Ex-Jersey City man, N.Y. woman accused in sex attacks on child

Former Jersey City resident Dean Sacco and a New York woman face numerous federal charges concerning the prostitution of a girl and production of child pornography.

The FBI arrested Sacco, 49, and Linda O’Connor, 46, both of Norwich, N.Y., on Feb. 10. They appeared in court in Binghamton last week and pleaded not guilty.

O’Connor is accused of forcing the girl to have sex with Sacco, her landlord, because O’Connor was behind on her rent payments, according to a report in the Press & Sun-Bulletin of Binghamton, N.Y.

As he was being loaded into a police van after Friday’s court appearance, Sacco shouted to reporters that the girl was lying.

“The lady’s not guilty, and I’m not guilty, and the girl’s taking everybody on one heck of an incredible ride,” Sacco yelled to television cameras from Binghamton’s WBNG. “So she’s lying? Yes, for what reasons I don’t know.”

Sacco is accused of buying a child for sex, sex trafficking of a child, producing child pornography, driving over state lines to have sex with a minor and possessing child pornography. O’Connor is accused of selling a child for sex, sex trafficking, two counts of producing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography.

If convicted on all counts, the pair face up to life in prison.

An investigation was launched into Sacco and O’Connor when the girl, now 14 and in foster care, asked a teacher, “If someone older is having sex with someone younger, is it the younger person’s fault?”

The girl later told federal officials Sacco began having sex with her in August 2006, when she was 12.

The girl’s relationship to O’Connor is being withheld to preserve the girl’s identity. O’Connor rented an apartment in Norwich from Sacco beginning in August 2006, according to the Press & Sun-Bulletin.

The girl described several occasions in which O’Connor allegedly sent her to Sacco for sex, including as a means of paying back rent she owed him for her apartment in his Norwich building. She told police Sacco threatened to kill her if she did not comply.

“Dean told me he was going to stab me and that while I was dying, he was going to slowly rape me,” the girl told investigators, the Press & Sun-Bulletin reported.

In the transcript, the victim also told FBI agents O’Connor would take pictures while Sacco raped her.

She would then put the camera down and get involved, the girl said.

She also said that on two other occasions, O’Connor drove her to a hotel in Johnson City, N.Y., where she had sex with strangers after they paid O’Connor. The girl said one man paid $150; she didn’t know how much the other man paid, the Press & Sun-Bulletin reported.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Miroslav Lovric of the Northern District of New York told the Jersey Journal investigators are trying to identify and track down those men.

Jason M. Lee – PIMP – Repeat Sex Offender

Sarah Tofte of the Human Rights Watch says 25% of all sex offenders
re-offend within 15 years

Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Nadine Allen noticed a man lurking in the back of her courtroom as she was getting ready to send a woman to jail Tuesday for domestic violence.

When the judge stopped the proceedings to ask the man who he was, it started a conversation that led to the man’s arrest and the judge’s assertions that he may be preying on young women to run a sex ring.

“For 21 years (as a judge), I’ve been trying to catch a pimp and I finally did,” the judge said today.

She ordered Jason M. Lee 28, of Harrison, a registered sex offender, arrested in her courtroom and had him hauled to jail.

The story began with a 20-year-old standing before Allen on Tuesday to be sentenced for domestic violence.

The woman was accused of assaulting her mother and grandmother who, the judge said, were trying to keep her in the house.

“They knew that she was out there prostituting,” the judge said, adding the woman has prior prostitution convictions.

“This case involved her drug relapse,” the judge said.

When Allen Tuesday asked the woman who Lee was and what his involvement in her case was, the woman’s mother said Lee posted her daughter’s bond even though he was a stranger – and that he got his daughter’s name by searching the Hamilton County Clerk of Court’s web site.

Court documents show Lee posted the woman’s $100 bond Oct. 27.

“Jason Lee took her that day (her bond was posted) and forced her to have sex with his friends,” the judge said.

The friends, the judge added, then gave Lee money and drugs for the sex.

“My fear,” Allen said, “is that this guy has done this for other girls, posting bond for girls he finds on our web site.

“It’s possible that there is a sex ring going on.”

Hamilton County Sheriff’s officials, though, are confused.

Spokesman Steve Barnett said Lee was arrested in Allen’s courtroom yesterday but was that was for outstanding arrest warrants.

No new charges were brought against Lee as a result of the judge’s story.

Barnett said deputies couldn’t charge Lee with any new crimes involving Allen’s comments because the 20-year-old woman refused to cooperate with police unless the judge let her out of jail.

The judge sentenced the woman Tuesday to 180 days in jail, but refused to let her out.

When the woman heard that, she refused to give police information about Lee.
Lee was wanted for probation violations involving drug charges.

Lee is a registered sex offender, Allen said, because of convictions in 2000 for importuning and corruption of a minor.

Jason M. Lee – PIMP – Repeat Sex Offender

Sarah Tofte of the Human Rights Watch says 25% of all sex offenders
re-offend within 15 years

Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Nadine Allen noticed a man lurking in the back of her courtroom as she was getting ready to send a woman to jail Tuesday for domestic violence.

When the judge stopped the proceedings to ask the man who he was, it started a conversation that led to the man’s arrest and the judge’s assertions that he may be preying on young women to run a sex ring.

“For 21 years (as a judge), I’ve been trying to catch a pimp and I finally did,” the judge said today.

She ordered Jason M. Lee 28, of Harrison, a registered sex offender, arrested in her courtroom and had him hauled to jail.

The story began with a 20-year-old standing before Allen on Tuesday to be sentenced for domestic violence.

The woman was accused of assaulting her mother and grandmother who, the judge said, were trying to keep her in the house.

“They knew that she was out there prostituting,” the judge said, adding the woman has prior prostitution convictions.

“This case involved her drug relapse,” the judge said.

When Allen Tuesday asked the woman who Lee was and what his involvement in her case was, the woman’s mother said Lee posted her daughter’s bond even though he was a stranger – and that he got his daughter’s name by searching the Hamilton County Clerk of Court’s web site.

Court documents show Lee posted the woman’s $100 bond Oct. 27.

“Jason Lee took her that day (her bond was posted) and forced her to have sex with his friends,” the judge said.

The friends, the judge added, then gave Lee money and drugs for the sex.

“My fear,” Allen said, “is that this guy has done this for other girls, posting bond for girls he finds on our web site.

“It’s possible that there is a sex ring going on.”

Hamilton County Sheriff’s officials, though, are confused.

Spokesman Steve Barnett said Lee was arrested in Allen’s courtroom yesterday but was that was for outstanding arrest warrants.

No new charges were brought against Lee as a result of the judge’s story.

Barnett said deputies couldn’t charge Lee with any new crimes involving Allen’s comments because the 20-year-old woman refused to cooperate with police unless the judge let her out of jail.

The judge sentenced the woman Tuesday to 180 days in jail, but refused to let her out.

When the woman heard that, she refused to give police information about Lee.
Lee was wanted for probation violations involving drug charges.

Lee is a registered sex offender, Allen said, because of convictions in 2000 for importuning and corruption of a minor.

Angelo Crawford – Top 10 Most Wanted Sex Offender List – CAPTURED

A 51-year-old Worcester man on the state’s Top 10 Most Wanted Sex Offender List was arrested yesterday at a motel in Malden, two days after his name first appeared on the roster, State Police said.

Angelo Crawford, whom police had been seeking for the past three years, was arrested at Town Line Motel on outstanding warrants. The charges are two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under age 14, assault and battery with a knife, selling sex, intimidating a witness, and failing to register as a sex offender.

There were four outstanding arrest warrants, from Suffolk Superior Court, Boston District Court, and Worcester District Court.

Troopers said they began receiving tips about his whereabouts shortly after posting his name and picture on the Top 10 Most Wanted Sex Offender List. Crawford has been classified as a Level 3 sex offender, a category the state uses to define those with a “high risk” of committing future sex crimes.

“Sometimes it takes a long time to find people who don’t want to be found,” said Trooper Eric Benson, a State Police spokesman. “Since his name went on the list, this was very fast. It was outstanding, extraordinary.”

He said the tips sent investigators to Mattapan, Roxbury, Cambridge, and eventually the motel in Malden, where Crawford had been living. Troopers arrested him shortly after midnight without incident.

Troopers booked Crawford at the State Police barracks in Danvers, where he was held without bail. Crawford will be arraigned in Salem District Court tomorrow.

Angelo Crawford – Top 10 Most Wanted Sex Offender List – CAPTURED

A 51-year-old Worcester man on the state’s Top 10 Most Wanted Sex Offender List was arrested yesterday at a motel in Malden, two days after his name first appeared on the roster, State Police said.

Angelo Crawford, whom police had been seeking for the past three years, was arrested at Town Line Motel on outstanding warrants. The charges are two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under age 14, assault and battery with a knife, selling sex, intimidating a witness, and failing to register as a sex offender.

There were four outstanding arrest warrants, from Suffolk Superior Court, Boston District Court, and Worcester District Court.

Troopers said they began receiving tips about his whereabouts shortly after posting his name and picture on the Top 10 Most Wanted Sex Offender List. Crawford has been classified as a Level 3 sex offender, a category the state uses to define those with a “high risk” of committing future sex crimes.

“Sometimes it takes a long time to find people who don’t want to be found,” said Trooper Eric Benson, a State Police spokesman. “Since his name went on the list, this was very fast. It was outstanding, extraordinary.”

He said the tips sent investigators to Mattapan, Roxbury, Cambridge, and eventually the motel in Malden, where Crawford had been living. Troopers arrested him shortly after midnight without incident.

Troopers booked Crawford at the State Police barracks in Danvers, where he was held without bail. Crawford will be arraigned in Salem District Court tomorrow.

Angelo Crawford – Top 10 Most Wanted Sex Offender List – CAPTURED

A 51-year-old Worcester man on the state’s Top 10 Most Wanted Sex Offender List was arrested yesterday at a motel in Malden, two days after his name first appeared on the roster, State Police said.

Angelo Crawford, whom police had been seeking for the past three years, was arrested at Town Line Motel on outstanding warrants. The charges are two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under age 14, assault and battery with a knife, selling sex, intimidating a witness, and failing to register as a sex offender.

There were four outstanding arrest warrants, from Suffolk Superior Court, Boston District Court, and Worcester District Court.

Troopers said they began receiving tips about his whereabouts shortly after posting his name and picture on the Top 10 Most Wanted Sex Offender List. Crawford has been classified as a Level 3 sex offender, a category the state uses to define those with a “high risk” of committing future sex crimes.

“Sometimes it takes a long time to find people who don’t want to be found,” said Trooper Eric Benson, a State Police spokesman. “Since his name went on the list, this was very fast. It was outstanding, extraordinary.”

He said the tips sent investigators to Mattapan, Roxbury, Cambridge, and eventually the motel in Malden, where Crawford had been living. Troopers arrested him shortly after midnight without incident.

Troopers booked Crawford at the State Police barracks in Danvers, where he was held without bail. Crawford will be arraigned in Salem District Court tomorrow.

Jacob Silva – Soccer Coach – Child Predator

A Concord police detective testified in court yesterday that the laptop and computer hard drive used by accused soccer coach Jacob Silva is “heavily loaded” with child pornography. And there are still 8,000 videos on Silva’s laptop the police have not yet reviewed, according to Detective Mark Dumas.

Dumas said the investigation against Silva, who is accused of soliciting child pornography from players of the Concord-based Express Soccer Club, has expanded beyond New England and is likely to be taken over by the federal authorities. Silva was a coach with that club for four years but coached in many other capacities elsewhere.

He was also recently in touch with 250 teenage boys on a Facebook website he maintained under the alias “Jamie,” a 15-year-old girl, Dumas said.

Silva, 27, of Manchester was in Concord District Court yesterday with attorney Peter Anderson in hopes of getting his $130,000 cash-only bail reduced so he could be home for Christmas. Anderson said while the charges against Silva are serious, he asked Judge Gerard Boyle to consider that Silva did turn himself in and has not been charged with sexual assault.

At the close of yesterday’s hearing, Boyle told Silva he had intended to lower the bail until Dumas testified about the discovery of child pornography. Instead, Boyle kept bail at $130,000 cash only.

Silva was arrested Dec. 14 and charged with 26 offenses that included soliciting child pornography, prohibited computer use, endangering the welfare of a child and prostitution. The charges identified 10 male victims, ages 13 to 16, and allege that Silva used an online site to ask the teenagers to expose themselves, create a video or photo of themselves masturbating, and simulate sex acts with another person.

In some cases, Silva communicated with the boys online while pretending to be “Jamie,” Dumas said.

Thursday afternoon, the case was transferred to the Merrimack County Superior Court when a grand jury indicted Silva on 22 charges alleging most of the same conduct. Four of the earlier charges did not make the indictment: two for prostitution, one for criminal solicitation and one for prohibited computer use for allegedly using a computer to entice a child to commit indecent exposure.

The other charges remain: 10 counts of prohibited computer use; six counts of endangering the welfare of a child; five counts of criminal solicitation; and one count of prostitution. Each carries a prison sentence of 3½ to 7 years.

The police seized Silva’s laptop computer and hard drive from his Manchester home in early December, after three former players of the Express Soccer Club told club president Gary Hirshberg of Concord that they’d had inappropriate communications with Silva. Hirshberg and Paul Maggiotto, the club’s vice president, immediately alerted the police and the nearly 300 parents whose children play in the soccer club.

Ever since, the police have been examining the computer equipment, talking to the alleged victims and reaching out to authorities in other jurisdictions where Silva has coached.

Dumas described the images that have been reviewed as pornographic, with male genitalia. In addition to the images, videos and deleted files found on Silva’s computer equipment, Dumas said the police found troubling evidence on Silva’s Facebook account. Facebook keeps records of its users’ online activities for only 90 days, Dumas said. But in that three-month window, Silva amassed a list of 250 “friends” – all male high school students, Dumas said.

Those “friends” go to a variety of high schools and do not include any of the 10 boys already identified in the criminal charges, Dumas said. “The scope of this investigation is overwhelming,” Dumas said yesterday in court. “It’s spreading across the U.S.”

Dumas said he believes Silva has been conducting inappropriate communications with teenage boys for a number of years because the police have talked with alleged victims just starting to play soccer as well as college students who played for Silva years ago.

Dumas said the police are concerned that other alleged victims will be reluctant to come forward because males have trouble discussing “male-on-male” misconduct. The police are also concerned for some of the known victims and have helped them connect with counselors, Dumas said.

Silva appeared in court yesterday in jail-issued orange pants and T-shirt. Silva did not address the court. Anderson said Silva would like to post bail and resume his own counseling with a psychologist. Silva is being held at the Merrimack County jail.

Former N.H. soccer coach charged with prostitution, pornography

A former New Hampshire soccer coach has been charged with prostitution and child pornography.

more stories like this

Police arrested 27-year-old Jacob Silva of Manchester on Friday and charged him with 26 offenses stemming from allegations of misconduct while he coached for the Concord-based Express Soccer Club.

Police say they have identified 11 victims. Soccer club officials say the misconduct may have been over a four-year period. Club president Gary Hirschberg says Silva allegedly pretended to be a girl in online communications with male soccer players. He says Silva allegedly sent explicit photos of a young girl to the boys and asked them to send him similar photos of themselves. He says some of the boys complied.

Silva faces 11 counts of using the computer to entice a child to commit indecent exposure, six counts of endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly soliciting sex, six counts of soliciting children to engage in child pornography and three counts of prostitution for allegedly offering to pay someone under 18 to engage in sex.

Police have not charged him with physical misconduct.

The soccer club is a nonprofit that kids pay to join from Concord and about 20 other communities.

Former N.H. soccer coach charged with prostitution, pornography

A former New Hampshire soccer coach has been charged with prostitution and child pornography.

more stories like this

Police arrested 27-year-old Jacob Silva of Manchester on Friday and charged him with 26 offenses stemming from allegations of misconduct while he coached for the Concord-based Express Soccer Club.

Police say they have identified 11 victims. Soccer club officials say the misconduct may have been over a four-year period. Club president Gary Hirschberg says Silva allegedly pretended to be a girl in online communications with male soccer players. He says Silva allegedly sent explicit photos of a young girl to the boys and asked them to send him similar photos of themselves. He says some of the boys complied.

Silva faces 11 counts of using the computer to entice a child to commit indecent exposure, six counts of endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly soliciting sex, six counts of soliciting children to engage in child pornography and three counts of prostitution for allegedly offering to pay someone under 18 to engage in sex.

Police have not charged him with physical misconduct.

The soccer club is a nonprofit that kids pay to join from Concord and about 20 other communities.

Sex offender arrested after fleeing into Washington High

Charges were pending late Tuesday against a registered sex offender who was subdued after running into a classroom at Booker T. Washington High School while fleeing Houston police.

Raymond Brown, 32, was taken into custody by a campus police officer and two ROTC instructors at the north Houston school. No one was injured, said Houston Independent School District officials.

Brown faces charges of trespassing, assaulting an officer and resisting and evading arrest. He was on parole after being convicted of compelling prostitution from a 15-year-old girl in 2002, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Brown entered an annex building at the school because a student had exited a back door that typically is locked, district officials said. He then forced his way into a classroom as the teacher tried to lock the door to protect the 30 students inside, said Principal Mark Bedell.

HISD police officer Samuel Glaze and Reserve Officers’ Training Corps instructors Kevin Bedell and James Harris restrained Brown after students and a teacher reported an intruder, the principal said.

Brown was fleeing Houston police officers who had sought to question him, said HPD spokesman Gabe Ortiz.