Upchuck warning: the witness's testimony against UNNAMED DAD may provoke alternating waves of nausea and fury. Dad is on trial for 74 counts of rape and sexual assault (and neglect) involving his son, now 20.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/courts/stop-daddy-stop--court-told-of-boys-cry-for-help-2055609.html
'Stop Daddy, stop' -- court told of boy's cry for help
By Ciaran Byrne
Wednesday February 10 2010
"Stop Daddy, stop, you're hurting me." This was the cry allegedly heard by a witness as a father allegedly raped his son.
The witness had also seen what the 52-year-old man -- accused of 47 counts of rape and sexual assault and neglecting the child -- was wearing.
"He was wearing nothing but a dressing gown," said the witness in the Central Criminal Court.
"He (the man) was lying on top . . . he (the boy ) was face down on his stomach," the witness, who has immunity from prosecution, added.
There was no screaming but the witness was adamant about remembering the sounds of the boy again crying out "Daddy, stop!"
The witness recalled confronting the man with the words, "What the hell are you doing?" and the man, said the witness, replied: "Get out of here."
The man sat impassively yesterday as the evidence was heard. David Goldberg, defence counsel, put it to the witness that the boy, now aged 20, had mentioned nothing about his anguished cries in his evidence.
Thumping the table, the barrister added: "There is nothing in . . . evidence which says he said 'Stop Daddy'." The witness replied: "I heard him on numerous occasions say it."
Mr Goldberg persisted: "You didn't hear him scream?" The witness replied: "I heard him cry."
The words echoed around the chamber of court 19, in the new Criminal Courts of Justice.
The west of Ireland man denies all the charges, which are alleged to have taken place over a three-year period between 2001 and 2004.
The man was arrested at his home by gardai on December 21, 2004. Taken to a garda station, he was asked about the allegations made by his son.
"Do you know that your son has made a complaint of buggery to me?" the investigating garda asked him, according to a transcript of their interview.
He asked the man why his son kept a knife under his bed. "Why would a young fella have a knife under his mattress?"
"Isn't it possible that if you came near him he would plunge it into you?" asked the garda, who added a "day of reckoning" might have been coming.
"No," said the man, who added he did not know why his son would make allegations of abuse.
Denial
He denied touching his son. "I never did anything . . ."
He denied the accusation of rape too. "You would have to be a pure sick, deranged animal to do that," the man told gardai.
Prosecuting counsel Delia Flynn questioned Dr Peter Keenan, a consultant pediatrician at Temple Street Children's Hospital, Dublin and a child abuse expert.
The court has heard that the boy, who accuses the father of the offences, was not sent to a doctor for examination when the allegations were first made.
Did the forced rape of somebody always leave bruising, lacerations or residual marks?
"No, not necessarily," said the doctor.
The case continues.
Showing posts with label neglect. Show all posts
Showing posts with label neglect. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Dad accused of fatal child abuse admitted 'I ----ed up' (Golden, Colorado)
Dad JOSEPH TRUJILLO admits that 'I ----ed up.'
Yes. you. did.
Seems Daddy stuffed the baby between pillows and left him with a bottle of formula before going out drinking for seven hours (including beer pong! Yee haw!). Then he (allegedly) comes home to find the baby dead.
Dad, you may recall, had physical custody while Mom was serving in the military. Yet you still find people in various articles defending this clueless f--- as a "very dedicated" dad and the like.
Horse patootie.
I can tell you right now that if a single mother had pulled this stunt, everybody would be condemming her as a heartless b---- who deserved the death penalty. Nobody but nobody would be calling her a "very dedicated mom."
Hat tip to Annie for finding this first!
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=131909&catid=339
Authorities: Father accused of fatal child abuse admitted 'I ----ed up'
posted by Dan Boniface written by: Chris Vanderveen 15 hrs ago
GOLDEN - Shortly before Joseph Trujillo left for what turned out to be a night of drinking, newly released court documents suggest he "put pillows on each side of (his 5 month-old son's) head to keep him from moving side to side. He also propped a baby bottle on (the boy's) chest which was filled with 6 to 8 ounces of Simlac formula."
Hours later he returned to find his boy dead.
Trujillo's story now forms the basis of a child abuse resulting in death case against him. New details of the Jan. 20 incident were revealed on Monday.
Prosecutors charged Trujillo, 23, with child abuse resulting in death late last week. They believe he left his son Adrian home alone for hours while he and friends drank at a nearby bar.
On Monday, the arrest affidavit in the case was unsealed giving more insight into the case against Trujillo.
Initially, Trujillo told investigators that he had only been gone for "20 minutes," but he later told them that he had been gone for approximately seven hours.
"I ----ed up is what happened," he told investigators during a formal interview. "I know it was wrong. I didn't intend to hurt anyone."
While an initial autopsy has been performed, it is still not clear just how Adrian died. The Jefferson County Coroners Office is still awaiting more test results. A check with the Jefferson County Jail on Monday afternoon showed Trujillo is still in custody. A judge has ordered a $50,000 bond.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office initially recommended a first-degree murder charge, but the Jefferson County District Attorney eventually decided to charge this as a child abuse resulting in death case.
During the night in question, investigators believe Trujillo drank for a number of hours at the Rock Rest Bar. According to the arrest affidavit, they also believe he "played beer pong" at another apartment and went to a nearby Taco Bell for some food.
Trujillo lives in an apartment with his mother. She returned home from work that night around 11 p.m. and was initially concerned that "he took Adrian with him to the bar."
"She believed Joseph was at the bar because he has a drinking problem," according to the affidavit.
She tried texting him and later went to sleep. She awoke around 12:30 a.m. to hear her son "crying on the phone with someone." She got up and "saw Adrian lying on the couch. She touched him and felt he was stiff and cold." She then called 911.
Yes. you. did.
Seems Daddy stuffed the baby between pillows and left him with a bottle of formula before going out drinking for seven hours (including beer pong! Yee haw!). Then he (allegedly) comes home to find the baby dead.
Dad, you may recall, had physical custody while Mom was serving in the military. Yet you still find people in various articles defending this clueless f--- as a "very dedicated" dad and the like.
Horse patootie.
I can tell you right now that if a single mother had pulled this stunt, everybody would be condemming her as a heartless b---- who deserved the death penalty. Nobody but nobody would be calling her a "very dedicated mom."
Hat tip to Annie for finding this first!
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=131909&catid=339
Authorities: Father accused of fatal child abuse admitted 'I ----ed up'
posted by Dan Boniface written by: Chris Vanderveen 15 hrs ago
GOLDEN - Shortly before Joseph Trujillo left for what turned out to be a night of drinking, newly released court documents suggest he "put pillows on each side of (his 5 month-old son's) head to keep him from moving side to side. He also propped a baby bottle on (the boy's) chest which was filled with 6 to 8 ounces of Simlac formula."
Hours later he returned to find his boy dead.
Trujillo's story now forms the basis of a child abuse resulting in death case against him. New details of the Jan. 20 incident were revealed on Monday.
Prosecutors charged Trujillo, 23, with child abuse resulting in death late last week. They believe he left his son Adrian home alone for hours while he and friends drank at a nearby bar.
On Monday, the arrest affidavit in the case was unsealed giving more insight into the case against Trujillo.
Initially, Trujillo told investigators that he had only been gone for "20 minutes," but he later told them that he had been gone for approximately seven hours.
"I ----ed up is what happened," he told investigators during a formal interview. "I know it was wrong. I didn't intend to hurt anyone."
While an initial autopsy has been performed, it is still not clear just how Adrian died. The Jefferson County Coroners Office is still awaiting more test results. A check with the Jefferson County Jail on Monday afternoon showed Trujillo is still in custody. A judge has ordered a $50,000 bond.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office initially recommended a first-degree murder charge, but the Jefferson County District Attorney eventually decided to charge this as a child abuse resulting in death case.
During the night in question, investigators believe Trujillo drank for a number of hours at the Rock Rest Bar. According to the arrest affidavit, they also believe he "played beer pong" at another apartment and went to a nearby Taco Bell for some food.
Trujillo lives in an apartment with his mother. She returned home from work that night around 11 p.m. and was initially concerned that "he took Adrian with him to the bar."
"She believed Joseph was at the bar because he has a drinking problem," according to the affidavit.
She tried texting him and later went to sleep. She awoke around 12:30 a.m. to hear her son "crying on the phone with someone." She got up and "saw Adrian lying on the couch. She touched him and felt he was stiff and cold." She then called 911.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Dad denies child abuse charges, including 47 counts of sexual abuse (Ireland)
Another UNNAMED DAD and not much detail, other than the fact that Dad faces 48 COUNTS of sexual assault and willful neglect of his son over a 3-year period. Stay tuned on this one.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gN8v7q19jTey9O9Gmps18ofA9ofQ
Father denies child abuse charges
(UKPA) – 1 hour ago
A man has denied 48 counts of sexual assault and wilful neglect of his son over a three-year period.
The 52-year-old, from the west of Ireland, faced 47 charges including a number of rapes between 2001 and 2004.
He is also accused of one count of wilful neglect and ill-treatment by aggravating an injury suffered by the boy and delaying medical treatment.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gN8v7q19jTey9O9Gmps18ofA9ofQ
Father denies child abuse charges
(UKPA) – 1 hour ago
A man has denied 48 counts of sexual assault and wilful neglect of his son over a three-year period.
The 52-year-old, from the west of Ireland, faced 47 charges including a number of rapes between 2001 and 2004.
He is also accused of one count of wilful neglect and ill-treatment by aggravating an injury suffered by the boy and delaying medical treatment.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Dad convicted of 21 counts of child abuse (Madison, Wisconsin)
Dad PORFIRIO OLIVAS has been convicted of 21 counts of child abuse. In addition to the physical abuse and starvation of his teenage daughter, Olivas was found guilty of battering his 3-year-old son.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/12/06/Dad-convicted-of-21-counts-of-child-abuse/UPI-59061260087624/
Dad convicted of 21 counts of child abuse
Published: Dec. 6, 2009 at 3:20 AM
MADISON, Wis., Dec. 6 (UPI) -- A Wisconsin man faces years in prison after being convicted of physically abusing and starving his teenage daughter and breaking the leg of his young son.
A jury in Madison found Porfirio Olivas guilty of 21 counts of child abuse Friday, The Wisconsin State Journal reported. He was acquitted of sexual assault and two counts of child abuse.
In addition to the abuse of his daughter, the jury found he had battered his 3-year-old son.
Olivas faces a theoretical maximum sentence of 160 years behind bars. His wife, Minerva Lopez, 33, who pleaded no contest to charges of child abuse, is also awaiting sentencing.
Social workers investigating why the couple's children were not in school found the 14-year-old girl in a closet in 2008. One witness said she was so emaciated she looked like a concentration camp victim.
The teenager testified her parents denied her food, and her father made her eat cockroaches and spiders and, on one occasion, tried to force her to eat a dead mouse. She said she hid the mouse.
Olivas, when he took the stand, admitted using a belt on his daughter. But he blamed her severe injuries on his wife.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/12/06/Dad-convicted-of-21-counts-of-child-abuse/UPI-59061260087624/
Dad convicted of 21 counts of child abuse
Published: Dec. 6, 2009 at 3:20 AM
MADISON, Wis., Dec. 6 (UPI) -- A Wisconsin man faces years in prison after being convicted of physically abusing and starving his teenage daughter and breaking the leg of his young son.
A jury in Madison found Porfirio Olivas guilty of 21 counts of child abuse Friday, The Wisconsin State Journal reported. He was acquitted of sexual assault and two counts of child abuse.
In addition to the abuse of his daughter, the jury found he had battered his 3-year-old son.
Olivas faces a theoretical maximum sentence of 160 years behind bars. His wife, Minerva Lopez, 33, who pleaded no contest to charges of child abuse, is also awaiting sentencing.
Social workers investigating why the couple's children were not in school found the 14-year-old girl in a closet in 2008. One witness said she was so emaciated she looked like a concentration camp victim.
The teenager testified her parents denied her food, and her father made her eat cockroaches and spiders and, on one occasion, tried to force her to eat a dead mouse. She said she hid the mouse.
Olivas, when he took the stand, admitted using a belt on his daughter. But he blamed her severe injuries on his wife.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Dad leaves 9-month-old son in bathtub; baby found "not breathing" in "extemely critical" condition (Columbus, Ohio)
UNNAMED DAD left his 9-month-old son "briefly"(?) in the tub. The baby was later found to be "not breathing" and was said to be in "extremely critical" condition when paramedics arrived. We now hear that the baby has "stabilized."
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/11/24/baby-found-not-breathing-in-bathtub.html?sid=101
Baby found not breathing in bathtub
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 10:36 PM
By Jim Woods
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
A baby boy is being treated at Nationwide Children's Hospital tonight, after he was found not breathing in a bathtub at a Far East Side apartment.
The 9-month-old child was found about 8:30 p.m., said Columbus police Sgt. John Stitt. The boy was in a tub at Aparment 1-K in the Winding Creek Apartments at 4609 Refugee Rd.
The child initially was said to be extremely critical. Paramedics were performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation as he was being taken by ambulance to the hospital.
But late tonight, Sgt. Christ Holzhauser said the child had stabilized and was expected to survive.
Holzhauser said the baby was injured after his father left him briefly in a tub of water.
Police wouldn't release their names tonight.
jwoods@dispatch.com
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/11/24/baby-found-not-breathing-in-bathtub.html?sid=101
Baby found not breathing in bathtub
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 10:36 PM
By Jim Woods
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
A baby boy is being treated at Nationwide Children's Hospital tonight, after he was found not breathing in a bathtub at a Far East Side apartment.
The 9-month-old child was found about 8:30 p.m., said Columbus police Sgt. John Stitt. The boy was in a tub at Aparment 1-K in the Winding Creek Apartments at 4609 Refugee Rd.
The child initially was said to be extremely critical. Paramedics were performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation as he was being taken by ambulance to the hospital.
But late tonight, Sgt. Christ Holzhauser said the child had stabilized and was expected to survive.
Holzhauser said the baby was injured after his father left him briefly in a tub of water.
Police wouldn't release their names tonight.
jwoods@dispatch.com
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Strangers rescue abused children from father (Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China)
The father, identified only as YANG, has had "possession" of his two children since the mother "went missing" two years ago. They were brutally abused. Dad freely admits that the wife "couldn't stand my beating her," and that's why (allegedly) she wasn't around anymore. Strangers actually broke into the room where the children were living in order to rescue them after getting some sort of tip-off phone call.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=418884&type=National
Strangers rescue abused children
Created: 2009-11-9 1:47:59, Updated: 2009-11-9 2:36:40
Author:Li Xinran
A SISTER and brother have been rescued by two strangers in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, after enduring three years of domestic violence from their father.
The two children, aged six and five, were found with countless wounds and cuts on their faces and around their bodies on Saturday when two people broke into their room in an attempt to save them, Qianjiang Evening News reported yesterday.
A man who awoke next to the girl on a bed told the two that he was their father and responsible for the situation, the newspaper said.
"They're mine and I've beaten them for three years," the man was quoted as saying. "I beat them, which means I love them," he added.
The two unnamed saviors called police when they found the naked boy with blood stains on the wall and floor.
They told the newspaper that they had received a phone call a few days earlier saying that two children in a low-rental apartment in Jiangbei District were being beaten by their father every day.
Missing wife
The father surnamed Yang said his son was only five years old but had a bad memory and learning difficulties, which made him deserve a thrashing, according to the newspaper.
Neighbors told the newspaper that the father was a painter from Jiangxi Province.
Yang looked kind but had few words to say, they said. But the two children had never been seen outside the house, they added. His wife went missing about two years ago.
"She couldn't stand my beating her," Yang told the newspaper.
Police sent the two children to hospital for examination.
Yang has been sent to a psychiatric hospital for psychological counseling and showed no signs of mental disease, police said.
The boy didn't cry when he received stitches for the cuts on his face.
His sister told police that her father had stabbed her brother with a knife on his back and feet on the morning they were rescued, and that the children had had nothing to eat for three days.
A neighbor fed them bread and milk after they were rescued.
The children are now safe and have been taken to an orphanage in Jiangbei, said one of their rescuers.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=418884&type=National
Strangers rescue abused children
Created: 2009-11-9 1:47:59, Updated: 2009-11-9 2:36:40
Author:Li Xinran
A SISTER and brother have been rescued by two strangers in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, after enduring three years of domestic violence from their father.
The two children, aged six and five, were found with countless wounds and cuts on their faces and around their bodies on Saturday when two people broke into their room in an attempt to save them, Qianjiang Evening News reported yesterday.
A man who awoke next to the girl on a bed told the two that he was their father and responsible for the situation, the newspaper said.
"They're mine and I've beaten them for three years," the man was quoted as saying. "I beat them, which means I love them," he added.
The two unnamed saviors called police when they found the naked boy with blood stains on the wall and floor.
They told the newspaper that they had received a phone call a few days earlier saying that two children in a low-rental apartment in Jiangbei District were being beaten by their father every day.
Missing wife
The father surnamed Yang said his son was only five years old but had a bad memory and learning difficulties, which made him deserve a thrashing, according to the newspaper.
Neighbors told the newspaper that the father was a painter from Jiangxi Province.
Yang looked kind but had few words to say, they said. But the two children had never been seen outside the house, they added. His wife went missing about two years ago.
"She couldn't stand my beating her," Yang told the newspaper.
Police sent the two children to hospital for examination.
Yang has been sent to a psychiatric hospital for psychological counseling and showed no signs of mental disease, police said.
The boy didn't cry when he received stitches for the cuts on his face.
His sister told police that her father had stabbed her brother with a knife on his back and feet on the morning they were rescued, and that the children had had nothing to eat for three days.
A neighbor fed them bread and milk after they were rescued.
The children are now safe and have been taken to an orphanage in Jiangbei, said one of their rescuers.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Daughters report dad to police for negligence (Igando, Nigeria)
The dad, identified only as MR. OKEBE, basically chased the girls off two years after their mother died--and a stepmother entered the scene. The girls were then forced to live on the streets.
http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/5467879-147/Girls_report_father_to_police_for.csp
Girls report father to police for negligence
By Patience Ogbo and David Ajikobi
October 6, 2009 10:44PMT
Two girls, Blessing Adaeze Okeke, 16; and Chioma Okeke, 14; have reported their father to the police over his refusal to cater for their needs.
The elder Ms. Okeke had on the September 28 reported her father, whom she identified as Mr. Okeke, to the police at Igando, a Lagos suburb, saying that their father’s refusal to take care of her, her sister and three other siblings had turned them to street urchins.
“My mum died in April 2003, leaving a one week old baby. In 2005, my father got married to another woman. In 2007, my father chased me and my younger sister out of his house (in Igando) saying that we are witches and that we caused our step-sister to have convulsion. I called our neighbours to beg him to allow us stay in the house but he refused,” Ms. Okeke said.
She told NEXT, on Tuesday, that she started living in a church at Ajengunle with her younger sister who became a stammerer after their father sent them packing.
“We started living in the Christ Victory Sabbath Church at Ajengunle. We stayed there for four months and one of the church members helped me to get a job as a house help to one family at Maza Maza.
"I needed to write WAEC and there was no money, I went back to meet my dad but he refused to sponsor me despite the fact that he has the money. My sister became very angry and said my dad is just wicked because he is a landlord and also an importer of spare parts. That was when we went to report our dad to the police.”
Cordelia Nwaegwu, the girls’ aunt said her brother has refused the plea, from his entire family, to take care of his children.
“I am the sister to these girls’ father and when their mother died, I noticed that the children were suffering. I brought them to my house but my brother called the police to arrest me that I was a kidnapper that I took his children without his permission.
"The police even made me to write an undertaking that anytime my brother’s children came to me, I will not accept them,” she said.
Mrs. Nwaegwu said she took the girls home when she heard that they were sleeping in the church, and on the street.
“I could not bear it. I took them to my house for a while. I begged my brother that even if he will not accommodate the girls he should provide money for their school fees and their upkeep so that they will not end up as prostitutes but he refused saying that the children are witches,” Mrs. Nwaegwu said.
Ms. Okeke said an NGO called Project Alert, which campaigns against violence against women and girls has come to their aid.
“The NGO is trying their best but we want the police to make our father to cater for our needs and if he is not willing to do so, they should jail him,” she said.
The executive director of Project Alert, Josephine Effah-Chukwuma in a telephone interview, confirmed the girls’ story and stated that the girls where kept at the NGO’s shelter for a few days before they were taken, by the police, to the Juvenile and Welfare Centre, Alakara, Mushin, Lagos.
“Cases of abuse of women and young girls by their parents is very common and this is one of such. How can he accuse his own children of being witches?” Mrs. Effah-Chukwuma asked.
The spokesman of the Lagos State Police Command, Frank Mba said Mr. Okeke who hails from Imo State has been invited by the police severally.
“I have invited him to my office and he has not shown up. I have placed calls to his phones and we have not seen him,” said Mr. Mba.
“He must be made to pay for the upkeep of his children, they are his biological children and he has nowhere to push them [to],” Mrs. Effah-Chukwuma said.
Oluwakemi Oduntan, a partner at Jade & Stone Solicitors who spoke to NEXT on the issue said if the Child Welfare and Child Rights laws are properly implemented, cases of abuse and abdication of duties by parents will reduce.
She further stated that the lack of a comprehensive social welfare system in the country fosters the problem.
http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/5467879-147/Girls_report_father_to_police_for.csp
Girls report father to police for negligence
By Patience Ogbo and David Ajikobi
October 6, 2009 10:44PMT
Two girls, Blessing Adaeze Okeke, 16; and Chioma Okeke, 14; have reported their father to the police over his refusal to cater for their needs.
The elder Ms. Okeke had on the September 28 reported her father, whom she identified as Mr. Okeke, to the police at Igando, a Lagos suburb, saying that their father’s refusal to take care of her, her sister and three other siblings had turned them to street urchins.
“My mum died in April 2003, leaving a one week old baby. In 2005, my father got married to another woman. In 2007, my father chased me and my younger sister out of his house (in Igando) saying that we are witches and that we caused our step-sister to have convulsion. I called our neighbours to beg him to allow us stay in the house but he refused,” Ms. Okeke said.
She told NEXT, on Tuesday, that she started living in a church at Ajengunle with her younger sister who became a stammerer after their father sent them packing.
“We started living in the Christ Victory Sabbath Church at Ajengunle. We stayed there for four months and one of the church members helped me to get a job as a house help to one family at Maza Maza.
"I needed to write WAEC and there was no money, I went back to meet my dad but he refused to sponsor me despite the fact that he has the money. My sister became very angry and said my dad is just wicked because he is a landlord and also an importer of spare parts. That was when we went to report our dad to the police.”
Cordelia Nwaegwu, the girls’ aunt said her brother has refused the plea, from his entire family, to take care of his children.
“I am the sister to these girls’ father and when their mother died, I noticed that the children were suffering. I brought them to my house but my brother called the police to arrest me that I was a kidnapper that I took his children without his permission.
"The police even made me to write an undertaking that anytime my brother’s children came to me, I will not accept them,” she said.
Mrs. Nwaegwu said she took the girls home when she heard that they were sleeping in the church, and on the street.
“I could not bear it. I took them to my house for a while. I begged my brother that even if he will not accommodate the girls he should provide money for their school fees and their upkeep so that they will not end up as prostitutes but he refused saying that the children are witches,” Mrs. Nwaegwu said.
Ms. Okeke said an NGO called Project Alert, which campaigns against violence against women and girls has come to their aid.
“The NGO is trying their best but we want the police to make our father to cater for our needs and if he is not willing to do so, they should jail him,” she said.
The executive director of Project Alert, Josephine Effah-Chukwuma in a telephone interview, confirmed the girls’ story and stated that the girls where kept at the NGO’s shelter for a few days before they were taken, by the police, to the Juvenile and Welfare Centre, Alakara, Mushin, Lagos.
“Cases of abuse of women and young girls by their parents is very common and this is one of such. How can he accuse his own children of being witches?” Mrs. Effah-Chukwuma asked.
The spokesman of the Lagos State Police Command, Frank Mba said Mr. Okeke who hails from Imo State has been invited by the police severally.
“I have invited him to my office and he has not shown up. I have placed calls to his phones and we have not seen him,” said Mr. Mba.
“He must be made to pay for the upkeep of his children, they are his biological children and he has nowhere to push them [to],” Mrs. Effah-Chukwuma said.
Oluwakemi Oduntan, a partner at Jade & Stone Solicitors who spoke to NEXT on the issue said if the Child Welfare and Child Rights laws are properly implemented, cases of abuse and abdication of duties by parents will reduce.
She further stated that the lack of a comprehensive social welfare system in the country fosters the problem.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Dad arrested for after 3-year-old found wandering around naked outside; dad was already on probation for earlier incident (Kansas City, Missouri)
Babysitting dad WILLIAM STARKLEY has been arrested for child endangerment after a SECOND incident where his 3-year-old son was found outside wandering around naked and unattended. Dad was already on probation for the earlier incident. Mom was at work at time of this last incident. House was reputedly a mess, too.
http://www.kctv5.com/news/21157221/detail.html
Father Arrested After Toddler Found Wandering Street
Not First Time Child Found Wandering Without Parent
POSTED: 6:28 am CDT September 30, 2009
UPDATED: 8:11 am CDT September 30, 2009
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Kansas City father was arrested Tuesday after his toddler was found walking naked near a Dumpster.
William Starkley is charged with felony child endangerment for the incident, while already on probation for an earlier incident involving the same child and similar circumstances.
Two women found the 3-year-old boy by a Dumpster at the King's Manor Apartments, naked and alone. The witnesses told police the boy could not tell them where he lived.
After finding a blanket for the boy, the pair called the police.
Police found the father asleep in an apartment on Longview Road. Police said the door of the apartment was wide open, his 5-year-old walking the hall, and two 9-month-old girls awake in a crib.
The police report described the home as "very unclean, with trash and food on the floor and a knife (in) the kitchen within reach of the children."
Police say the children's mother was at work and came home to take over care of the kids after the Starkey was arrested.
A woman at the apartment with the children Tuesday night had no comment.
This is not the first time Starkey has gotten in trouble for not keeping track of his son.
A year ago near 55th Street and Eastern Avenue a neighbor called about the boy wandering in her front yard, saying she'd already returned him to his dad once that day when she found the toddler wandering the street.
The police report from the case said it took police an hour to find the boy's father. The father was asleep inside his home a half-mile away. When police returned three hours later to ticket him the boy was missing again.
Neighbors at the address where the couple lived in 2008 told KCTV5 the boy wandered off regularly. They said the man was a loving father, but worked a night shift and and had trouble staying awake during the day when the mother worked.
http://www.kctv5.com/news/21157221/detail.html
Father Arrested After Toddler Found Wandering Street
Not First Time Child Found Wandering Without Parent
POSTED: 6:28 am CDT September 30, 2009
UPDATED: 8:11 am CDT September 30, 2009
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Kansas City father was arrested Tuesday after his toddler was found walking naked near a Dumpster.
William Starkley is charged with felony child endangerment for the incident, while already on probation for an earlier incident involving the same child and similar circumstances.
Two women found the 3-year-old boy by a Dumpster at the King's Manor Apartments, naked and alone. The witnesses told police the boy could not tell them where he lived.
After finding a blanket for the boy, the pair called the police.
Police found the father asleep in an apartment on Longview Road. Police said the door of the apartment was wide open, his 5-year-old walking the hall, and two 9-month-old girls awake in a crib.
The police report described the home as "very unclean, with trash and food on the floor and a knife (in) the kitchen within reach of the children."
Police say the children's mother was at work and came home to take over care of the kids after the Starkey was arrested.
A woman at the apartment with the children Tuesday night had no comment.
This is not the first time Starkey has gotten in trouble for not keeping track of his son.
A year ago near 55th Street and Eastern Avenue a neighbor called about the boy wandering in her front yard, saying she'd already returned him to his dad once that day when she found the toddler wandering the street.
The police report from the case said it took police an hour to find the boy's father. The father was asleep inside his home a half-mile away. When police returned three hours later to ticket him the boy was missing again.
Neighbors at the address where the couple lived in 2008 told KCTV5 the boy wandered off regularly. They said the man was a loving father, but worked a night shift and and had trouble staying awake during the day when the mother worked.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Stepbrother found guilty in strangulation of 11-year-old stepsister; custodial dad and stepmom already found guilty of neglect (Oswego, New York)
We've posted on this case before. Slight correction: this girl wasn't starved by her "parents" as such--she was starved by her custodial father LINDSEY MAXWELL and stepmother. Just to be clear about it, ya know. According to other news accounts, Maxwell and the girl's mother divorced in the late 1990s, and the dad got full custody. He was also a stay-at-home (read: unemployed) dad who apparently didn't care for housework either since the house was jammed with animals (alive and dead), animal feces and urine, and rotting garbage.
http://blog.taragana.com/law/2009/09/24/upstate-ny-man-found-guilty-of-strangling-stepsister-11-who-lived-in-deplorable-conditions-13103/
Upstate NY man found guilty of strangling stepsister, 11, who lived in deplorable conditions
Bureau News September 24th, 2009
OSWEGO, N.Y. — A 28-year-old central New York man was convicted Thursday of using a rope to strangle his 11-year-old stepsister, who authorities say was starved by her parents and lived in a home filled with animal feces and rotting garbage.
Alan Jones of Palermo was found guilty of second-degree murder after the Oswego County Court jury of 12 men deliberated about 12 hours over two days.
Jones’ defense attorney had argued that Erin Maxwell accidentally hanged herself while acting out a scene from the “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” movie in her bedroom on Aug. 29, 2008.
Prosecutors argued that Jones strangled Maxwell.
Jones faces 25 years to life in prison when he’s sentenced Nov. 6.
State police and rescue workers said they found more than 100 cats in the Maxwells’ home at the time of Erin’s death. Troopers also found the carcasses of several kittens in the freezer.
Authorities said Erin was routinely locked in her room at night and spent hours alone. She had no playmates and often went to school in clothes reeking of cat urine. Teachers and other school officials told investigators that she had been seen taking food from garbage cans and eating it or putting it in her desk.
Maxwell’s parents have been convicted in town court of multiple child endangerment charges. Lindsey and Lynn Maxwell face up to two years in prison when they are sentenced Oct. 12, but they have said they plan to appeal.
During closing arguments Wednesday, defense lawyer Salvatore Lanza criticized the medical examiner who performed Erin Maxwell’s autopsy, saying she issued a ruling without knowing all the facts. He also questioned the thoroughness of the state police investigation and noted that none of Jones’ DNA was on the rope or on Maxwell.
District Attorney Donald Dodd called Jones’ story of finding Maxwell hanging from a screw in her room “not worthy of belief.” The prosecutor said an unbelievable series of events would have had to occur for her to have hanged herself the way Jones explained it. Dodd also said Jones’ statements to police were inconsistent.
The district attorney prosecuted Jones under the theory he acted with depraved indifference by recklessly tightening a rope around Maxwell’s neck, causing her death. That means the jury did not have to find that he intentionally killed Maxwell but that he acted with such disregard to her life that he was guilty of murder.
http://blog.taragana.com/law/2009/09/24/upstate-ny-man-found-guilty-of-strangling-stepsister-11-who-lived-in-deplorable-conditions-13103/
Upstate NY man found guilty of strangling stepsister, 11, who lived in deplorable conditions
Bureau News September 24th, 2009
OSWEGO, N.Y. — A 28-year-old central New York man was convicted Thursday of using a rope to strangle his 11-year-old stepsister, who authorities say was starved by her parents and lived in a home filled with animal feces and rotting garbage.
Alan Jones of Palermo was found guilty of second-degree murder after the Oswego County Court jury of 12 men deliberated about 12 hours over two days.
Jones’ defense attorney had argued that Erin Maxwell accidentally hanged herself while acting out a scene from the “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” movie in her bedroom on Aug. 29, 2008.
Prosecutors argued that Jones strangled Maxwell.
Jones faces 25 years to life in prison when he’s sentenced Nov. 6.
State police and rescue workers said they found more than 100 cats in the Maxwells’ home at the time of Erin’s death. Troopers also found the carcasses of several kittens in the freezer.
Authorities said Erin was routinely locked in her room at night and spent hours alone. She had no playmates and often went to school in clothes reeking of cat urine. Teachers and other school officials told investigators that she had been seen taking food from garbage cans and eating it or putting it in her desk.
Maxwell’s parents have been convicted in town court of multiple child endangerment charges. Lindsey and Lynn Maxwell face up to two years in prison when they are sentenced Oct. 12, but they have said they plan to appeal.
During closing arguments Wednesday, defense lawyer Salvatore Lanza criticized the medical examiner who performed Erin Maxwell’s autopsy, saying she issued a ruling without knowing all the facts. He also questioned the thoroughness of the state police investigation and noted that none of Jones’ DNA was on the rope or on Maxwell.
District Attorney Donald Dodd called Jones’ story of finding Maxwell hanging from a screw in her room “not worthy of belief.” The prosecutor said an unbelievable series of events would have had to occur for her to have hanged herself the way Jones explained it. Dodd also said Jones’ statements to police were inconsistent.
The district attorney prosecuted Jones under the theory he acted with depraved indifference by recklessly tightening a rope around Maxwell’s neck, causing her death. That means the jury did not have to find that he intentionally killed Maxwell but that he acted with such disregard to her life that he was guilty of murder.
Dad leaves 6-month-old baby at home alone while he goes clubbing (Dale City, Virginia)
Dad CARLOS FERNANDO AGUILAR CEDENO wasn't going to let a little inconvenient thing like a baby daughter interfere with HIS social life, no sir. So he left the baby home alone while he went clubbing. No mention of mom--the baby went to Child Protective Services (CPS). So is he a single dad or what? As usual, mums the word from the mainstream media on these issues. Not a peep on how or why this neglectful, self-centered dad had possession of this baby, or why she wasn't with her mother.
http://www2.insidenova.com/isn/news/local/article/police_dad_leaves_infant_at_home_and_goes_clubbing/43969/
Police: Dad leaves infant at home and goes clubbing
By Uriah A. Kiser
Published: September 24, 2009
Police found a six-month old surprise waiting for them when they answered a call to a Dale City home. And the father of the little suprise was put in jail.
Officers were called to the home in the 14700 block of Daley Lane at 6 p.m. on Wednesday to investigate a child neglect complaint, said Erika Hernandez.
When they arrived, they found a six-month-old girl alone inside the home. Hernandez said the girl’s father, Carlos Fernando Aguilar Cedeno, 22, was at a club with a group of friends.
He returned home that night to find his daughter in the custody of Child Protective Services, said Hernandez.
Cedeno was held on $5,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
http://www2.insidenova.com/isn/news/local/article/police_dad_leaves_infant_at_home_and_goes_clubbing/43969/
Police: Dad leaves infant at home and goes clubbing
By Uriah A. Kiser
Published: September 24, 2009
Police found a six-month old surprise waiting for them when they answered a call to a Dale City home. And the father of the little suprise was put in jail.
Officers were called to the home in the 14700 block of Daley Lane at 6 p.m. on Wednesday to investigate a child neglect complaint, said Erika Hernandez.
When they arrived, they found a six-month-old girl alone inside the home. Hernandez said the girl’s father, Carlos Fernando Aguilar Cedeno, 22, was at a club with a group of friends.
He returned home that night to find his daughter in the custody of Child Protective Services, said Hernandez.
Cedeno was held on $5,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
Dad leave 1- and 4-year-old home alone (Newport News, Virginia)
Dad SANDRO SANTO is another one of those dads doing caretaking while Mom was at work (read: Dad is unemployed?). He left a 1- and 4-year-old home alone while he went to a doctor's appointment. The 4-year-old was later found running down the street and obviously unsupervised.
http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/local_wavy_nn_father_left_kids_alone_20090923
Police: Father left kids home alone
Updated: Wednesday, 23 Sep 2009, 12:26 PM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 23 Sep 2009, 12:26 PM EDT
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - A Newport News father is facing two counts of Child Neglect after his two children, ages 1 and 4, were found unattended in their home in the 100 blk. of Spu Drive last Saturday.
Newport News Public Information Officer Harold Eley told WAVY.com a concerned citizen notified police after seeing the 4-year-old running down the street.
According to police, 36-year-old Sandro Soto left the children home alone while he went to a doctor's appointment; the children's mother was at work.
Soto told officers, who were at his home when he returned from his appointment, that he thought the children would be fine while he was out.
Child Protective Services was called out and the children's mother was called. She is now caring for the children.
http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/local_wavy_nn_father_left_kids_alone_20090923
Police: Father left kids home alone
Updated: Wednesday, 23 Sep 2009, 12:26 PM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 23 Sep 2009, 12:26 PM EDT
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - A Newport News father is facing two counts of Child Neglect after his two children, ages 1 and 4, were found unattended in their home in the 100 blk. of Spu Drive last Saturday.
Newport News Public Information Officer Harold Eley told WAVY.com a concerned citizen notified police after seeing the 4-year-old running down the street.
According to police, 36-year-old Sandro Soto left the children home alone while he went to a doctor's appointment; the children's mother was at work.
Soto told officers, who were at his home when he returned from his appointment, that he thought the children would be fine while he was out.
Child Protective Services was called out and the children's mother was called. She is now caring for the children.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
DASTARDLY DADS FROM THE ARCHIVES (Clermont, Florida - 1998)
Custodial dad RICHARD L. ADAMS was charged with murder after confessing to the beating death of his 6-year-old daughter. After that, the State of Florida planned to "tighten" its child welfare policies to keep such an occurrence from happening again.
You know, if I had a dollar for everytime Florida child welfare screwed up, and promised to "revamp" or "tighten" its policies and procedures SINCE 1998, I'd be wealthy and happily retired. Maybe with a nice retirement place in Florida. Or maybe not. Seems to be a lot of killers down there.
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/05/us/florida-will-tighten-child-welfare-policies-after-father-s-killing-of-girl-6.html?scp=25&sq=father+murder+child+custody&st=nyt
Florida Will Tighten Child Welfare Policies After Father's Killing of Girl, 6
By MIREYA NAVARRO
Published: Saturday, December 5, 1998
Florida child welfare officials plan to revamp workers' training and the way they handle child abuse cases after failing to act on signs of abuse in a 6-year-old girl who was ultimately beaten to death by her father, the secretary of the State Department of Children and Families said today.
''In my judgment, it could have been avoided,'' Secretary Ed Feaver said. ''That's what makes it so difficult for us.''
More than 500 volunteers helped law-enforcement officials search for the girl, Kayla McKean, after her father reported that she was missing on Thanksgiving. Five days later, the father confessed to fatally beating Kayla and led officers to the remote area where he had buried her, the authorities said.
The father, Richard L. Adams, 24, of Clermont in Lake County, north of Orlando, was charged with murder after confessing that he beat Kayla the night before Thanksgiving when she soiled her pants, the authorities said. His wife and Kayla's stepmother, Marcie Adams, 22, has been charged with a felony count of aggravated child abuse by neglect.
The death culminated abuse that had been documented in several reports to child welfare officials since April 1997, but that inexplicably prompted no action to protect the girl, Mr. Feaver said.
Typically, Mr. Adams would attribute Kayla's injuries to accidents, and she would be released to him.
Mr. Adams was given informal custody of Kayla by her mother, Elizabeth McKean, last April, officials said.
Mr. Feaver said the case was still under investigation but enough was known for his department to change the way child abuse investigations are handled. He said, for instance, that investigators would be prohibited from relying on anything but their examination of a child to determine whether injuries are accidental or inflicted. He said that in Kayla's case a child protection team relied on a telephone consultation with emergency room doctors to determine that her injuries were consistent with an accident.
Mr. Feaver said department workers would have to turn over their entire case files to the court when judges were considering placing the child in protective custody. That would give a judge enough information to assess whether the child should be removed from the family, he said. In Kayla's case, a judge complained that he would not have returned her to her home had he known of her history of injuries.
Mr. Feaver said training would be changed to emphasize closer scrutiny of cases.
He said Kayla first came to the attention of his department last year when her school reported that she had a bruise under her left ear and was shy and withdrawn. He said the girl's family said the injury had been caused by spider bites or anemia and a department doctor released her.
This May, after Kayla had moved in with her father and his wife and the couple's year-old child, she was taken to an emergency room with injuries that included black eyes and a fractured nose and hand. Mr. Adams said that she had fallen off her bicycle.
Mr. Feaver said that after a telephone consultation, workers with his department accepted the view of emergency room doctors that the injuries were consistent with a fall. At a subsequent court hearing, a department lawyer recommended the girl be returned to her family.
In October, prompted by a report from Kayla's school, child welfare workers investigated more injuries, including a bump on her head and black eyes. Mr. Adams said she had fallen in the bathtub and the family's dog had stepped on her face.
An investigator determined a low risk of harm to Kayla after the girl reported that she was treated well at home, Mr. Feaver said. He said there were several other reports that met a similar fate.
''Our staff should have seen that pattern,'' he said, adding that disciplinary action is being considered.
''That's the thing that drives me crazy. Over and over again there was just too much that happened,'' he said. ''Our first instinct should have been let's protect the child.''
Florida has up to 300,000 reports of child abuse each year. Seventy-five thousand reports were substantiated last year, a 10 to 15 percent increase in abuse cases over the total registered for the previous two years, Department of Children and Families officials said. The state records about 100 child abuse deaths a year.
The department has a $3.4 billion budget, $550 million of it for child protection services.
Governor-elect Jeb Bush has said that the system needs improvement, and has proposed privatization of foster care and more involvement from local law-enforcement agencies.
''He wants the local sheriff's office to work hand in hand with child abuse investigators,'' said Mr. Bush's spokesman, Corey Tilley.
Cindy Kinat, the principal of Minneola Elementary School in Lake County, which Kayla had attended since last April, said her death caused ''a lot of anger'' among school staff members and parents.
''When the situation was investigated it was just passed over too lightly,'' she said of the state inquiry into the reports of Kayla's injuries.
Ms. Kinat said good may come out of the case if it reminds everyone involved with children of the need to be vigilant about their well-being.
She described Kayla as a ''fairly quiet and shy but loving'' first grader.
''She did not have a lot of interaction with the other children,'' Ms. Kinat said. But she added, ''It was a safe place for her to come to school and she seemed to enjoy it.''
You know, if I had a dollar for everytime Florida child welfare screwed up, and promised to "revamp" or "tighten" its policies and procedures SINCE 1998, I'd be wealthy and happily retired. Maybe with a nice retirement place in Florida. Or maybe not. Seems to be a lot of killers down there.
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/05/us/florida-will-tighten-child-welfare-policies-after-father-s-killing-of-girl-6.html?scp=25&sq=father+murder+child+custody&st=nyt
Florida Will Tighten Child Welfare Policies After Father's Killing of Girl, 6
By MIREYA NAVARRO
Published: Saturday, December 5, 1998
Florida child welfare officials plan to revamp workers' training and the way they handle child abuse cases after failing to act on signs of abuse in a 6-year-old girl who was ultimately beaten to death by her father, the secretary of the State Department of Children and Families said today.
''In my judgment, it could have been avoided,'' Secretary Ed Feaver said. ''That's what makes it so difficult for us.''
More than 500 volunteers helped law-enforcement officials search for the girl, Kayla McKean, after her father reported that she was missing on Thanksgiving. Five days later, the father confessed to fatally beating Kayla and led officers to the remote area where he had buried her, the authorities said.
The father, Richard L. Adams, 24, of Clermont in Lake County, north of Orlando, was charged with murder after confessing that he beat Kayla the night before Thanksgiving when she soiled her pants, the authorities said. His wife and Kayla's stepmother, Marcie Adams, 22, has been charged with a felony count of aggravated child abuse by neglect.
The death culminated abuse that had been documented in several reports to child welfare officials since April 1997, but that inexplicably prompted no action to protect the girl, Mr. Feaver said.
Typically, Mr. Adams would attribute Kayla's injuries to accidents, and she would be released to him.
Mr. Adams was given informal custody of Kayla by her mother, Elizabeth McKean, last April, officials said.
Mr. Feaver said the case was still under investigation but enough was known for his department to change the way child abuse investigations are handled. He said, for instance, that investigators would be prohibited from relying on anything but their examination of a child to determine whether injuries are accidental or inflicted. He said that in Kayla's case a child protection team relied on a telephone consultation with emergency room doctors to determine that her injuries were consistent with an accident.
Mr. Feaver said department workers would have to turn over their entire case files to the court when judges were considering placing the child in protective custody. That would give a judge enough information to assess whether the child should be removed from the family, he said. In Kayla's case, a judge complained that he would not have returned her to her home had he known of her history of injuries.
Mr. Feaver said training would be changed to emphasize closer scrutiny of cases.
He said Kayla first came to the attention of his department last year when her school reported that she had a bruise under her left ear and was shy and withdrawn. He said the girl's family said the injury had been caused by spider bites or anemia and a department doctor released her.
This May, after Kayla had moved in with her father and his wife and the couple's year-old child, she was taken to an emergency room with injuries that included black eyes and a fractured nose and hand. Mr. Adams said that she had fallen off her bicycle.
Mr. Feaver said that after a telephone consultation, workers with his department accepted the view of emergency room doctors that the injuries were consistent with a fall. At a subsequent court hearing, a department lawyer recommended the girl be returned to her family.
In October, prompted by a report from Kayla's school, child welfare workers investigated more injuries, including a bump on her head and black eyes. Mr. Adams said she had fallen in the bathtub and the family's dog had stepped on her face.
An investigator determined a low risk of harm to Kayla after the girl reported that she was treated well at home, Mr. Feaver said. He said there were several other reports that met a similar fate.
''Our staff should have seen that pattern,'' he said, adding that disciplinary action is being considered.
''That's the thing that drives me crazy. Over and over again there was just too much that happened,'' he said. ''Our first instinct should have been let's protect the child.''
Florida has up to 300,000 reports of child abuse each year. Seventy-five thousand reports were substantiated last year, a 10 to 15 percent increase in abuse cases over the total registered for the previous two years, Department of Children and Families officials said. The state records about 100 child abuse deaths a year.
The department has a $3.4 billion budget, $550 million of it for child protection services.
Governor-elect Jeb Bush has said that the system needs improvement, and has proposed privatization of foster care and more involvement from local law-enforcement agencies.
''He wants the local sheriff's office to work hand in hand with child abuse investigators,'' said Mr. Bush's spokesman, Corey Tilley.
Cindy Kinat, the principal of Minneola Elementary School in Lake County, which Kayla had attended since last April, said her death caused ''a lot of anger'' among school staff members and parents.
''When the situation was investigated it was just passed over too lightly,'' she said of the state inquiry into the reports of Kayla's injuries.
Ms. Kinat said good may come out of the case if it reminds everyone involved with children of the need to be vigilant about their well-being.
She described Kayla as a ''fairly quiet and shy but loving'' first grader.
''She did not have a lot of interaction with the other children,'' Ms. Kinat said. But she added, ''It was a safe place for her to come to school and she seemed to enjoy it.''
Monday, September 21, 2009
Mom of boy malnourished by custodial dad speaks out (St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana)
It's too bad the reporter dwells so much on the mom being a 15-year-old teen when her son was born (isn't that statutory rape?) and her past involvement in adult films (which are not linked here with any allegations of abuse or neglect) rather then Dad DANIEL BALLARD's actual abuse. It's the usual double standard--moms are trashed for not meeting some narrow, puritanical notion of "morality", while the documented real-life abuse of fathers is swept under the carpet. Only as an afterthought do we mention that Mom owns a home now and is in graduate school.
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2009/09/mother_details_four_years_with.html
Mother of malnourished boy details four years without her son
By Chris Kirkham
September 21, 2009, 5:40AM
The 10-year-old boy living in suburban Phoenix, Ariz., had just finished fourth grade. He had lived with his mother, Kalyn Loe, since birth and had not seen his father in more than two years.
The couple kept in contact over the years, and the father, Daniel Ballard, was begging to see his son for a two-month summer vacation to New Orleans in 2005.
So Loe put him on a plane in late June. She wouldn't see him again until four years later, after news that he was discovered malnourished and in deplorable living conditions in rural St. Bernard Parish.
On Sept. 9, authorities found the boy, now 14, in a foul-smelling, cramped recreational vehicle. Ballard admitted to investigators that the boy had not attended school or seen a doctor in more than four years.
Booked with cruelty to a juvenile, Ballard was released last week from St. Bernard Parish Prison after posting $25,000 bond. An initial court appearance will be in December.
The boy, who has not been publicly identified, was admitted to a hospital for treatment of a broken arm, broken finger and cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection that can be life-threatening if untreated. Authorities said he weighed 60 pounds; Loe said he was 84 pounds.
There are spots on his head where hair isn't growing, Loe said, and several welt marks on his back. She said he reads at a fourth-grade level and struggles with basic arithmetic.
Back in Phoenix with Loe, the boy is starting over after four years of isolation and exclusion from mainstream society. The story of how the boy came to Louisiana -- and dropped out of sight -- is a bizarre chapter in the life of a child born to wayward teenage parents who never officially determined custody.
An interview with the boy's mother reveals the sorrow of a woman who regrets letting her son slip out of sight and who tried unsuccessfully for years to locate him.
"I thought about going there many, many times, " she said. "But where? Where would I look? Danny had him so excluded from the world that it would have been impossible."
Ballard said the facts have been blown out of proportion, saying he and the boy had lived in the RV for only a month and that it wasn't a bad living situation.
Teenage parents
Loe was 18 when the baby was born. Ballard was only 15. The couple had another child together two years later. Growing up in Findlay, Ohio, the pair stuck together for a few years but eventually drifted apart. Loe moved to Michigan and later Arizona with the children, and Ballard moved to Louisiana.
In her 20s, Loe worked as an X-rated actress for Hustler videos and did photo shoots while caring for the two children, and later another. Loe said she put enough money aside to move to Arizona, buy a house and attend college.
She said she's now a full-time student, with a bachelor's degree and a year into a master's in secondary education program at Western International University, outside of Phoenix. University officials did not return a phone call and e-mails Friday seeking to confirm her enrollment.
Loe said she had put the adult film and modeling career behind her when she decided to allow her oldest son, then 10, to board a plane and visit his father in New Orleans. Ballard had told Loe he was getting his life together, that he had a GED and steady job.
It was late June 2005, and the plan was for the boy to spend two months with Ballard and return to Arizona for school.
At first, she recalled, there were daily phone calls in which he would say how much he enjoyed seeing his father.
She said she begged Ballard to take the boy out of the state when Hurricane Katrina was coming, but Ballard told her the flights were booked and the highways were jammed. Loe's mother eventually picked them up at a Baton Rouge shelter and took them to her house in Tennessee for a few weeks.
Ballard then asked her whether the boy could return with him to New Orleans to help clean up and gather their things. She said her mother trusted Ballard and said they were doing well, so Loe agreed. Then the communication went quiet, she said.
Calling the authorities
After weeks of failed attempts, she finally got through to Ballard, who told her, "You're never going to get him back. He's doing good down here, " she recalled.
She said she later called a local sheriff's office in Arizona, the New Orleans Police Department, the Louisiana State Police and the state Department of Social Services. At every turn, she said she was told that without formal custody, Ballard had just as much right to keep the boy as she did.
"There's nothing I could do except sit back and wait and wait for the next phone call, " Loe said.
Sporadic phone conversations from then on would come from anonymous numbers. If she asked detailed questions about where the boy was going to school or where they lived, Ballard would hang up.
Outside a Metairie apartment complex last week, Ballard questioned why Loe wouldn't come to New Orleans and pursue the matter further with police, if she really couldn't find him. He said the arrangement was that she would keep the daughter and he would take their son.
Daniel Ballard was booked with cruelty to a juvenile; he says the case has been blown out of proportion.
"It wasn't any short-term thing. It was where he was going to live, " Ballard said.
He said his son had attended school since he came to Louisiana, but he would not say where. The boy might have fallen off a bike or gotten hurt while playing, but he said he knew of no broken bones.
"I know the situation, and I'm not trying to put it out there, " he said. "I love my son. We're a team. My son is not with me, and that is the most painful, lonely thing I have gone through in my life."
Though calls were tightly controlled, Loe said the boy told her they were having a great time. She remembered hearing about fishing trips and dirt bike shows.
Boy helped cut grass
Much of what happened during the four years is still unclear, she said. Loe said she's reluctant to ask too much too soon, allowing the boy to revisit the experience at his own pace.
From what she has gathered so far, Ballard and the boy lived in several apartments across the New Orleans area and had only recently gotten the RV. He told her that his father owned several inflatable "space jump" birthday party toys available for rent. They had also bought some lawn mowing equipment, and the boy said he was helping out.
After St. Bernard Parish Constable Tony Guerra discovered the boy while serving an eviction notice two weeks ago, the boy led Sheriff's Office detectives to Loe. She flew to New Orleans on the night of Sept. 13 to meet with state Department of Social Services officials, and the next morning she was in St. Bernard Parish court at a custody hearing.
She said the state had questioned whether she could take the boy home, arguing that more investigation was needed.
"They were making me sound like I was a bad person, like I did bad for my son, " Loe said. "I can't go down to Louisiana and start at one corner of the state and go looking. The state of Louisiana said there was nothing they could do, and then when (the boy) is in trouble, 'Yeah, I should have done more?' "
Court records of the custody proceedings in St. Bernard were confidential because the boy is a minor. Interim state Judge Robert Klees, of the 34th Judicial District, handled the case but said he could not comment.
A spokesman for the Department of Social Services said the agency cannot comment on specific cases because of confidentiality regulations but that the department works with the courts to make sure children are placed in safe environments.
Loe said the Louisiana Department of Social services is closely monitoring the living situation in Arizona and that child protective authorities in her state will also be checking up regularly.
Sense of confusion
Even after his return to Arizona on Sept. 14, the boy wonders what was wrong with the way he was living and questions why his father had to go to jail, Loe said.
Less than a week into his new life in Arizona, the boy is enjoying plentiful food and lots of time with the PlayStation, Loe said. But the limited communication over the years has led to a sense of resentment and confusion for the boy, she said.
"He asked us questions like, 'Why didn't you ever call us?' " she said. "His dad was telling him that he wasn't ever going to see us again, that we didn't love him."
She's planning group counseling for the family to reintegrate the boy into their lives.
Loe plans to start the boy on an online home schooling program to brush him up on four years of missed classes.
"I want him to be able to get a high school diploma. His future, he thinks, is cutting grass, " she said. "He's going to be 15 in November, but I have the next three years to let him find out that life is great for him."
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2009/09/mother_details_four_years_with.html
Mother of malnourished boy details four years without her son
By Chris Kirkham
September 21, 2009, 5:40AM
The 10-year-old boy living in suburban Phoenix, Ariz., had just finished fourth grade. He had lived with his mother, Kalyn Loe, since birth and had not seen his father in more than two years.
The couple kept in contact over the years, and the father, Daniel Ballard, was begging to see his son for a two-month summer vacation to New Orleans in 2005.
So Loe put him on a plane in late June. She wouldn't see him again until four years later, after news that he was discovered malnourished and in deplorable living conditions in rural St. Bernard Parish.
On Sept. 9, authorities found the boy, now 14, in a foul-smelling, cramped recreational vehicle. Ballard admitted to investigators that the boy had not attended school or seen a doctor in more than four years.
Booked with cruelty to a juvenile, Ballard was released last week from St. Bernard Parish Prison after posting $25,000 bond. An initial court appearance will be in December.
The boy, who has not been publicly identified, was admitted to a hospital for treatment of a broken arm, broken finger and cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection that can be life-threatening if untreated. Authorities said he weighed 60 pounds; Loe said he was 84 pounds.
There are spots on his head where hair isn't growing, Loe said, and several welt marks on his back. She said he reads at a fourth-grade level and struggles with basic arithmetic.
Back in Phoenix with Loe, the boy is starting over after four years of isolation and exclusion from mainstream society. The story of how the boy came to Louisiana -- and dropped out of sight -- is a bizarre chapter in the life of a child born to wayward teenage parents who never officially determined custody.
An interview with the boy's mother reveals the sorrow of a woman who regrets letting her son slip out of sight and who tried unsuccessfully for years to locate him.
"I thought about going there many, many times, " she said. "But where? Where would I look? Danny had him so excluded from the world that it would have been impossible."
Ballard said the facts have been blown out of proportion, saying he and the boy had lived in the RV for only a month and that it wasn't a bad living situation.
Teenage parents
Loe was 18 when the baby was born. Ballard was only 15. The couple had another child together two years later. Growing up in Findlay, Ohio, the pair stuck together for a few years but eventually drifted apart. Loe moved to Michigan and later Arizona with the children, and Ballard moved to Louisiana.
In her 20s, Loe worked as an X-rated actress for Hustler videos and did photo shoots while caring for the two children, and later another. Loe said she put enough money aside to move to Arizona, buy a house and attend college.
She said she's now a full-time student, with a bachelor's degree and a year into a master's in secondary education program at Western International University, outside of Phoenix. University officials did not return a phone call and e-mails Friday seeking to confirm her enrollment.
Loe said she had put the adult film and modeling career behind her when she decided to allow her oldest son, then 10, to board a plane and visit his father in New Orleans. Ballard had told Loe he was getting his life together, that he had a GED and steady job.
It was late June 2005, and the plan was for the boy to spend two months with Ballard and return to Arizona for school.
At first, she recalled, there were daily phone calls in which he would say how much he enjoyed seeing his father.
She said she begged Ballard to take the boy out of the state when Hurricane Katrina was coming, but Ballard told her the flights were booked and the highways were jammed. Loe's mother eventually picked them up at a Baton Rouge shelter and took them to her house in Tennessee for a few weeks.
Ballard then asked her whether the boy could return with him to New Orleans to help clean up and gather their things. She said her mother trusted Ballard and said they were doing well, so Loe agreed. Then the communication went quiet, she said.
Calling the authorities
After weeks of failed attempts, she finally got through to Ballard, who told her, "You're never going to get him back. He's doing good down here, " she recalled.
She said she later called a local sheriff's office in Arizona, the New Orleans Police Department, the Louisiana State Police and the state Department of Social Services. At every turn, she said she was told that without formal custody, Ballard had just as much right to keep the boy as she did.
"There's nothing I could do except sit back and wait and wait for the next phone call, " Loe said.
Sporadic phone conversations from then on would come from anonymous numbers. If she asked detailed questions about where the boy was going to school or where they lived, Ballard would hang up.
Outside a Metairie apartment complex last week, Ballard questioned why Loe wouldn't come to New Orleans and pursue the matter further with police, if she really couldn't find him. He said the arrangement was that she would keep the daughter and he would take their son.
Daniel Ballard was booked with cruelty to a juvenile; he says the case has been blown out of proportion.
"It wasn't any short-term thing. It was where he was going to live, " Ballard said.
He said his son had attended school since he came to Louisiana, but he would not say where. The boy might have fallen off a bike or gotten hurt while playing, but he said he knew of no broken bones.
"I know the situation, and I'm not trying to put it out there, " he said. "I love my son. We're a team. My son is not with me, and that is the most painful, lonely thing I have gone through in my life."
Though calls were tightly controlled, Loe said the boy told her they were having a great time. She remembered hearing about fishing trips and dirt bike shows.
Boy helped cut grass
Much of what happened during the four years is still unclear, she said. Loe said she's reluctant to ask too much too soon, allowing the boy to revisit the experience at his own pace.
From what she has gathered so far, Ballard and the boy lived in several apartments across the New Orleans area and had only recently gotten the RV. He told her that his father owned several inflatable "space jump" birthday party toys available for rent. They had also bought some lawn mowing equipment, and the boy said he was helping out.
After St. Bernard Parish Constable Tony Guerra discovered the boy while serving an eviction notice two weeks ago, the boy led Sheriff's Office detectives to Loe. She flew to New Orleans on the night of Sept. 13 to meet with state Department of Social Services officials, and the next morning she was in St. Bernard Parish court at a custody hearing.
She said the state had questioned whether she could take the boy home, arguing that more investigation was needed.
"They were making me sound like I was a bad person, like I did bad for my son, " Loe said. "I can't go down to Louisiana and start at one corner of the state and go looking. The state of Louisiana said there was nothing they could do, and then when (the boy) is in trouble, 'Yeah, I should have done more?' "
Court records of the custody proceedings in St. Bernard were confidential because the boy is a minor. Interim state Judge Robert Klees, of the 34th Judicial District, handled the case but said he could not comment.
A spokesman for the Department of Social Services said the agency cannot comment on specific cases because of confidentiality regulations but that the department works with the courts to make sure children are placed in safe environments.
Loe said the Louisiana Department of Social services is closely monitoring the living situation in Arizona and that child protective authorities in her state will also be checking up regularly.
Sense of confusion
Even after his return to Arizona on Sept. 14, the boy wonders what was wrong with the way he was living and questions why his father had to go to jail, Loe said.
Less than a week into his new life in Arizona, the boy is enjoying plentiful food and lots of time with the PlayStation, Loe said. But the limited communication over the years has led to a sense of resentment and confusion for the boy, she said.
"He asked us questions like, 'Why didn't you ever call us?' " she said. "His dad was telling him that he wasn't ever going to see us again, that we didn't love him."
She's planning group counseling for the family to reintegrate the boy into their lives.
Loe plans to start the boy on an online home schooling program to brush him up on four years of missed classes.
"I want him to be able to get a high school diploma. His future, he thinks, is cutting grass, " she said. "He's going to be 15 in November, but I have the next three years to let him find out that life is great for him."
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Child swallows cocaine after dad "allegedly" tells son that drugs were "candy" (Newark, New Jersey)
Honestlly, the accusations against dad SHAHEED WRIGHT? I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/child_accidentally_swallows_co.html
Child swallows cocaine after Newark dad allegedly tells son that drugs were "candy"
by James Queally/The Star-Ledger
Friday September 18, 2009, 11:47 PM
NEWARK - Four children were rushed from the Clinton Avenue Daycare Center to Beth Israel Hospital in Newark this morning when a teacher discovered the piece of candy in the child's mouth was actually cocaine, police said.
The dangerous miscue occurred because the child's father, Shaheed Wright, 25 of East Orange, told his son the drugs were candy after he hid several bags of cocaine in his son's jacket following an alleged run-in with Newark police, according to city police spokesman Detective Todd McClendon.
Wright was arrested at his South Munn Avenue residence this afternoon and charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a child, possession of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.
The children, identified as one girl and three boys, were all four years of age. A teacher at the daycare center had the children taken to Beth Israel around 9:30 a.m. when they noticed the girl had a foreign object in her mouth, which was later identified as a small plastic bag filled with cocaine, McClendon said.
Wright's son later told police that his father gave him the cocaine and told him the bags were actually "packets of candy," according to McClendon. Friday morning, when classmates asked the young boy for candy, he unknowingly distributed the cocaine to his friends.
Hospital tests indicated that only one of the children actually swallowed the cocaine, according to McClendon. That child was treated and released on Friday.
McClendon said the Division of Youth and Family Services is expected to conduct a separate investigation into the incident.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/child_accidentally_swallows_co.html
Child swallows cocaine after Newark dad allegedly tells son that drugs were "candy"
by James Queally/The Star-Ledger
Friday September 18, 2009, 11:47 PM
NEWARK - Four children were rushed from the Clinton Avenue Daycare Center to Beth Israel Hospital in Newark this morning when a teacher discovered the piece of candy in the child's mouth was actually cocaine, police said.
The dangerous miscue occurred because the child's father, Shaheed Wright, 25 of East Orange, told his son the drugs were candy after he hid several bags of cocaine in his son's jacket following an alleged run-in with Newark police, according to city police spokesman Detective Todd McClendon.
Wright was arrested at his South Munn Avenue residence this afternoon and charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a child, possession of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.
The children, identified as one girl and three boys, were all four years of age. A teacher at the daycare center had the children taken to Beth Israel around 9:30 a.m. when they noticed the girl had a foreign object in her mouth, which was later identified as a small plastic bag filled with cocaine, McClendon said.
Wright's son later told police that his father gave him the cocaine and told him the bags were actually "packets of candy," according to McClendon. Friday morning, when classmates asked the young boy for candy, he unknowingly distributed the cocaine to his friends.
Hospital tests indicated that only one of the children actually swallowed the cocaine, according to McClendon. That child was treated and released on Friday.
McClendon said the Division of Youth and Family Services is expected to conduct a separate investigation into the incident.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Mother regains custody of boy abused by custodial father (St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana)
The mother of the 14-year-old boy abused by custodial dad DANIEL BALLARD regained custody of the boy on Monday. He will need a lot of tender, loving, care--and feeding.
http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl091609tpballard.1874c08dd.html
Boy found underweight, injured released to mother
01:22 PM CDT on Wednesday, September 16, 2009
WWLTV.com
A 14-year-old boy who was taken from his father’s home last week weighing only 60 pounds and badly injured has been released into the custody of his mother, according to a spokesperson with the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office.
The boy, whose name has not been released, was found living with his father in squalid conditions in an RV. He was taken to the hospital with a leg and arm injury that hadn’t been treated. He was also severely underweight.
The mother, who lives in Arizona, said she had little contact with the young man since sending him to live with his father four years ago when she was ill.
Daniel Ballard, the father, was charged in the case, but is currently free on bond, according to Deputy Chief James Pohlmann.
The child’s mother was awarded custody of the young man during a hearing Monday.
http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl091609tpballard.1874c08dd.html
Boy found underweight, injured released to mother
01:22 PM CDT on Wednesday, September 16, 2009
WWLTV.com
A 14-year-old boy who was taken from his father’s home last week weighing only 60 pounds and badly injured has been released into the custody of his mother, according to a spokesperson with the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office.
The boy, whose name has not been released, was found living with his father in squalid conditions in an RV. He was taken to the hospital with a leg and arm injury that hadn’t been treated. He was also severely underweight.
The mother, who lives in Arizona, said she had little contact with the young man since sending him to live with his father four years ago when she was ill.
Daniel Ballard, the father, was charged in the case, but is currently free on bond, according to Deputy Chief James Pohlmann.
The child’s mother was awarded custody of the young man during a hearing Monday.
Dad leaves dog, 10-month-old baby in car while he gambles (Indianapolis, Indiana)
Dad KEVIN J. BERMES left his dog and his 10-month-old son in his car for at least an hour while he was gambling elsewhere. Police estimate that it was over 100 degrees in the car, and say that the baby was beneath a coat and hooded sweatshirt. Dad said he was meeting his girlfriend at the casino. The child was reportedly returned to the MOTHER, so it appears that these parents were separated or divorced. Wonder if Dad had court-ordered visitation or custody rights? Wonder if he'll keep them now? In Indiana especially, all kinds of outright criminal dads keep their "rights," so all bets are off.
http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/local/local_story_258235136.html
Published September 15, 2009 11:48 pm - An Indianapolis man arrested Monday is charged with leaving an infant and a dog locked inside a hot car while he gambled at Hoosier Park.
Indy father accused of leaving child, dog in car at Hoosier Park
By Dave Stafford, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer
ANDERSON — A man arrested Monday is charged with leaving an infant and a dog locked inside a hot car while he gambled at Hoosier Park.
Kevin J. Bermes, 23, Indianapolis, was in the Madison County Jail on Tuesday on charges of neglect of a dependent and animal cruelty.
According to an Anderson police probable cause affidavit, police arrived to find Hoosier Park personnel around a vehicle in the parking lot, where 10-month-old Brook Bates was locked inside beneath a coat and hooded sweatshirt. A full-grown boxer dog also was in the car, panting heavily, the report says.
The temperature when police arrived between 9 and 10 a.m. Monday was 78 degrees, but the temperature inside the car was estimated to be above 100 degrees.
Police called a wrecker service to gain entry to the 2006 Pontiac Gran Prix. They also contacted Child Protective Services.
“I noted the condition of the victim as having red cheeks and she was sweating,” according to the report by arresting officer Scott Calhoun.
“A few minutes after getting the door open and the child out of the car, the father (Bermes) approached,” the affidavit says.
Bermes told police that he was supposed to meet his girlfriend at the casino, where she was to take the child. “At one point he said he went inside to look for his girlfriend and then stated he was playing slots and lost track of time,” according to the report.
Hoosier Park security reviewed surveillance video of the parking lot and determined that the child and dog were left unattended in the car for more than an hour, the affidavit said.
The child was returned to the custody of her mother and the dog was taken to the Anderson Animal Shelter.
Bermes was held on $5,000 bond.
http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/local/local_story_258235136.html
Published September 15, 2009 11:48 pm - An Indianapolis man arrested Monday is charged with leaving an infant and a dog locked inside a hot car while he gambled at Hoosier Park.
Indy father accused of leaving child, dog in car at Hoosier Park
By Dave Stafford, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer
ANDERSON — A man arrested Monday is charged with leaving an infant and a dog locked inside a hot car while he gambled at Hoosier Park.
Kevin J. Bermes, 23, Indianapolis, was in the Madison County Jail on Tuesday on charges of neglect of a dependent and animal cruelty.
According to an Anderson police probable cause affidavit, police arrived to find Hoosier Park personnel around a vehicle in the parking lot, where 10-month-old Brook Bates was locked inside beneath a coat and hooded sweatshirt. A full-grown boxer dog also was in the car, panting heavily, the report says.
The temperature when police arrived between 9 and 10 a.m. Monday was 78 degrees, but the temperature inside the car was estimated to be above 100 degrees.
Police called a wrecker service to gain entry to the 2006 Pontiac Gran Prix. They also contacted Child Protective Services.
“I noted the condition of the victim as having red cheeks and she was sweating,” according to the report by arresting officer Scott Calhoun.
“A few minutes after getting the door open and the child out of the car, the father (Bermes) approached,” the affidavit says.
Bermes told police that he was supposed to meet his girlfriend at the casino, where she was to take the child. “At one point he said he went inside to look for his girlfriend and then stated he was playing slots and lost track of time,” according to the report.
Hoosier Park security reviewed surveillance video of the parking lot and determined that the child and dog were left unattended in the car for more than an hour, the affidavit said.
The child was returned to the custody of her mother and the dog was taken to the Anderson Animal Shelter.
Bermes was held on $5,000 bond.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Samurai sword, meat cleaver used by abuser dads to threaten girlfriend, son (Brooksville, Florida)
You get two Dastardly Dads for the price of one with this article: Live-in boyfriend JOHN VASSILAKOS (i.e. a father surrogate type) assaulted his girlfriend and threatened to kill her with a samurai sword as she was holding her 11-month-old child, while dad SONNY EASTHAM repeatedly slapped his son and threatened him with a meat cleaver.
http://www2.hernandotoday.com/content/2009/sep/14/samurai-sword-meat-cleaver-used-domestic-spats/
Samurai sword, meat cleaver used in domestic spats
By HERNANDO TODAY STAFF
Published: September 14, 2009
BROOKSVILLE - A meat cleaver and a samurai sword figured into two domestic violence arrests over the weekend.
Deputies say the sword was used by John Vassilakos as he argued with his girlfriend Friday at their home on the 9300 block of Mississippi Run.
Vassilakos reportedly held unsheathed the sword, held it to the victim's neck and said, "I'm gonna (sic) make your kids orphans."
Vassilakos then slammed the woman against the wall while she was holding her 11-month-old baby and began to strangle her, according to a report. As the victim made her escape outside and yelled for help, Vassilakos tackled her in the bushes, a report states.
Vassilakos, 32, was arrested on charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, domestic battery by strangulation, domestic battery, harassing a witness and child neglect.
On Sunday, an argument between father and son turned violent when the father, Sonny Eastham, began slapping the victim in the face, a report states. Eastham began quoting the Ten Commandments, telling the victim he should "honor thy father," according to a report.
Eastham then grabbed a meat cleaver and threatened to "hack him up" if the victim did not honor his father, a report states.
Eastham, 45, of the 6100 block of Faber Drive, denied the allegations when he spoke with a deputy; he was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault and domestic battery
http://www2.hernandotoday.com/content/2009/sep/14/samurai-sword-meat-cleaver-used-domestic-spats/
Samurai sword, meat cleaver used in domestic spats
By HERNANDO TODAY STAFF
Published: September 14, 2009
BROOKSVILLE - A meat cleaver and a samurai sword figured into two domestic violence arrests over the weekend.
Deputies say the sword was used by John Vassilakos as he argued with his girlfriend Friday at their home on the 9300 block of Mississippi Run.
Vassilakos reportedly held unsheathed the sword, held it to the victim's neck and said, "I'm gonna (sic) make your kids orphans."
Vassilakos then slammed the woman against the wall while she was holding her 11-month-old baby and began to strangle her, according to a report. As the victim made her escape outside and yelled for help, Vassilakos tackled her in the bushes, a report states.
Vassilakos, 32, was arrested on charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, domestic battery by strangulation, domestic battery, harassing a witness and child neglect.
On Sunday, an argument between father and son turned violent when the father, Sonny Eastham, began slapping the victim in the face, a report states. Eastham began quoting the Ten Commandments, telling the victim he should "honor thy father," according to a report.
Eastham then grabbed a meat cleaver and threatened to "hack him up" if the victim did not honor his father, a report states.
Eastham, 45, of the 6100 block of Faber Drive, denied the allegations when he spoke with a deputy; he was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault and domestic battery
Dad arrested after abandoning 2-year-old daughter on street (New York, New York)
Dad EDWIN RIVERA has been arrested on charges of child abandonment and endangering the welfare of a child after allegedly leaving his child alone on a New York city street. No mention of Mom at all.
http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/105689/toddler-left-on-ues-sidewalk--father-arrested/Default.aspx
09/14/2009 10:06 AM
Toddler Left On UES Sidewalk; Father Arrested
By: NY1 News
The father of a toddler abandoned yesterday on a Manhattan street is under arrest.
Edwin Rivera is facing charges of child abandonment and endangering the welfare of a child, after he allegedly left his two-year-old daughter in a stroller on the sidewalk on First Avenue and 62nd Street yesterday afternoon.
The girl was taken to the hospital to be checked out, but officials say she appeared to be in good condition.
http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/105689/toddler-left-on-ues-sidewalk--father-arrested/Default.aspx
09/14/2009 10:06 AM
Toddler Left On UES Sidewalk; Father Arrested
By: NY1 News
The father of a toddler abandoned yesterday on a Manhattan street is under arrest.
Edwin Rivera is facing charges of child abandonment and endangering the welfare of a child, after he allegedly left his two-year-old daughter in a stroller on the sidewalk on First Avenue and 62nd Street yesterday afternoon.
The girl was taken to the hospital to be checked out, but officials say she appeared to be in good condition.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Girls abducted by father, now recovered, have nightmares, abscessed teeth (Newark, Delaware)
We've posted on dad DAVID T. MATUSIEWICZ before, and how he committed bank fraud before abducting his two daughters and taking them off to Central America. Now we're hearing the details on how the girls were neglected and emotionally abused during the 19 months they were on the road.
Abduction took toll on young girls
As mother-in-law is sentenced, court hears how children suffered on the run
By TERRI SANGINITI • The News Journal • September 11, 2009
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090911/NEWS01/909110346
Seven-year-old Laura Matusiewicz has nightmares because of the 19 months she spent on the road in Central America with her father and grandmother and has taken to hoarding food.
Her younger sister, Leigh, 6, who is autistic, suffered with a mouth full of abscessed teeth due to neglected dental care.
And youngest sister, Karen, 4, is still working on her social skills because of the isolation of life on the run.
These are among details that surfaced Thursday when 64-year-old Lenore Matusiewicz pleaded guilty in Superior Court to three counts of endangering the welfare of a child for her part in the children's nearly two-year abduction.
The Smyrna woman accompanied her optometrist son, David T. Matusiewicz, 42, of Newark, between Aug. 26, 2007 and March 13, 2009 in a complex parental kidnapping plot that has landed both of them in jail and left their three young captives with emotional problems, according to court records.
Lenore Matusiewicz purchased a 33-foot $80,000 recreational vehicle they called home for nearly two years and traveled to Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama with her son and his children.
The girls, who thought they were going on a two-week vacation to Disney World, were told their mother was dead.
The pair was arrested and the girls were returned to their mother, Christine Belford, after an international manhunt tracked them to a small village near Managua, Nicaragua.
The case was featured on the television series "America's Most Wanted," and attracted the attention of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
"They were dragged across the Western Hemisphere," prosecutor Phyllis Scully said in court Thursday. "This is the way children should not live their lives."
Superior Court Judge M. Jane Brady said the consequences of Matusiewicz's actions will have a long-ranging affect on the children.
"At least the oldest one, she will question for a long time why she didn't ask more questions," Brady said. "She trusted you, and you betrayed that trust and the trust of their mother."
She sentenced Lenore Matusiewicz to a year and a half in jail with credit for the 119 days she already has served.
The judge also ordered the defendant to pay for any counseling fees the family may incur.
"I'm sorry what I did affected the family so adversely," Lenore Matusiewicz told the court. "I'd like to put it behind me and go on with my life."
As she faced the court with two attorneys, her husband, Thomas, watched from the back of the courtroom.
In her impact statement to the court, Belford said she and her daughters will always be affected by what their grandmother did.
Belford, whose marriage to David Matusiewicz ended in November 2006, said her former mother-in-law behaved in ways in which someone else would be ashamed, remorseful and apologetic, with the abduction being "the most deranged behavior she has ever displayed in the 10 years I've known her."
Lenore Matusiewicz's Texas attorney, Demetrio Duarte Jr. said his client "wishes she had made a different choice."
"She wanted to make sure the children were safe," he said. "She was the principal caretaker when they were married. She was the principal caretaker when they divorced."
Scully told the court that as "principal caretaker," Matusiewicz knew the children were well-cared for, but she "accepted the representation of her son" that they were at risk.
None of the children had complete immunizations when they were abducted and were put at a much higher risk of contracting diseases, Belford said.
"Not knowing where your children are, if they are healthy, safe and being well-cared for changes a person forever," Belford said.
She told the court that she had to resign from her job due to "mental and emotional trauma inflicted by the idea of not knowing whether your children are alive or dead."
"She committed illegal acts," Belford said of her former mother-in-law. "She chose to participate and assist in the concealment of my daughters' whereabouts for 19 months and continues to attempt to justify her actions with lies and false, horrible accusations of abuse."
Matusiewicz's son and accomplice pleaded guilty in federal court a week ago to parental kidnapping and bank fraud. He remains in custody and faces sentencing in December.
Duarte declined comment following the hearing. Both Belford and Scully said they were "pleased with the outcome."
She sentenced Lenore Matusiewicz to a year and a half in jail with credit for the 119 days she already has served.
The judge also ordered the defendant to pay for any counseling fees the family may incur.
"I'm sorry what I did affected the family so adversely," Lenore Matusiewicz told the court. "I'd like to put it behind me and go on with my life."
As she faced the court with two attorneys, her husband, Thomas, watched from the back of the courtroom.
In her impact statement to the court, Belford said she and her daughters will always be affected by what their grandmother did.
Belford, whose marriage to David Matusiewicz ended in November 2006, said her former mother-in-law behaved in ways in which someone else would be ashamed, remorseful and apologetic, with the abduction being "the most deranged behavior she has ever displayed in the 10 years I've known her."
Lenore Matusiewicz's Texas attorney, Demetrio Duarte Jr. said his client "wishes she had made a different choice."
"She wanted to make sure the children were safe," he said. "She was the principal caretaker when they were married. She was the principal caretaker when they divorced."
Scully told the court that as "principal caretaker," Matusiewicz knew the children were well-cared for, but she "accepted the representation of her son" that they were at risk.
None of the children had complete immunizations when they were abducted and were put at a much higher risk of contracting diseases, Belford said.
"Not knowing where your children are, if they are healthy, safe and being well-cared for changes a person forever," Belford said.
She told the court that she had to resign from her job due to "mental and emotional trauma inflicted by the idea of not knowing whether your children are alive or dead."
"She committed illegal acts," Belford said of her former mother-in-law. "She chose to participate and assist in the concealment of my daughters' whereabouts for 19 months and continues to attempt to justify her actions with lies and false, horrible accusations of abuse."
Matusiewicz's son and accomplice pleaded guilty in federal court a week ago to parental kidnapping and bank fraud. He remains in custody and faces sentencing in December.
Duarte declined comment following the hearing. Both Belford and Scully said they were "pleased with the outcome."
Abduction took toll on young girls
As mother-in-law is sentenced, court hears how children suffered on the run
By TERRI SANGINITI • The News Journal • September 11, 2009
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090911/NEWS01/909110346
Seven-year-old Laura Matusiewicz has nightmares because of the 19 months she spent on the road in Central America with her father and grandmother and has taken to hoarding food.
Her younger sister, Leigh, 6, who is autistic, suffered with a mouth full of abscessed teeth due to neglected dental care.
And youngest sister, Karen, 4, is still working on her social skills because of the isolation of life on the run.
These are among details that surfaced Thursday when 64-year-old Lenore Matusiewicz pleaded guilty in Superior Court to three counts of endangering the welfare of a child for her part in the children's nearly two-year abduction.
The Smyrna woman accompanied her optometrist son, David T. Matusiewicz, 42, of Newark, between Aug. 26, 2007 and March 13, 2009 in a complex parental kidnapping plot that has landed both of them in jail and left their three young captives with emotional problems, according to court records.
Lenore Matusiewicz purchased a 33-foot $80,000 recreational vehicle they called home for nearly two years and traveled to Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama with her son and his children.
The girls, who thought they were going on a two-week vacation to Disney World, were told their mother was dead.
The pair was arrested and the girls were returned to their mother, Christine Belford, after an international manhunt tracked them to a small village near Managua, Nicaragua.
The case was featured on the television series "America's Most Wanted," and attracted the attention of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
"They were dragged across the Western Hemisphere," prosecutor Phyllis Scully said in court Thursday. "This is the way children should not live their lives."
Superior Court Judge M. Jane Brady said the consequences of Matusiewicz's actions will have a long-ranging affect on the children.
"At least the oldest one, she will question for a long time why she didn't ask more questions," Brady said. "She trusted you, and you betrayed that trust and the trust of their mother."
She sentenced Lenore Matusiewicz to a year and a half in jail with credit for the 119 days she already has served.
The judge also ordered the defendant to pay for any counseling fees the family may incur.
"I'm sorry what I did affected the family so adversely," Lenore Matusiewicz told the court. "I'd like to put it behind me and go on with my life."
As she faced the court with two attorneys, her husband, Thomas, watched from the back of the courtroom.
In her impact statement to the court, Belford said she and her daughters will always be affected by what their grandmother did.
Belford, whose marriage to David Matusiewicz ended in November 2006, said her former mother-in-law behaved in ways in which someone else would be ashamed, remorseful and apologetic, with the abduction being "the most deranged behavior she has ever displayed in the 10 years I've known her."
Lenore Matusiewicz's Texas attorney, Demetrio Duarte Jr. said his client "wishes she had made a different choice."
"She wanted to make sure the children were safe," he said. "She was the principal caretaker when they were married. She was the principal caretaker when they divorced."
Scully told the court that as "principal caretaker," Matusiewicz knew the children were well-cared for, but she "accepted the representation of her son" that they were at risk.
None of the children had complete immunizations when they were abducted and were put at a much higher risk of contracting diseases, Belford said.
"Not knowing where your children are, if they are healthy, safe and being well-cared for changes a person forever," Belford said.
She told the court that she had to resign from her job due to "mental and emotional trauma inflicted by the idea of not knowing whether your children are alive or dead."
"She committed illegal acts," Belford said of her former mother-in-law. "She chose to participate and assist in the concealment of my daughters' whereabouts for 19 months and continues to attempt to justify her actions with lies and false, horrible accusations of abuse."
Matusiewicz's son and accomplice pleaded guilty in federal court a week ago to parental kidnapping and bank fraud. He remains in custody and faces sentencing in December.
Duarte declined comment following the hearing. Both Belford and Scully said they were "pleased with the outcome."
She sentenced Lenore Matusiewicz to a year and a half in jail with credit for the 119 days she already has served.
The judge also ordered the defendant to pay for any counseling fees the family may incur.
"I'm sorry what I did affected the family so adversely," Lenore Matusiewicz told the court. "I'd like to put it behind me and go on with my life."
As she faced the court with two attorneys, her husband, Thomas, watched from the back of the courtroom.
In her impact statement to the court, Belford said she and her daughters will always be affected by what their grandmother did.
Belford, whose marriage to David Matusiewicz ended in November 2006, said her former mother-in-law behaved in ways in which someone else would be ashamed, remorseful and apologetic, with the abduction being "the most deranged behavior she has ever displayed in the 10 years I've known her."
Lenore Matusiewicz's Texas attorney, Demetrio Duarte Jr. said his client "wishes she had made a different choice."
"She wanted to make sure the children were safe," he said. "She was the principal caretaker when they were married. She was the principal caretaker when they divorced."
Scully told the court that as "principal caretaker," Matusiewicz knew the children were well-cared for, but she "accepted the representation of her son" that they were at risk.
None of the children had complete immunizations when they were abducted and were put at a much higher risk of contracting diseases, Belford said.
"Not knowing where your children are, if they are healthy, safe and being well-cared for changes a person forever," Belford said.
She told the court that she had to resign from her job due to "mental and emotional trauma inflicted by the idea of not knowing whether your children are alive or dead."
"She committed illegal acts," Belford said of her former mother-in-law. "She chose to participate and assist in the concealment of my daughters' whereabouts for 19 months and continues to attempt to justify her actions with lies and false, horrible accusations of abuse."
Matusiewicz's son and accomplice pleaded guilty in federal court a week ago to parental kidnapping and bank fraud. He remains in custody and faces sentencing in December.
Duarte declined comment following the hearing. Both Belford and Scully said they were "pleased with the outcome."
5-year-old child found walking alone on highway at midnight; dad charged with criminal abuse (Mt. Sterling, Kentucky)
UNNAMED DAD says he was "helping a friend who had run out of gas." That's why his 5-year-old son was found wandering around the middle of a highway shortly before midnight. The child is now "staying with family members," and Dad has been charged with first-degree criminal abuse. No mention of Mom. Single dad?
http://www.msadvocate.com/morestory.aspx?storiesID=802
Child found walking alone at night on U.S. 460
By Brittany Davenport
Advocate staff writer
A 34-year-old local man is facing a criminal abuse charge after his 5-year-old child was reportedly found walking alone on U.S. 460 shortly before midnight Sept. 2, according to Mt. Sterling Police Capt. David Charles.
A local resident noticed a child walking in the middle of the road by the bowling alley, after reportedly swerving to avoid hitting the child.
The citizen brought the child in to the police station where the child remained for more than an hour before police were able to find the responsible party.
After talking with the child and finding out the child’s school district, officers were able to contact the school’s resource officer and cross reference the information to locate the child’s home. Upon arrival, officers found the door to the child’s home open and no one there, Charles said.
The child’s father, Micheal J. Spence of 18 Tipton Trailer Court, claims he left his house and in order to help a friend who had run out of gas.
Spence was arrested and charged with first degree criminal abuse. He is in custody at the Montgomery County Regional Jail on a $15,000 bond.
The child has been staying with family members following the incident, Charles said.
http://www.msadvocate.com/morestory.aspx?storiesID=802
Child found walking alone at night on U.S. 460
By Brittany Davenport
Advocate staff writer
A 34-year-old local man is facing a criminal abuse charge after his 5-year-old child was reportedly found walking alone on U.S. 460 shortly before midnight Sept. 2, according to Mt. Sterling Police Capt. David Charles.
A local resident noticed a child walking in the middle of the road by the bowling alley, after reportedly swerving to avoid hitting the child.
The citizen brought the child in to the police station where the child remained for more than an hour before police were able to find the responsible party.
After talking with the child and finding out the child’s school district, officers were able to contact the school’s resource officer and cross reference the information to locate the child’s home. Upon arrival, officers found the door to the child’s home open and no one there, Charles said.
The child’s father, Micheal J. Spence of 18 Tipton Trailer Court, claims he left his house and in order to help a friend who had run out of gas.
Spence was arrested and charged with first degree criminal abuse. He is in custody at the Montgomery County Regional Jail on a $15,000 bond.
The child has been staying with family members following the incident, Charles said.
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