Crime Time

Cleburne boy, 4, suffered abuse, PTSD, documents say

Where did the end begin for Buddy Cook?

The 4-year-old boy died a week ago at his Cleburne home, possibly from dehydration and malnutrition, according to documents filed by Child Protective Services.

His adoptive parents told CPS that he was born of an incestuous relationship. They said he was sexually abused by his biological mother and several men.

The boy also was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, reactive attachment disorder and a sexually transmitted disease.

Deanna Boyd reports.

— Bill Miller

'Most wanted' sex offender, convicted of 1995 crime in Fort Worth, caught at the border

A 43-year-old man on the Texas Department of Public Safety's 10 Most Wanted sex offender list has been arrested in El Paso.

Officials say Juan Alfredo Gandarilla turned himself in Monday to Border Patrol authorities at the Bridge of the Americas in El Paso, telling them he didn't want to be arrested in Mexico, according to The Associated Press.

Authorities described him Wednesday as a high-risk sex offender with a lengthy criminal history that included conviction for molesting a 9-year-old girl in 1995 in Fort Worth.

-- Bill Miller

Boy Scout 'perversion files' include 11 from Fort Worth

Nearly several dozen cases from North Texas, including 11 from Fort Worth, are among 5,000 "perversion files" released Thursday by court order from the Boy Scout of America national headquarters in Irving.

The information can be reviewed in an online database compiled by the Los Angeles Times of the files dating from 1947 to 2005. In each of the cases, the accused leaders were dismissed from scouting on suspicion of sexual abuse.

Of North Texas cities in the database, Dallas had the most with 21, followed by the 11 in Fort Worth, according to the data.

Garland, Mesquite and Plano each had five.

Arlington and Irving both had three.

Cleburne, DeSoto, Denison, Duncanville and Farmers Branch had two each.

Cities with just one complaint were Benbrook, Hurst, Granbury, Mansfield, Denton, The Colony, Euless, Pilot Point, Lancaster, Hico, Haltom City, Pottsboro, Sherman, Burleson and Grand Prairie.

Many of the documents included memos from Scout officials, local and national, that contain information about proven child molesters in the ranks of adult leadership. Many other files involve allegations against leaders that were unsubstantiated.

Some of the cases in the Times database include copies of the memos and other documents. In those files, the former leaders’ names are attached.

Of the 11 files from Fort Worth, only two former leaders are named. One man is attached to a case in 1976; the other is detailed in two cases from 1980.

The earliest Fort Worth case is dated 1953 and the latest was in 2004. The decade that had the most in Fort Worth was the 1990s, which had six.

Click here to see the database. 

-- Bill Miller

Fort Worth man added to state's Most Wanted Sex Offenders list

Derrick Dion Christopher, 38, described by the Texas Department of Public Safety as a high-risk sex offender, has been added to the state's list of the 10 Most Wanted Sex Offenders.

Christopher, last seen in Fort Worth, is well acquainted with the criminal justice system. In 2007, he was accused of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl in Tarrant County, though the charge was later reduced to indecency with a child, according to DPS. But his charges date back more than a decade. In 1994, Christopher was convicted of deadly conduct after discharging a firearm. In 1995, he was sentenced to five years in prison on a drug charge. He was paroled in 1998. Later that year, he was again arrested on a drug charge and sentenced to two years confinement and five years probation. In 2000, DPS reports that he heated a bottle cap and burnt the tops of two juveniles' feet bad enough that they needed hospital treatment. He was sentenced to five years in prison related to that account.

In 2010, the Fort Worth Police Department issued a warrant for his arrest for Failure to Register as a Sex Offender. Up to a $3,000 reward is offered for his capture. Call 1-800-252-TIPS (8477) with information on Christopher. 

Texas fugitive charged with murder, sex crimes with children

In Texas, Daniel U. Perez became a fugitive after being convicted in the 1990s of sex crimes against children. Now, the 52-year-old has been arrested in Kansas, accused of murder, rape and multiple counts of sex crimes against children, according to The Wichita Eagle. Police say Perez lived on a compound, where he murdered a 26-year-old woman who also lived there. He also faces 36 other charges including rape of a 10-year-old, sodomy of a 10-year-old and sexual exploitation of an 8-year-old, the newspaper reports. Neighbors have told police that an unusual number of deaths have been associated with Perez. In Texas, Perez was convicted in1997 of of multiple counts of felony indecency with a child but fled before sentencing.  

Chiropractor accused of sexual assault has license suspended

McKinney chiropractor David Russell is no longer allowed to treat patients, after the state Board of Chiropractic Examiners issued an emergency suspension of his license. The action came after Russell was arrested and indicted on two counts of sexual assault of a child, the board says. The order of suspension also says that the board has received additional complaints of sexual misconduct from patients other than those listed in the indictment. One person told the board that when she was 16, Russell made remarks about her bra and panties and then inappropriately touched her, according to the Order of Temporary Emergency Suspension.  -- Lois Norder

 

Costa Rica arrests doctor charged with child molestation in Texas

After Dr. German Moreno was arrested in 2005 on charges ranging from indecency with a child to sexual assault, he fled Texas. Since then, he's been operating a medical clinic in a tourism spot in Costa Rica, his native country, an investigation by the newspaper The Tico Times revealed. Now, Moreno has been arrested after a teen came forward in Costa Rica to say that Moreno had molested him. Costa Rica won't allow Texas to bring Moreno to trial here, though, saying the country's law shield him from extradition, Reuters reports.  Moreno had worked as a family doctor in the Houston area.

Mi. woman charged after offering 4-year-old daughter for sex

A Michigan woman allegedly offered her 4-year-old daughter for sex through a dating website.

Detroit TV news station WWJTV reports that 28-year-old Andrea Ziza sent a video of her and her daughter in a "compromising position" to a man she was chatting with on a dating website.

The man called police after seeing the video. The FBI became involved in the situation and detectives executed a search warrant at Ziza's home.

Ziza was arrested and charged with one count of sexually abusive activity with a child, two counts of using a computer in the commission of a crime and one count of accosting a child for immoral purposes.

She faces a maximum pentalty of 20 years in jail if convicted.

Ziza remains in jail with bail set at $50,000.

-Chance Welch

Police: Teacher may have victimized up to 70 kids in child porn

A teacher at an El Paso high school has been arrested on charges that he made and possessed child pornography and police say they've identified 65 to 70 children who may have been victimized by the man, the El Paso Times reported.

Marco Alferez, 34, was a teacher at Irvin High School.

Among the 98 videos found on his computer were some that showed children as young as elementary school age exposing their genitals and others allegedly show Alferez having sex with minors, the newspaper reported.

-- Lance Murray

City fears release of 100-year-old unrepentent child molester

An unrepentant 100-year-old convicted child molester will be released from prison soon and residents of Buffalo, N.Y., are concerned.

Officials say that Theodore A. Sypnier is healthy, active, able to walk for miles, capable of caring for himself and -- most of all -- likely to prey upon children again. He was sent to prison for molesting two young sisters who he was babysitting in 1999. He says his conviction was a miscarriage of justice and that he'd like to get to know his great-grandchildren, the Buffalo News reported.

-- Lance Murray