William, Hope and Emily were born with heroin in their tiny bodies... but we still longed to adopt them
They took turns to pace the length of their living room with the baby girl in their arms as she screamed and writhed in agony.
Clare and Jeremy Wilson felt so many emotions: pity for this helpless newborn, and anger at the heroin-addicted birth mother who had inflicted such torture on an innocent baby.
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Daily Mail
28 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Modern Family star Ariel Winter, 27, talks 'scary' move of posing as a 12-year-old decoy to nab a sexual predator
Ariel Winter has a new job. The 27-year-old actress - who played Alex Dunphy on ABC's hit series Modern Family - dressed up as a blonde 12-year-old girl to nab a high-risk predator. The Hollywood veteran became a part of undercover operations for the nonprofit SOSA - Safe from Online Sex Abuse - for a true crime docuseries on YouTube called SOSA Undercover. Ariel pretended to be a 12-year-old to serve as a decoy in an Oklahoma City sting operation. Driven by her own experiences, the mission is personal. 'It's definitely cathartic to be teaming with SOSA, knowing that I can make a difference,' Winter told 'It can be scary at times pretending to be 12 and talking to older men, but it's validating to put away predators that have been harming children. 'Growing up in the entertainment industry, I've been the girl we are trying to save. It's vital to me to help protect young women from the experiences I endured in my own life.' The ubiquity of online predators in photo-sharing apps, gaming platforms and social media renders today's teens more vulnerable than ever. SOSA partners directly with law enforcement to identify and arrest child predators. Winter told that it was a lot of work catching predators. 'Finding someone is hard because they don't use their real name or handle and we have to do research into who these people are,' she told 'You see a lot of dark things when you start investigating who is after pre-teen girls. 'I was surprised by the volume how many men were out there looking to talk to young girls who were 12 or 13. It's hundreds of thousands of men. 'These men also look like normal, nice guys - they don't look like predators. They look like the guy next-door and they're usually married and have children. The men seem nice because they have pets and they show you pictures of their dogs. They talk about their everyday life and they seem like sweet men. But the truth is they want to spend time with a 12-year-old girl, they ask inappropriate questions and want to know if parents are around. 'One guy was almost 40-years-old and he wanted to take an 11-year-old girl shopping for a new bra. That's not normal. It's not good.' Ariel also said it was 'wild' to see that the age of girls that adult men were attracted to was 12 to 14. 'This whole experience has been heartbreaking because I think of how young these girls are and they're being approached by much older men,' Winter added. 'I am familiar with male predators because I worked in Hollywood at a young age, I started at age four. 'It can be scary at times pretending to be 12 and taking to older men, but it's validating to put away predators that have been harming children,' the Sofia The First star added 'I don't wanna say too much about it, but by the time I was on a laptop and cell phone, I was getting inappropriate messages from older men, and it causes trauma. 'The experiences I had in person and online as a child have affected me so deeply that I've had to go to therapy for it. The movie and TV industry is a dark place.' And she feels bad for the young girls who go online to find a friend. 'Kids look for online relationship because they're lonely or bored and then they find a male and think that they can connect to them, no realizing they are so much older and are actually predators with bad intentions,' said Winter. It's important for her to do the right thing. 'I like working with SOSA because it's women helping women and I'll do it as long as I can,' she noted. SOSA's founder, Roo Powell, added, 'Ariel is boosting our platform and it means so much to us because we have only five full-time employees and we have a smaller budget than most libraries so we need the help. The SOSA wall is full of arrested online predators looking to seduce children Ariel seen in her computer working hard with SOSA team members 'You see a lot of dark things when you start investigating who is after pre-teen girls. I was surprised by the volume how many men were out there looking to talk to young girls who were 12 and under. It's hundreds of thousands of men,' said the former Disney star 'Ariel is getting the word out about SOSA. She has been amazing. She will do anything to help us. She helps take out the trash and she'll eat cold cheeseburgers with us,' said Roo. In 2023, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children reported over 36.2 million cases of suspected child sexual exploitation—a 12% increase from the previous year. Despite dedicated ICAC (Internet Crimes Against Children) task forces, most local agencies lack the capacity to pose as minors—and predators are getting smarter, constantly looking for proof that the teens they target are real. SOSA's experienced team creates realistic backstories and environments — including a fully staged 'decoy house' — allowing their minor personas to respond to predators on video calls, build trust, and provide law enforcement with the critical evidence needed to secure arrests. SOSA's impact extends beyond law enforcement— they have a highly engaged audience of over 1M followers on Instagram (@sosatogether) and TikTok (@sosatogether), where they raise awareness, share insights and educational resources, as well as behind-the-scenes content to empower parents and teens. SOSA UNDERCOVER premiered last month on YouTube. Join over 100,000 early subscribers for real-time updates and new episodes every two weeks. Free access is available, but for just $5.99/month, you'll unlock uncensored full episodes, exclusive bonus content, and an ad-free experience — all in one place. Subscribe now on YouTube. SOSA Undercover is a true crime docuseries that follows the high-stakes undercover investigations of SOSA (Safe from Online Sex Abuse) as they work directly with law enforcement to track and apprehend online predators. Unlike self-proclaimed 'predator hunters,' SOSA operates strictly within legal guidelines, partnering with ICAC (Internet Crimes Against Children) law enforcement officers and district attorneys to ensure their collected evidence is fully prosecutable. In addition to documentary-style episodes covering real cases, SOSA Undercover will share educational content and behind-the-scenes extras, including livestreams with the team, deleted scenes, and more. SOSA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting minors from online sexual exploitation by collaborating with law enforcement to conduct undercover operations. The organization's work is focused on preventing online child exploitation, educating communities, and advocating for stronger protective measures. SOSA has built a highly engaged online community, with over 1 million followers on Instagram (@sosatogether) and TikTok (@sosatogether) where they provide resources, safety tips, and real-time insights into their efforts to protect children from online predators. SOSA's founder, Roo Powell, is a law enforcement consultant and subject matter expert. She travels across the country to conduct undercover operations and train law enforcement, as well as advocate for more effective legislation and educate parents and communities about keeping their kids safe online.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Migrants upset by quality of meals rebel inside NJ detention facility and four escape amid massive police response
Four men escaped from an immigration detention center in New Jersey on Thursday following several days of turmoil over conditions in their lockup. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told The New York Times, 'additional law enforcement partners have been brought in to find these escapees.' The Delaney Hall detention center went into lockdown on Thursday night after a large number of law enforcement officials responded to a disturbance report, attorneys with clients at the facility told the paper. The unrest stemmed from concerns about the punctuality and quality of meals, attorneys and relatives of detainees said. 'People were hungry and got very angry and started to react and started to rebel against what was going on in the detention center,' a volunteer at the emergency immigration hotline DIRE, Ellen Whitt, told The Times. A staff member at DIRE got a call at about 6 p.m. from a detainee, Whitt noted. 'When we were on the phone with him, we could hear screaming and yelling in the background,' she said, adding that people were trying to break windows and that guards appeared to have left their posts at one point. The missing men appeared to have escaped via an unhinged piece of exterior siding, a law enforcement official said. Shortly after 7 p.m., masked officers with pepper spray and plastic handcuffs were spotted entering the building. People in the vicinity said they could smell something pungent. Protesters attempted to barricade the entrance to the detention center. On Friday morning, officials announced that phone calls and visits had been suspended, according to the managing director of Bronx Defenders, an immigration practice. Karla Ostolaza told The Times, 'We have no idea what is happening with our clients right now.' Mustafa Cetin is an attorney who has been representing a man from Turkey working to get citizenship. He said he received an email at 7.37 a.m. on Friday telling him that 'all movement,' such as meetings with attorneys, was canceled 'until further notice.' His client had been detained about two weeks previously during a court appearance in Newark. Delany Hall is operated by the GEO Group, one of the largest private prison companies in the U.S. The company has a contract with the Trump administration to hold as many as 1,000 migrants. The facility began housing detainees last month after Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered into a contract with the GEO Group worth $1 billion. New Jersey Democrats have opposed the opening of the facility, prompting a lawsuit, protests, and a confrontation outside the building that resulted in the arrest of Newark's mayor and assault charges being filed against Rep. LaMonica McIver. She's set to be arraigned on Monday and has said that she'll enter a plea of not guilty. McIver said on Thursday that the Trump administration had been 'stonewalling efforts to learn the truth' about conditions at Delaney Hall. 'I have serious concerns about the reports of abusive circumstances at the facility,' she said. Relatives with appointments set for Thursday said they hadn't been allowed inside. Many remained outside the facility when a fire truck and police from several agencies appeared. Following sunset, a K9 unit, FBI agents, and officers from the Hudson County Sheriff's Office started arriving at the scene while protesters blocked the gate of the facility. The crowd was later dispersed by law enforcement officials using pepper spray. Dominican immigrant Francisco Castillo told the paper over the phone from the detention center that some detainees had been forced to sleep on the floor and that they had been served subpar meals at odd hours of the day. He claimed that detainees were often served small cartons of expired milk for breakfast and that dinner was at times not served until about 11 p.m. 'Every day is a disaster with the food here,' he told the paper in Spanish.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
McDonald's settles Byron Allen's $10 billion lawsuit over commitment to Black-owned media
June 13 (Reuters) - McDonald's (MCD.N), opens new tab has settled a $10 billion lawsuit by the media entrepreneur Byron Allen challenging the fast-food chain's alleged refusal to advertise with Black-owned media. Friday's settlement between McDonald's and two of Allen's companies, Entertainment Studios Networks and the Weather Group, averts a scheduled July 15 trial in Los Angeles federal court. It also resolves Allen's related $100 million lawsuit against McDonald's in Los Angeles Superior Court. McDonald's said it will buy ads "at market value" from Allen's companies "in a manner that aligns with its advertising strategy and commercial objectives." Settlement terms are confidential. McDonald's, based in Chicago, denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. In a statement, Allen's companies said "we acknowledge McDonald's commitment to investing in Black-owned media properties and increasing access to opportunity. Our differences are behind us." Allen had accused McDonald's of "racial stereotyping" by not advertising with Black-owned media, and lying when it pledged in 2021 to boost national ad spending with those media to 5% from 2% by 2024. He said he relied on that pledge when seeking new business from McDonald's, only to be rebuffed. Allen also said his Allen Media Group represented more than 90% of Black-owned media. Allen's networks include The Weather Channel, Justice Central, and
