Man Accused of Sexually Exploiting Tennessee Girl Who Sought Help After Allegedly Being Raped by Adoptive Dad
A Tennessee girl found alive after a two-week disappearance was with a stranger who picked her up after she told him she was being raped at home — and he asked for and kept video of the alleged abuse before he acted, authorities said.
Bryan Rogers, a Wisconsin man who said he’d been messaging the 14-year-old through online gaming, drove to Tennessee in mid-January, picked the girl up and took her to his home, federal authorities allege in court.
Investigators found the girl in Rogers’ home in Madison on Thursday night, days after her family reported her missing. She was discovered hiding in a closet after Rogers claimed she wasn’t there, authorities said.
Rogers is now among at least two men criminally charged in the case:
• The girl’s adoptive father, Randall Pruitt, was arrested last week and charged in Tennessee with raping her.
• Rogers, 31, is charged in federal court with sexual exploiting a child, accused of persuading her to record video of her abuse.
CNN is not naming the girl because she is the alleged victim of sexual assault.
The girl sent Rogers a video, and he picked her up without alerting authorities about the alleged abuse, an affidavit filed in court on Monday said.
“Rogers stated he did not ever send the video to any law enforcement because he thought it would not stand up in court,” the affidavit said.
The FBI and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee declined to comment on how investigators learned the girl was at Rogers’ home.
Attorneys for Rogers and Pruitt didn’t immediately respond to CNN’s requests for comment.
Rogers and the girl connected through an online game, feds say
The court document doesn’t say exactly how or when Rogers and the girl first contacted each other.
But Rogers, after his arrest Thursday, told investigators that they’d been in contact through the Roblox online gaming platform as well as through Facebook and an encrypted messaging system, the document said.
According to the affidavit:
• Rogers said the girl told him that she was being molested, and he said he instructed her to get video of the rape.
• Investigators found a phone that shows chats between Rogers and the girl, starting on December 24. The messages indicate the girl asked him for help.
“I know you don’t want to do it but … we need clear video evidence,” reads one of the messages — which the affidavit said Rogers sent to the girl. The messages urge her to make a recording with a phone.
• Rogers told investigators the girl emailed him such a video.
“He saw the video and said it was blurry,” and claims he couldn’t give it to law enforcement because he didn’t think it would be useful in court, the affidavit said.
After she recorded video, he picked her up, feds allege
After receiving the video, Rogers drove to Tennessee and picked her up, authorities allege. She was reported missing January 14, a day after last being seen at her home in Madisonville, in eastern Tennessee between Chattanooga and Knoxville.
Rogers told investigators he “avoided tollways and gas stations with surveillance, and smashed (the girl’s) phone, so that he would not be traced,” the court document said.
By Thursday, investigators came to believe the girl was with Rogers in Wisconsin, some 700 miles to the north of her home.
On Thursday afternoon, FBI agents went to Rogers’ home, where he told them that he’d been in contact with the girl online and that she’d given him video showing her being sexually assaulted, the affidavit said.
But he told them that he had never met the girl in person, and that she was not in his home, the document said.
Four hours later, investigators went back to the home, and found the girl hiding in a closet in Rogers’ living area in a basement, the affidavit said.
Investigators found the video on Rogers’ computer, authorities said.
Rogers is due in court Thursday afternoon for a detention hearing.
Hawaii is considering a bill that bans cigarette sales to anyone under 100
“The legislature finds that the cigarette is considered the deadliest artifact in human history.”
So begins the text of a new bill introduced in Hawaii’s State House, calling for a phased ban on cigarette sales in the state by 2024.
Hawaii has some of the most restrictive cigarette laws in the nation. In 2016, it became the first state to raise the age to buy cigarettes to 21. Now, its new bill calls for raising the cigarette-buying age to 30 by next year, up to 40, 50 and 60 in each subsequent year, and up to 100 by 2024.
That would effectively clear Hawaii’s store shelves of cigarettes, although tourists could still bring them in.
And curiously, Hawaii would offer its centenarians the chance to buy cigarettes near the end of their life — if they could find them.
CNN has reached out to the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Richard Creagan, for comment.
Creagan, who is an emergency room doctor, told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, “Basically, we essentially have a group who are heavily addicted — in my view, enslaved by a ridiculously bad industry — which has enslaved them by designing a cigarette that is highly addictive, knowing that it highly lethal. And, it is.”
The age limits would not apply to e-cigarettes, cigars or chewing tobacco.
Federal law requires states to set the minimum tobacco-purchasing age at 18, and the government enforces the measure by withholding FEMA grants from states who don’t comply. Currently, most states allow 18-year-olds to buy cigarettes, and four have raised the minimum age to 19.
The bill notes that Hawaii “is suffering from its own addiction to cigarettes in the form of the large sums of money that the State receives from state cigarette sales taxes,” to the tune of $100 million annually.
One reason for the law’s staggered rollout is to give the state time to find ways to adjust for the lost cigarette tax revenue.
In 2015, the National Academy of Sciences released a report that argued increasing the age to buy tobacco to 21 would have a “considerable impact” on the age at which someone takes their first puff. The report also suggested “if someone is not a regular tobacco user by age 25, it is highly unlikely he or she will become one.”
Creagan told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald he’s confident the bill will survive any court challenges.
Unlike Second Amendment gun rights, the US Constitution does not recognize smoking as a fundamental right. In 2012, a federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling against a smoker who challenged an anti-smoking ordinance in Clayton, Missouri, on grounds that it violated his constitutional rights.
Man gets 60 years for impregnating 11-year-old in Texas
PLANO, Texas — A Dallas-area man has been sentenced to 60 years in prison after impregnating an 11-year-old girl.
Collin County prosecutors said in a statement Friday that 37-year-old Roli Lopez-Sanchez of Plano had been found guilty of continuous sexual abuse of a child. He won’t be eligible for parole or good time credit.
Prosecutors say medical workers notified police in February 2018 after the pregnant victim came to their office.
Lopez-Sanchez had ongoing access to the girl at the time. Child Protective Services investigated and removed her and her siblings from the home.
Authorities say the girl was 12 when she gave birth over the summer, and a DNA sample confirmed that Lopez-Sanchez was the infant’s father.
Lopez-Sanchez, jailed since his February 2018 arrest, also faced a federal immigration detainer.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/02/04/man-gets-60-years-for-impregnating-11-year-old-in-texas/
Photo Credit: Collin County prosecutors said in a statement Friday that 37-year-old Roli Lopez-Sanchez of Plano had been found guilty of continuous sexual abuse of a child. He won’t be eligible for parole or good time credit. (Collin County District Attorney’s Office)
‘Ghost’ in student’s apartment turns out to be man in her closet, wearing her clothes
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Strange noises, missing clothing and unexplained handprints.
A North Carolina college student says she thought a ghost was haunting her off-campus apartment – until this past weekend when she found a man in her closet, dressed in her clothes.
It happened at the Summit at the Edge Apartments, just steps from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
“I’ve been having, like, pieces of clothes missing. Like shirts and pants,” says Maddie, a junior at the college. She told WGHP she is scared for her safety and declined to show her face on camera.
Items were disappearing and handprints were left behind on the bathroom wall.
It wasn’t until Saturday that she uncovered a mystery that she and her roommates thought was a ghost.
“I just hear rattling in my closet. It sounded like a raccoon in my closet,” Maddie said. “I’m like ‘Who’s there?’ And somebody answers me. He’s like, ‘Oh my name is Drew.’ I open the door and he’s in there, wearing all of my clothes. My socks. My shoes. And he has a book bag full of my clothes.”
Police said that was 30-year-old Andrew Swofford. He appeared in court on Monday via video conference from the Guilford County Jail.
Maddie said she called her boyfriend. As she calmly waited for help, she talked to Swofford to keep him distracted.
“He tries on my hat. He goes in the bathroom and looks in the mirror and then is like ‘You’re really pretty, can I give you a hug?’” she recalled. “But he never touched me.”
The big question the women are trying to get answered is how he got inside.
They said their doors are always locked and they did not see any damage to them.
But what really scares the women is that this is not the first time strange men have been inside their apartment.
“There was two guys in the living room,” Maddie said.
That was December 19th. The women alerted the leasing office.
An employee confirmed they changed the locks at that time but did not file a police report. WGHP was told that was standard protocol.
But Maddie and her roommate say they’ve had enough.
“Last night I did not feel safe. I slept with my roommate in her bed,” she said. “I can’t stay here. My closet, it stinks. Every time I go in [my room] there’s a bad vibe. I’m just ready to leave.”
Burkely Communities, the property management company, told WGHP they are going through all of the details and trying to figure out how something like this happened.
Swofford was jailed in Guilford County under a $26,000 bond on 14 felony charges including larceny and identity theft.
Black History Month Part 4: Rosa Parks
In honor of Black History Month and Rosa Parks’ Birthday, here’s an interview of her in 1995 detailing the events, life in the south, and life after the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Black History Month Part 3: Josephine Baker: Zou Zou
As we continue to dive into Black History Month, lets take a look at black French entertainer, Josephine Baker!
James Ingram and Michael McDonald Yah Mo Be There
When I was growing up I used to love this song!! It made me feel so good inside. Doing my research for this song I know exactly why and I finally know what Yah Mo Be There means!! A lot of us including myself thought they was saying imma gonna be there.
“Yah Mo B There” is an R&B song by American singers James Ingram and Michael McDonald. It was written by Ingram, McDonald, Rod Temperton, and producer Quincy Jones. The song originally appeared on Ingram’s 1983 album It’s Your Night, released on Jones’s Qwest Records label. It was released as a single in late 1983, peaking at No. 19 on the U.S. charts in 1984, and No. 44 on the UK charts also in 1984, (the remixed version by Jellybean Benitez hit No. 12 in the Spring of 1985 in the UK), and has subsequently appeared on several of Ingram and McDonald’s greatest hits albums as well as various 1980s compilation albums.
The performance earned the duo a 1985 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. It was one of a series of very successful duets involving Ingram. It also received a nomination for Best R&B Song, losing to “I Feel for You” (Prince).
This song is a shoutout to GOD! The actually spelling of the song title is Yah Mo B There. Yah is a shortened version of Yahweh, which means God in Hebrew. So the title literally means “God will be there” and is interpreted as “God be with you.
Deputy killed during 12-hour Ohio standoff with suicidal man
It began with a bizarre call to 911, police say. It ended about 12 hours later with a deputy dead, another injured and a suspect in custody.According to the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office, located just outside Cincinnati, Detective Bill Brewer and Lt. Nick DeRose responded Saturday evening to a 911 caller who initially told a dispatcher that he thought someone was in his home.The man said he was armed and later said he was suicidal, according to a police news release.When officers arrived, they couldn’t contact the man, who had barricaded himself inside his apartment, Capt. Jeff Sellars said.Around 8:15 p.m., shots were fired from the apartment, Sellars said. Pierce Township Police requested a multi-agency response team. Police identified the man who opened fire as 23-year-old Wade Winn.Ten minutes later, the team arrived and tried to negotiate with Winn, Sellars said, but more shots were fired.At 10:37 p.m., more shots were fired from inside the apartment, Sellars said. Brewer and DeRose were struck, police said.DeRose was taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released.
Brewer died from gunshot wounds at Mercy Health Anderson Hospital. The 20-year veteran of the sheriff’s office leaves behind a wife and 5-year-old son, police said.Sheriff’s deputies and a SWAT team took Winn into custody “after they endured a barrage of gunfire generated by Winn,” a police news release said.”Deputy Brewer gave his life attempting to help a person who was admittedly suicidal,” Sheriff Steve Leahy said. “This will forever change the atmosphere of the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office.”Sellars told CNN affiliate WCPO that a two-alarm fire broke out early Sunday at the apartment complex where the standoff unfolded. He did not elaborate.Law enforcement officers from across the Cincinnati area accompanied Brewer’s body from the hospital to the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office, which will conduct the autopsy, CNN affiliate WLWT reported.
via: https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/03/us/ohio-standoff-deputy-dead/index.html
Boy, 4, finds gun and shoots pregnant mom in the face
SEATTLE (AP) — A 4-year-old boy in a Washington state apartment found a loaded gun under a mattress and used it to shoot his pregnant mother in the face, authorities said Sunday.
The 27-year-old woman and her boyfriend were watching television in bed Saturday when their son found the gun between the mattress and box spring, King County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Ryan Abbott said.
“He unintentionally shot his mom in the face,” Abbott said.
The woman, who is eight months pregnant, was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. She was transferred to another hospital Sunday in improved condition, Abbott said.
The boy’s father told deputies he borrowed the gun for protection, Abbott said. The gun wasn’t reported stolen and is unregistered, he said.
Under a new state law, gun owners could face criminal charges for not safely storing a gun, but Abbott noted it doesn’t go into effect until July.
The case is under investigation.
“We’re reminding anybody with a gun, kids see them as toys,” Abbott said. “The biggest tragic lesson here is please lock-up your guns so they can’t be used accidentally for the wrong reason.”
Dad, Daughter Accused Of Incest As Woman Allegedly Competed With Sister To Have Sex With Him
A father-daughter pair in Nebraska has been charged with one count of incest after admitting to police about their sexual relationship.
Travis Fieldgrove, 39, and his 21-year-old daughter, Samantha Kershner, were arrested by Grand Island authorities on Wednesday, according to a statement from the police department, which noted that they became romantically involved in September 2018 despite being aware of their biological relationship before being intimate.
Kershner allegedly told officials that she wanted to have sex with Fieldgrove because she was in a “jealous competition with her half-sister regarding who could have sex with their father,” according to a court affidavit, obtained by the Omaha World-Herald, ABC-NTV and the Lincoln Journal Star.
Kershner also told police she learned of her father’s identity nearly four years prior after asking her mother to introduce her to Fieldgrove, according to the affidavit.
On Oct. 1, Kershner and Fieldgrove got married at the Adams County Courthouse in Hastings.
The court documents, obtained by multiple outlets, indicate Fieldgrove is 99.999 percent Kershner’s father via DNA tests. Fieldgrove was not listed on Kershner’s birth certificate.
In addition, Nebraska courthouses no longer require blood testing prior to obtaining a marriage license.
Both Fieldgrove and Kershner are being held in the Hall County Jail with Fieldgrove on $100,000 bail and Kershner on $20,000 bail.
It was not immediately known if the pair retained an attorney who could comment on their behalf.