Sunday, October 20, 2013

Court-appointed child molester

Here in this little California beach town, we have a court-appointed child molester:
SANTA CRUZ -- A local youth coach and child welfare advocate was rearrested Friday on suspicion of child molestation after allegedly abusing two minors he worked with as a court appointed special advocate, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office said.

Brian Criswell, 39, of Santa Cruz was arrested Oct. 4 on suspicion of child molestation after an initial investigation by sheriff's investigators, deputy Ryan Kennedy said.

Criswell posted $50,000 bail Oct. 8 but was rearrested Friday after a follow-up investigation revealed an additional victim, allegedly molested during a two-year period between 2009 and 2011, Kennedy said.

Criswell was a volunteer wrestling coach at Harbor High School until early October when he resigned in light of the investigation.

He was also an advocate for children at Court Appointed Special Advocates of Santa Cruz County. The organization trains volunteers to be advocates for abused or neglected children who have become dependents of the county. The advocates are supposed to ensure the child's needs are met.
Last month we had this:
A 47-year-old Marina man pleaded not guilty Wednesday to molesting a 15-year-old boy in downtown Santa Cruz during broad daylight.

Police arrested Johnny Camel around 8 p.m. Friday in the 400 block of Soquel Avenue, Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark said.

Camel was in Santa Cruz to attend a drug-abuse recovery facility, Clark said. Camel exited a bus at the Metro Center and started following the victim about 1:30 p.m., according to police. He made suggestive comments to the victim while following him for several blocks, Clark said. He eventually made contact with the victim, grabbed the boy's hand and placed it on his genitals , Clark said.

The victim ran away and called 911, Clark said.
The month before:
SANTA CRUZ -- A 57-year-old Soquel foster parent and school volunteer has been accused of molesting three boys, prosecutors said Monday.

Steven Irving Weissman was charged Monday with 10 counts of felony child molestation, adding to charges filed earlier in August.

Prosecutor Steve Moore said Weissman took advantage of children for more than 10 years.

"We're only on victim three, and we're interviewing a fourth victim," Moore told Judge Ariadne Symons during a bail hearing on Monday. "This is going to be an ongoing investigation."
Not even the surfers are safe, as we also had this:
Surf instructor Dylan David Greiner inappropriately touched a girl three times when she was 14 and 15 years old at a Santa Cruz beach, a park and a swimming hole in the San Lorenzo Valley, according to court documents filed this week.

Prosecutors have not alleged that he had sex with minors, but the documents trace an alleged relationship that started with a surf lesson on a girl's 14th birthday and spiraled into outings and sexual advances.

At Greiner's Westside home, she found a drawing of herself in a bikini, according to the documents.
I am not sure what to make of these stories. As with all criminal cases, I believe in innocence until proven guilty.

If they are really child molesters who did terrible things like anal rape, then I hope that they get locked up. But when the details are not revealed, I have no idea whether it is something trivial or serious.

I would hate to be a child advocate, or foster parent, or wrestling coach, or child psychologist, and be always under suspicion of being a child molester.

This shows that with all the mandated reporting, state databases, background checks, extensive interviews, etc, a court-appointed child advocate could still be a child molester. And I am not even counting psychologists like Bret Johnson and Ken Perlmutter, who legally molest kids thru bogus court process.

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