ReportWire

Tag: Child sexual exploitation

  • 4 Carnival crew members removed from cruise ship, allegedly possessed child pornography

    [ad_1]

    Four Carnival Cruise Line crew members were removed from a ship in Baltimore by border security officials.

    Customs and Border Protection inspected the Carnival Pride ship on Sept. 7, “based off intelligence that crew members were in possession of child sexual exploitation material,” the law enforcement organization told USA TODAY.

    “After boarding the vessel and interviewing four suspected crew members, officers confirmed they had received and viewed the exploitation material,” the emailed statement continued.

    CBP did not specify whether any criminal charges had been filed against the crew members. “This is a law enforcement matter of which we always cooperate, and we defer to the authorities for further comment,” Carnival said in an emailed statement.

    The news comes after nearly 30 Carnival crew members were detained in recent months in Norfolk, Virginia, The Virginian-Pilot reported in August. The Southern California-based Pilipino Workers Center told the outlet at the time that the crew members had also been accused of possessing child pornography, which they denied, and that they were not charged with any crimes.

    The organization did not respond to multiple requests for comment from USA TODAY. “U.S. Customs and Border Protection is involved in ongoing cruise vessel operations where we enforce immigration law,” CBP told USA TODAY at the time. “The crewmembers were found inadmissible and were denied entry to the United States.”

    CBP also removed crew members working aboard at least two ships in the Great Lakes in July, but did not share reasons for the removals at the time. The incidents have taken place amid President Donald Trump‘s nationwide crackdown on immigration.

    A number of crew members from various cruise lines have been arrested on child pornography charges in recent months. Anthony Salisbury, then special agent in charge at Homeland Security Investigations Miami, told USA TODAY in August 2024 that child exploitation was “significantly higher across the board,” not just in the cruise industry.

    Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@usatoday.com.

    This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 4 Carnival crew removed after allegedly receiving child pornography

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Greek police nab German suspect sought on 4 arrest warrants

    Greek police nab German suspect sought on 4 arrest warrants

    [ad_1]

    THESSALONIKI, Greece — Greek police say that they have arrested a 35-year-old German citizen who has four outstanding arrest warrants on him for fraud and cybercrime, three from Germany and one international.

    The Thessaloniki police’s organized crime and human trafficking division announced Saturday they had found over 1,000 photos and videos of child pornography in the suspect’s cellphone when he was arrested Thursday.

    The man, who had settled in Greece since 2019, was jailed pending review of the extradition requests. He also faces a Greek prosecutor next week on charges of impersonating both a German and a Greek police officer.

    The suspect, whose mother was Greek, had been showing what proved to be a fake German police officer’s ID on across northern Greece, claiming he was a part of a special unit investigating networks of pedophiles. He also impersonated a Greek policeman, recently checking into a hospital wearing a police uniform, which was found in his home.

    Police say they also found in the suspect’s car and home two license plates purporting to be from German state vehicles, at least one of which was fake, as well as fake salary payment statements from German state authorities.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Prominent Chicago priest accused of sexual abuse of minor

    Prominent Chicago priest accused of sexual abuse of minor

    [ad_1]

    CHICAGO — A Catholic priest who gained national fame as an activist has been asked to step away from his ministry while allegations that he sexually abused a minor decades ago are investigated.

    The development came a little more than a year after another probe cleared the priest, the Rev. Michael Pfleger, of allegations that he sexually abused children.

    In a letter sent Saturday, Cardinal Blase Cupich said Pfleger was asked to relinquish his duties at the church, Faith Community of Saint Sabina, after allegations were made that he sexually abused a minor decades ago.

    Pfleger “has agreed to cooperate fully with this request,” Cupich said, adding that the archdiocese has notified the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and law enforcement officials as required by archdiocese policies.

    The accuser is a man in his late 40s who said Pfleger on two occasions abused him in the late 1980s during choir rehearsals in the Saint Sabina rectory, according to a statement released by a spokesperson for the man’s attorney, Eugene Hollander. The attorney did not elaborate on the allegations.

    In his own statement to the parish on the city’s South Side that he has led for decades, Pfleger said he had done nothing wrong.

    “Let me be clear – I am completely innocent of this accusation,” he wrote, telling his parish he was confident that the allegation would be “determined to be unfounded” and that he would be reinstated.

    Pfleger, who is white, leads a Black church in Chicago’s largely Black and low-income Auburn Gresham neighborhood. His activism captured the attention of film director Spike Lee, who based a character played by actor John Cusack in the 2015 film “Chi-Raq” on Pfleger.

    Pfleger has made national headlines for his activism on an array of issues, opposing cigarette and alcohol advertising, taking on drug dealers and stores that sell drug paraphernalia, and leading countless protests. He has even been sued for his activism and once said it “has resulted in jealousy, attacks and hate.”

    In May of last year, four months after Pfleger was asked to step aside from his duties while similar allegations involving a minor more than 40 years earlier were investigated, he was reinstated by the archdiocese after the probe found “insufficient reason to suspect” he sexually abused children.

    [ad_2]

    Source link