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Diocese settles in child sex abuse lawsuit

11-26-2011 Colorado:

A child sexual abuse lawsuit against the Diocese of San Angelo was settled Nov. 18 for an undisclosed amount. The lawsuit stemmed from allegations a former altar boy repeatedly was raped by the Rev. David Espitia as he was assigned at various churches throughout West Texas.

Espitia was found dead in his rectory June 13, 2003, just days after he told Bishop Michael Pfeifer of allegations coming forth against him. Authorities ruled his death a suicide, and the Colorado City Police Department later found hundreds of homosexual and child pornography images on his computer, according to court documents.

The assaults, according to plaintiff attorney Tahira Khan Merritt, spanned between 1994 to 2003, beginning when the boy was 7 or 8 until he was 16. Espitia was parochial vicar at St. Anthony and St. Joseph Catholic churches in Odessa, director of vocations and director of seminarians for the diocese and pastor at St. Ann's Parish in Colorado City, according to a press release from the plaintiff.

"Those assaults were never proven in any way legally; they were allegations," Pfeifer said. "We feel we could have defended ourselves had it gone on to the full process of trial."

Man Dead In Florissant Accused Of Sex Assault

11-26-2011 Colorado:

Relatives Identify Victim

FLORISSANT, Colo. -- A man is found dead in Florissant Saturday. His mother-in-law told TARGET 13 that he committed suicide after being accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl.

Betty McDonald identified the victim as Rocky Clark, 62. His body was discovered at about 11:30 a.m. near the lake of the Wilson Lakes subdivision, where Clark lived with his wife. McDonald told TARGET 13 that a teen in the neighborhood had accused Clark of sex assault.

"It was just more than he could handle," said McDonald. "He couldn't stand for the public to think poorly of him."

On Wednesday, the Teller County Sheriff's Office executed search warrants for Clark's home on Freeman Drive, as well as for two people who live there.

"We feel real good about what we've obtained, and we're going to go forward with it," said Sheriff Mike Ensminger on Thursday.

Murder-suicide suspected in 2 Jamestown deaths

Posted in Related Deaths
11-22-2011 Colorado:

BOULDER, Colo. — Boulder County sheriff's investigators say they believe a single mother whose body was found in Jamestown in September was sexually assaulted and killed by a sex offender who then killed himself.

County Coroner Emma Hall said Tuesday that 30-year-old Solange Haikkala died of blunt force trauma to the neck. Her body was found in her home Sept. 10, a day after she had attended a gathering that 35-year-old Thomas Altimus also attended. Altimus was found dead a few days later in a wooded area.

Hall said Tuesday that Altimus died of a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.

UPDATE: Wallis dead of self-inflicted wound

11-11-2011 Michigan:

(WZZM) -- The Newaygo County Sheriff's Department says Cecil Wallis Sr., 43, a person of interest in the Amanda Lankey murder who was to appear in court Thursday on separate sex assault charges, died in an apparent suicide before his court hearing.

Officials say Wallis' family was reported missing before his scheduled court hearing on sex assault charges.

Deputies found his body in a remote area of Goodwell Township in Newaygo county at 10 a.m. Thursday.

They say their preliminary investigation is that Wallis died of a self-inflicted wound.

Wallis' death is still under investigation pending autopsy results.

(WZZM) -- Newaygo County workers say Cecil Wallis Sr., a person of interest in the Amanda Lankey murder who was to appear in court Thursday on separate sex assault charges, has died before the court hearing.

The administrative assistant to Sheriff Michael Mercer confirms that Wallis died Thursday. She says county officials will release more information later Thursday afternoon.

Wallis was arrested in late October on charges he sexually assaulted two minors between 1998 and 2002.

Prosecutors say the sex assault charges were the result of leads generated by investigators looking into the cold case murder of Amanda Lankey, but are not part of the Lankey case.

Lankey was last seen at Wallis' house on June 21, 2004. Mushroom hunters found her body weeks later in the Manistee National Forest.

Investigators have said Wallis Sr. and his son, Cecil Wallis Jr., were both persons of interest in the Lankey case.

We have crews working the story, and will have more online and on WZZM 13 News at 6 p.m. ..Source.. by WZZM 13 ONLINE

Man facing rape charge found dead in garage

11-3-2011 Ohio:

DAYTON — Police found a man facing charges of raping a child 21 years ago dead in his garage Wednesday afternoon.

William N. Dillemuth, 58, had been indicted by a Greene County grand jury in June on charges arising from the alleged 1990 rape. He had pleaded not guilty to rape and gross sexual imposition.

When he did not appear at a Wednesday hearing, his attorney asked Dayton police to check on him and, if he answered the door, to have him contact the attorney.

When police arrived in the 1700 block of Coventry Road, they found a note on the door saying he was in the garage. Entering the garage, police found Dillemuth dead. A suicide note and legal papers were found in the garage and his unlocked house. There was no evidence of foul play, according to police.

If convicted, Dillemuth was facing up to 25 years in prison. ..Source.. by Doug Page, Staff Writer

Charles Berlinghoff dead in apparent hanging at jail

11-4-2011 California:

Charles David Berlinghoff died early today after apparently hanging himself inside Shasta County jail, the Redding Police Department said.

Berlinghoff, 45, accused of disappearing from Redding with his now 16-year-old niece for a month late last year and having repeated sex with her, was charged with 87 felony counts, including felony unlawful detention of a minor, incest and lewd acts with a minor.

Police said a corrections officer at the jail was doing an hourly check at about 12:12 a.m. today and found Berlinghoff hanging from a bed sheet in his cell. Berlinghoff was the only person in the locked cell at the time, Redding police Sgt. Brian Barner said.

Medics at the jail attempted to revive Berlinghoff, who was taken to a Redding hospital and pronounced dead, Barner said.

Redding police were named the lead investigators in the hanging under Shasta County's interagency, officer-involved critical incident protocol, Barner said.

The jail is referring all questions on the hanging to Redding police, a receptionist said this morning.

Investigators interviewed 29 inmates who have had contact with Berlinghoff during the past few days, Barner said, adding that police learned Berlinghoff had been depressed about his current court case.

Sheriff Tom Bosenko said this afternoon Berlinghoff had not exhibited any signs of suicidal behavior and was not under a suicide watch at the jail.

He also said he was unaware of Berlinghoff leaving behind a suicide note, but adding that the investigation is continuing.

Berlinghoff's death comes only five days shy of the one-year anniversary of his much-publicized Nov. 10, 2010 disappearance with his niece.

Berlinghoff, who had been in custody since December of last year, was scheduled to stand trial Jan. 10 in his sex-crime case.

He faced up to 40 years if convicted, Barner said.

A San Bernardino resident who once lived in Red Bluff, Berlinghoff allegedly started a sexual relationship with his niece last fall.

Although the girl's name was widely reported while she was missing last year, the Record Searchlight is now withholding her identity because it has been alleged she is the victim of sex crimes.

Meanwhile, Berlinghoff's brother, Jacob Berlinghoff, 34, declined this morning to discuss his brother's death.

"I have no comment right now," he said. He also said immediate family members did not want to talk about their relative's death.

The twin sister of Charles Blerlinghoff, who lives in Florida, did not reply to an email sent to her by the Record Searchlight asking he she wanted to discuss her brother and his death.

Jacob Berlinghoff himself is slated to begin standing trial on Jan. 24 for allegedly fondling his then-13-year-old daughter three years ago.

His daughter accused him of forcing her to drink hard liquor and touching her bare breast under her shirt, as well as her inner thigh, as punishment for bringing alcohol to school in September 2008.

He faces a maximum of eight years in prison if convicted.

His daughter lodged her allegations against him after she and her uncle were found in San Francisco last year following their disappearance.

He has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges against him.

Shasta County Senior Public Defender Max Ruffcorn Sr., who represented Charles Berlinghoff in his sex-crime case, could not be reached for comment this morning about his client's death.

But Charles Berlinghoff and Ruffcorn had a rocky relationship with Berlinghoff recently filing federal lawsuit against him and the public defender's office, claiming professional negligence and legal malpractice.

In his lawsuit, Berlinghoff claimed that Ruffcorn had slandered and defamed his character and labeled his defense attorney as a “surrogate prosecutor.”

He also claimed that Ruffcorn had been trying to pressure him into taking a plea bargain “for crimes I am not guilty of and to which he has evidence of my innocence.”

Berlinghoff, who was representing himself in his civil lawsuit, was seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Shasta County District Attorney Stephen Carlton said he learned of Berlinghoff’s death late this morning.

“I’m shocked,” he said. "I'm just shocked. Nobody wants that kind of outcome.”

But Carlton also said he does not believe Berlinghoff’s death will have much of an effect, if any, in the case against Jacob Berlinghoff.

“I can’t see it,” he said.

Deputy District Attorney Curtis Woods, who was handling both cases and learned of Berlinghoff's death around 5:30 a.m., agreed, saying the case against Jacob Berlinghoff would not be affected.

"I don't see why it would," he said.

Berlinghoff's suicide is the second in-custody death at the jail in two days.

Around noon on Friday, an inmate was found unconscious in a single-occupied medical cell and was later pronounced dead at Mercy Medical Center.

But Bosenko said the inmate's death was not an apparent suicide and there were no signs of foul play.

His name has not yet been released, and an autopsy is scheduled to be conducted early next week.

Bosenko said the sheriff's office was investigating that death, noting that he did not ask RPD to investigate because the inmate's death did not appear to be a suicide or a homicide.

Although Berlinghoff was involved in a minor jail fight with another inmate in July, Bosenko said he had no other reports of Berlinghoff causing trouble at the jail while he had been in custody.

He did say, however, that Berlinghoff staged a three-day hunger strike after he was initially arrested and booked into jail last year.

"I don't know what he was protesting," Bosenko said. ..Source.. by Sean Longoria

Police: Late podiatrist investigated about pandering obscene materials involving minor

10-4-2011 Ohio:

A local podiatrist who committed suicide earlier this month is the subject of an ongoing investigation about possibly pandering obscene materials involving a minor, police said.

Dr. James Revelas, 51, of Norwalk, was found dead about 9 a.m. Oct. 7 of what authorities say was a self-inflicted gun shot wound to the chest. Authorities have said foul play is not suspected.

About one month before Revelas killed himself, the Norwalk Police Department received a complaint from a "concerned parent about an incident that occurred in the city of Norwalk," according to a one-sentence police report. Detective Sgt. Dave Pigman's report doesn't elaborate on the nature of the incident or list Revelas as a suspect, but the report indicates the incident allegedly happened Sept. 8 and classifies it under "sex offenses and pandering obscenity."

Chief Dave Light was asked if Revelas is the subject of an investigation on pandering obscene materials involving a minor.

"That's the allegation," the chief said.

While he didn't elaborate, Light said the citizen's complaint "sparked the start of the investigation." He said the probe had just started when Revelas committed suicide.

The chief said police have "a job to do" and that is to determine if a crime has been committed.

Detective Sgt. Jim Fulton, in an interview last week with the Reflector, made a similar comment.

"Even though he (Revelas) is deceased, we are going to complete our investigation," Fulton said. "At this point, we don't know if a crime was committed. We have to evaluate the evidence."

As first reported by the Reflector, the investigation started soon after the complaint was filed. A computer expert with the Ohio Bureau of Identification and Investigation (BCI&I) visited Norwalk that week.

Undisclosed evidence, which was submitted to BCI&I about four weeks ago, is being processed by the state agency.

Once the results are back from BCI&I, Light said "we'll go over every bit of it."

"We're at a complete standstill until we get the results back," he said. "We want to wrap this one up as soon as possible."

Light was asked if the investigation had an influence on Revelas committing suicide.

"No comment," he said.

Police were notified of the doctor's suicide when a man, who is employed to check on the security of the former Big Lots building, found Revelas' body at the U.S. 20 facility.

Revelas practiced in Norwalk, Sandusky and Bellevue.

"He had operated on six people from our department ... in a professional capacity," Light said.

"I wouldn't just say there was nothing but good things to say about him, but outstanding things," Light said. "He wasn't just a doctor, he was in touch with the whole community."

Revelas treated Detective Seth Fry for a personal foot injury. When the doctor learned that Fry later had a work-related knee injury, Revelas and his wife brought the detective a dinner, Light said.

"That's the kind of guy he was. ... That's very, very thoughtful of him," the chief added.

When the police department learned about Revelas' suicide, Light said "a lot of the guys" were upset by the news.

"We've all been taken back a bit," he said.

Born Sept. 4, 1960 in Youngstown, Revelas came to the area in 1990 from Sheffield Lake.

Considered a virtuoso violinist, he was a former member of the Youngstown Symphony, Bellevue Symphony and Heidelberg Orchestra. Revelas also enjoyed playing Greek music in multiple groups and bands throughout the country and enjoyed playing golf. ..Source.. by Cary Ashby

Suspected serial rapist Billy Balidbid commits suicide

11-4-2011 Ohio:

LEBANON — Suspected serial rapist Billy Balidbid, convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl, committed suicide in his cell at Lebanon Correctional Institution, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Balidbid, 27, of Fairborn, had been serving an 18-year prison sentence since Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Gregory F. Singer sentenced him in February.

Balidbid, who hanged himself in his cell, had been in segregation since Nov. 1 for fighting, said JoEllen Smith, spokeswoman for the corrections department. Prison staff found him about 2 a.m., and Turtle Creek EMS pronounced him dead at 3:05 a.m.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol, which has jurisdiction in state prisons, will investigate Balidbid’s death, and the prison will do an internal review, though there are no signs that staff violated any policies or procedures, Smith said.

Balidbid had been in trouble at least one other time. He was in segregation from July 12 through July 21 for refusing to go back to his cell, Smith said.

A lawsuit filed by the girl against two Belmont High School officials, claiming they were negligent in allowing her to walk home after she was suspended the day of the attack, is still pending.

Balidbid, a native of the Philippines, was to be deported after he served his prison term.

At sentencing, Singer said the girl experienced “the worst nightmare.” Beth Henterly, a victim-witness advocate with the prosecutor’s office, told Singer the victim had tried to write a victim-impact statement, but found it to be too distressing.

Balidbid apologized to the “girl I hurt” and her parents. But Singer said the pre-sentencing investigation, done after Balidbid’s guilty pleas, showed that Balidbid still claimed the encounter was consensual.

The judge also declined to give Balidbid concurrent sentences, ordering him to serve the 10 years on the rape charge and the 8 years for the kidnapping consecutively.

“There has been no remorse from the defendant in this case,” Singer said. “The court finds that concurrent sentences would not adequately punish the defendant.”

Balidbid had been before Singer for a pretrial hearing Jan. 13 when he pleaded guilty to both indicted charges: rape and kidnapping. In exchange, assistant county prosecutors agreed not to file charges stemming from attacks on several prostitutes.

The indicted charges all concerned the 15-year-old girl, who was not a prostitute. Balidbid attacked her Sept. 17, 2010 in a vacant house at 156 Boltin St., according to police.

With the help of the girl, police developed a composite sketch that was released to the public. Several tips came in, including some from prostitutes who said they had been beaten and abused by Balidbid, according to the prosecutor’s office.

From interviews with other prostitutes, police got a clear picture of where the man liked to pick up prostitutes, though they did not have his name. The Special Victims Unit and Vice Unit detectives set up a sting.

About 6:15 a.m. on Oct. 8, Balidbid drove up to an officer disguised as a prostitute and detectives arrested him.

Police arrested Balidbid on Oct. 8, 2010 and he remained in Montgomery County Jail until he was sentenced.

After five hours of questioning, Balidbid gave investigators enough information to connect him to at least five rapes dating back to early summer, police said in October. ..Source.. by Lou Grieco

Man Arrested On Child Sex Charge Shoots Self At Walmart

11-2-2011 Ohio:

COLUMBUS, Ohio - 10TV learned on Wednesday that Christopher Hayhurst was charged with a felony child sex crime day before he committed suicide.

Christopher L Hayhurst shot and killed himself Monday afternoon at the Carriage Place shopping Center outside the Walmart at 2700 Bethel Road.

The 38-year-old had been charged with fourth degree felony of pandering sexually oriented materials involving a minor on October 25th, 10TV reported.

According to court documents obtained by 10TV, investigators arrested Hayhurst after they reportedly found 40 videos and 10 photos with images of prepubescent children in various sexual acts in his possession.

Hayhurst was arraigned on the charge October 26th and was to be back in court on November 4th, 10TV Reported. ..Source.. by 10TV News