THE SHAME OF AMERICA'S CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES

Macon woman gets life in son's death

2006-02-10T09:02:00.000-05:00

By ASSOCIATED PRESSPublished on: 02/10/06

MACON — A woman has been sentenced to life in prison in the death of her 3-year-old son.
A jury deliberated for about an hour Thursday before finding Linda Renae Brown, 32, guilty of two counts of felony murder in the death of Garry Brown.

The boy was being treated for head trauma at a hospital when he fell from his hospital bed, suffering a fatal head injury on Aug. 12, 2004.
Despite warnings that her son could die if he fell from the crib, Brown ignored instructions to keep the rails up and repeatedly let the rails down, hospital staff testified.
The defense tried to portray the death as an accident. But prosecutors said Brown delivered the initial blow that injured his brain, sending him to the hospital where she was negligent in his fall.
"Ladies and gentlemen, there was one person responsible for the death of little Garry Brown," Bibb County assistant district attorney Nancy Scott Malcor said in closing arguments. "And as hard as that is to fathom, that person is his mother."
But defense attorney Sara Roberts said her client had mental deficiencies and rarely showed emotion, but cared for her child.
"There's no proof of her doing any willful act at home," Roberts told jurors.

Biological Mom Seeks Role In Brain-Damaged Girl's Case

2006-02-10T01:23:00.000-05:00

This is a travesty of Justice!!!
BROCKTON, Mass. -- Lawyers for the biological mother of an 11-year-old girl still struggling for life months after allegedly being severely beaten by her adoptive parents said Wednesday they will ask a court for more input on the girl's medical care.
Attorneys for Haleigh Poutre's birth mother, Allison Avrett, said they plan to file motions in Hampden Juvenile Court to intervene in the case and get access to Haleigh's medical records.
Avrett said state Department of Social Services officials have repeatedly rebuffed her attempts to join them in deciding the girl's care. When Haleigh's condition recently improved, state officials dropped their plans to remove life support and placed her in a rehabilitation hospital.

A DSS spokesman declined to comment.

In 2001, when Avrett decided she could no longer care for Haleigh, she let the girl's biological aunt, Holli Strickland, adopt her. Prosecutors allege that Strickland and the girl's stepfather, Jason Strickland, beat Haleigh into a coma. About two weeks after their arrest, Holli Strickland was found dead alongside her grandmother in an apparent murder-suicide.
The state's request to remove Haleigh's feeding tube and ventilator sparked a legal battle between DSS and Jason Strickland, who could face a murder charge if Haleigh dies. A juvenile court judge ruled that Strickland did not have a say in his stepdaughter's medical care. The Supreme Judicial Court, the state's highest, agreed.
Murphy said Wednesday that Avrett was the first to notice that Haleigh appeared to be showing improvement. That happened during a Jan. 10 visit when the girl's eyes followed Avrett and she appeared to respond to commands, according to Murphy. Avrett was told by DSS officials that the reactions were just reflexive, Murphy said.
But within days the state agency was reporting improvements.
On Jan. 26, "Haleigh was so much better she was answering yes and no questions about her name and her gender ... she was correctly responding, not with language, but she was correctly responding with yes or no signals," Murphy said. "That's a pretty high level of cognitive functioning."
Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Mom Suspected In Child Beatings Not Yet Charged

2006-01-30T17:11:00.000-05:00

Still no charges have been filed against a Milwaukee mother accused of brutally beating three of her children.
The woman was arrested after police found three of her boys in an abandoned house at the corner of 35th and Brown streets.
The boys said they went to the house to get away from the their mother because she was beating them. Investigators said marks on the children's bodies support their story and believe the abuse has been going on for quite some time.
12 News' Brendan Conway will tell you what experts said people could do to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.

The case has shocked the community and raised a number of questions about how abuse like this can happen without anyone noticing.
The three boys, 9-year-old twins and their 6-year-old brother, were found hiding miles from their home in the boarded -up house. Despite it's crummy condition, the boys said they used it as a refuge from their abusive mother who would hit them with everything from belts and broomsticks, to electrical cords and even her fists.
President of the Milwaukee Women's Center, Carey Tradewell Monreal, told News 12 she wonders how the abuse ever got that far.
Monreal said she sees cases of child abuse daily, but said this one stands out, not just because of what happened, but also how police discovered it.
"Children will cry out for adult attention when they're being abused, but if they're isolated and there are not adults around, they will often have to do what sadly these three children did and run away and make a huge noise in order to get attention," said Monreal.
Monreal told 12 News' Brendan Conway that it's up to everyone to help stop child abuse.
"If we're living in a neighborhood and I'm hearing yelling and screaming and loud noise from the house next door and children running out and children who are not in school, that is an indicator that the children are not safe next door," she said.
Monreal said getting involved is not always comfortable, but it's necessary.
"It is more important for us to help children than to worry that our neighbor or brother in-law or sister will get mad at us," she said.
According to "Prevent Child Abuse Wisconsin," signs of child abuse include children who have unexplained bruises or welts, when a child shrinks at the approach of adults and when a child has not received medical help when necessary
When the mother in this case was arrested, six of her children were living in foster care. The seven still living at home have been moved to protective custody.

BREAKING NEWS: Body of 3-year-old found; adoptive mom charged

2006-01-28T08:43:00.000-05:00

This is why we want to SAVE JACKSON BORTZ!!!

By KRISTINA TORRES , CRAIG SCHNEIDER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 01/28/06

ALMA — The birth mother of a 3-year-old child apparently killed by an adoptive parent said Friday that she had tried and failed to convince state welfare officials to place her son with a relative.
Shamil Rawls reacted with shock Friday after police announced that searchers had found her son's body concealed by straw off a rural county road near this south Georgia community.
Mary Jane King has been charged with murder. Authorities will not go into possible motives for the killing. Ahmad King had been reported missing. His body was recovered Thursday along a country road.

A tearful Rawls, 27, said she had known that she had to give up Ahmad King, but she wanted him to live with her grandmother.
Rawls expressed no misgivings about Mary Jane King, 34, the adoptive mother who confessed Thursday to killing Ahmad.
"I always thought she was a good woman," said Rawls sobbing outside the Bacon County courthouse where authorities were announcing they found her son's body.
"He was a good boy," Rawls said. "He should never have been in her custody. My grandmother was supposed to have him."
Rawls didn't make clear why she lost custody of her son. A friend with her, Pam Sailem, said Rawls had raised him for the first two years of his life before the state Division of Family and Children Services removed him from her care.
Rawls' grandmother began working with DFCS to take custody of the boy, obtaining clothing and furnishings for him, Rawls said.
Rawls said she complained to DFCS when the agency removed Ahmad and placed him with King and her husband, Timothy.
The Kings adopted the child in August, according to DFCS.
Rawls blamed DFCS for her child's death: "It's their fault."
DFCS officials said Friday night that they were unaware of Rawls' comments, but said the Kings had a good record as foster parents.
Mary Jane King confessed to killing Ahmad King on Thursday. She had told authorities on Tuesday that he had been kidnapped from the parking lot of a Wal-Mart in nearby Jesup.
She said the child disappeared after she left him in her car while she was getting a shopping cart.
King made tearful public pleas for the boy's safe return. "Just bring him back or just leave him with somebody," she told Savannah television station WTOC. "Leave him at a store, something. We just want him back."
Authorities said King killed the boy, drove out of town and dumped his body 20 yards off the road.
Rick Currie, district attorney for Waycross District, which includes Bacon County, said King was in police custody.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said King was cooperating with police and has been charged with murder.
Timothy King is not charged and is not considered a suspect, authorities said.
Authorities will not comment on Mary Jane King's motive.
"She has made a confession," said Jeff Evans, special agent in charge of the GBI's regional office in Douglas. "I'm confident that what she's told us is true."
Evans said investigators found other evidence suggesting Ahmad had been murdered after searching King's home early Thursday morning. He declined to elaborate.

DFCS Director Mary Dean Harvey said the Kings have been foster parents for more than three years and have a clean record. They had been foster parents to three children.
"The King family was a model family," Harvey said. "Loving, supportive, kind, nurturing, dependable ... provided real stability for children."
Jason King, 30, who is no relation, said he lived near the Kings about four years ago, and found them to be good people.
"We would drop off vegetables to them, and they would do things for us," he said. "I've never seen them get angry."
He said Mary Jane King baby-sat for others in the neighborhood. She was "a quiet, good person," he said.
Even with King's help, search crews struggled to find the child's body, authorities said.
"This area's very rural, there's a lot of timber and flat land and water," Evans said. "Some people would think many of the areas look identical or look similar."
"We're glad he's not out there anymore," said Evans.
The boy's death has shocked this community.
"We used to say 'Maybe Atlanta, maybe Savannah — but never some place like Alma,' " said resident Carolyn Bembry.

The Associated Press
contributed to this article.

Support Rally for Jackson Bortz/Georgia DFACS Abused Parent Network on Saturday January 28th 2006

2006-01-28T00:30:00.000-05:00

This message is from

Randi St. Denis, Jackson's grandma

Please be there!!!!!

Thank you everyone! - for your tremendous efforts on Jackson's behalf! Your phone calls and emails are definitely having a huge impact on both DFCS and our government. Please keep it up. Again, I cannot say how overwhelmingly impressed and grateful I have been with all your help in our situation. One reporter said to me that he had never seen anything so bad in all his years in Atlanta. Many, many people are watching our efforts. Georgia State officials and many other very influential people are checking in on this website regularly.

We still need your help, though. Anyone who is interested, friend or stranger, is invited to a planning meeting Saturday night, 6:00 PM at our house. So many people have asked us how they can help and we do have loads of needs.

On Saturday, we'll be dividing into teams who will each tackle different tasks. In this way, many hands will make the work much lighter. We are also inviting other families who have been abused by DFCS or who have been accused of pseudoabuse. I think you will be surprised to learn how many other people have been decimated by false accusations.

Our address is: 905 Ferncroft Ct, Roswell 30075. We live near Roswell High School off HWY 92.

Anyone who would like to bring a snack or drink would be much appreciated.

Besides our pressing need of rescuing Jack, we are also aligning with legislators who want to close all loop holes in our laws. Among proposed law changes are: opening the Juvenile Court System, requiring immediate relative placement whenever children are removed, allowing children to have their own private attorney hired by relatives instead of the DFCS system, and closing all loop holes on the largely unchecked system of seizing children.

Also, we understand that Neal Boortz show will again be discussing our case on Friday morning. Please phone or email him if you can. If you're pressed for time, just send him copies of emails you have previously written.

God Bless You All Extra for your efforts on behalf of Jackson and Don and Rachel. I hope to see you Saturday at 6 PM.

Prayer against "The Evils" of the Government

2006-01-28T00:18:00.000-05:00

PSALM 94: 19-21
PSALM 94: 19-21
PSALM 94: 19-21

The red, white and blue.....Only in America, where the government steals your child!

Details of Kemi's Case with Newton Co DFACS is HUMANLY tragic!

2006-01-27T23:58:00.000-05:00

ABOUT THE SITE BLOGGER

Kemi Olunloyo Lane is the Pharmacist and single mother of three boys who was arrested and accused of threatening a DFACS Judge in Newton County 3/23/05. Olunloyo's 3 year old son was removed 12/23/03 as a result of violent behavior of her then 16 year old Autistic son on her. Though the toddler was never harmed, the autistic boy was institutionalized till he was 18 years old. Olunloyo fought to regain custody of her then 3 year old son for 23 months and finally her now 5 year old son was released into the custody of the absentee father of 5 years. Olunloyo had sole custody of her son via a Maryland court order and deciding to relocate to Georgia September 2003, she lost her kids 2 months later, a parents nightmare. She followed the entire DFACS case plan which Judge Baig even OK'D but Baig had no idea that the boy was in a 3rd foster home and of a 3 time convicted felon Linda Ann Atwood of Covington. Her husband kicked and bruised the boy which he reported on audio and videotape on a weekend visit. DFACS promptly cancelled his visitations home citing medications Kemi gave her son for asthma the same weekend, BUT covering his abuse. Even with letters from the boy's pediatrician from Maryland that he wrote for the drug Albuterol and a machine for nebulizing in 2001, DFACS Judge Baig cancelled the visits. As fate will have it, Olunloyo filled a prescription for Baigs child for the same drug and requested a recusal immediately due to conflict of interest (The 11 Alive.Com Story) Not granted one, she made a comment in front of 3 Sheriff deputies responding to another agitating behavior of her now 18 year old autistic son in March of 2005 that DFACS was exploiting her son's prescription records and abuse and Judge Baig was helping them do a good job of it. Two officers asked her what was keeping her son from coming home as the older autistic one was agitated because his brother was not released from the system so she gave them the answers. One of the officers Deputy Wade Freeman then warned her that she could not talk about a Judge "like that" and told her to "take her mentally retarded son back to her foreign country", a statement he even wrote in the police report. Deputy Wade Freeman then threatened to report Olunloyo to the courts for "something."

On 3/23/05 at 4pm, Magarita Shaw DFACS Supervisor lured Olunloyo to their office to visit her son for a bonus visit. You go if you only see your child one hour a week. She arranged the arrest outside their parking lot after telling Olunloyo Sorry, her son was sick and could not make it. Shaw was one of the DFACS workers recently jailed by Newton Co Juvenile Judge Billy Waters for Contempt recently in Nov 2005. Olunloyo's toddler now 5 was released after 23 months from DFACS into the custody of his absent dad of 5 years in October 2005 under a temporary custody order and a civil case was filed by the now wealthy father against Olunloyo. He cited she could not keep his child out of the system for so long and was granted Joint legal custody on Dec 9th 2005 plus Physical custody by Judge Stanley Rhymer who also cited reasons of her "pending criminal case", Rhymer is an associate of Judge Baig in the same Alcovy Judicial Circuit. Olunloyo's son now lives in Maryland and she only received one weekend a month SUPERVISED VISITS max 6hrs daily and she must go to Maryland with somebody supervising it because her autistic child still exists of course. She has been forced to choose between her children. Olunloyo has not seen or talked to her son since Dec 9th 2005. The boy has also not seen his other 2 brothers. Olunloyo's middle son who is 14 lives with his father out of state continued to watch all this unfold and was very UPSET how his family was treated. He said....they want us to be away from Eni (the disabled) but even though he's handicap, "he's still our brother!" Olunloyo has spent over $26,000 in legal fees, dealt with extreme stress and DFACS told her that Linda Atwood's felony 3 times in New York was 20 years ago and they could not use it against her!

By the way, Deputy Wade Freeman of the Newton Sherriff Department is the same cop that was called to take help take Olunloyo's 3 year old son out of her custody at 2am December 23rd 2003 when she absolutely refused to hand over her toddler to DFACS late that night! The worker said Olunloyo was not cooperating with her and called Judge Billy Waters on her cell phone to get a verbal order to remove Olunloyo's children. This is the same Judge Billy Waters that JAILED 4 DFACS workers on November 5th 2005 and DFACS Directors said to the Associated Press that Judge Waters does not have the authority to remove and place a child and only DFACS could do that, so can someone tell us why Kemi's sons were removed...at least the toddler who did not need treatment.

The Doctors and Experts All Testified!

Conyers Psychologist and Kemi's Therapist Dr. Matthew Timberlake even said that DFACS had a great deal of inconsistencies that Kemi was managing her anger issues very well (DFACS workers argued she got angry at them often) and there was no reason for the agency to continue keeping the children. Olunloyo's 3 year old son was involved in a car crash with Foster parent #1 and it was hidden from her which she later found. That worker Susan Winter was later fired. Winter was also responsible for not reporting Olunloyo's autistic son's abuse at Laurel Heights Hospital in Atlanta where he was dragged and restrained improperly by Carolyn Taylor, a Supervisor and other workers. Laurel Heights later apologized! These incidents got her very visibly mad at Winter who later filed to cancel unsupervised visitations with both children. Olunloyo's visits have been cancelled 3 times for different inconsistencies by DFACS. Dr Hammond of Laurel Heights Hospital where Olunloyo's autistic son lived from 16-18years old testified in court January 18th 2005 on his tremendous improvement and recommended that the family transition home in a 2 week period which would have been February 2nd 2005. That never happened! That is why we put a site like this up!!!!! Olunloyo still awaits trial in Covington, GA on those so called Judge threat charges.
This is just a sample of what you don't hear going on in Georgia!!!Remember what Mary Dean Harvey told Kemi, even after the Nigerian Embassy in Roswell got involved since Kemi's from Nigeria... "You need to stop yelling at our workers and work with them if you want your child back." This mole-faced tick took a bite out of our family mentally. Kemi lost several milestones with 5 year old KJ! First day in Georgia Pre-K, first time on school bus, toilet training and more! DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO 3 YEAR OLD JACKSON BORTZ!!! We will never be the SAME!

2006-01-27T19:43:00.000-05:00

Mary Dean Harvey!
Georgia DFACS Director

The Human Tick biting Georgia's innocent families. Governor Purdue says that he cannot interfere with her job.

Read....Psalm 37: 37-38

VOTE....CATHY COX FOR GOVERNOR!!

Charmaine J Smith and Timothy Blair Jenkins Story--A real Nightmare!

2006-01-27T13:32:00.000-05:00

January 28, 2004 was the beginning of a nightmare. My first-born son was ripped away from his father and I due to false reports made by Scottish Rite Children’s Healthcare Of Atlanta. Prior to this, my son Timothy Isiah-Blair Jenkins was born to his dad and I by emergency C-section at Northside Hospital. He was delivered early because I had severe Pre-eclamisia Toxemia. After he was born the doctors had certain dates he was due in for his check-ups. They always sent Timothy home with a good report of health. I was a fulltime breastfeeding mom, and Timothy Isiah would vomit his food after each feeding. His pediatrician (Gabriella Drake Forte of Tender Care Pediatrics) said this was normal. On December 28 the doctors in the emergency room thought my son had spinal meningitis because of unexplained high fevers, lethargy and vomiting. The doctors already recognized something was wrong with the soft spot of my son’s head but a CT SCAN was not performed. (Possibly because, Timothy was only a Medicaid patient, allowing for less coverage for the needed operation or possibly to protect the pediatrician, who had not diagnosed the condition or possibly just plain common negligence.) Instead of checking further the doctors in the ER performed a spinal tap to see if he had spinal meningitis. The test came back negative. No further tests were done to see if something was wrong, they told me to follow up with his pediatrician. In any case, the child's pediatrician, Dr. Gabriella Drake-Forte, appears to have been negligent in not measuring the baby's head regularly, especially in the third month following the emergency care of Timothy. I took him to Dr. Forte and informed her of the ER visits Dr. Forte said she was not going to measure his head until his 4 month checkup (Timothy Isiah was 3 months old). Dr. Forte said since he was not holding his head up yet Timothy Isiah was needing to go to Physical Therapy for his developmental delay The pediatrician started sending my son and I to a Physical Therapist to help in holding up his head. January 16, 2004 was the first visit to the Physical Therapist. The second was January 21, 2004. Jenny Martin the physical therapist undressed him down to his diaper. Jenny, Timothy Isiah and I would work on his motor skills and practice lifting up his head. The therapist then put him on his tummy to practice him lifting his head. On January 23, 2004 he had his 4 month checkup and Dr. Forte said he was doing really well after voicing my concern in regards to his head Dr. Forte had her nurse measure his head. Dr. Forte stated there was something wrong with his head, because there was a significant increase in size from the last well baby checkup. [fn6] She then gave me a referral to a Pediatric Neurosurgeon. On January 26, 2004 upon meeting the Neurosurgeon Dr. Kevin Stevenson, Timothy (my son's father) and I were told that he (Dr. Stevenson) could see Timothy Isiah had Hydrocephalus. He explained what it was and gave us a book on it along with the names of some support groups. He said it was nothing, I could have prevented because a lot of children are born with the disease. I began to cry because my son had already gone through so much. I know, he was tired of going to the hospital, and having staff poke him with needles. I also asked Dr. Stevenson, the Pediatric Neurosurgeon, why the hospital had not done a CT-scan when Timothy Isiah was hospitalized on December 28, 2003. He informed me he did not work for the hospital, and he apologized the condition had not been detected earlier but he wanted to fix it right away. After the CT-scan was done Dr. Stevenson stated I want to show you something he then proceeded to show us the CT-scan results and informed us there was no Hydrocephalus. Timothy Isiah had "old blood mixed with fluid on his brain." Dr. Stevenson said it looked like it has been there for a while and surgery was needed right away to prevent brain damage. Timothy Isiah was admitted to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta immediately. [fn7] As soon as Timothy Isiah, his father and I were in the room a Social Worker entered the room and started asking questions. I answered all questions to the best of my ability. I was then informed by her they were going to do a skeletal survey of Timothy Isiah, and a optimology report to check for retinal hemorrhaging. These tests were done the next day. The optimology report showed there was no bleeding behind the eyes. I waited in the hallway and in the room waiting and asking to speak to doctor's no one ever came and talked to me the entire day. Finally I called a patient representative (Nora) and explained to her how I felt my rights as a parent were being violated (according to HIPPA). Nora promised a doctor would come in and talk to me. No doctor ever came. At 4:00 PM a man in a leather jacket with no identification showing came into the hospital room with a notepad. He introduced himself as Gary Davis, Special Investigations with Fulton County DFACS. He began to interrogate me as to where I live, my social security number, Timothy Isiah's father and all things in regards to our lives. He then asked "what do you know about multiple fractures to your son's body!" [fn9] I then asked him who, my son because, I was in shock because my son had been seen by various physicians during every month of his life and they all assured me up until the present time that he was fine. Mr. Davis finished his questions and left the room. I asked the nurses why a doctor had not come and talked to me about my son. She informed me they did not have the results back yet. [fn8/9] The entire day went by and no doctor came and talked to me. On January 28, 2004 he was taken to have surgery to have a shunt put in his head. Timothy Isiah's father and I were approached in an elevator on the way to the cafeteria by a social worker named Monica who said, we have to talk to you both right now. We agreed. A lady with no visible identification in a coat came in and had a CD in her hand. She did not identify herself. She walked us over to a computer and put the CD in. She pointed with the mouse and said, "these are the fractures that your son has. When we began to ask her for a further explanation, she immediately removed the CD. We then went to the administration room of the hospital. Mr. Davis, Monica (the social worker), and a security guard were present, also with the lady, who showed us the x-rays. Mr. Davis addressed the lady with the x-rays as Dr. Degrandi and asked "could these injuries have happened from a fall?" Dr. Degrandi stated "no." (Dr. Degrandi is a Medical Director of Advocates for children for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta). Dr. Degrandi stated (he was slammed to have sustained these types of injuries). My son has beautiful skin with no bruises. He has shown no signs of pain. Various doctors have seen him and not one of them has mentioned or suspected any of this type of trauma. Mr. Davis again asked, "How did your son get these fractures?" [Fn9] I told him I did not understand, because he has no bruises, I do not have an x-ray machine to show me these things. All a mother can go by is the Pediatrician's report and the ER doctors report. At the Deprivation hearing none of the accusers, that alleged my son was physically abused, even showed up. [It is understandable that they would not like to say anything under oath under the circumstances of this case.] I contacted Dr. Harold E. Buttram, M.D., F.A.A.E.M. Diplomat, American Board of Environmental Medicine http//www.woodmed.com. in Quakertown PA and familiarized him with Timothy Isiah's condition. Judge Sanford Jones ordered that Timothy Isiah be evaluated by the doctor (Dr. Harold E. Buttram) that wrote the letter to the court about his condition. We raised money for Dr. Buttram's airfare. He had planned to be in Atlanta February 21, 2004 to examine and evaluate Timothy Isiah's condition. It was blocked by DFACS. They did not let the doctor get Timothy Isiah privately x ray him.[fn11] In the beginning the hospital would not give me any of my sons medical records. [fn12] Only by subpoena did the hospital release the medical records to me. Finally the hospital decided to release them to me for a high price. They also would not give me the x-rays on the CD. I had to call the manager Carl Saylors of Radiology to get the film. I have been charged over $600.00 for all of the records. When I got the medical records I read every single page. Dr. Kevin Stevenson the same Pediatric Neurosurgeon that said my son did not have Hydrocephalus, wrote on the records at the top of each one of them it said DIAGNOSIS: HYDROCEPHALUS. We were arrested on April 19th 2004 and thrown in jail with a bond of 100,000.00 a piece. A family in Smryna Ga released me; strangers used their property to bail me out. 3 months later another stranger created an awareness site and she also bailed Timothy out of Fulton County. For 2 years we have been fighting for our child, our freedom. ON JANUARY 6, 2006 AS REQUESTED BY THE STATE MY SON WAS X RAYED BY ANOTHER CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL IN ANOTHER STATE AND THE DOCTORS THERE REPORTED THEY FOUND NOTHING. HIS BONES WERE NEVER FRACTURED. WE FINALLY HAVE IT IN WRITING.For 2 years we have not had our son Timothy Isiah. He stayed in the foster care system for 18 months, he was just sent home to my grandmother. We were robbed of our son’s infancy due to the negligence of the hospitals radiology department and my son’s pediatrician.
The whole facts to the case can be found at www.spcpi.homestead.com//files/timothy.htm

Remember Judge Nina Hixon, the Georgia family Judge who neglected her own 2-year-old leaving her home alone?

2006-01-26T10:25:00.000-05:00

Forget Michael Jackson! My kid may be safer with him than DFACS.....

Remember Judge Nina Hixon of Fulton County Juvenile Court who left her DFACS adopted daughter home alone to go retrieve her "forgotten" luggage at Hartsfield Jackson airport when Delta Airline called her. Judge Hixon then tucked the kid in bed, and snuck out quietly to the airport. Meanwhile a limo driver was dropping off some prom kids and he sees a baby/maybe small animal walking the road? Omigosh! It was a baby! He calls 911, DFACS and police arrived and Judge Hixon is returning seeing all the flashing lights and owns up but her kid is returned STRAIGHT to her! DFACS, remember Mary Harvey's office said they will investigate? Hixon didn't lose any form of custody!!!It took protesters of the same color (black) and I'm BLACK!...to demand her step down! After a ton of pressure, she did and became a private attorney.

Judge Hixon's job included

Protecting our children from abuse and neglect
taking custody from parents and decides who gets joint, sole, foster placement.
making life changing decisions about families in Fulton County
SHE NEGLECTED HER OWN CHILD! But then, was it really hers? Adopted from foster Care.

Today, Hixon is the City Attorney for the City of Eastpoint, Georgia. No longer a Judge in Fulton County. Once again, Fulton County DFACS has clearly failed the Bortz family!

Read Kemi Lane's Story as in MY STORY! DFACS is flawed

2006-01-26T08:41:00.000-05:00

We had just moved here in 9/03 and KJ was taken 12/03-12/05!!! FOR WHAT??? Not abused or neglected!

Remember 3/27/05 and the CBS-46 Story everyone? The same thing happened to (ME)Kemi Lane's then 3-year old son seized by DFACS...only difference was that he had an autistic brother and they did not want him around his OWN mentally disabled brother then "Magarita Shaw" the bonehead Newton County DFACS supervisor and her protoge Caseworker Denise "1 blind mouse"Lewis now with Henry Co DFACS (Beware Henry Co residents!) somehow "accidentally" placed my baby KJ in the Covington home of a 3-time convicted felon from New York aka foster mom Linda Ann Atwood where her husband kicked and bruised my son and everything was cleverly concealed from the Judge. It cost me $19,800 FOR JUST ONE LAWYER AND THERE WERE 3 just to get my child out of the system. One of the lawyers told me " DFACS does not like you, you're too educated, outspoken and watching them! They don't like your kind! You're not their kind of clientele...drug habits, abusers etc." Along with rogue DFACS Lawyers Daniel Thomas of Strickland and Strickland in Covington and William Bill Elliott. Eventually their stupidity one day got "Supercaseworker" Magarita Shaw locked up by the DFACS Judge in Newton County for trying to be smarter than the Juvenile Judge! You can read more in my upcoming book..."Set Up By The System." I am naming all names!

Georgia DFACS Investigating Baby's Death

2006-01-26T08:32:00.000-05:00

Reported By: Valerie Hoff
Web Editor: Michael King
WXIA-TV, 11 Alive (Atlanta NBC affiliate)
Last Modified: 1/26/2006 12:01:31 AM

A Roswell family is mourning the loss of two children. They say one died from injuries sustained in a December 27 fall, the other is now in the custody of the Department of Family and Children’s Services (DFACS), pending an investigation into the death.Rachel Bortz was the mother of five-month-old Dylan, who died January 3, a week after what she and her mother say they thought was a minor fall.“I was in the kitchen. I accidentally dropped him in his vibrating chair. He landed on his head,” Bortz said.Bortz’s mother, Randi St. Denis said they kept an eye on little Dylan after the fall.“We picked him up, put ice on him. Watched him. He quieted easily,” St. Denis said.Dylan stopped breathing in his crib five days later.Doctors who examined him said his skull was fractured, and it didn't appear to be an accident. DFACS caseworkers placed Bortz’s other son, three-year-old Jackson, with her in-laws while they investigated the case.That arrangement only lasted four days.“They came to the door with two policemen,” said Emily Bortz, Dylan and Jackson’s grandmother. “It was traumatic. The sense of unfairness was so deep.”Emily says DFACS caseworkers objected to Jackson’s parents spending the night, though she says the rules were never clearly explained.DFACS officials say under the law, they can say very little about the specifics of the case.“We have a legal obligation to make a decision for the safety of the child at all times,” said DFACS director Mary Dean Harvey. “We do the assessment. We make the judgment, and we act.”The family has hired a lawyer to regain custody of Jackson.The investigation will not end until the medical examiner finishes an autopsy. The next court hearing is not until April.

Final Days of Girl's Life Reveal Horrors

2006-01-22T06:50:00.000-05:00

By ADAM GOLDMAN, Associated Press Writer Sat Jan 21, 10:52 PM ET

NEW YORK - In the eyes of her stepfather, 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown was an out-of-control troublemaker. She stole money from her parents and broke her siblings' toys, she stole milk from a younger sibling and broke their computer printer, he said.

And when he found that she had gone into the refrigerator and taken a cup of yogurt she wasn't supposed to have, he flew into a rage.
Police say Cesar Rodriguez beat the little girl to death, then tossed her on the floor of what was known in the family's apartment as the "dirty room," a rodent-infested room where she had been tied up and left with only a litter box as a toilet.
During a jail interview with newspaper reporters, Rodriguez did not admit fatally beating his stepdaughter but said: "I have a lot of guilt."
"I'm sorry about all that happened. I have a problem with my emotions. It builds up and I hold it all in. I emotionally just burst," he said.
Nixzmary's killing reverberated throughout the city. Hundreds of strangers showed up at her funeral, and the case has been a daily fixture in the tabloids newspapers. It also has forced a major shake-up at the city's child protection agency.
"It touched everyone," said Caridad Ramos, 44, Nixzmary's great aunt.
Rodriguez, 27, and Nixzmary's mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, 27, are charged with multiple felony counts, including second-degree murder. Rodriguez also is accused of molesting Nixzmary and abusing her five siblings.
Both have pleaded not guilty.
The case has shocked the most seasoned investigators and child advocates.
"The circumstances of the abuse this girl suffered were horrifying and among the most tragic that I've ever come across," said Erik Pitchal, director of the Center for Family and Child Advocacy at the Fordham School of Law. "The manner in which she spent her last days is heart wrenching."
There had been warning signs.
Last May, a guidance counselor at Nixzmary's school reported the child had missed 47 days of school. The city's Administration for Children's Services responded immediately but closed the case weeks later.
The agency failed to find "educational neglect when it was clear the girl had not been attending school," said ACS Commissioner John Mattingly.
In early December, ACS received another complaint about Nixzmary. She, her siblings and her stepfather were interviewed but Mattingly said caseworkers were unable to gain access to Nixzmary's home. The case stalled.
Santiago's relatives said they didn't know what was taking place. They lost contact after Nixzmary moved from Puerto Rico to New York several years ago.
Ramos, Santiago's aunt, said she hadn't seen Nixzmary in four years.
"If the family had been aware this never would have happened," Ramos said. "Never. Never. Never."
An indictment alleges that, beginning on New Year's Day, Rodriguez used anything he could to subdue the little girl he described as "a handful," including a belt, a piece of wood, a bungee cord.
Authorities said he bought yogurt for his children but refused to give Nixzmary any.
On the night of Jan. 10, Nixzmary's mother discovered one of the yogurt cups was missing, and she went to Rodriguez. The frightened girl denied taking it, but one of the other children tattled, authorities say.
Later, Rodriguez discovered his computer printer was broken.
He stripped Nixzmary of her clothes and beat her in front of Santiago, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said.
He dragged her into the bathroom and repeatedly dunked her head under the cold water, and loud banging noises and screams of "Mommy" were heard throughout the apartment, authorities say. Rodriguez carried Nixzmary's limp body into the dirty room and tossed her to the floor, Hynes said.
Along with Nixzmary's slaying, the ACS's record has been highlighted by the bumbling of two recent cases in which another 7-year-old girl was murdered and a baby drowned.
Since her death, six ACS employees have been suspended or reassigned. In just the first week, the agency received 2,170 reports of child abuse and neglect, a 71 percent increase from the same period a year ago.
Before Nixzmary's little white coffin was laid to rest, the Rev. Robert O'Neil said her nightmare was finally over.
"Nixzmary is now surrounded by love, beyond the touch of evil," he said.

NYC Mourns for Young Girl Beaten to Death

2006-01-18T19:08:00.000-05:00

By VERENA DOBNIK, Associated Press Writer
You see why these bastards are no good. These agencies should be closed down! Period!

NEW YORK - Hours after family, friends and strangers said a tearful goodbye to a 7-year-old girl allegedly beaten to death by her stepfather, city officials announced a shake up Wednesday at the agency that missed warning signs.
A half-dozen employees at the Administration for Children's Services were suspended or disciplined for inadequate responses to reports of problems with Nixzmary Brown, said agency chief John Mattingly.
Nixzmary's stepfather, Cesar Rodriguez, allegedly beat the Brooklyn girl on Jan. 10 over a missing container of yogurt.
According to Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes, Rodriguez banished the girl to a rodent-infested room with a litter box filled with feces, a wooden chair tied to a radiator and dirty mattresses, then later beat her and dunked her head into a bathtub. Nixzmary was dead the next morning.
Rodriguez and the girl's mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, were indicted Tuesday on charges of second-degree murder, child endangerment and assault. The mother allegedly ignored her daughter's cries for help.
The agency launched a review of thousands of other cases after Nixzmary's death.
In Nixzmary's case, there had been signs of trouble, but children's services officials said the family was uncooperative. School employees last year reported the girl had been absent for weeks, but caseworkers found no conclusive evidence of abuse, authorities said. Neighbors also said they had noticed unexplained injuries.
"The staff made poor investigative decisions, and gave inadequate attention to clear warning signs," Mattingly said.
Earlier Wednesday, the sounds of weeping filled St. Mary Church as Nixmary's body lay inside a coffin before an altar still decorated with Christmas poinsettias.
"We have a reminder by the death of this child that the violence continues," said the Rev. Robert O'Neil, the church pastor. "She is a witness for us."
Lucy Rivera, 60, had never met Nixzmary or her family but felt obliged to attend the service in her Manhattan neighborhood. Rivera blamed the little girl's mother for failing to protect the child.
"The first person who should have defended her was the mother," she said. "She was the first person who failed her."

WPD officers arrest man for child abuse

2006-01-04T15:36:00.000-05:00

Detectives from the Woodland Police Department arrested Jesus Ruiz Garcia with probable cause of felony child abuse.
The arrest was made after Garcia and his girlfriend took their seven-week-old child into Woodland Memorial Hospital's emergency room on Friday at 12:30 a.m. with difficulty breathing.
Around 4:30 a.m. the child was transferred to the UC Davis Medical Center where the infant was examined and found to be suffering from severe brain damage, suspected to be a result of a recent traumatic injury.
Sgt. Dan Letamendi said the child was on life support late Friday night and was not expected to survive.
Garcia, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, is considered to be a flight risk and is being held without bail at the Monroe Detention Center, Letamendi added.

Mother charged with abuse in death of Deerfield Beach boy, 3

2006-01-04T15:33:00.000-05:00

DEERFIELD BEACH -- A 3-year-old Deerfield Beach boy died of burns Sunday that police said were inflicted intentionally as punishment by his mother on Christmas Day.The boy's mother, Valerie Kennedy, 30 (Left) of Coral Springs, is charged with child abuse murder and his grandmother, Annie Williams, 51 (far left) of Deerfield Beach, has been charged with not seeking medical care for him. Both have been jailed. The child, Jaquez Mason, would have been 4 in February.

Here is what Broward Sheriff's Office said happened:BSO deputies were dispatched to a medical call in the 300 block of SW 11th Street in Deerfield Beach at 9:44 a.m. Sunday. Deputies arrived to find 3-year-old Jaquez Mason unresponsive. He had third degree burns over 50 percent of his body. Paramedics rushed Jaquez to Broward General Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead a half hour later.The investigation showed that Jaquez had been in the court-ordered custody of his grandmother, Annie Williams, due to prior child abuse committed by his mother, Valerie Kennedy, 30. Despite the custody order, Williams allowed Jaquez to spend Christmas Day with his mother and let Kennedy take the boy to her home in Coral Springs.Police say that during the holiday, Kennedy held her son in a tub of scalding water as a form of punishment. That evening, Kennedy told Williams that Jaquez got burned and turned him over to her. Williams took her grandson back to her Deerfield Beach home. For a week, she applied powder and ointment to his severe burns but did not seek professional medical care.Both women gave statements to BSO detectives. Both were booked at BSO's main jail. Williams is charged with manslaughter and is being held on $10,000 bond. Kennedy is being held without bond, charged with felony murder by child abuse.A man who answered the phone at the residence late Sunday refused to talk about the child or what happened."I can't answer that. You're going to have to talk to her," the man said, referring to his wife. He said his wife, Annie, was not there and then hung up when asked what happened to the boy.

Did this dad smash baby's head angrily?

2006-01-04T15:29:00.000-05:00

Rockford,(Illinois), 1/1/06

What really happened Sunday morning has yet to be determined. But what is known is that this is a very critical time for one little baby boy. A medical emergency call came in Sunday morning that a baby had suffered severe head trauma. When crews arrived at 7805 Shore Drive in Machesney Park the baby's father, 28-year-old Matthew McNabb was administering CPR. Once everyone arrived at the Rockford Memorial Hospital Winnebago County Sheriff's Department started questioning medical staff.
Deputy Chief Kurt Ditzler says, "They're diagnosis didn't fit with the fathers story so we began investigating. Based on that we established probable cause to make the change against the father."
McNabb has been charged with one count of aggravated battery to a child. He's currently in the Winnebago County Jail on a $100,000 bond. But next-door neighbors are shocked and don't believe the allegations. Instead they say McNabb's a great father. The type of dad who would never do anything to hurt his children. But Ditzler says sometimes children don't have the ability to make decisions adults do. Ditzler states, “A lot of time adults get themselves into situations that are based on poor decisions. But at least they made the decision. When your dealing with children especially an infant they had no choice in the matter they were just there."
Ditzler went on to say that DCFS is now investigating

Reno County Child Abuse Trial Begins

2006-01-04T15:28:00.000-05:00

Jan.3-It's been called one of the worst child abuse cases in Reno County's history.

And the trial is underway for the parents accused in the case.
Prosecutors say Rodney and Lori Wilson kept two children virtual prisoners in their own home, sometimes keeping the boy and girl in a closet sized room in the basement for hours.
In opening statements the defense attorney for Rodney Wilson said it would be shown that Lori Wilson, the victims' step-mother was the one who abused them...not their father.
The two children are expected to testify.

Trauma, Drowning Cause Most Child Abuse Deaths

2006-01-04T15:27:00.000-05:00

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Trauma and drowning are the two principal causes of death of children who were victims of abuse and neglect in 2004.
Each year, the Florida Child Abuse Death Review Team releases data about children. The review takes about a year.
The yearly data showed some were the victims of clear crimes of brutality. One was a 3-month-old hit repeatedly in the stomach by her father until she was dead. A 10-month old girl was killed after being shaken furiously by her mother.
Others were the victims of their parents' carelessness: two children left alone in a house played with a lighter and died in the ensuing fire. Two kids were shot by siblings in cases where guns were left unlocked.

In all, 111 kids died of child abuse or neglect in 2004, the latest year for statistics.

State has OK'd some with serious criminal pasts to baby-sit for welfare program.

2005-12-31T23:14:00.000-05:00

By Clea Benson -- Bee Capitol BureauPublished 2:15 am PST Saturday, December 31, 2005

When he was 15, Michael Snyder bludgeoned his grandmother over the head with a bottle and stabbed her to death with a kitchen knife. Then he left her in the backyard of the Los Angeles-area home they shared, covering her body with towels and a blanket that soon soaked through with blood and rain.
When an uncle arrived for a visit more than a day later, Snyder led him to where 71-year-old Sylvia Alvarez lay on a patch of concrete, according to an investigator's report from that day in February 1989. The uncle called police. A juvenile court judge found that Snyder had committed second-degree murder and sent him away to a California Youth Authority lockup, Los Angeles juvenile court documents show.

A decade later, after Snyder was freed, state workers issued him a criminal-background clearance so he could get a job as a state-paid baby sitter for a welfare recipient who needed someone to watch her children while she worked.
The Snyder case isn't the only one in which people with serious criminal histories have been cleared to care for welfare recipients' children, The Bee has found. A review of 37 legal cases from 2005 in which the state sought to deny or revoke background clearances found that state workers sometimes missed serious criminal records.
The state issued a clearance to a woman whose day-care license previously had been revoked after she allegedly committed child abuse and was convicted of driving under the influence. The state also cleared a woman convicted of cocaine trafficking in Nevada.
The cases involved unlicensed caregivers - people paid to watch children from only one family in their homes. Most participants in the state's welfare-to-work program, known as CalWORKs, hire unlicensed babysitters such as friends or relatives.

Because public funds pay for the CalWORKs child care services, the Department of Social Services requires a background check. People who obtain background clearances are then listed in TrustLine, a registry of unlicensed child care workers that is billed as a way potential employers and parents can rest assured that their caregivers haven't committed crimes.
The state uses the same background-check system for workers at licensed care centers and foster homes, who must be cleared before they can work.
But the background checks for CalWORKs baby sitters have been particularly controversial because the caregivers are paid with public funds and because it is the only program in which caregivers are allowed to work before their background checks are complete. The system was designed that way to make it as easy as possible for welfare recipients to find child care so they can start working quickly.

The Bee's review found that the state's background-check process could be so slow that it sometimes took years to bar people who had committed serious crimes from watching the children of CalWORKs recipients. In the meantime, Californians convicted on assault, domestic-violence and weapons charges, among other offenses, were allowed to earn state funds.
It took two years for the state to cut off Damond Bryant, a Los Angeles gang member who had served prison time for a shooting. It took state workers more than three years to bar Danny Woods, a Mojave man convicted of fraud and carrying a concealed weapon.
Advocates for children and working parents say they are concerned.
"People falling through the cracks says to me that reviews internally have to be improved," said Patty Siegel, director of the Child Care Resource & Referral Network, a nonprofit organization that takes the TrustLine information provided by the state and makes it available to parents seeking child care. "Everybody depends on the criminal-record review process being timely and being accurate. It's a resources issue, and I think it's a training issue."
Jo Frederick, director of the Community Care Licensing Division, the arm of the Department of Social Services responsible for the background checks, blamed the mistaken clearances and the delays on law enforcement agencies' tardiness in forwarding information to the division during a time of heavy workload. New technology and safeguards have reduced the risk of such problems occurring now, she said.
"What I would call the structure of licensing, in terms of bringing efficiencies and protections, all of those things are new since those cases," Frederick said.
Nathan Barankin, a spokesman for the state Department of Justice, said delays almost always happen because local police departments and courts fail to enter information into their computer systems quickly, not because of a high workload.
In an attempt to reduce children's exposure to potentially dangerous caregivers, the Department of Social Services next year will enact regulations preventing TrustLine applicants from working until their background checks are complete, said Shirley Washington, a spokeswoman for the department.
That move is likely to spark controversy among advocates for welfare recipients, who favor an approach in which applicants will have to stop working only if the state learns they have rap sheets. That would still cut down the time people with criminal backgrounds are allowed to care for children, because applicants with records currently are allowed time to petition for an exemption, a process that can take months.
Neither approach would solve the problem of people who are mistakenly cleared in the first place.
State officials declined to discuss how Michael Snyder, the man who murdered his grandmother, slipped through the system. Frederick said she could not talk about the case because it involves juvenile records.
Under state law, juvenile records of certain serious crimes, such as murder, are public. The juvenile court in Los Angeles released information on Snyder's homicide case to The Bee.
Snyder worked as recently as last year at a San Bernardino County group home for foster youth run by Trinity Children and Family Services, according to Trinity officials. That position requires a background clearance.
And as of November of this year, Snyder still appeared in the TrustLine registry as a person with a clean record. State officials did say that he has since withdrawn his name, though they declined to elaborate.
Though Frederick said she could not comment on Snyder's case specifically, she said the division usually would assign an investigator to review juvenile records, especially records involving crimes so serious an applicant cannot apply for an exemption.
"Where we think a nonexemptible crime occurred, we would typically deny that or revoke the clearance once we did an investigation into the underlying facts," she said. "That's about all I can say."
Frederick said technological problems and law-enforcement delays were to blame for the other cases in which the state revoked the clearances of people who should not have received them in the first place.
One of those people was Vera Bennett of Vallejo, whose state license to provide foster care and day care was revoked in 1998 because she repeatedly hit children, transported children without seat belts and car seats, left infants unsupervised, and was convicted of driving under the influence, according to the petition the state filed to revoke her clearance. In 1999, the state alleged, Bennett also beat her live-in boyfriend with a karate stick.
But in 2000, the state granted Bennett a clearance through TrustLine to watch the children of a welfare recipient. In March 2005, the state filed a revocation petition.
According to Frederick, the state workers who issued Bennett's TrustLine clearance did not have access to Solano County computer records showing that Bennett's license had been revoked and why. That technological loophole has since been closed, she said.
Janice Kennon of Los Angeles also received a TrustLine clearance - in 2002. She had been convicted of cocaine trafficking in Nevada in 1997. The state revoked her clearance in 2004.
Kennon received a clearance because state rules allow care workers to start work before completion of an FBI background check that would reflect convictions in other states, Frederick said. It can take years for California to obtain information from the FBI's database, and not all states submit criminal background information to the FBI, she said.
The background-check program is supposed to work this way: The state Department of Justice runs the fingerprints of a person who has applied for a CalWORKs babysitting job. The results are supposed to come back to the Department of Social Services within a few days.
People with rap sheets have 45 days to apply for exemptions. If they apply, the state investigates to determine if they have been rehabilitated and their criminal behavior no longer poses a risk to children. Exemptions cannot be granted for violent crimes.
According to the Child Care Resource & Referral Network, it takes an average of four months for the state to cut someone off if they apply for an exemption and don't deserve one. But in some cases, as the Bee review found, it can take much longer.
That's what happened in the case of Damond Bryant.
One afternoon in 1992, a brown Buick LeSabre pulled up alongside a group of teenage boys walking home from school in South Central Los Angeles. According to Los Angeles Superior Court records, Bryant stepped out of the car with a gun.
Bryant, a gang member who went by the street name "No Good," started shooting, court records state. A bullet hit one of the boys. He was rushed to the hospital for abdominal surgery and survived.
Bryant was sentenced to state prison for assault. Upon release, he violated probation by trespassing at a school in the company of gang members, according to a recent legal petition filed by the Department of Social Services. Five days later, in July 2002, he applied for a CalWORKs child care job.
It took until September 2004 to bar him from the program, the state's petition shows.
According to Frederick, the Department of Justice did not notify the licensing division of Bryant's conviction until April 2004. Bryant applied for an exemption in June of that year. The state spent nine weeks investigating before issuing a final denial.
While the state looks into changing its regulations governing unlicensed child care, some state lawmakers are also pursuing legislative solutions.
Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, recently had his staff complete a review of cases involving about 140 TrustLine applicants who were appealing the state's refusal to issue them background clearances. The review found several instances in which the state had paid baby-sitting funds to people previously convicted of abusing children for up to a year and a half.
"This is a big problem," said Ashburn. "We're talking about thousands of kids who are being cared for by people that have done some very serious crimes, and to make matters worse, the taxpayers are picking up the bill."
Ashburn's legislation, Senate Bill 539, would do the same thing as the proposed regulations: require unlicensed child care providers to get a criminal-record clearance before they can earn state funds.
But advocates for welfare recipients favor an alternative approach proposed by Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, who has written a bill that would stop payments the instant the state receives word that someone has a rap sheet. In theory, that should only take a few days to confirm, although it could take much longer in cases where law-enforcement agencies are slow to process records.
About 80 percent of the roughly 20,000 people who apply to TrustLine each year have clean records, and they would be able to continue to watch children without interruption.
Laird's legislation, Assembly Bill 1601, would also require criminal background checks for aunts and uncles who apply to be state-paid caregivers. Currently, close relatives are exempt from the checks.
"There is a very important balance here, because (welfare recipients) are being put back to work, and you can't jeopardize their jobs because we have a process that doesn't work," Laird said.
Laird said his legislation "strikes a balance, but also strongly improves the safety of the process."
Frederick said the licensing division has improved safeguards in recent years. Dozens of new staff members were hired this year, although none was assigned to the criminal-background check bureau.
The department is in line for a budget increase next year, officials say.
Advocates for children say they will be watching to make sure the state is committing enough resources.
"The real problem is that the state is not making sufficient investment to protect the safety of children," said Nancy Strohl, director of the San Francisco-based Child Care Law Center. "There are always going to be problems, but when you're talking about basic health and safety issues for vulnerable young children, those have to be kept to an absolute minimum, if not eliminated."
BACKGROUND CHECKSThe state receives about 20,000 applications a year from unlicensed child-care workers who need a criminal background check.
Here are figures from the first half of this year:
* Number of applicants: 10,668
* Number with no criminal record found: 8,490 (79 percent)
* Number rejected because they had criminal records or a history of child abuse: 1,509 (14 percent)
* Number whose backgrounds are still being checked: 485 (5 percent)
The remaining 2 percent (184) dropped out of the program before their checks were complete.
Source: Child Care Resource & Referral Network
To read previous Bee coverage of problems with the state's monitoring of care facilities, please see * www.sacbee.com/content/news/projects/watchdog/nursing_homes
About the writer:
The Bee's Clea Benson can be reached at (916) 326-5533 or cbenson@sacbee.com.

Convicted sex offender charged in abduction, assault of two girls

2005-12-02T15:55:00.000-05:00

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A convicted sex offender was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting two young girls abducted near their homes while their parents were distracted, authorities said.
Police arrested Michael Terry Ward, 51, at his Woodland Hills home Monday after state investigators matched his DNA profile, which was on file from a Ventura County conviction, with evidence gathered in the Oct. 4 kidnapping and assault of a 7-year-old Winnetka girl. In May 2001, a 6-year-old girl was kidnapped near her Canoga Park home and forced to perform oral copulation, but no DNA was available in the case.
"These crimes were in safe neighborhoods. Adults were nearby," said Deputy District Attorney Ann Marie Wise. "This case is every parent's worst nightmare."
Ward, a painter and drywall installer, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday. He was being held in lieu of $7 million bail.
The 20 counts filed against him include rape, sodomy, forced oral copulation, kidnapping to commit rape and aggravated sexual assault on a child.
In 1983, Ward was sentenced to 16 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 17-year-old Ventura County girl, police said.
The abductions of the 6- and 7-year-old girls occurred about three miles from Ward's house, police said.
Police began an intense search for the 7-year-old moments after she disappeared from a neighbor's yard.
The girl wandered into a nearby bar about six hours later, her hair wet from a shower she said she took with her captor.
Wise said Ward raped and sodomized the girl in his pickup truck, then took her to the home he shares with his 95-year-old grandmother, where he continued the assault her. The girl was then dropped in the bar parking lot.
Two weeks after the attack, police said they believed the same assailant had been responsible for the "virtually identical" assault of the 6-year-old in nearby Canoga Park.

Judge jails four DFCS employees

2005-11-06T14:54:00.000-05:00

What comes around goes around for people like Magarita Shaw! I hope she enjoyed her trip to jail. That's what I went thru!

Associated Press

A Newton County judge briefly jailed the director and three staff members of the county child welfare agency Friday for refusing to remove a boy from his father’s care and put him in a foster home.The caseworkers had disagreed with Juvenile Court Judge Billy Waters’ order and tried to persuade him to leave the boy with his biological father. They were jailed on charges of contempt of court after a hearing Friday.

The jailing of the workers — Janis Tidwell, head of the Newton agency, and Kristine French, Margarita Shaw and Rachel Taylor — is a rare occurrence in the child welfare system. Waters ordered the workers to spend 24 hours in jail and fined them $250 apiece. But they were released six hours later around 8 p.m. after the state attorney general’s office scrambled to file an appeal.The judge told the workers about a week ago to move the boy to a foster home. It remained unclear Friday why the judge wanted the boy moved, as court officials said they could not discuss an ongoing juvenile case. Attempts to reach the judge Friday evening were unsuccessful.State child welfare officials said the four workers were standing up for the best interests of the boy, so much so they were willing to go jail.“This is what these workers do every day — work with kids and try to get them the best placements. And they were willing to go to jail for it today,” said Dena Smith, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Resources.

Woman charged with child molestation

2005-11-05T18:50:00.000-05:00

A woman who was arrested after prompting an Amber Alert when she disappeared with a 3-year-old relative has been charged with child molestation, according to the Hall County Detention Center.
Lawonia Hoose, 43, of Cleveland was arrested early Thursday morning after taking the toddler Wednesday afternoon.
Hoose has also been charged with interference with custody and cruelty to children.
Authorities say Hoose took the toddler Wednesday afternoon from Northeast Georgia Medical Center where the child's mother was having a medical procedure performed.
The child's disappearance triggered an Amber Alert early Thursday.
Authorities located Hoose and the child hours later in White County and returned the child to the parents.
Gainesville police Lt. Chad White said Hoose may have had a medical condition. Relatives told investigators she had been off medication for about two weeks.

Foster Parents Accused Of Staging Robbery, Fire

2005-10-30T17:32:00.000-05:00

HOUSTON -- Foster parents of seven children accused of calling 911 after they allegedly staged a fire and robbery at their northwest Harris County home remained on the run Thursday, KPRC Local 2 reported.
Authorities with the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office said Erik and Trista Moore, who only lived at the home with their seven foster children for six months, faked a robbery, set the house on fire and then called 911 for help.
911 Operator: "Can You see smoke coming from your house?"
Erik Moore: "Yeah, I just went in. I didn't see any smoke coming out of my house. I just went in my house. Two of my doors of my house were open. I heard footsteps, so I ran out. That's when I saw smoke."
Investigators believe the couple was dealing with expensive repair issues and staged the crime as a way out.
Authorities have issued warrants for their arrest. They do not believe their foster children are in any danger.

Baby Found In Trash Is Released From Hospital

2005-10-30T17:28:00.000-05:00

CLEVELAND -- The newborn baby dumped in a trashcan is now in good enough condition to be released from the hospital.
MetroHealth Medical Center released the infant now known as Baby Jack Friday afternoon.
The newborn was found two weeks ago in a garbage can in a Tower City restroom.
Police are looking for his mother, who they believe abandoned the baby. Police have looked through hours of surveillance video, and hoped that a coat with a dry-cleaning tag attached would help them locate the mother.
But despite all their efforts, authorities still haven't located Jack's mother. Authorities fear the woman may need medical attention.
Jack will be placed with foster parents, who wish to remain anonymous. The Department of Children and Family Services says there is a long list of families eager to adopt the infant.
If you have any information about Baby Jack's mom, you're asked to call Children and Family Services at (216) 696-KIDS.

Mother Charged With Murder for Allegedly Dropping Kids in San Fransisco Bay!

2005-10-21T00:01:00.000-04:00

It's amazing what the Fu*king system knows about medical conditions of these bad moms and do nothing. The caseworkers should be given the death Penalty! She's the adult in the blue shirt sitting on the carpet.

By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO - A woman seen dropping her three young sons into San Francisco Bay from a downtown pier was charged with murder Thursday while anguished relatives kept vigil and rescuers combed the chilly water for the bodies of two of the victims.
Lashuan T. Harris, 23, was being held in a hospital jail ward after police saw her pushing an empty baby stroller away from the pier where a witness reported spotting a woman drop the children into the water Wednesday night.

The body of Harris' middle child, Taronta Greeley, 2, was recovered late Wednesday about two miles from the 10-foot pier not far from Fishermen's Wharf, a major tourist spot.
The other children — Treyshun Harris, 6, and Joshoa Greeley, 16 months — were missing and presumed dead Thursday after more than 24 hours in water with a swift current.
The sheriff's department would not say why Harris was in the hospital, but she suffered from schizophrenia and had threatened to hurt her children, according to Britney Fitzpatrick, her 16-year-old half-sister.
"She told my mama she was going to feed them to the sharks," Fitzpatrick said. "No one thought it was that serious."
The mother told investigators she had taken the anti-psychotic drug Haldol and then stopped once her symptoms diminished during the summer, according to a police report. But she began hearing voices again Tuesday night, and they were still with her when she dropped the boys into the bay.
Asked why she didn't seek help from a doctor Wednesday, she said she thought the clinics would be closed.
The Coast Guard called off its search, but the San Francisco police and fire departments continued to scour the bay for the two bodies. "We are going to be out here until we find them," said police spokeswoman Maria Oropeza.
The district attorney's office charged Harris, of Oakland, with three counts of murder and three counts of assault on a child with great bodily injury. Because multiple murder charges are involved, she could face the death penalty.
Harris was scheduled to be arraigned on Friday, officials said.
About a dozen family members spent Thursday afternoon meeting with police investigators and praying near the pier. They described Harris as a devoted mother who used to work as a nurse's assistant at a retirement home in Oakland, but over the last year and a half fought an increasingly unsuccessful battle with mental illness.
"It's confusing. I just want to know why she did it," said Demarcus Harris, a cousin.
Lashuan Harris, the third oldest of seven siblings, had been living with her children in a Salvation Army shelter in Oakland since early September, said her oldest sister, Telicia Harris, 26.
Before that, she lived with her mother in Oakland, with another sister in Jacksonville, Fla., and with the father of her children. She had been taking medication for her schizophrenia, but Telicia Harris said she did not know how consistently.

Associated Press Writer Jordan Robertson contributed to this story

Mom Who Set Son On Fire With His Puppy May Get Death

2005-10-18T11:38:00.000-04:00

POSTED: 4:52 am MDT October 18, 2005

ELYRIA, Ohio -- A woman who was severely burned as a child has been found guilty of killing her 4-year-old son and setting his body on fire.
An Ohio jury convicted Nicole Diar on 10 counts Monday, including two of aggravated murder aggravated arson and tampering with evidence. The 28-year-old woman could receive the death penalty.
When firefighters discovered her son Jacob's body, he was so badly burned that the coroner was unable to determine a cause of death. Prosecutors believe Jacob was suffocated or drowned before Diar burned his body and his new puppy.
Prosecutors allege Diar drugged Jacob with codeine, then strangled him as he slept in his bedroom, before setting the house on fire.
"Jacob went to bed one evening in his mother's home, in his mother's care and never woke up again," said Gary Bennett, the Lorain County prosecutor.
The October coroner's report ruled the death a homicide and stated that the cause of death was "violence of an unknown origin."
The defense said the woman wasn't capable of setting the blaze because Diar herself sustained disfiguring injuries in a fire when she was also 4 years old. The woman was burned as a child when her brother ignited her nightgown with a lighter. She underwent years of surgery so that she could move her arms and neck.
Diar had said that God was responsible for the death of her son Jacob's August 2003 death. She said, "He burned me, and now He burned him."
Some of the most damaging testimony came from baby sitters who watched Jacob, according to WEWS in Cleveland.
Months before Jacob's death in August 2003, Diar drugged him with codeine while she went out to party, baby sitters testified.
"His well-being was secondary to her lifestyle," Assistant Prosecutor Tony Cillo said. "She couldn't be bothered."
Sitters told the court Jacob was actually afraid to sleep in his second-floor room.
Police also said that on the night of the crime, Diar was out for a night on the town, drinking and singing into a karaoke machine.
But the defense painted a different picture of a loving mother who always cared for the well-being of her son.
Some neighbors alleged the boy was at times neglected.
Diar's lawyer, Jack Bradley, admitted his client wasn't the best mother but questioned a report from state fire investigators that had the fire starting in different rooms.
"Faulty forensics can lead to faulty evidence," Bradley said in closing arguments Monday.
If she gets the death penalty, Diar would be the second woman on Ohio's death row.

Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Cops: Man requests sex act for foster son

2005-10-17T02:03:00.000-04:00

How the hell do they become foster parents...Just like the 3 time convicted felon my toddler was placed with.

The Associated PressLast Updated 3:09 pm PDT Friday, October 14, 2005WEST

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - A West Sacramento man is facing charges that he solicited an undercover police officer to perform a sex act on his teenage foster son.
The man was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, West Sacramento police Lt. Dave Farmer said.
The 16-year-old boy and five other foster children were immediately removed from the man's house, Farmer said. The man's name was not released to protect the identity of the foster children, who range in age from 4 to 16.
Police said the man, with the boy in the car, approached a female undercover officer and request a sex act for the 16-year-old.
The man was one of 10 men arrested during an eight-hour prostitution sting. He was booked into Yolo County jail but has since been released.

USC Student Charged in Infant's Death

2005-10-15T02:44:00.000-04:00

Holly Ashcraft, 21, from Billings, Mont., faces counts of murder and child abuse in alleged abandonment of her newborn in a trash bin.By Rebecca Trounson and Nancy Wride, Times Staff Writers
USC student Holly Ashcraft, described by the manager of her apartment building as a sweet young woman from Montana, was charged with murder and child abuse in a Los Angeles courtroom Thursday as questions continued to surround her alleged abandonment of her newborn in a trash bin.Police said the full-term boy was born alive before he was put in a cardboard box and placed in the trash bin near a popular USC hangout — and Ashcraft's off-campus apartment — late Sunday. A homeless man searching the bin for recyclables discovered the child and called police, authorities said. Ashcraft, 21, a USC architecture student from Billings, Mont., made a brief court appearance Thursday, looking calm and responding in a clear voice to questions from Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Sotelo about whether she understood the proceedings. Wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, Ashcraft made no comment other than to answer "yes" and nod in response to the questions.At the request of prosecutors, who described her as a flight risk, Sotelo raised Ashcraft's bail from $1 million to $2 million. "She is a student from out of state and she has no ties to the community," Deputy Dist. Atty. Efrain Aceves said outside court.He said Ashcraft was charged with child abuse, in addition to murder, because she is believed to have placed the infant in "circumstances likely to produce great bodily harm and death."Attorney Adam S. Franken of Tustin, who represented Ashcraft in court, declined to answer reporters' questions. The young woman's arraignment was postponed to Nov. 9 after Franken told the judge that the attorney who will be in charge of her case could not be present Thursday.A man and a woman who said they were "sort of" relatives of Ashcraft also refused to answer questions. Other family members or USC students did not appear to be present.Outside the nearly empty courtroom, prosecutors, police and people acquainted with Ashcraft said they were at a loss to explain the circumstances that allegedly led her to place her son in the trash bin. And several said they wondered whether, as an out-of-state resident, she was even aware of a California law that allows a mother to relinquish an unwanted newborn at any hospital or fire station, with no questions asked.Los Angeles Fire Station No. 15 is about two blocks from where the child was found."That's the tragedy of this case," Aceves said. "The public needs to be aware that there is this law."USC spokesman James Grant said Ashcraft was a full-time student in her third year. Citing privacy rules, Grant said he could not confirm a police statement that Ashcraft had been suspended because of academic problems but said she has now been suspended, pending the outcome of the criminal case.Ashcraft's profile on the popular student networking website Thefacebook.com shows an attractive young woman who lists musical tastes including punk and hip-hop and academic interests in fine arts and architecture. She includes a quote from novelist John Steinbeck and another from Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. She lists about three dozen friends at USC and many at other colleges.Several of those Ashcraft listed as friends said they liked her but did not know her well.Tamara Krulisky said she had seen Ashcraft only once this year but described her as outgoing and gregarious, with a great sense of humor. "She did not seem like a secretive girl to me," Krulisky said in an e-mail.Another, Uchechukwu Anene, a junior who was in Ashcraft's dorm when the two were freshmen, said that she had seen her twice last week and that she seemed to be doing fine, but added that she did not know much about the young woman's personal life. She also said Ashcraft was wearing a jacket but did not appear to be pregnant."I'm just shocked by this," Anene said. "It seems really out of character for her."Jim Weber, a real estate broker and property manager who rented Ashcraft her one-room apartment above the popular 29th Street Cafe, said she seemed pleasant when he met her in August. He also said the tall, slender young woman was not obviously pregnant at the time."She just seemed like a really decent, kind of wholesome girl from Montana," Weber said. "She just seemed like a sweet girl."Ann Dorr, who owns the building and a number of other rental properties near the campus, said the young woman paid her rent on time, and was generally viewed by other tenants as agreeable and not a partyer.Dorr said police told her that Ashcraft had been linked to the case after she sought medical treatment at an area hospital. Now, the building owner said, "I feel like I need to protect her. I'm not justifying what she's done, but I also don't like her to be judged…. I think she was just plain scared."Natalie Beglau, who works in property management upstairs from where Ashcraft lived, said police executed a search warrant there Wednesday night. Beglau said the case has troubled her since it hit the news."I don't understand anyone doing this, when we have this law that allows anyone to go to a hospital or fire station within 72 hours of birth and anonymously leave the newborn without prosecution," she said. "But I guess we don't know what this girl was going through. We just don't know."Los Angeles police said there typically are five to eight such cases in the city each year, although some of the abandoned infants are found in time to be rescued. This case is the fourth this year, said Det. Supervisor Peggy Leberknight of the Los Angeles Police Department's child abuse unit. In a 1997 case, USC student Linda Chu was sentenced to five years in prison after she was found guilty of strangling her newborn daughter and placing her in the trash chute at her dormitory."Women are scared," Leberknight said in explanation. "They don't want to let anyone know they're pregnant. And it's not just young women. It can be older women as well, who don't want to reveal their pregnancy for whatever reason, and maybe they don't know about the law."Deanne Tilton Durfee, executive director of the Los Angeles County Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect, said there was no common profile for women who abandon their newborns."The one key component, though, is secrecy. The expectant mother has hidden the pregnancy," Durfee said. "In some cases they've denied its existence, haven't prepared for it or they haven't told anyone."Since the state adopted the safe-surrender law in 2001, 35 infants have been left at fire stations and hospitals. Durfee said ignorance of the law probably leads some young mothers to abandon their infants in secret. She also said it was important for those who suspect a woman might be pregnant to say something about it.

Times staff writers Jonathan Abrams, Monte Morin and Wendy Thermos contributed to this report.

Substitute teacher charged with abuse

2005-10-15T02:30:00.000-04:00

By Joseph SjostromTribune staff reporter
Published October 14, 2005, 9:28 PM CDT

An Indiana man who worked as a substitute teacher in Naperville, Downers Grove and other communities has been charged with misdemeanor battery and sexual abuse for allegedly touching students improperly in 13 incidents last spring.Brett Zagorac, 22, of Munster, who is in the Lake County, Ind., jail pending trial on sexual-abuse charges there, was a substitute teacher for about a year in Naperville District 203 schools and for unspecified periods in Downers Grove District 58 and Hinsdale Elementary School District 88.The DuPage County charges allege that Zagorac rubbed the students' backs both under and over their shirts in the Naperville and Downers Grove schools in January through March.He is charged with one count of criminal sexual abuse and one count of battery for each of the 13 alleged incidents.He is scheduled for a bond hearing Thursday in DuPage County Court but is not expected to appear because his bond was revoked Wednesday on the Lake County charges. A spokesman for the Lake County prosecutor said the revocation was requested after the Illinois charges became known.In the Indiana case, Zagorac is charged with a felony count of molesting an 8-year-old boy in a 2nd-grade classroom in Hammond in May 2003.Zagorac had an Illinois substitute teacher's certificate despite a 2003 misdemeanor battery conviction in Indiana for inappropriate touching of two boys at a school in Schererville. In that case he was convicted of reaching under the boys' shirts and rubbing their backs, and he served a year's probation.An Illinois State Board of Education spokeswoman has said state law didn't permit the agency to withhold a certificate on the basis of a misdemeanor conviction.First Assistant DuPage County State's Atty. Nancy Wolfe said Friday the new charges would be prosecuted after the Lake County case.---jsjostrom@tribune.com
Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune

Child sex offenders must move

2005-10-06T20:20:00.000-04:00

By BRENDEN SAGERThe Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 10/06/05
Three convicted sex offenders are moving out of a home-business in an upscale Cobb neighborhood after nearby residents complained to county officials.
The Living Agai"We found that the use of the property was not what was described in the business license application when we went out there," Quigley said. "It was being used as a halfway house for registered sex offenders. The county code does not allow halfway houses within that residential zoning category."
The house is in a booming residential area, with homes selling for more than $500,000. Michelle Rivers is listed as president of the ministry on the business application, which describes its purpose as to "rent to Christian families, have Bible studies."
Rivers refused to be interviewed Wednesday. "I can tell you everything [on Friday]," she said by phone. "Right now I'm in a meeting."
County records identify the house owner as Ronnie M. Chambers. No one answered the door of the home Wednesday.
Cobb Commissioner Helen Goreham said several people brought the matter to her after going on the GBI Web site and discovering that the sex offenders had registered as living in the home.
"We were concerned about the safety of local residents," Goreham said. "She [Rivers] assures us that the sex offenders will be gone by this weekend."
Three men who have been convicted as child molesters live at the house, a two-story ranch home built in 1955. They can legally live there provided they register their address with the state and stay at least 1,000 feet from schools and areas where children congregate.
Scheree Lipscomb, spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Corrections, said the three men have served their full sentence. None of the men is on parole, which would prohibit them from living together.
The county's problem was with a violation of a business licence, not with the men living there, Quigley said.
One of the offenders was convicted of five counts of child molestation in Cobb and sentenced to serve 6 years of a 20-year sentence, with the balance on probation. He was in prison from February 1996 to January 2002. Officials said he was meeting the terms of his probation.
A second offender was convicted of statutory rape, child molestation and aggravated child molestation in Fulton and sentenced to 15 years. He was in prison from November 1990 to November 2004.
A third man was convicted of child molestation in Cobb and sentenced to serve 7 years of a 15-year sentence. He was in prison from September 1998 to September 2005.
Cobb police and sheriff's departments were not sure how the men ended up at the residence. Cobb police spokesman Wayne Delk said the offenders are required to register and report their addresses. There are currently 297 registered sex offenders listed on the GBI Web site as living in Cobb.
"Depending upon the special conditions, they may or may not be required to stay in a group home," Delk said. "That's all depending on what the judge does in their probation or parole at the time of their sentencing."
— Staff writers Don Plummer and Richard Whitt contributed to this article.n World Wide Ministries has until Monday to shut down the residence near Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, said Cobb County spokesman Robert Quigley.

Man/Registered Sex Offender Allegedly Masturbates In Philly Free Library

2005-10-06T05:35:00.000-04:00

He was masturbating while watching a girl in the lower floor of a library and it took two f*cking days for library officials to report it???

Library Officials Wait Two Days Before Reporting Alleged Lewd Incident

PHILADELPHIA -- According to Philadelphia Free Library officials, a registered sex offender was caught last week masturbating while standing on a balcony inside the main library branch and watching a young girl on the lower level.

Library security escorted the man out of the building, but library officials did not contact police for at least two days after the incident, NBC 10 Investigators reported.
Philadelphia police are investigating why the library security officer, who found the man’s name on the Pennsylvania registered sex offender list, did not respond more aggressively to the lewd, and potentially dangerous, incident. Police said they want to know why library security allowed a registered sex offender to get away, escaping criminal charges, after he allegedly committed a lewd public act.
Library officials confirmed the facts of the incident for NBC 10 Tuesday, saying that the lewd behavior occurred Monday Sept. 26.
Officials said a security guard witnessed the man masturbating while staring at a young girl inside the Center City building and the guard immediately began a background check on the man while the guard’s supervisor started walking the man out of the building.
“The man was immediately expelled from the building, as we would do following our standards of acceptable behavior,” said Sandy Horrocks, vice president of communications for the library.
Minutes later, the security guard’s background check found that the man in question was a registered sex offender listed on the Pennsylvania state sex offender Web site.
NBC 10 Investigators learned that library administrators did not report the incident to police for at least two days after library security let the man go.
In addition to the delay, Philadelphia police said that the initial report from the library only described the incident as “inappropriate.” Police said that they didn’t know the report involved a convicted sex offender until NBC 10 told them.
“Based on the information you were able to provide us, along with what we gathered from the initial police report, we did notify the special victim’s unit and they’re going to conduct a further investigation,” said Philadelphia Police Inspector Bill Colarulo.
Library officials said they didn’t know why there was a two-day wait on the report to police.
“We will look into why it took two days,” said Horrocks. “We are very concerned about security.”
Horrocks was not even sure if any of the other library branches were warned about the incident with the convicted sex offender.
“I actually don’t know,” said Horrocks. “My responsibility doesn’t include the notice to the other branches.”
Police said
Copyright 2005 by NBC10.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. that they will continue their investigation into the incident and if they determine that a crime was committed, they plan to make an arrest.

Boy found at Wal-Mart is identified

2005-10-01T22:21:00.000-04:00

Police had believed a young boy found wandering inside a Cobb County Wal-Mart nearly two weeks ago when he told them he was lost, but after his picture was published Friday detectives found ouThe boy, who said he was 12 years old, had not been able to provide police any information about his parents or relatives since being found inside the Kennesaw Wal-Mart on Sept. 17, Cobb Detective John McCraw said Thursday.
"He has told us some things, but we've been unable to verify anything so far," McCraw said.
McCraw asked news outlets to publish the boy's picture in hopes that someone would be able to reunite him with family members.
"Following the release of the child's photograph, detectives received several calls supplying them with information as to the actual identity of the child as well as information leading to his parents," and to the lad's arrest, said Detective Wayne Delk.
After interviewing his family detectives were able to confirm that the child is actually 14 years old. Because he faces outstanding charges as well as new charges for lying to police the boy was moved from foster care to the Regional Youth Detention Center in Marietta, Delk said.t that the youngster really didn't want to be found.

Murder Charge Filed in Abandoned Girl Case

2005-10-01T22:14:00.000-04:00

Save these children before they become the real victims!

By NAHAL TOOSI Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK — A Queens man was charged Saturday with murdering his live-in girlfriend, the latest twist in a weeklong mystery that began when the slain woman's 4-year-old daughter was found wandering barefoot on a city street.
Cesar Ascarrunz, 32, was arrested on murder charges two days after he was picked up by investigators, police said. Authorities were still searching Saturday for 26-year-old Monica Lozada-Rivaineira's remains.
Police were led to Ascarrunz by a dozen tips that came in from the public after 4-year-old Valery Lozada appeared on television Thursday. The child, with her hair in pigtails, described her mother as looking "like a princess." Police ultimately used records from Valery's day care center to figure out her mother's identity.
"This child has captured the hearts of all New Yorkers," said Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown. "I hope she can grow up to lead a normal life."
Child welfare officials took the unusual step of putting her on television in the hopes that it would produce more information. Authorities were unable to find her mother since she was discovered crying and shivering on the street in Queens. She told neighbors her father left her there and drove away.
Kevin Flood, a city firefighter who gave her a drink and a fruit snack that night, said her hair was tousled as if she had just been awakened. But she showed no signs of abuse and neglect, authorities said.
"She was scared. She was crying," said Flood, 34. "She said her daddy had left her on the corner."
Valery was asking to see her mother, but authorities were waiting to break the tragic news to the child, said John Mattingly, commissioner of the city Administration for Children's Services. Dozens of people have volunteered to adopt her, he said.
Ascarrunz also was charged with reckless endangerment, endangering the welfare of a child, child abandonment and evidence tampering, Brown said. If convicted on the murder charge, he faces 25 years to life in prison.
Lozada-Rivaineira was last seen at the apartment she shared with Ascarrunz late on Sept. 24, authorities said. According to a criminal complaint, Ascarrunz choked Lozada-Rivaineira to death in their apartment, put her body in a plastic bag and left it in the living room for two days.
On Sept. 26, he took her body from the apartment and dumped it in a pile of trash on a Queens street corner, the complaint said.
It was unclear why Ascarrunz would have attacked his girlfriend. The complaint did not mention a motive for the slaying.

Oklahoma Girl, Alleged Abductor Found Dead

2005-09-25T19:42:00.000-04:00

ADA, Okla. — A teenager who was abducted as she left school last week was found shot to death Saturday along with a man her mother had once dated. Authorities said it appeared to be a murder-suicide.
The bodies of Caitlin Elizabeth Wooten, 16, and Jerry Don Savage, 47, were spotted from an Oklahoma Highway Patrol helicopter, said city spokesman Mark Bratcher.

This undated photo provided by the City of Ada, Okla., shows Caitlin Elizabeth Wooten, 16. The body of the Ada High School cheerleader was found shot to death Saturday, Sept. 24, 2005, along with the body of a man who authorities said called the girl's family and threatened to harm her. Wooten and Jerry Don Savage, 47, were found by troopers in an Oklahoma Highway Patrol helicopter. (AP Photo/City of Ada, Okla.)
Savage, who had dated the girl's mother, Donna Wooten, reportedly called the girl's grandmother Friday afternoon and threatened to harm Caitlin, Bratcher said.
He said Savage was recently arrested on charges of attempting to kidnap Donna Wooten. Wooten obtained a protective order against Savage on Aug. 30, court records show, but he was out of jail on bond when Caitlin disappeared.
Caitlin was last seen Friday getting into a dark green pickup truck after classes ended at Ada High School. Bratcher said the pickup was found on a street in Ada, about 80 miles southeast of Oklahoma City.
The deaths appear to be murder-suicide, said Jessica Brown, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
Savage had previously lived in the area and knew the owner of the land where the bodies were found, authorities said. The landowner, Saye Sliger, was arrested as a possible accessory to the crime, Brown said.

September 25, 2005 - 10:54 a.m. EDTCopyright 2005, The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Siblings accuse parents in caged kids case

2005-09-25T04:00:00.000-04:00

Now the older siblings are talking. Can you imagine, the father touched one of them and Social Service took her away...so how did they get into adopting and fostering?

CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) -- When Jesse and Jenna Gravelle heard the stories about a couple forcing their 11 adopted children to sleep in cages, they weren't surprised to hear their father and stepmother's names.
What shocked them, Jesse Gravelle said, was that adoption agencies would place children in Michael and Sheron Gravelle's custody.
"My dad and stepmother were pretty much cruel and neglectful," Jesse Gravelle, now 32, said Friday.
"There were no cages," his sister Jenna Gravelle, 31, said in a separate interview, but "both my brother and I felt like prisoners. We had to fend for ourselves."
The siblings described teenage years spent working long hours to pay for food and rent at their father's home, and said Jenna as a sixth-grader was temporarily removed from the home by social services over allegations that their father inappropriately touched her.
Officials are now investigating Michael and Sheron Gravelle over their treatment of 11 special needs children they adopted. Two weeks ago, authorities said they discovered some of the children, ages 1-14, had been locked in homemade cages at night and occasionally during the day as punishment.
No charges have been filed, and the Gravelles have denied harming the children, all of whom have been placed in foster care.
The adopted children have conditions such as autism, fetal alcohol syndrome, HIV and eating disorders. The Gravelles' attorney has said the "enclosures" built around their bunk beds were to stop them from doing such things as setting fires, eating batteries and cutting themselves.
Jesse Gravelle, who is estranged from his father, said that when he last tried to reconcile with his father in the mid-'90s the Gravelles didn't have any adopted children.
Lt. Randy Sommers of the Huron County Sheriff's Department took statements from Jenna and Jesse Gravelle last week and said they seemed credible. Both say they will testify if called.
Michael Gravelle's attorney, David Sherman, told The Plain Dealer newspaper last week that Jenna made up the abuse allegations against her father because she was upset with him for remarrying after her mother's death.
"Mr. Gravelle was never charged with any crime, and for good reasons," Sherman said. "There were significant problems with her."
Jenna Gravelle left her father's house at 16 and lived with friends, family and in group homes. She now has a degree in psychology and an 8-year-old son.
Jesse Gravelle finished high school but said he got into drugs and became homeless. He spent nearly a year in prison for drug trafficking.
He now lives in Farmington, New Mexico, and works in a microbrewery. He is divorced, with a daughter and stepdaughter.
The idea that an adoption agency would put children with his father and stepmother "blows my mind," he said. "I hope they don't get these kids back. Because I know they're going to try to get them back. Just like my dad went to court and got my sister back."
The Gravelles received government assistance to care for the children, but it's unclear how much. Cleveland's county-run agency paid the family at least $500 a month to care for one boy born with HIV.
The father "may have believed that he was trying to help those kids," Jesse Gravelle said. "But there's no way he was."

Verdict: Cannon guilty in death of 9-year-old

2005-09-23T18:41:00.000-04:00

The judge immediately hands down a life sentence; co-defendant goes to trial later this year.By JAMAL THALJI and MOLLY MOORHEADPublished September 20, 2005
It took a jury just over an hour Tuesday to find Gary Steven Cannon guilty of first-degree murder in the 1997 rape and stabbing death of a 9-year-old Pasco County girl.
Circuit Judge Lynn Tepper sentenced Cannon to life in prison for the death of Sharra Ferger who authorities say was lured from her home during the night, raped and stabbed 46 times.
Cannon, who was 17 at that time of the killing, could not be sentenced to death because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling barring the execution of juveniles. A co-defendant, Gary Elishi Cochran, faces the death penalty, if convicted. During sentencing, Tepper said she wondered where Cannon's family had been the first 17 years of his life "when you were being thrown from pillar to post.
"I know where you're going to spend the rest of your life," she said.
Cannon remained unrepentant, instead complaining that prosecutors had offered favors to former cellmates who testified that Cannon confessed to the killing. As deputies led him away, he asked what was going to happen to the man responsible for the crime - Cochran.
His trial begins later this year, Tepper replied

Child abuse caller's anonymity is blown

2005-09-23T18:39:00.000-04:00

The kind of silly things that should NEVER happen!!!

By PHIL DAVISPublished September 20, 2005
HUDSON - Pamela Jones expected to remain anonymous when she reported her concerns about a neighbor's kids to the state's child abuse hotline.
Anonymity is a cornerstone of the state's abuse prevention efforts. It is a crime to reveal the name of anyone who reports abuse.
But within days of calling the hotline in August, Jones found herself in a face-to-face confrontation with the man she'd accused.
"He said word for word what I said" on the abuse hotline, Jones said. "How can (the state) tell people to call and report child abuse and then turn around and put them under the gun? I lost everything."
The neighbor, 36-year-old Joseph Seaman, was later charged with causing $3,700 in damage to her mobile home.
"I'd be too damn afraid to call now," she added. "And if anybody else wanted to call, I'd be the first to tell them not to get involved."
Authorities said it's common for people who file complaints to reveal themselves when confronted. But in this case, Seaman named an official source for his ire: the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.
"The police said Pam Jones called to say the kids were left alone," Seaman told the Times. "When we found out she called the police, we were kind of shocked. It just turned into a saga."
Violating the confidentiality law is a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. Such a breach is a serious concern, said Andy Ritter, a spokesman in Tampa for the state Department of Children and Families.
"It is confidential. That should not happen," Ritter said. "It should never happen."
DCF manages the hotline, but in Pasco County, abuse calls are forwarded to the Sheriff's Office.
Pasco County sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin said deputies and the agency's child protective investigators are trained on confidentiality rules. Tobin said the confidentiality laws prevent him from discussing any child abuse case.
"I can't even acknowledge the existence of a child-abuse investigation," Tobin said.
Both Seaman and Jones said they were friends as well as Brenda Street neighbors before the dispute erupted in early August. They also agree the child neglect complaint spurred their dispute. After that, there is no consensus.
Jones said she called the abuse hotline to say Seaman's children were often left alone in unsafe conditions. Seaman told the Times that his 14-year-old daughter and neighbors keep an eye on the kids.
On Aug. 7, according to a sheriff's report, both Seaman and Jones accused each other of battery after a confrontation about why she "called police." Tobin withheld more detailed information on the source of the dispute, citing confidentiality laws.
On Aug. 8, deputies went back to the mobile home park after Jones reported someone had knocked out all her windows with a 2-by-4. A witness told deputies he saw Seaman break at least one window, an incident report said.
Later that day, Jones told sheriff's deputies that "everything in her mobile home" had been destroyed. A deputy who saw her home agreed.
Seaman was arrested on charges ranging from throwing a deadly missile into a dwelling to criminal mischief to simple battery on a law enforcement officer. He denies all the charges and was free on bail Monday totaling $30,000.
"It's been a total nightmare," he said.

Mother gets 20 years in prison for child abuse

2005-09-23T18:37:00.000-04:00

09/20/2005
Associated Press

Another MAD TEXAS MOTHER!!!
A Texas woman who admitted feeding her baby rancid meat and breaking bones in his arms and legs was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison.
Veronica Martinez, 20, of Harlingen, agreed earlier this week to a plea bargain in which she forfeits her parental rights.
Martinez pleaded guilty in May to injury to a child and attempted injury to a child.
The abuse was uncovered when she and a boyfriend took the sickened baby to a hospital and doctors noticed the 6-month-old had broken bones.
The child, now in state custody, has since recovered and is expected to be adopted.
Court documents show Martinez wanted the baby dead because the child "ruined her life."
The boyfriend, 21-year-old Brian Martin, still faces charges. He is not the child's father, authorities say.

Former Bellefonte man charged with child abuse waives hearing

2005-09-23T18:36:00.000-04:00

Posted on Wed, Sep. 21, 2005
Former Bellefonte man charged with child abuse waives hearing enissley@centredaily.com
By Erin L. Nissley

BELLEFONTE -- A former Bellefonte man charged with sexually and physically abusing two children in the late 1990s waived his right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday.
Walter A. Long, 39, is currently serving a sentence at State Correctional Institution at Coal Township for sexually assaulting a girl, according to court records. He was arrested in 1999 after the victim in that case reported the abuse to Bellefonte police. She said she was abused while visiting Long's apartment at the Bellefonte Academy.
Bellefonte police were contacted in April by a worker at Centre County Child and Youth Services, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed in the case. Two siblings of the abused girl said Long also abused them from 1996 until 1999.
Long was charged with 10 counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, two counts each of corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of a child and indecent assault and one count of aggravated indecent assault of a child.
For more on this story see Thursday's Centre Daily Times.

Testimony of Sister Heard in Child Abuse Homicide Case

2005-09-23T18:29:00.000-04:00

Sam Penrod Reporting

Another case of a white couple who cant have kids adopt black children and destroy their lives! What is this? "Losing Isiah?" Leave this kids in the PROPER HOMES! BLACK HOMES! You can call me a racist...I don't care about your opinions!

Testimony of Sister Heard in Child Abuse Homicide Case
September 22nd, 2005 @ 3:25pm
Sam Penrod Reporting
Videotaped testimony from the older sister of a girl who died from drinking too much water has been presented in the trial of the girl's parents. They are accused of child abuse homicide.
This is now week two in the trial of Richard and Jennete Killpack, as prosecutors continue to show evidence that four-year old Cassandra Killpack died from abuse. The trial is still in its early stages.

Richard and Jennete Killpack are on trial on charges of child abuse homicide and child abuse in the death of their daughter three years ago. Yesterday in court the Killpack's older daughter's videotaped interview with police was played to the jury. In it, the girl gave details of what happened.
She said Cassandra was being punished for bad behavior and that her parents poured water into the girl's throat, and that she later threw up.
Also yesterday, the medical examiner testified that Cassandra died from ingesting so much water that her brain stopped functioning, adding it was the first time he had ever seen someone die from this.
Defense attorneys are also preparing to put on their evidence in the case, which is that the Killpacks were using a form of therapy to help Cassandra, because of abuse she received before she was adopted.
The trial is scheduled to continue for at least another month.

Woman To Stand Trial For Child Abuse In Toddler's Flood Death

2005-09-23T18:26:00.000-04:00

Child Falls From Antelope Valley Mother's Arms During Rescue
POSTED: 4:53 pm PDT September 22, 2005
UPDATED: 5:13 pm PDT September 22, 2005

Now this is a story in which the courts acted as assholes in a mere accident. Please read this!
LANCASTER, Calif. -- An Antelope Valley woman, whose toddler died after she allegedly drove around two sets of barricades into a flooded wash during a rainstorm, was ordered Thursday to stand trial on child abuse charges.
Images Waters Pull Toddler From Mother
Lancaster Superior Court Judge Randolph A. Rogers found sufficient evidence to allow the case against Tonie Myesha Davis, 35, to proceed to trial.
Davis faces two felony counts of child abuse -- one involving her 2-year-old daughter, Jamaia Davis, who died; and the second involving two other children who were in the car.
The toddler was swept from her mother's arms to her death during a helicopter rescue operation by county firefighters after the woman's car got stuck in a flooded area last Jan. 9.
Firefighters were called to rescue Davis and the children after they became trapped by flood waters near Avenue N and 70th Street East during the evening hours. The child's body was found a few hours later.
Davis is due back in court for arraignment on Oct. 6.

Woman accused of molesting 8-year-old boy pleads guilty

2005-09-19T11:31:00.000-04:00

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. --A 30-year woman admitted in court Monday that she had a lengthy sexual relationship with an 8-year-old neighbor whom police say she considered her boyfriend. In a deal with prosecutors, Tammy Imre pleaded guilty to a charge of risk of injury to a minor. She faces six years in prison when she is sentenced Nov. 4.
Imre was arrested last November on sexual assault charges after the boy's mother found a letter Imre allegedly had written to him, police said.
In the letter, police said Imre told the boy that she doesn't "want anyone but you. Now tomorrow it's supposed to rain, you can come over we can (you know what). Love ya! I want you!"
Police said the boy, the playmate of Imre's 7-year-old daughter, initially denied doing anything with Imre because he feared getting into trouble.
When confronted, police said Imre acknowledged engaging in sexual acts with the boy. In the affidavit, Imre describes she and the boy kissing and fondling one another and being in bed together naked.
According to the arrest affidavit, she told investigators she considered the relationship "like a fantasy and she was the girlfriend and he was the boyfriend."
Defense attorney Donald Papcsy said Imre suffers from a mental problem that made it hard for her to admit that what she did was wrong.
"She really believed she was in a fantasy relationship," Papcsy said.
The family of the young boy agreed to the plea deal, saying they wanted to spare him and Imre's 7-year-old daughter a lengthy trial in which the children would have to testify.
"This was a big step forward for the family," said George Ganim, the attorney for the victim's family. relationship with an 8-year-old neighbor whom police say she considered her boyfriend.

Fayette County Couple charged with child cruelty

2005-09-17T07:26:00.000-04:00

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 09/17/05]

A Peachtree City couple is being held in the Fayette County Jail on $25,000 bond each on five counts of child cruelty after officials determined their home unlivable for their five children.
Michael O'Toole, 40, and Tina O'Toole, 32, were arrested Wednesday after child welfare workers found their children living with feces, soiled clothing and trash throughout their Doubletrace Lane home.
The children, ages 3-14, were removed by a court order, Peachtree City police said.
In an unrelated child cruelty case, Peachtree City police arrested a Brooks man Tuesday at Wal-Mart after witnesses reported him being physically abusive to his 6-year-old son.
Police said Ryan Jeffrey Grant, 26, smacked the child in the face, leaving "substantial bruising and swelling."

Cobb teacher held after girl, 6, says he molested her

2005-09-17T07:23:00.000-04:00

By KRISTINA TORRESThe Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 09/17/05

Cobb County police arrested an elementary school teacher Thursday after a 6-year-old student said he molested her.
Gregory A. Leontovich, 48, is being held in jail without bond, charged with aggravated child molestation. The incident allegedly happened at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday on the Smyrna campus of Green Acres Elementary School, according toThe warrant also said a medical exam of the child found evidence consistent with the reported assault.
"She said he put something over her face and sexually assaulted her," said Cobb police Cpl. Dana Pierce.
School principal David Pearce sent letters home with students Friday to let parents know about the allegations and police investigation, adding in the letter that "until this matter is resolved, the staff member in question will not be on the Green Acres campus . . . . we intend to carry on with creating the best academic environment possible and the safest school possible."
Leontovich was in charge of Green Acres' in-school suspension program. He has taught in Cobb since 1992 and has been at Green Acres since it opened in 1996.
System officials have suspended him pending the outcome of the case, said spokesman Jay Dillon.
Police have asked anyone with information about the assault to contact them at 770-801-3470.
— Staff writer Don Plummer contributed to this article. the arrest warrant.

Child prostitution: The hidden crime...Forum discusses study finding juvenile prostitution thriving citywide

2005-09-17T07:19:00.001-04:00

Child prostitution: The hidden crimeForum discusses study finding juvenile prostitution thriving citywide By TY TAGAMI
The Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 09/17/05

Despite a much-publicized crackdown that sent two of Atlanta's most notorious pimps to prison three years ago, the sale of Atlanta children for sex continues apace, a panel comprising a victim,advocates and government officials said Friday.
"As a community, I think we all should look at the problem and face the fact that this is happening," an 18-year-old who was kidnapped and forced into prostitution said. She appeared at City Hall at an unusual forum on child prostitution. Read the rest here

Louisiana trying to find 500 foster children

2005-09-17T05:49:00.000-04:00

Programming note: Watch CNN TV all weekend to help identify and reunite children displaced by Hurricane Katrina with their families.

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (CNN) -- Louisiana officials working to rebuild families torn apart by Hurricane Katrina are being especially challenged in trying to locate some 500 foster children still unaccounted for by guardians.

Marketa Garner Gautreau, an official with Louisiana's Department of Social Services, said Friday that of the approximately 2,000 foster children in hurricane-affected areas, three-quarters of have been located.

However, "We have 500 children that are in the state's custody that are in foster care that I cannot tell you 'Tommy is in Lake Charles in this location,' " she told reporters, according to Reuters.

Many other parents are searching for their children, nearly three weeks after the storm slammed the Gulf Coast.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children said Friday that about 2,000 children have been reported missing, the majority of them in Louisiana.

The executive director of the center's case management operations said custody is verified before any child is reunited with his or her family.

"If a parent calls in here, and sometimes the parent is saying they are non-custodial parent, we take that case," Ben Ermini said. "Before we would turn a child over, and there was a question, we'd require a custody order, which has been the case in several instances."

Gautreau said the number should actually turn out to be lower because many children are already with a parent but were reported missing by someone who doesn't have legal custody.

"The number of thousands of missing children, if you're getting them from that national center, is not necessarily the number of human bodies we have had and touched in our shelters," Gautreau told reporters, according to Reuters.

As of noon Friday, the center had received 2,812 reports of children missing throughout the Gulf Coast as a result of the hurricane, according to spokeswoman Tina Schwartz. Of those, 760 children have been reunited with parents, leaving 2,052 cases unresolved.

First lady Laura Bush visited the national missing children center Friday.

"When you see all these people working on it, I feel hopeful that people will be reunited," she said. (Watch as the first lady thanks volunteers -- 5:01)

Bush told the story of one 5-year-old boy in New Orleans, Louisiana, who was separated from the rest of his family and found wandering on the Interstate where other evacuees had gathered. Later the boy would tell workers at a shelter his name, his mother's name and his address, she said, helping authorities reunite him with his mom.

"So I want to encourage parents around the country to use this as a good reminder to let your children know what your name is and what their name is so they can help themselves if they ever need help," she said.

The task of reuniting families could become tougher as evacuees move from shelters to other accommodations. Bush said she hoped those people would continue to call the missing children center's hotline (1-888-544-5475).

According to The Associated Press, the center had received 17,454 calls since Katrina struck the Gulf Coast.
Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

Police: Sex Offender Violates Parole By Visiting School

2005-09-16T07:40:00.000-04:00

School Secretary Recognizes Man As Registered Offender

POSTED: 5:30 pm EDT September 16, 2005
UPDATED: 8:29 pm EDT September 16, 2005

GLEN BURNIE, Md. -- Authorities obtained two arrest warrants on Friday for a registered sex offender who faces trespassing and probation violation charges.
Anne Arundel County police arrested on Thursday Joshua Ryan Keller at his Glen Burnie home after school officials said he allegedly tried to pick up a 7-year-old girl.
Cindy Yale, a school secretary at Glendale Elementary School, returned to campus from lunch on Wednesday when she said she spotted Keller.
"I noticed this man approaching the school grounds, and I knew who it was," Yale said.
Yale called the school's principal, Richard Chilipko, who was still inside the building.
"I see Josh Keller coming across the road, and he knew who I was talking about because we had seen him on the list on the Web site of sexual offenders," Yale said.
Chilipko said he confronted Keller on the school campus near the flagpole. According to police, Keller allegedly told the school that he was picking up the girl on behalf of the mother, who was indisposed.
"The answers that he gave me really didn't add up," Chilipko said. "As soon as we called (the girl's parents), and they responded that he actually wasn't sent (to pick up the child), then we immediately knew, a red flag went up, and we immediately knew something was remiss."
School officials then called police, who later arrested Keller at his home, less than a mile away from the school.
Police said the school's actions represent a system that's working.
"This is one of those cases where we had success, the system worked. Fortunately, they did an outstanding job at the school. They paid attention to the information they were provided and used it," police spokesman Lt. David Waltemeyer said.
Waltemeyer said update the sex offender registry monthly and send schools copies of police reports.
"We notify the school board in writing of the offenders' registration, and again when they re-register, which they are required to do every year, we again notify the school again in writing that an offender has registered with us," he said.
Parents and students have since praised Yale and administrators for their alertness.
"I think she's a superhero for having the foresight and the insight on alerting the principal ... that he might have been in the area and she recognized the face," said Fred Thompson, a student's guardian.
"That's good that she recognized the person and she notified the authorities. That's real good," said Akia Hamilton, a parent.
"He could have taken somebody, that wouldn't be good. He could have took somebody else's child, and you could go to jail for that," said Jonnita Hamilton, a student.

Softball coach charged with molestation

2005-09-16T07:28:00.000-04:00

ASSOCIATED PRESSPublished on: 09/16/05

JEFFERSON, Ga. — A grand jury in northeast Georgia has indicted the founder and former coach of an independent girls' fast-pitch softball team on child molestation charges.
The Jackson County grand jury indicted Spencer Britt Martin this week on three counts of child molestation, two counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes, cruelty to children, four counts of criminal attempt to commit child molestation and 10 counts of sexual exploitation of children. Authorities arrested the 32-year-old Martin on June 24 and charged him with "inappropriate contact" with four teenage girls. The indictment says he encouraged the girls to undress in front of him and fondled them.
Authorities who searched his house said they found child pornography on his home computer.
Martin was coach of the Jackson County Thundercats, a fast-pitch softball team that is not affiliated with the program run by the county. The Jackson County parks department says he did coach for a rec team in 2001.
Court records show Martin is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 22 in Jackson County Superior Court.

Discovery of baby's remains uncovers tragic tale of child abuse

2005-09-16T06:30:00.000-04:00

TRENTON, N.J. -- When her newborn was first discovered at the bottom of an air shaft earlier this week, the baby's teenage mother was accused of trying to murder the child. But after the decaying body of a second infant was found in the same place, authorities trying to unravel the gruesome story say it took

The high school junior was accused Tuesday of throwing her newborn son into an air shaft from her West New York apartment's third-story window. The infant survived, landing on a trash pile at the bottom, and residents called police after hearing his cries. When investigators returned to the scene, they discovered in same pile of garbage the remains of the second infant _ this one a girl believed to have died over a year ago. Prosecutors said when they first interviewed the young mother, she told them the infants were fathered by different men. A second round of interviews Thursday uncovered a different story: The girl said her own father was actually the father of both children. Hudson County First Assistant Prosecutor Gaetano T. Gregory said investigators must wait for DNA tests before making a final determination about the baby's paternity, but they believe he is the father. "The events of last night ... provide public closure to the tragedy of abuse, which has affected three generations of (this family)," Gregory said Friday. The girl was charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault for her alleged treatment of the boy, who remained hospitalized for a skull fracture and other injuries. On Friday, the mother was charged with murder in the death of the other infant. The Associated Press is withholding the identities of both the girl and her father because she is an alleged victim of a sex crime. Prosecutors said the teen is to be tried in juvenile court on the murder charge because she was not yet 18 when the crime occurred. She was undergoing a psychiatric evaluation Friday. In adult court, the murder charge would carry a sentence of 30 years to life; Gregory said it would most likely be less if she were convicted in juvenile court. The attempted murder charge carries a sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison. The father was charged with aggravated sexual assault, endangering the welfare of a child and child abuse. If convicted, he could face 10 to 20 years in prison on the most serious charge. He was being held in the Hudson County Correctional Center. an even more tragic turn: The teen's father on Friday was accused of fathering both of the

My Autistic Life...By Kemi Olunloyo Lane

2005-09-16T06:04:00.000-04:00

This book is due out in 2006

Learn more about my experience with unexperienced social and caseworkers all over the country dealing with parents of disabled children. Thanx to John Lewis of Atlanta, Georgia's News/Talk 750 WSB who put some light into Autism last July 2005 in a series of specials on the morning news.

Checking on Deanna Laney two and a half years later

2005-09-15T07:12:00.000-04:00

TYLER, Tex. — Deanna Laney cannot stop crying. The 39-year-old East Texas woman sobbed Monday each time a prosecutor, police officer or her own lawyer described the brutal stoning death of two of her sons and the assault on a third son that left him nearly blind.
The prosecution and defense were in agreement as Laney's highly publicized murder trial opened in this small town midway between Dallas and the Louisiana state line: Laney, who told police that God instructed her to kill her children, was insane on the night of the killings in May 2003. Read the memories of the story here

Neighbors: Caged kids seemed normal

2005-09-14T06:23:00.000-04:00

All were well-dressed and appeared well-fed, witnesses say

WAKEMAN, Ohio (AP) -- The 11 children removed from a house where authorities say some of them slept in cages are polite, well-behaved, well-dressed and appear to have been well-fed, neighbors and authorities said Tuesday.
Their adoptive parents, Michael Gravelle, 56, and Sharen Gravelle, 57, denied in a custody hearing Monday that they abused or neglected the children. The children range in age from 1 to 14 and have conditions that include autism and fetal alcohol syndrome.
No charges had been filed as of Tuesday afternoon, and messages left with the couple's lawyer were not immediately returned.
The Gravelles have said a psychiatrist recommended they make the children sleep in the cages, Huron County Prosecutor Russell Leffler told the Norwalk Reflector. The parents said the children, including some who had mental disorders, needed to be protected from each other, according to a search warrant on file at Norwalk Municipal Court.
Leffler refused to speak with an Associated Press reporter Tuesday at his office.
Neighbors said they often saw or heard the children playing, and the family yard was littered with toys: plastic cars, tricycles, slides, a skateboard near a wooden ramp. Seven bicycles were piled in a storage shed.
"Those kids were dressed better than some of the kids who live in Cleveland. They behaved like any other kids when they were outside playing," said Jim Power, who lives across the street.
At night, authorities say, eight of the children were confined in 31/2-foot-tall, homemade wooden cages stacked in bedrooms on the second floor. The cages were painted in bright, primary colors. Some were rigged to sound an alarm downstairs when a cage door was opened.
"The sheriff and I stood there for a few minutes and just kind of stared at what we were seeing. We were speechless," county sheriff's Lt. Randy Sommers said Tuesday.
No one answered the Gravelles' door Tuesday, and the gray, four-bedroom house was dark. A pig, roosters and other animals shared the yard. The home is near Wakeman, a city of about 1,000 people 50 miles west of Cleveland.
The children have been placed with four foster families and were doing well, said Erich Dumbeck, director of the Huron County Department of Job and Family Services.
"We're still trying to figure out what happened in that home. We don't have any indication at this point that there was any abuse," Dumbeck said.
Sommers said a social worker investigating a complaint contacted authorities. Dumbeck would not discuss the complaint.
According to the search warrant, the cages had mats and the house smelled of urine. One boy said he slept in a cage for three years, Sommers said. A baby slept in a small bed, and two girls used mattresses
Deputies said they were called to the home last year when a 12-year-old boy was upset and ran away for several hours. He was found not far away.
Although the family has lived in Huron County for 10 years, the children were adopted through other counties and states, Dumbeck said. He said his agency was trying to determine how the adoptions were completed.
"I don't believe there were any caseworkers checking in with this family," he said. Reviews are ordered only when there is a complaint.
One of the children, a boy born with HIV, was adopted as an infant in 2001 through the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services, the agency's director Jim McCafferty said. For caring for him, the Gravelles received a subsidy of at least $500 a month.
The private agencies who reviewed the couple's home life before the adoption gave them "glowing reports," McCafferty said.
Leah Hunter, who lives two houses away, said she often saw the children walking down the road.
"They looked OK. They hardly ever wore shoes but I'm a country girl and for me that's normal," she said.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Parents say cages meant to protect children

2005-09-13T06:22:00.000-04:00

CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) -- The Ohio parents under investigation for having some of their 11 adopted children sleep in cages defended their actions, saying the homemade "enclosures" were meant to protect youngsters who set fires and injured each other.
Michael and Sharen Gravelle, of Wakeman, have denied abusing or neglecting the children, who are ages 1 to 14 and have conditions that include autism and fetal alcohol syndrome. No charges have been filed, and the children, whose situation was discovered last week, now are in foster care.
The couple authorized their attorney to issue a statement Wednesday evening explaining their actions.
"The children have been out of control and have caused serious harm to themselves and each other," said attorney David Sherman, adding that Michael Gravelle built the enclosures to provide the children with a secure space while their parents slept at night.
"The Gravelles love and miss their children and are devastated and brokenhearted with worry, since their children have been ripped away from them," Sherman said.
"Their motives and intentions were good. They would never harm a child."
The Gravelles received "glowing reports" from private agencies that reviewed them for the adoption of one of the children, said Jim McCafferty, director of the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services, which placed the boy with the couple.
Erich Dumbeck, director of the Huron County Department of Job and Family Services, said there are no limits to how many children may be placed in a home but that his agency makes the child's welfare a key factor. The Gravelle adoptions were arranged outside the county.
Ohio doesn't require home visits after an adoption. Dumbeck said his agency did not have contact with the family before Friday's court-ordered search, which resulted from a complaint that he won't discuss.
The Ohio couple are white and their adoptive children are black, a group that historically has been harder to place. In 2002, the most recent figures available, there were 127,942 children awaiting adoption in the United States, including 54,832 black youngsters, according to the Child Welfare League of America. The organization didn't tally the number of special needs children.
Keith Alford, a Syracuse University associate professor who has written extensively on adoption, said social workers may be unaware of the demands of caring for disabled children and may be anxious to find them homes.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

11 kids found locked in cages in Ohio house

2005-09-12T05:54:00.000-04:00

Note: This was a white couple with 11 handicap black kids and they were receiving $80,000/year as Bill O'Reilly busted them

CLARKSFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio (AP) -- Sheriff's deputies found 11 children locked in cages rigged with alarms Monday in a north Ohio house.
The children, ages 1 to 14, were in cages in the walls of the home in Clarksfield Township, about 50 miles west of Cleveland. They had no blankets or pillows, according to the Huron County Sheriff's Office.
The children were taken to Fisher-Titus Medical Center. No information on their conditions was available late Monday.
Sharon and Mike Gravelle are adoptive or foster parents for all 11 children, officials said.
The Gravelles do not have a listed telephone number.
Few additional details were available late Monday. Prosecutors were reviewing the case, but no charges had yet been filed.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Two years after Geoghan was Killed in Prison

2005-08-23T06:36:00.000-04:00

Have we learned anything yet? I did not see police storming the Archdiocese of Boston like they did Neverland? What does the system do for these children?

Remember his story??
Convicted former Catholic priest John Geoghan was killed in prison Saturday, August 23, 2002. Geoghan had been a central figure in the Catholic church sex abuse scandal, accused of molesting over 100 people in 30 years. He was in prison serving a 10 year sentence for child molestation.
The church was in the news a few weeks ago, when a 40-year-old document allegedly instructed priests and others in the church to keep any charges of sexual abuse secret. And former Cardinal Bernard Law resigned amid charges that he assisted in the scandal by moving Geoghan from church to church as accusations arose.
This scandal which rocked the Catholic church highlights many concerns and dissatisfactions with the judicial process, especially as it relates to child abuse and molestation.

Plea bargain: Probation in baby's killing....Parents charged with murdering 4-month-old daughter are freed

2005-02-17T04:48:00.000-05:00

What's this madness? Could it be because they were WHITE??? Oh, just in case you are asking...Im white too. Whites get less punishment than blacks in these cases!!!
Sheer madness!!!

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) -- A couple charged with murdering their 4-month-old daughter, who died with nine fractured ribs and a fractured clavicle, were sentenced to probation in a plea deal.

Prosecutor Mary Sullivan Moore said Friday she reduced murder and child abuse charges because she couldn't determine who caused the baby's injuries.

The plea agreement sentenced the child's parents, Houston Ray Baggett, 21, and Seanett McClinithan, 20, to probation. Both served 15 months in jail before the sentencing.

A medical examiner's report shows the infant, Leilani Katrina Baggett, died Aug. 17, 2003 from "failure to thrive due to multiple recent and old rib and clavicle fractures." The report also shows "inappropriate administration of sedating antihistamines" as a contributing factor.

Moore said the parents were not the only adults in the house when the child died, and she could not prove the couple were responsible.

"You rest assured I have had many sleepless nights," Moore said.

Baggett received 10 years of intensive supervised probation for attempted aggravated child abuse and remained in custody pending extradition to Florida on charges of beating a pizza delivery man.

McClinithan pleaded guilty to child abuse and neglect and received a two-year suspended sentence.

Baggett's attorney, Mike Little, described the agreement as a "best interest plea."

"There is just no telling if there was a homicide and if there was, who did it," he said.

Professor Who Killed Baby to Be Honored

2005-01-19T04:54:00.000-05:00

Professor Who Killed Baby to Be Honored

NOW THIS IS VERY INTERESTING!!

By JENNIFER KAY, Associated Press Writer

VILLANOVA, Pa. - Mine Ener's colleagues and former students at Villanova University are dedicating a memorial student lounge in her name, an honor critics at the Roman Catholic school call inappropriate for a professor who killed her baby daughter while in the throes of postpartum depression.

Ener, who committed suicide in a Minnesota jail less than a month after killing her baby, taught at the suburban Philadelphia university's Center for Arab and Islamic Studies. The deaths shocked faculty and students preparing to return for the fall 2003 semester.

Villanova spokeswoman Barbara K. Clement said Ener's friends simply want to honor her work as a dedicated scholar and enthusiastic mentor, and hope to raise awareness about postpartum depression.

"She loved that baby very, very, very much. It was a disease. We have to focus on the fact that she was a wonderful teacher and researcher," Clement said.

But some students say such a memorial is out of place at a university whose mission statement upholds "the sacredness of each person."

In response to an e-mail invitation sent to students about the memorial, 21-year-old Villanova senior Jeanne Marie Hoffman circulated a statement to friends and local media voicing her opposition.

Hoffman, editor of the university's conservative student paper, said no formal protest has been organized for the dedication, though some students plan to gather and pray together in separate locations.

"It was a sad and tragic situation. She was depressed, but she did murder her daughter," Hoffman said Wednesday. "It isn't the kind of thing you want to remember on a Catholic campus."

Ener was taking medication for postpartum depression when she visited her parents in St. Paul, Minn., in August 2003. She brought along her 6-month-old daughter, Raya, who was born with Down syndrome and at one point needed to be fed through a tube.

Ener, 38, told police she fatally slit the infant's throat because she wanted to give the baby relief. Less than a month later, Ener put a trash bag over her head and committed suicide in prison.

The memorial was funded by donations from Ener's friends, family and colleagues.
New tables, lamps and an oriental rug — a nod to Ener's area of study — will be dedicated to her memory Thursday in a corner of the student lounge. A plaque already hanging on the wall lists Ener's department, her years at Villanova and an epitaph: "Scholar, Teacher, Mentor, Friend."

Michael Nataro, president of the campus anti-abortion group, is among the students Ener mentored, and among those who will be there for the dedication.

"Those who oppose it, oppose it out of ignorance," said Nataro, 21. "People who thought that way soon changed their mind when they found out just how sick of a woman she was at the end. This woman is being honored for her life and not her tragic ending."

College Park police probe death of premature baby

2005-01-18T04:53:00.000-05:00

But what did DFACS in Georgia do to help this woman the second time around????

College Park, GA police probe death of premature baby

Police are investigating the Sunday death of a baby born prematurely in a College Park apartment.

Firefighters responding to a 911 call for help at 1600 Vest Ave. after 4 p.m. Sunday found the baby in the toilet. Paramedics cut the umbilical cord and tried to revive the child but were unsuccessful. The mother was taken to a local hospital.

Autopsy results are pending.

It is the second time in two years that the same woman has had a baby that died in the apartment, said Capt. Tom Kuzniacki of the College Park Police Department. In the earlier death, the child was stillborn, police said.

The 29-year-old woman, who Kuzniacki said has a history of mental problems, lives alone. Kuzniacki said she was referred to the Department of Family and Children Services after the first death.

Amber Alert issued for missing N.C. children....Boy and girl were last seen with parents, who fled to Tennessee

2005-01-15T04:50:00.000-05:00

This is what happens when DFACS does not ensure and work hard on reunification of these families. Now What!! They have stalked the foster parents and held them at gunpoint.

CNN) -- Two North Carolina children are missing after being kidnapped at gunpoint by their biological parents Saturday morning, officials said.

An Amber Alert was issued for the children by authorities who have tracked the parents to a wooded area in northeastern Tennessee.

However, the two children -- Breanna Chambers, 11 months, and her 2-year-old brother, Paul -- were not seen with the parents when approached by police, according to a statement from the North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.

The missing children have blonde hair and blue or green eyes, police said.

Breanna weighs 18 pounds, is 27 inches tall and was last seen wearing a white-flowered, long-sleeved T-shirt and green pants.

Paul is about 3 feet tall, weighs 28 pounds and was wearing a white, long-sleeved T-shirt and blue overalls with an orange lining.

Police in the northern mountain town of Boone, North Carolina, said James Canter, 29, and Alishia Ann Chambers, 18, abducted the children at gunpoint from a foster home.

Canter and Chambers fled in a white, two-door Ford, but when officers in Tennessee chased them, they ran from the car into the woods. The children were not in the car and not with the parents, officials said.

Canter is considered armed and dangerous, said Lt. Jamey Fletcher of the sheriff's office in Watauga County, North Carolina.

Fletcher said he did not know how Canter and Chambers knew where to find the children, who he said had been in foster care "for some time."

The Watauga sheriff's office can be reached at 828-264-3761.

Police: Girl died after mother forced her to drink bleach

2005-01-14T04:47:00.000-05:00

Where have our morals gone. I still blame all the warning signs on the rogue agency that I work for. There should have been some warning signs. Those bastards at the Child welfaare agency are complete assholes.

Woman made 9-year-old son watch attack, authorities say
Friday, January 14, 2005 Posted: 5:21 PM EST (2221 GMT)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (AP) -- A woman angry with her 12-year-old daughter for having sex forced the girl to drink bleach and sat on her until the child died, a police detective said.

The girl's 9-year-old brother was forced to watch the attack, Detective Warren Cotton testified Thursday in a preliminary hearing for Tunisia Archie, 31.

Archie is charged with capital murder in the asphyxiation death of her daughter Jasmine. If convicted, she could be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole.

Cotton said Archie, who has been jailed without bond since shortly after her daughter's Nov. 26 death, told authorities she was disturbed because "her daughter told her that she was no longer a virgin."

She said she poured bleach into Jasmine's mouth and the child vomited, he said, then sat on her until she stopped breathing, Cotton testified.

Archie forced Jasmine's 9-year-old brother Jacorey to watch the attack and "told him that if he shed a tear that she was going to kill him, too," Cotton testified.

Yates' attorneys won't seek release from prison

2005-01-07T07:50:00.000-05:00

A Texas appeals court in early 2005 reversed the capital murder convictions of Andrea Yates, the woman who drowned her five children in a bathtub, citing the false testimony of a prosecution witness. Jurors in 2002 sentenced Yates to life in prison in the 2001 deaths of three of her children: Noah, 7, John, 5, and Mary, 6 months. She was not tried in the deaths of the other two, Luke, 3, and Paul, 2. Jurors deliberated for three hours and 40 minutes before finding Yates guilty of murder on March 13, 2002. Her attorneys argued that Yates was insane when she drowned the children but prosecutors said Yates knew what she was doing was wrong.
The whole timeline is here.

Parents Held In Apparent Beating Death Of Baltimore Infant

2005-01-03T04:44:00.000-05:00

POSTED: 5:14 am EST January 3, 2005
UPDATED: 7:23 am EST January 3, 2005

Let's face it, where is DSS here? Mother f*cking Jennifer Corinaldi of the Towson office. Where are you now dummy? Another newborn beaten up!

BALTIMORE -- Police in Baltimore said the city's first homicide of 2005 involved the apparent beating death of a 1-month-old baby boy on New Year's Day.
The baby's parents are in police custody on first-degree murder charges.
According to police, rescue crews got a call Saturday afternoon about a child not breathing at an apartment in the 4800 block of Liberty Heights Avenue. The baby, Joshua Watson, was pronounced dead minutes later at Sinai Hospital.
After an autopsy found injuries to Joshua's skull, back and legs, the death was ruled a homicide and the parents were charged yesterday.
Tanea Bullock, 20, and her husband, Lawrence Watson, 25, are also charged with child abuse, assault and related offenses.

Woman accused of scalding baby to death

2004-12-23T04:42:00.000-05:00

Thursday, December 23, 2004
Woman accused of scalding baby to death

Yep they took the other kids into custody but what happens to the one she's carrying? The SYSTEM STINKS!!!

ROCHESTER HILLS, Michigan (AP) -- A pregnant woman was charged with killing her boyfriend's toddler daughter by scalding her in what prosecutors say was 147-degree water, then ignoring her suffering for several hours.
Letitia Ann Johnson, 27, of Orion Township was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder in the death of 22-month-old Jasmine Phillips. She was ordered held without bond.
Johnson gave the girl a bath Saturday night in scalding water, then put her to bed, according to her statements to police. Johnson was aware Jasmine was in pain, according to prosecutors.
Louie D. Phillips, 26, found his daughter Sunday morning and called 911, police said. She was pronounced dead at a hospital. The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide caused by dehydration from extensive third-degree burns.
"There were third-degree burns over 40 percent of her body. And for 15 to 16 hours, she did not receive treatment except some Vaseline and powder," said prosecutor John Taylor.
Johnson has six children, three by Phillips. They are in state custody.

DYFS workers could get immunity in family starvation case

2004-10-01T22:21:00.000-04:00

COLLINGSWOOD -- As Raymond and Vanessa Jackson stand accused of starving their four adopted boys, prosecutors are considering granting immunity to Division of Youth and Family Services employees intertwined in the family's lives for years, a state official said.One year has passed since Bruce Jackson, a gaunt, ghostlike 19-year-old, was found eating from a neighbor's trash can near his White Horse Pike home in this Camden County borough. When authorities found Bruce, he weighed 45 pounds and stood only 4 feet tall. The situation for the three younger boys was equally grim -- combined, the four weighed 136 pounds.Even more shocking, authorities said the boys' adoptive parents, Raymond and Vanessa Jackson, were responsible for their condition. They were charged with aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children, and are out on bail.Six adopted children, and a girl they were in the process of adopting, were placed in new foster homes. Besides those seven children, the couple have four biological children.Bruce, now 20, was hospitalized, and now lives with a foster family.All the boys have gained substantial weight and height since last year, with Bruce showing the greatest growth: He now weighs 109 pounds and is 57 inches tall, the state official said.Vanessa Jackson would not comment for this story; Raymond Jackson couldn't be reached. The couple haven't seen the children since they were removed from the home, said Richard Josselson, a Haddonfield attorney representing Raymond Jackson.Political falloutSince the discovery of the boys' condition, Gov. McGreevey has signed legislation overhauling DYFS, and the state's Office of the Child Advocate has released a report on the Jackson case that said DYFS managers failed to communicate procedures and caseworkers failed to implement them.Nine DYFS employees were suspended days after the arrest, including one caseworker who made monthly visits to the Jackson home. In January, 11 DYFS workers declined to testify before a grand jury in Camden. At the time, Steven Weissman, an attorney for the union representing the workers, said they invoked the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination. Outside the courthouse, a throng of fellow employees and union officials rallied to show their support for the suspended employees.Bill Shralow, a spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office, said the investigation against the DYFS employees in the Jackson case continues.But a state official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the prosecutor's office is seriously considering granting the workers immunity in the case in exchange for their testimony.Hetty Rosenstein, president of Communication Workers of America Local 1037, said the DYFS workers she represents were wrongfully vilified by the legal system and the public for problems that stemmed far higher up the department's ladder."The management did exactly what it always does -- find the lowest people on the totem pole and lay all the blame on them," she said.But officials have said DYFS workers visited the home 38 times in four years with no reports of abuse.Suspects defendedWhile the public vilified the couple and sent thousands of dollars to a fund created by the borough of Collingswood to help the children, friends, family and fellow church members of Raymond and Vanessa Jackson immediately rallied behind them."Vanessa and Raymond would never want to hurt a child or anybody for that matter," said Josselyne Jackson, a family friend unrelated to the couple. "They have gone through all this humiliation, but they have the confidence that good will prevail."The couple's staunchest supporter was their pastor, Harry Thomas, of Come Alive! New Testament Church in Medford. It was Thomas who posted $10,000 of his own money and offered his home as guarantee for the couple's bail.In interviews and testimony at a congressional hearing in November, Thomas touted the couple's virtues and portrayed the boys as untruthful, attributing their appearance to a variety of medical conditions. As the boys made rapid weight and even height gains, Thomas maintained that controlled environments were the reason for their improvement.But Thomas issued an apology shortly after making his critical remarks about the boys, particularly Bruce.A Web site operated by the church, www.savethejacksons.org, continues to solicit contributions for the couple's defense.Thomas and several other Come Alive! members declined to comment.But Josselyne Jackson said the church is still a major factor in the couple's lives, both spiritually and financially."They have a lot of people helping them out," said Jackson, who recently spoke to Raymond Jackson by phone.Other factors citedIncluded in the Jacksons' Web site are photos of the children at restaurants, links to newspaper articles and a medical Web site that discusses fetal alcohol syndrome and pica, an eating disorder in which individuals eat inedible items such as wood or dirt.In prior interviews, Thomas said he believed Bruce in particular suffered from pica, noting that investigators found chewed wallboard and window sills when they searched the home.In a June 2003 visit, a DYFS employee noted that the family's 18-year-old adopted son (Bruce) "has an eating disorder and depression, he never fully developed physically or mentally from being bulimic his whole life."But no action was ever taken by DYFS workers or officials.Josselson, the attorney representing Raymond Jackson, said the pictures, videos and sentiments of friends, family and church members on the Web site are not part of an agenda, but simply the truth."Just forgetting the fact that they took them to Disney World and have pictures at restaurants and parties, all of these people supporting them would have to be in on a vast conspiracy," Josselson said. "A lot of people jumped to conclusions before they had the evidence."The Camden County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment on the case.Vanessa Jackson and her biological daughter Renee also declined to comment, as did Raymond's brother, William Jackson.Josselyne Jackson says blame may fall somewhere in the gray area between innocence and guilt for her friends."I blame them of having some bad judgment maybe," she said. "There may have been some bad decisions made at times, but I blame DYFS more than anyone else."Pete DiMattia, who lived next to the Jacksons for four years, helped sell the house the Jacksons had been renting in Collingswood. DiMattia said spending time in the home was therapeutic."It was an eerie feeling and kind of therapeutic. I look at the house every day, and I still think about the kids."While they have received substantial support, Raymond and Vanessa Jackson garner little sympathy with DiMattia."I think those people were very deceiving toward the public. I don't think they were loving parents to those kids," he said. "From what I saw for those four years, I could never see how they cared for those kids."