1. Self-proclaimed dominatrix pleads guilty
2. MySpace Blabbing KOs Custody Bid
3. Ex-dominatrix now whipping up laughs
4. Kink in the System
5. Jury convicts man in sex slave case
Self-proclaimed dominatrix pleads guilty:
Woman released after spending several weeks in jail
by Keith Epps
The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA)
June 11, 2007
A self-proclaimed dominatrix who spent nearly six years on the run after
being indicted in Stafford is free once again.
Patricia Helen Meehan, 57, who was picked up May 8 at her home in
Hagerstown, Md., recently pleaded guilty to two charges in Stafford. She
was released after spending several weeks in jail.
Meehan pleaded guilty in Stafford Circuit Court earlier this month to
keeping a bawdy place and manufacturing marijuana. She received a total of
six years in prison, all of which was suspended.
Two other charges, prostitution and crimes against nature, were dropped.
According to court records, Meehan lived in Aquia Harbour in 2001 when
Stafford detectives raided her home and seized numerous bondage devices,
whips, sexual aids, client databases and marijuana plants.
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http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/062007/06112007/0611dom
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MySpace Blabbing KOs Custody Bid
by Arthur S Leonard
Gay City News
June 7, 2007
It had to happen sooner or later. Heedless of the consequences, a parent
engaged in a hot custody dispute chatted away on MySpace, revealing her
private life as a pagan, bisexual S&M enthusiast and drug-user. She even
admitted that she had gone on a drug "hiatus" during her lawsuit, but
planned to resume her old ways when the case was over.
Was this any way to win custody of a five-year-old child?
The case is Dexter v. Dexter before the Ohio Court of Appeals, 11th
District, reviewing a ruling from the Portage County Court of Common
Pleas, which switched custody from the mother to the father, who had
remarried since the divorce.
Based on the mother's testimony and her MySpace revelations, the Common
Pleas judge found her "lifestyle" unsettling for somebody raising a
five-year-old, and the guardian ad litem appointed by the court to look
after the child's interests concurred, finding she had a better
relationship with her father, who also offered a better home environment.
It didn't help that Mom was accused as well of taking steps to interfere
with Dad's visitation rights, by moving and getting an unlisted phone
number not supplied to him.
On appeal, the mother argued that the trial court should not have given
consideration to anything on MySpace or regarding her private sexual
conduct at all, pointing to court decisions that a parent's sexual
orientation is not a proper ground for denying custody. But Judge Mary Ann
Trapp, writing for the appeals court, disagreed, pointing out that if the
child woke in the middle of the night while her mom was engaged in these
activities, there could be problems.
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http://www.gaycitynews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18444344&BRD=2729&PAG=461&dept_id=568860&rfi=6
To respond, write to: editor@gaycitynews.com
Ex-dominatrix now whipping up laughs
by Redmond Carolipio
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Southern CA)
June 7, 2007
YOU CAN TALK to Norma Jean Riddick. Really, it's OK.
Sure, she's busy being an actress, singer, marketing director, comedian
and life coach.
Oh yeah, and she used to be a dominatrix. Don't let that frighten you,
either.
"I've had friends tell me this, that people in general are scared of me,"
she said. "And I don't know why, because I'm really nice. I think it's the
people out here. I think I give off confidence. I'm from New York, so I'm
going to speak my mind."
She's an East Coast woman, born in New Jersey and grew up in Watertown,
N.Y. There, she started acting at age 18, even snagging a few lead roles
in a few productions despite having no previous acting training.
She's also not bashful when it comes to talking about her past life as
dominatrix, which provided her with a rare look at people and the lives
they lead.
"I was raised in a dysfunctional family. I married young, and I went
through a LOT of physical and emotional abuse with both of my husbands,"
she said. "I became a dominatrix to empower myself. It was like, `Here is
a job where no man – nobody – can hurt me.' "
While she eventually stopped, Riddick said there was plenty she learned
about herself, as well as other people who have no outlet for their
alternative tastes.
"I learned that I didn't need it, that I just needed to get a …
backbone," she said. "And in the end, I was able to help a lot of people –
it was like my own brand of therapy. I've had people just come in and cry
on my shoulder."
Since then, Riddick has used her life experiences to forge ahead in her
multiple careers as well as provide advice for any problem or issue one
would bring up to her.
"I empowered a lot of people then," she said. "This time, it's for me."
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To read this entire article, go to:
http://www.dailybulletin.com/entertainment/ci_6078087
To respond, write to: the author at redmond.carolipio@sbsun.com or the
editors at letters@daileybulletin.com
Kink in the System:
Commerce City is taking the Enclave BDSM club all the way to the Supreme
Court
by Joel Warner
Denver Westword (Denver, CO)
June 6, 2007
The Colorado Supreme Court may soon have an opportunity to consider
masochism and municipal code.
After Commerce City denied a local private BDSM club a sexually oriented
business license, the club's owners, Michael R. and Deb O'Keefe, took the
city to court ("Fit to Be Tied," April 12). The Colorado Court of Appeals
found in their favor and ordered the city to award the Enclave an official
SOB license ("Legally Binding," April 19).
Despite its beating in court, Commerce City isn't ready to submit. Last
week the city announced it would appeal the decision to the Colorado
Supreme Court. "We intend to ask the Supreme Court to hear the case, and
if they do, we believe we have a shot at getting the Court of Appeals'
decision overturned," says Commerce City Assistant City Attorney Tom
Merrigan. "We filed for a motion of extension of time to file a [Supreme
Court Appeal]. The Supreme Court granted our request for an extension of
time. That means we have until June 25 to do that, and we expect to do
that sooner. I also take that as a sign that they have some interest in
the case."
The fact that Michael and Deb's case may make it to the state's highest
court sets an encouraging precedent for kinky communities nationwide.
"This is big for the BDSM community," says Susan Wright, spokesperson for
National Coalition for Sexual Freedom.
Municipalities have usually been able to quickly close down controversial
BDSM clubs on what Wright calls "administrative trivia" – such as whether
all fire and zoning codes were met – without facing the political quandary
of whether to consider the BDSM activities themselves. But because Michael
and Deb made sure every operation at the Enclave was above board, Commerce
City has to attempt to take the fight to the highest court in the state.
"We're right, that's why we're still here," says Michael. "Commerce City
is just dragging this through the courts, hoping we'll go bankrupt." If
that's the case, he has some bad news for city officials: "We have had
twice as many members come down since the Court of Appeals decision.
People feel safer now that the court has said we are entitled to be here."
[continued]
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http://www.westword.com/2007-06-07/news/kink-in-the-system
To respond, write to: letters@westword.com
Jury convicts man in sex slave case
by Holly Danks
The Oregonian (Portland, OR)
June 6, 2007
A jury took 80 minutes Tuesday to unanimously convict a former Hillsboro
man of kidnapping two women off Portland streets and holding them as sex
slaves nearly two decades ago.
Vance Jay Roberts, 53, will be sentenced Aug. 3 on eight counts of
first-degree kidnap, two counts of sexual penetration with a foreign
object, four counts of first-degree sodomy, six counts of first-degree
rape, three counts of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of
possession of marijuana.
As Washington County Circuit Judge Timothy P. Alexander read the unanimous
verdicts of the nine-woman, three-man jury, Andrea Hood cried tears of
relief that were 17 years coming.
"I'm satisfied," said Hood, who was a 17-year-old prostitute when Roberts
grabbed her off Northeast Sandy Boulevard in 1990. "I feel vindicated. I
feel a great sense of closure."
The first victim, Michaelle Dierich, was 20 in September 1988 when she was
kidnapped after agreeing to perform a sex act for $30 on Roberts in his
white Datsun truck on what was then Northeast Union Avenue. She said
Roberts kept her locked in a closet when she wasn't chained to a bed,
sexually abused her for a week and forced her to call him "Master X."
Roberts testified most of Tuesday morning, saying the women went with him
willingly because he offered them at least $200 a day to have sex with him
at his Northeast Olympic Street home.
He contended that Dierich made up the kidnapping story because they got
into an argument when he dumped her in Portland and ended up not paying
her. He said Hood jumped out a window when he caught her trying to steal
his money after she had been at his house about a day.
Both were free to go anytime and were never kept locked up or in
handcuffs, Roberts maintained. "That was just for the Hollywood shots," he
said, noting that the women posed naked and in chains for Polaroid photos
"like a movie star would."
Roberts added that he was putting soundproofing tiles on the walls of his
bedroom closet so it would look more like a dungeon in bondage photos.
Lawrence Taylor, Roberts' current court-appointed attorney, told jurors
that they should not believe the victims because they were prostitutes who
used drugs and were known not to tell the truth.
[continued]
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http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/06/jury_convicts_man_in_sex_slave.html
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editors at letters@news.oregonian.com