A Norton man was convicted yesterday of attempted indecent assault of a child under 14 in connection with a 2006 undercover Internet investigation, according to the Plymouth district attorney's office. A Brockton Superior Court jury also convicted Michael D. Buswell, 22, of enticement of a child, attempted rape, and two counts of attempt to disseminate matter harmful to a minor. Judge Richard Chin sentenced Buswell to two to three years in prison followed by five years of probation, during which time he must register as a sex offender.
--more--"
"Teacher charged with child porn possession" by Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff | February 5, 2009
A physical education teacher in Westborough was charged yesterday with possession of child pornography, after an investigation that began with a tip from Interpol, according to the US attorney's office.
Related: Walpole Coach Does Wind Sprints to Escape Rape Charge
Brian Rossi, 36, was arrested early yesterday at his home in Milford, the day after federal agents searched his house and found several pictures of prepubescent children, mostly boys, engaging in sexually explicit conduct, authorities said. The images, which authorities said were hidden in his bedroom closet, appeared to have been downloaded from pornographic websites....
Related: Perverts and Police
The school computers to which he had access have been confiscated.... The investigation began when Interpol agents in Berne, Switzerland, notified US immigration authorities that a large number of Internet users had downloaded videos depicting child pornography, officials from the office of US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan said.
Further investigation revealed that one of the computers used to download the videos allegedly belonged to Rossi. If convicted of possession of child pornography, Rossi faces up to 10 years in prison, to be followed by at least five years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
--more--""Abuser of disabled children imprisoned
FORT PIERCE, Fla. - A Florida woman accused of abusing 11 disabled children she adopted - while pocketing more than $1 million in subsidies - has been sentenced to 20 years in prison....
And yet DSS has to get up your ass!!!
Authorities said they found the adopted children had been held like prisoners in Leekin's home, often handcuffed together and forced to soil themselves because they were not allowed to use the bathroom. They said they had never seen a doctor or a dentist and had not been allowed to attend school or leave the house. All the children were near starvation when they were found.
Leekin used four aliases to adopt from different agencies and created fake report cards to show the children's progress, even though they were not attending school, according to court records and officials. The children were adopted in New York City before Leekin moved to Florida in 1998. New York City records show she received more than $1.2 million in subsidies for the disabled children she had adopted.
--more--""Boss of escort business gets 2 1/2 years
NEW YORK - The man who ran an escort business at the heart of the scandal that helped bring down former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was sentenced yesterday to 2 1/2 years in prison.
See: Eliot Spitzer Knew!
Mark Brener, 63, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit a prostitution offense and conspiracy to commit money laundering....
Prosecutors said he was the "driving force" behind the Emperors Club VIP, a lucrative enterprise that employed prostitutes in New York, Miami, and Europe. When Brener was arrested, agents found nearly $1 million in cash stashed in his New Jersey apartment.
His customers included Spitzer, who resigned March 12 after details of a tryst with one of Brener's prostitutes in a Washington hotel were revealed. Investigators had been looking into Spitzer's affairs after noticing unusual activity - later shown to be payments to prostitutes - in the governor's bank accounts....
And you Democrats thought Bush's spying was no big deal.
Prosecutors announced in November that they also wouldn't charge Spitzer.
Yeah, because the goal was to get him out of office and off Wall Street's back!
--more--"
"Novak guilty of laundering drug profits; GOP official may face prison term" by Denise Lavoie, Associated Press | February 3, 2009
The former vice chairman of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee pleaded guilty to federal money-laundering charges yesterday in a scheme to "cleanse" drug money for a legal client.
So much for being a Republican around here.
Lawrence P. Novak entered his pleas as he was about to go on trial in US District Court. Novak, 57, was arrested in 2005 after investigators said he offered to launder drug profits for Scott Holyoke, a client of Novak's who was awaiting sentencing on federal drug trafficking charges and who agreed to be a cooperating witness against Novak.
The charges were unrelated to Novak's GOP role. He resigned his post as vice chairman of the Republican State Committee shortly after his arrest but had served as a regular committee member since winning election in 2008.
How can it be unrelated? WTF?
According to the indictment, Novak, a Brockton lawyer, offered to have Holyoke sign false affidavits in an attempt to invalidate some of his earlier state convictions. That would reduce the sentence he would face in his federal case. Novak also offered to launder $107,000 in cash he knew Holyoke had made illegally from selling drugs. He said he would take $60,000 as a legal fee and offered to "cleanse" another $47,000 Holyoke had in a safe deposit box.
An undercover agent from the Internal Revenue Service who posed as Holyoke's aunt gave Novak about $107,000 in cash and told him it was drug proceeds. Novak was arrested after he took the money to Eastern Bank in Brockton, deposited $77,000 into an existing account and withdrew $30,000 in bank checks and money orders.
Why don't we just DECRIMINALIZE DRUGS?
Government is the main drug trafficker anyway!
Why should TAX DOLLARS also go to FIGHTING IT?
Novak pleaded guilty to two counts of money laundering. He also pleaded guilty under the Alford Doctrine to a single count of obstruction of justice, maintaining his innocence but conceding prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him.
Assistant US Attorney Brian Kelly said prosecutors had planned to play taped conversations for the jury in which Novak was heard telling Holyoke, "You need to clean the money." Novak's attorney, William Cintolo, said Novak decided to plead guilty because of Holyoke's expected testimony.
"We had an informant who was going to make certain assertions. The question was, would a jury believe him? In light of that, we thought it was in his best interests to plead," Cintolo said.
Novak will be sentenced on May 13. Kelly said federal guidelines suggest a prison term of about five years. Barney Keller, a spokesman for the GOP committee, said that under the committee's bylaws, Novak will be automatically expelled because of his felony convictions.Well, I guess that's better than the DemocraPs!
Thank God for small favors.
--more--"
