Sex Crimes

Dawn Cordy always knew her neighborhood was an easy place to hide -- a semirural San Francisco suburb where housing is cheap, sheriff's cruisers rarely appear, residents don't snoop and registered sex offenders have found a refuge. It's a small, scruffy, unincorporated island largely surrounded by the hard-knock city of Antioch, a region synonymous with the foreclosure crisis in the Bay Area but now linked to yet another outrage. This is where Phillip Garrido, who was charged last week with rape and kidnapping, allegedly held Jaycee Lee Dugard for 18 years and fathered her two children in a warren of tents and soundproofed outbuildings behind his gray cinder-block house on Walnut Avenue.

The California Supreme Court upheld residency restrictions for sex offenders Monday, ruling that thousands may be barred from living near schools and parks even if their sex crimes were committed years before the restrictions became law. The state high court's 5-2 decision permits California to continue enforcing residency restrictions on thousands of sex offenders who were paroled after Proposition 83, known as "Jessica's Law," took effect in...

As investigators confront California's biggest sexual misconduct case against a doctor, new details are emerging that indicate they believe that their target--Tustin gynecologist Ivan C. Namihas--might harbor a hatred of women. Interviews and court documents indicate that Namihas allegedly impregnated at least two of his patients, and that he reportedly told one woman, whom he treated for more than 10 years, that he became a gynecologist so he could vent his anger toward women.

Kang Il-chul rides in the back of a van packed with gossiping old women. The 82-year-old girlishly covers her mouth to whisper a secret. "We argue a lot about the food," she says, wrinkling her nose. "To tell you the truth, some of these old ladies are grouchy." There are eight of them, sharing a hillside home on the outskirts of Seoul, sparring over everything from territory to room temperature. Some wear makeup and stylish hats; others are happy in robes and slippers.

The California Supreme Court ruled 5 to 2 Thursday that a 2006 ballot initiative that permitted the state to lock up sexually violent predators indefinitely may violate constitutional guarantees of equal protection. The ruling, written by Justice Carlos R. Moreno, did not strike down the measure, Proposition 83, also known as "Jessica's Law." Instead, the court said a fact-finding hearing must be held to determine whether valid reasons exist for treating sex predators differently from others subject to civil confinement, such as mentally disordered offenders.

A scandal about the sexual abuse of Congolese women and children by U.N. officials and peacekeepers intensified Friday with the broadcast of explicit pictures of a French U.N. worker and Congolese girls and his claim that there was a network of pedophiles at the U.N. mission in Congo. ABC News' "20/20" program showed pictures taken from the computer of a French U.N. transport worker. The hard drive reportedly contained thousands of photos of him with hundreds of girls.

Pale and struggling to hold back tears, a 28-year-old Sunday school teacher appeared in court for the first time Tuesday to face accusations of kidnapping, raping and killing an 8-year-old Central Valley girl. Melissa Huckaby, who was wearing a red prison jumpsuit with her hands and feet cuffed, appeared disoriented when she was ushered into the packed courtroom and faced a wall of TV camera crews, photographers and reporters.

When children rape, molest or act lewdly with other children, the experts say, they do it mostly in secret, in the privacy of homes, among playmates and family members who seldom tell. When detected, juvenile sex offenders are likewise dealt with quietly, in juvenile or dependency courts closed to the public, at state detention centers or private clinics that keep a low profile in residential neighborhoods. But the details of this hidden world are about to get a thorough airing in California.

Two law enforcement officers working in Los Angeles County face charges of illegal conduct with underage girls in unrelated cases, Orange County prosecutors said Thursday. Frank Ricci, a 30-year-old Los Angeles Police Department officer who lives in Mission Viejo, pleaded not guilty to committing a lewd act on a child and attempting another such act, both felonies. The alleged acts occurred with a 15-year-old girl he knew and involved sexual touching, said Deputy Dist. Atty.

Two California men have been arrested and charged with having sex with a 14-year-old Victorville boy they met over the Internet, officials said Wednesday. The boy contacted authorities on June 4. He said Troy Brandon Gaede, 32, of San Jose and Daniel Mizuho Llamas, 25, of Van Nuys came to Victorville in March and May, renting hotel rooms where they engaged in sexual conduct with him and photographed the acts, San Bernardino County sheriff's officials said.

The California Supreme Court upheld residency restrictions for sex offenders Monday, ruling that thousands may be barred from living near schools and parks even if their sex crimes were committed years before the restrictions became law. The state high court's 5-2 decision permits California to continue enforcing residency restrictions on thousands of sex offenders who were paroled after Proposition 83, known as "Jessica's Law," took effect in...

Former Compton Dominguez High boys basketball coach Russell Otis was sentenced Thursday to 60 days in jail for child molesting, probably ending the powerful reign of a man who directed his teams to five state championships and 10 California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section titles in 20 seasons. Otis, 47, had been charged with misdemeanor child molesting, felony theft and forgery and a felony charge of meeting a minor for lewd purposes. He was convicted in November on the lesser charge.

The California Supreme Court ruled 5 to 2 Thursday that a 2006 ballot initiative that permitted the state to lock up sexually violent predators indefinitely may violate constitutional guarantees of equal protection. The ruling, written by Justice Carlos R. Moreno, did not strike down the measure, Proposition 83, also known as "Jessica's Law." Instead, the court said a fact-finding hearing must be held to determine whether valid reasons exist for treating sex predators differently from others subject to civil confinement, such as mentally disordered offenders.

In the 33 years since she accused Roman Polanski of rape, Samantha Geimer has publicly forgiven the acclaimed director, accused the U.S. justice system of mistreating him and urged a dismissal of his still pending criminal case. Today, Geimer is expected to act again on Polanski's behalf and ask that a Los Angeles County judge halt efforts to extradite the filmmaker from Switzerland. In papers filed in Superior Court on Thursday, Geimer's lawyer accused the Los Angeles County district attorney's office of violating state victims' rights statutes by not consulting Geimer before seeking extradition.

In the 33 years since she accused Roman Polanski of rape, Samantha Geimer has publicly forgiven the acclaimed director, accused the U.S. justice system of mistreating him and urged a dismissal of his still pending criminal case. On Friday, Geimer is expected to act again on Polanski's behalf and ask that a Los Angeles County judge halt efforts to extradite the filmmaker from Switzerland. In papers filed in Superior Court on Thursday, Geimer's lawyer accused the Los Angeles County district attorney's office of violating state victims' rights statutes by not consulting Geimer prior to seeking extradition.

Roman Polanski's lawyers suggested in a legal filing Tuesday that prosecutors were motivated by politics and not justice in opposing the film director's request to be sentenced in absentia in a three-decade-old child-sex case. "Politics seems to be interfering with the just administration of the law," Polanski's attorneys wrote. The filing urged Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza to go forward with a sentencing hearing that Polanski's lawyers claim will expose misconduct in the original handling of the case.

A group of dangerous sex criminals who took their case before the Supreme Court on Tuesday had one clear champion: Justice Antonin Scalia. A staunch conservative, he has not developed new sympathy for criminals. Instead, the issue before the court was whether the Constitution gave the federal government the power to lock up offenders after they had served their prison terms. Scalia said protecting the public against sex criminals was a matter for the states, their police and their prisons.

About 3 out of every 25 youths in state and privately run juvenile correctional facilities have experienced at least one incident of sexual victimization, according to a federal study released Thursday. The study, which is the first of its kind, brings attention to the need for more training and accountability for staff members at such facilities, said Linda McFarlane, deputy executive director of Just Detention International, a nonprofit human rights organization that works on preventing abuse in detention centers.

Anthony Martinez Garduno, a 51-year-old church leader who was shot three months ago during a burglary attempt at his church in Home Gardens, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of selling drugs from his church, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said. Authorities say that on Dec. 21, deputies from the Jurupa Valley Station responded to a call of an alleged sexual assault at Our Lady of Tepeyac church in the 13400 block of Magnolia Avenue in Home Gardens, an unincorporated area of Riverside County.

As Roman Polanski enters his second week under house arrest at his Swiss chalet today, his American legal team is scheduled to face off with the prosecutors seeking his extradition in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom. The issue before a state appellate court predates Polanski's September arrest in Zurich and concerns the nuances of a 19th-century legal doctrine. But if the three-judge panel sides with Polanski, the ruling could set the stage for the possible dismissal of the director's 1977 case and his release from detention.