A former New Jersey cop who was considered a fugitive from justice has been captured and arrested following an FBI sting on multiple counts related to child sex trafficking.
The post Former New Jersey Cop Busted in FBI Sting, Charged with Child Sex Trafficking appeared first on The Free Thought Project.
Louisville, KY — Officers Kenneth Betts and Brandon Wood, formerly with the Louisville Police Department, may have been able to fly under the radar of the mainstream media until now. But with recent court document revelations presented in court this week, their alleged pedophilia practices have come to the surface and even captured on video. And, once again, the crimes involve a police cadet program and accused pedophile cops.
The two police officers allegedly raped a teenage boy, both in their car and in a residence, and filmed the crime for the purposes of producing pornography. Betts and Wood were police officer mentors in the Youth Explorer Program for kids who want to one day become law enforcement officers. It was inside the mentorship program that they are accused of finding their victims.
Woods was fired in April after serving 8 years in the police department. Betts resigned in 2014 following an investigation he’d had improper contact with a teenage girl. Both former Louisville officers were indicted in April and entered “not guilty” pleas. Their trials are underway.
Because their victims are minors, both the identities of the children, as well as their parents, are being withheld for privacy reasons. A female victim’s mother made a statement to police in the fall of 2016 that Lt. Curtis Flaherty had put pressure on the family not to come forward with charges. According to the Courier-Journal, Flaherty was, “commander of both the Explorer program and the Public Integrity Unit,” in 2013. As such he was not only responsible for the youth discovery program but he also led the department which, “investigates possible criminal acts by department members.”
So when the allegations of impropriety surfaced, a conflict of interest arose and Flaherty took the side of the accused police officer and allegedly encouraged the family to keep quiet. Flaherty retired from the Louisville PD earlier this year. He’s now lawyered up and his attorney, Lee Sitlinger, claims the mother’s recollections were either taken out of context or misinterpreted.
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Attorney David Yates represents five alleged victims. He told reporters the mother’s claims are in line with his own discoveries and added the Flaherty’s interference;
underscores what I have been saying for some time – that there were police officers who used their trust and authority to abuse minor victims…They were protected and assisted in a continuing cover-up through their supervisor and this was allowed to go on for way too long.
The mother gave a nearly hour-long videotaped interview with detectives. She said her daughter met the accused pedophile cops in 2013 at a week-long Explorer camp at Campbellsville University. There, the two cops targeted the young girl who was 15 at the time. She said Betts started sexting her daughter while she was 15, and after she turned 16, he began propositioning her for sex.
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She said she told another officer and an internal investigation progressed. According to the Courier-Journal, that’s when she said Flaherty stepped in and put a stop to it.
Several officers subsequently interviewed her and took the daughter’s cell phone for further investigation. But she said the Explorer supervisor called her and told her to keep quiet, according to the report. She told investigators that when Betts learned her daughter had turned 16, he began contacting her to have a sexual relationship. The mother said a sergeant in internal affairs assured her that the investigation was important and that it was “on the top of the list on the chief’s desk.” But she said she was later told Betts had been “let go” and “there was never any closure regarding this case.”
That’s when Betts apparently quietly resigned. Now, in 2017, accusations are being leveled against the Chief of Police Steve Conrad and the city of a cover-up. Mayor Greg Fischer suspended the program in March in an apparent response to the negative publicity the two officers brought to the department. Fischer and Metro Council members contacted the FBI which is also conducting its own investigation.
Just as the investigation into alleged sex scandals involving teenage explorers and Louisville police officers was progressing, the police union stepped in and filed a lawsuit to prevent at least three other officers from testifying in the case. The River City Fraternal Order of Police (RCFOP) filed a lawsuit mid-August to prevent the officers from incriminating themselves in the involuntary interviews with a private attorney hired at the request of the mayor’s office. Officers Matthew Gelhausen, Joseff Keeling and Paul Paris were protected from being forced to give a deposition to the lawyer as a result of the lawsuit filed by their union. It is still unclear what the officers knew or how they were involved in the alleged abuses, cover-up, and/or quiet resignation of Betts.
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Betts and Woods were reported to be best friends and were good friends with Flaherty, their accused protector. According to many former explorers, Woods would often hang out with the young boys outside of the program and take them on camping trips. His behavior as a mentor in the program was also questionable as he reportedly got drunk on at least one occasion and leaned against the young men.
In October of 2016, when allegations surfaced Woods raped a young teenage boy, he was stripped of his policing powers following an investigation by Flaherty’s Public Integrity Unit. It wasn’t until Betts was indicted that Woods was fired by Conrad in April.
As a result of the ongoing investigation, a fourth officer was placed on reassignment following an allegation from a female victim (who was once an explorer and is now an adult) she was also abused. Officer Brad Schuhmann stands accused by the victim and is the latest officer to be officially embroiled in the sex scandal involving pedophile cops and teens in the Explorer program.
The Explorer program is an affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America and, according to a Courier-Journal investigation going all the way back to 1974, has been at the center of sex scandal controversies involving cops and teenage cadets. As TFTP has reported, a vast pedophilia network is at work in the United States involving some of the most trusted members of society. As a result, few are ever held accountable for their actions and crimes against children. Using news databases, court records and other sources the Courier-Journal concluded:
READ MORE: Bad Apple? Entire Police Unit Suspended for Covering Up Home Invasion
► The Boy Scouts of America affiliate that runs the Explorer program has let police departments police themselves and failed to adopt some safeguards.
► Some department chiefs have ignored warning signs and minimized allegations.
► Ride-alongs in police cruisers have allowed law enforcement advisers to groom and abuse victims in one-on-one settings.
► Advisers have used their positions to exploit vulnerable teens who look up to them as mentors.
► Many offenders received only slight punishments, in part because of questions about whether victims had consented.
► Victims say their trust was violated and their dreams of law enforcement careers shattered.
In April, when residents of Rolling Hills learned their “Code Enforcement” official had been charged with raping a teenage boy, they demanded he be fired. He was. Both Betts and Woods are facing decades in prison for charges of sexual abuse, and sodomy against one of the teenage cadets they were sworn to protect.
The criminal charges were filed against the two officers after the male victim known as “N.C.” filed a civil suit in March against the two men and Flaherty. The suit alleged the two officers began having sex with N.C. while he was 17 and continued doing so until he was 19 and that those sex acts were filmed for the purposes of creating pornography.
We at TFTP call on anyone and everyone who has ever been abused by any police officer within the Louisville Police Department to come forward with their story. It is the age of reckoning and the pedophile network of abusers and protectors needs to be broken. The RCFOP should be ashamed of itself. Instead of demanding that its officers report crimes to their superiors, by filing a lawsuit preventing officers from testifying, they have given the public the impression those potential crimes should remain hidden.
The men wearing badges were supposed to be protecting her. Instead, they were pimping her out to other officers within their own police department, and to policemen from nearby departments. It may sound like the subject of a fiction novel, but it is far from fiction, and it happened here in America, according to one woman who says the officers involved are nothing less than sexual predators who trafficked a teenage girl for sex and cash.
Jasmine Abuslin already won a nearly $1 million settlement from the City of Oakland for its officers’ role in using her for sex as a “modern-day sex slave,” according to her lawyer. Abuslin was being pimped out from the time she was just 12 years old. Soon, police officers got in on the action and the chance to have sex with a minor. Word got out among many of the officers and she was passed around like a rag doll within the department.
Now, her lawyers have set their sights on the next police department implicated in sex trafficking the teenaged girl. Police in Richmond, California, are now in Absulin and her lawyers’ proverbial crosshairs. According to a report from the Independent:
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“Jasmine Abuslin, who also goes by the name of Celeste Guap, filed a lawsuit naming Allwyn Brown, the current Richmond police chief, former Chief Chris Magnus and Lt Brian Dickerson. Ms Abuslin’s lawyer, John Burris, says they failed to supervise and stop the sexual misconduct of at least five Richmond police officers.”
Burris said all of the officers involved took advantage of Abuslin’s psychological vulnerabilities. He reportedly told reporters for Courthouse News:
“They took advantage of a vulnerable young person. Girls like this are always suffering from some psychological deficit of some kind. Instead of acknowledging that and getting her help, they took advantage of her vulnerabilities. That’s the most negative and damning aspect of this.”
According to court records, Abuslin admitted she exchanged sex for favors from Richmond police officers. The lawsuit states she engaged in “sexual favors and pleasure in exchange for paid monies, protection, or other forms of consideration.”
As TFTP previously reported:
“Abuslin is a former prostitute who was allegedly ‘passed around’ for sex by up to a dozen Oakland police officers, some of whom purportedly had oral sexual relations with her when she was underage. She has claimed that eventually approximately 30 police officers from departments around the Bay Area had sexual relations with her or sexually assaulted her.
Last summer, her claims led to investigations and criminal charges brought against seven Bay Area officers as well as the resignation of Oakland Police Chief Sean Whent and discipline for several other Oakland officers, according to the LA Times. Additionally, investigators from the Alameda County district attorney’s office and Richmond Police Department were fired.”
While the lawsuit against Richmond PD is still ongoing, Abuslin and her lawyers have already announced their intentions to sue other police departments in the San Francisco Bay Area whose officers took part in sex with her and pimped her out to their colleagues, all the while concealing their activities and protecting their brothers in blue. Abuslin’s lawyers have said they plan to target Alameda County Sherriff’s Office, the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department, and the Livermore Police Department after they settle their claims with Richmond.
READ MORE: DC Cop Arrested for Engaging in Child Sex Trafficking & Stealing His Victim"s Money at Gunpoint
Abuslin’s involvement with police officers came to light after one officer involved committed suicide and confessed his sins in a suicide note left at the scene. The Independent writes:
“The allegations first surfaced in 2015 when an Oakland police officer, Brendan O’Brien killed himself. Ms Abuslin had threatened to reveal they were in a sexual relationship when she was 17. In California, the age of consent is 18. O’Brien left behind a note admitting his involvement with Ms Abuslin and implicating several other officers.”
Abuslin’s story serves to illustrate that there is a child pedophilia network that seeks to exploit minors for profit and sexual gratification, and it is ongoing in some of the departments that are supposed to provide a safe haven for those victims. It is sick. It has to stop. It has to be exposed. If you have been trafficked like Abuslin, now is the time to come forward.
Gilroy, CA – A new lawsuit filed by a former employee is drawing attention to the Gilroy Police Department, amid accusations that high-ranking officials promoted an environment that was rife with sexual misconduct, which included everything from sex parties to inappropriate relations with underage members of the “Police Explorers” program.
After 25 years with the department, Patricia Harrell was fired from her position as a senior police communications supervisor in 2015, just three years before she was set to retire with full benefits. While she was allegedly fired for “improper conduct” with trainees, Harrell claims that she was just trying to warn them about the situation in the GPD, according to an explosive report from the Gilroy Dispatch.
Harrell’s lawsuit dropped the names of not only officers but several of their wives and girlfriends as well. She indicated that working for the police department equated with enduring years of unwanted advances, sexual impropriety on the part of officers, and retaliation when Harrell spoke out. The Gilroy Dispatch reported that Harrell’s claim in the lawsuit include:
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• Two officers “had sexual intercourse with members of the Gilroy Explorers, comprised of youth ranging in age from fourteen (14) to twenty-one (21). When their conduct came to light, [one] was demoted, but then ‘got his stripes’ back, while [the other] was allowed to resign.”
• “At office parties, GPD employees would throw their keys in a bowl and whoever pulled a key had sex with the person who owned the key.”
• The wife of an officer, who also was a department employee, proudly displayed her pierced genitalia to pool party guests, prompting several “mortified” mothers to leave with their children.
• That woman’s police officer husband, when they were engaged, “brought a Salinas police officer to ‘screw her’ while [he] watched. She later stated that she did not do it.”
• The same woman invited another officer to touch her breasts while they were in the Communications Center, and he did.
• The same GPD employee “kept a book in which she documented all of the sexual improprieties that occurred at the GPD, so that she could reveal the information should she ever be disciplined for her misdeeds. [She stated] ‘If she goes down, other people are going down with her.’ [She] also claimed that [her police officer husband] supported the fact that she was keeping a book.”
• At a Gilroy Police Officers’ Association Christmas party, “the female spouses [of two GPD officers] were outrageously intoxicated and were sexually touching both males and females including each other. Also, several people at the party were taking pictures of females exposing their private parts.”
• On a separate occasion, [an officer] showed sexually explicit photos that were inside a locker depicting GPD personnel groping [a communications staffer].”
• “For the first several years of his employment, [a male communications staffer] attempted to make sexual advances toward [Harrell] inviting her to come to his house…despite knowing [she] was married with 4 children.”
• The same man “engaged in sexual activity with other GPD officers and employees, and attempted to have sex with men by luring them to his house with the promise of ‘wild’ and ‘crazy’ women and alcohol. When women did not show up, [he] would tell the male guest, ‘Let’s get naked while we wait’.”
According to the Gilroy Dispatch, when Harrell approached her superiors about her department’s behavior—some of which may have been illegal—she was given so much over time, she became exhausted. Her lawyers point to the fact that she earned $22,000 in overtime in 2015 as proof the department was trying to punish her for speaking out.
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“Harrell claims she was harassed, threatened, investigated and reinvestigated, called names, subjected to unwanted sexual advances, disciplined, shunned, admonished, punished, overworked to the point of exhaustion, wrongly accused of wrongdoing and ultimately fired,” the report noted.
Harrell’s attorney, Andrea Justo, said, “These are very serious allegations…We hope the City of Gilroy and the Gilroy Police Department take them seriously.” She described her client as, “A very loyal employee for over 20 years” and indicated the allegations, “span that amount of time.”
One of the officers named in the lawsuit is Royce Heath who was demoted from Captain to Officer in January of this year for unspecified reasons.
Predictably, the Gilroy Police Department and the mayor are not commenting on the specifics of the alleged sexual misconduct. Mayor Roland Velasco expressed his confidence in Chief Scot Smithee and called the lawsuit Harrell’s “side of the story.”
Smithee broke his silence after the story broke Thursday and on Friday issued a statement saying, “The Gilroy Police Department is full of caring and dedicated public servants. I am proud of our strong history of community service and keeping the public safe. We are determined to maintain our focus on serving the community in a professional and ethical manner.”
Harrell is a wife of 29 years and a mother of four. She had worked for the Gilroy Police Department since 1990. Harrell lost her job in 2015 after warning trainees about certain officers presumably named in the lawsuit. The department apparently considered warning young recruits of sexual predators on the force as grounds for dismissal.
READ MORE: Police Chief Still Collecting Paycheck After Arrest for 50 Counts of Child Rape
In addition to the city and the police department, Harrell is suing the police union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, for not supporting her claimed of wrongful termination. Harrell is seeking an unspecified amount in damages.
Humble, TX — Jeffrey Warren Clark, a Humble police officer, was working as a school resource officer for the Independent Schools District, but wanted to transfer to Harris County Precinct 4. So he applied for a job with Harris Co. and was given a pre-employment interview where it was discovered he might be a pedophile.
Effectively chasing down the lead they uncovered given during the interview, Harris County police got a search warrant for Clark’s home and gathered evidence consisting of several electronic devices. Those devices were searched and revealed Clark to be in possession of “several thousand images of graphic child pornography and child exploitation” according to one source.
According to Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman:
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Some of the statements that he made alarmed investigators to consult our district attorney, which our DA felt gave us probable cause to get a search warrant and search his house, and it obviously was all on track with what our premonition was telling us, and we recovered hundreds of images of child pornography.
Clark was arrested and charged Friday with “ten counts of Possession of Child Pornography” each one being a 3rd Degree Felony in Texas.
We wanted to know more about Officer Clark’s involvement with Humble Independent Schools so we searched their website for any mention of the officer. We found no references to the officer. As a result of not being able to find his name, we’re left with more questions than answers.
Since he was working inside the Humble County schools, how many children did this alleged pedophile come in contact with? In what school was he stationed? Are there any reports of children who were possibly touched by the officer or worse? Was he simply a child porn addict (alleged and inferred) or had he acted on his impulses? And if he is a pedophile, why hasn’t Humble Independent Schools issued a public service announcement asking parents to speak to their children to determine if Officer Clark had touched one of them.
READ MORE: Police Chief Still Collecting Paycheck After Arrest for 50 Counts of Child Rape
Rarely, if ever, will a school district actually ask its students’ parents to speak with their children about pedophilia let alone urge them to find out if their child was touched by one of their employees.
The Humble Independent Schools District released a statement which read in part:
Nighttime patrol officers do not interact with students on a regular basis. He was hired in July 2015 and on August 2, 2017 he was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Humble ISD will continue to work with Precinct 4 in this matter.
The statement appears to try and distance the school district from the alleged pedophile but we at TFTP will not take a hands-off approach. We want any child, teenager or adult to come forward and contact the Humble police department if they or someone they know was touched inappropriately by the so called “nighttime patrol” officer.
Studies show pedophiles attempt to get as close as they can to children. It is highly probable this officer may have victimized children who need to come forward and allow their voices to be heard.
We applaud Harris County Precinct 4 and county prosecutors for investigating, and arresting one of their own. In doing so, they may very well have protected children from an alleged pedophile. That almost never happens.
But questions remain. Why wasn’t Humble’s Independent Schools District’s hiring process as effective Harris County’s? How could an alleged pedophile be hired as a school cop? It’s just another reason why police do not belong in schools.
READ MORE: Police Chief Still Collecting Paycheck After Arrest for 50 Counts of Child Rape
Lamoure, ND — Fifty-one-year-old Lamoure Police Chief James G. Watson has been arrested and charged with raping a child under the age of 15. While the small town police chief sits in jail awaiting trial, he’s still getting paid.
It’s safe to say most companies would have immediately fired an employee the very minute that worker got arrested — for raping a small child. But as The Free Thought Project has reported on numerous occasions, police officers often receive special treatment. Not only do they frequently get a slap on the wrist for serious felonies — such as Watson is alleged to have committed — but they often get to keep their jobs and their salary.
As Watson was testifying in a DUI case at the county courthouse, investigators arrested and charged him with numerous sex crimes against a child. He was charged with statutory rape and sexual abuse of a child in three different counties. The abuse is believed to have occurred from 2011 to 2013. According to the West Fargo Pioneer;
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In both Stark and Golden Valley counties, he’s charged with a felony count of continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 15. In Hettinger County, he’s charged with three felony counts of gross sexual imposition.
None of the published news stories give any indication as to the identity of the children but the charge of continuous sexual abuse seems to indicate the sex crimes were not random. Describing the severity of the abuse, Watson is accused of victimizing a child on a weekly basis over several years.
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The abuse appears to have occurred when Watson was not a licensed peace officer. He did not graduate police officer training school until 2014, yet was subsequently hired with little to no experience in 2015 as LaMoure’s chief. Incidentally, he is the only police officer in the small town as well.
In recent history, it’s the town’s second catastrophic failure in hiring a police officer who would not abide by the same laws he was supposed to have enforced. In 2010, the former lone police officer, 22-year-old Kyle Mackey, was also embroiled in pedophilia. He pleaded guilty to a felony count of gross sexual imposition involving a 14-year-old girl.
In light of the recent arrest of the town’s only police officer, it may be time for LaMoure’s residents to take matters into their own hands and form a civil watch patrol. It seems they’d have better luck policing themselves than hiring pedophile cops.
The city’s attorney, Kim Radermacher, addressed the town’s concerns with reporters. “The city council this morning held a special meeting to discuss the status of this matter. There’s still so much that we don’t know at this point. So, under advice of counsel, they did place him on administrative leave with pay pending further investigation into the matter.”
Watson has been charged with a Class AA felony which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole. He currently sits in Stark County Jail awaiting trial.
According to WDAY News 6, which reviewed court documents, the accused pedophile police officer committed at least 50 sex acts against the child. Nevertheless, LaMoure citizens are having a hard time believing their chief could do such a thing.
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Jessica Harris said her children are in the same grade as Watson’s. She told reporters;
The little interaction I’ve had with him, he’s always been friendly or helpful, kind…Everybody is in shock they don’t know what to think. You know, you don’t want to make any judgements until the facts come out…I’m sickened really. I’m the mother of 6 kids, I have grandchildren. And my heart hurts for the victim, for his children and wife. I couldn’t imagine even what they are going through.
Houston, TX — More trouble for the Houston Independent Schools District Wednesday after a former Houston police officer, a school resource officer, pleaded guilty to having an improper sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl. Once again, however, another officer got off with a slap on the wrist.
Jacob Ryan Delgadillo, 30, was arrested in January for allegedly having carried out sex acts inside Cullen Middle School’s girl’s bathroom. Suspicions were raised by teachers when they observed the officer blowing kisses to the teen through a window to a classroom.
Friends of the teen victim told the authorities the girl performed oral sex on him while on school property. Later, the victim confirmed she’d had oral sex with the officer, after confessing the act to a teacher. A subsequent investigation by police led to his arrest.
He resigned in December once the allegations surfaced which also showed he had shown the girl pictures of his genitals. An internal investigation led authorities to locate the pictures in question on the officer’s cell phone. According to court documents obtained by the press, Delgadillo denied all the allegations.
Delgadillo was charged with two felony counts of indecency with a child, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of having an inappropriate relationship with the child. As a result of the plea deal, the former officer will only spend five years on probation for what critics say a regular citizen would have done 20 years in a cage for having done.
The verdict is seen by many as a slap on the wrist for pedophilia committed by a guy with a badge and a gun, who was entrusted with the care of the community’s most precious resources, its children.
Worse still, the officer will not have to register as a sex offender, and will not have the criminal charge on his record once his five years of probation is complete. The legal agreement is known as deferred adjudication, and it simply means he can return to his law enforcement career after his sentencing is carried out.
The sentencing is incredulous for many who believe police officers not only should be held to a higher standard but a stricter form of sentencing when they’re convicted of such crimes. After all, Delgadillo was a school resource officer, someone who is supposed to arrest others for the very same things he pleaded guilty for.
Even though Delgadillo will have to surrender his law enforcement license, conceivably, once his probation is over, he may be able to re-apply for the state license, transfer to another state, and continue his career in law enforcement.
District Judge Marc Carter, a Republican from District 228, presided over the case. He is up for re-election in Harris County in 2018. His email address is can be found by clicking here for any and all readers who may wish to opine about his decision.
As part of the plea deal, prosecutor Jennifer Stabe told reporters the two felony counts against Delgadillo were dropped. Instead of prison time, Stabe accepted the deferred adjudication agreement, which allowed him to serve not one single day in prison. Instead of a guilty verdict in a trial by jury, the former officer would only have to admit to placing the girl’s hand on his genitals.
The whole case serves to illustrate what The Free Thought Project has reported on numerous occasions. Police can get away with having sex with children without doing any real prison time.
They’re known to TFTP as pedophile cops, and such cases involving police officers having sex with minors seems to be an epidemic. As TFTP has reported recently, officers have been arrested for having child porn, having sex with minors, impregnating teens, and being a part of pedophile rings which include high-ranking government officials.
Just this week, TFTP’s Matt Agorist reported on the existence of an underground pedophile ring in Baltimore. The ring is the topic of a new Netflix documentary on the subject. “Netflix exposed a dark underground child sex ring involving the church, politicians, and cops,” writes Agorist. As a result of the film’s release, Baltimore police were forced to respond to numerous inquiries. “The series, titled, The Keepers, has forced the Baltimore police to set up an online submission form as people began to come forward after watching it,” he wrote.
