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Former BLM manager charged with child-sex crimes dead in apparent suicide

5-28-2010 Utah:

Kanab » Rex Lee Smart, an ex-manager of the Kanab field office for the Bureau of Land Management awaiting trial for alleged sex crimes against children, has died of an apparent suicide.

Kanab police chief Tom Cram said Friday that officers with Kanab police and Kane County Major Crimes Task Force went to Smart's house Thursday in Kanab to serve an arrest and search warrant related to allegations of witness tampering.

When told police were there to arrest him, Smart went into an adjacent room saying he was getting his shoes. Once in the room Smart accessed a handgun and shot himself once. Smart was taken to the Kane County Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Police would not immediately say where Smart shot himself, nor would they detail was, specifically, the witness-tampering charges -- both third-degree felonies -- involved or what they were looking for at Smart's home.

On May 17, Smart, 62, was charged with a single count of aggravated sex abuse of a child, a first-degree felony, and two counts of sex abuse of a child, both second-degree felonies.

According to court documents, the alleged crimes occurred on July 6, 2007.

Smart was issued a summons on those charges and told to voluntarily get booked at the county jail before his June 3 initial appearance on the charges, but he was not jailed.

Earlier, Smart had been charged and was due to be tried on one charge of rape of a child, six counts of child sex abuse of a child and two counts of sodomy on a child, all first-degree felonies.

Those alleged crimes occurred between June 2005 and September 2006 and involve a girl who was 9 during the time the first count of sex abuse occurred.

Those charges were filed in 2007. Smart was scheduled to stand trial on the charges next month.

An investigation into the apparent suicide is ongoing by the Kanab police and state medical examiner's office. ..Source.. by Mark Havnes

SHERIFF: Former Camp Director Facing Sex Charges Kills Himself

5-26-2010 Virginia:

Perquimans County Sheriff Eric Tilley tells WITN News that Stephen Carter committed suicide Monday night in Virginia Beach.

A former Baptist summer camp director who faced sex crime charges against children is dead.

Perquimans County Sheriff Eric Tilley tells WITN News that Stephen Carter committed suicide Monday night in Virginia Beach.

Carter was the director of Camp Cale Retreat and was indicted last summer on felony first degree sex offense against a child and felony indecent liberties with a child in Perquimans County.

Tilley says Carter owned property in Virginia Beach and police there told him the man died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Tilley says Carter had left some notes behind.

Carter was out on bond pending his trial. The camp's website said the 50-year-old has been directing the camp since 2002. .Source.. by WITN.com

Former Baptist camp director charged with abuse found dead

5-25-2010 Virginia:

HERTFORD, N.C. (ABP) -- A former director of a North Carolina Baptist camp who was awaiting trial on six child-sex charges was found dead of an apparent suicide May 24.

A newspaper in Hertford, N.C., quoted the sheriff of Perquimans County as confirming that Stephen Carter, former director of Cale Retreat and Conference Center in Hertford from 2002 until his arrest last July, was found dead in a vehicle in Virginia Beach, Va., apparently from carbon-monoxide poisoning.

Carter was found in his parked truck on land he owns in Virginia. Margie Hobbs, public information officer with the Virginia Beach Police Department, said the wooded property on which Carter was found in the 4800 block of Blackwater Road is listed in his name.

Carter, 51, was out of jail on $80,000 bond on two counts each of engaging in sexual activities with a child, felony first-degree sex offense of a child and felony indecent liberties with a child. If convicted of the most serious offense he could have faced life in prison.

After his arrest Carter was placed on administrative leave by the camp, operated by Chowan Baptist Association in northeastern North Carolina. As a condition of his arrest he was banned from the property of the camp and from having any contact with anyone under 18 except for his son. The association hired an interim director in January to run this summer's camping season.

Police accused Carter of sex offenses involving three separate minors. Carter told local media he was innocent. Survivors include Carter's wife of 26 years, Grayce, and two children. Carter reportedly had attended the high school graduation ceremony for his son the day before he took his life.

Before taking over as director of the camp, Carter served as a Southern Baptist missionary in Belize from 1997 to 2001 through short-term appointment with the International Mission Board. At the time of his arrest an IMB spokesperson said the agency, which has a zero-tolerance policy regarding child sexual abuse, had no knowledge of any allegation of abuse by Carter made prior to 2009.

"A suicide is always a tragedy, and my heart goes out to Rev. Carter’s family," said Christa Brown, Baptist outreach director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "I also pray for the children and families who made the allegations."

Brown, who has called for the Southern Baptist Convention to develop a system for reporting and handling allegations of clergy sexual abuse, said the convention "should conduct a professional assessment of the allegations and should pro-actively reach out to provide assistance to any who may have been wounded, whether here in the United States or in Belize, where Carter previously worked for the International Mission Board." ..Source.. by Bob Allen

Body of Sex Offender Found in Car Trunk

5-26-2010 Arizona:

Marshals say Trevor Mazak committed suicide

FLAGSTAFF - A convicted sex offender and stalker that was wanted by Chandler Police has been found dead in the trunk of a car.

The U.S. Marshals Office found Trevor Mazak's body in the trunk of a car parked in Flagstaff.

Mazak was wanted for stalking and probation violations. He was supposed to appear in court last September but never showed up.

About two weeks ago, a Flagstaff Police officer noticed a foul smell coming from a car parked at a business near the Flagstaff airport.

Mazak's body was in the trunk and it reportedly had been there for awhile.

Assault Victim: Feels Robbed after Inmate Suicide

5-11-2010 Texas:

GALVESTON, Texas - The young woman who was victimized almost two decades ago by a man who kidnapped, raped, attacked and left her to die says she is disappointed that the suspect in the case had apparently killed himself in jail.

Jennifer Schuett, 27, released a statement on her JusticeForJennifer.com website after the Galveston County Sheriff's Office confirmed on Monday afternoon that the body of Dennis Earl Bradford, 40, was found on Monday morning hanging from a noose made from a bed sheet inside the jail cell where he was assigned.

Bradford was in the Galveston County Jail since October 2009 when he was extradited from Arkansas after DNA evidence determined that he was a suspect in the sexual assault and attack of Jennifer Schuett, who was left to die in a field.

"I am shocked and disappointed at the news of Bradford resorting to suicide, as I looked forward to facing him in the court room this Fall, and now feel as though I was robbed of that opportunity," said Schuett in the online statement.

Despite the developments, Schuett did say in the statement that she felt blessed and grateful that she was able to learn that Bradford was the suspect in her 1990 attack and that he was arrested in 2009.

"I will continue to use my voice and advocate for other victims of crime, and ask for you all to please keep me in your prayers as I work through making it through this difficult time," said Schuett on her website.

The case of Schuett's attack was featured on the FOX television show "America's Most Wanted" in September 2009, one month before the DNA evidence was tied to Bradford.

Before he waived extradition to Texas, Bradford was living in Arkansas where he was married, fathered two children and had 3 stepchildren. His DNA was in the federal database because of a 1996 kidnapping conviction. ..Source.. by ALEXANDER SUPGUL
Web Producer

Ark. authorities say Mo. man wanted on rape charge dead after apparently shooting self in head

5-23-2010 Arkansas:

MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. (AP) — Authorities in Baxter County say a man wanted on a statutory rape charge in Webster County, Mo., has died after apparently shooting himself in the head.

Sheriff John Montgomery says 25-year-old Clinton Bolding died Friday night at Baxter Regional Medical Center after apparently shooting himself as he was surrounded by authorities.

Montgomery says Bolding pointed a gun at two Baxter County deputies about 4:15 p.m. Friday and ran into a wooded area when the deputies arrived at a home where Bolding was staying.

The sheriff says authorities surrounded the area and Bolding was found about 5:40 p.m. with the gunshot wound to the head.

Montgomery says a 17-year-old girl and an infant who were in the home where Bolding was found are now in state custody. ..Source.. by KPLR11

Inmate Found Dead At Anderson County Detention Center

5-13-2010 South Carolina:

Calvin Lamar Jeffers, (56), an inmate at the Anderson County Detention Center, killed himself Thursday morning, according to center authorities.

Jailers found Jeffers in his bed with a plastic toiletries bag over his head. Jeffers suffocated to death, officials said.

Jeffers death is ruled a suicide. Jeffers lived in his cell alone.

Staff members and medics tried to revive Jeffers. A judge scheduled Jeffers court date for next week. Law enforcement authorities accused Jeffers of committing a lewd sexual act on a child under the age of 11. ..Source.. by Staff

Accused child molester commits suicide during Port Wentworth traffic stop

5-13-2010 Georgia:

An accused child molester from Bloomingdale fatally shot himself during a brief roadside standoff Wednesday morning in Port Went-worth.

Richard A. Wiley, 55, had been sought by authorities on child molestation charges since Saturday morning, according to Bloomingdale police Chief Thomas Gossett.

Shortly before 11 a.m. Wednesday, a Bloomingdale officer driving an unmarked vehicle spotted Wiley in a black Chevrolet pickup in Port Wentworth, Gossett said.

The officer summoned marked Port Wentworth police units; the truck pulled over on Ga. 21 at the busy Interstate 95 interchange.

As officers approached, Wiley "immediately placed the gun to his temple," Port Wentworth police Capt. Matthew Libby said, explaining that for about two minutes, the police did their best to persuade Wiley to put the gun down. "We're very lucky nobody else was injured or killed."

The incident shut down Ga. 21 for much of the morning.

Gossett didn't disclose details of the child molestation charges, but he did offer a grim assessment of the suicidal result.

"It's a terrible outcome, bad for everybody involved," Gossett said. "It's not what we wanted, obviously." ..Source.. by Michael Atkins