Life without parole!

Castration with a rusty can opener.

Just a note... and I'm not sure if it was intentional, but notice that throughout the article, there's no evidence at all that he molested any kids. The pictures do not say anything about any type of nudity or sexual contact. I find it odd that the article does not mention whether the "pictures of children" were pictures of nude children. If they were not, I feel that it's only fair to stop misleading readers and point this out... and if they were, it's only fair to put that out there as well for clarity.

I think the fact he had his semen in their mouth is enough for me.

Except that it does say there are pictures of girls with what appears to be a blue plastic spoon, that they later found a similar spoon in his garbage can that tested positive for semen and his DNA. You do the math.

@ Alan - we tend to think of molesting as indicating sexual molestation. Another broader definition of molest in the verb format is "to annoy, disturb, or persecute especially with hostile intent or injurious effect".

I think you and I will agree, along with every single sane person on the planet, that binding grade school children with tape, under your authority, in a classroom, placing large live roaches in their mouths, feeding them semen with a spoon, taking pictures of them - would fall under that definition. To further connect the dots - this guys has tons of bondage photos in his home and computer.

As far as photos of these children - whether they be nude or fully dressed AND tied with duck tape - what on earth do you suggest?? He was going to post them in their year book?? Perhaps send out at Christmas - 'having a great time - wish you were here'??

That said - 'as well as for clarity' - this guys is one seriously sick f?!k. Can you and I agree on this?

UMM. What do you call girls blindfolded with tape over their mouths and bugs on their face? I think that probably classifies as some sort of molestation.

molestation - the act of tormenting by continued persistent attacks and
criticism

thats #2 on

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/molestation

Once again, someone trusted in charge of children destroys that trust and the children in his care.

Just please kill these monsters. Please.

This is lifelong destruction for these innocents along with the destruction of their families, as well.

Parents, please impress upon your children the importance of reporting strange or "not quite right" incidents to you.

. . . notice that throughout the article, there's no evidence at all that he molested any kids. The pictures do not say anything about any type of nudity or sexual contact.

It's a fair point, Alan, which I too had noted. The media is typically all-too-eager to report on the depths of human depravity in excruciating detail. Thus, I would assume that the absence of such detail in this story indicates that it has yet to be discovered. In other words, I'm sure the ambiguity is more the result of guarding against libel than some sense of decorum.

Just wrap him up in duct tape and let him suffocate. Then dump him into the county incenerator like the human waste he is.

Uh-oh! When the wrong people find out about this, all I can say is "Dead man walking!"

Did I read write: this sick pervert had the pictures "developed?"

OMG! I literally got nauseous at the part about the semen. What is wrong with people?! Those poor kids. I hope he gets the needle. What a pig.

@Alan and PDK - I think you two better take another read of the entire article. After that, look up the definition of molest or molestation, lest you begin to believe you can get away with doing any of these things to children and get away with it. There are a whole lot of ways in which sick, twisted people get their "rocks off" that don't involve nudity.

Yes, molestation is about power, not sex. Way more straight men do it than gay men, yet people have historically accused gay men wrongly.

The gender of the child molested is often irrelevant to the sexual orientation of the perpetrator.

Don't worry. All teachers are there just to educate the Children in Math, Science and History. They have only the best of intentions towards our children. They are the best and the brightest this country has to offer. They are terribly under paid, they pay most of their own healthcare expense like the rest of us, they are promoted and retained based on how well they help our children learn and not on tenure, they only join the Teacher's Union out of the need to appreciate the Union's goodness for protecting the children and they do it for free.

@Frisky Frauline, are you really that ignorant to believe that it's "liberal, feel-good, do-anything-I-want mentality" that leads to this behavior? What is wrong with you? This has nothing to do with being liberal or conservative. Get your mind out of the gutter and start looking at things as they are. Bad people.

And are you saying to me that all those religious zealots and catholic priests are free willy liberal church people? Last I checked, the Catholic church is pretty damn conservative. Go back a few hundred years, you'll see numerous incidents of "molestation" in the past. Consider as well that in the past there was no way to get information like there is today. People probably just never said anything.

You are just delusional and blinded by this "conservative" blindfold you wear around your eyes. I really think it's people like you that give conservatives a bad name.

OMG! I literally got nauseous at the part about the semen.

I agree. I'm at a loss to explain why Sylvia Wood, the writer, felt it necessary to include that part. <Shudder>

What a sick, sick @!$%#. There are very few things that get me angry, and victimization of children is one of them. After being tried and convicted by a jury of his peers, I say we set him on fire.

Not sure about your characterization of these actors as liberals. Take a good hard look at the party of family values, eg. their current leader Newt, the 3 times divorced, twice cheated on my wife Gingrich, not to mention Gov. Sanford, and many other repressed southern men. Not a liberal or conservative issue, just a problem for all of society...

Armando, while on one hand I agree with you, on the other hand, I'm glad that she included it. I'm betting a portion of her intent was to anger people and people should be angry. The public needs to be made aware just how sick and savage some of these monsters are and to what lengths they will go in their tortuous entertainment of innocent victims. No one should have to endure anything like this, let alone a child.

They can't do enough to this SOB.

. . . PDK - I think you two better take another read of the entire article. After that, look up the definition of molest or molestation, lest you begin to believe you can get away with doing any of these things to children and get away with it.

kat -- I freely and humbly admit I incorrectly assumed that the man stood accused of sexual molestation, which indeed is not sole definition of the word. Even so, my comments were in no way intended to defend the alleged actions of the accused.

Thus, I find your implication that I was somehow looking for a way to "get away with" molesting children extremely offensive. I'm rarely upset by the ignorant and petty comments by others here on the vine, so congratulations on scoring a direct hit. You may apologize at your leisure, though I won't be holding my breath.

It's called death penalty. Slow torture. What do you all mean life without parole and throw the key away? This pathetic excuse for a person will never be rehabilitated and should not be. Why throw anyone into prison to take up space. Throw all the population on to an island and last one alive, gets to live. No more prison overcrowding, no more paying billions per year on housing people like this. There is no retribution in prison, only in a slow death.

Frisky commented elsewhere that the father who killed his baby girl Ayla did so because his ancestors were arabic. It seems that on any given day, she is just blind hatred looking for a target .

@Frisky, if only your argument made any sense...bye!

I think maybe we should point fingers at the individuals who commit these acts, and not generalize an entire group of people as the perpetrators. Making a choice, right or wrong, is not the failing of a group philosophy unless one is being forced or feels obligated/threatened to behave a specific way. In this case a teacher, unrepresented by a philosophical agenda, made the personal choice to use his authority to violate young children. What he did is obviously inexcusable in any social group.

Frisky, I don't really see where "instinct" plays into this, but if you find the lines graying between forcing children to drink semen from a spoon, blindfolded, with giant cockroaches on their faces, and simply doing a job like teaching, for example... then perhaps you should quit placing blame on an idealism that you don't agree with, and seriously consider directing your effort to searching your soul for the real answers.

Just a note... and I'm not sure if it was intentional, but notice that throughout the article, there's no evidence at all that he molested any kids.

Troll....lol

The recovered items tested positive for semen, authorities said, and the suspect's DNA matched the DNA profile found on the spoon and container.

I was watching the old gunsmoke series, they hold a trial when the judge comes around, then spend two days taking the condemned man to Hays City, Kansas and the next day they hang him.

Hey the police took a year to arrest him and then it is going to be another year to try him!

Bring back Matt Dillon and his trusty six shooter!

After he shoots a few of these pedophiles, they will think twice and yes I know it is a mental disease but the recidivism rate is 95% and the only thing to do is to keep them under lock and key. I still like the idea of farming these prisoners out to Isla Maria off the Mexican Coast and paying Mexico $3000 a year to keep them there. A healthy diet of beans and tortilla and hot Mexican sun is just what these mental deficients need.

The ACLU just agreed to defend this guy. They are planning to post his bail and try to get him back in the classroom. This is not the first time they have done this.

What I want to know is this... How many of the other teachers knew about him binding their hands and taping their mouths shut and did not report this. This stuff just doesn't happen and the kids not talk about it. Someone knew and they chose to remain silent.

Armando, while on one hand I agree with you, on the other hand, I'm glad that she included it. I'm betting a portion of her intent was to anger people and people should be angry.

Understood. You'd think a content warning might be in order, though.

In any case, as long as this guy is set on fire (is that electric chair in Florida still malfunctioning?), I'm happy.

@ friskey. Let me get this right. You're saying this guy did this because of liberals?

first, they should let EVERY parent of EVERY child he abused have 5 minutes with him in a locked room.

THEN burn this evil P.O.S at the stake.

Castration; best defense against perverts.

Some time in the general prison population will suit this piece of @!$%# just fine. He'll come out of prison horizontally.

Blood Thirsty crowd - look morons as repugnant as this mans actions were he did nothing that warrants a death sentence. Let him go to prison - the convicts will melt out punishment in their own insane way. We are a society that lives by the rule of law - we do not change the law or take the law into our own hands because something upsets us. The man has been charged but found guilty of nothing nor does it appear he has admitted anything. Give him his day in court and then send him to prison for a very very long time if he is found guilty. Of course this did occur in California so no guarantee on that happening - the state seems to love their weird, strange and obscene.

In California, child molestation is a violation of Penal Code section 288(a), which is defined as lewd and lascivious conduct with the body of a child under the age of 14 years with the intent of arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust, passions or sexual desire of that person or the child, is guilty of a felony and subject to imprisonment for 3, 6 or 8 years. Dictionary definitions of the word "molestation"do not apply. The legal definition requires a touching of the body of a child younger than 14 with the requisite intent.

Even if the accused didn't directly touch the kids but only directed them to touch themselves by putting a plastic spoon he gave them that contained his bodily fluids into their mouths, he'll be convicted because it was a touching done to arouse, appeal to, or gratify Berndt's lust and passions . Because he committed the offense against more than one victim, he'll be subject to 15 years-to-life for each offense, or 345 years to life. Berndt will never be in the presence of a child again nor will he ever be a free man again.

In a society governed by the rule of law, that's what he'll get for his misdeeds; the other proposed actions by several bloggers, like castrating him, encouraging other inmates to beat him, allowing the parents to harm him, etc. is the talk of lawless vigilantes bent of personal revenge, which the law reviles. If you think 345 years-to-life is too short, then seek to amend the law. However, the death penalty is not an option. To suffer the ultimate punishment, one has to commit first degree murder under defined circumstances; anything less would be unconstitutionally cruel under the 8th Amendment.

Michael L. Marowitz
J.D., J.S.M. (Master's Degree in Law with emphasis on constitutional law, Stanford Law School, 1981)

All because he was too cheap to buy a digital camera, or a cell phone camera...

Who still uses film? (Aside from art photographers)

I guess it shows criminals are stupid... or at least the ones who get caught are.

chefaz-1319563 Well said " Sanitizing the News " means the truth is hidden so lets stick to " The Truth the WHOLE truth and nothing but the Truth "!!!

This is the type of sonafbitch that needs to be put into a room with all the parents and just let them go at it until he has been pulverized to a pulp...

This is just heart wrenching as a Father I would want to smash him to pieces 8)

My comment was collapsed, is it because I told a lie?

Right? It appauls me. It makes you wonder what kind of an upbringing the perv had?

And WHY did it take SO long to catch him?

@Homy......obviously they weren't your kids being abused.

That would be the closest we could ever get to true justice.

I don't think the children would have a desire for you to hug each of them right now.

That's almost as creepy as the perv in the article. Why do you want to hug random children?

Brian, do you have an alias as Mr. Jefferson? Have you lived in South Park before?

Relax people. It is still okay to hug a child and it not be sexual. Stop reading into the comment.

OMG Brian!!!

What sort of sick pervert are you, to want to hug and kiss unknown children who belong to someone else in this day and time??? That’s inappropriate behavior in today’s very dangerous society, especially after what those kids have gone through….and then to want to “weep over them” no less!! The authorities need to come check your computer and see what type of pictures YOU look at and enjoy.

Keep your filthy hands and mouth OFF of other people’s children!!!

@Unintentional Mayhem
BrianJsimon could have worded the comment differently, but at no time did I take it as a sick and perverted. Also, at no time did he say that he wanted to put his mouth on the children.
Suggestion- slow down and read a comment CLEARLY and COMPLETELY before instigating and accusing someone else of sick and disgusting behavior.

I agree w/ Disgusted@ignorance. BrianJsimon was maybe a little saccharine & overly emotional in his comment, but I don't see any suggestion of impropriety in it.

Disgusted@ignorance & Bubbacat

….and the both of you probably believe Sandusky was showering with 10 year old boys JUST to teach them hygiene and the proper method of washing your body. Nope… nothing inappropriate going on there…not at all.

It’s that very type of ambivalent naivety from adults who should know better that continues to give closet degenerates the veneer of normalcy and obscurity their proclivities require. That whole “Oh, he’s OK, he’d never harm a fly” mentality is what is allowing an entire generation of kids to be devoured.

Whether it’s with Catholic priests, teachers, doctors or just your next door neighbor, diligence is our best weapon against those who would sexually pervert our children.

What is your solution?

Don't let any men near children? Teachers are screened and have background checks. Unless you want to trample on the Constitution a little bit and invade their privacy, there is never a 100% way to prevent this.

Be vigilant and look for signs.

you're insane, and i suspect you're projecting your own feelings onto others

So, women don't do it either? Being male, you wouldn't happen to be one of the aforementioned examples, would you?

Seriously, you sound a little paranoid. Looking for signs and undergoing routine, consistent background and drug tests are what's needed. Yearly Psych screens would also be good. There are so many ways to prevent these types of things from happening, but the laziness of the schools/government parents is overwhelming. Be active in your kids lives in all aspects and become less separated from what they do.

Does sound like you have a bit of hatred for males in general. I like working with children (though I don't) and I love my two boys to death. Does that make me a pedophile sir? By your definition, it at least makes me a liar.

You can't say that about ALL men. There has got to be good ones out there that are NOT like that.

There HAS to be.

And you're so naive that you think women are NEVER perpetrators? Think again. It's not a gender thing, especially any more.

The PC stupidity continues!

You CAN'T get any more twisted than this guy.

I assure you, everyone around him suspected him, and his family HAD to know.

Haven't you folks learned ANYTHING from the Catholic Priest scandals?

That is crazy. Not all men are sick and hurt children, some enjoy teaching. Really? The obvious questions are how did he have enough confidence that he could perform all of that activity without anyone passing by the classroom and observing that something unusual was occurring? Screening, educating the kids on boundaries and proper supervision alleviate the problem. However, there is never an absolute way of preventing such tragedy without locking your kids in a closet for 18 years. I don't think that would be a good idea, either.

How long? When are we going to at least tell these things who are called human beings that if you do this to children you will pay for it with your life. How long? These things cannot be rehabilitated. While I am not so naive to believe that capital punishment whould be a cure at least we would not have to worry about them anymore. Let them plead their case to God. I also do not believe that we should execute them without undisputable proof that they did the crime. I am afraid that if I knew this happened to one of my children the law would not have to concerned about the thing that did it. I would risk life or even the dealth penalty to take this thing down forever. Sorry folks but my family is the only reason I would go this far. I am sick and tired of the liberal judges allowing these type of things to get off the hook by sending them to prison for a few years. Besides that I have come to realise that these things are in every faucet of society from the trashman to judges to teachers to high government officials and even in the police force. We have got to send them a message you sexuality abuse a child and you will not just go to prison you will die. The pulbic school system has fixed it so that parents have no say in how their children are educated, they are not allowed to even observe them in their classrooms. Back ground checks are not enough, we have to check into every part of a persons life if they are to be around children.

Alan Pugh ~~ I find that your comments are quite disturbing. First of all, children can be sexualized and sexually abused without being made to take their clothes off. The circumstances of these pictures alone, in and of themselves are abusive. Any man who feeds a child (or anyone) their semen against their will is a sick son of a b!tc>, and needs to be OFF THE STREETS. Unlike YOU, what I find odd is that there are ANY pictures of children at all, on this mans computer. Yet there are numerous, and VERY INAPPROPRIATE pictures of many children who seem to be in bondage of some kind, and possibly unconscious. As a survivor of child sexual abuse myself, I can imagine the terror that they went through, having been subjected in any way to such mental, physical, sexual, and/or psychological abuse

I'm all for getting the evidence together so as to prove a person guilty or innocent, bringing them to trial, presenting the evidence, and proceeding accordingly. Meanwhile certain crimes warrant that the accused be REMOVED FROM SOCIETY (often times for their own safety), until this process is completed. What's happened here is that there is ENOUGH EVIDENCE to actually arrest this person for alleged crimes against children. I think that YOU need to be educated in such crimes.

Female adults do it too--note all the recent headlines of female teachers having sex with their underage students.

This is, by far, the dumbest thing I've read all day. Lets look at this

--Yet we STILL continue to let creepy old men near our kids?

What do you think we should do to stop this, ban men from going near children? Its not just creepy old men, its brothers, grandfathers, uncles, cousins and sons. Thats right, the majority of pedophiles first victims are family members. And its not just men but women also.

--Men who want kids become teachers and preachers

What? For me, most of my K - 12 classes were taught by men. I was never touched. If your statement was accurate then something probably would have happened to me. As far as preachers go, have you ever met a female preacher? Probably not because, in most religions, they can't be.

--We need to look MUCH more closely at men who claim to "like working with kids"

I enjoy working with kids. Does this mean that I am a pedophile? There are lots of good reasons why people like working with kids. Ill give you a few; They're energetic, imaginative, and not complete jackasses like yourself.

--Frankly, being male, I suspect them all of lying. Penn State, the Catholic Church, the examples are endless.

What does that tell us about you? You're one of those guys that everyone knows. The one who lies about everything, then lies more to cover up the other lies. I learned when I was young that lies come back to bite you in the ass, so I don't lie. Now, do these names sound familiar; Andrea Yates, Marybeth Tinning, and Susan Smith? That is just a handfull of examples of women who murdered their children. Because of them, should all women be kept away from children?

It sounds like you have a lot of issues and you should probably get professional help for it.

Seriously? My husband is a teacher and he is no sexual deviant. You need to get your head checked.

Wow - did you just wake up from a leave it to beaver rerun? Lots of men do great things with kids. Kids need mentors and teachers of both sexes. There are examples of women teachers taking advantage of minors as well.

The solution to preventing these type of crimes is oversight and vigilance, not "banning men from teaching". Monitoring classrooms and teachers so they are rarely alone with the children means that even if a child molesting perv somehow slipped through the screening, he (or she) would not have the privacy to do such revolting things. That means random checks by principles or other teachers, maybe even security cameras, too.

As a backup measure, teach kids to report abuse, and investigate - we don't want kids bringing false charges as a way of getting revenge on a tough teacher they don't like, but we do want to get rid of bad teachers.

All of the schools I have been in have glass windows in the doors and are not allowed to be covered up.Every school my son attended parents were in the halls all the time.

Being male, you suspect them all of lying? You think you're representative of the whole male population? A wee bit presumptuous, don't you think?

William Demuth - I am guessing you must be trying to suppress some perverted desires of your own if you believe that any male who teaches children has prurient interests in the children. As a 62 year old male middle school teacher with several friends who are also male and teach middle school, I can assure you, nothing could be further from the truth. I can also assure you that if anyone suspected him he would have been reported.

Just for what it’s worth, over the last 10 years, a large majority of molestation cases I’ve read about concerning teachers and students have involved younger (20s to 30s) female teachers on male students. Maybe we should keep the women out of the classroom too, so our kids would all be safe. Oh, I think we might have a problem, I guess everyone is going to have to home school their kids. No, that won’t work either. Some parents abuse their children too. I guess we’ll just have to stop having children. Will that make you happy William?

Considering there are more than 3 million teachers in the U.S., the numbers of these cases are extremely small. I wish there was a way to make sure none of them ever happened but that isn’t reality. Of course, whenever I hear about one of these molesters being convicted, I can’t help but think how I would like to throw them into the general prison population with a sign hung around their neck saying “child molester!”

There's the pot calling the kettle black!

Take a look at the article again. They have photos. Must be of at least 23 different kids. I suspect there are thousands more, since he's been a teacher for 30 years. Doubt if it's sensationalism at all, just sick and disturbing.

The molestation accusation is true - especially if his semen was involved on the spoon, jar, or in any other way forced onto the children. Molestation, by definition, is any lewd or lascivious act upon or within a child, with "upon" being the operative word in this instance, not to mention, the bondage that the children were also subject to. Besides, what else would you call it? People like this pervert give the rest of us teachers a very bad name!!

Just the fact that he had pictures of nude children is enough for me, that is not in any way, shape ,or form something a person should have in their possession, the old addage that where there is smoke there is fire is good enough for me. I would not take the chance that he has or has not molested a child the pictures he has convicts him. Execute him and he will not be around to find out later that he has. No one should have pictures of nude children in their possesion. That in itself is a perversion.

how can you say that when it is recommended they all be tested for Sexually transmitted disease - guess feeding them seman on a spoon is ok to you - or were you unable to read the entire article

For those that keep saying that the article didn't state that he molested the kids, then why are they being asked to take STD tests??????

The garbage

I bet he hangs himself in his cell. And if he doesn't he will be eating semen on a spoon for a minute.

You are not angry as you should be, if you were you would be demanding for his execution. What if this were your child?

Same here. I'm in the news business, I've seen it all, but this was the first time I've ever felt the need to vomit after reading any news story.

Cockaroaches and semen too.

Absolutely Repulsive!

To Quote Samantha Bee, "When I hear something like that, it just makes me feel all Stabby!"

Thank you, Fed Up. Sadly, it will continue regardless but at least the ones found and tried will never, ever be able to hurt anyone else, ever again.

Nice thought, but there is always going to be some bleeding heart type demanding that they be given the chance to "rehabilitate" themselves. Personally, I favor castration with a dull knife, no painkillers then release into the general prison population. Let him spend the rest of his life eating semen and see how much he likes it.

Crazy world we share.... Something needs to change regarding current laws involving forcible rape.

colorado doesn't even require their sex predators to register. how sick is that? part of their progressive rehabilitation. that is until a predator moves next to one of the uber liberals. then things will change.

Blue Rose of Texas So two wrongs make a right? I say in such cases the DEATH Penalty is a Must, and serious jail time for ANY one that knew this was happening and failed to report it.

On A Legality about semen, medically it is classified as a " Super antigen " to technically, forcing anyone to take semen in their body should be classified as Attempted Homicide.