A stream of news accounts in the paper recently reads like a police log.
The deluge was enough to make me wonder what the heck is going on across our state when it comes to child pornography and worse. Is it that these crimes are proliferating from, say, a decade ago, or are police just arresting more men accused of preying on innocent children?
There were the two Fayetteville men, Garry Traphagan, 61, and I presume a relative, Alex Traphagan, 21, who are accused of possessing, distributing or viewing child pornography, according to police.
The case against them began in Canada in 2014 when authorities noticed several links to child pornography in an Internet chatroom. The next thing you know, Homeland Security was involved and reportedly tracked the link to the Traphagans' home.
A search warrant followed and an affidavit contends Alex Traphagan confessed to uploading child porn, while the senior Traphagan claimed he had viewed such filth (my word) but didn't realize the images were of children.
Then there's Antoine Michael, who police accuse of traveling from Ohio to Fort Smith with the intent of having sex with a child younger than 12. Reportedly caught red-handed by an undercover officer posing as a single mother with two small children (that thought alone is plenty sick), Michael, 42, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years in the federal pen, where thankfully there are no children.
Moving on through the list of disturbing news accounts, I read of 40-year-old David G. Reynolds, a former pastor at Cornerstone Bible Fellowship in Sherwood, who faces some 70 counts of distributing, viewing and possessing child pornography.
That arrest came after a shared investigation between Sherwood police and the special investigations division of the Arkansas attorney general's office.
Church elders said in a statement that they removed Reynolds of his ministerial duties after he'd confessed to them that he'd been "engaged in pornography." The elders asked if he'd specifically watched child pornography, to which he replied that he hadn't knowingly done so.
Staying with the Christian theme, another story said former Life Way Christian School teacher Richard Thomas Riley of Centerton, who once taught physical science and world history to freshmen and sophomores, is charged with sexual assault involving a 16-year-old girl. He also is accused of possessing nude photographs of the girl. He has pleaded innocent.
The judge suspended court proceedings until the former teacher can be mentally evaluated.
On Thursday I read about Cesar Lopez, a 59-year-old pastor from Rogers charged in connection with sexual assaults on two girls, ages 15 and 16. He remained in the Benton County jail as of my deadline.
Finally in the list of men making dubious headlines was James Edward Whitney, who was convicted in Fayetteville of viewing or possessing 18 images of child pornography on his computer hard drive, dating from 2009 and 2010.
The felonies came to light when Whitney's wife took computers and hard drives to authorities in 2012 and the state Crime Lab reportedly discovered 20 images and chats on two computers involving apparently underage girls in graphic sexual situations.
Whitney's attorney, David Hogue, was quoted conceding that the pictures were "disgusting, disturbing and despicable."
That's also the ideal description for all the men who chose to engage in these crimes.
295 dogs!
I'd intended for today's column to carry uplifting messages.
Instead, I'll close with a thought or two about the Madison County woman charged with 177 counts of cruelty to animals after 295 dogs were removed March 3 from deplorable conditions at her rural home near the Wesley community.
Excuse me just a moment, please. I'm trying to picture 295 dogs wadded together at one home. But nope. My pea-sized brain can't visualize it. Just imagine the enormous food bill alone.
That could be why five dogs were discovered dead and six others died after being taken from the property of 67-year-old Joyce Eulela Johnson, who had yet to enter a plea as of my deadline.
But it appears she's got some 'splainin' to do in a courtroom where, if convicted, she will face up to six years and a $10,000 fine on each of 20 felony counts and a year's imprisonment and $1,000 in fines on each of 150 misdemeanor counts. That's potentially 270 years and fines totaling $350,000.
The news story by ace reporter Bill Bowden said homes have been found for all the dogs, most of which were sent to other shelters across the nation. The story also quoted a Humane Society rescue official saying this kind of thing happens in Arkansas because our laws against puppy mills are so relatively lax. I say this mess proves it's high time to resolve that reputation, don't you?
By the way, anyone else notice that her potential sentences for abusing dogs are way beyond what sex offenders involving minors are subject to?
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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected].
Editorial on 05/15/2016