Articles Posted in Criminal Sexual Conduct

On Tuesday, September 22 it was announced that 61-year-old Dr. Farooq Rehman, a neurologist in Old Bridge, NJ, had been charged with the alleged sexual assault of a female patient. Rehman resides in Colts Neck.

According to news reports at CBS and My Central Jersey, Rehman is accused of sexually assaulting a patient in his office during examinations by improperly touching the victim, a 37-year-old woman whose name was not released. The woman alleges this activity occurred during visits to the doctor’s office between August 26 and September 9 of this year, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s office.

Investigators with the Old Bridge Police Dept. began investigating the case after the alleged victim contact police. Rehman has been charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact, and was held on a $100,000 bail at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center at last report.

Recently, Craig McCord and his wife Virginia McCord were arrested in the alleged sexual battery of a 13-year-old girl who was spending the night at the couple’s Murfreesboro, TN home according to a news report at WGNS Radio.

Craig McCord is a registered sex offender; his 37-year-old wife is a substitute teacher, and was arrested due to the fact that she failed to report child sex abuse, according to a police report.

Although the victim’s name was withheld due to her young age, she reportedly spent the night at the McCord’s home the night the alleged abuse took place. A police report written by Detective Tommy Roberts stated the victim was not related to the McCords. She was spending the night at their home when she was allegedly awakened by Craig McCord touching her between her legs. She reportedly told Virginia McCord about the incident before making a telephone call to her grandfather requesting that he pick her up.

In November of 2013, 49-year-old Francis Mallo of Loudon, TN was charged with five counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in the alleged sexual assault of a female victim younger than 13 in Osceola Township.

According to news reports at Up North Live, Loudon turned himself in after driving from his home in Tennessee to Osceola County. The alleged sexual assaults occurred between 1990 and 1992; investigators began digging for information and evidence after receiving a tip regarding the alleged sexual assaults in 2013, and interviewed the victim (who would be in her 30s) at that time. They then contacted Mallo, who drove from Tennessee.

In 2014, Mallo went on trial on multiple sex crime charges in Osceola County, however a mistrial was declared after the jury became deadlocked. On May 26th of this year, Mallo was retried on the five charges of first-degree CSC involving someone under the age of 13. The court had set aside eight days for the trial; on June 3rd, after two days of deliberations, the jury found Mallo not guilty. The woman who claimed to have been sexually assaulted as a minor lived at Mallo’s foster home in Osceola County at the time.

The case of a Grand Rapids woman who was a Catholic high school tutor convicted of having sex with a 15-year-old student is scheduled to be featured on Dateline NBC on Thursday, June 4 according to a news article at Mlive.com. The tutor, 35-year-old Abigail Simon, was found guilty on three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one charge of accosting a minor for immoral purposes in November of last year. 

According to news reports, Simon provided the victim with a key to her Grand Rapids apartment, where several of the sexual encounters are said to have occurred. The evidence against Simon at trial included more than 1,000 text messages between herself, the student, and friends. In some of the text messages Simon said she wanted to have children with the boy; she also professed her love for the young boy.

Simon’s attorney employed a defense strategy in which the victim was accused of raping and controlling Simon, which would have absolved her of criminal responsibility for the sexual activity, however the defense strategy failed. Simon was sentenced to 8 to 25 years in prison after being found guilty.

In November of last year, 26-year-old Adam J. Walker pleaded no contest to three counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct against someone age 13 through 15, according to a news article at Mlive.com. Walker was initially charged with three counts of first-degree CSC during the commission of a felony; he was also charged with two other felonies related to injuries his grandmother suffered when he attempted to steal her vehicle. Those charges were also dropped by prosecutors in exchange for the plea.

As Walker sat in jail following the incident in which his grandmother’s foot was broken as he stole his grandparents’ vehicle, prosecutors charged Walker with three counts of first-degree CSC during the commission of a felony, one count of assault with intent to commit sexual penetration, and one count of using a computer to commit a crime. The warrant alleged that the victim was 13 years old, and that Walker delivered a controlled substance although news reports do not reveal what the drug was.

Walker claimed at his May 2014 arraignment hearing that he did not know anyone with the last name listed on the warrant, which is the name used to identify the alleged victim. He also stressed at his arraignment the fact that he was married.

Recently, it was announced that a west suburban Chicago police officer was charged with several counts involving the alleges sexual assault of a girl younger than 13 years of age. According to CBS Chicago, David L. Wright, a police officer with Elburn for more than 20 years, has been sexually assaulting a child for more than 10 years. He has been charged with 11 counts of criminal sexual assault and 10 counts of predatory criminal sexual assault.

A statement from prosecutors allege that Wright has been sexually assaulting a child he knew since March of 2005, and the sexual assaults continued until just this month when he was arrested at his Campton Hills home. Prosecutors say when the assaults initially began, the victim was under 13. Wright has been placed on paid administrative leave with the Elburn police, pending the outcome of the investigation. According to news reports, he is currently in the Kane County Jail on a $500,000 bond. His next court appearance is scheduled for May 6. Wright is 53 years old.

In Illinois, criminal sexual assault is a term used in place of rape. Offenders do not have the option of probation, as this is a non-probationable felony charge. The penalties for those found guilty include four to 15 years in prison. Predatory criminal sexual assault is more serious, with penalties that include a prison term of six to 30 years.

On Wednesday, April 22, 78-year-old Henry Rayhons of Iowa who is a farmer and former Republican state legislator was found not guilty of charges that he sexually abused his wife, Donna Rayhons, while she was in a nursing home and suffered from Alzheimer’s. Staff members at the nursing home had advised Rayhons that his wife was cognitively not able to consent to sexual relations. Had Rayhons been found guilty of sexual abuse, he would have faced up to 10 years in prison, according to a news article at the New York Times.

By all accounts, Rayhons and his wife had a mutually loving relationship. In fact, workers at the nursing home said that Donna Rayhons was always happy to see her husband. In court, Henry Rayhons testified that his wife had on occasion initiated sexual contact, however on the date in question no sexual contact had been made. Rayhons was accused of sexually abusing his wife in May of last year, after he drew a curtain around his wife’s side of the room in a shared room at the nursing home. He testified that all that occurred was kissing and holding hands.

Rayhons told the prosecutor in the case that he assumed that someone had the capacity to consent to something if he/she asked for it. He also said that on occasion, his wife would put her hands in his pants and fondle him. Donna Rayhons was 78 years old when she died in August of last year. Henry was arrested following her funeral. The couple married in 2007 after meeting at church, where they both sang in the choir.

Recently, a 25-year-old woman who visited a Massage Envy location in Los Angeles claimed that she was sexually assaulted by the 67-year-old massage therapist giving her a massage.

According to a news article at CBS, the massage therapist, Gary Sperling, was arrested on single counts of lewd act on a dependent adult, and sodomy of an incompetent person. Sperling has worked at several Massage Envy locations over a nine-year time period, according to detectives. The company claims there has never in the past been a complaint filed against Sterling.

Sterling was held on $100,000 bail in Ventura according to the news report. Massage Envy said that each franchisee is required to perform reference and criminal background checks. In addition, the franchise said that training is required prior to employment as a licensed massage therapist, and that the training specifically covers Massage Envy’s Zero Tolerance Policy regarding inappropriate conduct.

Recently, a male teacher at Freeport Area High School was accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old female student who attended the school, according to news reports at Triblive.com. The high school is in the Sarver, Buffalo Township area in PA. According to state police, the teacher allegedly sexually assaulted the girl between August of last year and January of this year, although the student has now told authorities that no sexual assault occurred.

Initially, authorities in Buffalo Township began investigating the allegations, however turned the investigation over to state police after learning that the alleged sexual assault was thought to have taken place in South Buffalo Township. Police were not able to substantiate claims regarding the sexual assault of the student through other interviews they conducted.

The teacher, who was not named in the news article, was removed from the classroom as the investigation continued, however he remains on leave although the alleged victim claims that the sexual assault never occurred. Chris DeVivo, District Superintendent, said that the teacher is not currently back in the classroom, and that he was not aware of the state police news release regarding the student claiming no sexual assault took place.