12-year-old girl sexually assaulted in her bedroom by man who snuck into home through balcony, left 5 hours later, police say



California police said they arrested a 35-year-old man who allegedly sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl in her bedroom after sneaking in their home through a balcony and walking out of the front door five hours later.

Culver City police officers said that they were called to a home in the Blair Hills area of Culver City early on Dec. 2.

The girl awakened her parents and told them to call the police at about 7:45 a.m.

The girl's mother, Alexis, recounted what her daughter told her.

"'Mom, we need to call the police' I am thinking, am I hearing you right? Am I hearing you right? So, by the third time, she was very direct," she said. "'Call the police, mom.' That's what we did."

Investigators say that the intruder had snuck into the home between 2 and 3 in the morning through a sliding glass door on a balcony.

He allegedly sexually assaulted the girl and left hours later through the front door, according to Alexis. The girl waited until she felt it was safe and then went to her parents.

Police were able to obtain an image of a suspect from surveillance video and asked for help from the public to identify the man.

Weeks later, investigators said that they identified a suspect through DNA evidence that had been collected at the scene of the crime. The suspect, Marcos Maldonado, had been living at a downtown Los Angeles hotel but had boarded a bus to go to Bakersfield. They apprehended him in the Santa Clarita area after pulling the bus over.

Maldonado was arrested on suspicion of aggravated sexual assault of child and held on a $1.25 million bond.

Police said there was no evidence that the suspect knew the victim.

"While we have no reports of additional crimes of this nature in the Culver City area, we are collaborating with other law enforcement agencies to identify any additional victims," read a press release from the Culver City police.

Here's a news report about the incident:

Man arrested in sexual assault of girl, 12, during Culver City break-in www.youtube.com

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National manhunt for former MTV star who allegedly tried to meet a girl under 15 for sex and groom her



There is a national manhunt for Connor Smith, a former MTV star, who is wanted by authorities for allegedly trying to meet a girl under the age of 15 for sex in Illinois and groom her.

On Tuesday, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office announced that detectives obtained a nationwide arrest warrant for Smith for three felonies: traveling to meet a minor, grooming, and disseminating harmful material.

For several weeks, the 32-year-old Smith was allegedly communicating with someone who he believed to be a girl under the age of 15. However, the girl was actually an undercover detective. The operation was carried out by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division in collaboration with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Smith sent the "girl" sexually explicit photos and videos of himself, according to police. Smith then attempted to meet the "child" for sex on Feb. 9, authorities said. When Smith went to visit the "girl," detectives purportedly swooped in to apprehend him, but he was able to escape with his vehicle.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said Smith "indicated he would surrender himself on the arrest warrant," but he has yet to do so. A Lake County judge set Smith's bond at $1 million.

In December 2021, Smith was arrested for allegedly raping and assaulting a 16-year-old girl in Indiana.

Smith reportedly drove out of state to meet a 16-year-old girl. The victim claimed that Smith forced her to perform a sex act on him as soon as she got in his pickup truck. The girl said Smith took her to a motel room and slapped her when she refused to get undressed.

The Times of Northwest Indiana reported, "The girl told police she took off most of her clothes, and Smith pulled her by the hair into the bathroom, urinated on her and forced her to drink his urine by holding her nose, records allege."

Smith is accused of raping the girl and strangling her when she attempted to resist.

Smith was charged with felony rape, sexual battery, and two counts of criminal confinement. The charges were dismissed in September after the victim stopped communicating with law enforcement and prosecutors said they didn't have enough evidence to convict him, according to Patch.

In 2015, Smith was a reality star on Season 3 of MTV's dating show "Are You the One?" The dating show features single contestants competing to find their perfect match. Smith found his "perfect match," but the couple split up after filming the reality TV show.

Orland Park man, former MTV star wanted by police www.youtube.com

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Inmate sentenced 24 years for brutal murder of leader of international child porn ring in Michigan prison



An inmate was sentenced to 24 more years in prison after admitting to ruthlessly killing a fellow prisoner – who was a convicted child predator.

Adam Taylor Wright pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 2019 death of Christian Maire at the Milan Correctional Facility in Milan, Michigan. On Wednesday, United States District Court Judge Paul D. Borman sentenced Wright to 24 years and four months for the brutal murder. Wright's sentence will run concurrently/consecutively to the sentences of imprisonment he is serving for other crimes.

On Jan. 2, 2019, Wright and his co-inmates Alex Albert Castro, 42, and Jason Dale Kechego, 41, killed fellow prisoner Maire, according to court documents.

"Specifically, Wright and Kechego repeatedly kicked and stomped Maire in the head, and Wright prevented corrections officers from intervening while Castro repeatedly stabbed Maire," according to the Department of Justice. "Wright, along with his two co-defendants, then worked together to throw Maire’s body down a flight of stairs. Maire died from multiple stab wounds (28 total) and blunt force trauma to the head."

The murder case was investigated by FBI agents.

Court cases for the two other co-defendants are pending.

U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said in a statement, "Deterring violence inside prisons will always be a priority of this office. Senseless acts of violence that jeopardize the safety of employees and inmates of the Bureau of Prisons will be aggressively prosecuted."

Wright – nicknamed "Creeper" – was convicted of robbing banks in July 2018.

Maire – a married father of two from New York – was sentenced to prison for crimes committed when he was the reported leader of an international child porn ring. Maire and his cohorts allegedly targeted vulnerable teenage girls on the internet to perform sex acts online. For five years, the nine child sex abusers pretended to be teenage boys online to befriend young, lonely girls, according to prosecutors.

The child porn ring members manipulated teen girls into undressing, performing sex acts online, and even convinced some of the victims to cut themselves while the sexual predators watched on online video chat rooms. The child sexual abuse group reportedly shared the videos among the members. The child porn ring reportedly exploited more than 100 teenage girls in the United States and Canada, ages 10 to 17, before being busted by the FBI in 2017.

The Detroit Free Press reported in February, "At their sentencing hearings, the defendants came face to face with some of their still-traumatized victims, who persuaded a judge to lock the men up for decades for robbing their innocence and trust, and for destroying their childhoods."

One victim told the judge, "Thinking back to those days causes me to cry myself to sleep, wondering when the monsters will stop haunting me."