Posts

Sick: Most Child Predators Skip Prison Time in Minnesota

/1 Comment/in , /by

America is in the midst of a sex-trafficking crisis, fueled by the internet and pervasive and increasingly violent pornography. Trafficked persons are often children, many of whom come from broken families and the foster care system. . .

But the public would be wrong to assume America is tough on child predators. In many states, a large chunk of these predators receive only probation. Instead of thinking of the crime in terms of protecting children, the system focuses on predators and sees them as suffering an illness.

Of these bad states, and in a country that is generally too lax on the issue, Minnesota is arguably the worst. Indeed, the story of Minnesota highlights the need for national action.

In Minnesota, predators convicted of criminal sexual conduct (likely a contact crime) against a child victim under the age of 13 receive probation at least 50 percent of the time. Predators in Minnesota trading in violent and sadistic child sexual abuse imagery — depicting the rape and torture of prepubescent children — receive probation more than 80 percent of the time. In the last five years, Minnesota gave probation an astonishing 75 percent of the time for crimes of producing child pornography. (Read more from “Sick: Most Child Predators Skip Prison Time in Minnesota” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE and MeWe HERE

WATCH: Police Video Shows the Moment a Missing Child Rushes to Hug a Deputy Who Rescued Her From Alleged Online Predator

/0 Comments/in , , /by

A startling video captured the moment that a missing 13-year-old girl rushed to hug a deputy who rescued her from an alleged online predator. . .

The grandmother of the girl called police after she failed to arrive home in Oak Hill from school and didn’t go to a basketball game she had planned to attend.

Deputy Royce James spoke to a friend of the girl who told him that she had planned to go to a motel with someone she had met online. The friend said that the man’s name started with a T, possibly Tyler, might have been from Orlando, and that the girl might have met him at the Dollar General store in Oak Hill.

Deputy James was able to find surveillance images of the victim at the store, and an employee said that she had been waiting for someone outside the store.

When James searched the motels nearby, he eventually found a guest named Tyler from Orlando who had checked in that day.

(Read more from “WATCH: Police Video Shows the Moment a Missing Child Rushes to Hug a Deputy Who Rescued Her From Alleged Online Predator” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE and MeWe HERE

Global Child Sex Abuse Network Uncovered With Ties To U.S.

/0 Comments/in , /by

A tip earlier this year from the United States has led to the uncovering of a major child sex abuse network in Australia with ties to the U.S., Canada, Asia, Europe and New Zealand.

According to The Associated Press, Australian authorities announced Wednesday that 16 men have been arrested in New South Wates, Queensland and Western Australia in recent months on 828 charges of sexually abusing children, producing and distributing child abuse material and bestiality.

Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough said that a child care worker and a children’s soccer coach are among those facing charges. Gough added that investigators had identified a total of 46 victims in Australia as young as 16 months and no older than 15 years.

“No child should be subjected to abuse and violence from the people they trust, whether that is a family member, a childcare worker or a soccer coach,” Gough said, according to the AP. “Sadly and heartbreakingly, this has been the case for the victims.”

A total of 18 “matters” have been referred to the U.S., where three men have been arrested in connection to child abuse material, the news service noted. (Read more from “Global Child Sex Abuse Network Uncovered With Ties To U.S.” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

U.S. Marshals Announce Rescue of More Than 1,000 Missing and Child Sex Trafficking Victims

/1 Comment/in , /by

The number of missing children rescued annually has more than doubled since 2016, according to data from the U.S. Marshals Service.

In 2016, the U.S. Marshals Service rescued 172 missing children. The following years, the number of rescued children rose to 192, 253 and 292. And as of September 24th, the U.S. Marshals Service had rescued 375 children in fiscal year 2020.

This brings the total to “about 1,300,” according to U.S. Marshals Service Director Donald Washington.

Speaking on Fox Business Network’s “The Evening Edit” this Thursday, he said most of the country’s missing children are tied up in dangerous circumstances involving violence and drugs.

“[T]hese are kids that are in particular danger as a result of either being victims of violent crime or because of who they are. For example, some of them may be in the middle of gang affiliations or in the midst of drug abusers or in the middle of some bad situations involving people who have violent tendencies and things of that sort,” he said. (Read more from “U.S. Marshals Announce Rescue of More Than 1,000 Missing and Child Sex Trafficking Victims” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

California Frees ‘Mr. Rape, Torture, Kill’ Sex Offender From Mental Hospital

/0 Comments/in , /by

California state officials have freed a sex offender considered “dangerous” from a mental hospital where he spent more than 20 years there in confinement.

Cary Jay Smith, 59 years old, was released from the Coalinga State Hospital this month after being in state custody since 1999. Smith was originally placed in state custody after his wife provided evidence of her husband’s intentions to sexually abuse a seven-year-old boy in their Costa Mesa neighborhood.

During hearings every six years, Smith has said that he goes by the name “Mr. RTK,” which stands for “Mr. Rape, Torture, Kill” and has claimed to have murdered three boys and sexually abused 200 others. Smith has said he fantasizes about raping and killing boys.

“Smith, an unstable individual, has openly made threats to rape and murder children and has stated that he would re-offend upon his release,” Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Michelle Steel said in a statement.

“The fact that he is being released back into our community is unconscionable,” Steel said. “We must take this threat to our community very seriously and ensure that everyone in Orange County is aware of this individual’s grave threat to our children.” (Read more from “California Frees ‘Mr. Rape, Torture, Kill’ Sex Offender From Mental Hospital” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Lockdowns, Protests Causing Big Spike in Child Trafficking

/0 Comments/in , /by

. . .Child sexual exploitation and trafficking ranks amongst the fastest-growing criminal enterprises in the world, with the United States leading the way in consumption of child exploitation material. But during the COVID -19 pandemic, crimes such as those allegedly committed by Hardman have risen to levels I have never seen before during my almost two decades in working these criminal cases as a special agent, undercover operator, and CEO of two different anti-trafficking organizations.

Why is pedophilia flourishing during a global pandemic? Societal support structures that keep children safe (schools, sports programs, music lessons, etc.) have vanished, shut down per government directives. Taking such life-protecting measures has left many of our children sitting idle at home with computer screens or smartphones in front of their faces.

With moms and dads otherwise preoccupied, fighting for their jobs and procuring food and supplies for their families, these children are left to surf the Internet, often without proper (or any!) supervision. Pedophiles, often jobless, are also stuck at home with computers.

Law enforcement has reported that, during the government shutdowns, as they have monitored chatter on the deepest reaches of the Internet, child predators like Danny Hardman are openly admitting to one another that pandemic time is harvest time. They confess to one another they are living a pedophile’s dream.

In March alone, there were more than two million reports of Internet crimes against children, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. That is more than double similar reports from the same period a year earlier. Things got worse in April, with some 4.1 million reports of Internet crimes against children — a fourfold increase from April 2019. (Read more from “Lockdowns, Protests Causing Big Spike in Child Trafficking” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

90 Suspects Identified in Major Online Child Sexual Abuse Operation

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Police around the world have taken down a global child abuse ring with links to over 40 countries through a Belgian investigation supported by Europol. 4 suspects have been convicted today by a Belgian court.

This case was sparked by the Belgian East Flanders Federal Judicial Police (Federale Gerechtelijke Politie Oost-Vlaanderen) after more than 9 million pictures and videos of the abuse of thousands of children from around the world were found there during a house search.

The vast majority of this footage had never been seen in circulation before by law enforcement. Suspecting they were producing their own, the Belgian investigators launched Operation GARGAMEL together with Europol across Europe and beyond . The image and video data seized during this investigation has been used for Victim Identification Task Forces hosted by Europol through which 70 children and 30 suspects have been identified. The Belgian Federal Judicial Police succeeded in identifying 60 suspects (of which 24 in Belgium) and 40 victims, which brings the actual total to 90 suspects and 110 victims.

Some suspects have already appeared before court in a number of other countries. In Australia, a suspect was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

More arrests and rescues are expected globally as police in over 40 countries examine the intelligence packages compiled by Europol and information from the Belgian Federal Judicial Police.

(Press release originally appeared HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Hundreds Charged Worldwide in the Takedown of the Largest Darknet Child Pornography Website, Which Was Funded by Bitcoin

/7,371 Comments/in , /by

Justice Dept. Says It’s Taken down ‘World’s Largest’ Child Exploitation Sites on the Dark Web

By Tech Crunch. The Justice Department says it has dismantled one of the largest child exploitation sites on the dark web.

With the help of international partners in the U.K. and South Korea, U.S. prosecutors have brought charges against a South Korean citizen, Jong Woo Son, for conspiracy to advertise, produce and distribute child abuse imagery.

Son was charged in August 2018 but the indictment was only unsealed Wednesday. NBC News was first to report the indictments.

The site contained more than 250,000 unique videos — some 8 terabytes of data — involving children. (Read more from “Justice Dept. Says It’s Taken down ‘World’s Largest’ Child Exploitation Sites on the Dark Web” HERE)

____________________________________________________

South Korean National and Hundreds of Others Charged Worldwide in the Takedown of the Largest Darknet Child Pornography Website, Which Was Funded by Bitcoin

By DOJ Press Release. Jong Woo Son, 23, a South Korean national, was indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia for his operation of Welcome To Video, the largest child sexual exploitation market by volume of content. The nine-count indictment was unsealed today along with a parallel civil forfeiture action. Son has also been charged and convicted in South Korea and is currently in custody serving his sentence in South Korea. An additional 337 site users residing in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington State and Washington, D.C. as well as the United Kingdom, South Korea, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Czech Republic, Canada, Ireland, Spain, Brazil and Australia have been arrested and charged.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu for the District of Columbia, Chief Don Fort of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and Acting Executive Associate Director Alysa Erichs of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), made the announcement.

“Darknet sites that profit from the sexual exploitation of children are among the most vile and reprehensible forms of criminal behavior,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This Administration will not allow child predators to use lawless online spaces as a shield. Today’s announcement demonstrates that the Department of Justice remains firmly committed to working closely with our partners in South Korea and around the world to rescue child victims and bring to justice the perpetrators of these abhorrent crimes.”

“Children around the world are safer because of the actions taken by U.S. and foreign law enforcement to prosecute this case and recover funds for victims,” said U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu. “We will continue to pursue such criminals on and off the darknet in the United States and abroad, to ensure they receive the punishment their terrible crimes deserve.”

“Through the sophisticated tracing of bitcoin transactions, IRS-CI special agents were able to determine the location of the Darknet server, identify the administrator of the website and ultimately track down the website server’s physical location in South Korea,” said IRS-CI Chief Don Fort. “This largescale criminal enterprise that endangered the safety of children around the world is no more. Regardless of the illicit scheme, and whether the proceeds are virtual or tangible, we will continue to work with our federal and international partners to track down these disgusting organizations and bring them to justice.”

“Children are our most vulnerable population, and crimes such as these are unthinkable,” said HSI Acting Executive Associate Director Alysa Erichs. “Sadly, advances in technology have enabled child predators to hide behind the dark web and cryptocurrency to further their criminal activity. However, today’s indictment sends a strong message to criminals that no matter how sophisticated the technology or how widespread the network, child exploitation will not be tolerated in the United States. Our entire justice system will stop at nothing to prevent these heinous crimes, safeguard our children, and bring justice to all.”

According to the indictment, on March 5, 2018, agents from the IRS-CI, HSI, National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom, and Korean National Police in South Korea arrested Son and seized the server that he used to operate a Darknet market that exclusively advertised child sexual exploitation videos available for download by members of the site. The operation resulted in the seizure of approximately eight terabytes of child sexual exploitation videos, which is one of the largest seizures of its kind. The images, which are currently being analyzed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), contained over 250,000 unique videos, and 45 percent of the videos currently analyzed contain new images that have not been previously known to exist.

Welcome To Video offered these videos for sale using the cryptocurrency bitcoin. Typically, sites of this kind give users a forum to trade in these depictions. This Darknet website is among the first of its kind to monetize child exploitation videos using bitcoin. In fact, the site itself boasted over one million downloads of child exploitation videos by users. Each user received a unique bitcoin address when the user created an account on the website. An analysis of the server revealed that the website had more than one million bitcoin addresses, signifying that the website had capacity for at least one million users.

The agencies have shared data from the seized server with law enforcement around the world to assist in identifying and prosecuting customers of the site. This has resulted in leads sent to 38 countries and yielded arrests of 337 subjects around the world. The operation has resulted in searches of residences and businesses of approximately 92 individuals in the United States. Notably, the operation is responsible for the rescue of at least 23 minor victims residing in the United States, Spain and the United Kingdom, who were being actively abused by the users of the site.

In the Washington, D.C.-metropolitan area, the operation has led to the execution of five search warrants and eight arrests of individuals who both conspired with the administrator of the site and were themselves, users of the website. Two users of the Darknet market committed suicide subsequent to the execution of search warrants.

Amongst the sites users charged are:

Charles Wunderlich, 34, of Hot Springs, California, was charged in the District of Columbia with conspiracy to distribute child pornography;

Brian James LaPrath, 34, of San Diego, California, was arrested in the District of Columbia, for international money laundering; and was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release;

Ernest Wagner, 70, of Federal Way, Washington, was arrested and charged in the District of Columbia with conspiracy to distribute child pornography;

Vincent Galarzo, 28, of Glendale, New York, was arrested and charged in the District of Columbia with conspiracy to distribute child pornography;

Michael Ezeagbor, 22, of Pflugerville, Texas, was arrested and charged in the District of Columbia with conspiracy to distribute child pornography;

Nicholas Stengel, 45, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty to receipt of child pornography and money laundering and was sentenced to serve 15 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release;

Eryk Mark Chamberlin, 25, of Worcester, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and is pending sentencing;

Jairo Flores, 30, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in the District of Massachusetts to receipt and possession of child pornography and was sentenced to serve five years in prison followed by five years of supervised release;

Billy Penaloza, 29, of Dorchester, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in the District of Massachusetts to possession and receipt of child pornography. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 22, 2019;

Michael Armstrong, 35, of Randolph, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in the District of Massachusetts, to receipt and possession of child pornography. He was sentenced to serve five years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Restitution will be determined at a future date;

Al Ramadhanu Soedomo, 28, of Lynn, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and was sentenced in the District of Massachusetts (Boston), to serve 12 months and one day followed by five years of supervised release;

Phillip Sungmin Hong, 24, of Sharon, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in the District of Massachusetts (Boston), to receipt and possession of child pornography and is pending sentencing;

Eliseo Arteaga Jr., 28, of Mesquite, Texas, pleaded guilty in the Northern District of Texas to possession of prepubescent child pornography. He is pending sentencing;

Richard Nikolai Gratkowski, 40, of San Antonio, Texas, a former HSI special agent, was arrested in the Western District of Texas. Gratkowski pleaded guilty to the indictment charging one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of access with intent to view child pornography. Gratkowski was sentenced to serve 70 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $35,000 in restitution to seven victims and a $10,000 assessment;

Paul Casey Whipple, 35, of Hondo, Texas, a U.S. Border Patrol Agent, was arrested in the Western District of Texas, on charges of sexual exploitation of children/minors, production, distribution, and possession of child pornography. Whipple remains in custody awaiting trial in San Antonio;

Michael Lawson, 36, of Midland, Georgia, was arrested in the Middle District of Georgia on charges of attempted sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography. He was sentenced to serve 121 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release following his plea to a superseding information charging him with one count of receipt of child pornography;

Kevin Christopher Eagan, 39, of Brookhaven, Georgia, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in the Northern District of Georgia;

Casey Santioius Head, 37, of Griffin, Georgia, was indicted in the Northern District of Georgia for distribution, receipt, and possession of child pornography;

Andrew C. Chu, 28, of Garwood, New Jersey, was arrested and charged with receipt of child pornography. Those charges remain pending;

Nader Hamdi Ahmed, 29 of Jersey City, New Jersey, was arrested in the District of New Jersey, for sexual exploitation or other abuse of children. Ahmed pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of distribution of child pornography. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 1, 2019;

Jeffrey Lee Harris, 32, of Pickens, South Carolina, pleaded guilty in the District of South Carolina for producing, distributing, and possessing child pornography;

Laine Ormand Clark Jr., 27, of Conway, South Carolina, was arrested and charged in U.S. District Court in South Carolina Division for sexual possession of child pornography;

Jack R. Dove III, 38, of Lakeland, Florida, was arrested in the Middle District of Florida for knowingly receiving and possessing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct;

Michael Matthew White, 39, of Miami Beach, Florida, was arrested in the Southern District of Florida for coercion and enticement;

Nikolas Bennion Bradshaw, 24, of Bountiful, Utah, was arrested in the State of Utah, and charged with five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, and was sentenced to time served with 91 days in jail followed by probation;

Michael Don Gibbs, 37, of Holladay, Utah, was charged in the District of Utah with receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography;

Ammar Atef H. Alahdali, 22, of Arlington, Virginia, pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Virginia to receipt of child pornography and was sentenced to serve five years in prison and ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution;

Mark Lindsay Rohrer, 38, of West Hartford, Connecticut, pleaded guilty in the District of Connecticut to receipt of child pornography and was sentenced to serve 60 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release;

Eugene Edward Jung, 47, of San Francisco, California, was indicted in the Northern District of California on possession of child pornography and receipt of child pornography;

James Daosaeng, 25, of Springdale, Arkansas, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and was sentenced in the Western District of Arkansas (Fayetteville) to serve 97 months in prison followed by 20 years of supervised release;

Alex Daniel Paxton, 30, of Columbus, Ohio, was arrested and indicted in Franklin County Ohio Court of Common Pleas for pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor;

Don Edward Pannell, 32, of Harvey, Louisiana, pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Louisiana for receipt of child pornography. He is pending sentencing;

Ryan Thomas Carver, 29, of Huntsville, Alabama, was arrested and charged under Alabama State Law. He was charged federally in the Northern District of Alabama with possession of child pornography. His case is pending in Huntsville, Alabama;

Alexander Buckley, 28, of the United Kingdom, pleaded guilty to 10 offences in the UK of possession and distribution of indecent images of children, possession of extreme and prohibited images and possession of a class A drug. He was sentenced to serve 40 months in prison for the distribution of indecent images and possession of class A drugs. Buckley is also subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order;

Kyle Fox, 26, of the United Kingdom, pleaded guilty to 22 counts including rape, sexual assault, and sharing indecent images, and was sentenced to serve 22 years in prison; and

Mohammed Almaker, 26, of Fort Collins, Colorado, was arrested in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), charged with KSA Law involving the endangerment of children. He is awaiting judicial proceedings in furtherance of criminal charges.

A forfeiture complaint was also unsealed today. The complaint alleges that law enforcement was able to trace payments of bitcoin to the Darknet site by following the flow of funds on the blockchain. The virtual currency accounts identified in the complaint were allegedly used by 24 individuals in five countries to fund the website and promote the exploitation of children. The forfeiture complaint seeks to recover these funds and, ultimately through the restoration process, return the illicit funds to victims of the crime.

The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The international investigations were led by the IRS-CI, HSI and the NCA. The Korean National Police of the Republic of Korea, the National Crime Agency of the United Kingdom and the German Federal Criminal Police (the Bundeskriminalamt), provided assistance and coordinated with their parallel investigations. The Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs of the Criminal Division provided significant assistance.

The cases are being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zia M. Faruqui, Lindsay Suttenberg, and Youli Lee, Paralegal Specialists Brian Rickers and Diane Brashears, Legal Assistant Jessica McCormick, and Records Examiner Chad Byron of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorney C. Alden Pelker of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. Additional assistance has been provided by Deputy Chief Keith Becker and Trial Attorney James E. Burke IV of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, and former U.S. Attorney’s Office Paralegal Specialists Toni Anne Donato and Ty Eaton.

(Press release originally posted HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Department of Education Report: Chicago Public Schools ‘Inexcusably Failed’ to Protect Children From Sexual Assault

/0 Comments/in , /by

A report released Thursday by the United States Department of Education excoriated the Chicago Public School system for failing to protect children from sexual abuse over the course of many years. The department also ordered Chicago Public Schools to implement a new plan to address those allegations in a document that read like a well-deserved public flogging.

The report complained that investigators found evidence of “widespread” failure to properly investigate reports of sexual abuse lodged by children and employees.

Local media in Chicago have chronicled the troubling extent of sexual assault in Chicago Public Schools for years, as well as the failure of school district authorities to properly respond to those complaints. Federal authorities began to investigate those complaints under Title IX in 2015 when it received two separate complaints that the district was not properly investigating complaints levied against teachers and against students for sexual assault.

As part of the investigation, the Department of Education evaluated the school district’s response to 2,800 complaints of student-on-student sexual assault, and 280 complaints of adult-on-student sexual assault. In announcing the findings of the investigation, Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights Kenneth Marcus said, among other things, that Chicago Public Schools’ response to those complaints was “inadequate, unreliable and often conducted by untrained staff,” and that Chicago’s overall response to those complaints was “tragic and inexcusable.” . . .

Chicago’s Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot, however, seemed to suggest that the report was some sort of political stunt orchestrated by the Trump administration, telling WBBM-TV that she believed the Trump administration enjoyed “teeing off” against the city of Chicago, and further stating, “I take some of those comments with a grain of salt considering the source.” She did not mention that the investigation was begun and partially conducted during the Obama administration. (Read more from “Department of Education Report: Chicago Public Schools ‘Inexcusably Failed’ to Protect Children From Sexual Assault” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE

Lawsuit: Public School District Allowed an Illegal Alien Now Accused of Child Molestation to Volunteer Despite Red Flags

/0 Comments/in , /by

Despite multiple red flags on a 2013 background check, public school officials in Charlotte, N.C., gave an illegal immigrant access to hundreds of young children. Now he’s on trial for child molestation, and his alleged victim’s parents are suing the school district.

In March 2018, Ricardo Mata was arrested by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department on charges of indecent liberties with a child after he was accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a seven-year-old girl.

Federal immigration authorities later revealed that Mata is an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who now faces deportation at the conclusion of his current trial. ICE issued a detainer for him after he was arrested in 2018.

“On March 17, 2018, officers assigned to the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office 287(g) program lodged a detainer on Ricardo Luis Mata-Borjas, 52, a citizen and national of Venezuela, illegally present in the U.S., at the Mecklenburg County Jail after his arrest by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police for indecent liberties with a child and lewd and lascivious acts,” an ICE statement said.

A month later in April, then-Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) superintendent Clayton Wilcox tried to assure the parents and the public that Mata had been properly vetted, saying that the accused child molester “passed the background checks because he had no prior criminal charges.” Wilcox announced his resignation the following July.

However, public documents show and the child’s parents’ lawsuit alleges that Mata’s 2013 background check for the school system turned up at least two incidents in which he was suspected of molesting children on top of two felony arrests and a criminal assault conviction overturned on appeal, according to a report at the Charlotte Observer.

Before 2013, the report adds, public officials apparently never ran a background check on the illegal alien, despite the fact that by that time his after-school “PlaySpanish” foreign language program took place at as many as 15 CMS schools.

In the two previous instances of alleged molestation, Mata was accused of the “forcible fondling” of a six-year-old girl in 2009 and another elementary school student in 2013, though neither investigation produced criminal charges.

The parents accusing Mata of child molestation in this case say that their daughter, who attended PlaySpanish from kindergarten to first grade, was repeatedly molested several times on school grounds during supposed safety drills where the lights were turned off and students were told to hide and be quiet.

The Observer notes that Mata notified CMS of the exercises, but the fact that an after-school volunteer was doing security drills with the lights off somehow didn’t strike anyone as alarming at the time.

“I’m shocked. I’m dismayed. I’m incredibly furious,” the father of the alleged 2017 victim told the Observer. “The red flags were out there, and nobody did anything.”

Mata has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty to the child molestation charges in April of this year. (For more from the author of “Lawsuit: Public School District Allowed an Illegal Alien Now Accused of Child Molestation to Volunteer Despite Red Flags” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE