Thursday, January 23, 2014

N.Y. police chief faces child pornography charges

from usatoday

A federal complaint says Mount Pleasant police Chief Brian Fanelli told authorities he first began viewing pornographic images as research for classes he was teaching about the dangers of sex abuse.

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WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- A New York police chief was charged Thursday with possession of child pornography hours after federal agents raided his Mahopac home and seized computers filled with files of pre-teen girls in various sexual poses.
Mount Pleasant police Chief Brian Fanelli, who was joined by his wife in U.S. District Court in White Plains, entered no plea to the charges and was to be released on $50,000 bail. The crime allegedly occurred between October and January, a time span when he was elevated to chief.
Fanelli told authorities he first began viewing pornographic images as research for elementary and middle school classes he was teaching about the dangers of sexual abuse, "but shortly thereafter began viewing child pornography for personal interest," according to the federal complaint.
Agents said they found 126 pornographic files on two computers taken from his home, with photos and videos of the girls, some of whom were under age 10.
A longtime computer whiz at the department, Fanelli, who has two grown children, was well-liked among other officers and heavily involved with the community. He also taught fifth-graders at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish school in Shrub Oak, where he spoke to hundreds of students yearly about the dangers of sexual abuse, according to a letter posted on the parish's website.
Town Supervisor Joan Maybury called the news "very disturbing" and said Fanelli has been suspended with pay in accordance with his contract. She added that she will most likely appoint one of the department's two lieutenants as acting chief while Fanelli's legal situation plays itself out.
U.S. Homeland Security agents notified Maybury of Fanelli's arrest at about 12:15 p.m., she said, adding that agents turned Fanelli's gun and badge over to Mount Pleasant police and that a federal technician was inspecting the computer in his office.
"We are fully cooperating with the U.S. Attorney's Office in this investigation," Maybury said.
No one was home Thursday afternoon at Fanelli's raised ranch-style home located in a relatively quiet neighborhood in Mahopac Falls near the Westchester County border.
About 8:30 a.m. Thursday, neighbors saw a group of cars and vans pull up in front of Fanelli's house. At least two of the agents wore helmets and SWAT gear, though Fanelli was arrested without incident, neighbors said.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment on the case, and further details were not immediately available.
Sgt. Eric Anttila of Mount Pleasant police had no comment; other officers said they were shocked by the news.
"I'm still trying to get information myself," Lt. Robert Miliambro said.
Fanelli, 54, a native of Valhalla, was hired by the town in November 1981. He rose to the rank of lieutenant before being appointed chief in November. Fanelli receives an annual salary of $135,518.
He led the department's successful bid for state accreditation in 1998. He was instrumental in computerizing the department's records and in 1999 introduced an email alert system to disseminate crime and emergency information to residents
Fanelli has been a member of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish for decades, according to the letter on the parish's website. Fanelli spoke to around 1,000 of the parish school's children in 2012 and in October, the letter said, warning younger children to stay safe from sexual abuse and older students to beware of "the pitfalls of social media devices, games and computer applications," according to the letter, written in August 2013 by Sara Koshofer, the parish's religious education coordinator.
Contributing: Shawn Cohen, Jorge Fitz-Gibbon, Jonathan Bandler, Terence Corcoran and Hoa Nguyen of the Journal New

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Brynne Edelsten ends marriage to Geoffrey

from smh.com.au



Brynne Edelsten ends marriage to Geoffrey

Brynne Edelsten has ended her four-year marriage to Geoffrey Edelsten, telling friends she is unable to forgive him for a reported dalliance with another woman more than 18 months ago.
Brynne Edelsten has ended her four-year marriage to disgraced medico Geoffrey Edelsten, telling friends she is unable to forgive her publicity-obsessed husband for a reported dalliance with another woman more than 18 months ago.
Several months of marriage counselling have failed to heal the growing rift between the pair.
Her husband, who at age 70 is 40 years her senior, is in the United States where he has filed for bankruptcy.
Calling it quits: Brynne and Geoffrey Edelsten.
Calling it quits: Brynne and Geoffrey Edelsten. Photo: Rebecca Hallas
The former US cocktail waitress, who rose to fame in Australia thanks to her lurid wardrobe and wildly extravagant lifestyle, remains living in the couple's glitzy Melbourne penthouse.
Her publicist John Scott confirmed the couple had split six weeks ago and were still negotiating their settlement. She was "keen to stay in Melbourne, she has built a life here and she doesn't really want to go back to America", he said.
Three years after he was reported to be worth $100 million, Edelsten made a bid to seek protection from creditors, bringing into question his lavish jet-setting lifestyle which became the subject of his wife's own reality television show, My Bedazzled Life, in 2012.
The dalliance occured in March 2012 when Edelsten was caught wooing an American woman on an online dating site and then lavished gifts on her during a secret three-day getaway in Florida in March.
The woman, from New Jersey, told Australian reporters that Edelsten sent her $2000, followed by $800 for a return plane ticket to Florida.
Over a weekend in Miami he showered her with expensive gifts, including a Louis Vuitton handbag, a Michael Kors watch and pocketbook, souvenirs from their hotel and expensive hotel day spa treatments.
Fairfax Media reported yesterday Edelsten had recently borrowed money from his 90-year-old mother, secured with a stake in his Melbourne penthouse.
Edelsten declared himself bankrupt to a court in Ohio last Thursday, one day before a hearing in the long-running legal battle against his former US business partners, the Mawardi family.
Edelsten and the Mawardis had been fighting for control of assets that included a fashion label, which was responsible for many of Brynne's revealing gowns, a Dominican Republic casino, a luxury jet and two slum housing complexes.
In the federal bankruptcy petition, Mr Edelsten said he had debts of $18.2 million. He claimed he was worth between $US10 million ($11.1 million) and $US50 million.
Creditors included the Australian Taxation Office, US state and federal tax authorities, National Australia Bank, his mother, Singapore casino and hotel Marina Bay Sands, joint business ventures with the Mawardi family and his personal accountants and lawyers in the US and Australia.
Edelsten's Australian lawyers claimed the bankruptcy filing was a strategy to "better realise the investments made in the US".
"[Our] client has filed a Chapter 11 [bankruptcy] procedure," said legal firm Webb Korfiatis, which was allegedly owed $50,000 by Edelsten.
"[We are] instructed that [our] client does not intend selling any personal assets in Australia, including the CBD penthouse."

Sunday, January 12, 2014

France’s first lady hospitalised following magazine revelation of president’s alleged affair

from irishtimes



Valerie Trierweiler reportedly distraught over report about François Hollande and actor Julie Gayet

French President François Hollande and first lady Valerie Trierweiler at the Élysée Palace in Paris last October. Photograph: Reuters/Philippe Wojazer
French President François Hollande and first lady Valerie Trierweiler at the Élysée Palace in Paris last October. Photograph: Reuters/Philippe Wojazer
   
On the night of his election, President François Hollande called his companion Valérie Trierweiler “the love of my life”. Ms Trierweiller (48) was admitted to hospital on Friday, her cabinet at the Élysée acknowledged yesterday.
Officially France’s “first lady,” although she and Mr Hollande are not married, Ms Trierweiler was reportedly distraught over a seven-page report on his “secret love” with actor Julie Gayet (41) published by Closer magazine.

Longtime companion
The Élysée said the longtime companion of the 59-year-old president was hospitalised “for rest and a few exams”. Some reports said she would be discharged today. Meanwhile, the president’s staff met Ms Trierweiler’s team to negotiate the outcome of the soap opera that seized France with the publication of the Closer article on Friday. Both sides are said to be eager to “clarify” the situation rapidly, if possible before Mr Hollande’s press conference tomorrow. The press conference has been repeatedly postponed since mid-November.
“The question is whether Valérie Trierweiler can remain at the Élysée,” the political journalist Catherine Nay said on Europe 1 radio. Alluding to Ms Trierweiler’s past conflict with Ségolène Royal, her predecessor in Mr Hollande’s affections, Ms Nay said, “She was jealous of the past, but she would have done better to be jealous of the future.”
Jean-François Kahn, also a prominent political commentator, said that “If [Mr Hollande] had dumped [Ms Trierweiler] when she did the tweet, people would have applauded and said, ‘What a man!’”
In June 2012, Ms Trierweiler advised voters to support Ms Royal’s opponent in legislative elections. Informed sources say it was the turning point in her relationship with Mr Hollande.
In an appearance on France 2 television yesterday, which had been scheduled before the story broke, Ms Royal offered advice to Mr Hollande and Ms Trierweiler, saying they should “turn the page and get back to work”.

Third autobiography
The alleged presidential affair has also taken a toll on Santiago Amigorena, the estranged husband of Ms Gayet. By chance, the publication of Mr Amigorena’s third autobiographical novel, Days I Have Not Forgotten, coincided with the revelations in the magazine. “He opens the window and thinks of jumping,” is its first line.
The narrator of the novel, a writer who is married to an actor with whom he has two sons, learns that she has left him for another man, an actor in the book. Elle magazine calls the scarcely veiled account of Mr Amigorena’s failed marriage to Ms Gayet “an overwhelming tale of the end of a fusional love and the taming of grief by a narrator in a state of stupefaction”.
Mr Amigorena left Argentina at the age of 11. He married Ms Gayet in 2003. They have two sons, Tadéo (15), and Ezéchiel (13).
The couple, who have not divorced, separated in 2012, the year Ms Gayet made a campaign video for Mr Hollande.
At the request of Ms Gayet’s lawyer, Closer agreed to remove all references to her alleged affair with Mr Hollande from its website. The initial print-run of 600,000 copies sold out on Friday and the magazine re-printed on Saturday.
The magazine sales are seemingly contradicted by a poll conducted for the Journal du Dimanche, in which 77 per cent of those surveyed said the story was “a private affair which concerns only François Hollande”; 84 per cent said their opinion of him had not changed; 13 per cent said they had a worse opinion of him than before and just 3 per cent had a better opinion.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Soldier gets 28 years for sexually assaulting her son

from usatoday



The mother sent photos, videos to boyfriend while he was traveling.

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An Army sergeant who recorded herself sexually assaulting her 3-year-old son has been sentenced to 28 years in prison.
Kimberly Epperson, 25, stationed at Fort Sam Houston near San Antonio, Texas, at the time, sent photos and videos of the child to then-Army Sgt. Wade Perkins via text message and e-mail using her phone, according to court papers. Perkins, 26, was her boyfriend at the time.
Epperson was sentenced Friday after she pleaded guilty Sept. 20 to federal felony production of child pornography.
Chief Judge Fred Biery of U.S. District Court in San Antonio told Epperson moments before her sentencing that her assaults on her son had effectively "sentenced him to life," adding he would have 70 years or more to remember and relive the abuses, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
"Instead of doing what you should have done (as a mother), you provide this sacrificial lamb of your son," Biery said. "Because of your own needs, you were willing to make a sacrifice of your son."
In October, Biery sentenced Perkins to 30 years for his role in the assaults after Perkins pleaded guilty to production of child pornography.
Perkins of Dallas, Ore., was reduced in rank from sergeant to private and discharged in November, according to the Army. He was a geospatial intelligence imagery analyst, most recently with 306th Military Intelligence Battalion, and he had deployed to Iraq in 2006 and in 2009.
Epperson of Garland, Texas, was a signals intelligence analyst, most recently with the 401st Military Intelligence Company, according to the Army. She had no overseas deployments.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Thompson told the court that the pair "used this little boy multiple times" over an eight-week period and asked the judge for the maximum sentence for Epperson, the Express-News reported.
Defense lawyer Joseph Esparza, arguing that Perkins manipulated his client and coerced her into allowing the assaults to take place, reportedly asked for leniency and a 15-year sentence.
According to an FBI affidavit, Epperson told agents she became involved with Perkins in February 2011 and that Perkins asked her include the child in their sexual interactions.
Months later, Perkins molested the child on multiple occasions in Epperson's home, the affidavit states.
Epperson also sent Perkins pornographic images and videos of the boy at Perkins' request while Perkins was traveling. Perkins instructed Epperson on what poses and types of sex acts he desired to be produced and sent, according to the affidavit.
Perkins confirmed he directed Epperson to produce the child pornography and "advised that he is an excellent 'manipulator' and receives pleasure from such activities," the affidavit states.
During the investigation, the child said Epperson and the "bad man" — whom agents confirmed as Perkins — had sexually abused him.
The investigation began in August 2012 after Epperson, pregnant with Perkins' daughter, went to an adoption agency to give up the child, citing her fear that he would abuse her daughter as he had her son, the Express-News reported.
During FBI Special Agent Jeff Allovio's testimony about the investigation, defense attorney Esparza asked Allovio whether he thought Epperson got pleasure from the assaults on her son.
"Certainly not the same way Wade Perkins did," he said. "He was the driving force behind this."
The prosecutor agreed in court that Perkins, not Epperson, was the initiator.
"This isn't who she is. It wasn't her idea," Thompson said. "He found her, and he used her, and he easily manipulated her to get to her son. ... But she holds the keys to this little boy's safety, and she failed him. And for that she should be punished."