How Could You? Hall of Shame-Michael William Lutts and Stephen H. Schaffner UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From San Diego, California, Foster Father and pediatric nurse Michael William Lutts,50, “pleaded not guilty [in Federal court] of sexually exploiting a child.”

He “has been charged with molesting his two-month-old foster child.”

“Court documents graphically tell of how Lutts allegedly groped the boy’s genitals while masturbating, videoing the whole event.

And pictures show the boy still had his hospital tag attached to his leg as he was being abused.

The documents say that Lutts then taped himself again a week later, masturbating in his living room with the baby nearby.

He began molesting the boy on the day he was given custody of him, and recorded images and video on a phone that was seized during a search at his College Grove home on Tuesday, an FBI agent stated in the criminal complaint.

Time stamps on the images indicate that the boy was molested for at least 10 days.

He can be heard crying during many of the videos, FBI agents said.

Lutts is a paediatric nurse in San Diego County, and was given custody of the prematurely born boy on August 4.

‘In my 28 years of being an FBI agent, it’s one of the more disturbing cases,’ Mr Foxworth said. ‘You look at the age of the victim here. This is a helpless child.’

The FBI began investigating Lutts after he was linked to an email account that authorities believe was used to send indecent images of children to a suspected distributor.

FBI investigators found hundreds more pictures and videos depicting sick images of children on computers, hard drives, CDs and other media, according to the criminal complaint.

Mr Foxworth said investigators plan to examine the material to identify other possible victims, and because Lutts’ job gave him access to children, they are also were asking anyone with information to come forward.

Authorities intend to look at the process by which Lutts was given care of the foster baby, who is now in protective custody.

Lutts’ employers, medical group Kaiser Permanente, told NBC San Diego: ‘At Kaiser Permanente, our first priority is to keep our patients safe as we address their health care needs, and nothing is more important than assuring the appropriate care of our young patients.

‘We hold sacred the trust our patients place in Kaiser Permanente. We will not tolerate any employee or physician abusing that trust.’ ”

Paediatric nurse arrested for molesting his two-month-old foster child and filming the abuse, police say [Daily Mail 8/27/14 by Alex Finnis]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: “Child Welfare Services is reviewing how it licenses foster parents after a local pediatric nurse was accused of molesting a 2-month-old child in his care, recording the abuse and distributing it as child pornography.

As it stands, foster parent applicants must attend an orientation, pass a criminal background check and undergo 27 hours of training, according to Debra Zanders-Willis, director of Child Welfare Services is San Diego County.

Zanders-Willis said she plans to have a conversation with the state office about possible enhancements to the licensing process, suggesting asking for letters of reference from an applicant’s friends, family and employer. Such letters are currently not required, nor are any interviews.
NBC 7 began looking into the process after 50-year-old Michael Lutts, a Kaiser Permanente pediatric nurse, was accused of repeated, graphic acts of sexual molestation against a prematurely born baby boy he was fostering. He has been charged with the sexual exploitation of a child in federal court.

“It’s a tragic situation,” said Zanders-Willis, who says in her 26 years in the field, she’s never seen anything like this. “I know all of us here are devastated by the betrayal of public trust that was placed in a foster parent.”

Lutts was arrested Tuesday at his College Area home as FBI agents served a search warrant related to an ongoing child pornography investigation. According to the federal complaint, an agent traced his email address as one that had distributed images to another individual they were investigating.

The FBI says while serving the warrant, they seized hundreds of images and videos of child pornography on hard drives, computers and Lutts’ cell phone – images of children the agency says it’s determined to protect.

“Every time that image is viewed, that child is victimized again and again and again,” said Special Agent Darrell Foxworth of the FBI. “We’re not just talking about a crime that’s facilitated through the computer. We’re talking about actual physical victims in these cases.”

Foxworth says agents are now reviewing the evidence, looking to identify any other potential victims or suspects involved. Lutts’ position as a pediatric nurse at Kaiser Permanente is especially concerning, he says, given his access to children.

Kaiser Permanente, in a statement to NBC 7, says it’s cooperating fully in the investigation and that Lutts is no longer working there pending the outcome of the investigation and criminal proceedings. But the company would not disclose how long he worked there or on which campus, nor would it say whether it’s reaching out to Lutts’ patients and their families.

Foxworth says if you have any information about this case or know anyone who may have been in Lutts’ care you’re concerned about, please come forward to the FBI.

Lutts is expected in federal court Friday morning.”

Accused Nurse Case Prompts Foster Parent Licensing Review

[NBC San Diego 8/28/14 by Sherene Tagharobi]

Update 2:”A longtime friend of a San Diego nurse accused of molesting a 2-month-old foster child said she visited the suspect at his home before the graphic allegations came to light and he even showed her the nursery he had set up for his new baby.

Michael William Lutts, 50, a pediatric nurse working at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, allegedly sexually abused a foster child in his care, recording the crimes on camera, according to a complaint filed by the FBI Wednesday.

He’s accused of beginning the lewd acts on Aug. 4 – the very same day he received custody of the prematurely born baby. According to graphic details in court documents, the alleged abuse included Lutts touching and manipulating the baby boy’s genitals while masturbating, among other things.

Lisa Rosenfeld and her family have known Lutts for the past 20 years.

She said Lutts once worked with her sister caring for children with autism. Rosenfeld’s father was also Lutts’ landlord, renting him an apartment for many years.

On Friday, Rosenfeld told NBC 7 she was completely shocked and disturbed by the accusations of child molestation against Lutts.

She said she had recently visited Lutts at his new home where he showed her the room he had prepared for his incoming foster child.

“I had gone to see him at his new house and he showed me the room he had all set up because he was going to adopt a baby boy,” Rosenfeld recalled. “The room was set up beautiful – all set up for a baby boy.

Rosenfeld said Lutts mentioned he “had to do a lot of stuff to show he was a proper parent” prior to becoming a foster father.

She said she never imagined Lutts would soon be charged with the molestation of the baby boy.

“I was shocked to hear this, like, ‘Oh my God.’ Totally shocked; it’s not acceptable. Nobody should do that to a baby,” she said. “I never dreamed he would do something like that to a baby.”

Rosenfeld said she saw no signs that Lutts might commit these alleged crimes.

While he was a tenant at her father’s apartment, Rosenfeld said Lutts had no problems, always paid his rent on time and had lots of friends, all of whom were “age-appropriate.”

Given his job as a pediatric nurse and access to children, Rosenfeld said officials will have to thoroughly investigate just how far his interactions with young patients went. She also hopes investigators look at Lutts’ time working with children with autism to ensure there were no victims there.

Rosenfeld said that if Lutts is guilty of the sexual abuse, he should be in prison.

“That’s the kind of person that needs to be locked up. It doesn’t matter who it is – anybody that’s going to do harm to a baby. It’s a baby. That’s not acceptable,” she said.

“I never saw this coming. Wow. There’s nothing else you can say,” she added.

On Friday, Lutts appeared in federal court for a detention hearing with his head down, shackled at the waist. He did not speak and appeared sullen.

Through his attorney, he agreed to spend at least the next two weeks in jail without bond
Prosecutors could not comment on the case due to the ongoing investigation but did say Lutts may be indicted before his next court appearance, which is scheduled for Sept. 9.

Lutts was arrested Tuesday after the FBI raided his College Grove home. Investigators allegedly found thousands of photos and videos on his phone and computer depicting graphic sex acts with children, including his 2-month-old foster child.

According to court documents released this week, Lutts was also videotaped naked in his living room with the baby near him while he performed lewd acts on himself. Pictures show the hospital tag was still attached to the infant’s leg.

FBI agents said the newborn can be heard crying through many of the videos. The abuse happened over the course of at least five days, according to investigators.

The 2-month-old victim has since been placed in the care of Child Protective Services.

On Thursday Kaiser Permanente said Lutts had been suspended from work and would not be returning until the investigation and criminal proceedings are completed.

The medical group’s spokesperson said the hospital has had no indication from law enforcement that their patients were possible vicitms but its administration is working with authorities.”

Accused Nurse Showed Friend Baby’s Room[NBC San Diego 8/30/14 by Monica Garske]

Update 3: “A Caroline County, Md. man has been charged in a case involving a California pediatric nurse accused of sexually abusing his 6-week-old foster child.

Federal prosecutors said 34-year-old  Stephen H. Schaffnerof Greensboro was indicted by a grand jury on 10 charges of sexually exploiting a child and conspiracy on Wednesday. No attorney was listed for Schaffner by Thursday.

The charges stem from a case involving 50-year-old Michael William Lutts, a San Diego County pediatric nurse given custody of a prematurely born foster baby on Aug. 4. Schaffner’s indictment alleges that on the evening of Aug. 4, Lutts, in California, texted Schaffner, in Maryland, images of the infant. According to the indictment, over the next several hours, Schaffner exchanged numerous graphic and sexually explicit messages with Lutts about Lutts engaging in sexually explicit conduct with the infant.  Lutts allegedly sent Schaffner videos with the infant, including images of an adult performing oral sex on the infant, prosecutors said. They also said Schaffner is alleged to have directed Lutts to sexually abuse the infant in order to produce sexually explicit images and videos and send them to Shaffner.

A criminal complaint filed in California alleges that authorities obtained a federal search warrant in April 2014 for an email address of a person who was distributing child pornography, which led them to other suspects who were transmitting child pornography. On Aug. 26, authorities obtained a search warrant for Lutts’s home and seized a cellphone that they say contained images and videos of Lutts allegedly sexually molesting the infant.

Schaffner was a licensed clinical professional counselor in Maryland until his license was suspended on June 14, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said Schaffner faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years in prison for the conspiracy and for each of nine counts of sexually exploiting a child, followed by up to lifetime supervised release.

On Wednesday, Schaffner had his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Baltimore and was detained.

Anyone with additional information related to the investigation involving Schaffner is asked to contact the FBI at (410) 265-8080.”

Md. Man Charged in Calif. Baby’s Sex Abuse Case[WBOC 10/2/14 by Kye Parsons]

Update 4:“Two men — one in California, the other in Maryland– are facing multiple federal charges of sexually assaulting and exchanging graphic photos of a six-week-old premature infant brought home by one of the men as the child’s foster parent.

According to Courthouse News Service, Stephen H. Schaffner, 34, of Greensboro, Md, conspired with Michael Lutts, 50, of San Diego “to abuse a six-week-old foster child and transmit recorded images and videos of the abuse to Schaffner.”

Lutts, a pediatric nurse at a San Diego County Kaiser Permanente hospital and the foster parent of the child, allegedly exchanged graphic and sexually explicit messages with Schaffner, a former clinical professional counselor in Greensboro, within hours after bring the child home.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Baltimore, “Over the next several hours, Schaffner allegedly exchanged numerous graphic and sexually explicit messages with Lutts about Lutts engaging in sexually explicit conduct with the infant. Lutts sent Schaffner videos with the infant, including images of an adult performing oral sex on the infant. Schaffner is alleged to have directed Lutts to sexually abuse the infant in order to produce sexually explicit images and videos and send them to Schaffner.”

Court house documents state that, in one of the videos, Lutts videotaped himself touching the infant’s genitals while masturbating. Images show the hospital tag still attached to the infant’s leg. A video recorded a week later showed Lutts naked in his living room with the baby near him while he performed lewd acts upon himself.

FBI agents, who arrested Lutts as part of a child pornography ring, stated the newborn can be heard crying through many of the videos.

According to NBC & San Diego, Lutts is already under indictment by a San Diego grand jury for sexually assaulting an 11-month-old girl.

Schaffner, who appeared in Baltimore Federal Court Wednesday, is currently being held and faces up to 285 years in prison if convicted of all 10 counts filed against him.

Full charges have yet to be filed against Lutts, who remains in custody at the San Diego Metropolitan Correctional Center.”

Foster parent filmed himself sexually abusing a 6-week-old premature baby: FBI [Raw Story 10/3/14 by Tom Boggioni]

Update 5: “A pediatric nurse pleaded guilty in San Diego Thursday to sexually exploiting a 2-month-old premature male foster child he’d brought home and an 11-month-old female patient at Kaiser Permanente who’d been placed in his care.

Michael William Lutts, 50, pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a minor and distribution of child pornography. He faces up to 80 years in federal prison at a sentencing hearing April 20 and has agreed to forfeit his College area home where most of the crimes occurred, prosecutors said.

“This is a deeply disturbing case,” said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy. “We will do everything in our power to protect our precious, defenseless children from sexual abuse and exploitation, especially at the hands of caregivers who are supposed to keep them safe.”

According to his plea agreement, Lutts admitted to 15 instances last July and August in which he photographed and videotaped the infants in sexually explicit situations at both his home and workplace. In one image, the defendant photographed his own exposed genitals beside the 2-month-old boy, who was still wearing his hospital bracelet.

In some of the images and videos, the baby is crying as Lutts sexually abuses him. Lutts also admitted emailing sexually explicit images of children to others, according to the plea agreement.

The investigation began last April when the FBI tracked down a person who was receiving images from Lutts’ email account.”

Man pleads guilty to sexually abusing infants in his care[CBS 8 1/29/15]

Update 6:”Stephen Schaffner, 34, once offered his help to victims of child sexual abuse as a licensed counselor in the states of Arizona and Maryland. But on Thursday, Schaffner was sent to prison for 35 years for his own extraordinarily horrifying sexual offense, a case of child sex abuse with the most vulnerable, helpless victim imaginable — a six-week-old, prematurely born baby.

Schaffner (pictured above left), now of Greensboro, Maryland, hooked up through the internet with a pediatric nurse in San Diego, California, Michael Lutts (pictured above right). The two were in contact when Lutts, who worked at Kaiser Permanente hospital, was for some unfathomable reason assigned to take the little preemie boy home with him as a foster child.Schaffner and Lutts exchanged numerous text messages that FBI investigators found on the former counselor’s iPhone, messages in which the two men discussed in highly graphic terms the abuse that they desired to inflict on the infant.Schaffner then gave Lutts explicit instructions on how he wanted to see the baby sexually abused, and requested that Lutts send him photos via text message. The FBI found those photos, of Lutts abusing the helpless and crying six-week-old baby, on Schaffner’s phone, the Bureau said in a statement.

In their conversation, Schaffner also told Lutts that he planned to fly to San Diego so he could rape the baby himself.

Unfortunately, the case was, in the words of federal prosecutor Zachary Myers, “a culmination of a pattern of behavior by Mr. Schaffner.”

The FBI, investigators said in a statement released July 9, found “thousands of images and videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct” on Schaffner’s computers and other electronic storage devices.

Not only that but Schaffner — who admitted to the FBI that he had been a collector of graphic child pornography for the past 11 years — sent numerous text messages and emails over the years in which he “repeatedly expressed a sexual interest in boys from “age zero” up and his desire to commit violent sexual abuse against infants, including making the children cry during the abuse and injuring or killing children in the course of sexual abuse. He discussed ways to ensure that the children did not report the abuse, including drugging or killing the children,” the FBI said.

Perhaps authorities should have been tipped off in 2012 when Schaffner was fired from his position counseling abused and troubled children after sending what investigators described as a sexually inappropriate message to one of his counseling clients.

Schaffner’s conviction comes less than a week after authorities in Canada released a series of sickening text messages between a young couple in which they discussed kidnapping and molesting young girls, and then carried out the crimes.

Lutts was arrested last August after investigators reported finding videos on his computer showing the nurse molesting the premature baby as the child cried uncontrollably. His case has not yet been resolved however. The FBI also says that the child sex abuse conspiracy involving Michael Lutts and Stephen Schaffner may include other adults as well.”

Stephen Schaffner: Sexual Abuse Counselor Gets 35 Years For Horrific Sex Abuse Of Premature Baby
 [Inquisitr 7/10/15]

Update 7: Thanks to Suzie Greenburg for letting us know about Lutts’ Sentence.

“Exactly two years ago Monday, a mom and dad brought home their baby girl, who had spent the first 107 days of her life in a hospital. The date became a sort of holiday for the small family, one that marked their premature daughter’s long-awaited arrival home.

Instead of celebrating that day yesterday, they stood in San Diego federal court to ask a judge to give Michael Lutts, a pediatric nurse who took sexually-explicit photos of two babies to create child pornography, the maximum sentence the law would allow.

One of the babies Lutts victimized was their daughter.

“He violated the purest and most innocent thing that exists in our world,” said the mother. (The San Diego Union-Tribune is not identifying her to protect the identity of her daughter.)

U.S. District Judge John Houston responded by sentencing Lutts to 80 years in prison. Houston characterized Lutts’ crimes as “the worst of the worst,” adding that what Lutts had done to babies in his care made him “worse than a mass murderer.”

“This sentence has to send a message to others who are similarly situated who are probably doing the same thing right now under the guise of dark,” he said.

Lutts, 52, used an iPhone to take sexually explicit photos of an infant foster boy he’d just gained custody of, as well as a baby girl he treated at Kaiser Permanente in July 24, 2014, prosecutors said.

“We’ve been through hell and back fighting for our daughter’s survival, and when we were most vulnerable, when we brought our daughter to the hospital at 11 months old, having seizures, is when the defendant used his position of power,” the mother said, “to take advantage of us to fulfill his immoral and illegal desires.”

The parents said they met Lutts at the hospital that day. He seemed fidgety and nervous, but they never could have imagined what he would later do, she said. Not after seeing his picture on the news. Not after reading of the terrible things he was accused of doing to a small 2-month-old baby, also born premature, who was in his care.

Then the FBI called. Agents said they needed to speak with her and her husband, she said, and what they had to say was too sensitive for a phone conversation.

“That day will forever be branded to my memory and in my heart,” she said of the meeting. “When they told us. When they told us what he did, and that he had taken pictures.”

The questioning began, she said, but the entire time, her eyes were on a manila envelope one of the agents was holding.

“Were the pictures in there? Oh dear God, was he going to show us the pictures?” she said as she cried in court. “Then finally, yes. We needed to identify her.”

Lutts was also convicted of distributing child pornography.

Investigators found hundreds of photographs and videos when they searched Lutts’ College Area home in August 2014, authorities said. They said the collection included numerous images and videos of Lutts sexually abusing his foster baby, beginning the day he brought the child home.

Although an official with the county’s foster system wouldn’t comment on Lutts’ case, he said potential foster parents go through a rigorous background investigation, home visits, fingerprinting, a health report and 27 hours of training. Lutts had no criminal record and state nursing board records show Lutts had no disciplinary actions against him.

Further searches of his home led to the discovery of one of Lutts’ other victims — the baby girl he was supposed to care for at Kaiser.

The investigation led to at least two other suspects who have been arrested and charged with crimes that include either directing sexual acts, abusing one of the children, or discussing plans to kidnap and rape another victim, prosecutors said.

In a letter to the court, Lutts apologized to his friends, family and coworkers and his victims. On Monday, he repeated that apology directly to the girl’s parents.

He also said in his letter that he had been diagnosed with bipolar manic depression and chemically induced schizophrenia. He said while his actions were “unacceptable and shameful,” he argued that if he had been on proper medication, the crimes he was convicted for might never have occurred.

His attorney, Stephen Hoffman, said that what Lutts did was terrible, but he asked the judge to consider how long Lutts had left to live when sentencing him. Hoffman said while longer sentences might look good on paper, 30 years in prison would be an effective punishment and deterrent, especially considering that Lutts faces more charges related to his crimes at the state level.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alessandra Serano argued Houston shouldn’t consider what may or may not be doled out in state court and that Lutts’ sentence should ensure he is never released from prison.

“He is a parent’s worst nightmare, society’s worst nightmare,” she said. Later, she added, “We need an insurance policy to address the wrongs… to make sure that this individual never sees the light of day.”

She also argued Lutts may be beyond rehabilitation, and when Hoffman asked Lutts be placed in a prison with special rehabilitation programs for sexual offenders, Houston denied the request.

“I don’t think the government should spend its money on you,” he said.

Before she left the podium, the mother told Houston her and her husband’s nightmare will never end, but they will suffer in silence to ensure their daughter never knows the “horrors” she experienced at such a young age.

“She can never and will never know the pain we have and will suffer for the rest of our lives,” she said. “We will have to watch her grow into her own sexuality as she blossoms into a young woman, as all parents do, but with this one, terrible secret.””

Nurse gets 80 years in baby porn case [San Diego Tribune 12/7/15 by  Lyndsay Winkley]