Author Archive

Newsday/Andrew Smith

John Shelton raped and sodomized his former girlfriend’s 17 year old daughter for years. Butthere was little justice for the Wyandanch girl yesterday in watching the man she called Daddyget sent to jail in Riverhead. He could have been sentenced to 9 2/3 to 35 years in prison butSuffolk County Court Judge Stephen Braslow instead kept his agreement with Shelton and sentencedhim to 1 year in jail. With time already served since his arrest last year, he could be free assoon as April. Last month he pleaded guilty to

Thomas O’Brien, a 41 year old HIV-positive man, was convicted on charges of sodomizing two young boys and received a 20 year prison sentence.  He pleaded guilty to two counts of first degree sodomy on December 7th for engaging in sexual relationships with boys aged 8 and 10 in his apartment even though he knew he was HIV-positive at the time.

(Troy, New York)

Newsday/Laura A. Ahearn

Recent high-profile sex-crime cases on Long Island bring to mind the most basic and least knownchildhood sexual-abuse prevention fact that every parent and caregiver needs to understand: Mostchildhood sexual abuse involves someone with whom a child has an established and trustingrelationship.

Childhood sexual victimization begins with the initiation of, or exploitative expansion of, anexisting relationship, whether sparked in an Internet chat room or cultivated within a family or ona soccer field.

The year ends for Long Islanders with memories of the June and August mistaken release of twoLong Island convicted

Joe Wayne Cates, a 44 year old former teacher of the year, has been charged with child indecency after a former student claimed he was fondled in the 1980s.  Cates turned himself in on December 21.  He was an administrator of after-school programs and was accused by an unidentified former student, now 26.  The man alleged that Cates fondled him in 1989 while the student spent the night at Cates’ home before a church youth-group trip.

(Plano, Texas)

Two Kings County men, who acted separately, were arrested for allegedly trading kiddie porn via computer.  Edward Olson, 58, of Williamsburg, was arrested after a yearlong investigation in which he allegedly tried to coerce three different 13 year old girls, really an undercover cop posing as them, into having sex with him.  During several instant-messaging conversations, he allegedly e-mailed images of kids having sex with adults, and asked the girls whether the pictures showed acts they were interested in doing with him.  The second suspect, Brent St. Hillaire, 18, of

Christopher Bayer, 29, was convicted of sodomizing a boy he helped train as a clown.   Bayer, of 178 N. Queens Ave., works as a circus clown called Smiley.  He was arrested after a man found him engaging in a sexual act with the man’s son and called police.   He was convicted of nine out of 13 counts after the jury deliberated for 6 1/2 hours.  The crimes for which he was found guilty included multiple counts of sodomy, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.  He was acquitted