ESSEX, MD— Authorities in Baltimore County have charged an Essex police officer with rape. Officer Anthony Michael Westerman, 25, has been charged with two counts of second-degree rape and three counts of second-degree assault. Westerman has been employed by the Baltimore County Police Department since 2013. His most recent assignment was at the Essex Precinct. This case was initiated when police in Baltimore County received information concerning the allegations. The Special

A Maryland pastor who allegedly tried to rape a young girl in his congregation told her that the demons inside her made him do it, according to police. Octavio Cantarero, a 42-year-old pastor at the Iglesia Pentecostal Principe De Paz in Gaithersburg, has been charged with fourth-degree sexual offense (sexual contact) and attempted second-degree rape against a minor, the Maryland County Police Department announced Tuesday. Officials say Cantarero met the alleged victim, whose

A pair of disgraced ex-city cops dodged jail time Thursday for having sex with a teenage suspect inside an NYPD van despite the Brooklyn district attorney’s ardent opposition to the sweetheart deal. Eddie Martins, 39 and Richard Hall, 34, pleaded guilty to bribe receiving and official misconduct after engaging in intercourse and oral sex with the 18-year-old woman as the predatory police officers were on duty in Brooklyn South Narcotics on Sept. 15, 2017, prosecutors said. Th

A judge suggested that a teenage boy accused of raping a drunk girl at a party should be treated leniently because he came from “a good family”, and cast doubt on whether such an attack amounted to rape at all. Judge James Troiano in New Jersey made the remarks while ruling that the boy, who was identified only as “GMC”, should not face trial as an adult for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl while recording the incident on his mobile phone. “This young man comes from a good

A former Philadelphia Police Department detective pleaded not guilty Tuesday to allegations that he sexually assaulted male witnesses and suspects over more than a decade. Philip Nordo allegedly "groomed" his victims during ongoing investigations and engaged in conduct to make these men "more susceptible to his sexually assaultive and/ or coercive behavior," the heavily redacted grand jury report said. He was denied bail. His next hearing is set for late March. In their repor

The CEO of Hacienda Health Care, the nursing facility where a woman in a vegetative state gave birth to a baby boy, resigned Monday as new allegations of abuse surfaced. Bill Timmons' resignation was unanimously accepted by Hacienda's board of directors, reported CBS News. At the end of December, the 29-year-old Native American, who has been in a vegetative state for 14 years, went into labor. The Arizona facility then opened an investigation and learned the patient was raped

LOWELL, N.C. —A police officer in North Carolina is accused of raping and impregnating the teenager he was once assigned to find in a missing persons investigation, according to a lawsuit. The girl, who was 13 at the time, was reported missing in 2015. Lowell Police Officer James Paul Blair was put on the case and eventually he found the young teen, reported the Charlotte Observer. Not long after finding her, court documents say he started visiting her home saying he wanted t

Two Black men have died in Edward Buck’s home within the last 18 months. Now a third has come forward to share how he narrowly escaped death in the same residence after being injected with crystal meth. According to The Daily Mail, Jermaine Gagnon claims Buck paid to fly him from Minnesota to his apartment in Los Angeles, drugged him by dissolving a substance into his Gatorade and then injected him with drugs. The 28-year-old also provided pictures which show Buck crouching o

DALLAS (AP) — The Texas judge who approved a plea deal allowing a former Baylor University student accused of rape to avoid jail time holds three degrees from Baylor. The criminal district attorney overseeing the case holds two. The prosecutor who agreed to the plea agreement graduated from Baylor law school. Local leaders say those connections to the world’s largest Baptist university cast doubt on the handling of the criminal case against ex-Phi Delta Theta president Jacob

A jury acquitted a man accused of raping a teenage girl after his lawyer instructed jurors to consider the type of underwear the teen was wearing when the alleged assault took place in Cork, Ireland. The issue of consent was at the center of the case involving a 27-year-old man and his 17-year-old accuser. Senior counsel Elizabeth O’Connell told the jury to consider that the girl was wearing a lacy thong at the time of the encounter, The Irish Examiner reported. “Does the evi

MADISON, Wis. — A judge on Thursday sentenced a former University of Wisconsin-Madison student to three years in prison for sexually assaulting three female students and choking or stalking two others. Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke also sentenced Alec Cook, 22, of Minnesota to eight years of extended supervision once he's released from prison. Cook pleaded guilty to the charges in February. Prosecutors were seeking 19 years behind bars, while defense attorneys sough

NEW YORK — Harvey Weinstein was arrested and charged with rape and other abuse charges Friday, months after allegations of sexual violence and harassment toppled the once-powerful Hollywood mogul. Weinstein, 66, was charged with rape, criminal sex act, sexual abuse and sexual misconduct for cases involving two women. “This defendant used his position, money and power to lure young women into situations where he was able to violate them sexually,” the prosecutor, Assistant Dis