Crimes at Sea with Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Lines Theft to Rape

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

For the first time, the three largest U.S.-based cruise lines on Thursday began posting on their websites more comprehensive data about allegations of serious crimes committed aboard ships. The disclosures were made voluntarily but come amid growing pressure from Congress and crime victims for greater accuracy about crime at sea.

The postings by Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line show many more crimes were reported to security personnel than had previously been made public, but still a minuscule number compared with the nearly 17 million people who embark on cruises in North America every year.

Federal law requires these statistics only for homicide, suspicious deaths, missing U.S. persons, kidnapping, assault with serious bodily injury, rape and other sexual assaults, tampering with a vessel and thefts over $10,000.

Since January 2011, the Coast Guard has publicly reported only 31 such crimes aboard cruise ships, according to the Senate Commerce Committee. Royal Caribbean and Norwegian on Thursday reported 94 crimes and 20 crimes, respectively, between Oct. 2010 and the end of June this year. Carnival, which is the largest of the three, planned to post its crime data later Thursday.

The most common allegations were rape and sexual assault, followed by thefts. No homicides were reported. The numbers only reflect allegations, not whether investigators concluded that a crime had actually been committed, cruise line officials said.

"We are doing this voluntarily to remove all doubt about the relatively low level of crime on cruise ships, especially when compared with comparable land-based crimes," said Carnival spokesman Roger Frizzell in an email. "The majority of these are never substantiated as actual crimes after the initial investigation."

"If we're really going to make a difference for consumers, I believe it's going to take legislative action to make sure this industry is required to give customers the information they need and deserve when they're making a decision about taking a cruise," Rockefeller said in a statement.

Read More.... http://bigstory.ap.org/article/big-cruise-lines-post-onboard-crime-data

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Law Offices of Jonathan Franklin
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Cleveland Kidnapper Castro's Sentencing

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

"life without parole plus an additional 1,000 years"

A former school bus driver being sentenced Thursday for kidnapping three women and subjecting them to years of sexual and physical abuse left behind a letter that said "I'm a sexual predator," an FBI agent testified.

Prosecutors detailed Ariel Castro's assaults and law enforcement witnesses described the jury-rigged prison he built in his ramshackle home. With the possibility of the death penalty for a forced miscarriage taken off the table, Castro stands to get life in prison plus 1,000 years.

FBI agent Andrew Burke said Castro turned his house into a prison by creating a makeshift alarm system and chaining them inside bolted bedrooms.

Bedroom windows were boarded shut from the inside with heavy closet doors and doorknobs had been removed and replaced with multiple locks, he said. The house was divided in ways to make it more secure and to hide the existence of rooms, he said.

Burke also testified that Castro would occasionally pay his victims after raping them. But he then would require them to pay him if they wanted something special from the store.

A police officer who helped rescue the women said one was reluctant to come out of her room even when she saw the officers. They were scared even after they were taken out of the house and quickly began sharing details about the horrors they went through, saying that they had been starved and beaten.

Responding to questions from prosecutors, Cleveland police detective Andrew Harasimchuk said that the women all described a pattern of being physically, sexually and emotionally assaulted for years. He said all three women were abducted after Castro offered them a ride and that each was chained in his basement and sexually assaulted within a few hours of being kidnapped.

Cuyahoga County prosecutor Tim McGinty said in a sentencing memorandum filed Wednesday that Castro, who fed his captives only one meal a day, "admits his disgusting and inhuman conduct" but "remains remorseless for his actions."

The memorandum described a diary kept by one of the women.
                        "The entries speak of forced sexual conduct, of being locked in a dark room, of anticipating the next session of abuse, of the dreams of someday escaping and being reunited with family, of being chained to a wall, of being held like a prisoner of war ... of being treated like an animal," it says.

The sentencing could take up to four hours, court officials said, with Castro, his attorneys, his victims and prosecution witnesses getting a chance to speak. The legal team representing the women's interests declined to comment on whether they would testify or send statements to the court.

Prosecutors used a model of the house where Castro, 53, imprisoned the women to present their case. They also showed photos taken from inside the disheveled home.

The women quickly escaped after Amanda Berry kicked out the door panel on May 6 and Castro was arrested within hours. The women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20 years old.

Some horrific details of the women's ordeal had already emerged, including tales of being chained to poles in the basement or a bedroom heater or inside a van, with one woman forced to wear a motorcycle helmet while chained in the basement and, after she tried to escape, having a vacuum cord wrapped around her neck.

Castro repeatedly starved and beat one of the victims each time she was pregnant, forcing her to miscarry five times.

He forced the same woman on threat of death to safely deliver the child he fathered with another victim on Christmas Day 2006. The same day, prosecutors say, Castro raped the woman who helped deliver his daughter.

As part of his plea deal, Castro was to receive a sentence of life with no chance of parole for aggravated murder in the forced miscarriage. He would then receive 1,000 years for the kidnapping, rape, assault and other charges.

Sentenced to life without parole on charge - Castro argues with Judge about charges.  Ariel Casto to 10 years for each count of rape - sentencing still ongoing for remaining charges.  937 in all, including kidnapping, rape, assault and aggravated murder. 

See Video and Read More.... http://www.wsbtv.com/ap/ap/crime/sentencing-set-in-cleveland-kidnap-rape-case/nY9h8/

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Law Offices of Jonathan Franklin
Open Evenings and Weekends this Summer
Call Us Now (310) 273-9600   
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Rape Charges for Millionaire Bikram Yoga Founder

The women also claim Bikram Choudhury, whose devotees have included Madonna and Jennifer Aniston, cultivates a cult-like environment where staffers turn a blind eye to his actions.

The two women, known only as Jane Doe No. 1 and Jane Doe No. 2, filed their suits against Choudhury and Bikram Yoga College of India in Los Angeles Superior Court last week. They allege sexual battery, false imprisonment, discrimination, harassment and other counts.

On the night of Nov. 18, 2010, she claims, he told her he wanted to talk about a job opportunity in his room at the studio. Instead, he began taking off her clothes forcefully, the suit alleges, and the exhausted student tried to push him away but was "too weak and overwrought to fight him off."

She also says that the 25 other defendants named in the suit knew about their boss' behavior and history with women.

Jane Doe No. 1's complaint is reportedly similar to Doe No. 2's, except that she claims she was raped twice by Choudhury, in fall 2011. She claims she confronted Choudhury in March and that he tried to "inflict guilt" by saying that if she went public with her allegations, the entire Bikram Yoga community would pay the price.

Jane Doe No. 2 claims Choudhury raped her in November 2010 while she was training to be a teacher through a nine-week program at Choudhury's Bikram Yoga studio in San Diego.

Doe No. 2 alleges that the $13,000 training course, which was a gift from her boyfriend, requires students to abstain from sex. They are taught that Bikram Yoga can cure diseases including cancer and told that Choudhury should be revered as a god, she says in her complaint.

She also claims that the studio fosters a cult-like environment where "every moment of a student's day is controlled by the schedule set by defendant Bikram Choudhury," the complaint states, adding that students are told what they can eat, wear and say and what expressions they should have on their faces. Some students are pushed so hard they wind up fainting, vomiting, urinating on themselves, or suffering heat strokes or seizures, the complaint adds.

"Students are also often required to attend evening lectures, where defendant Choudhury rants on subjects including his negative views on certain races; negative views on homosexuality; the moral lassitude of Americans; his guru; his views on sex, marriage, and relationships; and whatever else he should care to talk about," the complaint alleges.

Doe No. 2 claims she was initially flattered when Choudhury began paying extra attention to her but became uncomfortable when he made a move on her and expressed his feelings for her. She claims she reminded him of her boyfriend and his wife (he is married to Rajashree Choudhury, founder of the United States Yoga Federation), but that didn't stop his sexual advances.

"Plaintiff is informed and believes that after defendant Bikram Choudhury lures the young women to his place of business, through various schemes and designs and with the participation of his inner circle who are knowledgeable of and complicit in the abuse, he sexually assaults and/or rapes them," the suit alleges.

Read More... http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bikram-yoga-founder-accused-rape-522425

Lawsuit Accuses Employees from The Abbey accused in Lawsuit for Rape & Drugs with Female Customers

A multi-million dollar lawsuit is accusing three employees of a popular gay bar and restaurant in West Hollywood of drugging two female customers and raping them while they were in a stupor.

Calling the defendants’ alleged acts reprehensible and despicable, the lawsuit seeks $10,000,000 in damages for each victim, plus attorney’s fees.

"Their objectives of the case are to obtain fair and just compensation for the horrible injuries suffered by my clients as a result of the defendants' wrongful conduct, and to induce The Abbey and other nightclubs to provide proper security to protect patrons," said Robert W. Hirsh, a prominent Beverly Hills attorney representing the victims.

Documents: Read the Full Complaint (.PDF)... http://media.nbcbayarea.com/documents/TheAbbeyLawsuit.pdf

Filed in Los Angeles Superior Court Wednesday, the lawsuit claims that The Abbey should have known its customers were being discretely drugged and alleges the bar of, among other claims, negligent training and supervision of its employees.

The Abbey released the following statement to NBC4 late Thursday:

“When the incident was brought to our attention, we cooperated fully with the local police on an investigation and no criminal charges were ever filed. We will continue to keep the safety of our customers and employees a top priority, as we have for the past 24 years.”

The complaint identifies the three plaintiffs in the case as Yvette Doe, Joanna Doe and her husband David Doe.

A wife and mother of three, Joanna Doe visited the Abbey with two girlfriends on April 14, 2011. Her drink was allegedly spiked with a drug that made her unable to focus, talk or even walk by herself, according to the complaint.

An undocumented immigrant who worked at The Abbey, Oscar Ihraheta is alleged to have slipped Joanna the drug before taking her through the bar’s back door and into his car, where he allegedly raped her.

During the attack, Ihraheta allegedly squeezed the victim’s neck so hard that she was left with “severe bruises,” the complaint reads.

It was not immediately known if Ihraheta was ever arrested or charged in the assault.

A second woman – identified in the complaint as Yvette Doe, a lesbian who visited the bar with her girlfriend – was allegedly raped by two unknown male employees on Nov. 7, 2011.

Yvette Doe was visiting the bar for afternoon cocktails with her companion when the pair fought and split up to separate areas of the restaurant. She sat down at the bar, crying.

Noticing that she was upset, an unknown bartender gave Yvette Doe a free drink, which the complaint alleges was tainted with a drug that soon made her unable to function.

Two employees led Yvette Doe, who never had sex with a man before the attack, through the bar’s back door and raped her, the complaint reads.

More and Video... http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Customers-West-Hollywood-The-Abbey-Lawsuit-Alleges-Employees-Drugged-Drinks-Raped-201572611.html