SEXUAL ABUSE AGAINST CHILDREN

Deputies: Sex offender arrested for removing ankle bracelet

Lawrence Boker, 27, of St. Cloud, is serving seven years probation on a charge of lewd and lascivious battery on a child between 12 and 15 years old.

Registered sex offender Lawrence Boker, 27, was arrested on Monday on charges that he removed a state-mandated ankle bracelet, violating his probation, Osceola County deputies said. (Osceola County Sheriff's Office / October 5, 2010)

A registered sex offender was arrested on Monday on charges that he removed a state-mandated ankle bracelet, violating his probation, Osceola County deputies said.

Lawrence Boker, 27, of St. Cloud, is currently serving seven years probation on a charge of lewd and lascivious battery on a child between 12 and 15 years old. State records show he was adjudicated guilty in April 2008.

Deputies said they were alerted by the state probation office on Friday that Boker might have removed a GPS ankle bracelet that he was required to wear as part of his probation.

Investigators said they later found Boker's ankle bracelet in Orange County. He was arrested in St. Cloud on Monday on a violation of probation charge and booked into Osceola County Jail.

Sentence of nearly 1,000 years handed down in child rape case

A man arrested in 2008 on child-sex charges by Palm Bay police will spend the rest of his life in prison, the police department said today.

Timothy Raymond Anderson, 51, was convicted by a St. Lucie County jury this past week for sexual battery charges. Judge Dan Vaughn sentenced him to 999 years, 99 months and 98 days in prison.

"At least he won't be able to victimize another child again," Palm Bay police Detective Jasmine Campbell, who investigated the case, said in a prepared statement.

Authorities arrested Anderson after learning that he had abused a girl from 1988 to 1991 on a nearly daily basis, beginning when she was 6 years old and in his care. Anderson was a truck driver, so the incidents happened in multiple jurisdictions, according to police.

The investigation, which involved the FBI and police from Palm Bay and Port St. Lucie, found probable cause to arrest Anderson for abuses that occurred in Palm Bay and St. Lucie County. He also was charged in connection with sexual battery on a child 20 years earlier in St. Lucie County.

Fayetteville police searching for 2 men who attacked teen girl at home

Police are looking for two men who broke into a home in the Hollywood Heights neighborhood Friday afternoon and attempted to sexually assault a teenager.

The incident was reported at 2:57 p.m. on the 6000 block of Kimbrook Drive, according to Lt. Chris Davis, Fayetteville police spokesman.
The 13-year-old girl was alone, Davis said, when the two men came into the house.

The girl said the men wore masks and gloves, Davis said. There was no report that either man was armed, Davis said.
The men tried to sexually assault the girl, but she managed to fend them off, Davis said.

The men ran out the side door, and the girl phoned for help, Davis said. The girl may have called her mother who then contacted police, Davis said.

It was not known whether the girl was hurt.

Autryville church youth minister charged with child solicitation

A part-time youth minister at an Autryville church is accused of trying to solicit a child for sex in Guilford County, a detective said.

Thomas Lee Elliott, 40, of the 700 block of Butler Island Road in Roseboro, was charged Thursday with attempted indecent liberties with a child and soliciting a child by computer, said Detective Tommy Sluder of the Guilford County Sheriff's Office. Sluder said he had online conversations with Elliott for more than 30 days while the detective was posing as a 14-year-old girl.

Sluder said Elliott wanted to meet, and a rendezvous was arranged for a Greensboro parking lot Thursday. Elliott was arrested when he arrived, Sluder said.

Elliott, who Sluder said is a part-time youth minister at Autryville Baptist Church, is in the Guilford County Jail. Bail was set at $25,000. Elliott was to make his first appearance in court Friday afternoon.

Former Fayetteville youth minister charged with sex crimes

A former Fayetteville youth minister has been charged with sex crimes involving two teenage girls.

Brandon Christopher Bradley, 26, of the 600 block of Bessemer Circle, was arrested early Friday, according to a news release from the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office.

Bradley is accused of forcing two 14-year-old girls to perform sex acts with him against their will between August 2008 and October 2008 in his home, according to the release.

Bradley is charged with seven counts of statutory rape, five counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor, one count of sexual offense and one count of crimes against nature, the release said.

Bradley is in the Cumberland County Detention Center with bail set at $485,000. A first court appearance is set for 2:30 p.m. Monday.

Kidnapped girl reveals new details of her life as a 'domestic slave'

CNN


Natascha Kampusch pictured in a German TV studio during the recording of Beckmann, on September 4, 2010.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Autobiography entitled "3,096 Days," reveals new details of Kampusch's ordeal
  
• Describes being manacled to captor while they slept together
  
• She was held in a subterranean bunker equipped with a bed, toilet and sink
  
• Kampusch eascaped in August 2006, eight years after being abducted
  

London, England (CNN) -- Natascha Kampusch, the Austrian woman who was held prisoner for eight years in a basement, has revealed new details of her ordeal in an autobiography.

In the book, entitled "3,096 Days," Kampusch, who was abducted aged 10 in 1998 while walking to school, describes the relationship she fostered with her abductor Wolfgang Priklopil in order to ensure her survival and the bizarre routines she endured at his hands.
The serialization in the UK's Daily Mail newspaper details how Kampusch was locked inside a "hermetically sealed" concrete jail, beaten up to 200 times a week until she heard her own spine "snap" and was manacled to Priklopil while they slept together in his bed.

Kampusch escaped in August 2006 aged 18 and now lives in Vienna, Austria. Priklopil, 44, an engineer, committed suicide shortly after her escape.

Penguin, the British publishers of the English version, released a statement on behalf of Kampusch: "I now feel strong enough to tell the full story of my abduction for the first time."
--Natascha Kampusch

Describing her captor, Kampusch writes: "At 35, he had soft features and neatly parted brown hair. It was only when you observed him for a longer period that you noticed the traces of madness lurking beneath his conservative exterior."

During her captivity she was held in a subterranean bunker which was initially equipped with just a bed, toilet and sink.

She also recalls her first night in captivity. "I asked him to put me to bed properly and tell me a goodnight story," she writes. "I even asked him for a goodnight kiss. Anything to preserve the illusion of normality. And he played along."
Kampusch, now 22, goes on to describe how Priklopil would threaten her, saying: "If you're not good, then I'll have to tie you up."

"He told me my parents had refused to pay a ransom, 'Your parents don't love you at all... They don't want you back... They're happy to be rid of you.'"

She also describes the psychological games Priklopil played with her. "In all his visits he talked about the people who'd supposedly 'ordered" my kidnapping and would come and take pictures of me 'and do other things as well'. I lived in constant fear that at any moment a horde of evil men would come into my dungeon and attack me.

"And of course my fear of the 'true kidnappers' made the man who had abducted me seem caring and friendly by contrast."

Some psychologists have described this relationship as Stockholm Syndrome, a psychological condition when the victim of an abduction identifies with the kidnapper and becomes attached to him or her.

Kampusch recounts how Priklopil ordered her to call him "Maestro" or "My Lord" and to kneel in front of him. He also forced her to shave off her hair and work half-naked as a domestic slave, driving her to repeated suicide attempts.

Since her release Kampusch has become a media personality, appearing on television shows around the world. She worked for a while as a television presenter in Austria in 2007.

A spokesman for Penguin told CNN: "This is her first autobiography and the most detailed account of her life during captivity."

The English version of the autobiography is published on September 13 in the UK.

She was 10 years old when he kidnapped her, and was held captive for 8 years. I can't believe how well she weathered the ordeal.

NJ man accused of raping, beating 5 daughters

PATERSON, N.J. - A New Jersey man with apocalyptic visions is accused of years of terrorizing his family, raping his five daughters and impregnating three, beating his children with wooden boards and even moving at one point to avoid child welfare investigators.

The nightmarish picture of a family subjected to more than a decade of threats and violence and largely cut off from the outside world is emerging in a state courthouse where prosecutors are preparing to have the man stand trial five times, one per child victim.

As the first case nears trial, questions have been raised about whether state authorities could have put a stop to the abuse sooner. Some of the crimes are alleged to have occurred while the family was under scrutiny by the state child welfare agency, and after the father had been arrested and pleaded guilty to assault and child endangerment.

At a hearing last week, the 51-year-old man's former wife described in a calm voice her marriage to a man whose visions she said drove him to try to create "pure" family bloodlines by impregnating several of his teenager daughters.

"He said the world was going to end and it was just going to be him and his offspring and that he was chosen," the woman testified.

Arrested in 2006, he stands accused of raping five of his daughters, three of whom are believed to have given birth to a total of six children. He is being held on $1 million bond.

Having been ruled competent to stand trial earlier this year, he faces 27 charges including aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, lewdness, child endangerment, aggravated criminal sexual contact and criminal sexual contact.

"We plan to proceed with all five trials if necessary," said Lisa Squitieri, the Passaic County prosecutor handling the case.

The Associated Press generally doesn't identify victims of sexual crimes and is not reporting the names of the husband and wife to protect the identities of their children, now all over 18 years of age.

Authorities say the assaults began in the mid-1980s and lasted until 2002, when the parents separated, and occurred at residences in Paterson, East Orange, Orange and Eatontown. The time period overlaps with the family's coming to the attention of the state's child welfare agency.

According to court records and published reports, the girls' father was arrested in 2000 and charged with kidnapping for allegedly trying to take three of his children from state custody at a Monmouth County medical center. He posted bail and later pleaded guilty to assault and child endangerment and was sentenced to a year's probation.

Prosecutors in Passaic County say one of the daughters, then in her early teens, was raped as late as January 2002.

New Jersey's Division of Youth and Family Services declined to comment, citing confidentiality requirements.

But the man's wife and one of his daughters testified that the agency had indeed removed at least one of the children from the family's home, and that the family had temporarily moved, first to Jersey City and then to Florida, to avoid the agency's investigation.

Prosecutors in Monmouth County, where the charges in the kidnapping case were brought, did not return phone messages.

In her testimony, his daughter described experiencing and witnessing beatings administered with wooden boards and steel-toed boots. She said minor transgressions often were punished by the withholding of food.

The girl's mother testified some of the babies were delivered at home and never received birth certificates, and said in at least two instances babies who died in the home were buried without authorities being notified.

The children were home-schooled, she said, and were discouraged from interacting with other kids.

"No one really asked questions of each other because somebody would tell on somebody and somebody would get in trouble," she said.

Even after she became aware of sexual abuse, she said she was too frightened to confront him.

"I was afraid to ever accuse him of being demented, or being a pedophile. I knew the word but I wouldn't dare use it because it would result in a beating," she said. "I'm sure my not standing up to him didn't help the kids. They felt disempowered also. There was just a lot of fear. Everybody was threatened."

Daryl Pennington, an attorney representing the defendant, did not return messages seeking comment.

Attorneys are scheduled back in court on Friday, when state Superior Court Judge Raymond Reddin is to rule on the admissibility of the wife's testimony. The first trial is scheduled to begin in April.

at 16:39 on October 20, 2010, EDT.


NJ father accused of raping, impregnating daughter found guilty

PATERSON, N.J. - A New Jersey man whose apocalyptic visions allegedly led him to rape his five daughters and terrorize his family for years was found guilty Wednesday of sexually assaulting a daughter who testified that she bore him a child.


The jury deliberated for less than three hours over two days before finding the man guilty on all of the eight counts in the first of five separate trials — one for each daughter he is accused of victimizing.
The man showed no reaction to the verdict, other than keeping his eyes closed for extended periods while several of the counts were read.


Jurors endured more than three weeks of sexually explicit and often extremely graphic testimony from the man's former wife and one of his daughters.


The daughter, now 24, testified the man began sexually assaulting her when she was 8, and then regularly raping her until she bore him a child at 15.


Forensics experts testified earlier in the trial that DNA profiles showed the defendant was likely the father of his own grandchild.
The Associated Press doesn't identify victims of sexual crimes and is not reporting the names of the man or his former wife to protect the identities of their children, now over 18.


The jury got the case Tuesday. Shortly before leaving, they sent the judge a note asking for excerpts from the daughter's testimony that seemed to indicate they were trying to determine what age she had been when various alleged incidents took place.


The daughter's age was a central issue in the trial, as she did not obtain a birth certificate until later in life. She testified, as did the man's former wife, that the man had insisted his children be born at home so they wouldn't be documented.


The defence had argued that, as a result, no one could say with certainty what the daughter's real age is, a move that prosecutors criticized as an attempt to cast doubt in the jury's mind as to whether the daughter's age at the time of the alleged assaults actually fell within the statutes he's charged under.


The daughter, who prosecutors say obtained a court-ordered birth certificate a few years ago in order to enrol at Fordham University, testified that her father started beating her at age 3, escalated to sexual touching by age 8, regular intercourse by 12, and a resultant pregnancy shortly after she began menstruation at age 14.


Forensics experts testified earlier in the trial that DNA profiles showed the defendant was likely the father of his own grandchild.
The man's former wife and daughter also testified that he spoke of being a prophet who believed in keeping his bloodlines pure. They said he never let the children see doctors, kept them home-schooled and forced the family to adhere to strict vegetarian diets.


The man, who took the stand in his own defence, said his wife and daughter had been brainwashed by a former family spiritual adviser who was trying to steal the man's business ventures. He said all choices as to how the children were raised had been jointly made with his wife, in the interest of holistic child rearing.


Having been ruled competent to stand trial earlier this year, the man faces a total of 27 charges in all the cases, including aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, lewdness, child endangerment, aggravated criminal sexual contact and criminal sexual contact.


The first trial began Sept. 28 in state Superior Court in Paterson, about 15 miles west of Manhattan, where the family lived for several years.

Unreal!!! Federal Judge Jack B. Weinstein Defending Chils Sex Predators, Says Child Porn Laws to Harsh … “We’re destroying lives unnecessarily”

“We’re destroying lives unnecessarily” … Yes we are and it is because judges like Jack B. Weinstein are allowed to serve on the bench. How will we ever protect children, the most defenseless among us with the likes of this as federal judges?

Say hello to LEFTIST Jack B. Weinstein, a 43 year federal judge …
The NY Times states, the judge has come to be identified by his efforts to combat what he calls “the unnecessary cruelty of the law.” What is his crusade this time … Child Porn laws. However, it’s not what you think … this judge things that the child porn laws are too strict and defends the child pornographers.

Judge Weinstein, who sits in the United States District Court in Brooklyn, has twice thrown out convictions that would have ensured that the man spend at least five years behind bars. He has pledged to break protocol and inform the next jury about the mandatory prison sentence that the charges carry. And he recently declared that the man, who is awaiting a new trial, did not need an electronic ankle bracelet because he posed “no risk to society.”
There is little public sympathy for collectors of child pornography. Yet across the country, an increasing number of federal judges have come to their defense, criticizing changes to sentencing laws that have effectively quadrupled their average prison term over the last decade.

That is correct, this judge stated that an electronic ankle bracelet was excessive for a sexual predator and child pornographer as he stated that this perv posed no threat to society. UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Eastern District of New York Judge Jack B. Weinstein has held unconstitutional the electronic monitoring of a Brooklyn pizzeria owner awaiting retrial on child pornography charges.
The judge found that the monitoring, mandated by the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, constitutes unconstitutionally excessive bail and violates defendant Peter Polouizzi’s procedural due process rights.

Judge Jack B. Weinstein stated “We’re destroying lives unnecessarily.” However, he was not referring to the victims of child porn … he was referring to the child pornographers! I would agree with the Astute Blogger 100%, “I THINK THAT THESE LEFTISTS ARE EVERY BIT AS BAD AND DANGEROUS AS CHILD PORNOGRAPHERS.”
Just what we need to be soft on kiddie porn. What will the LEFT think of next to defend … child rapists? Guess where child rapists come from liberal judges … that would be the very kiddie porn criminals that you look to let off scott free.

Judge Weinstein has gone to extraordinary lengths to challenge the strict punishments, issuing a series of rulings that directly attack the mandatory five-year prison sentence faced by defendants charged with receiving child pornography.
“I don’t approve of child pornography, obviously,” he said in an interview this week. But, he also said, he does not believe that those who view the images, as opposed to producing or selling them, present a threat to children.
“We’re destroying lives unnecessarily,” he said. “At the most, they should be receiving treatment and supervision.”

Treatment and supervision … how LEFTIST, liberal can we get? Maybe we need to figure out why his parents did not get him a pony for his 6th birthday while we are at it. You know you have a problem with a judge when a child porn collector sees the man as not a judge, but a dad.

The man he has spent three years trying to save from a long incarceration is Pietro Polizzi, a married father of five who collected more than 5,000 graphic pictures of children. If prosecuted in a New York State court, he would have faced a maximum prison sentence of four years. Instead, in federal court, he faced a minimum of five years and a recommended sentence of 11 to 14 years. Because of Judge Weinstein’s intervention, he remains free as he awaits another trial.
“I don’t see Judge Weinstein as a judge,” Mr. Polizzi said during an interview as tears rolled down his face. “I see him as my father. He helps people. He doesn’t destroy lives the way the prosecutor has. He’s the one who is going to set me free from the court.”

It’s too bad that these liberal judges did not feel the need to protect the victims of child porn. News flash Judge Jack B. Weinstein … the pic is of an exploited child and the individual with that pic is a time bomb waiting to go off.
So judge, when this perv escalates his child porn pic collection to the real thing … what will you say then!!!

**ScaredMonkeys

How to spot sexual abuse



Detroit, MI – Karonne Ivey’s three year-old daughter complained several times that her "tootie" hurt and expressed that something of a sexual nature had happened to her. Ivey says that what her daughter admitted was “shocking to me” and that she could not be lying. After checking her daughter at home, Ivey later took her to the emergency room of a children’s hospital for an examination. When it comes to sexual abuse, what are the signs parents should look for? Prevent Child Abuse America, an organization that works to prevent the abuse and neglect of children across the country, has outlined several key signs parents should look for to help recognize a problem.
Physical Indicators:

• Torn, stained or bloody underclothes
  
• Frequent, unexplained sore throats, yeast or urinary infections
  
• Somatic complaints, including pain and irritation of the genitals
  
• Sexually transmitted diseases
  
• Bruises or bleeding from external genitalia, vagina or anal region
  
• Pregnancy
  

Behavioral Indicators:

• The victim's disclosure of sexual abuse
  
• Regressive behaviors (thumb-sucking, bedwetting, fear of the dark)
  
• Promiscuity or seductive behaviors
  
• Disturbed sleep patterns (recurrent nightmares)
  
• Unusual and age-inappropriate interest in sexual matters
  
• Avoidance of undressing or wearing extra layers of clothes
  
• Sudden decline in school performance, truancy
  
• Difficulty in walking or sitting
  

For more information, head over to www.childabuse.org

Officials: Mom Prostitutes Child For Drug Money

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Authorities have arrested a southwest Florida woman they say forced four children to commit illegal acts for her.

She faces four counts of aggravated child abuse and four counts of forced labor or services by human trafficking. She is being held Wednesday at the Lee County Jail on $200,000 bond.

Authorities say she forced one child into prostitution to buy drugs. Authorities say all four children were forced to purchase drugs for her, if they refused beatings would follow.

She is accused of leaving them without proper supervision and food, and withholding food from for misbehavior.

Authorities say she threatened to beat the children if they didn't lie to investigators looking into the abuse allegations.

It wasn't immediately known if she had an attorney.

Former county official pleads to sexually abusing minors



SHARP COUNTY, AR (KAIT)

Former Sharp County Office of Emergency Services Director Pete Reilly pleaded guilty to four counts of second degree sexual assault according to Third Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Henry H. Boyce.

Authorities say Pete Reilly, 66, of Hardy was sentenced to a total of 20 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction, and fined $5,000. Reilly was scheduled to face a Sharp County jury later this month.

Police say they were notified of the crimes on March 11, 2009 when they received a report of child abuse. Once the investigation began, they compiled more information to file a probable cause case against Reilly.

According to court affidavits, Reilly's four victims ranged from the ages of nine to 14. One victim was a relative and the others were friends who were staying the night at his home. The affidavit also says Reilly told his victims he was teaching them about sex "for their own good."

Reilly had served as the Office of Emergency Services Director in Sharp County for 26 years.

Jones High ROTC instructor quits amid investigation


Orlando


A Jones High School instructor has resigned following allegations that he took a female student to his home during school hours. Byron Conover, a junior ROTC instructor, ended his employment with the Orange County school district last week, said Kathy Marsh, a spokesman for the Orange County school district.

That was about a week after the Orlando Police Department said it was investigating the actions of the 56-year-old retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, though it did not say if he was suspected of any criminal actions.

Case: Texas agency didn't stop foster home abuse

10/22/2010 3:48:55 PM EDT



In this June 22, 2010 photo, the Vick family home is shown in Elkhart,... ((AP Photo/LM Otero))


ELKHART, Texas—A frame house surrounded by connecting mobile homes served for years as a home for dozens of the most vulnerable children in Texas foster care. But instead of being a safe haven, it was a place where young girls were repeatedly molested and the abuse long ignored.

In a case with implications that reach beyond Elkhart, a community of 1,215 about 125 miles southeast of Dallas, a criminal prosecution has revealed how the state continually ruled out allegations of child abuse at the home before many of the same charges sent the man who served as its foster father to prison last year.

Officials with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services consider the case an aberration, saying it in no way reflects how standard cases in the child services system are managed. But some foster care experts say it calls into question how the state investigates abuse in its largely privatized network of foster homes. The Anderson County district attorney says investigations should be done by an independent office.

James Vick, who operated the home for 10 years with his wife, Marilyn, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to 18 counts of indecency with a child by contact. Marilyn Vick was not charged in the case.

Anderson County prosecutors believe as many as nine preteen girls were abused by Vick, 47, and his adopted son, Michael, over 13 years, usually under the pretense of playing games such as hide and seek. Michael Vick has pleaded not guilty to three counts of indecency with a child and is free while awaiting trial. The number of victims makes the case one of the worst examples of foster care abuse to emerge in recent years, experts said. But as troubling for many is the back story, detailed in court records, of how state investigators ruled out allegations of sexual abuse against James Vick on at least three occasions before his arrest. Even if the Department of Family and Protective Services couldn't immediately prove the allegations, the mounting number should have been a sign something was seriously wrong, foster care experts said.

"This is damaging in a million ways," said Susan Lambiase, associate director of the New-York based child welfare advocacy group, Children's Rights.

The case raises questions about the personnel group within the Department of Family and Protective Services that oversees foster homes. That unit, Residential Child Care Licensing, allowed the Vick home to continue taking in children even as case workers removed those who alleged abuse.

Patrick Crimmins, spokesman for the Department of Family and Protective Services, acknowledged mistakes were made in the Vick case, but said they don't point to a larger problem. He said no other case has presented similar circumstances.

"Our investigators are well-trained and do good work, and the Vick case was an unfortunate exception to that," Crimmins said.

Law enforcement authorities began investigating in April 2007 after receiving a videotape in which two sisters, ages 11 and 12, alleged during an interview at a child advocacy center that they had been abused in the foster home three years earlier. The allegations surfaced when the department's Child Protective Services division was called to investigate an accidental shooting involving a gun belonging to the adoptive father of the two girls.

The videotape, sent anonymously to the Anderson County sheriff, led to a grand jury's indictment of James Vick.

But a Residential Child Care Licensing investigator who viewed the tape ruled out the allegations because she said the girls didn't mention Vick's prosthetic leg and, therefore, weren't believable. After Vick's arrest, a supervisor from the unit revisited the matter and issued a report citing "overwhelming evidence" that six foster children had been sexually abused.

The report also questioned whether the collection of mobile homes, converted into bedrooms, was suitable for children. In a September interview with The Associated Press at the state prison unit in Snyder, Vick said he doesn't consider himself a predator. He said he pleaded guilty and avoided a trial largely out of fear that he could receive a life sentence.

"I believe God knows the truth," he said. "He's the one who let me come in (prison), and He's going to bring me out."

Vick's son, Michael, is a 22-year-old Army private who was serving in Iraq at the time of his arrest and remains on active duty. His attorney, Jeff Herrington of Palestine, did not respond to AP's interview requests.

Court records show that Michael Vick acknowledged to a military investigator that as a teenager he fondled some of the young girls living in his parents' home as foster children and felt remorse. "I can't change the past or what I did, but I can assure you that I am changing what tomorrow holds for myself and everyone around me," he told the investigator, according to the records.

James Vick and his wife were affiliated with the Bair Foundation, one of the approximately 200 child-placing agencies that have contracts with the state to recruit and train foster parents. The Pennsylvania-based nonprofit, which describes itself on its website as a "Christian foster care ministry," typically takes in more than 1,000 children a year in Texas, making it one of the largest doing business with the state.

The Vick home was a significant part of the system because it could accommodate as many as 12 children, including those with severe behavioral problems.

James Vick told the AP he and his wife were paid as much as $70,000 a year as foster parents and that it became their sole source of income.

Anderson County District Attorney Doug Lowe contends the state's failure to verify cases of abuse in the home reflects a conflict of interest in the investigative process. He said investigators are prone to minimizing problems because Residential Child Care Licensing is the same unit that approves the agencies and regularly monitors their homes.

Crimmins, the Family and Protective Services spokesman, said suggesting state investigators lack objectivity is "an enormous leap" that isn't justified.

Besides initially dismissing the allegations of sexual abuse detailed in the two young sisters' videotape, state licensing investigators ruled out similar allegations against James Vick by other girls in foster care in 2003 and 2004, court records show. The records do not specify why those cases were ruled out.

Family and Protective Services did not provide its records to the AP because the attorney general's office ruled them confidential. The 2003 case involved an 11-year-old girl who claimed Vick fondled her breasts within a week of her arrival at the home, according to court records. The girl and her sister, with whom she had confided, were both to testify against Vick at trial, the records show.

Lowe said a 2003 videotape of the girl's allegations wasn't made available to his office until the criminal investigation four years later. "We didn't have a chance to review it, so more kids were harmed," the district attorney said.