Bad Breeders

In Georgia, Tina Richards, 19, is charged with aggravated assault and battery, and first and second degree child cruelty. Her ten-month old son remains in critical condition at a hospital in Savannah.

Emergency medical servives arrived at Richard’s home after receiving a 911 call that she  fell with the child while getting into the shower. According to the call, the child was having trouble breathing.

EMS told the police that the baby’s injuries were not consistent with the story since he was completely dry and his injuries were not consistent with a fall. The boy had dried blood in its nostrils and could only breathe when held upright. EMS found the baby had bruises on his arms and around his head.  He may have a broken nose and other facial injuries.

At the home, the sheriff recovered a onesie sewed into the bed sheet, yarn may have been used to maybe strap the child’s legs down, and duct tape.

Oh god.

They are investigating to see if Richards was suffering from post partum depression.  Even so, this isn’t the first time she was found abusing her son. Richards was arrested last summer on cruelty to children and battery charges. At that time the boy, had a bruised eye and black and blue marks on both arms.

Richards plead guilty to both charges and was sentenced to five years probation and $1350 in fines.

Why did this woman get her son back? Needless to say, local officials are investigating.

In Florida, Aisha Brown, 18 was arrested for striking her then 10-month old son several times before picking him by his arm and carrying him to bed. Bowen’s roommate recorded the incident with his cell phone and took it to police.

Kudos for the roommate!

Bowen told police that she hit her son for knocking over a hot plate of spaghetti. But she says it was far from abuse. She says she grabbed him by his arm and smacked his butt.

The Department of Children and Families spent the past two months investigating the case, and finally arrested Bowen at her day care job at Kids Zone Daycare Center . It’s not clear if the daycare center management knew she was being investigated. But doesn’t it seem odd that they let Bowen continue working even though she was being investigated for child abuse?

If I had a child at Kids Zone, I’d be pissed.

Bowen’s son, now over a year old, is living with relatives. A judge has ruled that she can see him if her relatives let her.

Lam Luong, 37, is charged with four counts of capital murder for driving to Dauphin Island bridge and throwing his 4 children into the water below.

After having a dispute with his wife, Lam left the house with two children. Then came back later for the other two, apparently to throw them off the bridge as well.

To normal people this would seem insane. But Lam is not normal. He is a crack head with a history of drug offenses.

All four children are missing and presumed dead.

For a year, Lora Lee Hansen-Beard, 41, of Boulder, Colorado, would leave her eight-year-old daughter every Saturday night with a 47-year-old man,  Joseph Cardillo, 47.

If you read the story in the newspaper, you’ll see that Hanswen Beard was a complete and total nut. She is charged with two misdemeanor counts of child abuse for placing the girl in a life- or health-threatening situation. 

That’s it? As usual, the Boulder DA is doing a great job…not. 

Authorities found out about the abuse after the girl’s teachers reported that she often showed up late to school, unfed and wearing dirty clothes. Her teachers say that the girl cried all the time and was unable to focus on her work.

The girl told police that she and Cardillo slept naked in the same bed, would bathe together, and went in the hot tub naked. 

Cardillo is charged with sexual assault. He’s accused of using a sex toy on the girl and drinking her urine. If convicted, he faces a possible life sentence in prison if convicted on charges of sex assault on a child by a person in position of trust and a pattern of assaulting the girl. He’s free on a $100,000 bond.

In San Antonio, Texas, police arrested Christopher James Cowan, and his wife, Danelle Cowen after police received a report from salon workers that their two-year-old daughter was abused. They’ve been charged with injury to a child.

Salon employees told police the family came in for hair cuts.  They saw a large bruise on the girl’s face and abrasions and burn marks on her wrists. The employees told the girl’s father that he should take her to the hospital because she looked sick. He told them the toddler was “fine as long as she was walking.”

Danelle, the stepmother, told them that the little girl had been punished for soiling her pants and that she put a hot sauce in her mouth as punishment.

Dang. What is wrong with people?

After the family left, the salon workers called the police who went to the Cowen’s home to investigate. First, they said the little girl injured herself and was not abused.  Then child protective services took her to the hospital for a medical screening. Doctors said her injuries indicated child abuse.

Christopher Cowen finally confessed that he’d been having trouble potty training the little girl. He said that Danelle had tied up the child with shoe strings and spanked her with a belt as punishment.

Did it ever occur to them that she wasn’t ready yet? And that beating her wasn’t a great way to encourage her to use the toilet? Friggin’ ignorant people.

Vernice Harris, 29, gave her two-year-old daughter, Bryanna Harris, methadone to keep her child from crying and disturbing her and her drug-addicted friends.

Eventually she gave the girl too much and Bryanna died from a methadone overdose and a beating to her stomach.

Now Vernice, whose two other daughters were taken away from her before Bryanna died, is charged with first- and second-degree murder, assault, reckless endangerment and child abuse.

At the time of Bryanna’s death, child protective services were investigating two reports that Vernice was neglecting her daughter. They had even visited Bryanna and her mother.

Why this woman allowed to keep Bryanna? She was living in squalor in a roach infested apartment. She had an obvious drug problem. Her two other girls were taken away from her.

The head of Maryland’s Department of Human Resources ordered an investigation into the agency’s handling of this case. Let’s hope that the death of Bryanna Harris is not in vain and some real changes come around in how reports of child abuse are handled.

Marcos Gomez-Romero, 28, is being charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of his infant daughter, Ariana Rodriguez Romero.

An autopsy showed that Ariana had five new rib fractures, and 15 old rib fractures. She also had a bruised liver, a bruised spleen, a black eye, and bruises all over her body.

Why did Marcos kill his daughter? Because he wanted a boy.

He told investigators that every time he looked at the baby, he became angry because she was a girl. He would call his daughter ugly and a prostitute (an infant!) and would try to deny that she was his daughter.

He told police that he would grab the baby, jerk her around, and press down on her rib cage. He also slapped her on the ribs when she was sleeping. Abusing her became a habit, he said.

The child’s mother, Juana Rodriguez, said that Marcos would take the baby in the bedroom and close the door. Shortly afterward she would hear their daughter begin to cry. He told her he’d leave with their two-year-old son if she called police.

I don’t know lady. How about you take the kids to the park and then call 911 to get your scumbag boyfriend arrested? If you were a little less passive and cared about your child more than your so-called man maybe your daughter would be alive.

Karen McCarron, mother of 3-year-old autistic daughter, Katie, has been arrested after suffocating her child with a garbage bag.

Of course, Karen is claiming insanity — who doesn’t nowadays.

I have a feeling it’s going to be a little harder for her to pull this off since she’s a medical pathologist. So she’s already demonstrated some sort of competency.

She also ditched the bag in a trash can at a nearby gas station. That tells me she knew she fucked up and was trying to get away with it.

I know taking care of an autistic kid is hard, but there are better options than strangling them to death.

McCarron, who has been charged on two counts of first degree murder, could be sentenced to life if she is found guilty.

In Millington, Tenn., Shawn Tanner, 29, left his five- and six-year-old alone in his truck while he shopped at Wal-Mart. Inside the vehicle, the temperatures was just 27 degrees. Brrrrrr.

Tanner told police he felt his children were safe from kidnappers because of surveillance cameras in the parking lot. He believes they overreacted since the kids were locked in and had on heavy winter coats. Even so, he’s been charged with felony child abuse and neglect.

In retrospect, Tanner admits leaving his kids alone was a bad judgement call. The boys were released to their grandmother.

I think this parent was not purposely neglectful. It IS a pain in the ass to get two young kids in and out of the car just to run a short errand. The police report says he was in the store for at least 15 minutes.

My mom used to leave me and my sister in the car all the time. But that was over 30 years ago and we lived in a small town. Stupid? Neglectful? Would you leave your kids in the car like Tanner did?

In Apopka, Florida, Darlanne Toussaint, 24, poured hot cooking oil on his girlfriend’s 17-month-old on, Kenneth. Then he shook the boy hard for 10 minutes, hit him, and used a hair dryer to burn the child’s skin off - all because the toddler wouldn’t stop crying and whining. Toussaint is charged with felony attempted murder. 

Kenneth’s mom, Marlita S. Stokes, 23, was also arrested on charges of child neglect and providing false information to police. Police found text messages on her cell phone that suggested she and Toussaint worked together on inventing a cover up story.

Toussaint sent text messages to Stokes saying that he was a bad parent and that Kenneth had a bad rash and might have scratched himself. Then he sent more messages including one that read, “I burned him.”

Good lord.

Stokes told police that she and Toussaint left their sleeping children (her toddler and his three-year-old daughter) at home unattended while Toussaint took her to work at her job at McDonalds. Then Toussaint drove two other women to work.

Leaving a two kids under four home alone for over an hour? Are you kidding me? Even before the

Kenneth suffered second-degree burns on his genitals, chest, head and back. His spine was also fractured when Toussaint hit him. The boy is listed in stable condition.