USA: RICHARD ALLEN, THE MAN WHO SOUGHT THE FBI'S HELP IN BATTLE FOR CUSTODY OF TWIN BABY GIRLS SOLD OVER INTERNET CHARGED WITH MOLESTING TEENAGE BABYSITTERS
Record ID:
593632
USA: RICHARD ALLEN, THE MAN WHO SOUGHT THE FBI'S HELP IN BATTLE FOR CUSTODY OF TWIN BABY GIRLS SOLD OVER INTERNET CHARGED WITH MOLESTING TEENAGE BABYSITTERS
- Title: USA: RICHARD ALLEN, THE MAN WHO SOUGHT THE FBI'S HELP IN BATTLE FOR CUSTODY OF TWIN BABY GIRLS SOLD OVER INTERNET CHARGED WITH MOLESTING TEENAGE BABYSITTERS
- Date: 3rd March 2001
- Summary: SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 2, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. SLV WEST VALLEY DETENTION CENTRE, WHERE RICHARD ALLEN IS BEING HELD; SLV VEHICLE LEAVING (2 SHOTS) 0.24 2. SLV PAN SAN BERNADINO CENTRAL COURTHOUSE, WHERE ARRAIGNMENT PROCEDURE WAS HELD 0.33 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 2, 2001) (REUTERS) 3. SCU ALLEN'S PHOTOGRAPH ON SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY SHERIFF'S WEBSITE; CU STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF RICHARD ALLEN (2 SHOTS) 0.44 SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 19, 2001) (REUTERS) 4. SLV EXTERIOR HOME OF RICHARD AND VICKIE ALLEN 0.49 5. (PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT A SOUNDBITE)RICHARD AND VICKIE ALLEN GIVING AN INTERVIEW SHORTLY AFTER THE SO-CALLED INTERNET TWINS WERE TAKEN FROM THEM 1.02 6. SCU STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF ALLEN'S AND THE SO-CALLED "INTERNET TWINS"; SCU STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF TWINS (2 SHOTS) 1.14 SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 2, 2001) (REUTERS) 7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) RICHARD GASS, ATTORNEY REPRESENTING RICHARD ALLEN, SAYING "This case doesn't pass the smell test. The timing of the allegations and the timing of Mr. Allen's arrest the very evening before the hearing back on the St. Louis case was peculiar. It could have been a coincidence, I suppose. But there are a lot of questions. I probably have more questions than any of you do and can't answer, at this point, any of your questions other than to say Mr. Allen denies the charges vigorously." 1.41 8. SCU NEWS CREWS FILMING ATTORNEY PRESS CONFERENCE 1.44 9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) STEVE MALONE, PROSECUTING ATTORNEY, SAYING "The Sheriff's Office investigates complaints of crimes against children. In February, this case was brought to the attention of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office. They did a thorough job of reviewing it, approximately two to three weeks of review. The case was then forwarded to the District Attorney's office for review and we reviewed it independently. Myself and another prosecutor in our office looked at the case thoroughly and, based on the evidence, felt there was a risk to those children and a crime had occurred." SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 19, 2001) (REUTERS) 2.15 10. SCU STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF TWINS 2.24 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 18th March 2001 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, AND LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
- City:
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA8RNPVH71RB5YHY736LICQ5CJ1
- Story Text: Richard Allen, the California man who sought the FBI's
help in a bitter battle for custody of twin baby girls sold
twice over the internet, was formally charged on Friday with
molesting two teenage babysitters.
Richard Allen, who with his wife cared for the
so-called internet twins briefly last autumn before a bitter
transatlantic custody battle broke out with a couple in
Britain, was charged on Friday (March 2) in San Bernardino
County Superior Court with three counts of lewd acts on a
child under age 14 and one misdemeanour count of indecent
exposure.
If convicted, Allen could face a maximum prison term of up
to 12 years and two months, Deputy District Attorney Steve
Malone said.
Allen, who was not brought to the courtroom but was seen
from jail by a judge via closed-circuit television, was
ordered to reappear in court on March 12 for a preliminary
hearing.
Allen was arrested on Wednesday (February 28) in suburban
San Bernardino east of Los Angeles and was being held at a
county jail.
On Friday San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Larry Allen
raised his bail from US$100,000 to US$150,000.
During the hearing, Allen, who maintains that he is
innocent of the charges, appeared "sullen," his attorney, Jim
Gass, said.
"This case doesn't pass the smell test," said Gass. "Mr.
Allen denies the charges vigorously."
Allen's arrest came after a 13-year-old girl contacted
investigators on February 20 and told them that she had been
molested by Allen at his home, where she had been baby-sitting
last November.
Investigators then questioned the girl's 14-year-old
sister, who told them she also had been molested by Allen
multiple times in his home. The alleged attacks began in 1999,
the girl told police.
"Myself and another prosecutor in our office looked at the
case thoroughly and, based on the evidence, felt there was a
risk to those children and a crime had occurred," said Steve
Malone, the prosecuting attorney following the hearing on
Friday.
Allen has one child with his wife, Vickie. Police said
Allen was not suspected of inappropriate behaviour with the
twins, who were with the couple until early December.
Allen's arraignment comes a week after Judith Kilshaw of
Buckley in North Wales (United Kingdom), who for the last two
months had been fighting the Allens for custody of the twins,
was held for questioning about a theft in the United Kingdom.
The saga began late last year when the twins' natural
mother, Tranda Wecker of St. Louis, Missouri, gave them up for
adoption on the internet.
Kilshaw and her husband, Alan Kilshaw, adopted the girls
in Arkansas after locating them through an online adoption
service. The online firm, Caring Heart Adoption, meanwhile,
had already sold the twins to the Allens, who raised them for
two months at their California home.
The girl's natural mother told the Allens she wanted two
days to say a final farewell to her twins and then handed them
to the Kilshaws.
The British couple, pursued by the Allens, raced across
the United States to Arkansas, where adoption laws are more
lax. They then flew back to their farm in North Wales with the
girls, who are now eight months old.
British social workers took the babies into custody
January 18 and a court ruled that they remain in the care of
local authorities while they considered the case.
On Thursday a judge in a St. Louis Circuit Court ruled
that the twins should be returned to St. Louis from Britain, a
lawyer involved in the cases said.
Gloria Allred of Los Angeles, an attorney representing
Wecker, said that the St. Louis court would have jurisdiction
if courts in Britain and Arkansas, where the second adoption
was completed, agreed.
Last month, a judge here awarded the twins' natural father
Aaron Wecker temporary custody of the babies, but he gave that
up Thursday in order to speed up the court process, attorneys
said.
Allred said Tranda Wecker, who separated from Aaron
shortly after the twin girls were born June 26, wants the
babies back.
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