Parents Behaving Badly

Yes folks, it may shock you, but… it’s still illegal to leave your child in the car.

Both parents of the 2-year-old boy had to learn this lesson the hard way as they have both been arrested. She is charged with confining an unattended child. The boyfriend gets a bonus charge for possession of marijuana.

Police arrived to find the toddler alone, wet and crying in 36 degree weather.

Police said the mother gave no remorse for leaving the boy in the car and said she left him there because he was asleep.

Bad parents! Bad!

(thanks for the tip beverley)

Seven-year-old Sean Gibson was found earlier this month wandering in a parking lot by employees of Westgate Resorts in Kissimee, Florida. He was out late by himself and begging for food at a buffet. The poor kid only weighed 37 pounds. They called authories who took him to the hospital.

Now domestic partners Suzette Stevenson, 45, and Jamie Lynn Martin, 26, have been charged with aggravated child abuse.

Think that drugging your kid and leaving him in the car while you looked at timeshares was bad? Read on…

Staff at the hospital were shocked at the extent of Sean’s abuse. They had to amputate one of his big toes that had been broken by bending. They boy also had rope burns on his wrists from where he was left hanging by his arms from two large wall lights at the trailer. He had burns on the side of his ears from being dragged across carpets.

One of doctors thought he may have damage to internal organs from repeated kicking. Sean’s head was covered in bruises and knots believed to be from blows by fists, hands or other objects.

Sean told police that he was forced to drink shampoo, was burned with cigarettes, and had to urinate and defecate in a closet.

Even more shocking was that Sean was not the biological child or related to either woman. The boy was born to parents addicted to meth. First he was taken away from his mom and given to his dad. The father who did not want him, gave Sean to an aunt who was in a domestic partnership with Stevenson.

Stevenson then purchased an illegal birth certificate for the boy after his aunt died. Then Stevenson met Martin in September 2005 and they moved in together.

There was no one else in Sean’s life to make sure he was o.k. After he got in trouble at daycare, Stevenson pulled him out and she did not send him back to school this fall.

But that’s changing. Not only is he in custody of the Department of Children and Families. Local school kids are sending him care packages. Employees at the Westgate Resort are collecting clothing and gifts for him. Once he’s released from the hospital, Sean will be a special guest of Disney World.

Let’s just hope this is the beginning of a good life for him.

(Thanks to M. Court for the tip.)

And you thought parents only behaved badly in the U.S. This story comes from Melbourne, Australia where a three-year-old Liliana Lam’s stepfather, Phong Gia Quach, 23, flew into a rage and crushed her against the edge of a bathroom sink.

Quach, a drug addict, said he never intended to hurt his stepdaughter. He told told police he only wanted to scare the three-year-old into obeying him. He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Seems that Lilian was so sick that she continually vomited on herself and not into a bucket as Quach told her to do. She was also closing her eyes when he had told her not to go to sleep.

So this lousy excuse of a human being got mad and put Liliana on the floor. Then he pushed on her stomach with both hands, picked her up, and pushed her forcefully over the edge of the sink basin.

The next day the little girl died less than an hour after being taken to the hospital. Liliana died from acute internal blood loss and blunt force trauma to the abdomen. She also had several bruises to the head, chest and back.

Quach and Liliana’s mother, Dieu Lam, were heavy heroin users amd also used “ice” or meth, and possibly crack. They lived at Dieu Lam’s grandparents home. Liliana shared a room with her 18-year-0ld aunt who acted as her primary carer when she was not at school.

Photographs of the parents’ room showed drug paraphernalia and bottles filled with urine. (They were too high to go to the bathroom.) Why the grandparents put up with this, I don’t know. I think they’re also to blame – along with Lilian’s mother – for letting this monster stay in their home and abuse this little girl.

 (Thanks to Brent S. for the story.)

9-year-old Rowan Ford had gone missing for days. Foul play was always suspected as 9-year-old girls don’t just wander out of the house in the middle of the night and remain missing the following day.

Her stepfather, 24-year-old David Spears was uncooperative with police, refusing to speak to anyone until he “consults an attorney”. Now normally I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having an attorney present, but when a member of your family is missing and you refuse to talk to the police, I’m pretty sure this makes you the number one suspect on their list.

Well, after a search, Rowan’s body was discovered, discarded in a cave; David Spears and a friend of his were promptly arrested.

David Spears was a suspect from the outset of the investigation after telling police that he had left the girl at home when he went out with some friends. Spears also told authorities that he borrowed his mother’s car shortly after 1:00 a.m. and was gone for nearly six hours. When questioned by investigators as to his whereabouts during that period Spears had no answer.

In Troy Hill, Pennsylvania, Clinton Smith, 30, is being held without bond on charges including aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, rape and endangering a child, for beating and sexually abusing his girlfriend’s 10-month-old daughter, Daniyah Jackson.

The baby had severe bruising to her face, arms and legs. She was also bitten on the chest and sexually assaulted.

The infant’s mother told plice she left Smith, her live-in boyfriend, in charge of the baby and Smith’s two-year-old son from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Thursday. When she came home, she found the little girl unresponsive. The mom called paramedics who tried to revive the baby.

Doctors say the baby was not breathing when she was brought into the emergency room. They also told police investigators the baby was sexually assaulted.

Daniyah was put on life support. She died Saturday.

An autopsy will be done today. If it determines the little girl’s death was a homicide, Smith will face additional murder charges.

In Tennessee, Wayne Burkhart Jr., 38, and his wife, Rebecca, 35, were arrested and are facing trial for child abuse. Wayne  faces two counts of aggravated child assault and two counts of rape. Rebecca faces charges of aggravated child neglect and failing to report child abuse.

Burkhart’s 17-year-old daughter told police that she was sexually and physically abused by her father. She told them that her dad used electric shock dog collars on her and her 19-year-old sister, and that her stepmother, Rebecca, and her three younger siblings (ages 15, 13 and 11) knew about it.

That wasn’t all. She also said that her dad held a shotgun to her head and said that if she ever told anyone that he would kill the whole family.

The abuse and shock collars were intended to establish dominance, control and fear in the children. By the way, officials say that the the collars packed a substantial jolt and were meant to be used on large dogs.

So not only was this sick fuck torturing his kids, but he was raping his oldest two daughters. The 17-year-old daughter finally reported the abuse to a school resource officer when she was scared that her younger sister would also be raped by her dad.

All the Burkhart children are in foster care. Their father is being held on a $1 million bond. His wife was  was released after she posted a $100,000 bond.

It’s amazing how child abuse victims finally get over their fear to help out younger siblings. She’s a brave girl for doing this. Let’s hope for her sake – and all the Burkhart kid’s well being – that both their parents are put away for a long, long time.

Thanks to M. Court for the tip!

This man is quite the piece of s**t. Using zip ties and duct tape he bound his 13-year-old son to a pole in their basement. He proceeded to beat the boy with a 2×4. He beat him until it broke. Though that wasn’t going to stop him. He simply acquired another 2×4 and continued the beatings.

In the middle of this extremely severe torture, he went upstairs and brought his 13-year-old daughter down to witness the beatings. Classy.

He then left the boy tied and taped to the pole and left the house for about an hour.

Continue reading

In Northglenn, Colorado, Michael Ochsner was arrested on suspicion of child abuse for beating his girlfriend’s four-year-old son, Kurt Green.

Ochsner and the boy’s mom Velta Asplin took the boy to their local emergency room. He was flown to Children’s Hospital for emergency surgery and remains there in the ICU. He’s listed in critical but stable condition.

Ochsner told doctors and nurses that the boy had fallen down a flight of stairs the night before. Luckily, the medical staff knew better and said that Kurt’s injuries were not consistent with that type of fall.

Ochsner later confessed to police that he hit the little boy with a closed fist when he was angry. He also said he tried to conceal the truth from his girlfriend, the doctors, and police. But Ochsner is also saying that he only hit the boy once. Yeah, right.

The boy’s grandfather, Richard Frecka, talked to reporters, and provided 9News with photos of Kurt in the ICU. He wonders if he missed signs of abuse and warns people not to believe stories told by friends and family about children’s injuries. If you feel that it may be abuse, report it!

I’m glad to know there are good people out there like Kurt’s grandpa. Let’s pray for this little boy and his recovery. And let’s hope that Michael Ochsner gets the maximum sentence for hurting Kurt.

In Tuscon, Arizona, Christina A. Blanco, 22,  was charged with first degree murder in the July death of her infant son, Peter. She also faces a child abuse charge.

According to police, the 13-month-old boy died last July 14 when Blanco left him and his four-year-old sister in the care of her boyfriend, Alvaro Andres Ramos-Cardenas, 24 for several hours that morning. About 9:30 a.m., Ramos-Cardenas told Blanco that the baby wasn’t breathing. They called 911.

Emergency personnel took the unresponsive baby to hospital. He died two days later. The baby’s multiple injuries were found to be consistent with child abuse - a fractured skull, brain bleeding and a lacerated liver. Blanco and Ramos-Cardenas told police that Peter stopped breathing after he fell down.

Blanco’s boyfriend, Alvaro Andres Ramos-Cardenas, 24, was arrested following the baby’s death in July. He also faced one count of child abuse after Peter’s four-year-old sister told police that he gave her a bruise on her cheek and a burn on her leg.

Bail for Blanco was set at $100,000. Ramos-Cardenas was released from jail under the supervision of the court’s Pretrial Services Program. The newspapers reported that the whereabouts of Peter’s sister are unknown.

Let’s keep an eye on this case, shall we? I hope both the “mother” and her wonderful (NOT!) boyfriend get the maximum and are put away for a long time.

An unnamed Florida woman is accused keeping her 12-year-old boy chained in an outside shed and bathroom and repeatedly beating him with a hammer, metal pole, chains, cans, bottles and anything she could find.

I don’t know how this could have gone unnoticed for so long, as the boy was covered in scars from head to toe, having numerous marks on his face, back and abdomen. The abuse should have been very easy to identify by just taking one look at the boy.

The father told police he would bring the abuse to her attention, but didn’t do anything else to prevent it.

Fortunately, in this case they’ve decided to make “doing nothing about it” a crime and are prosecuting the father for child neglect.

I hope this charge sticks. If you passively allow this kind of abuse to continue, you might as well be contributing to it yourself.

I’ve received multiple emails from people about this case. It seems to be quite the hot topic. A lot of news agencies are sensationalizing this story, even going as far as branding Ashly as the “Hooters Mom” (ya, because she works at Hooters.)

What happened is no doubt a horrible tragedy. 22-year-old Ashly Duchene forgot her son was in the back seat of her car while she went to work. She left him there for over seven hours in 90 degree heat. By the time the the boy was found, he was not breathing and was unresponsive.

The mother is now facing a felony charge of neglect homicide.

Now this case is important because these cases have been on the rise, ever since they passed the laws to put all child seats in the rear. More and more parents are forgetting their children in the back.

News reporting of these incidents tends to suggest “bad” or “neglectful” parents, caregivers or drivers. In most cases, a child is extremely well-loved and doted upon; it’s just a tragic ending to a forgetful episode that results in a life or lives lost. Usually charges are filed, with penalties resulting in convictions and jail time. The tragedy often tears families apart.

I can’t imagine a single day will ever go by where you will forget the death of your child and not blame yourself.

Is filing charges and prosecuting these forgetful parents the right thing to do or is the death of their child painful enough?

What do you guys think?

In Florida, Breanna Hall, 18, was arrested for burning her infant son with a curling iron. The three burns on the baby’s leg were so severe that he was taken to the emergency room. Hall was arrested for aggravated child abuse and has been released after posting bond money.

At first, Hall said the burn happened accidentally when the baby got to the hot curling iron while she went to get a sandwich. She said the iron’s cord was hanging off of the dresser and the child pulled it down on himself.

It was suspicious enough for child protective services to investigate. However, they determined that the child was in a safe environment and that there was no concern for abuse.

Luckily for the child, one of the detectives wasn’t convinced it was an accident. He showed photographs of the child’s burns to the county’s assistant medical examiner who felt that the injuries showed signs of abuse. (You can see a picture of the burns on the NBC2 News Online website.)

When the detective confronted Hall, she said she inflicted the burns in order to teach the child a lesson about touching the curling iron. Excuse me, the child is eight months old! All he would know is pain and couldn’t grasped at what his “mother” was trying to teach him. What was this idiot thinking?!

In Arizona, Brian David Ramsay, 34, and Louise Lisa Pollok, 33 were indicted for abusing their newborn son Austin. Their baby was taken to Phoenix Children’s Hospital with head injuries consistent with shaken baby syndrome. Austin has since been placed in foster care.

Odd thing was this happened back in early 2004. (Maybe that’s a typo?) Even if it did happen in early 2006, Ramsay and Pollok weren’t arrested until September 2006, many months later. The indictment wasn’t returned until July 18, 2007 – almost a year after that. Finally, the indictment wasn’t made public until October 2007.

Geez, the wheels of justice turn slowly, but this is ridiculous!

Here’s what happened: following their arrest, Ramsay and Pollok were indicted for child abuse, but a judge then tossed out the charges. He said the defendants were denied justice.

Huh? It sounds to me like the prosecutors mucked up a pretty straight forward case since the judge declared that they failed to make a full and fair presentation of the evidence. So back to the grand jury they went. (Wonder how much this is costing Arizona’s taxpayers?)

Ramsay and Pollok have pleaded not guilty and are free pending the outcome of the case. They return to court in November. Let’s hope we see some swift justice for Austin.

Parents Emanuel Jones, 43, and Tammy Lynn Melton, 25, currently sit in jail facing felony charges.

Four of their eight kids tested positive for cocaine and benzodiapines (an anti-anxiety drug), most-likely ingested.

Hospital nurses became suspicious and called the police after their 11-month-old boy made a second trip to the emergency room for yet another broken bone within the week.

“He seemed very lethargic and he wasn’t showing the pain reaction a child should show,” Gardner-Sanders said. “A urine test showed him positive for cocaine.” (My guess is they were intentionally feeding him drugs to dull his pain.)

The other kids were brought in for testing, 4 of which tested positive for drugs; a 2 1/2 -year-old girl, a 22-month-old boy, and 11-month-old twin boys.

The abuse and neglect doesn’t stop there. These two are absolutely horrid parents.

There were 11 people all living in a one bedroom apartment, including a great-grandmother who only stays with them because her social security check pays the rent.

With that many people all living under one roof, as you can imagine it would be pretty nasty in there, the place was littered with bugs and trash and I’m sure smelled like the rancid armpit of a bum.

Under these conditions, I really feel that these two have lost all 8 of their kids for good. CPS will fail greatly in my eyes if they let even a single child back in to their custody.