Author Archive

May 21st, 2020
Devon Mahieu
Upnorth Live

MARQUETTE COUNTY, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) — A former Upper Peninsula priest will be heading to circuit court for a trial on sex crimes he allegedly committed in the 1980s.
Former priest Gary Allen Jacobs, a priest under the Catholic Diocese of Marquette, faces eight counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Originally, Jacobs was charged in January on seven counts of criminal sexual conduct charges in three separate cases that reportedly occurred in Ontonagon and Dickinson counties.
Jacobs was arrested on January 17

May 22, 2020
Pat Reavy
Deseret

SALT LAKE CITY — A Sandy man already charged in one case with sexually abusing a minor now faces new charges after prosecutors say his lewd behavior continued in another city.
Austin Eric Bashford, 20, was charged Thursday in Cache County’s 1st District Court with 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony; dealing in harmful materials to a minor and 10 counts of enticing a minor, third-degree felonies.
Bashford met a 16-year-old girl on the website Omingle, according to the new charging documents.
“There were several

May 21, 2020
Argus Observer

PAYETTE — A former Fruitland Police Officer could be spending 10 years behind bars after a Friday sentencing hearing.
In front of Payette County Judge Susan Wiebe on Friday, Alexander Scott Plaza, who was born in 1994, was sentenced to a five-year fixed prison sentence, including five years indeterminate for each of his three counts of sexual battery of a minor and one count of sexual abuse of a minor. Those sentences will run concurrently.
Plaza entered a Rule 11 agreement on Jan. 17, changing his plea to guilty

May 21, 2020
Kevin Rector
L.A. Times

Law enforcement officials in Los Angeles and across the country have been overwhelmed in recent months by a surge in tips about online child sex abuse, with social media platforms and other service providers flagging explicit content and suspicious interactions at an alarming rate.
With schools closed, youth activities canceled and kids spending more time online under stay-at-home orders related to the coronavirus pandemic, sexual predators have ramped up their efforts to solicit pictures and videos, officials say.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, a global

May 20, 2020
Jackson Gardner
Chronline

A 74-year-old Onalaska man accused of sexually abusing two girls about two years ago made his preliminary appearance in Lewis County Superior Court on Monday.
The man was charged with third-degree rape of a child, first-degree child molestation, first-degree incest and second-degree incest.
The Chronicle is not naming the suspect in an effort to protect the identities of the victims.
Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead requested that bail be set at $100,000 per victim for a total of $200,000, and also asked for sexual assault protection orders to be

May 20, 2020
Greg Jordan
Blue Daily Telegraph

PRINCETON — A woman who pleaded guilty last year to first-degree sexual assault, sexual abuse and incest involving videos of a child subjected to sexual acts learned Wednesday that she will be 88 years old before she’s eligible for parole.
Elizabeth Haway, 43, of Princeton was brought before Mercer County Circuit Court Judge William Sadler for sentencing. Haway pleaded guilty in December 2019 to two counts first-degree sexual assault, two counts first-degree sexual abuse, two counts sexual abuse by a parent, guardian, custodian or person of