If you are female, you're at risk

I've talked with a number of women who brush off their chances of being raped.

"I'm too old to be raped". Or too heavy. Or not attractive enough. Similar variations on these themes.

But the reality is, if you are a female, you are at risk. Take the case two days ago in New York when a 59-year-old woman was raped when a masked man pushed his way into her house after she answered the door. There have been cases of women in their 80s and 90s who have been attacked, raped and robbed.

Why do the rapists do it? Because they can and they know that you cannot or will not stop them.

Don't brush off the threat no matter your age, your looks, your weight, your location.

Be aware, get trained, stay on guard.

U.S. Prosecutor Accused of Seeking Sex With Girl, 5

Fox News
DETROIT — A U.S. prosecutor was arrested in an Internet sting operation after flying from Florida to Michigan allegedly to have sex with a 5-year-old girl, officials said.
John David Roy Atchison, 53, appeared Monday in U.S. District Court in Detroit on a charge of interstate travel to have sex with a minor. He is an assistant U.S. attorney in northern Florida.
The arrest followed several weeks of Internet conversations between the prosecutor and a detective posing as the mother of a 5-year-old girl, authorities say.
The prosecutor is charged with using interstate communication to entice a minor to have sexual contact and with traveling across state lines with the intent of engaging in illicit sexual contact. The charges carry a possible sentence of up to 30 years in prison.
Atchison, of Gulf Breeze, Fla., was arrested Sunday at Detroit Metropolitan Airport as part of an undercover sting operation by the Macomb Area Computer Enforcement Team.
"There wasn't much reaction from him at all," said Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel, whose department runs the team. He said Atchison was cooperative with authorities.
Atchison brought a Dora the Explorer doll, hoop earrings and petroleum jelly with him from Florida, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Click here to read the Detroit Free Press report.
According to court records, Atchison initiated an online chat Aug. 29 with an undercover officer posing as a mother interested in letting men have sex with her daughter.
In several conversations, he said he wanted to have oral, vaginal and anal sex with the woman's fictitious daughter, Hackel said.
"I'm always gentle and loving; not to worry; no damage ever; no rough stuff ever ever," Atchison said at one point, according to an affidavit filed in court.
"I've done it plenty," he said.
Hackel said his department brought in federal authorities after it became clear that the case involved an out-of-state suspect.
The arrest has come as a shock in Florida, where Atchison is president of a community sports organization, the Gulf Breeze Sports Association, where girls as young as 4 can participate in the soccer program.
Teresa Hawthorne, the organization's youth sports coordinator, told FOXNews.com no one from the association would comment on the case.
Atchison was a soccer and baseball coach, Lt. Rick Hawthorne of the Gulf Breeze police told the Detroit News.
Click here to read the Detroit News report.
"I'm shocked," Edwin "Buz" Eddy, the city manager of Gulf Breeze told the Pensacola News Journal. "That's about all I can say. I hope this is something that can be cleared up by some explanation. What that might be, I don't know."
Eddy told the paper that he had known Atchison for more than a decade and considered him a "pillar of the community."
Click here to read the Pensacola News Journal report.
Atchison's wife is a science teacher at Gulf Breeze High School.
The couple have three children high school age or older, according to the Detroit News.
The fact that an Internet child sex suspect is a law enforcement official shouldn't be unexpected, Hackel said.
"The people who are doing it come from all walks of life," the sheriff said. "It doesn't surprise us anymore."
Atchison asked for a court-appointed lawyer. A detention hearing was scheduled for Tuesday.

NYC Cop Charged With Raping Teen Karate Student

Friday, December 28, 2007
Associated Press

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. — A New York City police officer is accused of raping a teenage student in his martial arts school during a sexual relationship he claimed was one of the school's rites, police said Friday.
Middletown police said Trent Young, 39, sexually abused and then began having sex with the 15-year-old girl, a student at Iron Tiger Martial Arts in West Milford, N.J., in 2005.
Young, who also teaches karate at his Middletown home, was arrested Thursday on his way to work and charged in Orange County Court with felony counts of second- and third-degree rape, police said. He was free on bail Friday.
The girl told police she'd been a student at Iron Tiger for a year when Young asked her to sign an oath of obedience in 2005. She told police that Young made her take off all of her clothes as part of the oath, and then sexually abused her. She said he then told her to get dressed and that the encounter was part of a test.
Young then began a sexual relationship with the girl, leading her to believe it was part of the karate school's program, police said. Young is accused of having sex with her 20-40 times at various locations, including his home and at the school.
Investigators said Young told a second 15-year-old to take off her clothes as part of her obedience oath, but she refused.
There was no answer at Iron Tiger Martial Arts Friday and police were not sure who is representing Young in court.
The New York City Police Department declined comment Friday, but Middletown police said Young has been with the NYPD for nine years and worked in the 26th Precinct in upper Manhattan.