Daily Archives: May 4, 2017

The head of a crime ring found guilty of coercing drug-addicted women to live and work as prostitutes at several motels in Northeast Philadelphia was sentenced Thursday to 37 to 74 years in prison.

John C. Guerra, 41, shook his head from side to side as Common Pleas Court Judge Sean F. Kennedy announced his sentence on 13 charges including human trafficking, sexual exploitation of a minor and corruption of minors, conspiracy, assault and drug dealing.

Among the women Guerra was convicted of pimping was A.H., a 17-year-old drug-addicted runaway from Bucks County whom he picked up on the streets of Kensington. The Inquirers policy is to withhold the identities of victims of sexual crimes without their consent.

According to state Senior Deputy Attorney General Heather Castellino, who handled the case with state prosecutor Michelle Laucella, Guerra and three other members of his ring fed A.H.s drug habit while forcing her to have sex with men 10 to 15 times a day, seven days a week.

Castellino said Guerra also raped and beat A.H. and other women whom he pimped.

This was one of the most heinous crimes that I have sat through in six years sitting on the bench, Kennedy told Guerra. The abuse you inflicted on these women. They will never be the same.

Over the last decade, law enforcement has recast prostitution from victimless crime to human trafficking as the reality of the lives of many sex workers has become better known.

In March, the Philadelphia law firm Kline & Specter filed the first-of-its-kind lawsuit against the owners and operators of the Roosevelt Inn in Northeast Philadelphia on behalf of a teenage girl who was pimped in one of its rooms for two years.

The lawsuit, filed under a 2014 Pennsylvania law that allows victims of sex traffickers to sue hotels and motels where abuse occurs, contends that the runaway 14-year-old girl was sold into sexual slavery.

The lawsuit, which did not involve the Guerra operation, is pending in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.

Before he was sentenced, Guerra apologized for what he did and said that in prison he was trying to better my life and become educated and try to be an upright member of society. Im sorry for what happened in this whole mess.

Defense attorney Stephen T. OHanlon told Kennedy that Guerra had made efforts at self-reform and argued that Guerra deserved credit for agreeing to a nonjury trial, which saved the court system money and did not force the victims to testify before a jury panel.

OHanlon argued that another member of the ring, Elton Cromwell, was responsible for abusing A.H., and that Cromwell was sentenced to only six to 20 months in prison after pleading guilty in 2012.

Cromwell, 40, of Brooklyn, N.Y., is scheduled to go to trial next Thursday in Bucks County Common Pleas Court on charges that he tried to intimidate witnesses in the prosecution of the Guerra ring.

Two other members of the ring also pleaded guilty. Duane Roger Thomas, 31, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was sentenced to two to four years in prison. Edinelson Mendez Jr., 26, of Philadelphia, was sentenced to two years probation.

According to Castellino, Guerras operation was active from 2008 through 2010, booking his prostitutes for days at motels including the Roosevelt Inn and the Days Inn, both on Roosevelt Boulevard in the Northeast.

For Guerra, who was a fugitive for four years after his ring was busted, prostitution was a family business. Last June, his younger brother Jason Guerra, now 38, was sentenced to 48 to 96 years in prison by a Philadelphia judge for operating his own prostitution ring that preyed on drug-addicted runaway girls and women.

Castellino argued that John Guerra should be sentenced to 72 to 144 years in prison because hes the one that taught his younger brother Jason the trafficking business.

Published: May 4, 2017 2:49 PM EDT

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Leader of Philly prostitution ring gets 37 to 74 years in prison - Philly.com

More than 270,000 in cash was recovered

Millions of pounds worth of fake designer goods were seized after raids in North Manchester.

Officers executed warrants at homes, businesses and storage units in Strangeways today, Thursday 4 May 2017, and the early hours of Tuesday 3 May 2017.

It forms part of a joint operation with GMPs Challenger team dedicated to targeting organised crime as well as partners from Trading Standards, Visas and Immigration and the designer brands to clamp down on the sale of counterfeit goods.

An estimated 8million worth of items were seized including clothes, sunglasses, jewellery and perfume.

As part of the searches, more than 270,000 in cash was also recovered.

A 44-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud, money laundering as well as counterfeit and trademark offences.

Both have been released under investigation.

Detective Inspector Paul Walker, from GMPs Challenger Manchester Team, said: These raids are a great example of successful partnership working investigating the counterfeit world.

The raids took place following intelligence from our partners and send out the clear message that fakes are illegal and will not be tolerated by the police.

People often see selling knock-offs as a victimless crime but buying these goods helps to line the pockets of criminals which can often fund more sinister crimes.

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8million worth of fake designer goods seized in Manchester raids - Cumbria Crack

Rarely, if ever, has a Robbie Savage column polarised public opinion as sharply as his insistence that Joey Barton's 18-month ban from football is excessive' for a victimless 'crime'.

In essence, Savage believes the FA's draconian sanction which effectively brings the curtain down on Barton's caereer, as he will be 36 before he is allowed to play again was using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut.

Here, in our weekly Sav Says trawl through his online postbag, Mirror Sport's most-read pundit answers your points of view on the big Barton debate...

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Ollie Olly Oli @OllieClaco1882: Let's be honest, Joey Barton has had this coming to him for years! Good bloody riddance. Awful footballer that thinks rules don't apply to him SAV SAYS : Well, he isn't an 'awful' footballer, for a start. He's good enough to have won an England cap and played his entire career at Premier League or Championship level. Yes, he has been involved in misdemeanours in the past, but he has paid the price for them. I just feel this punishment is out of proportion with the nature of the offences.

Brendan Crisp @brendancrisp: He received a letter from the FA about his gambling, he chose to ignore it. If you ignore it then it just gets worse like toothache SAV SAYS : This is where Joey has let himself down, Brendan. If he has ignored a written warning from the FA to curb his betting habits, he can't expect to get a three-match ban, a fine and a slap on the wrist. But if you have an addictive personality or addictive genes and I know people for whom that is a dominant part of their make-up it probably takes more than a letter to stop your compulsive habit. If a heavy drinker got a letter from Alcoholics Anonymous warning him to cut down on his alcohol intake, would he be able to go down the pub, have one pint and go home again? Probably not. If Joey Barton's betting is caused by an addiction, as he admits, I feel we should be placing more emphasis on treating the addiction than taking away his livelihood.

Lord Vegetable @HenrikVegetable: Does it cloud judgement if you have a contract with a betting company? SAV SAYS : No, your Lordship, my judgement is not clouded in the slightest. Whoever paid me or employed me, I would still take issue with the length of Barton's ban. In my opinion, it's too much. But since you raise the issue of my links with bookmakers William Hill, I am acutely aware of the nature of their industry, their investment in football as sponsors and their #GambleResponsibly hashtag. I am also proud to be ambassador for their charity, and my involvement in building a school classroom and providing fresh water to a remote village in Kenya. They do a fantastic amount of good with their Close To Home initiative and supporting the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research. Call me a hypocrite if you like, but I have never hidden my connections with William Hill because I regard those charitable projects as privileges.

Mark Nesbitt @marknesbitt_P3: Seems the FA view this addiction differently to drugs/alcohol or is it just because it's @Joey7Barton? If he had been addicted to an illegal drug/alcohol he would have been treated differently as per @PaulMerse #tonyadams SAV SAYS : I don't know whether the FA apply the rulebook in relation to gambling any different to cases involving alcohol or misuse of drugs, and it's not for me to set the tariff for players who find themselves involved in disciplinary cases. But in my view, addictions whether they involve drink, so-called recreational drugs or gambling need to be treated with compassion, not a big stick. And like you, Mark, I wonder if Joey Barton's reputation has gone before him in this case.

Andrew Murray @aMurrayMusic: A continuously naughty child first gets lines, then detention... suspended... expelled. Same thing. SAV SAYS : I'm not sure you can treat this case as one strike, two strikes, three strikes and you're out. Yes, I accept that in many workplaces and other walks of life, you might get a verbal warning, a written warning and then you're fired if you repeatedly flout the rules. But in many cases, those employees would be a liability because their conduct is damaging their companies' output or reputation. Of course Barton is in the wrong, and we have to protect football's integrity, but he has still added value to the teams he has been playing for. That's why I still maintain his betting 'crimes' have been victimless.

Andy Wilson @Andy_Wilson68: So what should the punishment be? SAV SAYS : Good question, Andy, and it goes to the heart of my column. If you look at the penalties handed out for alleged racist remarks to opponents, kung-fu kicks on spectators, doping offences or biting opponents, none has come close to the 18-month ban Barton has incurred. Betting against your own team crosses a line, and it is right that he should be suspended. But in my opinion, a six or eight-month ban would have been sufficient, with the rest of it suspended for the remainder of his career, and Joey would have to go on an education course to tackle his compulsive betting under the auspices of the PFA players' union. For me, that would serve both as a deterrent and show an element of compassion in recognition that gambling addiction is an illness.

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Gail Hawthorn @ghawthorn86: If you break rules you're sanctioned. Simple fundamental rule of life. Your examples are all heated moments on the pitch, this is pre-conceived SAV SAYS : I understand the difference, Gail, and I don't dispute your basic precept: If you break the rules, you get punished. But Barton's betting misdemeanours didn't harm anyone, whereas heat-of-the-moment incidents can do terrible damage. A single punch, for example, may not be a premeditated act of violence, but it can cause terrible harm.

Andrea Gledhill @a_gledhill: Disagree, he knows the rules and think he can flout them just because he can. Don't do the crime if you can't take the consequences SAV SAYS : I get that, Andrea and I have no qualms about Joey being punished. It's just the severity of the punishment that doesn't sit right with me.

AND FINALLY...

BBC 5 live Sport @bbc5liveSport: The chicken was dry - When @RobbieSavage8 stood up to manager John Toshack's decision to change Wales' food SAV SAYS : Our Monday night think-tank Flintoff, Savage and the Ping Pong Guy is still No.1 in the podcast charts, which is incredibly gratifying, and this week's programme included a segment on times when you felt let down by your team-mates. I picked out the time when John Toshack took over as Wales manager from Mark Hughes and where 'Sparky' had placed a high emphasis on the importance of nutrition and gave us a wide choice of healthy options to refuel, Mr Toshack abolished the popular menu and replaced it with fried bananas and dry chicken. No sauce, no gravy, just dry chicken. I agreed with a few of the lads that we should make our feelings known to Toshack and I piped up at a meeting that dry chicken was not going to make us run faster or play better, believing some of my team-mates would back me up. But when I had finished saying my piece, they all stayed silent. Dry chicken wasn't the only factor, but I never played for Wales again.

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'We should be treating Joey Barton rather than taking away his livelihood' - Robbie Savage responds to your tweets - Mirror.co.uk

PUBLISHED: 11:00 03 May 2017

Court reporter

Exeter Crown Court. Picture: Alex Walton

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Shane McCollum downloaded the sickening videos and still images from peer to peer file sharing sites on the internet and used them for sexual arousal.

He started by watching adult pornography but when it no longer aroused him he moved on to child images and sought ever more extreme material.

He was caught with 171 movies in the most extreme category A, Exeter Crown Court was told.

McCollum, aged 37, of Rising Sun, Dalwood, near Axminster, admitted three counts of making indecent images of children and one of possessing extreme images.

He was jailed for 15 months, suspended for two years and ordered to undertake the 60-day probation-run Maps for Change programme.

He was also ordered to sign on the sex offenders register for ten years and made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) by Judge Erik Salomonsen.

He told him: Some of the material depicted extreme cruelty and sexual offending against very young children. It was described by the prosecution as sexual torture.

The images are abhorrent even by the standards of some of the material which is dealt with in this court. The offence is aggravated by the age of the children, their pain and distress, the fact many are moving images, and the number of children involved.

These are not victimless crimes. Every time someone views these images it stimulates the demand among those who produce them to produce yet more of them.

The judge said he was suspending the sentence because he believed the public were better protected by McCollum receiving treatment than serving a short jail sentence.

Mr Nigel Wraith, prosecuting, said police acting on information about the use of peer to peer file sharing sites raided McCollums home in July last year and seized a laptop and other equipment.

They found a file marked porn on the computer and images and movies on four data discs. There were 171 movies and four stills in the most extreme category and 119 at lower levels.

He said: Some of the images are particularly extreme and depict scenes of what can only be described as sexual torture sometimes involving very young children indeed.

Mr Warren Robinson, defending, said McCollum is a lonely and isolated man who had been using adult pornography since his teens.

He was drawn into seeking images of children and more extreme material at a time when he was working in utilities and was very unhappy while living on his own in Taunton.

Since his arrest he has moved to a new address near his family in East Devon, sought counselling for depression and anxiety, and contacted the Lucy Faithfull Foundation for help to prevent him using pornography again.

He told the police on his arrest that he needed help, he has shown remorse, and the probation service have deemed him fit to take part in one-to-one work.

A probation report said McCollum had been drawn to more and more extreme material which gave him sexual gratification despite him being shocked and sickened by it.

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Suspended sentence for Dalwood sex offender and given treatment order - Midweek Herald