Aiding Abusers: These seven sexual predators were helped by Planned Parenthood

Live Action has begun releasing its docuseries and investigative report showing Planned Parenthood’s failure to report the ongoing sexual abuse of young girls who enter its facilities for abortions. Live Action News has documented many cases showing that this is not isolated where Planned Parenthood is concerned. Today, as the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements demand that those who help hide or cover abuse are also called to account, Live Action’s Aiding Abusers docuseries is proving, yet again, that Planned Parenthood continues to get a pass from the media and Hollywood elites — as well as from the politicians who continue to fund them.

Tragically, because of the complicity machine surrounding Planned Parenthood and its refusal to view these young women as sexual assault victims, young victims of sexual abuse are often abused further. Live Action News continues to uncover cases that indicate Planned Parenthood is not doing its due diligence to protect young victims of sexual abuse — and in many cases, isn’t asking about it and is failing to report it.

Live Action president and founder Lila Rose stated in a press release:

Despite Planned Parenthood’s public rhetoric as well as laws requiring it to report suspected abuse, its failure to report has been deliberate and widespread. Time and again, rather than reporting abuse to authorities, Planned Parenthood has repeatedly looked the other way and performed abortions on victims as young as 12 years old. These girls deserved advocacy but instead Planned Parenthood staff ignored their abuse and returned them to the waiting arms of their abusers.

Because of flagrant violations like these, the proposed Title X rule tightening on reporting abuse is absolutely necessary. Planned Parenthood has proven that its priority is selling abortions, not caring for the most vulnerable of girls. Planned Parenthood’s culture of cover-up must end, the cycle of abuse of innocent children must end, and Planned Parenthood’s half a billion dollars in annual federal funding must end. Taxpayers cannot be forced to subsidize these abuses of children.

Live Action is releasing this report as the Time’s Up movement is exposing both sexual abusers and those who help them cover up their crimes — the people who knew about the abuse but stayed silent. While Planned Parenthood has attached itself to the Time’s Up movement, the movement should be calling out Planned Parenthood for decades of enabling sexual abusers.

Sex Abuse Cover Up at Planned Parenthood - Recorded Cases

Texas: Patrick Charles Lee

When a 14-year-old sexual assault victim shows up at Planned Parenthood, it rarely raises alarm. In reality, it should. If the child lies or fails to tell Planned Parenthood that she was raped or assaulted, should this not still raise some red flags?

Such was the case of a 14-year-old rape victim in Texas who testified that on the day of the assault, she stayed home from school because she was not feeling well. That’s when the victim’s step father, Patrick Charles Lee came into her room and started “wrestling” with the young teen. Then, the girl told the court that he put a knife against her neck and instructed her to take off her clothes, after which he proceeded to sexually assault her. The victim testified that she kept screaming, “Daddy, why are you doing this to me?”

According to the court document:

After the assaults, appellant threw the victim’s clothes at her and told her to get dressed. The victim testified that she went to Planned Parenthood two days after the assault. She did not tell anyone at Planned Parenthood about the assaults because she was afraid. She stated that she did not truthfully answer the medical questionnaire from Planned Parenthood. The victim told her sister what appellant had done about a week after the offense. The offense was then reported to the Midland County Sheriff’s Office.

Thankfully, due to the courage of the victim and her sister, Lee was subsequently indicted on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child. According to the court record, the jury convicted Lee and assessed his punishment at fifteen years confinement on each offense, and the trial court ordered the sentences to run consecutively.

Connecticut: Sage Robert Lanza

In January of 2018, a Connecticut man received a suspended 10-year sentence behind bars, after having sex with two underage victims, ages 12 and 14, one whom he impregnated and took for an abortion at Planned Parenthood.  According to media reports, the sexual encounters between 18-year-old Sage Robert Lanza and the then 14-year-old victim took place between February of 2014 and April of 2015, resulting in a pregnancy in November of 2014.

According to reports, after Lanza impregnated the teen, he pressured her to have an abortion, made the appointment for her and then drove her to the Planned Parenthood in Enfield.

A closer look at this timeline indicates the possibility that Planned Parenthood failed to report any suspicion of abuse. Two news articles published by Journal Inquirer give the following specific dates:

• Lanza impregnated the teen in November of 2014 and then made an appointment for her at Planned Parenthood in Enfield.

• The victim claims Lanza forced her to have an abortion in January of 2015.

• 197 text messages were exchanged between the victim and Lanza from September 2014 to May 2015, months after the Planned Parenthood abortion.

• Police were not notified until July of 2015, nearly six months after the teen was taken to Planned Parenthood.

A report by the Journal Inquirer quotes from arrest records that also indicate Planned Parenthood never filed a report:

The older girl told authorities that her relationship with Lanza began in February 2014, when she was a 14-year-old virgin and he was an 18-year-old high school senior. She said the relationship continued to April 2015 and included intercourse “at least four times a week,” later waning to “a couple of times per week.”

…Although Lanza used birth control about “99 percent of the time,” according to the girl, she said she got pregnant by him in November 2014, when she was 14.

She said he forced her to have an abortion in January 2015. The affidavit doesn’t explain how the girl contends that Lanza forced her to have the abortion. But it does say that he made an appointment for her at Planned Parenthood in Enfield and that he and his father took her to a clinic, where she received pills to induce the abortion.

The girl’s mother reported that Lanza had the date of the abortion tattooed on his back. Thomas [the Enfield police detective in the case] reported that he found a public Facebook page with a photo showing the date “1-6-15” tattooed on what appeared to be Lanza’s back. The detective said medical records show that is the date the girl was scheduled to take the pill to cause the abortion. He added that a later medical examination at Planned Parenthood confirmed that her uterus was empty.

…She [the victim] reported the situation to police in early July 2015, when she was 15.

According to the Journal Inquirer, the now 15-year-old victim also revealed details of the sexual encounter between Lanza and the 12-year-old girl. Lanza was subsequently arrested in April 2016, and according to Deputy Chief Gary Collins, was charged with first degree sexual assault on a minor, fourth degree sexual assault on a minor and two separate counts of risk of injury to a child.

In 2018, Judge Laura F. Baldini gave Lanza a 10-year sentence, suspended after two years behind bars, followed by five years of probation.

Michigan: Lovell Charles Sharpe

A 56-year-old Michigan man was charged by the state with multiple counts of first, third, and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct after accusations that he sexually abused and impregnated a 14-year-old child with learning disabilities and then paid for her subsequent abortion at a Planned Parenthood facility.

According to an appeal filed in the case of Lovell Charles Sharpe to determine if evidence about the abortion and the fact that the victim had no sexual partners other than defendant could be submitted as evidence under the rape shield statute, Sharpe began abusing the teen (referred to in court documents as DM) between December 2013 and January 2014 when she was 13 or 14 years old.  The court documents indicate that Sharpe was staying with the teen while the victim’s mother, referred to as RL, was hospitalized. The child did not inform the mother about the abuse when she returned to the home.

The Court of Appeals record indicates that in October of 2014:

DM went to Henry Ford Hospital after her mother received a letter indicating that DM had an abnormal test result and needed to see the doctor again. At that time, DM underwent a pregnancy test, which came back positive. DM had not been showing any signs of pregnancy, and she and her mother were unaware that she was pregnant before they received the test results. Before she went to the hospital, DM was unaware of how a woman became pregnant, and Henry Ford staff had to explain the process to her.

In November of 2014, according to a brief filed before the Michigan Supreme Court, “Defendant offered to pay and did pay for half of the abortion, without any expectation of being reimbursed.” The court document indicates that, at the time of the abortion, the child’s mother was unaware that Sharpe had allegedly impregnated her daughter and goes on to note that, “RL continued to ask the victim how she got pregnant, but she would not tell her.”

As a result, the victim’s mother took her to Planned Parenthood, where she underwent an abortion:

In his appeal before the state’s Supreme Court, Sharpe’s attorney is challenging whether the abortion should be admissible after the Court of Appeals found that evidence of the victim’s pregnancy, abortion, and lack of sexual partners was admissible. The defense contends the trial court was correct to suppress the abortion and the claim that the victim with learning disabilities was a virgin, prior to the alleged abuse. And, they also contend that because no DNA evidence was collected, the abortion cannot prove the defendant, in this case, Lovell Sharpe, was the the person who sexually assaulted the child.

The fact is, had the hospital or Planned Parenthood viewed the pregnancy of this 14-year-old girl with learning disabilities with suspicion of possible abuse, and actually reported the abuse, DNA would most likely have been collected and preserved during the abortion. But pedophiles know full well that abortions will protect them from criminal prosecution. Abortion benefits sexual abusers.

The state contended that by Sharpe paying for the Planned Parenthood abortion, this was evidence of Sharpe’s “desire to dispose of the evidence of his vaginal penetration of the victim.”

“Defendant would have the trial court exclude both evidence of the pregnancy and subsequent abortion because there is no DNA preserved to confirm defendant’s involvement. But defendant fails to accept responsibility for this lack of evidence, as defendant himself participated in destroying the evidence he claims is required, and now wishes to benefit from his actions.”

Tragically, after the abortion at Planned Parenthood, the court record states that the young teen victim “kept to herself and became really depressed.” In fact, DM remained silent about her abuse until after Sharpe and her mother ended their relationship in April 2015. This was nearly five months after being taken to Planned Parenthood for the abortion. As of the writing of this article, the case is ongoing and is under appeal with Michigan Supreme Court.

Iowa: Ritchie Lee Lathrop

Ritchie Lee Lathrop was 27 years old when he met his 15-year-old victim, referred to in court documents as C.W.

Lathrop and C.W. began “dating” in March 2005, and soon thereafter they began a sexual relationship, which they kept secret upon Lathrop’s request. Although the record does not say that CW became pregnant, she did go to Planned Parenthood for birth control pills for “protection” while allegedly engaging in sex with the adult predator.

The court document indicates that the sexual relationship continued after the victim visited Planned Parenthood, and did not end for over a year after:

On March 25, 2005, C.W. visited Planned Parenthood. After she obtained birth control pills, she and Lathrop began having sex “at least every other weekend, if not more.” Lathrop gave C.W. a “promise ring” in the summer of 2005. He told her the ring meant, “You’re mine.” Their relationship ended in July 2006, when C.W. broke up with Lathrop.

On December 1, 2006, the state charged Lathrop with third-degree sexual abuse. Following a jury trial which commenced on February 14, 2007, Lathrop was convicted of third-degree sexual abuse.

Alaska: Jason Thomas Rogers

In a case out of Alaska, where Planned Parenthood already believes that all abortions are “medically necessary,” an adult man took his 12-year-old stepdaughter to Planned Parenthood for birth control, and all indications are that Planned Parenthood did not file a report for suspicion of child sexual abuse. As a result, the child was returned into the arms of her abuser to be sexually abused for several additional years. In addition, the predator, Jason Thomas Rogers, was also accused of abusing the victim’s young friend.

Media reports indicate that Rogers was arrested in 2009 on several charges of child molestation. According to Rogers’ criminal court appeal, his step daughter, referred to as E.C. in the court record, testified how “Rogers had sexually abused her from the time she was nine years old until the time she was sixteen.”

It goes on to state that the two engaged in vaginal sex, “after Rogers had taken the precaution of obtaining birth control for E.C.”

The court document notes that the birth control was obtained from Planned Parenthood:

E.C.’s testimony that Rogers took her to Planned Parenthood on her twelfth birthday to get birth control, and that Rogers then began to have vaginal sex with her. The State called a witness from Planned Parenthood to verify that E.C. had come to the clinic and had received birth control.

The court record clearly indicates that police were not notified until the victim had turned 16, several years after the pedophile took the child to Planned Parenthood. According to the record, in 2009 the victim was admitted to the North Star Behavioral Health Center, where she “told a staff member that she had been sexually abused, and the Office of Children’s Services was notified.”

Rogers was charged with 11 counts of sexual abuse of a minor — 10 counts involving E.C., and one count involving her school friend. The jury ultimately convicted Rogers of five counts of sexual abuse.

West Virginia: George Michael Puskas II 

A sexual predator out of West Virginia also drove his victim to Planned Parenthood for birth control so he could be assured his sexual encounters would be kept secret.

According to the Department of Justice, not only did former police officer George Michael Puskas II engage in a sexual relationship with the minor victim, but he took several pictures showing the two of them having sex. A review of the civil case filed by the victim and published by the West Virginia Record reveals that, the victim, “first met Puskas in 2001 when she accompanied her mother and brother to soccer games. At the time, she was eight years old, and he was a coach for her brother’s team.”

Then, three years later, according to the lawsuit, the victim claims that:

Puskas began grooming her sexually when she began refereeing soccer games. A year later, the relationship allegedly became physical when, after helping her off the field following an injury to her knee, Puskas said “he loved her and kissed her on the lips.”

…When she was 14 year old, she alleges he expressed his desire that her first sexual experience be with him, and, on an unspecified date, sent a nude photo of himself…. Sometime after her 16th birthday…[the victim] alleges Puskas checked them into an unspecified hotel in Ripley where they had sex…[the victim] says she was fearful of telling anyone about her encounters with Puskas because she alleges he threatened to kill her if she did.

According to a criminal action court order, which quotes from an affidavit submitted by Sgt. David C. Eldridge of the West Virginia State Police, “the victim advised that during the period that she and Puskas were sexually active, he would drive her to a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Parkersburg, West Virginia, so that she could receive birth control injections.”

The criminal action court order goes on to state that Puskas and the victim, “engaged in sexual intercourse almost daily from March 2010 to April 2011, during a period when she would have been 16 and 17 years of age.”

The victim told authorities that Puskas would use a digital camera which she states was issued to him by the Ripley Police Department to take, “hundreds of digital photographs and several videos of the two of them engaged in sexual activities at different locations, including his residence.”

The court record does not say whether or not Planned Parenthood was suspicious of the couple, but it does reveal, yet again, how pedophiles are comfortable taking their victims to the abortion corporation.

In 2012, Puskas resigned from the Ripley Police Department, according to a report by WSAZ. In 2013, the 31-year-old pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release.

Washington State: George Savanah

Earlier this year, Live Action News documented the horrific sexual abuse case of George Edward Savanah, who sexually abused his 14-year-old daughter, impregnating her three times, then took her to two different Planned Parenthood facilities for abortions.

A brief filed in the case reveals:

• Savanah raped his daughter for the first time on Christmas Eve of 2007, when R was 14 years old.

• Savanah had sex with R several times a week for the next seven years.

• When she cried, he told her to “shut up and take it like a woman.”

• The last time Savanah had sex with R was about a week before Easter in 2014.

The first abortion at Planned Parenthood took place in 2007 and the third abortion occurred in 2012. Let that timeline sink in for one moment. In all those years, while Planned Parenthood appears to have failed to suspect and report the possibility of abuse, this victim was being repeatedly raped by her abuser. In fact, the court record indicates that no one else knew about the young victim’s pregnancies, which only came to the attention of the authorities once the victim, not Planned Parenthood, spoke to her aunt about the abuse, nearly seven years after the victim was taken for her first abortion at Planned Parenthood.

Read more about this horrific case and Planned Parenthood’s complicity in the victim’s ongoing abuse here.

Planned Parenthood should not be exempt from the same scrutiny that recently cost Hollywood actors, producers, sports members, coaches, media personalities, and politicians their jobs, when it has been documented that the organization was complicit in the ongoing abuse of victims. The bar should be far higher for this organization, which receives over half a billion dollars from the taxpayer and millions in Title X funds while continuing to cover for child sexual abusers.