Perv And Protect

December 5, 2011

RFT

By Jonathan Kaminsky

Sergeant Vince Ariaz liked what he saw in fifteen-year-old “Maggie.” Eager to please, in awe of police work and seeking a trustworthy authority figure in her life, the shy brunette was an ideal fit for the Brownwood, Texas, Police Department’s Explorer program.

With nearly 2,000 law-enforcement Explorer posts and upward of 32,000 14- to 21-year-olds participating in the Boy Scouts–affiliated program each year, Maggie had entered a primary gateway into American law enforcement. The paunchy, gregarious 53-year-old sergeant who’d been running Brownwood’s Explorer program since its inception took pains to make her feel special. Rapidly promoting her through the ranks, he promised to get her into the police academy when she was of age. Soon he was taking her on ride-alongs nearly every night.

One morning in June 2007, six months into Maggie’s tenure, another Brownwood cop saw the girl — too young to have a driver’s license — at the wheel of Sgt. Ariaz’s squad car. Queasy, he contacted a Texas Ranger, John Nick Hanna, who was in the midst of a months-long investigation of Ariaz over allegations of sexual abuse.

Ariaz had been suspected of it for years. In 2004, according to court records, a fifteen-year-old Explorer told Brownwood Police Chief Virgil Cowin that Ariaz had forced himself on her one night when they were alone in the station house, kissing her, fondling her breasts and fingering her vagina. Cowin also knew of text messages Ariaz had sent the girl bragging about the size of his penis and how he intended to use it on her.

“You’re just a child,” the girl recalls Cowin telling her. “You’re just making it up.”

Her complaint went nowhere.

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Sweden Reopens WikiLeaks Founder Rape Investigation

September 1, 2010

Yahoo! News

by Simon Johnson & Patrick Lannin

A top Swedish prosecutor said on Wednesday she was reopening an investigation into rape allegations against Julian Assange, the founder of whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks published more than 70,000 secret military files on Afghanistan in July in what U.S. officials have called one of the biggest security breaches in U.S. military history.

Assange has denied the charges, which a lower official had withdrawn two weeks ago, and said he has been warned by Australian intelligence that he could face a campaign to discredit him after leaking the documents.

Neither Assange nor his lawyer could be immediately reached for comment.

Director of Public Prosecutions Marianne Ny said she decided to reopen the investigation after further review of the case.

“There is reason to believe that a crime has been committed. Considering information available at present, my judgment is that the classification of the crime is rape,” Ny said in a statement on the Prosecution Authority’s website.

“More investigations are necessary before a final decision can be made,” she added. She also said a preliminary investigation into charges of molestation would be expanded to sexual coercion and sexual molestation.

“The case has a high priority,” she told Reuters. She declined to say whether Assange had already been questioned or give further information.

Swedish Protection

Allegations of rape and molestation were brought against Assange, an Australian citizen, two weeks ago.

The more serious charge was dropped almost immediately, though prosecutors continued to look into the molestation charge.

WikiLeaks says it is an non-profit organization funded by human rights campaigners, journalists and the general public.

It promotes the leaking of information to fight government and corporate corruption. Earlier this year, it leaked a classified video showing a 2007 helicopter attack that killed a dozen people in Iraq, including two Reuters journalists.

Assange has been building a base in Sweden in order to benefit from its strict journalist protection laws.

Though he has given few interviews recently, a website, www.wikileaks.org, and a Twitter feed, www.twitter.com/wikileaks, occasionally release material.

The Twitter feed said on Tuesday that Assange had applied for a Swedish residency permit as part of efforts to boost legal protection for WikiLeaks.

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