Teacher Charged with Taking Bondage Pics of Students

A former elementary school teacher in Los Angeles has been arrested for allegedly molesting nearly two dozen children after photos of students posed in bondage positions were passed to the Sheriff's Department.

Mark Berndt, 61, a teacher with over 30 years experience at Miramonte Elementary School in south Los Angeles, is charged with molesting 23 children, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Police began the investigation after a photo processing facility passed along suspicious images depicting students blindfolded with their mouths covered in tape. Female students were depicted with a blue plastic spoon containing "an unknown clear/white liquid" in front of their mouths, while other students were pictured with live cockroaches on their faces. In some photos, Berndt had his arm around the children or his hand over their mouths.

Police found the spoon, along with an empty container in the trash in Berndt's classroom and, through DNA testing, determined that both contained Berndt's semen.

The students were between the ages of 7 and 10 years old when the alleged crimes occurred, police said.

Authorities launched a widespread sex crime investigation, interviewing current and former students and school employees and searching Berndt's home. They recovered a total of 390 photographs and an adult "sexual bondage" film which mirrored the photos of the children, according to a statement by the sheriff's department today.

More than 26 children from the 390 photographs have been identified; an additional 10 children have not yet been identified, police said.

Shortly after the investigation began, in March, 2011, Berndt was fired from the school. The school did not immediately return calls for comment today.

Berndt was arrested Monday and charged with 23 felony counts of lewd acts upon a child. He is being held at LA County jail in lieu of $2.3 million bail.

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Teens charged with beating classmate in court

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Pair charged over phishing scam

10 December 2011 Last updated at 06:59 ET

Two men have been charged over a £1m email scam which took money from the bank accounts of hundreds of students.

Police said students on government loans were sent phishing emails urging them to provide their banking details.

Damola Olatunji, 26, of Hamsterley Avenue, Manchester, and Amos Mwangi, 25, of Rochdale Way, Deptford, London, face a charge of conspiracy to defraud.

They were remanded in custody until 17 February by Westminster Magistrates' Court, central London.

Their next appearance is due to be at Southwark Crown Court in south-east London.

Mr Olatunji is also charged with possession of an article for use in fraud.

Further arrests

Five other people arrested in the investigation have been bailed until March pending further inquiries.

They are a 25-year-old woman arrested in Manchester, a 49-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man held in Stratford, north-east London.

Two men, aged 38 and 35, were also detained in Bolton, Greater Manchester.

They were all arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and Computer Misuse Act and money-laundering offences and bailed until March.

The Metropolitan Police's e-crime unit was first alerted to the scam in August and worked with the Student Loans Company, the banking industry and internet service providers during its investigation.

Phishing is the sending of a legitimate-looking email in an attempt to gather personal and financial information from recipients.

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Lodger charged over house deaths

10 December 2011 Last updated at 15:52 ET

Barry Morrow was a lodger at Mrs Holgate's Southport home

A man has been charged with the murders of his landlady and her mother.

The strangled bodies of Angela Holgate, 54, and 75-year-old Alice Huyton were discovered at Mrs Holgate's home near Southport, Merseyside, on 3 December.

A Europe-wide investigation was started after reports that a key suspect was seen arriving in Calais, France. A man was arrested in the UK on Thursday.

Barry Morrow, 51, of Fairhaven Road, Southport, will appear at South Sefton Magistrates' Court on Monday.

He was remanded in custody.

Continue Reading... Labels: charged, deaths, house, Lodger

Officer stabbing suspect charged

20 November 2011 Last updated at 18:30 ET

The officers were injured outside a butchers in Kingsbury

A man has been charged with attempted murder after four police officers were stabbed in north-west London.

Christopher Houghton, 32, of Milford Gardens, Wembley, is due at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Monday.

Three Met Police officers needed surgery after being injured outside Kingsbury Halal Butchers, in Kingsbury Road, on Saturday.

The fourth officer, who was slashed and suffered a broken hand, was discharged from hospital on Saturday afternoon.

Mr Houghton faces a total of eight charges, including one count of actual bodily harm (ABH) on a police officer and two counts of attempted grievous bodily harm (GBH) on a police officer.

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Nurse charged over Sydney blaze

19 November 2011 Last updated at 02:57 ET

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard expressed her sorrow at the "truly horrifying" blaze

A nurse has been charged with murder following Friday's fire at a Sydney nursing home that killed five elderly residents, Australian police say.

Roger Dean, 35, appeared via video link at Parramatta court, from local cells, but said nothing and was remanded into custody until next week.

More than 30 people injured in the fire at the Quakers Hill Nursing Home remain in hospital, some in intensive care.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard called it "a very dark day".

"To imagine the frail, elderly people caught up in a fire like that, at risk of being engulfed by flames, is truly horrifying," she said.

"My condolences go to the families who have lost loved ones and to those whose loved ones are now in hospital and who are with them and awaiting news of their condition."

Officials say it was the worst nursing home fire in Sydney in decades.

New South Wales police said Mr Dean was arrested soon after the blaze, following a thorough investigation at the scene.

"All I can say is that last night detectives were speaking to the man at Mount Druitt Police Station, where they formed the opinion that they had sufficient evidence to place him under arrest," said Superintendent Michael Willing, who is leading the case.

It has been reported that police suspect the fire broke out in two separate wings of the facility.

Mr Dean was held on Friday and charged with four counts of murder. The fifth victim died later.

'Worst nightmare'

During the fire, hundreds of fire fighters battled the flames and plumes of thick smoke, which engulfed the home. About 100 elderly residents were later evacuated from the building.

"This has been a very, very serious fire, a tragic scene - a lot of people injured," Fire and Rescue New South Wales Commissioner Greg Mullins told reporters.

He described the blaze as a firefighter's "worst nightmare".

"Crews had to literally crawl on their hands and knees into every room in the complex, reach up under the beds, searching cupboards, anywhere where someone may have crawled away."

TV pictures later showed a number of elderly residents lying in beds or sitting in wheelchairs just outside the building.

Three people were pronounced dead at the scene, while another died in hospital overnight and a fifth died on Saturday.

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