leader Gary L. Findlay of Carol Stream, Ill., but he was ignored by a superior. Findlay was later accused of abusing a 15-year-old in 1986, convicted of sexual abuse and expelled from the Scouts.

Most of the files opened after 1991 haven’t been released. Lawyers involved in various pending lawsuits were seeking those files.

TSA Goons Stooping to New Lows

Four-year-old girl detained as terror threat; drug runners allowed to pass

Rather than harass grandmothers and little girls, the TSA would be wise to keep a closer eye on its own people

AFP | May 5, 2012   

By Keith Johnson

American travelers have been repeatedly subjected to humiliation by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents. But one recent case went too far, sparking an outcry across the country that federal security officials were out of control.

This was the case of four-year-old Isabella Brademeyer, who was recently left traumatized. TSA agents deemed her a “high security threat” after she hugged her grandmother at an airport in Wichita, Kansas.

The girl’s outraged mother gave an account of the ordeal on her Facebook page, writing: “It was implied, several times, that my mother, in their brief two-second embrace, had passed a handgun to my daughter.”

Just prior to the confrontation, Mrs. Brademeyer and her two daughters had passed through security without incident. However, the grandmother was flagged for additional screening after triggering an alarm on the scanners. That’s when, according to Mrs. Brademeyer, Isabella “excitedly ran over to give her a hug, as children often do. They made very brief contact, no longer than a few seconds.”

Security agents seized the girl and told her mother she would have to be frisked. Rather than have her body probed by strangers, Isabella tried to run. Of course, she didn’t get far, and was dragged off by the agents into a small room where, according to Mrs. Brademeyer, “The [TSA agent] loomed over my daughter, with an angry grimace on her face, and ordered her to stop crying. When my scared child could not do so, two [TSA agents] called for backup saying, ‘The suspect is not cooperating.’ The suspect, of course, being a frightened child. They treated my daughter no better than if she had been a terrorist.”

Terrorized by TSA

The TSA has since responded regarding the incident but denies any wrongdoing.

“TSA has long had a security procedure where if somebody has contact with a person who is undergoing additional screening, they must also undergo additional screening,” writes Bob Burns on the TSA’s website. “Why, you might ask? You’ve probably heard the old saying that the hand can be faster than eye? Well, that’s the reasoning behind this procedure. There’s always the chance that a prohibited item could be traded off during contact. I’m sure you’ve watched the scene play out in more than one movie where two people collide or shake hands and an item is traded off? Same thing.”

In other words, the TSA is now explaining away their actions by referring to fantasy plot lines from movie scripts.

Absurd situations like this are becoming increasingly routine as the TSA’s reputation, never very good, continues to disintegrate. Just recently, four TSA agents assigned to the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) were arrested and charged with narcotics trafficking and bribery after it was discovered that they allowed “drug mules” to pass through screenings unhindered.

Rather than harass grandmothers and little girls, the TSA would be wise to keep a closer eye on its own people. WSBTV in Atlanta revealed that this is apparently a low priority. According to a recent report: “In a move that could affect security at airports around the nation, TSA confirmed Wednesday it had such a backlog of background security checks, airport employers were allowed to hire any employee needed. . . . TSA officials said the background checks are delayed, but they are processing them as fast as they can.”

Report: Sex Robots Replace Prostitutes In 2050

allmediany.com | Apr 20, 2012

by Stephanie Ortiz

Male and female “real dolls” at the Museum of Sex in NYC (Image Source: Atypique.ca)

While numerous movies and books have come out, predicting human life interacting with robots, robots doing daily chores, or even robots taking over the world, a more recent study has indicated robots will take the role of sex workers in Amsterdam clubs and brothels in order to ensure a safe, disease-free locale for people to enact their desires.

In the research paper Robots, Men, and Sex Tourism, Ian Yeoman and Michelle Mars of the Victoria Management School in Wellington, New Zealand, wrote about a visionary brothel in Amsterdam’s red light district called Yub-Yum, predicting life in 2050.

Yeoman and Mars believe the future will give way to an increase in sex trafficking and an outbreak of incurable sexually transmitted diseases, drawing people towards androids “made of bacteria-resistant fiber” instead of humans. Hundreds of robots “of different ethnicity, body shapes, ages, languages and sexual features” will hang out in Amsterdam clubs, providing “all inclusive service,” including lap dances and intercourse for around $10,000.

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“Amsterdam’s red light district will all be about android prostitutes who are clean of sexual transmitted infections, not smuggled in from Eastern Europe and forced into slavery,” Yeoman wrote in the paper. “The city council will have direct control over android sex workers controlling prices, hours of operations and sexual services.”

The new sex industry will also lure more tourists but eradicate many of the problems associated with prostitution, such as drug use and violence. While these are great things to have minimized and controlled, wouldn’t promiscuous sex with a robot lead to other dangers?

In addition, clients will “feel guilt free as they actually haven’t had sex with a real person and therefore don’t have to lie to their partner.” Although, we’re not sure how comforting it would be to have a partner tell us they’d rather have sex with a robot than us or a person…

Sure, many websites boast having a robot or doll to sexually play with, but to have them roaming the clubs and regulated by a city council seems a tad creepy

Barack Obama’s bodyguards sent back to US after prostitution scandal

Mr Obama’s campaign promises to change politics as usual had raised hopes that he would not continue the practise of doling out prized ambassadorships to cronies Photo: AP

They are the besuited, stern-faced agents, earphones in place, eyes scouring crowds for potential threats, who accompany US leaders across the world to protect their safety

telegraph.co.uk | Apr 14, 2012

By Philip Sherwell, in New York, and Harriet Alexander

But an advance party of Secret Service agents deployed to oversee security for President Barack Obama’s visit to Colombia this weekend also apparently found time to pursue some local diversions.

Around 12 agents are now embroiled in a prostitution scandal after at least one woman complained to police in the city of Cartagena, which is hosting the Summit of the Americas, that she had not been paid. There were claims that the elite presidential bodyguards, some of whom are married and including at least two supervisors, had brought prostitutes back to their hotel, which is also housing US delegation members and media. Another report said only one agent had returned to his room with a prostitute, but that Secret Service chiefs decided to recall all the members of the team so they could be questioned by internal agency investigators about his behaviour and security issues.

”This is the worst scandal in the history of the agency,” said Ronald Kessler, author of In The President’s Secret Service, who broke the story after receiving a tip from an agency source. Although prostitution is legal in Colombia inside so-called “tolerance zones”, the agents could still have been exposed to blackmail and the business is closely connected to crime and drug gangs. About a dozen men have now been sent home.

The Columbian police contacted American diplomats, who tried to mediate the dispute and keep a lid on the crisis as a new crew of agents were rushed to the country from the US. US officials insisted that there was no danger to Mr Obama and that the agents had already been replaced by the time the president arrived in Cartagena on Friday evening.

But two explosions from home-made pipe-bombs in the city on Friday evening and two more blasts in the capital in Bogota, were a reminder of the security dangers in Colombia. Despite marked improvements in recent years, the country has long been plagued by far-Left political terrorism, drug cartel violence and kidnappings.

”This is a very bad security breach and is being taken extremely seriously inside the agency,” Mr Kessler said. “Aside from the morality issues, even if prostitution is legal, this conduct opened these men up to the threat of blackmail. Terrorists could have gained access to secure areas and that could have resulted in an assassination attempt. The consequences could have been extremely serious”.

The incident also threatened to overshadow Mr Obama’s efforts to focus on the economy and boosting trade ties with fast-growing Latin America. With Hispanic voters in the US crucial to his re-election hopes in November, the president has been keen to use the three-day summit to show he is engaged in a region that critics have accused him of largely ignoring.

In an interview with a Spanish language television station, he courted Hispanic voters back home by saying that he would purse immigration reform in his second term and attacking Mitt Romney, his presumed Republican rival, for his policies.

Colombian media reported that prostitutes descended on Cartagena ahead of the summit, where heads-of-state and delegations from 34 of the hemisphere’s 35 countries – Cuba is absent – are discussing trade, the economy and regional co-operation.

The agents were staying at the Hotel Caribe, which is also hosting members of the White House staff and press corps during the summit. A hotel employee said the agents arrived at the beachfront hotel about a week ago, and alleged that they were drinking heavily during their stay.

The employee said the agents left the hotel on Thursday, a day before Mr Obama and other regional leaders arrived for the weekend summit. Edwin Donovan, a Secret Service spokesman, said the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which serves as its internal affairs unit, was investigating the men’s actions.

”The Secret Service takes all allegations of misconduct seriously,” Mr Donovan said. “These personnel changes will not affect the comprehensive security plan that has been prepared in advance of the President’s trip.”

Mr. Bongino, a former Secret Service agent with the presidential protection division, who left the agency last year and is now running for a US Senate seat, said that he was told the team had all been told to report to internal affairs yesterday.

“I am hearing that it’s an isolated incident, that it’s one individual who had some interaction with a prostitute,” he told The New York Times. “A confrontation ensued, and it didn’t end well.”

The scandal – which prompted headlines such as “Secret Service Gone Wild” and “the Dirty Dozen” yesterday – is the latest embarrassment for the agency under the Obama administration.In a major breach of security that shocked Washington, three party-crashers talked their way past Secret Service agents into a White House state dinner hosted by the president in 2009, despite not having an invitation.And in August, a Secret Service agent was arrested for drunken driving in Iowa, where he as arranging security for a visit by Mr Obama. The agent, who was off-duty at the time, was recently sentenced to two days in jail and fined $1,250.

On the eve of the summit (FRI), Radio Cadena Nacional (RCN), a leading Colombian station, broadcast a special feature about the “thriving and well-organised” prostitution racket in Cartagena. The programme featured interviews with local taxi drivers who take visitors to areas where they could find women. Once the price – usually around 80,000 Colombian pesos (£30) – had been negotiated, they drove the couple to a secluded area or to a network of residences where rooms could be rented by the hour. “All the prostitutes are heading to Cartagena for the summit,” one woman told the station.

Dutch Roman Catholic Church ‘castrated at least 10 boys’

The NRC Handelsblad newspaper identified Henk Heithuis who was castrated in 1956 Photo: omroepbrabant

At least 10 teenage boys or young men under the age of 21 were surgically castrated “to get rid of homosexuality” while in the care of the Dutch Roman Catholic Church in the 1950s.

telegraph.co.uk | Mar 19, 2012

By Bruno Waterfield

Evidence of the castrations has emerged amid controversy that it was not included in the findings of an official investigation into sexual abuse within the church last year.

The NRC Handelsblad newspaper identified Henk Heithuis who was castrated in 1956, while a minor, after reporting priests to the police for abusing him in a Catholic boarding home.

Joep Dohmen, the investigative journalist who uncovered the Heithuis case, also found evidence of at least nine other castrations. “These cases are anonymous and can no longer be traced,” he said. “There will be many more. But the question is whether those boys, now old men, will want to tell their story.”

Mr Heithuis died in a car crash in 1958, two years after being castrated at the age of 20, while under the age of majority, which was then 21.

In 1956 he had accused Catholic clergy of sexually abusing him in his Church run care home.

Two clergymen were convicted of abuse but Mr Heithuis, a victim, was nonetheless transferred by police to a Catholic psychiatric hospital before being admitted to the St. Joseph Hospital in Veghel later that year.

There, court papers confirm, he was castrated “at his own request”, despite no submission of his written consent. Sources told Mr Dohmen that the surgical removal of testicles was regarded as a treatment for homosexuality and also as a punishment for those who accused clergy of sexual abuse.

Cornelius Rogge, 79, a well-known Dutch sculptor whose family knew Mr Heithuis in the 1950s, reported the castration to an official inquiry into abuse within the Catholic Church. But his evidence was ignored.

“We once asked Henk to drop his pants when the women were gone. He did that. He was maimed totally. It was a huge shock,” he said.

Last December, an official investigation by Wim Deetman, a former Dutch minister, received 1,800 reports of sexual abuse by clergy or volunteers within Dutch Catholic dioceses in the period since 1945.

The Deetman inquiry received a report of the Heithuis case from Mr Rogge but it was not followed up because “there were few leads for further research”.

Evidence emerged on Monday that government inspectors were aware that minors were being castrated while in Catholic-run psychiatric institutions.

Minutes of meetings held in the 1950s show that inspectors were present when castrations were discussed. The documents also reveal that the Catholic staff did not think parents needed to be involved.

There are also allegations that Vic Marijnen, a former Dutch Prime Minister, who died in 1975, was linked to the case.

In 1956, Mr Marijnen was the chairman of the Gelderland children’s home where Mr Heithuis and other children were abused. He intervened to have prison sentences dropped against several priests convicted of abusing children.

Dutch MPs will today (TUES) call for a parliamentary investigation into the allegations.

“I am shocked that boys were being castrated in the 1950s,” said Khadija Arib, a Labour MP. “I want an independent investigation. We must find out how many cases there were, who knew about it and why the government did not act.”

Evidence emerged on Monday that government inspectors were aware that minors were being castrated while in Catholic-run psychiatric institutions.

Minutes of meetings held in the 1950s show that inspectors were present when castrations were discussed. The documents also reveal that the Catholic staff did not think parents needed to be involved.

Islamic states, Africans walk out on UN gay panel

MSNBC | Mar 7, 2012

By Robert Evans

GENEVA — Brushing aside high-level U.N. appeals for cooperation to halt murder and violence against gays and lesbians around the globe, Muslim and Arab countries on Wednesday stalked out of a Human Rights Council panel to tackle the issue.

Speaking before the walkout for the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Pakistan described homosexuality as “licentious behavior” while African group leader Senegal said it was not covered by global human rights accords.

Nigeria – where gay rights groups say there have been many attacks on male and female homosexuals – declared none of its citizens was at risk of violence because of sexual orientation or gender identity before it too left the chamber.

And Mauritania, for the Arab group, all of whose members are also in the OIC, said attempts to impose “the controversial topic of sexual orientation” would undermine discussion in the council of all genuine human rights problems.

The walkout, which diplomats said not all countries in the Islamic and African groups joined, was the first by three major blocs in the 47-member council, which has been dominated until recently by a caucus of developing countries and their allies.

It came after United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Human Rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay told the session that gays and lesbians should be protected by all governments.

“We see a pattern of violence and discrimination directed at people just because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender,” Ban said in a video message to the panel, chaired by African group dissenter South Africa.

“This is a monumental tragedy for those affected — and a stain on our collective conscience. It is also a violation of international law. You, as members of the Human Rights Council, must respond,” the U.N. chief declared.

Islamic and most African countries have long kept discussion of what the U.N. dubs “sexual orientation and gender identity” out of the council but a strong drive by the United States and South Africa brought it onto the agenda last June.

With a developing country bloc in the body eroding, Latin American countries like Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay joined in to push through a narrow vote to mandate Wednesday’s panel and the High Commissioner’s report.

Pillay, once a South African high court judge, told the session her life under apartheid had taught her that “ignorance and bigotry” could only be overcome by education and frank discussion among people with different views.

In her report she detailed the often fatal abuse – she labeled it “homophobia” – homosexuals faced around the globe ranging from mob killing for males, multiple rape of lesbians “to cure them” and torture in public and private jails.

The report said 76 countries among the U.N.’s 192 members had laws  homosexual behavior. At least five – in particular Iran – provide for the death penalty while efforts are under way in Uganda to introduce the same punishment.

“I know some will resist what we are saying,” said Pillay, who earlier this week was accused by Egypt in the council of promoting homosexuality by pressing on with the report despite the objections of Islamic countries.

In a clear reference to Islamic and African countries, she said some states would argue that homosexuality or bisexuality “conflict with local cultural or traditional values, or with religious teachings, or run counter to public opinion”.

But while they were free to hold their opinions, she declared, “That is as far as it goes. The balance between tradition and culture, on the one hand, and universal human rights on the other, must be struck in favor of rights.”

Secret Freemason-like oaths sworn at elite sex clubs

Swinging sex clubs attracting society’s elites

Documentary shines a light on growing scene — a world surprisingly dominated by females

independent.ie | Mar 4, 2012

By NIAMH HORAN

Elite swinging clubs among professional classes — costing thousands of euro to join — are now operating in Ireland, according to an undercover documentary maker.

The VIP clubs — which ‘swingers’ describe as akin to a ‘freemason’ society where members swear under oath not to reveal the identities or details of those involved — are one of the groups that have been unearthed as part of an investigation into Ireland’s secret sex lives.

The TV3 programme, which includes footage of ‘swinging’ events, where consenting couples swop partners, is part of the controversial new Paul Connolly investigates series.

“There are different levels of swinging clubs in Ireland and it became clear the more money you have, the more access you have to the higher end of these private clubs,” says Mr Connolly. “Secrecy is a major factor and these ensure the higher classes have 100 per cent discretion.”

As one swinger who Mr Connolly interviewed explained: “There are certain elite clubs that you can get involved in and you swear allegiance and you take an oath. They’re certainly not advertised. These would only be for the elite of Irish society and they would be very expensive. It could cost you anything from €10,000 to €20,000. You are talking about professional people, well-to-do businessmen, the creme de le creme.”

With 60,000 registered Irish users on no-strings casual sex websites, TV3’s newest presenter was also shocked to see the number of women involved.

“Women take it very seriously, meeting up to eight men a week, sometimes a couple a day. They were the main users, surprisingly. Whereas men just seem to dip their toe in and out of the water. These are everyday women; bored housewives, women sitting at home looking for a bit of a thrill.”

As one Dublin woman who regularly uses the websites describes in the documentary: “In the last 12 months I have met 25 men through the website from the comfort of my own home. I can be with someone within an hour after placing an ad. I had two meets yesterday. It’s all very adult, very relaxed.” She added: “It’s like the first time every time.”

Another woman from the midlands explained: “I could meet two or three at the same time in the same car park. I would drive past the car and have a look. If I don’t like what I see I go home.”

She added: “The dangers are part of the excitement. You’re getting a bit of attention and sex. It’s worth that risk. Sometimes I’d do it twice a week, maybe twice a night. Sometimes a hotel, sometimes my house. It all depends.”

The sub-culture of ‘dogging’ — which involves couples or singles having sex in parked cars whilst others watch — was also looked at as part of the investigation.

“There’s a strict ethical code involved,” explains Mr Connolly. “When they arrive in the deserted car park or unoccupied industrial estate they flash the headlights once to let people know why they are there. If others are there for the same reason, they flash their headlights back once. A light on in the car means you’re going to start, a window open means you are inviting strangers to put their hands in the car and the door opens means you want them to join in. Everyone stands five feet from the car. The only awkward moment was when I got in the way of one of the spectators and he started screaming at me that I was in his eye-line. Supposedly that is a big no-no,” recalls a bemused Mr Connolly.

He defended his use of under-cover cameras to film sexual acts for the investigation, saying: “I felt that if I didn’t show their faces or reveal their identities in any way, then I was satisfying a huge curiosity in the Irish public without harming anyone.”

‘Ireland’s Secret Sex Lives: Paul Connolly Investigates’ airs tomorrow at 9pm on TV3