mysteriew
A diamond in process
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2004
- Messages
- 23,811
- Reaction score
- 783
An Annapolis-area man could face 45 years in prison after admitting yesterday that he sexually abused seven boys, including three relatives, at his home and a Crownsville nudist club over a four-year period.
Loren John Williams, 44, videotaped his encounters with many of the boys, and the tapes were found when county police and federal agents searched his home last year, said Assistant State's Attorney Frank Ragione.
The defendant said he was sorry and he had a disease and he was going to go to prison," Mr. Ragione said. "He (said he) did not mean to hurt anyone and he was trying to get help for his problem."
Williams said yesterday that he's on medication and under the care of doctors while in jail. Asked how he wanted to plead, he said, "Guilty."
Williams, of 2823 Fennel Road in Gingerville, also took some of the boys - ages 11 to 13 when the abuse started - to Ocean City, Disney World and a ski resort, Ocean City police said last year.
Ocean City Detective Brett Case, who last year called the case "the worst I've ever seen," said in an interview yesterday that Williams targeted vulnerable children, some from troubled homes.
He hired some of the boys to cut his grass, then invited them to come to his home by themselves.
"That's exactly how they do it," Detective Case said. "Parents leave their kids with someone they trust - the last person they would expect."
He also faces charges in Worcester County based on the allegations of abuse in Ocean City. Police there said he took three boys from Anne Arundel County to the beach with him - one in 1996 and two in 2003 - and sexually abused them. A hearing in that case is scheduled for next week.
Williams also could face federal charges, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman said yesterday, declining to elaborate.
Williams will be sentenced in Anne Arundel County on July 6 and will have to register as a child sex offender and give a DNA sample. Under yesterday's deal, prosecutors agreed not to file new charges if more victims come forward. Police said last year that they believed Williams abused at least 14 boys
In an unusual move, Circuit Court Judge Philip T. Caroom ordered all the cases sealed, which means the public can't look at the files or the computer records of the cases. The computer records are marked "secret."
A press freedom advocate said she's concerned that child abuse cases - criminal investigations and records of other government agencies - are often kept from the public.
"It really creates a dangerous situation for the public not to know what kind of child abuse goes on," said Rebecca Daugherty, director of the Freedom of Information Service Center for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2005/04_08-40/TOP
Loren John Williams, 44, videotaped his encounters with many of the boys, and the tapes were found when county police and federal agents searched his home last year, said Assistant State's Attorney Frank Ragione.
The defendant said he was sorry and he had a disease and he was going to go to prison," Mr. Ragione said. "He (said he) did not mean to hurt anyone and he was trying to get help for his problem."
Williams said yesterday that he's on medication and under the care of doctors while in jail. Asked how he wanted to plead, he said, "Guilty."
Williams, of 2823 Fennel Road in Gingerville, also took some of the boys - ages 11 to 13 when the abuse started - to Ocean City, Disney World and a ski resort, Ocean City police said last year.
Ocean City Detective Brett Case, who last year called the case "the worst I've ever seen," said in an interview yesterday that Williams targeted vulnerable children, some from troubled homes.
He hired some of the boys to cut his grass, then invited them to come to his home by themselves.
"That's exactly how they do it," Detective Case said. "Parents leave their kids with someone they trust - the last person they would expect."
He also faces charges in Worcester County based on the allegations of abuse in Ocean City. Police there said he took three boys from Anne Arundel County to the beach with him - one in 1996 and two in 2003 - and sexually abused them. A hearing in that case is scheduled for next week.
Williams also could face federal charges, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman said yesterday, declining to elaborate.
Williams will be sentenced in Anne Arundel County on July 6 and will have to register as a child sex offender and give a DNA sample. Under yesterday's deal, prosecutors agreed not to file new charges if more victims come forward. Police said last year that they believed Williams abused at least 14 boys
In an unusual move, Circuit Court Judge Philip T. Caroom ordered all the cases sealed, which means the public can't look at the files or the computer records of the cases. The computer records are marked "secret."
A press freedom advocate said she's concerned that child abuse cases - criminal investigations and records of other government agencies - are often kept from the public.
"It really creates a dangerous situation for the public not to know what kind of child abuse goes on," said Rebecca Daugherty, director of the Freedom of Information Service Center for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2005/04_08-40/TOP
