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Toler
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« on: July 01, 2012, 12:25:41 PM »

Paedophile and girlfriend charged 'after leaving cell phone with child porn' in Walmart shopping cart leading to discovery of 'molested' four-year-old girl
June 30 '12

A sex offender and his girlfriend were arrested on Wednesday after a cell phone laden with child porn images was left in a Walmart shopping cart.
The phone allegedly belonged to Alan Robert Johnson, 33, convicted in 2003 of possessing and transporting child pornography, and his partner Jennifer Sparks, 37. The phone was found by a customer on June 2.

It contained pictures of a naked boys and girls, said police, who are investigating a possible child porn operation that they believe may involve the parents of one of the girls, aged four.

Registered in Sparks' name, the phone was left in a cart at the Walmart Neighbourhood Market on Pine Island Road in Cape Coral, Florida.

Officers tracked down Johnson when they found an email address on the phone which led to him.


They also found his Facebook page which displayed several of the same photos found on the cell.
At the couple’s North Fort Myers home, officers also found pictures and videos of the pair molesting and having oral sex with a four-year-old girl, news-press.com reported. 

'They sexually abused her in every way imaginable,' Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott told winknews.com.

'In fact my most seasoned detectives here said that it's the worst they've ever seen.'
Scott described the pair as 'animals' and said he hoped the girl involved will be able to rebuild her life and move forward.  ::snipping2:: 


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2166923/Pedophile-girlfriend-charged-leaving-cell-phone-child-porn-images-Walmart-leading-discovery-molested-girl-four.html#ixzz1zO97wDDD
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MuffyBee
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« Reply #1 on: July 04, 2012, 10:38:04 AM »

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1207/02/ng.01.html
NANCY GRACE
Child Molesters Caught
Aired July 2, 2012 - 20:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight, live, Fort Myers. Everybody can get everything at a local Wal-Mart, and cheaper too, but when Wal-Mart shoppers spy (ph) a cell phone left in an empty shopping cart, they get the shock of a lifetime. And believe me, it was no bargain. That`s right, that lost cell phone in the Wal-Mart shopping cart was loaded with child porn.

Deputies, tipped off, make a beeline to the couple`s home, where they uncover thousands of horrific porn images, including children as young as 4 years old. Our investigation reveals this guy has peddled child porn before. So why is he out walking free?

We also learn tonight the child on the cell phone is not their daughter. So who is she? And how did they get her? And is she alive tonight? Now, this is a man and a woman. Are they going to make bond? And why are they living the high life tonight behind bars?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sexual abuse (INAUDIBLE) every way imaginable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The abuse that went on inside this north Fort Myers home was unthinkable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) seasoned detectives here said that it`s the worst they`d ever seen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks to a stranger at Wal-Mart, a 4-year-old girl`s life was saved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Literally two animals at least are off the street.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Convicted sex offender Alan Johnson and his girlfriend, Jennifer Sparks, are accused of molesting the toddler and producing child porn with her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But they left behind a phone (INAUDIBLE) Wal- Mart. And the person who found it called police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These people don`t do this just once. They don`t do this just twice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Detectives found multiple images of child porn on the phone. They traced it back to Johnson and Sparks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being us with us.

Bombshell tonight, live, Fort Myers. We all know everybody can get everything at the local Wal-Mart, and cheaper too, but when Wal-Mart shoppers spy (ph) a cell phone left in an empty shopping cart, they get the shock of a lifetime. And believe me, it was no bargain. That lost cell phone in the Wal-Mart shopping cart -- it was loaded with child porn.

That tips deputies off. They make a beeline to the owner`s home that owns that cell phone. They find not just a creepy old man but a man and a woman embroiled in creating child porn with children as young as 4 years old.

Tonight, our investigation shows that this little girl that was originally pictured in this child porn in the Wal-Mart shopping cart is not their daughter. It`s not their child. So where did think get the child? Where is she tonight? Is she safe? And what parent let their child go with these two goons? That`s what I want to find out.

Straight out to Ashley Porter, joining us from CNN affiliate WTSP. Ashley, we all go to Wal-Mart, or I assume we all go to Wall-Mart. But I don`t expect to find child porn there. What happened, Ashley?

ASHLEY PORTER, WTSP CORRESPONDENT: That is absolutely what happened. There was a customer at Wal-Mart who found this cell phone in a shopping cart and found child porn on it, with a 4-year-old little girl.

And once that phone was turned over to detectives, they were able to actually find a number in the phone of one of those detectives from the Lee County sheriff`s office sexual predator unit because the guy who owned this cell phone was actually assigned to him since he is a sexual offender in Lee County. So detectives were able to track that cell phone down...

GRACE: Whoa! Wait, wait, wait, wait!

PORTER: ... to him and his girlfriend -- yes?

GRACE: Ashley, stop. So they`re trying to find out, deputies try to find out who the phone belongs to, and they do that by back-tracing who the person has been calling. They call the numbers, and it actually goes to a sex predator investigator? Did I get that right?

PORTER: Yes, you did. Yes, because Alan Johnson was actually convicted in 2003 on child pornography charges. And he was sentenced to nearly six years in prison and had just gotten out about last year.

GRACE: I want to go out very quickly to a specialist joining me, Ben Levitan, telecommunications expert out of Raleigh. All right, Ben, I know on my BlackBerrys, which are also my phones and my cameras and everything else, if you leave it alone for a couple of minutes, you have to have a code to get back into it.

If you get it before that time is up, you can look at the pictures and the e-mails and everything. So these people -- what popped up on their camera -- on their cell phone is a child porn image? What was that, the screen saver, Ben Levitan?

BEN LEVITAN, TELECOMMUNICATIONS EXPERT (via telephone): We don`t know, Nancy. All we know is that they found child porn on this device. And it was not their child. And one of the things we know about people who are in child porn, they love to trade these photos.

So what we`re going to find out is -- we`re going to save a lot of kids here because it`s likely -- just like you said, Nancy, they backtraced the number and found the detective. They`re going to backtrace the number of the rest of the numbers, and they`re going to find who these people were trading sex photos with. And a lot of people could go down on this, Nancy, just by this phone-...

GRACE: OK, hold on.

LEVITAN: ... that was found.

GRACE: Ben Levitan, you`re saying that child sex predators that are into child porn trade pictures of little children in sex acts like they`re baseball cards. So we`re going to be able to find out about a lot of other child pornographers by finding out who this couple was sending the photos to, right, Ben?

LEVITAN: You`re absolutely right, Nancy, because that picture, likely, if it was not their daughter, was e-mailed to them by someone. And we know the number of that person, we can backtrace, like you said, to that -- and trace down that person. And we can expose an entire network here. And this is not just Fort Meyers, this may be worldwide. We can expose a whole network of people who are trading this pornography.

GRACE: You know, to Jean Casarez, legal correspondent, "In Session," joining us. Jean, it`s my understanding that police know who the little girl is. And that leads me to think that this couple -- and I always envision some dirty old man in a raincoat, hanging around a kids` playground. That`s not it at all. This is a young couple, like, in their early 30s, a man and a woman, the woman going along with this.

That tells me that they created this child porn themselves with this 4-year-old little girl.

JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": And I think that`s one of the major points here. This is a lot more than trading pictures, which is worse enough, right. But a search warrant was executed on the couple`s home after that. And what do you think they found? They found an operation of making videos of child porn through a cell phone camera -- obviously not really sophisticated.

But this little 4-year-old girl, her parents may have lived in another state (ph) of Florida. And furthermore, there`s allegations of them raping this 4-year-old girl, which is so severe, so serious. And that little 4- year-old girl then went from their home to another home in another part of Florida. So you are talking potentially about an operation here.

GRACE: Hold on. Dana, run the picture of these two goons walking in. OK, my children are 4-and-a-half. They are completely defenseless. They count on me to take care of them and protect them.

Look at these two. Imagine being a 4-year-old little girl up against these two, a man and a woman charged with creating child porn with a 4- year-old little girl. The two idiots have it on their cell phone, and they leave the cell phone in the shopping cart at Wal-Mart.

You know, I always get those wipes and I sanitize those things. Now I know why, because these two have been there.

Back out to Jean Casarez. Jean what more can you tell me? Let`s just take it from the beginning. Start at the beginning, Jean.

CASAREZ: You know, I think everybody can relate to this. You go to Wal-Mart, right? We love Wal-Mart. And you get your basket and you get the best basket you can find. Lo and behold, this couple finds in their basket a cell phone.

So I believe, as good citizens, they`re trying to look in the cell phone to see if they can find the owner to give it back. And we don`t know how they got into it. It`s a good question. Not all cell phones have passwords. But lo and behold...

GRACE: Oh, wait a minute, Jean!

CASAREZ: ... they found those pictures.

GRACE: Jean, Jean, Jean! Look at your monitor. Look at these people! Can you imagine?

CASAREZ: They`re -- yes.

GRACE: Can you imagine!

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Look at these two.

CASAREZ: You know, everybody goes to Wal-Mart. But to find the cell phone -- and they turned it over to authorities. A search warrant was executed on the cell phone, and that`s how it all began.

GRACE: OK, Jean, it`s bad enough, all right? It`s bad enough. But then they leave it in the shopping cart at Wal-Mart.

CASAREZ: At Wal-Mart.

GRACE: So you know, I just did this the other day. We were seeing -- I don`t even know what we were seeing anymore, "The Lorax" for, like, the 10th time. And we found a cell phone. And I tried to pop it up so I could call the person. It was locked, so I couldn`t. So is that what happened, a shopper finds it, opens it up to try to call the owner, and instead of being able to call the owner, they find a picture of this 4-year-old little girl getting raped?

CASAREZ: Yes. That`s exactly what they found. So they turned it over to the people at Wal-Mart, and Wal-Mart brought in the cops.

GRACE: OK, we are taking your calls. Out to Carla in Jackson. Hi, Carla. What`s your question? Oh, I`m sorry. Heather in Georgia. Hi, Heather. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, why are we allowing -- as citizens of the United States, allowing these people to continue to live on our streets? Why are they not locked up for life? You cannot rehabilitate people of this nature. We have allowed them to make more victims by letting them live next door. Why are we allowing this?

GRACE: OK, Heather in Georgia, all the shrinks will argue with me about this, but you are absolutely right. In all the cases I ever handled -- trial, plea negotiations, investigations, you name it -- the people that could never be rehabilitated were sex predators of any type and burglars. Don`t ask me why. Everybody else has a shot at rehab, not sex predators.

Here`s the other thing, Heather. These people -- this man was already busted. If you were listening to Ashley Porter at the top, this guy already had a 2003 child porn conviction. And he`s out walking around, raping a 4-year-old little girl.

And you know what? I don`t care! Put his picture up! I don`t care if he likes it or not. Look at Robert Alan Johnson. I want to see his picture, Dana. I want everybody to see what`s going on in Fort Myers there at the Wal-Mart.


Now, that was in 2003. What is he doing out and about? And catch this, Heather in Georgia. He`s at the Lee County jail, and guess what he and his lovely mate get to enjoy? Three hours of recreation. They get to have life skills programs. Gee, I`d like to go to a life skill program, but I`m too busy working -- library access. Their menu today, turkey, ham, rice, corn and chocolate cake.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A north Florida couple faces child porn charges after pictures showing them raping a 4-year-old girl.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Literally two animals.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The abuse that went in inside was unthinkable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sexually abusing and producing porn with a 4- year-old girl.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have loaned her to the couple for six weeks of abuse.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It started with a cell phone found left behind in a shopping cart.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Detectives ran a search and traced it back to Johnson, who`s a registered sex offender in the area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This thing is not finished by any stretch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The toddler was located in Polk County and is now in state custody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: OK, here`s the other thing that I was thinking about. A lot of times when I`m in Wal-Mart, I will let the children play in the toy section. I`m not far away. But these people are in the Wal-Mart. These two creeps, these two predators leave their cell phone chock full of child porn images, raping a 4-year-old child. Those images are on their cell phone. And there`s children running around Wal-Mart. They`ve got a great toy division. They`ve got a great children`s clothing division. And these people are right there.

To Ellie Jostad. Ellie, I want to find out about this little girl, number one, what we know about her safety tonight. And number two, I also want to find out why were these people walking around? They should have been in jail back in 2003 and stayed there.

ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Right, Nancy. Well, here`s the deal with the little girl. The good news is she is safe right now. She is in the custody of the Department of Children and Families. The bad news is, though, they are investigating her parents. They believe that they may have intentionally left this girl with this couple, Alan Johnson and Jennifer Sparks, for the purpose of producing this child pornography.

And they`re also trying to find out if after she left their home, she was dropped off with someone else for a similar purpose.

GRACE: To C.W. Jensen, retired police captain joining me tonight out of Cave Creek. You know, C.W., it seems like they`re like roaches. You squash one, and the next thing you know, there`s another one. Plus, the first one somehow miraculously gets up and walks off.

At the end of the earth, there`s going to be child pornographers and roaches. That`s all that`s going to be left. So why, C.W., was he not still behind bars? And who is this woman shacked up with him, helping him make these videos?

Show me that footage again, Dana, of those these two walking in after their arrest. Go ahead, C.W.

C.W. JENSEN, RETIRED POLICE CAPTAIN: Well, I think it would be shocking for your viewers to know how many times women are assisting men in these sex crimes. I`ve seen it, you know, over a career. And it`s amazing that they`ll do basically anything these men want, and to some degree, they enjoy it. But it`s very scary.

But as your caller said, and as you said and I`ve said many times, you can put these people in prison for 50 years, and all they think about every single day is raping a child.

GRACE: Back to Ellie Jostad. Who is this woman? What`s her name? Jennifer Sparks. She is a mother of three?

JOSTAD: Yes, that`s right, Nancy, Jennifer Sparks. She was not involved back in that 2003 incident, but I should tell you that when he spoke to the judge...

GRACE: Oh, like I`m going to give her a gold star?

OSTAD: Yes. Well, when Johnson went before the judge for his sentencing, he told the judge that he hopes he can get help for his problem and put this all behind him. That was back in 2003. After six years of prison, he was back on the street.

GRACE: But what I don`t get is this woman. How did Jennifer Sparks get hooked up with Alan Robert Johnson and they start making child porn together?

JOSTAD: Yes. And they also own a business together. It`s called Dragon`s Den for Toys, and that is a sex toys Web site.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unthinkable. A north Florida couple faces child porn charges after pictures showing them raping a 4-year-old girl...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People don`t do this just once.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A shopper found the phone in a shopping cart and turned it in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don`t do this just twice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Detectives found multiple images of child porn on the phone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They left at Cape Coral Wal-Mart.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They traced it back to Johnson and Sparks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This thing is not finished by any stretch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: And just imagine when you are at Wal-Mart with your children shopping, these two and people like them are trolling around there, too. They left their cell phone chock full, loaded with images of child pornography, in a Wal-Mart shopping cart.

Police have been able to track down one of the children, a 4-year-old girl, who`s apparently -- let me come back to you, Ellie -- been passed around from family to family, home to home, to be used in child porn. I understand she`s with DFACS, family and children`s services, tonight, Ell.

Ell, what was his last charge in 2003? And how long did he do on that? And how the heck did he get out?

JOSTAD: Nancy, that charge was two counts of sexual exploitation of minors. He pled guilty to that charge. He got 70 months in jail -- was 60 months on the second charge, served concurrently. He could have gotten 87 months under federal guidelines. He got a little less. His defense attorney pled for leniency, said he was young and immature and recognized that he had a problem.

But Nancy, in that case, the way they tracked him down -- and again, this was a federal charge -- he was swapping child porn images with a guy out of state, and he actually met this person on a chat room for female-to- female relationships. And prosecutors say he was posing as a 13-year-old girl.

GRACE: You know what, Ellie? I`m going to quit even going to you because every time I ask you a question, you tell me so much more than I wanted to know.

So now I`ve got this guy that you`re looking at right there, the child pornographer, he`s in a chat line -- a chat room posing as a 13-year-old girl. Did you just say that, Ellie?

JOSTAD: Yes, I did.

GRACE: Let`s unleash the lawyers -- Jennifer Smetters, Children, Mickey Sherman, New York, Penny Douglas Furr, Atlanta.

Let me just see Sherman`s face right now, please. Don`t see it. There it is. How do you do it, Mickey? I know that`s actually the name of your book, "How Can You Defend These People." But Mickey...

MICKEY SHERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: This is a tough one, Nancy.

GRACE: ... even you -- 2003, exploiting a child sexually, and now this, posing as a 13-year-old girl in a chat room? What a freak.

SHERMAN: You know, the best thing you can say about this guy is he hasn`t killed anybody, to our knowledge. I swear, that`s the best thing you can say.

GRACE: That we know of.

SHERMAN: As I said, to our knowledge. It`s a horrendous situation. And as your other guest pointed out, usually, you find these people trading pictures. This guy was actually in the business of manufacturing the pornography and victimizing the children one on one. You don`t get that too often.

The other problem he has is that The phone being lost, he kind of loses his expectation of privacy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He sexually abused her in every way imaginable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The abuse that went on inside this north Fort Myers home was unthinkable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have loaned her to the couple for six weeks of abuse.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It started with a cell phone found left behind in a shopping cart.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know seasoned detectives here said that it`s the worst they`ve ever seen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks to a stranger at Wal-Mart, a 4-year-old girl`s life was saved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Literally two animals at least are off the street.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Convicted sex offender Alan Johnson and his girlfriend, Jennifer Sparks, are accused of molesting the toddler and producing child porn with her.

But they left behind a phone at this Cape Coral Wal-Mart, and the person who found it called police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These people don`t do this just once. They don`t do this just twice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Detectives found multiple images of child porn on the phone. They traced it back to Johnson and Sparks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: A Wal-Mart shopper gets not a bargain but the shock of a lifetime when they retrieve an abandoned cell phone out of a Wal-Mart shopping cart only to find it is loaded chock full of child pornography, photos of a 4-year-old little girl being raped.

Deputies make a beeline to the home of the owner of the cell phone only to discover he`s got a record, a conviction of sexual exploitation of a child and more. Not only that, this woman that you`re seeing right there, Jennifer Sparks, a 30-something-year-old mom of three, also involved with her boyfriend, I guess you want to call him right there, in the manufacturing of child pornography.

This little 4-year-old girl`s life, thank God in heaven, has been saved.

The damage that has been done to her is probably unfathomable at this time. I can only thank God that she is alive. As for these two, throw away the key.

You know, unleash the lawyers again, Jennifer Smetters, Mickey Sherman, Penny Douglass Furr.

Back to you, Mickey. You`ve defended all sorts of people, as have you, Penny.

Mickey, you always hear, oh, they`re going to get taken care of behind bars. Inmates don`t like child molesters.

MICKEY SHERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, AUTHOR OF "HOW CAN YOU DEFEND THOSE PEOPLE?": They don`t. They`re called chomos.

GRACE: You know what, Mickey? In all my -- yes, yes, there you go. In all my years I have only known of two people murdered behind bars, one was Jeffrey Dahmer, who killed his victims and ate them. And the other one was that priest John Geoghan.

SHERMAN: And Lowe from the --

GRACE: I`ve never heard of another child molester being killed.

SHERMAN: Lowe from the thriller killers of the 1930s in Chicago, the law student, he was still in jail as well. It`s not a situation --

GRACE: So three.

SHERMAN: It`s not whether they`re going to be killed. Their stay in jail is not going to be a visit to a spa by any means. And 70 months is not a small sentence.

GRACE: Well, did you hear those amenities?

SHERMAN: Yes, they sound --

GRACE: Did you hear the amenities, Penny Douglass Furr?

SHERMAN: They sound a lot better than --

GRACE: And Penny, you know, you and I -- you and I have been to plenty of jails, Penny Douglass Furr. Listen to this, what they have for lunch today, turkey ham, rice, corn, and chocolate cake.

Put her up, please.

Hey, Penny, did anybody cook you a chocolate lava cake today? Did anybody lay a plate in front of you with turkey ham, rice and corn on it? Three hours of recreation, a life skills program. Library. How I would love to hang up at the library all day long and read books.

What about it, Penny?

PENNY DOUGLASS FURR, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, they`re trying to rehabilitate these people. I think that`s why they have these things. But I`ll guarantee you, these people would rather be free than getting the life skills program, the lunch, or any of that, they would rather be out of jail. They do not want to be there.

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: You know, Penny, you -- you practice in not only state courts which are typically violent crimes but also in federal jurisdiction as well. What I don`t understand is that first charge, I think I heard Ellie say the first child sex -- child sexploitation was in 2003, the conviction, that was a federal charge, I`m very surprised he`s out.

Penny, have you found the same thing to be true? Take off your defense attorney hat just for a -- minute. Have you noticed that sex predators, they just do it over and over? You cannot rehabilitate them?

DOUGLASS FURR: That`s true, Nancy. They are almost impossible to rehabilitate, but as she also said the maximum was 84 months.

Nancy, that`s the statute. The judge is bound by the statute. If we don`t like that, we need to contact our congressman and we need to ask if they change the statute and give these people life. And then the judge will have that option.

GRACE: But remember, remember -- but remember, that was run concurrently, Penny, so bottom line, 87 months on each offense would have been about six, seven years each.

DOUGLASS FURR: They still would have been out, Nancy.

GRACE: The judge ran it at the same time concurrently, to you, Jennifer Smetters, as opposed to stacking those charges consecutively, where he had to do six years and then another six years or seven years on top of it. So he got a slap a two-for-one, speaking of Wal-Mart, on that 2003 child sex offense.

JENNIFER SMETTERS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Well, that`s where sentencing rules come into play, and the states need to change their sentencing guidelines so that the judges do not have the freedom to be able to make those types of decisions.

GRACE: Yes, blah blah blah.

SMETTERS: You know, realistically, victims are getting re-victimized out there. I also have a question about -- the phone was found on June 2nd, but they didn`t get arrested until June 28th or thereabout. So there`s a lag in time there, in which an investigation was no doubt taking place. I just want to know how many children and how many contacts they found on that phone and how many leads are now being followed.

It`s extremely important that -- precious time wasn`t taken and more children weren`t victimized in the meantime in those four weeks that elapsed.

GRACE: I`m looking it up right now because we have the (INAUDIBLE) report. That`s a good point, Jennifer Smetters.

Dave Mack, morning talk show host, WAAX. Dave, thanks for being with us, weigh in.

DAVE MACK, MORNING TALK SHOW HOST, WAAX: Look, I want to know why is it that a registered sex offender who has contact regularly with an investigator, with their local police department and nobody is looking into this guy? He`s shooting porn on his cell phone and we find out about it because they leave it at a Wal-Mart? What does a detective do with a registered sex offender that he has contact with? Do they ever even check up on him? What the heck? How does this happen?

GRACE: You know what, you know what, actually, Dave Mack, that should really be put in their SOP to regularly do surprise checks of cell phones and computers on these molesters, I guarantee you, that, you know, I know what you do when somebody`s on probation, you do random drug and alcohol checks, maybe the probation officer would go to the home and surprise them and do a check.

I mean, look at Jaycee Duggard. That guy was on probation. They would check his home frequently and they never knew he was holding a child prisoner for two decades because (AUDIO GAO) area wasn`t searched, like the cartilage around the home, like the car port, the shed, the basement was never looked at. He was holding a child as a sex slave for almost two decades. So that`s how that probation went down.

Back to you, Ellie Jostad, we`ve looked on this guy`s Facebook, that should have been a tip-off right there. Where one of his favorite movies is "Lolita"?

ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE CHIEF EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Right. One of his favorite movies and favorite books is "Lolita" which is very famous. A lot of people have heard about it. It`s about an adult man who`s obsessed with a 12-year-old girl. Other couple of things that were his favorite for the movie, "Pretty Baby" which stars Brooke Shields, who was then about 12 at the time, as a teen prostitute. Also the movie "Hound Dog" which created a lot of controversy because it included a scene of a sex assault on a young girl played by Dakota Fanning. So these are disturbing choices he has as his favorite on Facebook.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A North Florida couple faces child porn charges after pictures showing them raping a 4-year-old girl.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Literally two animals.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The abuse that went on inside was unthinkable.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Practically abusing and producing porn with a 4- year-old girl.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Own mother may have loaned her to the couple for six weeks of abuse.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It started with a cell phone found left behind in a shopping cart.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Detectives ran a search and traced it back to Johnson, who`s a registered sex offender in the area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This thing is not finished by any stretch.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The toddler was located in Polk County and is now in state custody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Straight out to Susan in New Hampshire.

Hi, Susan, what`s your question, dear?

SUSAN, CALLER FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE: Hi, Nancy. I love speaking to you. I`m so happy I got you on the phone.

GRACE: Likewise.

SUSAN: I watch you every night.

GRACE: Thank you.

SUSAN: God bless you.

GRACE: Thank you.

SUSAN: My question is, being a -- a mother of three and a grandmother of a 5-year-old, it scares me to death and I`m in New Hampshire and I know there`s a lot of sex offenders out here. I want to know is there any way that me as public citizen can help find these creeps and also why aren`t they locked up for the rest of their lives? When they sexually molest a child, rape a child, child pornography, they might as well be dead as far as I`m concerned, because they`re killing the child.

GRACE: And you know, another thing, Susan in New Hampshire, is that it`s easier and it feels better to go through life thinking, oh, well, these parents didn`t take care of their children, it`s their fault, that could never happen to my children because X, Y and Z. Nobody wants to think this could happen to them, this could happen to your child. Your child. Your child that you think is the most wonderful, the most beautiful, the most magical, the most precious thing that ever existed. This is a 4-year-old little girl.

To Dr. Arnall, Michael Arnall, joining me tonight out of Denver, after this little girl has been raped so many times, on video, some doctors are telling me she may never be able to have children, is that true?

DR. MICHAEL ARNALL, BOARD CERTIFIED FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Well, they`re going to be examining this child to determine whether there`s in evidence of lacerations or contusions on her external genitalia, and of course there`s the problem of sexually transmitted disease. They`re going to have to check not only this child but all of the adults involved in this ring to determine who gave what, sexually transmitted disease to what child. And it`s entirely likely they have to examine other children. And some of these sexually transmitted diseases, for instance, human papillomavirus, are associated with the development of cancer.

GRACE: To Dr. Leslie Seppinni, clinical psychologist and author.

Dr. Seppinni, I`m trying to tell myself that maybe she won`t remember it, but I`ve got a feeling I`m just kidding myself.

LESLIE SEPPINNI, PSY.D., CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes, no, she will at some point remember it and she may not remember all the details, but it will come in bits and pieces over her lifetime. There will be a time maybe where she has some type of post-traumatic stress where she has difficulty in relationships. Remember the first five years of life are the most critical in terms of bonding and being able to have relationships. So this is a child who`s been (AUDIO GAP) damaged.

And you know what, (AUDIO GAP) totally agree with you. I don`t know what other psychologists say, but I totally agree with you that this is a situation that these pedophiles cannot be helped. It`s been proven time and time again that we don`t know the ideology, we don`t know if it`s a brain chemistry, we don`t know what it is. What we do know is they believe that their relationship with the child is balanced and equal, they believe the child is -- like a consenting adult.

GRACE: You know, Dr. Seppinni, I had never really put any stock into what we call in the law past recollections recalled. In other words you block something out and you don`t remember it, until something somehow triggers it and many, many years later you remember it until this happened.

I practiced law with a woman in the district attorney`s office. One of the most brilliant child strategists I have ever known.

SEPPINNI: Yes.

GRACE: And she was working on a case, and her own molestation suddenly came back to her from a family member. And for all these years, she did not remember it. And she had never even told her family, her husband, she didn`t remember it. And it came back to her so vividly, it actually gave her chest pains.

And I can still recall, Dr. Seppinni, when my fiance was murdered, a lot of -- what was going on at the funeral, a lot of that I cannot recall to save my neck, I can`t recall it. I think some things are just so painful, your body, your mind, you just -- won`t allow yourself to remember it. And I don`t know what`s better, for you not to remember it, for this girl to grow up not remembering it and maybe not quite understanding why she can`t have a normal relationship or whatever, or is it better to remember it and try to deal with it?

SEPPINNI: Well, one of the issues is the amount of rage that you feel. And so if you were really to express the amount of anger and rage that you feel at being molested or being touched or having pornography taken of you, any number of things, is you feel like you would actually kill somebody, and so you suppress that rage and so that rage turns into depressions and nightmares and all these other symptoms.

And you`re really taking it out on yourself for life. (AUDIO GAP) the same thing but even today I still sometimes remember things, I`m like, oh my god, I forgot how far this person took this. And I`m constantly, I`m constantly shocked and amazed at myself at what you`re saying is so true.

GRACE: So there`s a chance the little girl may or may not remember it, and if she doesn`t recall it, it will act out in her life, it will manifest in different ways.

Out to the lines, Lorraine in New Mexico. Hi, Lorraine, what`s your question dear?

LORRAINE, CALLER FROM NEW MEXICO: Yes, I just wanted to know, is the girlfriend mentally challenged in any way?

GRACE: Good question. Back out to Jean Casarez, legal correspondent, "In Session." I don`t have any information that either of these two people have anything but average or above IQ.

JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": Right. Exactly. But here`s the important point. When we look at Jennifer Sparks and you picture her, you think she`s holding the camera as they allegedly produce this child porn? Uh-uh. The allegation is that she is actually molesting the child on camera also.

GRACE: The woman is on camera molesting the child?

CASAREZ: Yes. Yes, the allegation is that she is participating in the raping, and the assaulting and all of the acts against the little 4-year- old girl and I think that is what people have to realize, she`s not just there holding the camera.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sheriff Mike Scott says the abuse that went on inside this North Fort Myers home was unthinkable, but thanks to a stranger at Wal-Mart, a 4-year-old girl`s life was saved. Convicted sex offender Allen Johnson, and his girlfriend, Jennifer Sparks, are accused of molesting the toddler and producing child porn with her. But they left behind a phone at this Cape Coral Wal-Mart and the person who found it called police.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are live and taking your calls. Back to Ashley Porter, joining us from Tampa, Florida, CNN affiliate WTSP. You know, the fact that this woman was actually helping to molest the little 4-year-old girl is what is stunning so many people and that she would be part of this.

Ashley Porter, what do we know about their freaky online company and what happens next, Ashley, with their case?

ASHLEY PORTER, REPORTER, WTSP: Well, at this point, detectives do know, based on the Facebook page and other evidence that they`ve gathered, that these two were operating that sex toy Web site together. Actually, at one point, on Jennifer Sparks` Facebook page, she has said that she was going to turn her life around and that she was going to stop operating that site but clearly that did not happen.

At this point, the two are still in jail. They`re each facing three different charges, and one of those includes no bond so that`s what they`re doing right now.

GRACE: So both of them are behind bars right now? When`s their next court appearance, Ashley? Do we know?

PORTER: The next court date that we have heard is on July 30th so they will probably be sitting there for a while.

GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, Jennifer Smetters, Mickey Sherman, Penny Douglass Furr.

Mick, is there any way that this cell phone evidence is going to be suppressed? And the reason I`m concerned, I don`t see that there is a suppression argument, but if the cell phone evidence is suppressed, it`s all suppressed because of fruit of the poisonous tree. Everything they find in the home is a result of that cell phone found at Wal-Mart.

SHERMAN: Yes, they did get a warrant to search the home and they may have gotten a warrant to search the phone as well. I think that`s what the information discloses. The issue is was there some expectation of privacy when you leave your phone in the shopping cart at Wal-Mart? And I would agree with another guest here, I don`t think there was a pass code that was locking the phone. I think anyone could have unlocked the phone just by hitting a dial. So I don`t think there`s a great problem that the authorities have in keeping -- in getting --

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Penny, that reminds me of a case where -- I prosecuted where a doorman opened up a FedEx, he saw a rip in it and it was a big brick of uncut cocaine in there. The law is, Penny, that if a civilian does it that`s not the police`s problem, and it can`t be suppressed because a civilian did it. You`re protected under the Constitution from the state, not from a doorman or a shopper at Wal-Mart, Penny.

DOUGLASS FURR: Well, you`re correct, Nancy, but I think one of the issues has to do with whether or not there was a private code and you had to go through a code to get to the images there are even cases thought with husband and wife f one goes through a private code to get to what`s on the other one`s computer, that can be a problem. So, it may be, if somebody had to break into a private code to get there, that it could be a problem for the state.

GRACE: But Jennifer Smetters, even if a civilian -- if a civilian did it, that`s not the state`s problem, Jennifer.

SMETTERS: No, it`s not, and I don`t foresee that being the problem here. If anything, we have a good citizen that turned in the phone because they saw alarming images, not because they know how to hack a phone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These people don`t do this just once, they don`t do this just twice.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Detectives found multiple images of child porn on the phone. They trace it back to Johnson and Sparks. Sheriff Scott says the victim`s own mother may have loaned her to the couple for six weeks of abuse. The toddler was located in Polk County and is now in state custody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This thing is not finished by any stretch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Well, we all know you can get just about everything you want at Wal-Mart, and cheaper, too, but a Wal-Mart shopper got a shock of a lifetime when they discover an abandoned cell phone in a shopping cart, chock loaded of child porn, including a 4-year-old little girl being raped.

Out to the lines, Melinda in Texas. Hi, Melinda, what`s your question?

MELINDA, CALLER FROM TEXAS: Hi, Nancy. I just want to say that I love your show, I love you. And my sister got me hooked on your.

GRACE: Thank you, and God bless her.

MELINDA: She loves you, too. We watch -- we`ve watched you together. My question is, number one, why was CPS not involved in the first place?

GRACE: And number two?

MELINDA: And never even happened. And number two --

MELINDA: If he`s a sex offender, why does he even have a cell phone in the first place?

GRACE: OK. I can answer a couple of those. Number one, right now, under current probation guidelines, once you get out, you can have TV, Internet, cell phone. Doesn`t seem right for a sex offender, I agree with you. Number two, why wasn`t CPS already involved?

To you, Ellie Jostad, did CPS, Child Protective Services, know anything about the little girl already?

JOSTAD: No, Nancy, it sounds like they did not. However, they did say they have previously investigated the female half of this couple, Jennifer Sparks, for allegations involving her own children.

GRACE: Guys, all I can do is pray that this time, these two get the maximum. And we can do something about that by following this case and seeing to which court it is assigned and in letting that judge and that prosecutor know how we feel.
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  " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  - Daniel Moynihan
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« Reply #2 on: July 04, 2012, 01:13:11 PM »

Did Nancy really say "blah blah blah" when her guest was suggesting laws need to be changed so child rapists can be locked up for longer periods of time?  If Nancy had any sense she would be on the front lines going public and talking to legislators about creating those laws!

Also, to think that this four year old child will only have relationship issues is ridiculous.  Based on what LE has stated she will likely have deep psycholical issues that may lead to suicidal tendencies, self harming, the abuse of drugs and/or alcohol to self medicate, selling her own body, inability to focus, living in constant fear, feeling the need to harm other children, etc...

She can be helped but it will take very special people willing to commit to this child's well being for many years.  I've prayed that she will get that.

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