Sexual Contact

Mary Kay Letourneau, the former schoolteacher who had two children by the student she was convicted of raping, quietly walked out of prison Wednesday. After serving 7 1/2 years for child rape, Letourneau, 42, slipped unseen past the gathered international media camped outside the Washington Corrections Center for Women about 24 miles southwest of Seattle. She maintains that the relationship with her student -- who was 12 when she began having sexual contact with him -- was mutual love.

A 12-year-old boy sat in a San Fernando courtroom a month ago as his "Big Brother," an accountant who volunteered to be his special friend, pleaded guilty to molesting him and four other boys. In a Van Nuys courtroom two weeks ago, another Big Brother, a noted UCLA psychology professor, pleaded no contest to similar charges. And a third Big Brother faces a preliminary hearing this week in San Fernando on allegations that he had sexual contact with his teen-age charge.

A retired U.S. Army sergeant is being tried in this ancient Bavarian city on the controversial charge of engaging in sexual activity after learning that he had tested positive for the AIDS virus. The case is the first to be brought to court under a new Bavarian state regulation dealing with AIDS--acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

A Superior Court judge in Sacramento ruled Friday that two statements submitted by followers of extremist Lyndon H. LaRouche are false and should be stricken from the voter pamphlet for Proposition 64, the AIDS measure placed on the Nov. 4 ballot by LaRouche supporters. However, the judge overruled Secretary of State March Fong Eu and allowed the LaRouche group to keep the name of state Health Director Ken Kizer in its ballot arguments.

It's a subdued happy hour at the Wellington, a gay bar in North Hollywood. About 15 well-dressed men are having a drink amid the warm, quiet wash of conversation. The bartender, a wiry young man with short brown hair, breaks the weeknight rhythm and asks one of the men about Greg. He is still in critical condition. "Might not make it," says Greg's lover. The bartender shakes his head, pours himself a brandy, and the two men exchange a secret gaze of grief.

Absenteeism was about twice normal Wednesday at a Sacramento elementary school where angry parents toted picket signs last week protesting the enrollment of a 4-year-old boy. Across the country, in suburban Pasadena, Md., a 3-year-old boy who spawned a similar furor there spent an eighth day alone in his classroom, while in Council Bluffs, Iowa, a boycott at Longfellow Elementary School finally eased when a judge ruled that a 3-year-old girl known only as Jane Doe has a right to be educated.

An apocalyptic religious sect's leader was convicted of criminal sexual contact with an underage girl in an incident he called a spiritual healing exercise. Wayne Bent, 67, was found guilty of one count of criminal sexual contact of a minor and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He is the self-described Messiah and leader of the Lord Our Righteousness Church in New Mexico. Bent faced two counts each of criminal sexual contact with a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor involving two sisters, ages 14 and 16, in 2006.

FBI behavioral analysts concluded that former Los Angeles Police Department spokesman and television reporter Roderick Bernsen had either more sexual contact or none at all with two 12-year-old boys who accused him of abusing them aboard a cruise ship, according to a recent court filing by the U.S. attorneys office. The encounter "likely did not occur as described," the filing said.

In the second report of child molestation by a Los Angeles Unified School District employee in recent weeks, a dean's assistant and coach at San Fernando High School was arrested on suspicion of committing lewd acts with three students, police said Wednesday. Abel Ramirez, 34, was taken into custody at the high school at 4 p.m. Tuesday on suspicion of molesting three male students, ages 15 and 16, over a two-year period, according to Lt.

Former Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned Friday amid reports that he had sent sexually explicit messages to House pages, was molested by a clergyman when he was boy, the Florida Republican's attorney said Tuesday. But Foley has never had sexual contact with a minor, the lawyer said in a hastily called news conference in West Palm Beach, Fla. "There was absolutely never any inappropriate sexual contact with any minor," David Roth said.