Contrary to fathers' rights propaganda, father perpetrators (along with stepdads and caretaker boyfrends) dominate the most vicious crimes against children: sexual assault, abusive head trauma, murder-suicides, crimes involving gun violence, and other similar forms of physically violent/fatal child abuse. And as more dads are providing child care (either because mom is working and can't find other care, or because dads are increasingly getting unsupervised visitation/custody through the family courts), more dads are are being found guilty of basic child abuse and neglect as well.
10/25/15 -Because of severe time constraints, we are no longer able to do regular updates at Dastardly Dads. We will occasionally post articles on general studies on child abuse/domestic violence, news pieces involving abusive fathers in custody/visitation situations. We wil also be updating the Killer Dads and Custody lists, while looking for a better, more accessible platform for the data.
7/11/16 - We started this blog on June 24, 2009--just over seven years. And like all good things, it's time to bring this project to a close. It has served its purpose. We have close to 10,500 postings regarding fathers and child abuse, with hundred of those cases being enabled by the family courts, social services, and others in authority. The documentation is clear. It is now time to stop documenting and put that energy into changing the situation that puts thousands of mothers and children at risk every day.
Dad STEVEN CROSS formerly had SOLE CUSTODY. And I have never seen a valid reason as to why. This father lied to his son, telling him his mother was dead and shutting off all contact with her and her side of the family. He then abandoned the boy in Minnesota and took off for California.
Had this been a custodial mother, she would have been roundly denounced as a liar and an alienator, and as a neglectful monster. A Malicious Mother Incarnate. She would have lost all rights. But not this dude. Even though the son isn't sure he really wants to be "reunited" with Daddy, the (pro-fathers rights) judge is going to make him anyway. And Daddy still gets joint custody--even after being found guilty of gross-misdemeanor child neglect.
Runaway Lakeville dad, reluctant son to be reunited
Article by: HERÓN MÁRQUEZ ESTRADA , Star Tribune
Updated: April 25, 2012 - 9:44 PM
"I don't write the law," judge tells the unsure Lakeville boy.
For the first time since abandoning his 11-year-old boy last summer in Lakeville, Steven Cross got to see his son on Wednesday, albeit briefly.
They were both at a child protection hearing in Hastings as a judge worked to determine when Sebastian Cross should be reunited with his father.
The boy has told the court that he is not sure about returning to his father. The preteen reiterated that position to Dakota County District Judge Richard Spicer before the hearing, but apparently to no avail.
"Unification ... is going to happen," Spicer said several times during the hearing.
"No 10-, 11- or 12-year-old wants to be moved about," Spicer said. "He's probably happy where he's at. I don't write the law. I do enforce the law. He will be moving."
It was the first hearing attended by Sebastian, who has been living with his great-aunt for almost nine months during civil and criminal court proceedings.
Cross and his son did not speak to each other Wednesday, and the boy did not noticeably look over at his father. Cross, however, did steal a few glances at Sebastian during the hearing.
Cross, 60, slipped out of his Lakeville home on July 18, 2011, while Sebastian slept. Cross said he left because of what he said were extreme financial difficulties.
Cross, who at the time had sole custody of Sebastian, left a letter for the boy saying that he was leaving and that Sebastian should go to a neighbor's home to stay.
Also in that letter, he told Sebastian that his mother, Katik Porter, who Sebastian had long been told was dead, was actually alive.
'He's a little distraught'
Cross was arrested in August in California, where he had been living in his van.
Cross has been convicted of gross-misdemeanor child neglect, and he is scheduled to be sentenced next month. His son reportedly wants to provide a victim impact statement at the time of the sentencing.
Wednesday's hearing is part of the ongoing process of determining who will gain custody of Sebastian and of deciding when he will be reunited with his parents.
Spicer on Wednesday indicated that Sebastian would be turned over to his mother around May 18 and that the boy eventually would be reunited with his father.
Another hearing on the matter is scheduled for June 13.
Sebastian's great-aunt has been resisting the reunification, and Sebastian has told the judge that he wants to stay with his great-aunt and her family.
"I'm just concerned about Sebastian's transition," Kimii Porter, the great-aunt, said after the hearing.
"He's a little distraught."
But Spicer made it clear that state law has a bias toward reuniting families.
"He will be living with both of them eventually," said Don Bruce, the assistant county attorney assigned to the case.
"Sebastian doesn't get to decide."
The boy's parents agreed last month to share legal and physical custody. They also agreed to allow Sebastian to regularly see one of his half brothers.
"The thought of moving is terrifying," said Sharon Freiling, Sebastian's attorney. "He didn't know he had a mother who was living. He didn't know he had brothers, uncles. He's afraid he's going to lose [contact with] his family."
There is not one word about the baby's mother (who has been totally erased from the story). CPS now has custody. Why? Dad is identified as LARRY D. BURKETT.
A southwest Canton father accused of beating his baby girl remained behind bars Friday, held without bond at the Stark County Jail.
Larry D. Burkett, 24, of 1110 Ardmore Ave., was arrested at 2:26 p.m. Thursday at the Canton police department on a felonious assault warrant.
Jail records said he struck his 12-week-old daughter about the face, causing visible bruising. He also struck her about the buttocks and grabbed her right leg, causing a broken tibia, the jail records said.
The child’s condition on Friday was not listed.
Burkett was scheduled to appear in Canton Municipal Court.
The Child Protective Services division of Stark County Job & Family Services is aware of the incident and involved in the investigation, according to the agency’s attorney Michael Vaccaro.
Later Friday, the agency was granted temporary custody of the child.
A Ludington-area man blamed for the disappearance of his baby daughter was convicted Friday of unlawful imprisonment.
Sean Phillips, 22, faces a maximum punishment of 15 years in prison when sentenced June 5 in what is being called the Baby Kate case.
Katherine Phillips was 4 1/2 months old in June 2011 when she disappeared from the Ludington home of her mother.
Mason County Prosecutor Paul Spaniola said authorities still don't know the child's whereabouts. Spaniola alleged that Phillips took the baby because he feared a court-ordered paternity test would confirm that he was the father.
Defense attorney Annette Smedley said Phillips plans to appeal the verdict.
Deltona man arrested on child neglect charge in Flagler County
By Gary Taylor, Orlando Sentinel
2:31 p.m. EDT, April 30, 2012
A Deltona man faces a charge of child neglect for leaving two small children unsupervised Saturday in an apartment in Palm Coast.
Germain Faivre, 23, is accused of leaving his 2- and 5-year-old children alone in an apartment at Madison Green Apartments while he walked to a hotel to continue an argument with his girlfriend, Flagler County Sheriff's spokeswoman Debra Johnson said. His girlfriend is not the children's mother, she said.
Deputies responded to the apartment about 2:15 p.m. after a caller contacted the Sheriff's Office. One child said their father had gone to the store.
The state Division of Children and Families responded along with the children's aunt, who took custody of the children and took them to their mother in Daytona Beach, Johnson said.
Deputies arrested Faivre after determining the children had been left alone for about two hours, she said.
SAN DIEGO - A 30 year-old man who took his family to the Mt. Hope Cemetery, said he heard voices in his head telling him to sacrifice his 8 year-old-son. He then took out a knife and sliced open both of his son's forearms. The father then sliced open his own forearms with the knife.
Officers later arrived and took the father into custody and was transported to a local trauma center where he will be treated before being booked into County Jail.
The child was taken to Children's Hospital for treatment.
The father will be booked for child abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. The Child Abuse Unit is investigating.
Brady was arrested for the death of his two-month-old daughter. (Police of Harrisburg)
Reported by: Annie McCormick
Contributor: Nate Wardle
Published: 4/23 4:03 pm
Updated: 4/23 6:18 pm
Police arrested a father Monday for the death of his two-month-old baby. The arrest comes after a four-month investigation.
Police tell us that the arrest came as a surprise to 19-year-old Jujuan Brady. Police say he has remained a main suspect since Ashley Brady's death in December.
CBS 21 has video of the father in cuffs Monday before being hauled away by city cops. Detectives arrested the teen dad earlier Monday morning following months of investigating.
The affidavit paints a disturbing crime where the tiny two-month-old suffered multiple traumatic injuries including fresh hand impressions on her lung and liver, not associated with CPR.
The 911 call came from a home in the 300 block of North Second Street in late December for a baby that stopped breathing.
Crews took baby Ashley to Harrisburg Hospital where she was pronounced dead hours later. Police now say the baby had actually been dead for several hours before the 911 call.
Police say the teen admitted to the abuse. Jujuan now faces charges of criminal homicide, aggravated assault, and endangering the welfare of a child.
Father sent to prison for shaking a baby so badly she may never fully recover
Published: Tuesday, April 24, 2012, 5:05 PM
Updated: Tuesday, April 24, 2012, 5:59 PM
By Barton Deiters The Grand Rapids Press
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Karmen Suchodolski got less than three weeks of life as a fully-able child before her enraged father shook her so violently, she cannot even take food from a bottle.
Michael David Suchodolski was sentenced today to five to 15 years in prison after Kent County Circuit Judge Donald Johnston heard from Karmen’s mother about the extent of her injuries suffered Oct. 5.
“She will not be a normal baby,” said Samantha Johnson, the mother of the now 6-month-old infant. “She can’t move her arms or her legs normally.”
“She may never recover,” Johnson said as the 26-year-old father watched from the other side of the courtroom in Kent County Jail garb and handcuffs.
Johnson said the baby is fed through a tube, has to wear glasses and has to have physical therapy. Johnson now refers to the baby as Karmen Johnson, although court records list her last name the same as her father's.
According to police, Karmen suffered a fractured skull and bleeding of the brain after being shaken.
Johnson said her other children are devastated both by the injuries suffered by their little sister and the absence of their father. She said they ask about their father and she struggles to come up with an explanation.
Johnson said Karmen’s older brother is now frightened of men, even his uncles, as a result of the abuse of his baby sister.
Suchodolski offered little in the way of explanation for his behavior. Johnson said he was upset because he wanted a son not a daughter.
Last month, he pleaded guilty to first-degree child abuse.
“I’m just really sorry for everything that’s happened,” was all Suchodolski said as the mother of his two children wept.
Johnston said while he credits Suchodolski for taking responsibility with his guilty plea, he still can’t look beyond the fact that this child may suffer permanent injuries
Dothan dad gets prison time for injuries to infant son
Suspect pleaded guilty to throwing, biting baby
By: Matt Elofson|
Dothan Eagle Published: April 25, 2012 Updated: April 25, 2012 - 11:43 AM
A Dothan
father received an eight-year prison sentence Wednesday for throwing his infant
son onto a couch, breaking the child's leg.
Houston
County Circuit Court Judge Butch Binford sentenced 19-year-old Benjamin Smith to
an eight-year prison term for a felony aggravated child abuse charge.
Dothan Police
Detective Cpl. Chris Barberree said Smith confessed to throwing his son 6 to 8
feet onto a couch. The child then bounced onto the floor, breaking his leg.
Barberree said the infant also had cuts and bite marks on his body.
Barberree
also said Smith told police he threw the baby because he was angry he was
crying.
“I think what
he did to this child from a societal standpoint is inexcusable,” said Assistant
Houston County District Attorney Banks Smith.
Court records
indicate Dothan police arrested Smith in April of last year on a charge
involving his throwing the 4-month-old boy on a couch. Police also charged Smith
with biting the boy’s leg.
Banks Smith
reminded the court that Benjamin Smith was to also be sentenced for a felony
second-degree receiving stolen property case.
Binford
sentenced Benjamin Smith to four years in prison for the stolen property charge,
and ordered it to be served concurrently with the child abuse charge.
“I will deny
any application for probation in your cases based upon the injury to the child,”
Binford said.
Benjamin
Smith faced two to 20 years in prison for the class B crime of aggravated child
abuse, and one to 10 years for the stolen property charge, a class C felony.
Attorney
Shaun McGhee asked the court for a minimum sentence citing his client’s clean
criminal record and that his client had already spent a year in jail. McGhee
also reminded the court the baby has recovered from his injuries.
Father may face more criminal charges after son’s death
From staff reports
A nine-year-old boy who had been institutionalized in Raleigh for seven years died of a non-accidental injury that prevented an adequate supply of oxygen to his brain, the state medical examiner’s office reported this week, and now his father might face additional criminal charges.
Jeramiah Nathaniel Farris died in November at Hilltop Homes, a residential center in Raleigh that treats children with severe developmental and medical disabilities. Police say Jeramiah was 2 when his father, Harold Nathaniel Farris, 34, beat him so badly that he would never live outside an institution.
Harold Farris, of Fayetteville, was sentenced to nearly four years in prison after being convicted of felony child abuse in 2006. He now may face more serious charges in light of the autopsy findings, said Fayetteville police spokesman Gavin MacRoberts.
“Detectives investigating the Farris case are aware of the autopsy report,” MacRoberts said. “The case is still open.”
Harold Farris served about a year in prison after he was convicted of felony child abuse inflicting serious injury, according to the state Department of Correction.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/04/27/2029183/father-may-face-more-criminal.html#storylink=cpy
Classic media headline bias. When a child has severe bruising, it's a beating or an assault. Not a "spanking," which is a quick swat to the behind. And the charge is FELONY child abuse, which should tell you something. Notice that this all took place during dad DEREK SARBER's visitation. Makes me wonder whether he had a past history of domestic violence/child abuse that the family courts ignored.
A mother has pressed charges against her son's father after her son came home with bruises.
The El Mirage police said the mother picked up the boy Wednesday after he had been with his father for a visitation. The boy complained of pain and the mother found severe bruises on his arm and buttocks.
Police said the 5-year-old told his mother that his dad had spanked him because he could not spell his name correctly.
The boy was taken to the hospital where he was treated for his injuries and released.
On Thursday, the boy's father, Derek Sarber, 29, was booked in jail on one count of felony child abuse.
Phoenix father accused of attacking children, 3 pets
Posted: 04/27/2012
Last Updated: 17 hours and 56 minutes ago
PHOENIX - A Phoenix father is accused of attacking his two children and abusing three family pets after getting into an argument with his girlfriend.
Police arrested Visano Nelson on Thursday at his apartment near 7th Street and Bell Road.
According to police, Nelson got upset when his girlfriend, Brandi Lane, did not return home Thursday night.
He went into the bedroom of Lane’s son and woke up him and told him to call his mother. When the 16-year-old son took too long, police said Nelson punched the teenager in the face.
Nelson then told the boy and his 11-year-old sister to get out of the apartment. While they were leaving, police said Nelson head-butted the girl on her way out of the apartment.
Nelson is then accused of continuing his violent rampage by throwing a cage down a flight of stairs with three cats inside.
On Friday, Lane told ABC15 the children and pets were not seriously hurt during the attack.
Lane said Nelson had been drinking and she thinks that may have been why he acted violently.
Nelson faces assault and animal cruelty charges.
The Arkansas man accused in the death of his son made his first court appearance Tuesday morning.
Arkansas State Police say Marcus Sims, Sr., 21, is accused of 2nd degree murder in death of his 1-year-old son, Marcus Sims, Jr. Sims' court appointed attorney gave a not guilty plea for his client. The judge set a bond of $100,000 for Sims.
Police say Little Marcus was staying with Sims on January 23rd. Sims claims his son stopped breathing. An autopsy report from the Arkansas State Crime Lab states that the child's death was a clear case of abuse.
True to the Dastardly Dad axiom, dad HANIF SIM's custodial status has been "forgotten" by the time he was finally sentenced in the murder of his 7-year-old daughter. The suspicious circumstances in which he obtained custody back in New Jersey despite on-going child abuse and weapons violations--all swept under the rug. Not to mention the CPS compliance in Colorado Springs. See our past reports on this story.
Father Sentenced To 40 Years For Beating Daughter To Death
April 25, 2012 11:53 AM
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4)- A father who pleaded guilty to beating his daughter to death and then burying her body will spend the next 40 years behind bars.
Hanif Sims pleaded guilty to child abuse resulting in death in January.
His girlfriend, Monique Lynch, accepted a plea deal to testify against him in the death of Genesis Sims. Lynch is serving 27 years in prison.
Sims and Lynch were arrested in July 2010, two months after contractors found the body of Genesis Sims under a vacant home in Monument, about 50 miles south of Denver. The couple lived there in 2008, when Genesis was 7.
An arrest affidavit filed shortly after the two were arrested alleged that Lynch beat Genesis with a belt. Sims said he told Lynch to call 911, but that Lynch refused because she was wanted on an arrest warrant, according the affidavit filed by the El Paso County sheriff’s office.
The girl was near death for two days, but Lynch and Sims didn’t get her medical help, according to the affidavit.
The couple moved out of the home in early 2009. Investigators believed that Sims and Lynch lived in a Los Angeles homeless shelter from March until December 2009. Two boys who had been living with Sims and Lynch weren’t with them when they were arrested.
Authorities said Sims and Lynch had left the children with a friend in California. Those children were later taken into custody by the California Department of Human Services.
Peter Keller now suspect in murders of his wife, daughter
by KING 5 News
KREM.com
Posted on April 26, 2012 at 6:54 AM
NORTH BEND, Wash. – King County Sheriff's Detectives are now calling Peter A. Keller a suspect in the murder of his wife and daughter Sunday morning in their house near North Bend.
Eighteen-year-old Kaylene Keller and 41-year-old Lynnettee Keller both died from gunshots to the head. The bodies were discovered Sunday by firefighters responding to a fire in the home. They also found seven gasoline cans inside.
Detectives and prosecutors have filed a Certification of Probable Cause, which was signed by a judge authorizing the arrest of Keller for 2 counts of 1st Degree Murder and 1st Degree Arson.
Probable cause documents state that Peter Keller was "preparing for the end of the world," and had often took supplies to a "fort" in the woods.
Lynnette's family told detectives that Peter Keller had a "survialist mentality and distaste for authority" and would likely fight if confronted by police.
The documents also state that Keller reportedly told co-workers on April 18 that he "may not come back to work the next week... or maybe ever."
Court documents also reveal that:
The fire was set by placing a plastic gas can into a skillet on the stove and turning on the burner
Keller was known to have a gun collection and body armor - all the weapons were missing from the home
Keller had withdrawn $6,200 in cash from his bank account on Friday
The safe in the home was left open, as was the door of a shed
Keller purchased a new laptop computer within the last two weeks
Keller's mountain bike is missing
"Based on the facts that we have right now, we believe that violent death came to Lynnettee and Kaylene unexpectedly in their home from a family member who had been familiar and trusted," Sheriff Steve Strachan said at a news conference.
"The obvious question is how much danger does Keller present for hikers, campers and the public," said Strachan.
"I don't think we need to be fearful, but we do need to be aware and use common sense to stay safe. If you're hiking or using areas of the mountains carry a cell phone, do not confront Keller, and let us know if you see or know anything about his location," said Strachan.
'Cause that's what love is about, right? Dad JAMES WOLSKI shoots his daughter's mother to death in a parking lot, then offs himself. So the daughter he "loves" so much is now an orphan and motherless. No word here on whether the girl witnessed this scene, or where she was at all. But she will still live with the trauma for the rest of her life.
Florida Murder-Suicide Victims Identified as Paramedics
Source: Tampa Bay Times
James Wolski and his wife had worked in Largo at AMR Sunstar.
Created:
LARGO - Wednesday morning, Paul Knight heard James Wolski say goodbye to his 4-year-old daughter.
Knight lives across the hall from Norma Plescia at Heritage Presbyterian Housing apartments in Largo. Plescia often took care of Wolski's daughter, Kyleigh.
"Goodbye, Kyleigh. I love you," Knight said he overheard Wolski tell the child from the threshold of the apartment.
Within hours, James, 35, and his 40-year-old wife, Stacie Wolski - Kyleigh's mother - lay dead in the parking lot of a Walgreens pharmacy on Roosevelt Boulevard. Largo police say James fatally shot Stacie, then himself.
The Largo Police Department released the Wolskis' names Thursday. They were both trained as professional emergency responders and held active paramedic licenses in the state of Florida. They had worked in Largo at AMR Sunstar, an ambulance service.
LUDINGTON, Mich. (AP) -- A jury has convicted a West Michigan father of unlawful imprisonment in the disappearance of his baby daughter.
The Mason County Circuit Court jury in Ludington on Friday returned the verdict against Sean Phillips on the charge, also known as secret confinement. Deliberations began Thursday in the case following a nearly two-week trial.
Phillips faces up to 15 years in prison when sentenced.
Katherine Phillips was 4 1/2 months old when she last was seen June 29, 2011. She lived with her mother Ariel Courtland in Ludington, about 80 miles northwest of Grand Rapids.
Extensive searches haven't found the girl. Phillips' lawyer has said he'd been cooperative with police.
Father sentenced to life in prison for infant's death
By Crocker Stephenson of the Journal Sentinel
April 27, 2012
Francine Smith said Friday that she saw her great-niece, Millie, but once.
It was last July, she said. For about 15 minutes. The baby smiled and cooed. Smith took pictures. Millie stole Smith's heart.
"I fell in love with her," Smith said.
Friday, Smith brought one of the photos, mounted in a wood frame, to Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Wagner's courtroom on the third floor of the Safety Building.
She sat in the crowded gallery with friends and family until it was her turn, and when it came, a bailiff unlocked a windowed door to the main courtroom and Smith went in.
She placed the photograph on a table and sat in a chair behind it. She was wearing a tiny cross around her neck.
Millie's father, Littleton Jackson, sat in chains at a table just in front of his daughter's photograph.
He didn't turn to look.
Smith noted that the most severe punishment allowed by Wisconsin law was life in prison without a chance of parole.
"That," Smith said, "is the least he deserves."
Millie was 11 months old when she was beaten to death in September. A jury convicted Jackson of first-degree intentional homicide in March.
Millie, according to police and medical reports, was bitten on her face and neck; her nose and mouth were bruised; the space between her skull and brain was swollen with blood; her lungs were bruised; her ribs were fractured; her body was covered with flesh wounds; she was bleeding from her rectum. Millie suffered those injuries, police said, while in Jackson's care. Millie's mother, Sharona Smith, had gone to a relative's house for formula and baby food.
When she returned a few hours later, Millie was naked, lying on the living room floor.
According to police, Jackson told her: "I think she's going to die. She can't breathe. I think I'm going to jail for the rest of my life."
When the mother asked Jackson what happened, he replied: "Nothing happened."
Jackson later told police he had been drinking and had slapped the child several times and bit her because she was crying.
On Friday, Jackson told Wagner that an intruder killed Millie.
"I maintain my innocence," he said. "I never murdered my daughter."
Assistant District Attorney Kevin Shomin told Wagner that Jackson's story was no more than his inability to take responsibility for killing his daughter.
"There is no sense of remorse," Shomin said.
Wagner sentenced Jackson, 29, to life without parole.
As Smith left the courtroom, she called to Jackson and, holding up Millie's picture, dared him to look at the daughter he claimed to love.
Jackson slumped in his chair, head bowed. He didn't look up.
Only took the authorities two years to file charges against dad ROBERTO MENDEZ. From the sounds of it, seems like Daddy raped the mother about the same time that he abused the baby.
A Jones County man is charged with child abuse in connection with a 2010 case that involved a seven-week old infant.
Roberto Mendez, 21, of Burn't Bridge Road near the Pendorf Community made his initial appearance in Jones County Justice Court Thursday. Besides the child abuse charge, Mendez is also charged with one count of sexual battery.
In 2010 the infant was taken to South Central Regional Medical Center with breathing problems and broken ribs. He was then transferred to University Medical Center in Jackson because of the severity of the injuries. The physicians report at UMC revealed that the trauma to the baby was does done by someone being physically abusive.
The investigation led authorities to name the father as a suspect. Mendez was questioned in 2010 about the case, but an arrest wasn't made.
"This case did not come to a closure until I interviewed him the other day on another charge," said Jamie Tedford, Investigative Division, Jones County Sheriff's Department. "After that case I basically interviewed the suspect and got a confession from him.
Mendez's bond was set at $250,000 cash. If convicted he faces a maximum of life in prison, plus thirty years.
Father allegedly throws 3-year-old son at boy's mother
Story Created: Apr 27, 2012 at 10:19 AM
America/New_York
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla.- Charlotte County Sheriff's deputies arrested a Port
Charlotte man for Child Abuse and Battery after he threw his three-year-old son
at the boy’s mother. Christopher Mathew Hackworth, 28, of 21187 Glendale Avenue,
was arrested for the crime.
CCSO received a call Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. from the grandmother of
the child who told deputies Hackworth and his girlfriend (the caller’s daughter)
had been arguing. She said she saw Hackworth raise the child in an elevated
position and intentionally throw him onto the mother who was lying in bed. She
said the impact was hard and both mother and son were holding their heads crying
hysterically. The deputy observed a knot on the back of the boys head.
Deputies called for Charlotte County Fire/EMS to respond; the boy’s mother
refused medical treatment and said she would take her son to the hospital
Emergency Room. Doctors advised deputies that they told the mother to observe
her child for 24 hours due to a possible concussion. Deputies notified the
Department of Children and Families.
Hackworth was arrested and transported to the Charlotte County Jail where he
remains on no bond.
Looks like the taxpayers of Colorado just spared themselves the costs of a trial. If dads like WILLIAM SMITH were so damn depressed, why don't they just off themselves? No, it's always a freaking Daddy Drama where everybody else has to go down with them.
Father Accused Of Locking Children Inside Burning Home Has Died
April 26, 2012 2:25 PM
NORTHGLENN, Colo. (CBS4)- A father accused of locking himself and his two children inside their burning home has died.
William Johnson died from injuries he suffered in the February 23 fire.
Prosecutors filed 11 charges against Johnson including attempted murder and child abuse.
Police say Johnson’s wife called them to do a welfare check on her children.
Investigators say he was cooperative and the children seemed fine. A short time later he allegedly set the house on fire. Cody and Kailyn were seriously injured in the blaze.
Kaitlyn suffered burns over 50 percent of her upper body and has undergone multiple surgeries. She remains hospitalized.
Cody, 18-months old, has been released.
Police say Johnson is suspected of severely beating his estranged wife before the fire. She had filed for divorce from Johnson in January.
DENVER - Police say they shot a man with a Taser on Wednesday night after he held his wife and son hostage at knifepoint.
Denver Police were called to the 900 block of Bryant Street around 7 p.m.
A neighbor called police after hearing screaming coming from inside the home.
Officers made contact with the man, who made threats against police and his family.
"He threatened to kill them and threatened to kill the officers. He was acting very irrational," Cmdr. Patrick Phelan with the Denver Police Department's Special Operations Division said.
Officers attempted to negotiate with the man for 10 minutes to get him to surrender but he refused.
Police negotiators later spoke to the mother, who began pleading for help.
"At point she said, 'He's choking my son, he's choking my son.' At that point, to save the hostages we did a crisis entry, forced our way into the room and rescued the hostages, the wife and son, and apprehended the suspect," Phelan said.
When officers entered the home they heard a child's voice coming from the back bedroom and then heard a woman say, "He has a knife."
Officers then went into the bedroom and shot the man with the Taser before taking him into custody.
One officer suffered minor injuries during the entry.
The woman, child and the suspect were taken to the hospital to get checked out.
The suspect's name was not released.
"Very dangerous operation for the officers involved. Unbelievable situation. Officers did a tremendous job, just a tremendous job. Saved the wife and child," Phelan said.
Notice that this baby was staying with dad MARCUS RAY SIMS, SR. at the time of his death--the child apparently died from blunt force trauma to the kidney area. Was this an informal agreement, or part of a court-ordered custody/visitation plan? No word here. And no word on the mother. Typical media mother erasure.
A Foreman, Arkansas family says they were shocked after learning a father was accused in the death of his baby.
Arkansas State Police say 21-year-old Marcus Ray Sims, Sr. is accused of killing his 13-month-old son, Marcus Sims, Jr. Velma Burris is the child's grandmother and says she does not believe Sims killed his son. "They called me and told me it was an arrest made," says Burris. "And when they told me who it was, that is what took me into shock. I believe somebody else done it and he is trying to cover up for them."
Police say Sims is charged with 2nd degree murder in Little Marcus' death.
KSLA News 12 was able to obtain an arrest affidavit that details the results of an autopsy report from the Arkansas Crime Lab ruling the death as a homicide. Police say the baby was staying with Sims in January. In the affidavit, Sims says Little Marcus was lying on the bed unresponsive with milk coming out of his mouth. Sims claims Little Marcus choked and he tried to do CPR on the child.
Little River County Prosecuting Attorney Bryan Chesshir says Sims' claims are not consistent with the autopsy. "There was no evidence that this baby choked or it had anything to do with choking causing this baby's death," says Chesshir. Chesshir says the autopsy indicated that the child was abused in the past. "Blunt force trauma to the kidney area is what caused major bleeding and death in addition to past physical abuse to this baby," says Chesshir. "It appears that this was done solely by one individual. It appears we are going to bring the correct person to justice soon."
Sims is scheduled for his first court appearance on April 24th.
Springfield Father Arrested for Child's Alleged Injuries
April 20, 2012
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. -- Springfield police arrested a man for allegedly injuring his child.
Department of Human Services called police to McKenzie-Willamette Hospital Monday night, after finding several suspicious injuries on a three-year-old child during an examination.
DHS says the child's injuries were not life threatening, but they appeared to have happened at different times.
Police arrested the father, 29-year-old Dustin James Franklin.
He was lodged at the Lane County Jail for first-degree assault and first-degree criminal mistreatment.
Police are continuing the investigation.
COURTS: 44-year-old father was convicted after photos of his daughters and their friends were found on his computer
By JANE SIMS, The London Free Press
Last Updated: April 20, 2012 8:04pm
Secret closeup photos of his daughters and their friends playing in a backyard pool has landed a London father in jail for four months
The man, 44, was found guilty of the little-tested law of voyeurism in January. This week, Superior Court Justice Alan Bryant sentenced the man to four months in jail and two years of probation.
It's one of the few voyeurism cases to be tried since the law was enacted in 2005.
The man's photos were discovered in 2009 by one of his daughters when she was using his computer.
The photos were of her and her friends -- zoom shots of their clothed private areas. They were all in their early teens.
London police found more than 6,000 photos focused on their chests, buttocks and genitals. They were filed under the initials of each girl's name.
Some of the photos were taken through the basement window where the man spent a lot of time on the computer.
Police also found pictures of the man masturbating. The man's name can't be identified because of a publication ban that protects the victims' identities.
Bryant said in his sentencing decision that there wasn't any evidence of sexual touching or sexual interference.
The girls weren't tricked into having their pictures taken and the images were not distributed.
A pre-sentence report was prepared for the case. The man told the probation officer who wrote it that he came from a troubled background and was a victim of "confinement, sexual torture and severe emotional abuse" as a child.
He was placed in foster care as a young teenager and had difficulty with the law when he was a teenager.
His marriage has ended and his bail conditions prohibited him from contacting his kids. He has been living with another woman and her teen daughter.
There is also some history of panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and insomnia. His past mental health issues have made it tough to stay employed.
Bryant noted the man expressed no remorse, and blamed his eldest daughter "for putting the pictures on his computer as a form of revenge.
"He hypothesizes that if his eldest daughter did not do it, it was likely that his estranged wife did it."
The man's position "lacks reality," the judge said.
Two of his daughters filed victim impact statements. One no longer trusts her father and doesn't trust men in general. The other wrote she felt guilty for not protecting her siblings.
The daughter who found the photos wrote that she misses her father and wants to regain contact with him.
Part of the man's probation order includes a condition to stay away from his children. His name will be added to the federal sex offender registry.
Glendale police: Man accused of molesting daughters
by Mary Kate Lauon Apr. 20, 2012, under Arizona Republic News
Glendale police have arrested a man in connection with child molestation allegations, according to court documents.
Police began investigating the case Thursday after a runaway told them her father touched her in June 2009 when she was about 12 years old, a probable cause statement said.
The girl told police she was sleeping on the couch when she woke up to her drunk father touching her inappropriately. She confided in her sister, who said the same thing happened to her, the statement said.
The girls went to stay at their grandmother’s home, the filing said.
The father willingly came to the police station later Thursday night and told police he was drunk that night and didn’t remember what happened, but he didn’t think his daughters would have made it up, according to the statement.
He later admitted to touching one of his daughters, the statement said.
Police recommend child molestation and sexual abuse charges.
The Republic is withholding the man’s name to protect the identity of his daughters.
Dad is identified as JAMIE ESPOSITO. Why was this little girl in Daddy's care anyway? Where is her mother? Notice that there is ZERO mention of her, and that the little girl is now in the grandfather's care. WHY? What happened to Mom?
Police sting: Father brings along 3-year-old while meeting prostitute
STAFF REPORT
April 21, 2012 11:45 AM
DAYTONA BEACH -- Police arrested 17 people in a two-day prostitution sting along Ridgewood Avenue this week, including a father who had his 3-year-old daughter with him at the time.
The sting, conducted Thursday and Friday, resulted in arrests of eight men and nine women, according to police reports released today.
The men included Jamie Esposito, the 27-year-old Orlando father who had a toddler in his SUV when he drove up to an undercover police officer posing as a prostitute.
"I know you got your baby, so I'll make it quick," the officer said, according to an arrest report. After agreeing on a price and arranging to go inside a hotel room, the officer told Esposito he could bring his daughter inside to watch TV during the encounter, the report said.
In addition to solicitation of prostitution, Esposito was charged with child neglect, police said. His daughter was released to her grandfather.
Police said the stings are part of a continuing effort to clean up the city's part of Ridgewood Avenue. Many of the arrests were made in areas around Fremont Avenue and Wilder Boulevard.
Other men charged:
Donald Brown of DeBary, Frederick Bismarck of Daytona Beach, Jason Burns of Palm Coast, Herbert Foster of Eustis, Valdimar Sigfusson of Ormond Beach, Stephen Hagg of Port Orange and Stephen Adams of Ormond Beach.
All were charged with solicitation to commit prostitution, and Foster was also charged with resisting arrest after he ran from police.
The women charged with solicitation of prostitution were:
Wanda Bratcher, Kara Pennington, Adrianna Gardner, Heather Mishook and Gertie Kearse, all of Daytona Beach, Darlene Dixon and Jennifer Lahive of Holly Hill and Jessica Walker of Palmetto, Ga.
Another woman, Shannon DeAngelis of St. Augustine, was charged with solicitation of a lewd act after police said she demanded an officer expose himself -- to prove he wasn't a cop before she got in his car.
KUNMING, China, April 21 (UPI) -- Police in southern China's Yunnan Province said a father was arrested for allegedly burying his 6-year-old son alive, causing his death.
The killing allegedly arose over an argument over homework.
The Shanghai Daily said reports indicated the suspect allegedly beat the little boy unconscious and then buried him alive after a running series of daily squabbles culminated in a deadly argument over the child's failure to do his homework.
The newspaper, which cited a report on the Web site Yunnan.cn, said the suspect then allegedly ordered his other three kids not to tell anyone about what had happened. The children were placed with their grandparents and will be provided with psychological counseling.
Dad LAMAR HICKS is some piece of work. That this POS should be allowed unsupervised vistation with another child is utterly revolting. Pure BS fathers' rights inspired coddling in action.
Cape Cod toddler survives abuse, has lingering problems
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HYANNIS — The girl wore pink and white sneakers, fastened with Velcro tight to tiny feet that love to run.
About 3-feet tall with inquisitive brown eyes and a desire to explore, she's a 2-year-old rugrat in the fullest sense of the word.
At first opportunity she bolted down a Barnstable sidewalk on an unseasonably warm spring day. She shrieked with delight, her light brown hair bouncing as she toddled away from her young mother. After 10 or 12 flurried steps, though, the girl fell hard — face first — the way only a little kid can.
The tears flowed as mommy kissed the scratches and hauled the youngster back to the car. The girl was over it soon though — the smile back on her face. She's been through worse. Much worse.
On a fall night in 2009, emergency workers were called to a Harwich apartment after the girl — then 3 months old — stopped breathing. She was taken to Cape Cod Hospital where doctors found a cracked rib during a routine X-ray. Additional scans revealed another break, then another.
She was taken to Boston where doctors found the rest — nine snapped ribs, two broken femurs, two broken arms and a cracked tibia — 32 breaks in total, scattered across her 24-inch frame. It was the result of repeated abuse from her father.
"(Doctors) told me they didn't know how she survived," her mother said. "DCF (the Department of Children and Families) said it was the worst case of child abuse they'd seen in 10 years."
The girl's father spent 12 months in prison after admitting to abusing his daughter. While her physical injuries, miraculously, have healed, the emotional scars could last a lifetime. With the help of her mother and a family support system, the little girl is recovering slowly from the psychological toll.
In October 2010, Lamar Hicks, 23, of West Yarmouth pleaded guilty to assault and battery on a child with injury, assault and battery and violating an abuse protection order filed by the girl's mother.
He was sentenced to 2½ years in prison by Barnstable Superior Court Judge Gary Nickerson but served one year. He was placed on probation as a condition of his plea agreement and is now being held on $10,000 bail after several alleged probation violations earlier this year.
The girl and her mother are not being named because the Cape Cod Times, which reported the story, does not identify victims of crimes.
Today, the girl has no contact with her father and is too young to remember him or what he did to her. Certain unseen scars remain, though.
She'll lick walls and scratch herself. She's had problems pronouncing words and can act out in social situations. It's the result of psychological trauma, experts say.
Two years after that horrific November night, the family is focused on the future. The girl has seen a child psychologist and trauma specialists, but both met with limited success because of her age. But the girl will turn 3 in June and enter preschool in the fall.
It's the first step in her recovery marathon. It's a process that could take years, but the family is ready for the long haul.
"We just want (the girl) to be happy and healthy, and thank God she's alive. It could have been a lot worse, and it came close to being a lot worse," her grandmother said. "We just take what we can get."
Nov. 14, 2009, was a relatively warm and clear fall day in Harwich.
But shortly after 5:30 p.m., the wail of sirens cut through the light evening breeze as emergency workers responded to Hicks' and the mother's apartment after a frantic 911 call that the child had stopped breathing, according to a police report and the mother.
"We got home one night and she was in her car seat and she just had this look on her face and her face got kind of red, and I thought she stopped breathing," the mother said.
The girl was taken to Cape Cod Hospital, and that's where doctors found a broken rib. They thought it was from the CPR. Another X-ray revealed more broken ribs. Then leg fractures. Doctors determined that she needed to see specialists not available at Cape Cod Hospital, according to medical documents provided by the family.
"I was in shock; I didn't know what to believe," her mother said. "I didn't know. I had no idea, I didn't know what happened at that moment."
The next day, Nov. 15, the girl was taken by ambulance to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The hospital has a specialized team that deals with suspected cases of child abuse.
It took dozens of tests to determine the extent of the girl's injuries.
"They X-rayed her from her head to her toes," her grandmother said.
A day later, doctors had a final count of her injuries. Of the 32 total bones broken, several had multiple fractures, including her femurs, tibia and forearm bones. The injuries to her legs were caused by a pulling or twisting motion and were classified as classic metaphyseal lesions — a condition almost exclusive to child abuse.
"They said it was severe child abuse — he squeezed her, he threw her, he dropped her; anything you can think of to cause that is what he did," the mother said.
"That's a pretty horrible number," said Dr. Alice Newton, medical director for the child protection program at Children's Hospital in Boston. "Quite often when infants are abused, we see fewer fractures. Even one or two fractures in a child this age is concerning for abuse."
Newton didn't treat the girl, but spoke generally about injuries to infants.
A child's bones are easier to break because they're smaller, but they're also more flexible, which adds a certain degree of protection, she said.
Because of that and an infant's lack of mobility, accidental breaks are rare, but there are several signature injuries doctors look for.
Cracked ribs can indicate a child was squeezed too hard, said Dr. Robert Sege, a professor of pediatrics at Boston Medical Center and medical director of the child safety team at the hospital. "Three months is a very vulnerable period for babies: They cry a lot, they don't sleep, and they're still growing," Sege said.
Even then, the physical healing process for infants is much shorter than for adults, sometimes lasting just a few weeks, Newton said.
"Babies are remarkable," Newton said. "Their bones take on the same shape as they had before. It's a remarkable healing process."
It was a bright spring afternoon at the grandmother's home on the Outer Cape. The girl — dressed in blue jeans and a white shirt with a cartoon mouse on it — bounced around the living room as usual.
She played with her toy kitchen, "making" chicken — her favorite — and coffee for her mom. Then, with the attention span of a 2-year-old, she was on to another activity. This time she pushed a miniature green car along a window frame while looking out the window.
She suddenly whipped around and glared, startled by the click from a photographer's camera. She hates being snuck up on, her mother said.
It's one of several psychological problems the girl has been battling since the incident.
The first was night terrors, which started when she was 8 months old. Others have emerged as she gets older.
The girl doesn't know how to soothe herself, according to the family. Instead, she hits herself, pulls her hair and bites herself. She will lick the walls, bang her head off things and scratch herself. She even once tried to pull her eyelids off.
She also has a speech problem. Sometimes she can't articulate words, and they come out scrambled.
Words like "Tinkerbell" and "grandma" instead come out as "Tonka-beel" and "shay-mah."
Both sound like cute baby talk, but are evidence of a speech impediment that her family fears will only worsen with age.
When a child is subjected to trauma this young, the psychological effects can vary greatly. Because he or she is so young, the child won't remember the incident in a conscious way, said Margaret Blaustein, director of training and education at the Trauma Center at the Justice Resource Institute. The center treats victims of trauma from across the state.
Blaustein has had no experience with the girl in this case but spoke on general terms about psychological trauma in very young children.
"At an early age, infants are learning the very basic tasks of learning the world around them and a traumatic experience can influence that," she said. "Their body will often hold an imprint of the experience."
At a hearing last month, Lamar Hicks slouched in the gallery in Barnstable Superior Court. Wearing low-hanging jeans and a dark T-shirt, Hicks occasionally tapped messages on his cellphone as he waited for the judge to call his probation case.
He was there for a number of alleged probation violations, including failure to attend the Cape and Islands Batterers Program — as mandated in his plea agreement — and for testing positive for cocaine, oxycodone and marijuana in two separate drug screenings during a five-day period in February. He also had unsupervised contact with another minor child a day before the hearing, according to court documents.
Following a brief presentation of evidence from a probation worker, Judge Robert C. Rufo found Hicks in violation and ordered him held on $10,000 bail.
Hicks' attorney Thomas Yonce didn't respond to multiple phone messages for this article.
It's Hicks' first dustup with law enforcement since Harwich police arrived at his home in November 2009 days after the girl was brought to the hospital.
Doctors in Boston continued to find fractures in his daughter when Harwich police Detective Sgt. Dave Jacek and DCF investigators conducted the first interview.
Hicks denied hurting the girl, according to police reports.
He offered excuses, but they appeared paper-thin to the veteran investigators. "When you're looking at a little baby with 32 broken bones, there's not any other way this could have happened," Jacek said. "This is more than an 'Oops, I rolled over on her' break."
Hicks was indicted in July 2010 and agreed to a plea bargain months later, according to court documents. He was sentenced to 2½ years in jail, with one to serve and three years of probation. He was to have no contact with the victim after his release.
The maximum penalty for assault and battery on a child with substantial injury is 15 years in prison, according to state law.
Hicks' 2½-year sentence was less than that, but because the victim couldn't testify and there was no forensic evidence linking him to the injuries, convicting him could have been a challenge, said Cape and Islands Assistant District Attorney Lisa Edmonds, who prosecuted the case.
"Oftentimes, we're not necessarily happy about the outcome, but when you're faced with a case with limited evidence, it's difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt," Edmonds said.
Since the incident, Hicks has had no contact with the girl and limited interaction with the mother, according to the family.
He's sporadically reached out — including dropping off roses at the mother's work on Mother's Day 2010 — but nothing substantial, they said.
The family understands that the girl will someday be owed an explanation about why she feels the way she does. From there, it will be up to her whether she wants to meet her father, they said.
He's never offered an apology for what happened and the girl's mother isn't sure it would make a difference. "I know he wouldn't mean it," the mother said. "(The abuse) happened over months and he never said anything at all."
In the living room the of the grandmother's house, the girl's mother and grandmother watched as the child ate a small bowl of Cheerios in front of the TV. The cereal is gone within minutes — half in her mouth, half on the floor — before she was back to buzzing around the room. The girl is scheduled to start preschool in Wellfleet in September. They're encouraged by the girl's gusto to learn and interact with other children. "I wanna go to skooo," the girl will repeat over and over when the topic is brought up.
The road to recovery for a child depends on a number of factors, but the most important is his or her support system at home, Blaustein said.
"The capacity to make relationships and feel safe in the body will depend on his or her experience afterward," she said.
A way to encourage this is for therapists to treat the abused child's family — to "support his or her support system," she said.
For the family, this means several things.
They began seeking a trauma specialist early on, but it wasn't easy. They saw child psychologists and trauma specialists, but none worked well for the girl.
"What we ran into was finding a therapist to see her was virtually impossible because she (the girl) was so young," the grandmother said.
But after months of going it alone, the family has decided to give it another try.
Next week, a specialist from the Massachusetts Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children is scheduled to meet with the family. Based on their experiences, the family is cautiously optimistic about the outcome.
It's unknown what symptoms the girl will develop as she gets older. The concern is that she won't be able to grow up normally, to lead a normal life.
But as the girl pranced around the kitchen table, her bare feet slapping off the tile floor, those worries seemed far away.
"The important thing is how happy she is now," her grandmother said. "She's a lucky little girl."
