Torture Orphanage Yields Shackles

'German Fritzl' faces 350 counts of child sex abuse

(NEWSER) - A German trucker on trial for 350 counts of sexual abuse of his children has admitted in court that he fathered his stepdaughter's 8 children—but insists he never abused her. The 48-year-old father, known as Detlef S., began sexually abusing his stepdaughter and her twin brother at the age of 4, reports CBS News. He also repeatedly assaulted his biological daughter, and prostituted both girls for money, according to investigators. He often beat the children with a belt and whip, sometimes until they lost consciousness, notes Der Spiegel. More»

'The screaming is embedded in your brain forever,' says one

(NEWSER) - "Victims" who don't get much recognition in kiddie porn cases are the investigators who uncover horrors done to children. "The crying, the screaming on the videos are embedded in your brain forever," said one cop who has been investigating child porn for 4 years. "The screams are complete terror. The eyes, they are just like death. There is no life in those eyes." Yet, officers must pretend to be pedophiles and friendly to the very men they are trying to bust in Internet chats. More»

Congressmen press for resignation of Kent in first-ever such case

(NEWSER) - A Texas judge was sentenced yesterday to 33 months in prison for lying to investigators in the first sex abuse case ever against a sitting federal judge, the AP reports. Samuel Kent pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in February; five sex-crimes charges related to two female employees were dismissed. “Your wrongful conduct is a huge black X, a smear on the legal profession, a stain on the judicial system itself,” said the presiding judge. More»

Church loses funds as it fights legal battles

(NEWSER) - Members of a cash-strapped Texas polygamous sect plan to argue this week that key evidence against them should be thrown out because it was illegally obtained, the Wall Street Journal reports. Authorities say the diaries, photos, and documents they seized prove that underage marriages took place on the FLDS ranch, home to hundreds of kids. The men face criminal trials for charges including bigamy and sexual abuse. More»

(NEWSER) - An international pedophile gang that preyed on infants through teens has been convicted in a groundbreaking case in Scotland that sentenced lawbreakers for the first time for conspiring to carry out sex attacks, reports the Times of London. The eight men will be imprisoned for an indefinite period until they are judged to no longer be a threat. The judge blasted their "utterly horrific" crimes, often carried out against the children of friends. More than 100 men have been linked to the gang. More»