The alleged sicko is Akinola Akinlapa, but try as I may I could find no reference to the 18-year-old’s immigration status.
The name is a common one in—drum roll please—Nigeria!
The arrest happened a week ago, and thanks to a reader for spotting it, or I would have missed it.
There are a lot of local news reports on the Rhode Island case, but I am not seeing anything mentioned in the national media—it doesn’t advance their political agenda, of course.
Because most of the local news reports simply rely on the Justice Department’s press release, I figured the best thing for me was to post it in full here:
High School Student Charged with Coercion and Sexual Exploitation of a Minor
PROVIDENCE – An 18-year-old Providence high school student has been charged in U.S. District Court in Providence with allegedly coercing a 10-year-old Utah girl to disrobe and engage in sexually explicit conduct in front of a live online camera.
New American?
It is alleged in court documents that Akinola Akinlapa, with the online user name of Melissa#7384, messaged and provided a 10-year-old girl with a link to what he told her was an online children’s gaming platform. After that link and a second link allegedly sent to the girl by Akinlapa opened to blank pages, a video call was initiated between the two.
It is alleged that Akinlapa told the young girl that the links she had clicked transmitted a virus to her computer and that her personal information had been taken from the computer.
Akinlapa instructed the 10-year-old to undress in front of the camera if she failed to do so her personal information would be posted to the Internet.
Note to prospective pervs—law enforcement can find your IP address.
It is alleged in court documents that when the 10-year-old undressed and stood in front of the camera, Akinlapa instructed the girl to perform sexually explicit acts. The girl pretended to comply, cut off the communications, and notified her mother who in turn contacted the West Valley City, Utah Police Department.
An investigation by the West Valley City Police Department and FBI agents in Salt Lake City, Utah, and in Providence identified an IP address at Akinlapa’s Providence residence as being the source of communications with the 10-year-old Utah girl.
On June 2, 2020, members of the Providence FBI Violent Crimes Against Children Task Force, to include law enforcement officers and agents from the FBI and Providence and Warwick Police Departments, executed a federal court-authorized search of computers and smart phones at Akinlapa’s residence.
A brief forensic review of the contents of a smart phone allegedly belonging to Akinlapa was found to contain images of at least two pre-pubescent females that were also allegedly discovered by investigators to be contained in an online account belonging to Akinlapa.
According to information presented to the court, investigators have determined that Akinlapa allegedly communicated with more than a dozen pre-pubescent girls in much the same way it is alleged that he communicated with the 10-year-old Utah girl.
Akinlapa was arrested on June 3, 2020, on a federal criminal complaint charging him with sexual exploitation of a child, possession of visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, coercion and enticement of a minor, and possession of child pornography, announced United States Attorney Aaron L. Weisman and Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division Joseph R. Bonavolonta.
A federal criminal complaint is merely an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
There should be a federal law that the immigration status (citizenship status) of anyone arrested by the feds should be noted in statements to the media. In the meantime we will assume ‘new American’ status for the alleged sexual deviant Akinlapa.
Usually these Justice Department press releases mention the length of possible sentences if convicted. This one doesn’t. But for child porn it could mean a lot of years behind bars since Akinlapa is 18 years old—possibly a lot of years US taxpayers will be paying for his upkeep.
And, unless some local reporter is interested enough to dig deeper (unlikely in Rhode Island), I’m thinking this is the end of the story.
“These are good-paying jobs, these are federal employees with good health insurance, good salaries and good retirement benefits. This is not like losing a low wage job.”
(Gabriel Pedreira, regional union organizer for the American Federation of Government Employees)
That is if Congress doesn’t move swiftly to bail out the agency that processes applications for citizenship among other things.
The Dems must be going nuts because this is just the season when their push to get more Democrat voters through the citizenship process in time for the November election is usually in full swing.
The story is from the Vermont Digger, a publication I highly recommend to readers interested in what is happening in the people’s republic of Vermont. (Hat tip: Brenda)
Vermont USCIS employees face furlough due to budget shortfall
Thousands of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employees across the country, including some based in Vermont, may be furloughed next month due to a shortfall in the federal agency’s budget.
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a “dramatic” decrease in revenue the agency relies on, generated by applications and petitions related to citizenship, according to a USCIS spokesperson. In response, 13,400 USCIS employees nationwide may be furloughed as a cost-saving measure.
Vermont is home to one of five USCIS service centers that are responsible for processing millions of citizenship applications, according to a 2017 report to Congress. The agency employees people primarily in St. Albans and Essex.
During the 2016 fiscal year of the five service centers, Vermont’s had both the highest allowed employee spots of 1,021 and the highest number of working staff of 959 employees.
Union organizer Pedreira
Gabriel Pedreira, a regional organizer for the American Federation of Government Employees, the union that represents USCIS employees said the situation for Vermont is particularly dire.
[….]
According to the USCIS spokesperson, the shortfall is due to a projected drop of 61% in citizenship applications and petitions through the end of the 2020 fiscal year.
[….]
Cross-border travel into the United States has slowed drastically during the Covid-19 crisis, as travel restrictions have been imposed — including the partial closure of the U.S.-Canada border.
[….]
Pedreira said in a time of economic decline in the United States, the loss of pay for USCIS employees affects more than just those workers — it affects the entire economy.
“These are good-paying jobs, these are federal employees with good health insurance, good salaries and good retirement benefits. This is not like losing a low wage job,” Pedreira said. “So these are employees who because they make a good salary contribute to the local economy.”
Who cares about the rest of you low wage nonessential workers hurt by the Chinese Virus—these are good jobs!
Continue reading hereand see that the old curmudgeon Senator Patrick Leahy is on the case.
