Brooke Bennett 12yrs old missing 6/25/08 Randolph Vermont(BODY FOUND)

[Bearlyhere]

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=8738317&nav=4QcS

Prison Officials Stand by Sex Offender Treatment
 
Waterbury, Vermont - July 25, 2008

Prison officials are standing by Vermont's sex offender treatment despite one of its graduate's suspected involvement in the murder of a 12-year-old girl. Officials say the program comes with no guarantees, but they say it dramatically reduces the risk of re-offense. And the Vermont Corrections Department says its programs have become a model for other states because they are so successful.

"It makes us safer than not doing it. It doesn't guarantee total safety," says Vt. Corrections Commissioner Rob Hofmann.

Hofmann says studies show that sex offenders are less likely to re-offend if they complete the state's sex offender treatment program.

About 400 of Vermont's 2,000 convicts-- about 20 percent-- are doing time for a sex crime conviction. Most will complete sex offender treatment. The great majority of the graduates will not re-offend, unlike Michael Jacques.

He completed the treatment program and was called a model prisoner by the department and released from probation in 2006 after the department categorized him as a model prisoner.

Until 12-year-old niece Brooke Bennett was kidnapped and murdered last month-- and he's the prime suspect. The commissioner says the program should not be judged by this one failure.

"Does it succeed in all cases? And make all of these people who come to us impaired and violent and criminal and make them all model citizens? No, and I think that's unrealistic," says Hofmann.

The commissioner says there have been three major changes in the treatment since Jacques completed the program in 2000.

In the late 1990s the program was re-designed to match length and intensity of treatment to the severity of the offense.

Second, the department adopted what it calls state-of-the-science testing methods to better assess the risk of re-offense.

Third, convicted sex offenders are now subject to random lie detector testing to determine if they are engaging in high-risk behavior such as viewing pornography or hanging around kids.

"The program is effective at reducing the risk to re-offend and it is effective at helping to make our community safer. It is not a total assurance that some deviant will not relapse. That's just one of the terrible realities of the criminals that we deal with," says Hofmann.

Brian Joyce - WCAX News
*********************************************************
To be effective, a safety program has to be 100% effective or it is not safe.

If a company made air conditioners and all of them caught fire while they were in use, they were then treated and only 49% of them caught fire afterwards, the treatment was effective.  Would you consider this a program that made them safe?   

How do they really know these people are not re-offending?  No one would have known that Jacques was re-offending continually until Brooke was murdered and he was one of their success stories.  What does one of their failures look like?

God bless you, Brooke. 

Help guide us from heaven to find a way to stop these sex offenders from re-offending, ever.  Please help us to identify those that will do it even once.

[Sam]

Bearlyhere, thank you for posting that.

I guess it is good to keep trying to find a way to rehabilitate these offenders. I just wish there was a way to stop  them from offending in the first place.
Rest in Peace Brooke.

[Bearlyhere]

Bearlyhere, thank you for posting that.

I guess it is good to keep trying to find a way to rehabilitate these offenders. I just wish there was a way to stop  them from offending in the first place.
Rest in Peace Brooke.

You're welcome, Sam.  I don't understand it at all, but when it is a family member, the very protectors of our children, it somehow seems even worse.

[jaggard19]

Just wanted to add this link regarding Brooke Bennett Memorial Fund:

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=8888332

[jaggard19]

And this link regarding regarding strong support for tougher sex offender laws in Vermont:

http://www.wcax.com/global/story.asp?s=9035610

[MSE]

Indictment: Man Drugged, Suffocated 12-Year-Old Niece

POSTED: 3:20 pm EDT October 1, 2008
UPDATED: 4:30 pm EDT October 1, 2008


RUTLAND, Vt. -- A Rutland grand jury has handed up a six-count indictment charging Michael Jacques, 42, of Randolph, Vt., with the kidnapping and slaying of his niece, 12-year-old Brooke Bennett.

Bennett's body was found buried in a shallow grave near Jacques home in July. Prior to Wednesday's announcement, investigators said Bennett was murdered but would not release a cause of death.

The indictment alleges Jacques drugged, sexually assaulted and killed Bennett.

The Vermont Medical Examiner determined Bennett died by strangulation and smothering due to a plastic bag over her head and around her neck, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.

The grand jury also issued a "Notice Of Special Findings," which makes Jacques eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

The indictment alleges Jacques lured Bennett to his home with help from another juvenile by leading Bennett to believe she would be a guest at a pool party there.

Under federal law, the U.S. Attorney's Office has to make the decision whether to seek the death penalty. No decision has been made and one will not be made until the U.S. Attorney's Office has time to fully review the facts of the case, which is expected to take several months, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The U.S. Attorney's Office also announced Wednesday that it has filed a motion to dismiss an obstruction of justice charge against Raymond Gagnon, 40, of San Antonio, Texas.

Gagnon, Bennett's ex-stepfather, has already been indicted by a grand jury in Texas with transportation and production of child pornography in connection with the Bennett case and is expected to be transported to Texas to face those charges.

It had been suspected that Gagnon was involved in an Internet sex ring with Jacques and was attempting to destroy a computer in the days following Bennett's disappearance.

According to the indictment, in 2003 Jacques persuaded an 9-year-old girl into believing that a powerful organization known as "Breckenridge" would harm or kill her family if she did not engage in sex acts with Jacques. The indictment also says Jacques used the Internet and text messages supposedly associated with Breckenridge.

As a result, Jacques succeeded in causing the girl to submit to ongoing Breckenridge directives, including allowing Jacques to videotape himself having sex with the girl, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

According to the indictment, Jacques convinced the girl that Breckenridge sometimes "terminated" girls in the program and that the juvenile might have to assist in the planning of such a termination. In early 2008, Jacques sent the juvenile a series of e-mails purportedly from Breckenridge operatives telling the girl that Bennett had been designated for termination because she was causing problems, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The indictment alleges that Jacques lured Bennett to his home on June 24 with the assistance of the juvenile and left her at a local Cumberland Farms store before picking her back up again and bringing her back to his home, where he killed her.

http://www.wmur.com/cnn-news/17600247/detail.html

[MSE]

Indictment: Man Drugged, Suffocated 12-Year-Old Niece

POSTED: 3:20 pm EDT October 1, 2008
UPDATED: 4:30 pm EDT October 1, 2008


RUTLAND, Vt. -- A Rutland grand jury has handed up a six-count indictment charging Michael Jacques, 42, of Randolph, Vt., with the kidnapping and slaying of his niece, 12-year-old Brooke Bennett.

Bennett's body was found buried in a shallow grave near Jacques home in July. Prior to Wednesday's announcement, investigators said Bennett was murdered but would not release a cause of death.

The indictment alleges Jacques drugged, sexually assaulted and killed Bennett.

The Vermont Medical Examiner determined Bennett died by strangulation and smothering due to a plastic bag over her head and around her neck, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.

The grand jury also issued a "Notice Of Special Findings," which makes Jacques eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

The indictment alleges Jacques lured Bennett to his home with help from another juvenile by leading Bennett to believe she would be a guest at a pool party there.

Under federal law, the U.S. Attorney's Office has to make the decision whether to seek the death penalty. No decision has been made and one will not be made until the U.S. Attorney's Office has time to fully review the facts of the case, which is expected to take several months, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The U.S. Attorney's Office also announced Wednesday that it has filed a motion to dismiss an obstruction of justice charge against Raymond Gagnon, 40, of San Antonio, Texas.

Gagnon, Bennett's ex-stepfather, has already been indicted by a grand jury in Texas with transportation and production of child pornography in connection with the Bennett case and is expected to be transported to Texas to face those charges.

It had been suspected that Gagnon was involved in an Internet sex ring with Jacques and was attempting to destroy a computer in the days following Bennett's disappearance.

According to the indictment, in 2003 Jacques persuaded an 9-year-old girl into believing that a powerful organization known as "Breckenridge" would harm or kill her family if she did not engage in sex acts with Jacques. The indictment also says Jacques used the Internet and text messages supposedly associated with Breckenridge.

As a result, Jacques succeeded in causing the girl to submit to ongoing Breckenridge directives, including allowing Jacques to videotape himself having sex with the girl, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

According to the indictment, Jacques convinced the girl that Breckenridge sometimes "terminated" girls in the program and that the juvenile might have to assist in the planning of such a termination. In early 2008, Jacques sent the juvenile a series of e-mails purportedly from Breckenridge operatives telling the girl that Bennett had been designated for termination because she was causing problems, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The indictment alleges that Jacques lured Bennett to his home on June 24 with the assistance of the juvenile and left her at a local Cumberland Farms store before picking her back up again and bringing her back to his home, where he killed her.
http://www.wmur.com/cnn-news/17600247/detail.html

[jaggard19]

Copy of the indictment:

http://blackpearl.wcax.com/documents/Jacques_indictment.PDF

[jaggard19]

Jacques Pleads Not Guilty
 
 Burlington, Vermont - October 8, 2008

Michael Jacques lawyers entered a not guilty plea for their client Wednesday, on a charge of kidnapping and killing his niece Brooke Bennett.

The prosecution indicated it could take six months for the U.S. Justice Department to determine if Jacques could face the death penalty.

Jacques was not in court.

He is charged with kidnapping, sexually assaulting and killing the 12-year-old Braintree girl this summer.

Most of Wednesday's hearing entered on defense motions and scheduling issues.

Half a dozen of Brooke's family members and friends were outside the federal court in Burlington as Jacques' hearing was held.

Afterward, Brooke's stepmother said she is of two minds about the death penalty-- she said she really wants to see Jacques suffer and thinks the death penalty may not be punishment severe enough.



http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=9147352&nav=menu183_2_4

[jaggard19]

Michael Jacques' Other Victim
 
 Burlington, Vermont - October 7, 2008

Channel 3 News has uncovered more evidence that Michael Jacques has a long history of sex crimes-- and another victim. We are just learning about this part of Jacques' past because a legal loophole helped hide his record-- even from authorities. But Channel 3 News confirmed the information on the eve of Jacques' federal arraignment for the kidnapping and killing of his niece, Brooke Bennett, 12, of Braintree.

In July, a woman contacted Channel 3 News claiming she had been raped by Michael Jacques in Barre in 1987 when he was 20 and she was 13. She claimed he was arrested and convicted but she couldn't prove it because all public record of the case had disappeared and public officials refused to talk about it. Tuesday we finally confirmed her story.

"He got off. I don't think he got any jail time," said the woman, who asked to be identified only by the initial L.

L admits she remembers few details about how she claims Michael Jacques raped her in his family's apartment in Barre in 1987.

She remembers she lived down the street. She was 13. He was about 20 and he was a predator who lured many troubled girls to his apartment with alcohol and drugs.

"I don't recall any kind of physical aggression but I do remember me obviously saying no and not having any kind of say in the matter and him masterminding the whole thing, and you know, this is how it's going to be and this is the way it's going to go and you're just going to comply," she said.

Here's the timeline:

In 1985, Jacques is charged with impregnating a 13-year-old family member. The state drops the charge because the victim refused to testify.

Two years later, in 1987, he rapes the woman we call L. He pleads guilty to a lesser charge and gets a deferred sentence. All records are sealed and unavailable.

Then in 1992, Jacques was convicted of kidnapping and raping an 18-year-old girl in Rutland.

He completed sex offender treatment. He remained on the registry but got off probation ahead of schedule. His probation officer told the judge Jacques was fully rehabilitated and a model prisoner.

But that probation officer and the judge could not know that Jacques had been convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct with L because all record of his arrest and conviction for that crime has been sealed by law. It took us two months to find out why. This week, sources told us Jacques received a deferred sentence under a plea agreement. And by law, if an offender stays clean on a deferred sentence, all public record of the case are supposedly obliterated.

We do know that L wished her case had gone to trial so there might have been a record that could have been used to keep Jacques behind bars and save others.

"That maybe if he was punished the first time around when my case happened that maybe somebody would be not hurting, somebody's mother wouldn't be missing her daughter right now and you know somebody wouldn't be wondering why their baby isn't at home," she said.

L was ecstatic when we were able to confirm her story and the state has indicated the records have been found.

She also had a message for Michael Jacques: "I'm in control now and I'm not going to let you, you're not gonna, I'm not gonna shed any more tears over this anymore. It's not my fault. I didn't do this."

Key lawmakers have already indicated that one of their top priorities will be to enact a statute that would prohibit deferred sentences for sex offenders so that records of previous offenses will never be expunged.

The prosecutor in L's case has died so we may never know the exact reason the sentence for Jacques was deferred in 1987. But L herself told us that she believes she was tripped up when she was deposed by Jacques' attorney and the prosecutor decided she would not be a good witness.

Brian Joyce - WCAX News

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=9137103&nav=menu183_2_4

[Nut44x4]

RUTLAND, Vt. -- A Rutland grand jury has handed up a six-count indictment charging Michael Jacques, 42, of Randolph, Vt., with the kidnapping and slaying of his niece, 12-year-old Brooke Bennett.
 

THANKS 4 all the updates!!!

[Rob]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,440383,00.html

Texas Man Allegedly Helped Destroy Evidence in Slain Vermont Girl Case

Friday, October 17, 2008

MONTPELIER, Vt —  A Texas man was arrested Friday on allegations that he helped destroy evidence implicating the former stepfather of a 12-year-old Vermont girl who was abducted and killed.

Authorities say Brooke Bennett was to be inducted into a child sex ring by her uncle on the day of her disappearance in June. Her body was found in a shallow grave days later, and the uncle has been charged with killing her.

According to an affidavit obtained by the San Antonio Express-News, Brooke's former stepfather called 58-year-old Kevin D. Grosenheider and asked him to throw away a safe containing evidence that implicated him and someone else in the sexual assault of a minor.

Grosenheider was renting a room to the stepfather, 40-year-old Raymond Gagnon, at the time.

The affidavit said Gagnon apparently called Grosenheider on June 30, the day he was arrested in Vermont on an obstruction of justice charge during the investigation of Brooke's disappearance. The obstruction charge was dismissed, but Gagnon has been indicted in San Antonio on charges of producing and possessing child pornography.
Related

   
The affidavit said Grosenheider initially lied to investigators about the phone call but later acknowledged it. He also told agents that Gagnon showed him images of child pornography on a cell phone and a home computer.

Grosenheider was charged with misprision of a felony -- not reporting or helping cover up a crime.

He was released on $40,000 bond, and another hearing was set for this month. He doesn't have an attorney yet, federal court clerk Aurora Cisneros told The Associated Press.

Brooke disappeared June 25 and was found dead a week later. Her disappearance triggered Vermont's first Amber Alert.

[Nut44x4]

Brooke’s stepdad seeks deal in porn case   
February 22, 2009

The stepfather of Brooke Bennett, the 12-year-old Braintree girl whose disappearance and slaying last year sparked national attention and stronger sex-offender legislation, wants to settle federal child pornography charges pending against him in two Southern states.

The disclosure of the potential plea deal was included in papers filed in U.S. District Court in San Antonio Texas, by lawyers for Raymond Gagnon requesting a delay in his trial on four child pornography charges, set to begin March 2, so work on the plea deal could continue.


"The parties continue to negotiate a resolution of the case involving multiple federal districts," Gagnon’s Feb. 13 request for the delay said. On Friday, the presiding federal judge in the case issued an order agreeing to put off Gagnon’s trial until April 20.

Gagnon’s court-appointed attorney in Texas, Kurt May, did not respond to a request for comment, but federal prosecutors in both Texas and Alabama, where Gagnon is facing two child pornography counts, confirmed that discussions on a plea deal are ongoing.

"He wanted to have more time to see if he could wrap everything up," Tracy Braun, an assistant U.S. attorney in San Antonio, said of Gagnon. "I can’t imagine this is going to take very long."

Mary Stuart Burrell, an assistant U.S. attorney in Huntsville, Ala., agreed. "That’s my understanding of what’s going on," she said.

Gagnon’s child pornography charges stem from information gathered by police during the massive investigation into Brooke’s death. Her body was found July 2 covered with dirt in the woods a mile south of the home of her uncle Michael Jacques, in East Randolph.

Jacques is facing federal charges in Vermont that he kidnapped, drugged, raped and strangled Brooke after luring her to his home June 25. Police found evidence Jacques plotted his niece’s kidnapping a month in advance and made it look like she had run away to rendezvous with someone she had met on the Internet.

Gagnon, who was divorced from Brooke’s mother, traveled to Vermont in late June after learning from Jacques that Brooke was missing. Police said Jacques talked with Gagnon by telephone several times the night Brooke was initially reported missing.

Gagnon, a resident of San Antonio, was arrested while in Vermont on state charges that he and Jacques had engaged in a simultaneous sex act with a minor in 2007 in South Royalton.

Those charges were set aside when federal prosecutors charged him with obstruction of justice after he allegedly called a friend in San Antonio and asked him to get rid of a computer that contained a collection of child pornography.

The Alabama case against Gagnon emerged after investigators there, acting on a tip, went to a home Gagnon owned in Cullman, Ala., and found child pornography stored on two computers.

According to court papers, Gagnon passed through Alabama in late June while on his way to Vermont and a neighbor saw him "enter his home with computers." Police said when they examined the computers they found a number of images involving minors performing various sex acts.

A superceding indictment unsealed in San Antonio in October contained new charges that Gagnon also engaged in, produced and transported child pornography over a four-year period, between 2003 and 2007.

U.S. Attorney Tom Anderson said late last week he was not a party to the plea deal discussion going on in Texas and Alabama.

Gagnon’s Vermont charges were dismissed after he was indicted in Texas. He has been in federal custody since his July arrest in Vermont and was transferred to Texas authorities in October.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20090222/NEWS/90222003

[Nut44x4]

San Antonio Express-News
 
April 11, 2009 Saturday

Men take plea in federal case

Two former Toyota Tundra contract workers have pleaded guilty to federal charges related to a child pornography ring linked to the death of a Vermont girl last summer.

As part of an agreement with federal prosecutors, Raymond Gagnon, 41, on Thursday pleaded guilty to transporting child pornography.

His former landlord, Kevin Grosenheider, pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony, meaning not reporting or helping cover up crimes, related to Gagnon.

As part of the plea agreement with Gagnon, authorities dropped charges of producing and possessing child pornography. He still faces those charges in Alabama, where he lived before moving to San Antonio in 2007 to work with Grosenheider for Avanzar Interior Technologies, a Toyota Tundra plant contractor.

Gagnon faces five to 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

Grosenheider, 58, faces a maximum of three years in prison. According to court records, Grosenheider last July disposed of Gagnon's safe that contained child pornography images before FBI agents arrived at their home.

Attorneys for both men declined to comment.

The FBI began investigating Gagnon last summer after his former stepdaughter, Brooke Bennett, 12, was abducted and found dead in Vermont.

The case sparked national attention after authorities said she was to be inducted into a child sex ring by her uncle, Michael Jacques, on June 24, the day she disappeared.

Jacques was charged with her abduction and possession of child pornography.

Court records said Gagnon helped Jacques change Bennett's MySpace page to throw off authorities after her disappearance.

Before Bennett's death, Gagnon had traded child pornography with Jacques via e-mail, authorities said.

An underage girl who said she had sex with both Gagnon and Jacques last year told authorities Jacques planned to initiate Bennett into a sex ring called Brackenridge, according to court documents.

Court records said Gagnon flew to Vermont around the time of Bennett's disappearance.

After the FBI began questioning Gagnon, he called Grosenheider on June 30 from Vermont and told Grosenheider to throw away a safe because it contained evidence that implicated Gagnon and someone else in the sexual assault of a girl, according to records. 
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:954822590&start=10

[Nut44x4]

Feds want death penalty for slain Vt. girl's uncle
By WILSON RING (AP) – 26 minutes ago

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Federal prosecutors announced Tuesday they'll seek the death penalty for a convicted sex offender charged with luring his 12-year-old niece to his home with the promise of a pool party before molesting and strangling her.

Michael Jacques is accused of kidnapping and intentionally killing seventh-grader Brooke Bennett, whose body was found buried in a shallow grave near his home in July 2008 a week after she went missing.

Prosecutor say Jacques, 43, had drugged Brooke before killing her and disposing of her body in Randolph, the small town where he lived just south of Montpelier and about a five-minute drive from her home in Braintree.

The documents filed Tuesday list five findings that prosecutors contend make Jacques eligible for the death penalty under federal law and 19 aggravating factors, including that he killed Brooke after "substantial planning and premeditation."

The decision to seek the death penalty was made Aug. 14 by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, prosecutors said. On Tuesday the required notice of intent to seek the death penalty was filed in federal court in Burlington.

Vermont U.S. Attorney Tristram Coffin, who took office last week, declined further comment.

Brooke's father, Jim Bennett, said Tuesday the family was told about the decision to seek the death penalty before it was released.

Jacques pleaded not guilty last fall to a variety of charges, including kidnapping with death resulting. His attorneys did not return telephone calls seeking comment Tuesday.

Vermont does not have a state death penalty, but Jacques is being charged under federal law. If the case goes to trial it would be the third capital case tried in federal court in Vermont in the last decade.

In 2005, Donald Fell was sentenced to death for the 2000 murder of a North Clarendon woman who was kidnapped from her job at a Rutland supermarket and was beaten to death in Pawling, N.Y. Fell, who admitted everything in great detail but claimed he was the victim of a horrible childhood, is on the federal death row in Terre Haute, Ind.

In 2000, an Indiana man, Chris Dean, was charged with sending a bomb that killed a Fair Haven teenager in 1998. He agreed to plead guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.

When Brooke disappeared in June 2008, investigators thought she had been abducted by someone she met online. But investigators said they soon determined that Jacques had created the cyberspace trail to throw them off.

Jacques' indictment, handed down last October, alleges he used a 14-year-old girl to lure Brooke to his home by getting her to believe she would be a guest at a pool party there. The indictment and supporting affidavits make it clear prosecutors believe the 14-year-old left the home and Jacques drugged, sexually assaulted and then strangled Brooke.

The 14-year-old told police she believed Brooke was destined for a child sex club the teen had been in since she was 9.

Brooke was found buried about a mile from Jacques' house. Her death prompted the Vermont Legislature to revamp the state's sex offender laws.

Jacques had been sentenced in 1993 to six to 20 years in prison for kidnapping and raping a teenager he supervised at a Rutland restaurant, court records show. He completed the state's sex offender treatment program in 2000 and was released from probation in 2006.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hxedH0kW8u9zRHX40_XLYlNo8awQD9AA6T081

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,549301,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a4:g4:r1:c0.000000:b0:z5
Murdered Vermont Girl's Ex-Stepfather Sentenced to 16 Years in Prison

Friday, September 11, 2009

SAN ANTONIO —  The former stepfather of a murdered 12-year-old Vermont girl was sentenced Friday to more than 16 years in prison on child pornography charges.

U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez sentenced Raymond Gagnon in San Antonio to 16 years and eight months in federal prison.

Gagnon expressed grief and remorse in accepting the sentence.

Click here to view photos.

The FBI found child pornography while searching Gagnon's San Antonio home after his former stepdaughter, Brooke Bennett, disappeared in Vermont last summer
Gagnon had been married to Brooke's mother for four years before the couple separated in 2004.

Brooke's uncle, Michael Jacques, is accused of molesting and strangling Brooke in July 2008.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Jacques pleaded not guilty last fall to a variety of charges, including kidnapping with death resulting.

[San]

Thank you for the update.

[Nut44x4]

Texas man with Cullman ties pleads guilty to possession of child porn
Posted: May 20, 2010 4:49 PM EDT
Updated: May 20, 2010 5:14 PM EDT

 HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) – A former resident of Cullman County who was investigated in connection with the disappearance and murder of a Vermont girl in 2008, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to possessing child pornography.

U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Special Agent in Charge Patrick Maley announced.

42-year-old Raymond Alfred Gagnon of San Antonio, Texas, entered his plea before U.S. District Judge C. Lynwood Smith Jr. to the one-count indictment returned in 2008.

The indictment charged Gagnon with possessing a computer and related media containing images of child pornography.

A Vermont man, Michael Jacques, is charged with the child's murder in federal court in Vermont.

As part of Gagnon's plea hearing in Huntsville, the government presented facts establishing that in the summer of 2008, Gagnon was part of an ongoing investigation regarding the disappearance of a 12-year-old girl who was last seen at a convenience store in Vermont.

The girl was later found murdered and buried in a shallow grave. During the initial investigation, Gagnon admitted that after he learned of the disappearance of the Vermont girl, he flew from San Antonio to Vermont by way of Cullman where he owns a house.

The charges he pleaded guilty to Thursday involve child pornography found on a computer and related media at the Cullman home.

Gagnon admitted to possessing those computers. He also admitted that while in Cullman, he went to the Cullman Public Library to attempt to access the missing girl's MySpace account and Amber Alert information.

He further admitted to engaging in sexually explicit contact with a different underage girl in Vermont.

During the investigation, Gagnon told an acquaintance to dispose of a safe in his San Antonio house.

He said the safe contained a laptop computer that was used to access the missing Vermont girl's MySpace page, and contained vast amounts of child pornography he had downloaded from the internet.

Gagnon admitted to possessing sexual images of children as young as five years old.

"The facts of this case remind us how people who are interested in sexually exploiting children put a high value on child pornography collections," Vance said. "Gagnon maintained residences in two states and had child pornography at both residences. These people threaten our children and must be taken off the streets."

In 2008, as part of the investigation, a federal grand jury in Texas indicted Gagnon for transporting child pornography.

He pleaded guilty to that offense and was sentenced to almost 17 years in prison.

Gagnon is scheduled for sentencing in the Alabama case on September 22.

He faces a maximum of ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He has remained in custody since his arrest in 2008.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Stuart Burrell is prosecuting the government's case.

http://www.waff.com/Global/story.asp?s=12516718&clienttype=printable

[Sister]

I hope this POS falls over his shackles and knocks his eyeballs out.  Maybe that's the remedy -- blind the bas***ds!
(Sorry, I am still in a rage over Ethan Stacy.)

[no rose colored glasses]

I hope this POS falls over his shackles and knocks his eyeballs out.  Maybe that's the remedy -- blind the bas***ds!
(Sorry, I am still in a rage over Ethan Stacy.)

I do also, this case took it's toll on me. Always think about Brooke along with many others that left a mark on me.