2/25/2021

COLUMBUS — A corrections deputy with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office is facing multiple child pornography charges.

Court documents state that Daniel P. Heintz had multiple conversations over the Kik Messenger app in August 2020 with a man who was later arrested by the FBI on child enticement charges in Illinois.

According to a federal affidavit, Heintz, 38, and the man arrested discussed several times their mutual sexual interest in children, as well as the possibility of Heintz taking a nude photograph of an unidentified minor female.

The affidavit also alleges that Heintz and the subject exchanged child pornography images.

U.S. Attorney David DeVillers said Heintz turned himself in Wednesday morning.

On Feb. 10, a search warrant was executed at the Franklin County Correctional Center, where Heintz worked, and his phone was seized, while a laptop and an iPad were seized during a search of his home.

The affidavit states that after a digital forensic extraction of Heintz’s phone, thousands of images of child pornography were found.

A statement from Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin says Heintz is a non-certified deputy and is currently on unpaid administrative leave while his termination is being processed due to the felony charges.

“I’m proud of the hundreds of deputies and other sheriff’s office employees who work hard and dedicate themselves to protecting Franklin County families. On those rare occasions when an independent investigation finds probable cause that an employee committed a felony, I take swift action to hold that person accountable,” Baldwin said in the statement.

Chief Deputy Rick Minerd also responded to the news of Heintz’s arrest.

“When you learn of this behavior, and then you read of some of the detail in the affidavits and think that somebody that we employed, somebody that you work alongside, somebody you trust — you trust to go out in the community and help people and that they violate that trust — it’s a sad day for law enforcement and especially it’s a sad day for the sheriff’s office,” he said.

Heintz is charged with advertising for and receiving child pornography. Advertising for child pornography is a federal crime punishable by a minimum of 15 and up to 30 years in prison. Receiving child pornography includes a sentencing range of five to 20 years in prison. If convicted, the crimes also carry a mandatory of at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and registration as a sex offender.

2/25/2021

When Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputies saw a small child reaching her arms and head out of a second-story window between jagged, sharp pieces of glass, they entered the home and reportedly found two more children trapped in a bedroom alone.

The bedroom door was locked, the door handle tied shut with a cellphone charging cable and the Pensacola woman responsible for the three children was nowhere to be found, according to her arrest report.

Fayonna Hixon, 23, was arrested Monday, charged with three counts of child neglect and booked into the Escambia County Jail with a $300,000 bond.

Assistant State Attorney John Molchan told the News Journal that Hixon could face additional charges pending further investigation because of a large amount of marijuana and multiple malnourished dogs found alongside the children in her residence. 

The redacted arrest report did not state the nature of Hixon’s relationship to the children. It also did not specify the exact location of Hixon’s apartment where the neglect allegedly occurred.

ECSO deputies were dispatched about 4 p.m. Dec. 30, 2020, to an “unknown problem” at Hixon’s apartment complex in Escambia County. When they arrived, they observed an infant girl “reaching her arm and head out of a broken glass window with sharp edges,” the report stated.

All three children were wearing diapers without any additional clothing.

Close by, deputies found two malnourished dogs locked in cages and covered in their own feces and a newborn puppy lying on a pile of dirty clothes, the report stated.

Three glass jars filled with marijuana were found sitting in plain view in the home’s living room, and a large jar of marijuana was found in a closet. In total, 550.2 grams of marijuana was discovered in the home. 

The Florida Department of Children and Families took custody of the children, and officers from the Escambia County Animal Control responded to the scene and took custody of the dogs.

A warrant was subsequently written calling for Hixon’s arrest. County records indicate she remained in custody as of Wednesday.

2/25/2021

FOND DU LAC, Wis. — A Clinton man has been accused of possessing child pornography following two search warrants Monday.

According to a news release, one of the search warrants was executed at the Radisson Hotel in Fond du Lac by Rock County detectives and the local police department.

Officials executed the other search warranted at 707 Carol St. Apt D in Clinton. The release said authorities found multiple electronic devices and other evidence of child porn at both locations.

Bradley Price, 55, was later arrested in Fond du Lac on 11 counts of possession of child porn. He was brought to the Rock County Jail, where he will remain until his initial court appearance at 3 p.m. Friday.

The Rock County Sheriff’s Office Detective Bureau, City of Fond du Lac Police Department and Village of Clinton Police Department assisted with the search warrants.

2/24/2021

China introduced the one-child policy in the late 1970s in a dramatic effort to slow rapid population growth, before reversing it in 2016 to allow families to have two children as fears grew about the country’s fast-ageing population and shrinking workforce.

But the change has not yet resulted in a baby boom, with empowered Chinese women often delaying or avoiding childbirth and young couples blaming rising costs and insufficient policy support for families.

The number of newborns in China plummeted 15 per cent in 2020 from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Public Security, with the onset of the novel coronavirus disrupting the economy and weighing on decisions to have a family.

But the change has not yet resulted in a baby boom, with empowered Chinese women often delaying or avoiding childbirth and young couples blaming rising costs and insufficient policy support for families.

The number of newborns in China plummeted 15 per cent in 2020 from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Public Security, with the onset of the novel coronavirus disrupting the economy and weighing on decisions to have a family.

China saw 10.035 million births last year, the ministry said on Monday, compared with 11.79 million in 2019.

The gender balance was 52.7 per cent boys and 47.3 per cent girls, according to the data. 

What is China planning to do about it?

A Chinese NGO has proposed playing cupid. Meanwhile, a Shanxi-based think tank development association says  ‘leftover’ urban women, who are above the age of 27, unmarried, highly-educated and urban, should be paired with surplus rural men.

This NGO advised these ”leftover” women that they should not feel ”afraid to go and live in rural areas”.

It also proposed to the Chinese government that it should offer an incentive to encourage urban women to move to rural areas and provide vocational training to sheng nan or leftover men.

Women have been trafficking from northern Myanmar into China. These women were sold for anything between 3,000 to 13,000 dollars to Chinese families, as per reports. Once bought, women were held prisoners and pressured into producing babies.

Another scandal came to light in 2019 when Brides from Pakistan were being trafficked into China.

The Associated Press claimed that at least 629 women were sold to Chinese men. They were abused and raped.

The Chinese foreign ministry said it was unaware of it…

It said the two governments of China and Pakistan support the formation of happy families between their people on a voluntary basis in keeping with laws and regulations.

Disregard for consent can never be the answer to bridging the gender imbalance.

2/24/2021

The U.S. House version of the “American Rescue Plan Act of 2021” – a $1.9 trillion emergency aid package to help America recover from the coronavirus pandemic has an extra perk for federal workers: Enhanced paid time off if your child is enrolled in a school that isn’t back to full-time, in-classroom instruction.

The U.S. House version of the “American Rescue Plan Act of 2021” – a $1.9 trillion emergency aid package to help America recover from the coronavirus pandemic has an extra perk for federal workers: Enhanced paid time off if your child is enrolled in a school that isn’t back to full-time, in-classroom instruction.

$570 million in the new fund is available through September 30. Federal employees caring for others due to Covid-19 are eligible for paid leave. Among those eligible are those who are “unable to work” because they are caring for school-aged children not physically in school full time “due to Covid-19 precautions[.]”

The new Fund allows a federal employee “caring for a son or daughter” to qualify for the paid leave, specifically:

“if the school or place of care of the son or daughter has been closed, if the school of such son or daughter requires or makes optional a virtual learning instruction model or requires or makes optional a hybrid of in-person and virtual learning instruction models, or the child care provider of such son or daughter is unavailable, due to Covid-19 precautions;”

Under the bill as currently drafted, full-time federal employees can take up to 600 hours in paid leave until September 30, up to $35 an hour and $1,400 a week. That’s 15 weeks for a 40-hour employee. Part-time and “seasonal” employees are eligible, too, with equivalent hours established by their agency.

Federal employees currently have up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. (A law passed in 2019, allows most federal employees – what the sponsors report is 2.1 million federal workers – up to 12 weeks of paid leave for the birth, foster placement or adoption of a new child.)

And the drafting seems very sloppy – notice how the bill sets no age limit for the kids who are home from school?

An open question is whether parents of college-aged children could take paid time off? Certainly, some colleges are virtual and there is no definition of son or daughter in the bill and no age parameters.  

Even if a federal employee’s child could be in school five days a week, if the school “makes optional” virtual or hybrid schooling, it appears the parent can keep the son or daughter at home and still qualify for paid-time off under the bill.

2/24/2021

ITASCA CO., MN — Two men arrested and charged in a human trafficking sting in Itasca County were working on Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline replacement project, the company confirmed Wednesday.

Michael West, 53, of Rolla, Missouri and Matthew Ty Hall, 33, of Mount Pleasant, Texas were among a total of seven men arrested in the bust.

According to the criminal complaints, West was charged with carrying a pistol without a permit and one count of solicitation to engage in prostitution.

Hall was charged with one count of solicitation of a person believed to be a minor.

“Enbridge has zero tolerance for all illegal and exploitive behavior,” said Juli Kellner, a spokesperson for Enbridge. “Such behaviors from anyone associated with this project will not be tolerated and are immediate grounds for dismissal.”

The men were employed by Eau Claire, Wisconsin-based Precision Pipeline, LLC, a contractor working on Line 3.

Enbridge said both men were fired after their arrests.

“We support all efforts by law enforcement to arrest perpetrators as well as the prosecution of anyone participating in trafficking to the maximum extent of the law,” Kellner said.

Kellner said each worker receives “human trafficking awareness training” prior to beginning work on the project.

Precision Pipeline, LLC’s statement:

The two workers were terminated immediately when the company learned that they had violated our zero tolerance for illegal behavior. We remain steadfast in our commitment to compliance with all anti-trafficking and anti-exploitation laws and our zero tolerance for those who seek to deprive others of their fundamental freedoms and human rights is at the core of our organization.

2/24/2021

A Thai citizen who authorities say played a key role in orchestrating an international sex trafficking ring appeared before a federal magistrate judge in Minnesota this week on a new 10-count indictment.

Sumalee Intarathong, 59, served as “boss/trafficker” in a criminal organization that sent hundreds of women from Bangkok to prostitution houses in the United States and compelled them to perform sex acts for money, according to federal prosecutors.

The group, which had a base in Queens, used beatings and forced abortions to ensure the women continued working in brothels from Alabama to Connecticut, shipping cash they earned back to Mexico, federal prosecutors wrote in court filings.

The women were lured into romantic relationships through “false promises of love and support,” prosecutors wrote, and often not allowed to contact their families after being taken into homes of the traffickers in Tenancingo.

A message was sent to Hernandez-Velazquez’s defense attorney seeking comment.

Hernandez-Velazquez was arrested in Mexico in August and extradited to the United States on Wednesday. He faces at least 15 years in prison if convicted.

2/24/2021

ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) — A man has been charged in the murder of a mother and her two daughters in a “gruesome” South City shooting in the Dutchtown neighborhood.

Officers with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department were called to a home in the 4100 block of South Grand around 7 a.m. Thursday, where they found a woman and two girls, ages 8 and 1, shot to death inside. According to St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden, the woman appears to be the girls’ mother.

Family identified the woman killed as 30-year-old Kanisha Hemphill. The two girls killed are Hemphill’s children, Jakari and Journey Walker.

Thursday, police said said a 34-year-old man was arrested in the homicide. The following morning, authorities said Ronald Marr, of the 500 block of Robert, was arrested in Effingham, Illinois. The suspect has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of armed criminal action.

According to court documents, Marr, who is Hemphill’s ex-boyfriend, was identified by a witness in a photo lineup. Following the murders, the suspect got rid of his cell phone and purchased a new one before buying a Greyhound bus ticket and leaving Missouri, officials said.

“I don’t know how to feel. That was my little sister,” Kezia Walker said Thursday afternoon. “She sent me a text yesterday. I was asking her what was wrong – texting back and forth because she didn’t answer her phone. I texted her, if you need a break call me or drop the girls off. She was like okay, and I told her I loved her and she was like love you, too.”

“This is not being investigated as a suicide,” Chief Hayden said at a press conference Thursday morning. “This is being investigated as a homicide, and so again we’re asking any and everyone that has any information on this situation to contact our homicide division or CrimeStoppers.” 

While addressing the media at the crime scene, Chief Hayden said it was a “very tragic situation” and a “gruesome” scene. “As you can imagine, if somebody was shot, and there’s a lot of disturbing evidence inside. Very disturbing, and I’m sure it’s traumatic, traumatizing to the officers that went in.”

2/24/2021

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. —

A Lancaster County youth pastor is charged with possession and distribution of child pornography.

Brandon Dasilva, the pastor of student ministries at Weaverland Anabaptist Faith Community Church, was arrested Monday, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said.

Shapiro said authorities began an investigation in April 2020 into an account on messaging app Kik that had distributed child pornography images.

The investigation led to an IP address registered to Dasilva’s home in Terre Hill, Shapiro said, where a search of his electronic devices uncovered a number of images.

Shapiro said Dasilva is charged with four counts of sexual abuse of children for disseminating child pornography, 26 counts of sexual abuse of children for possession of child pornography, and one count of criminal use of a communication facility.

“The defendant was trusted as a faith leader for young people in Lancaster, but out of the public eye was exploiting children,” said Shapiro in a press release announcing Dasilva’s arrest. “Brandon Dasilva undermined the authority placed in him by his community, and betrayed the trust of the young people who believed in him. We will continue to work to protect children and hold those who abuse them accountable.”

2/23/2021

DAVIDSON COUNTY, N.C. — A man has been arrested after he allegedly kidnapped a teenage girl from a home in Lexington, according to the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office.

On Feb. 16, deputies responded to a report of of a missing teenager at the American Children’s Home in Lexington.

Early reports said that 15-year-old Kayla Carlson had left the home with an adult man.

Detectives began searching for the teenager and, with the help of the Moore County Sheriff’s Office and the State Bureau of Investigation, found her on Monday at a motel in Aberdeen.

Detectives learned that Christopher Steele Boles, 36, of Moore County, had picked up Carlson at the home on Feb. 16 after she contacted him using her school-issued laptop.

After finding Carlson, detectives obtained warrants to arrest Boles on one count of abduction of a child and one count of first-degree kidnapping.

Deputies were able to find Boles in Moore County and arrested him.

Boles was also in possession of heroin, marijuana and drug paraphernalia, according to the sheriff’s office.

The suspect was turned over to the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office and received a $1 million secure bond.

He also received an additional $2,000 secure bond for the drug possession and paraphernalia charges.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Sgt. M. Hurd at the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office at (336) 242-2105.