Sunday, July 27, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
i don’t watch you...but thank you abc channel 7 news,,,,,
(WLS) -- It is a story of fractured families, empty bank accounts and missing money.
When the I-Team received an email from Army Sergeant Joshua Hinkle a few weeks ago, it first caught our attention because it was sent from Camp Bucca in Iraq.
The soldier wrote that he was suffering a great injustice: the state of Illinois, he claimed, had cleaned out his entire bank account for child support.
"They went into my bank account and they took it, they took it down to the penny," said Hinkle, who's with the Illinois National Guard.
The I-Team spoke with Sergeant Hinkle by a webcam link-up, after he had provided bank records and military pay stubs that seemed to back up his serious allegations.
"The state of Illinois child collection support, child collection agency basically stole $4,000 from me without any notification or anything for child support they say I owe and I disagree with," Hinkle said.
As you might imagine, the situation is slightly more complex. Hinkle, of the Quad Cities, has been stationed in Basra province for the past seven months. It is his second Iraq tour. Hinkle was first there as a regular army officer when the war began. He has a son, 10-year-old Cody.
"I had a child very young; we were still in high school. And, uh, once I joined active duty, we set up the child support payment system and we've had problems with them ever since," Hinkle said.
And he has a 2-year-old daughter, Scarlett. His children have different mothers.
Hinkle says, and the state agrees, that he kept up with all required child support payments except for a period between assignments in Iraq, when he struggled with employment.
Since being back on the military's payroll as a reservist, full child support, including installments for the missed payments, have been withdrawn from his Army paychecks until June, when the state put a lien on his bank account and took it all.
"I don't know how it is legal. Even if I was at home, how is it legal to take 100 percent of my income?" Hinkle said.
It is legal for the state to take whatever money he makes until it's all paid.
An email sent to Hinkle in Iraq from the Illinois Division of Child Support says, "We show the past due debt to be $15,291.78, which is a total due for two separate child support cases."
Even though what Hinkle owes in back pay qualifies him for the public list of deadbeat dads, his picture isn't on it. But as the state Web site promises, the child support division will use all available enforcement tools to collect, regardless of whether a person is serving in Iraq.
"In the case of, certainly, this soldier, it sounds like they're not acting in the best interests of the child by financially trying to destroy one of the parents," said Mark Schario, American Coalition for Fathers and Children.
Child support experts say Hinkle and other GIs stationed overseas have no recourse, nor are they protected by laws intended to make sure soldiers do not lose jobs and other benefits while serving.
"I've contacted them on numerous occasions," Hinkle said. "I've emailed them. They emailed me once. Every time I call I'm on hold for approximately 20 to 40 minutes and over here, that is a long time because we have to use phone cards."
"That soldier is serving in Iraq and can't be back here to represent himself that's not by his choice, he's serving his country," Schario said.
"It has definitely made life stressful over here," Hinkle said. "I hate checking my bank account. I hate checking my email. We work 12 hours a day, six days a week. And it has, it's made life really unbearable over here."
The state initially sent a generic statement praising those in the military but noting the importance of paying child support:
"The Department of Healthcare and Family Services has the utmost respect and admiration for those who protect and defend our nation overseas. Illinois state law gives the Department the authority to help parents receive the child support they deserve, and the law provides multiple avenues to help us do that. While we are cognizant of the concerns some may have when forced to pay child support, it is important to remember that the money is going to support their children."
On Wednesday in Iraq, Sergeant Hinkle received an e-mail from the state informing him he now owes more than $18,000 in back payments and that if he disagrees, he should send them evidence from Iraq.
Most puzzling is what happened to all that money the state seized from his account in June. The boy's mother said she hasn't seen any of it.
SERVICEMEMBERS CIVIL RELIEF ACT
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/military/scratext.htm
ILLINOIS CHILD SUPPORT
http://www.ilchildsupport.com
AMERICAN COALITION FOR FATHERS AND CHILDREN
http://www.acfc.org/site/PageServer
************************************************************
(WLS) -- The director of the Illinois child support system says that parents serving in the military are treated fairly in the collection of child support and with the best interest of children in mind.
Pam Lowry, Administrator of the Division of Child Support Enforcement for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services contacted the I-Team after our report: "Fighting For His Country; Fighting Against Illinois."
After declining to be interviewed or provide any details for the Wednesday evening TV report, Ms. Lowry and the department's communications director Annie Thompson said they received permission from the parents who were featured in our child support story to speak with us.
Lowry and Thompson both dispute the statement by Army Sgt. Joshua Hinkle that "The state of Illinois child support collection agency basically stole $4,000 from me without any notification or anything for child support they say I owe and I disagree with&I don't know how it is legal. Even if I was at home, how is it legal to take 100 percent of my income?"
They admit however that Child Support officials did not know Sgt. Hinkle was stationed in a war zone when they slapped a lien on his bank account for monies past due.
"We try to help people overseas with their situation," Thompson told the I-team. "We work to accommodate military people."
Ms. Lowry provided the I-Team with a detailed chronology of the Hinkle dispute over past due child support for his two children.
Lowry said that on Sept. 28, 2007 the department gave notice to Hinkle of his outstanding child support balance and informed him of his right to challenge the notification. "He didn't protest," Lowry stated.
On June 9, 2008 the department sent notice of lien to his bank and to Hinkle, Lowry said, which included a provision that the money would be frozen for 180 days or until the issue was resolved whichever came first. "Hinkle was given time to react and didn't," she said.
On June 19 the department received a reply from the bank stating that Hinkle's account balance of $4268.59 was frozen.
On June 24 a department case worker spoke to Hinkle, who was serving in Iraq. "He was aware of the lien," said Administrator Lowry, who noted that the child support division received subsequent emails from Hinkle and his JAG attorney.
Illinois Child Support officials say they did not know until that conversation on June 24 that Hinkle was in Iraq.
On June 27 the department told Hinkle why a lien was being used and gave him his balance owed. The state offered to lien $2268 of account balance and leave $2000 alone in Hinkle's account.
On July 3 Lowry said the state received an email from Hinkle stating he didn't agree with the proposal and wanted to take issue to court. She said that he had a right to do so, but that would not stop the lien from being executed.
On July 21 the state agency told Hinkle's bank to remit $2268 to the Department of Healthcare and Family Services for child support arrears. They sent that amount to us and left $2000 in Hinkle's account.
The bank, this morning, said they will send $2268 to HFS and we will send it to family tomorrow.
"We didn't take all the money," Lowry told the I-Team. "We try to be fair to both parents&when people owe significant amounts of child support we look at bank accounts that have a balance and we notify them that we will lien that account. When they contact us we try to learn particulars of the case."
Firmly, Ms. Lowry said that they follow all federal and state laws and that "We know there are opportunities for soldiers to work with us. We were able to communicate with Hinkle. We try to help people overcome barriers."
When the I-Team received an email from Army Sergeant Joshua Hinkle a few weeks ago, it first caught our attention because it was sent from Camp Bucca in Iraq.
The soldier wrote that he was suffering a great injustice: the state of Illinois, he claimed, had cleaned out his entire bank account for child support.
"They went into my bank account and they took it, they took it down to the penny," said Hinkle, who's with the Illinois National Guard.
The I-Team spoke with Sergeant Hinkle by a webcam link-up, after he had provided bank records and military pay stubs that seemed to back up his serious allegations.
"The state of Illinois child collection support, child collection agency basically stole $4,000 from me without any notification or anything for child support they say I owe and I disagree with," Hinkle said.
As you might imagine, the situation is slightly more complex. Hinkle, of the Quad Cities, has been stationed in Basra province for the past seven months. It is his second Iraq tour. Hinkle was first there as a regular army officer when the war began. He has a son, 10-year-old Cody.
"I had a child very young; we were still in high school. And, uh, once I joined active duty, we set up the child support payment system and we've had problems with them ever since," Hinkle said.
And he has a 2-year-old daughter, Scarlett. His children have different mothers.
Hinkle says, and the state agrees, that he kept up with all required child support payments except for a period between assignments in Iraq, when he struggled with employment.
Since being back on the military's payroll as a reservist, full child support, including installments for the missed payments, have been withdrawn from his Army paychecks until June, when the state put a lien on his bank account and took it all.
"I don't know how it is legal. Even if I was at home, how is it legal to take 100 percent of my income?" Hinkle said.
It is legal for the state to take whatever money he makes until it's all paid.
An email sent to Hinkle in Iraq from the Illinois Division of Child Support says, "We show the past due debt to be $15,291.78, which is a total due for two separate child support cases."
Even though what Hinkle owes in back pay qualifies him for the public list of deadbeat dads, his picture isn't on it. But as the state Web site promises, the child support division will use all available enforcement tools to collect, regardless of whether a person is serving in Iraq.
"In the case of, certainly, this soldier, it sounds like they're not acting in the best interests of the child by financially trying to destroy one of the parents," said Mark Schario, American Coalition for Fathers and Children.
Child support experts say Hinkle and other GIs stationed overseas have no recourse, nor are they protected by laws intended to make sure soldiers do not lose jobs and other benefits while serving.
"I've contacted them on numerous occasions," Hinkle said. "I've emailed them. They emailed me once. Every time I call I'm on hold for approximately 20 to 40 minutes and over here, that is a long time because we have to use phone cards."
"That soldier is serving in Iraq and can't be back here to represent himself that's not by his choice, he's serving his country," Schario said.
"It has definitely made life stressful over here," Hinkle said. "I hate checking my bank account. I hate checking my email. We work 12 hours a day, six days a week. And it has, it's made life really unbearable over here."
The state initially sent a generic statement praising those in the military but noting the importance of paying child support:
"The Department of Healthcare and Family Services has the utmost respect and admiration for those who protect and defend our nation overseas. Illinois state law gives the Department the authority to help parents receive the child support they deserve, and the law provides multiple avenues to help us do that. While we are cognizant of the concerns some may have when forced to pay child support, it is important to remember that the money is going to support their children."
On Wednesday in Iraq, Sergeant Hinkle received an e-mail from the state informing him he now owes more than $18,000 in back payments and that if he disagrees, he should send them evidence from Iraq.
Most puzzling is what happened to all that money the state seized from his account in June. The boy's mother said she hasn't seen any of it.
SERVICEMEMBERS CIVIL RELIEF ACT
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/military/scratext.htm
ILLINOIS CHILD SUPPORT
http://www.ilchildsupport.com
AMERICAN COALITION FOR FATHERS AND CHILDREN
http://www.acfc.org/site/PageServer
************************************************************
(WLS) -- The director of the Illinois child support system says that parents serving in the military are treated fairly in the collection of child support and with the best interest of children in mind.
Pam Lowry, Administrator of the Division of Child Support Enforcement for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services contacted the I-Team after our report: "Fighting For His Country; Fighting Against Illinois."
After declining to be interviewed or provide any details for the Wednesday evening TV report, Ms. Lowry and the department's communications director Annie Thompson said they received permission from the parents who were featured in our child support story to speak with us.
Lowry and Thompson both dispute the statement by Army Sgt. Joshua Hinkle that "The state of Illinois child support collection agency basically stole $4,000 from me without any notification or anything for child support they say I owe and I disagree with&I don't know how it is legal. Even if I was at home, how is it legal to take 100 percent of my income?"
They admit however that Child Support officials did not know Sgt. Hinkle was stationed in a war zone when they slapped a lien on his bank account for monies past due.
"We try to help people overseas with their situation," Thompson told the I-team. "We work to accommodate military people."
Ms. Lowry provided the I-Team with a detailed chronology of the Hinkle dispute over past due child support for his two children.
Lowry said that on Sept. 28, 2007 the department gave notice to Hinkle of his outstanding child support balance and informed him of his right to challenge the notification. "He didn't protest," Lowry stated.
On June 9, 2008 the department sent notice of lien to his bank and to Hinkle, Lowry said, which included a provision that the money would be frozen for 180 days or until the issue was resolved whichever came first. "Hinkle was given time to react and didn't," she said.
On June 19 the department received a reply from the bank stating that Hinkle's account balance of $4268.59 was frozen.
On June 24 a department case worker spoke to Hinkle, who was serving in Iraq. "He was aware of the lien," said Administrator Lowry, who noted that the child support division received subsequent emails from Hinkle and his JAG attorney.
Illinois Child Support officials say they did not know until that conversation on June 24 that Hinkle was in Iraq.
On June 27 the department told Hinkle why a lien was being used and gave him his balance owed. The state offered to lien $2268 of account balance and leave $2000 alone in Hinkle's account.
On July 3 Lowry said the state received an email from Hinkle stating he didn't agree with the proposal and wanted to take issue to court. She said that he had a right to do so, but that would not stop the lien from being executed.
On July 21 the state agency told Hinkle's bank to remit $2268 to the Department of Healthcare and Family Services for child support arrears. They sent that amount to us and left $2000 in Hinkle's account.
The bank, this morning, said they will send $2268 to HFS and we will send it to family tomorrow.
"We didn't take all the money," Lowry told the I-Team. "We try to be fair to both parents&when people owe significant amounts of child support we look at bank accounts that have a balance and we notify them that we will lien that account. When they contact us we try to learn particulars of the case."
Firmly, Ms. Lowry said that they follow all federal and state laws and that "We know there are opportunities for soldiers to work with us. We were able to communicate with Hinkle. We try to help people overcome barriers."
Friday, July 11, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
you may have had your fill yesterday...but this has to be noted
DA: Mom kept cancer medication from 8-year-old son
By Julie Manganis
Staff writer
SALEM — A mother has been charged with failing to give her 8-year-old son his cancer medication, a decision prosecutors say caused the boy's cancer to return in an untreatable form.
Because of Kristen Anne LaBrie's failure to medicate her child, "in all likelihood, Jeremy Fraser will not see his ninth birthday," prosecutor Kate MacDougall said during LaBrie's arraignment yesterday in Salem District Court.
LaBrie, 36, who moved recently from Salem to Beverly, pleaded not guilty to reckless child endangerment. She refused comment as she left court with her lawyer.
The boy's father, Eric Fraser, who now has full custody of his son, said he is outraged not only about what happened to his son, but that LaBrie was able to walk out of court yesterday without posting any bail.
"I'm pretty disgusted about the whole justice (system) and DSS," Fraser said. "Now my son's going to die."
Jeremy, 8, who is also autistic, had been in remission from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, but in March the Department of Social Services was contacted by the child's oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr. Alison Friedmann filed a report of suspected neglect with the state after discovering that the child's cancer had returned, something that should not have happened had the child been given his medications.
"It's back and in a far more deadly form," MacDougall told Judge Michael Uhlarik. "He is not expected to survive."
Jeremy's ninth birthday is Aug. 2.
When first diagnosed, Jeremy had a good prognosis, according to a police report, with his chances of recovery put at 85 to 90 percent. But after being deprived of medications, his chances dropped to 10 percent.
"This child was in remission," MacDougall said. "His prognosis was good. This child came out of remission."
But the prosecutor said LaBrie did not fill at least half of the prescriptions her son was given — something the doctor and investigators checked by examining pharmacy and insurance records. She also canceled a number of her son's medical appointments, MacDougall said.
Canceled appointments
According to the police report by Salem detectives Peter Baglioni and Lt. Thomas Griffin, Jeremy was first diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2006. The child underwent a five-phase regimen of chemotherapy, including some drugs that were supposed to be given to him at home by his mother.
The detectives said LaBrie had canceled at least a dozen appointments for chemotherapy treatments and had failed to pick up the medications from a pharmacy.
"Due to Ms. LaBrie's failure to provide Jeremy with lifesaving cancer medication, his cancer has returned," the detectives wrote.
Fraser said his ex-wife picked up Jeremy's medication for about a month after he came home from the hospital. Then she just stopped.
Because of ongoing disputes with his ex-wife and her boyfriend, Fraser said, he cut off contact with her and with his son for some months. Then he got a call from LaBrie's sister, who told him Jeremy was back in the hospital and things didn't look good.
Fraser, a full-time UPS delivery driver, was on the road delivering packages a few weeks later when his son's doctor called.
"The doctor said, 'You need to pull over,'" Fraser said.
The doctors and a DSS worker "said Kristen basically stopped giving him his medicine," Fraser said. "She missed four IV chemo appointments and rescheduled 13 of them."
"It comes out to about a year that she didn't continue with the treatment," Fraser said. "They basically said if Jeremy got his at-home chemo he would not have relapsed. The doctor was very shocked that he was back in there so quickly."
Then the doctor told him they couldn't let Jeremy go home with LaBrie. "It's either you or foster care," Fraser recalled being told. The choice was clear.
'A peach' of a kid
Fraser and his son now live with Fraser's father in Saugus. Jeremy still spends part of his day in a special education program, and the rest of Fraser's family helps care for the boy while Fraser is at work.
"The kid's a peach," Fraser said. "He doesn't do one bad thing."
Hospice volunteers who came to the house recently called Jeremy "a saint," Fraser said. "He's so lovable. His belly laugh is contagious."
Prosecutors and police have not offered a motive in the case.
Police had attempted to interview LaBrie prior to charging her, but she declined requests to meet with detectives.
While caring for her son, she was living on Cleveland Road in Salem. Police also had an address for her on Claremont Road in Salem. But LaBrie moved and refused to tell police where, according to the detectives' report. Because they did not know her whereabouts, they sought and obtained an arrest warrant for LaBrie on Friday.
LaBrie turned herself in on the warrant yesterday morning at Salem District Court.
Her lawyer, Kevin James, argued that the charges stem from a "contentious divorce," an argument MacDougall immediately countered by pointing out it was a doctor who reported LaBrie.
James said his client had taken her son to more than 100 visits to Massachusetts General Hospital and "has been extensively involved in this child's care."
He said prosecutors will have a tough time proving the allegations.
"This is a very weak case," James said.
MacDougall asked the judge to set bail for LaBrie at $1,000, given a history of missing court in prior criminal cases. Uhlarik denied the request, releasing LaBrie on personal recognizance, with an order that she have no contact with her son.
"He (her former husband) doesn't let me see him anyway, so that's fine," an emotionless LaBrie said in court.
She is due back in court on Aug. 13.
***********************************************************
The bottom line for me is that this child's life would probably have been saved if Massachusetts had a shared parenting law.
Troubled parents are a fact of life. That's where shared parenting comes in. When parents are less than perfect — which is most of the time – shared parenting allows each parent to be the child's safeguard against failure by the other parent. By ordering sole custody to one parent in most cases, and giving the non-custodial parent only a few days per month with the child, the courts remove the child's best protection against failure of the custodial parent – the other parent.
Jeremy's plight is not at all unusual. The rates of child abuse and neglect are astronomical in single-parent households. The rates for single mothers, their boyfriends and their second husbands significantly exceed those of biological fathers. Many of these children would be protected if their biological dads were allowed more access to their children so they could monitor how their children were being treated.
The overall picture, based on the lengthy conversation with Fraser, is of the family court and the Department of Social Services (DSS — Massachusetts' child protective agency) ignoring mountains of evidence of an unstable mother.
This was so extreme that DSS and the courts switched custody of Karin LaBrie's older son to his father (not Fraser) in 2000. So her parenting limitations were well known by the time of her subsequent divorce from Fraser. Yet she was awarded sole custody of Jeremy, with subsequent tragic results.
By Julie Manganis
Staff writer
SALEM — A mother has been charged with failing to give her 8-year-old son his cancer medication, a decision prosecutors say caused the boy's cancer to return in an untreatable form.
Because of Kristen Anne LaBrie's failure to medicate her child, "in all likelihood, Jeremy Fraser will not see his ninth birthday," prosecutor Kate MacDougall said during LaBrie's arraignment yesterday in Salem District Court.
LaBrie, 36, who moved recently from Salem to Beverly, pleaded not guilty to reckless child endangerment. She refused comment as she left court with her lawyer.
The boy's father, Eric Fraser, who now has full custody of his son, said he is outraged not only about what happened to his son, but that LaBrie was able to walk out of court yesterday without posting any bail.
"I'm pretty disgusted about the whole justice (system) and DSS," Fraser said. "Now my son's going to die."
Jeremy, 8, who is also autistic, had been in remission from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, but in March the Department of Social Services was contacted by the child's oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr. Alison Friedmann filed a report of suspected neglect with the state after discovering that the child's cancer had returned, something that should not have happened had the child been given his medications.
"It's back and in a far more deadly form," MacDougall told Judge Michael Uhlarik. "He is not expected to survive."
Jeremy's ninth birthday is Aug. 2.
When first diagnosed, Jeremy had a good prognosis, according to a police report, with his chances of recovery put at 85 to 90 percent. But after being deprived of medications, his chances dropped to 10 percent.
"This child was in remission," MacDougall said. "His prognosis was good. This child came out of remission."
But the prosecutor said LaBrie did not fill at least half of the prescriptions her son was given — something the doctor and investigators checked by examining pharmacy and insurance records. She also canceled a number of her son's medical appointments, MacDougall said.
Canceled appointments
According to the police report by Salem detectives Peter Baglioni and Lt. Thomas Griffin, Jeremy was first diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2006. The child underwent a five-phase regimen of chemotherapy, including some drugs that were supposed to be given to him at home by his mother.
The detectives said LaBrie had canceled at least a dozen appointments for chemotherapy treatments and had failed to pick up the medications from a pharmacy.
"Due to Ms. LaBrie's failure to provide Jeremy with lifesaving cancer medication, his cancer has returned," the detectives wrote.
Fraser said his ex-wife picked up Jeremy's medication for about a month after he came home from the hospital. Then she just stopped.
Because of ongoing disputes with his ex-wife and her boyfriend, Fraser said, he cut off contact with her and with his son for some months. Then he got a call from LaBrie's sister, who told him Jeremy was back in the hospital and things didn't look good.
Fraser, a full-time UPS delivery driver, was on the road delivering packages a few weeks later when his son's doctor called.
"The doctor said, 'You need to pull over,'" Fraser said.
The doctors and a DSS worker "said Kristen basically stopped giving him his medicine," Fraser said. "She missed four IV chemo appointments and rescheduled 13 of them."
"It comes out to about a year that she didn't continue with the treatment," Fraser said. "They basically said if Jeremy got his at-home chemo he would not have relapsed. The doctor was very shocked that he was back in there so quickly."
Then the doctor told him they couldn't let Jeremy go home with LaBrie. "It's either you or foster care," Fraser recalled being told. The choice was clear.
'A peach' of a kid
Fraser and his son now live with Fraser's father in Saugus. Jeremy still spends part of his day in a special education program, and the rest of Fraser's family helps care for the boy while Fraser is at work.
"The kid's a peach," Fraser said. "He doesn't do one bad thing."
Hospice volunteers who came to the house recently called Jeremy "a saint," Fraser said. "He's so lovable. His belly laugh is contagious."
Prosecutors and police have not offered a motive in the case.
Police had attempted to interview LaBrie prior to charging her, but she declined requests to meet with detectives.
While caring for her son, she was living on Cleveland Road in Salem. Police also had an address for her on Claremont Road in Salem. But LaBrie moved and refused to tell police where, according to the detectives' report. Because they did not know her whereabouts, they sought and obtained an arrest warrant for LaBrie on Friday.
LaBrie turned herself in on the warrant yesterday morning at Salem District Court.
Her lawyer, Kevin James, argued that the charges stem from a "contentious divorce," an argument MacDougall immediately countered by pointing out it was a doctor who reported LaBrie.
James said his client had taken her son to more than 100 visits to Massachusetts General Hospital and "has been extensively involved in this child's care."
He said prosecutors will have a tough time proving the allegations.
"This is a very weak case," James said.
MacDougall asked the judge to set bail for LaBrie at $1,000, given a history of missing court in prior criminal cases. Uhlarik denied the request, releasing LaBrie on personal recognizance, with an order that she have no contact with her son.
"He (her former husband) doesn't let me see him anyway, so that's fine," an emotionless LaBrie said in court.
She is due back in court on Aug. 13.
***********************************************************
The bottom line for me is that this child's life would probably have been saved if Massachusetts had a shared parenting law.
Troubled parents are a fact of life. That's where shared parenting comes in. When parents are less than perfect — which is most of the time – shared parenting allows each parent to be the child's safeguard against failure by the other parent. By ordering sole custody to one parent in most cases, and giving the non-custodial parent only a few days per month with the child, the courts remove the child's best protection against failure of the custodial parent – the other parent.
Jeremy's plight is not at all unusual. The rates of child abuse and neglect are astronomical in single-parent households. The rates for single mothers, their boyfriends and their second husbands significantly exceed those of biological fathers. Many of these children would be protected if their biological dads were allowed more access to their children so they could monitor how their children were being treated.
The overall picture, based on the lengthy conversation with Fraser, is of the family court and the Department of Social Services (DSS — Massachusetts' child protective agency) ignoring mountains of evidence of an unstable mother.
This was so extreme that DSS and the courts switched custody of Karin LaBrie's older son to his father (not Fraser) in 2000. So her parenting limitations were well known by the time of her subsequent divorce from Fraser. Yet she was awarded sole custody of Jeremy, with subsequent tragic results.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
oh yeah, real nice
Police and officials with the office of Children, Youth and Families are searching tonight for a woman whose 5-day-old baby is in critical need of treatment for jaundice.
The mother, Jamie Nesta, 39, and her son, Elijah, were confronted around 12:30 p.m. today in Shadyside by a CYF caseworker who was required to take her son into emergency custody on Wednesday.
Ms. Nesta, with her son in hand, ran from the caseworker and in the process dropped the child's Wallabee III Power Unit medical blanket, which is used to help treat jaundiced babies when they are sent home.
Without the blanket, the baby could suffer irreversible brain damage, according to doctors at Children's Hospital. Jaundice is caused by high rates of bilirubin in a child's blood. The disease causes a yellowing of the skin or eyes.
The blanket device, about the size of a small VCR, helps eliminate bilirubin in the baby's blood by emitting a special light onto the baby's skin that effectively combats jaundice.
The blanket, which needs to be plugged into an outlet to function, can be slipped into another blanket or directly on the baby to help fight jaundice.
"If the bilirubin levels go too high, it causes permanent brain damage," said Dr. Janet Squires, a pediatrician and the director of the Child Advocacy Program at Children's Hospital. "This definitely borders on child endangerment. These are very sad circumstances and this baby may need immediate medical attention."
Dr. Squires said the child may survive for a couple of days or even the rest of his life without the blanket, but that the child needs to be found quickly so that blood tests can be done to determine if the baby is in danger of brain damage.
"What is scary is that we have a baby out there and we don't have its blood levels, so doctors can't decide what to do," Dr. Squires said.
Police described Ms. Nesta as a 5-foot 9-inch tall woman, weighing about 110 pounds with dark brown hair. Detectives attempted to find Ms. Nesta at her last known address on Sarah Street on the South Side, but she was not at that location.
It was possible Ms. Nesta was staying at a shelter, police said.
Emergency custody of the baby was authorized Wednesday, but it was unclear last night why that authorization was issued. CYF officials could not be reached for comment.
Anyone with information is asked to call city police at 412-323-7800.
4:31 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove
inactivity
In Starkeisha Brown's small circle of South Los Angeles, it was no secret that her 5-year-old son was the victim of abuse.
Friends and family said they suspected that Brown beat the boy -- and a few even witnessed it. They talked among themselves about what to do, and confronted Brown on at least one occasion.
But no one called authorities.
County child-welfare officials didn't find out about his cigarette burns, whip marks and other injuries until a stranger at a Metro Rail Green Line platform called a county hotline earlier this month after the boy told her: "She put my hand on top of the stove."
The boy's plight has sparked widespread outrage, with the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors ordering an investigation into why officials couldn't do more to help him.
But the case has also highlighted what experts say is significant problem: family, friends and neighbors suspecting child abuse but choosing not to report it.
Such problems are particularly present in neighborhoods like the one where the Browns lived, where distrust of police and child-protection workers is high and residents worry that calling authorities could make problems worse.
"I don't think it is that they are colluding with the abuser," said Carole Shauffer, executive director of the Youth Law Center, a San Francisco-based public interest law firm. "For the most part, it's fear of what's going to happen, fear of nothing happening, fear of collateral consequences, and denial, that 'it's none of my business, and it can't be as bad as it seems to me.' "
Authorities allege that Brown's son was subjected to extreme abuse for more than a year, including being malnourished, burned with cigarette butts on his body and genitals, hung from a doorjamb by his wrists and whipped, left to sit in his own urine and feces and severely burned on his hands, which were held to a hot stove. Brown and two other women have been charged with child abuse and torture.
Friends and family said they had suspicions but hoped they were unfounded.
The boy's great-grandmother, Barbara Moreno, said she noticed cuts, scratches and bumps on him, but dropped the subject when he told her the injuries were caused by a fall and a dog attack.
"Sometimes you turn your head," said Vivian Daniels, a family friend who about a month ago finally asked Brown about the bruises and scratches on her son's body. She said she didn't call police or the Department of Children and Family Services because she feared it would make things worse for the boy -- and perhaps even for her and her children.
"It's tit-for-tat," Daniels said. "In South-Central, we don't do that. I'm just telling you how it is."
Daniels said she finally decided to talk to Brown about her suspicions around the time she tried to throw an impromptu party for the boy's 5th birthday.
She wrote his name on a birthday cake and hoped he could celebrate at her house with her daughter, whose birthday was around the same time in May. She went to Brown's apartment to ask if her son could go to the party.
"Hell, nah," Brown replied, according to Daniels.
Around the same time, Daniels said she saw Brown "whip the baby butt naked." She said her 11-year-old daughter, Rayonna, had seen the boy hung from a door by his shirt and forced to eat on his hands and knees "like a dog," she said.
"We had heard that the little boy got messed up," Daniels said.
In response to the case, community activists on Friday canvassed the neighborhood around 110th and Figueroa streets, where Brown recently lived with the boy, with fliers that read: "Break the Silence on Child Abuse in South L.A.! Help Make Sure a Starkeisha Brown Torture Case Never Happens Again."
"We have seen time and time again that people say, 'I've seen child abuse, I've heard it, I've heard screams, but I do nothing,' " said Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable. "People are so reluctant to speak out on it."
Hutchinson and others said suspicion and fear of authorities runs deep in parts of South L.A. -- and that extends beyond the police to social service agencies and other public providers. They said some people are afraid that calling authorities could end up making the family situation worse -- particularly if the child is taken into foster care. Others fear authorities might end up checking on them.
Hutchinson said residents are reluctant to call authorities in such cases because of a strong belief that it's wrong to interfere in the way other parents treat their children.
They "feel that children, no matter what, are really the province of the mother and everything they do is their right and their business," he said. "Someone hears a child screaming, they're not going to say anything because their thinking is that's their child, that's their business."
It took a stranger -- the person on the Green Line platform -- to finally call the county with a tip.
As a result, Brown and the boy were ordered to report June 9 to a children's services office to discuss the abuse allegations. But Brown and her roommate, Krystal Denise Matthews, left the boy with a stranger on the street and instead took a healthy-looking 4-year-old to the meeting, trying to pass him off as Brown's son. They also brought a girl, about 6, authorities said.
The stranger felt uneasy with the 5-year-old, who looked sickly and injured. He asked people nearby what to do, and someone called authorities. County officials have called for a broad-based investigation of the abuse, and Supervisors Mike Antonovich and Gloria Molina earlier this week sponsored an ordinance that would better streamline communication among more than half a dozen county and state agencies that all had information relevant to the boy's situation.
In 2005, county child-welfare officials investigated tips that Brown's son had been abused but closed the file after finding the allegations inconclusive.
Brown is a known gang member who as a minor served time in the California Youth Authority for battery. As an adult she was convicted of robbery and petty theft. In March 2007 she was the subject of an arrest warrant for a parole violation, but authorities could not find her.
Molina and others have noted, however, that she still managed to receive welfare benefits during that time. Abuse like that suffered by the 5-year-old boy is "so common," said Jorja Leap, a professor at UCLA and an expert in crisis intervention and trauma response.
Leap said that in cases like this, the adults who do not report them are dealing with "denial, denial, denial. They absolutely, positively do not want to put the pieces together because it means they would have to do something."
Anyone interested in making donations for the 5-year-old boy can contact Michael Wrice of the county Department of Children and Family Services at (213) 739-6202.
Boy was subject of '05 claim
5-year-old in abuse case was reported at risk, but L.A. County authorities found evidence inconclusive.
By Ari B. Bloomekatz and Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
June 19, 2008
More than a year before a boy was allegedly subjected to extreme abuse and torture, Los Angeles County officials in 2005 investigated allegations that he suffered from neglect and was at "substantial risk." But officials ultimately determined the claims to be inconclusive, according to county records obtained by The Times.
At the time, the boy's mother, Starkeisha Brown, had been arrested on suspicion of stealing a bracelet and other items at a Macy's department store with the child in tow. The boy stayed with his grandmother while his mother served about nine months in jail -- and the Department of Children and Family Services closed the case file, never returning to check on the boy, the records show.
Brown reunited with him last year, beginning what the Los Angeles Police Department described as "unbearable psychological and physical abuse," including cigarette burns on his body and genitals, near-starvation and beatings.
The details, contained in a DCFS report prepared for Los Angeles County supervisors this week, prompted some officials to ask why social workers didn't have more contact with the family after that initial visit.
"When I read what happened, it seemed like the system broke down on a number of levels, whether it's the criminal justice system, the welfare system or child services," Councilwoman Janice Hahn said. "It seems to me there were a lot of red flags."
Hahn, whose district includes the South Los Angeles neighborhood where the abuse allegedly occurred, said the boy's plight speaks to a larger problem.
"I couldn't believe it," added Supervisor Yvonne Burke. "Our system has to be just tighter. . . . This is a time when we really have to be vigilant. We need to figure out how we can get the ability to find and track down these people."
Police said Brown, 24, and her live-in girlfriend Krystal Matthews, 21, committed the bulk of the abuse. According to one allegation, the 5-year-old was hung by his hands and wrists from a door jamb and whipped with some sort of leash or chain.
The women were arrested over the weekend and each charged with one count of torture and conspiracy, as well as other charges of child abuse, corporal injury to a child and dissuading a witness. Brown's and Matthews' bails were set at $1.1 million and $1.08 million, respectively. If convicted, they face 25 years to life in prison.
La Tanya Monikue Jones, 26, a baby-sitter who authorities said disfigured the boy's hands by burning them on a stove, was also arrested this week and charged with conspiracy to dissuade a witness, corporal injury to a child and child abuse.
Authorities said Jones let her 4-year-old son and her daughter, about 6, go with Brown and Matthews to a meeting with DCFS officials last week in an attempt to trick them into thinking there was no abuse in their home.
DCFS officials have declined to comment on specifics of the case, citing confidentiality rules, but said they get involved only if a problem is reported.
But the confidential report paints a much more detailed and complex picture of the agency's involvement with Brown and her son.
Los Angeles County child welfare authorities first met the boy in November 2005, when officials received at least one report on a hotline expressing concern about his welfare. Details of the call were not contained in the report.
About that time, the county also got a call about the boy from Brown's parole agent. Brown was in custody after being arrested on suspicion of shoplifting, and someone was going to have to look after the boy.
Brown had been released on parole about four months earlier after serving more than a year in prison for robbing an elderly woman and was again on her way to jail. Investigators found the claims of neglect to be "inconclusive" and released the boy to his grandmother, according to the report.
The boy's grandmother told investigators she intended to become his legal guardian, the DCFS report said. But Brown took the child back sometime after she was released from prison in January 2007, according to authorities.
Police detectives say Brown then subjected the boy to ritualistic abuse and torture while evading law enforcement and receiving welfare benefits.
Three months after Brown was released from prison in January 2007, her parole was revoked and a bench warrant was issued for her arrest. Authorities apparently could not find her -- even though she was receiving welfare benefits at the time.
Supervisor Gloria Molina said the boy's plight would be the first case of the Children's Special Investigation Unit, which was set up to independently review and scrutinize DCFS cases.
Molina said that city, state and county agencies were all "pointing the finger at each other" over who was to blame.
According to the confidential report, Brown received treatment from the Department of Mental Health about 10 years ago, and a substance abuse assessment was conducted with a community agency shortly after her child was born.
"However, no services were provided as the mother did not follow through," the report stated.
Jones, the baby-sitter, had lengthy dealings with DCFS, according to the report. When she was arrested for possession of narcotics in March 2003, she left her then 11-month-old baby at a hotel with a stranger. The baby was taken into protective custody two days after the arrest for "caretaker absence/incapacity" but later released.
Both of Jones' children are in protective custody, police said.
Matthews also has a criminal history, including convictions for assault with a deadly weapon and forgery. In May, she got into a fight with her younger brother, slashing him on the face with a box-cutter. She pleaded guilty and was released on three years' probation.
DCFS officials would not respond to direct questions about the abuse of Starkeisha Brown's son, citing confidentiality, but said there had been no open case involving him and that they were alerted to the most recent alleged abuse only early this month.
According to the report, on June 3, Brown, another woman and Brown's son were at a Green Line train station when the child told another person, "She put my hand on top of the stove." The person who called DCFS said the boy "appeared hungry and stated that he had not eaten."
After they received the tip, child welfare officials made three attempts to contact Brown and Matthews at their residence. In the first instance, they were given an incorrect address. After they had the right location, they made two unannounced visits but were unable to find the women and left a note.
The women eventually showed up at the DCFS office in Compton for a scheduled interview. According to authorities, the women first dropped off the 5-year-old with a stranger and took Jones' 4-year-old son to the interview.
Hahn said she was going to urge supervisors to take a thorough look at how the county protects its children.
"We hear problem after problem after problem. When is it going to be enough? It's a shame it takes something like this to make us hold departments accountable," Hahn said. "It is up to us to protect our children, and we failed this child terribly."
2 South L.A. women concocted scheme to hide torturous child abuse, authorities say
The pair allegedly tried to pass off another boy as the son of one of the women during an agency interview. The actual son may be permanently disfigured from stove burns, officials say.
By Andrew Blankstein and Ari B. Bloomekatz, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
June 17, 2008
» Discuss Article (589 Comments)
For two years, authorities said, a mother subjected her son to what veteran detectives described as shocking, ritualistic abuse.
The 5-year-old was hung by his hands and wrists from a door jamb and beaten with some sort of leash or chain, police said. He was routinely denied food and water, burned with cigarettes on his body and genitals, and left to sit in his own urine and feces.
In the past few weeks, his hands were held to a hot stove, according to Capt. Fabian Lizarraga, causing injuries that may leave them permanently disfigured.
Starkeisha Brown, the boy's 24-year-old mother, allegedly committed the acts for about two years without detection -- until a bizarre series of events last week.
"It causes you to question the humanity of some people," Assistant Police Chief Earl Paysinger said about the abuse. "Whether they have a heart or a soul."
It started with an anonymous tip to the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services saying there was a problem at the South Los Angeles apartment near 110th and Figueroa streets.
On Monday, June 9, Brown and her live-in girlfriend, Krystal Matthews, 19, were ordered to a children services office along with the boy to discuss the allegation of abuse.
Instead, the pair left the abused boy with a complete stranger and attended the meeting with a healthy-looking 4-year-old they said was Brown's son, along with a girl of about 6, authorities said. Police said they are trying to determine those children's identities.
They told the stranger, " 'Watch him for us.' They said 'We'll be right back,' " Lizarraga said.
While the women were being interviewed, the stranger who had been asked to watch the boy started asking people in the neighborhood what he should do with the 5-year-old, who looked sickly and injured. Eventually someone called authorities.
Officials got word of the boy's condition as they were interviewing Brown and Matthews and began asking more pointed questions and challenging the pair's story, Lizarraga said.
Halfway through the interview the two women sprinted from the office, abandoning the 4-year-old and his sister at the office, police said.
"They realize that no one is buying their ruse," said Lt. Vincent Neglia of the LAPD's Abused Child Unit, and "they bug out."
Lizarraga said it was fortunate that the stranger sought help. He "had the sense that something was not right, that the situation he had been placed in was not right," the captain said.
Had Brown brought in her own son, the social worker would have seen a child with a pot belly suggestive of severe malnutrition, burns across his body in various stages of healing, bruises, and badly damaged and burned hands, Neglia said. Some scars appeared to be fairly old.
"This wasn't just one big beating," Neglia said. "You can tell by the different stages of injuries that this was prolonged."
Police said the most severe malnourishment occurred in the last two to three months.
Authorities launched a hunt for Brown and Matthews while authorities took the child to a hospital where he remains.
The boy was in guarded condition through last week, but is beginning to show signs of improvement, authorities said.
Matthews was arrested Friday and Brown turned herself in to police on Saturday.
They were arrested on multiple charges, including suspicion of torture, and the pair are scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.
Both women have a history of crime and violence. According to court documents, Matthews was sentenced to three years probation earlier this year for assault with a deadly weapon.
The boy's mother served a total of two and a half years in prison for two separate convictions: one for felony robbery of an elderly woman in 2003 and later for petty theft, when she and another woman stole a bracelet and other items from a Macy's department store.
Most recently, Brown was incarcerated from March 2006 to January 2007. During that period, the boy was in the custody of relatives, authorities said.
Police said the bulk of the abuse appeared to begin when Brown was released on probation.
Neglia said that Brown's probation officer recently had a hard time locating her because she was not living at her listed address.
Children services officials, citing confidentiality rules, would not disclose why the boy was returned to his mother after she was released from prison and whether appropriate checks on the boy's welfare were made, given that she was on probation.
DCFS spokesperson Stuart Riskin said there were about 160,000 calls each year to the agency's child protection hotline.
In the South Los Angeles neighborhood where Brown and Matthews lived with the boy, neighbors said they were shocked to hear of the abuse and some said they were angered it had not been reported earlier.
"Everybody's furious," said Katherine Irvin, who recently moved into an adjacent house she said was abandoned by a group of men. "They must've heard something."
Detectives said Monday that they were still trying to determine why a mother would so badly abuse her son.
"So far we have not come up with the answer," Lizarraga said. "Our victim was not on anybody's radar, either law enforcement or DCFS. He wasn't in the system; there was no recent [reported] abuse that could be seen," he said.
Since reports of the abuse became public, dozens of people have called police and social service agencies looking for ways to help the boy, authorities said. One elderly woman called police to see if she could donate her most recent Social Security check, authorities said.
Those interested in contributing can contact Michael Wrice with the DCFS at 213-739-6202.
The mother, Jamie Nesta, 39, and her son, Elijah, were confronted around 12:30 p.m. today in Shadyside by a CYF caseworker who was required to take her son into emergency custody on Wednesday.
Ms. Nesta, with her son in hand, ran from the caseworker and in the process dropped the child's Wallabee III Power Unit medical blanket, which is used to help treat jaundiced babies when they are sent home.
Without the blanket, the baby could suffer irreversible brain damage, according to doctors at Children's Hospital. Jaundice is caused by high rates of bilirubin in a child's blood. The disease causes a yellowing of the skin or eyes.
The blanket device, about the size of a small VCR, helps eliminate bilirubin in the baby's blood by emitting a special light onto the baby's skin that effectively combats jaundice.
The blanket, which needs to be plugged into an outlet to function, can be slipped into another blanket or directly on the baby to help fight jaundice.
"If the bilirubin levels go too high, it causes permanent brain damage," said Dr. Janet Squires, a pediatrician and the director of the Child Advocacy Program at Children's Hospital. "This definitely borders on child endangerment. These are very sad circumstances and this baby may need immediate medical attention."
Dr. Squires said the child may survive for a couple of days or even the rest of his life without the blanket, but that the child needs to be found quickly so that blood tests can be done to determine if the baby is in danger of brain damage.
"What is scary is that we have a baby out there and we don't have its blood levels, so doctors can't decide what to do," Dr. Squires said.
Police described Ms. Nesta as a 5-foot 9-inch tall woman, weighing about 110 pounds with dark brown hair. Detectives attempted to find Ms. Nesta at her last known address on Sarah Street on the South Side, but she was not at that location.
It was possible Ms. Nesta was staying at a shelter, police said.
Emergency custody of the baby was authorized Wednesday, but it was unclear last night why that authorization was issued. CYF officials could not be reached for comment.
Anyone with information is asked to call city police at 412-323-7800.
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In Starkeisha Brown's small circle of South Los Angeles, it was no secret that her 5-year-old son was the victim of abuse.
Friends and family said they suspected that Brown beat the boy -- and a few even witnessed it. They talked among themselves about what to do, and confronted Brown on at least one occasion.
But no one called authorities.
County child-welfare officials didn't find out about his cigarette burns, whip marks and other injuries until a stranger at a Metro Rail Green Line platform called a county hotline earlier this month after the boy told her: "She put my hand on top of the stove."
The boy's plight has sparked widespread outrage, with the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors ordering an investigation into why officials couldn't do more to help him.
But the case has also highlighted what experts say is significant problem: family, friends and neighbors suspecting child abuse but choosing not to report it.
Such problems are particularly present in neighborhoods like the one where the Browns lived, where distrust of police and child-protection workers is high and residents worry that calling authorities could make problems worse.
"I don't think it is that they are colluding with the abuser," said Carole Shauffer, executive director of the Youth Law Center, a San Francisco-based public interest law firm. "For the most part, it's fear of what's going to happen, fear of nothing happening, fear of collateral consequences, and denial, that 'it's none of my business, and it can't be as bad as it seems to me.' "
Authorities allege that Brown's son was subjected to extreme abuse for more than a year, including being malnourished, burned with cigarette butts on his body and genitals, hung from a doorjamb by his wrists and whipped, left to sit in his own urine and feces and severely burned on his hands, which were held to a hot stove. Brown and two other women have been charged with child abuse and torture.
Friends and family said they had suspicions but hoped they were unfounded.
The boy's great-grandmother, Barbara Moreno, said she noticed cuts, scratches and bumps on him, but dropped the subject when he told her the injuries were caused by a fall and a dog attack.
"Sometimes you turn your head," said Vivian Daniels, a family friend who about a month ago finally asked Brown about the bruises and scratches on her son's body. She said she didn't call police or the Department of Children and Family Services because she feared it would make things worse for the boy -- and perhaps even for her and her children.
"It's tit-for-tat," Daniels said. "In South-Central, we don't do that. I'm just telling you how it is."
Daniels said she finally decided to talk to Brown about her suspicions around the time she tried to throw an impromptu party for the boy's 5th birthday.
She wrote his name on a birthday cake and hoped he could celebrate at her house with her daughter, whose birthday was around the same time in May. She went to Brown's apartment to ask if her son could go to the party.
"Hell, nah," Brown replied, according to Daniels.
Around the same time, Daniels said she saw Brown "whip the baby butt naked." She said her 11-year-old daughter, Rayonna, had seen the boy hung from a door by his shirt and forced to eat on his hands and knees "like a dog," she said.
"We had heard that the little boy got messed up," Daniels said.
In response to the case, community activists on Friday canvassed the neighborhood around 110th and Figueroa streets, where Brown recently lived with the boy, with fliers that read: "Break the Silence on Child Abuse in South L.A.! Help Make Sure a Starkeisha Brown Torture Case Never Happens Again."
"We have seen time and time again that people say, 'I've seen child abuse, I've heard it, I've heard screams, but I do nothing,' " said Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable. "People are so reluctant to speak out on it."
Hutchinson and others said suspicion and fear of authorities runs deep in parts of South L.A. -- and that extends beyond the police to social service agencies and other public providers. They said some people are afraid that calling authorities could end up making the family situation worse -- particularly if the child is taken into foster care. Others fear authorities might end up checking on them.
Hutchinson said residents are reluctant to call authorities in such cases because of a strong belief that it's wrong to interfere in the way other parents treat their children.
They "feel that children, no matter what, are really the province of the mother and everything they do is their right and their business," he said. "Someone hears a child screaming, they're not going to say anything because their thinking is that's their child, that's their business."
It took a stranger -- the person on the Green Line platform -- to finally call the county with a tip.
As a result, Brown and the boy were ordered to report June 9 to a children's services office to discuss the abuse allegations. But Brown and her roommate, Krystal Denise Matthews, left the boy with a stranger on the street and instead took a healthy-looking 4-year-old to the meeting, trying to pass him off as Brown's son. They also brought a girl, about 6, authorities said.
The stranger felt uneasy with the 5-year-old, who looked sickly and injured. He asked people nearby what to do, and someone called authorities. County officials have called for a broad-based investigation of the abuse, and Supervisors Mike Antonovich and Gloria Molina earlier this week sponsored an ordinance that would better streamline communication among more than half a dozen county and state agencies that all had information relevant to the boy's situation.
In 2005, county child-welfare officials investigated tips that Brown's son had been abused but closed the file after finding the allegations inconclusive.
Brown is a known gang member who as a minor served time in the California Youth Authority for battery. As an adult she was convicted of robbery and petty theft. In March 2007 she was the subject of an arrest warrant for a parole violation, but authorities could not find her.
Molina and others have noted, however, that she still managed to receive welfare benefits during that time. Abuse like that suffered by the 5-year-old boy is "so common," said Jorja Leap, a professor at UCLA and an expert in crisis intervention and trauma response.
Leap said that in cases like this, the adults who do not report them are dealing with "denial, denial, denial. They absolutely, positively do not want to put the pieces together because it means they would have to do something."
Anyone interested in making donations for the 5-year-old boy can contact Michael Wrice of the county Department of Children and Family Services at (213) 739-6202.
Boy was subject of '05 claim
5-year-old in abuse case was reported at risk, but L.A. County authorities found evidence inconclusive.
By Ari B. Bloomekatz and Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
June 19, 2008
More than a year before a boy was allegedly subjected to extreme abuse and torture, Los Angeles County officials in 2005 investigated allegations that he suffered from neglect and was at "substantial risk." But officials ultimately determined the claims to be inconclusive, according to county records obtained by The Times.
At the time, the boy's mother, Starkeisha Brown, had been arrested on suspicion of stealing a bracelet and other items at a Macy's department store with the child in tow. The boy stayed with his grandmother while his mother served about nine months in jail -- and the Department of Children and Family Services closed the case file, never returning to check on the boy, the records show.
Brown reunited with him last year, beginning what the Los Angeles Police Department described as "unbearable psychological and physical abuse," including cigarette burns on his body and genitals, near-starvation and beatings.
The details, contained in a DCFS report prepared for Los Angeles County supervisors this week, prompted some officials to ask why social workers didn't have more contact with the family after that initial visit.
"When I read what happened, it seemed like the system broke down on a number of levels, whether it's the criminal justice system, the welfare system or child services," Councilwoman Janice Hahn said. "It seems to me there were a lot of red flags."
Hahn, whose district includes the South Los Angeles neighborhood where the abuse allegedly occurred, said the boy's plight speaks to a larger problem.
"I couldn't believe it," added Supervisor Yvonne Burke. "Our system has to be just tighter. . . . This is a time when we really have to be vigilant. We need to figure out how we can get the ability to find and track down these people."
Police said Brown, 24, and her live-in girlfriend Krystal Matthews, 21, committed the bulk of the abuse. According to one allegation, the 5-year-old was hung by his hands and wrists from a door jamb and whipped with some sort of leash or chain.
The women were arrested over the weekend and each charged with one count of torture and conspiracy, as well as other charges of child abuse, corporal injury to a child and dissuading a witness. Brown's and Matthews' bails were set at $1.1 million and $1.08 million, respectively. If convicted, they face 25 years to life in prison.
La Tanya Monikue Jones, 26, a baby-sitter who authorities said disfigured the boy's hands by burning them on a stove, was also arrested this week and charged with conspiracy to dissuade a witness, corporal injury to a child and child abuse.
Authorities said Jones let her 4-year-old son and her daughter, about 6, go with Brown and Matthews to a meeting with DCFS officials last week in an attempt to trick them into thinking there was no abuse in their home.
DCFS officials have declined to comment on specifics of the case, citing confidentiality rules, but said they get involved only if a problem is reported.
But the confidential report paints a much more detailed and complex picture of the agency's involvement with Brown and her son.
Los Angeles County child welfare authorities first met the boy in November 2005, when officials received at least one report on a hotline expressing concern about his welfare. Details of the call were not contained in the report.
About that time, the county also got a call about the boy from Brown's parole agent. Brown was in custody after being arrested on suspicion of shoplifting, and someone was going to have to look after the boy.
Brown had been released on parole about four months earlier after serving more than a year in prison for robbing an elderly woman and was again on her way to jail. Investigators found the claims of neglect to be "inconclusive" and released the boy to his grandmother, according to the report.
The boy's grandmother told investigators she intended to become his legal guardian, the DCFS report said. But Brown took the child back sometime after she was released from prison in January 2007, according to authorities.
Police detectives say Brown then subjected the boy to ritualistic abuse and torture while evading law enforcement and receiving welfare benefits.
Three months after Brown was released from prison in January 2007, her parole was revoked and a bench warrant was issued for her arrest. Authorities apparently could not find her -- even though she was receiving welfare benefits at the time.
Supervisor Gloria Molina said the boy's plight would be the first case of the Children's Special Investigation Unit, which was set up to independently review and scrutinize DCFS cases.
Molina said that city, state and county agencies were all "pointing the finger at each other" over who was to blame.
According to the confidential report, Brown received treatment from the Department of Mental Health about 10 years ago, and a substance abuse assessment was conducted with a community agency shortly after her child was born.
"However, no services were provided as the mother did not follow through," the report stated.
Jones, the baby-sitter, had lengthy dealings with DCFS, according to the report. When she was arrested for possession of narcotics in March 2003, she left her then 11-month-old baby at a hotel with a stranger. The baby was taken into protective custody two days after the arrest for "caretaker absence/incapacity" but later released.
Both of Jones' children are in protective custody, police said.
Matthews also has a criminal history, including convictions for assault with a deadly weapon and forgery. In May, she got into a fight with her younger brother, slashing him on the face with a box-cutter. She pleaded guilty and was released on three years' probation.
DCFS officials would not respond to direct questions about the abuse of Starkeisha Brown's son, citing confidentiality, but said there had been no open case involving him and that they were alerted to the most recent alleged abuse only early this month.
According to the report, on June 3, Brown, another woman and Brown's son were at a Green Line train station when the child told another person, "She put my hand on top of the stove." The person who called DCFS said the boy "appeared hungry and stated that he had not eaten."
After they received the tip, child welfare officials made three attempts to contact Brown and Matthews at their residence. In the first instance, they were given an incorrect address. After they had the right location, they made two unannounced visits but were unable to find the women and left a note.
The women eventually showed up at the DCFS office in Compton for a scheduled interview. According to authorities, the women first dropped off the 5-year-old with a stranger and took Jones' 4-year-old son to the interview.
Hahn said she was going to urge supervisors to take a thorough look at how the county protects its children.
"We hear problem after problem after problem. When is it going to be enough? It's a shame it takes something like this to make us hold departments accountable," Hahn said. "It is up to us to protect our children, and we failed this child terribly."
2 South L.A. women concocted scheme to hide torturous child abuse, authorities say
The pair allegedly tried to pass off another boy as the son of one of the women during an agency interview. The actual son may be permanently disfigured from stove burns, officials say.
By Andrew Blankstein and Ari B. Bloomekatz, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
June 17, 2008
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For two years, authorities said, a mother subjected her son to what veteran detectives described as shocking, ritualistic abuse.
The 5-year-old was hung by his hands and wrists from a door jamb and beaten with some sort of leash or chain, police said. He was routinely denied food and water, burned with cigarettes on his body and genitals, and left to sit in his own urine and feces.
In the past few weeks, his hands were held to a hot stove, according to Capt. Fabian Lizarraga, causing injuries that may leave them permanently disfigured.
Starkeisha Brown, the boy's 24-year-old mother, allegedly committed the acts for about two years without detection -- until a bizarre series of events last week.
"It causes you to question the humanity of some people," Assistant Police Chief Earl Paysinger said about the abuse. "Whether they have a heart or a soul."
It started with an anonymous tip to the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services saying there was a problem at the South Los Angeles apartment near 110th and Figueroa streets.
On Monday, June 9, Brown and her live-in girlfriend, Krystal Matthews, 19, were ordered to a children services office along with the boy to discuss the allegation of abuse.
Instead, the pair left the abused boy with a complete stranger and attended the meeting with a healthy-looking 4-year-old they said was Brown's son, along with a girl of about 6, authorities said. Police said they are trying to determine those children's identities.
They told the stranger, " 'Watch him for us.' They said 'We'll be right back,' " Lizarraga said.
While the women were being interviewed, the stranger who had been asked to watch the boy started asking people in the neighborhood what he should do with the 5-year-old, who looked sickly and injured. Eventually someone called authorities.
Officials got word of the boy's condition as they were interviewing Brown and Matthews and began asking more pointed questions and challenging the pair's story, Lizarraga said.
Halfway through the interview the two women sprinted from the office, abandoning the 4-year-old and his sister at the office, police said.
"They realize that no one is buying their ruse," said Lt. Vincent Neglia of the LAPD's Abused Child Unit, and "they bug out."
Lizarraga said it was fortunate that the stranger sought help. He "had the sense that something was not right, that the situation he had been placed in was not right," the captain said.
Had Brown brought in her own son, the social worker would have seen a child with a pot belly suggestive of severe malnutrition, burns across his body in various stages of healing, bruises, and badly damaged and burned hands, Neglia said. Some scars appeared to be fairly old.
"This wasn't just one big beating," Neglia said. "You can tell by the different stages of injuries that this was prolonged."
Police said the most severe malnourishment occurred in the last two to three months.
Authorities launched a hunt for Brown and Matthews while authorities took the child to a hospital where he remains.
The boy was in guarded condition through last week, but is beginning to show signs of improvement, authorities said.
Matthews was arrested Friday and Brown turned herself in to police on Saturday.
They were arrested on multiple charges, including suspicion of torture, and the pair are scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.
Both women have a history of crime and violence. According to court documents, Matthews was sentenced to three years probation earlier this year for assault with a deadly weapon.
The boy's mother served a total of two and a half years in prison for two separate convictions: one for felony robbery of an elderly woman in 2003 and later for petty theft, when she and another woman stole a bracelet and other items from a Macy's department store.
Most recently, Brown was incarcerated from March 2006 to January 2007. During that period, the boy was in the custody of relatives, authorities said.
Police said the bulk of the abuse appeared to begin when Brown was released on probation.
Neglia said that Brown's probation officer recently had a hard time locating her because she was not living at her listed address.
Children services officials, citing confidentiality rules, would not disclose why the boy was returned to his mother after she was released from prison and whether appropriate checks on the boy's welfare were made, given that she was on probation.
DCFS spokesperson Stuart Riskin said there were about 160,000 calls each year to the agency's child protection hotline.
In the South Los Angeles neighborhood where Brown and Matthews lived with the boy, neighbors said they were shocked to hear of the abuse and some said they were angered it had not been reported earlier.
"Everybody's furious," said Katherine Irvin, who recently moved into an adjacent house she said was abandoned by a group of men. "They must've heard something."
Detectives said Monday that they were still trying to determine why a mother would so badly abuse her son.
"So far we have not come up with the answer," Lizarraga said. "Our victim was not on anybody's radar, either law enforcement or DCFS. He wasn't in the system; there was no recent [reported] abuse that could be seen," he said.
Since reports of the abuse became public, dozens of people have called police and social service agencies looking for ways to help the boy, authorities said. One elderly woman called police to see if she could donate her most recent Social Security check, authorities said.
Those interested in contributing can contact Michael Wrice with the DCFS at 213-739-6202.
one more mother of the year...
PRATTVILLE -- A Prattville woman Tuesday was charged with
planting nude images of her child in her ex-husband's home, just one day
after police accused her of conspiring to kill the man over a custody
dispute, law enforcement officials said.
Shannon Marie Lorenzo, 32, is accused of breaking into her
ex-husband's home and taking a picture of her 2-year-old child naked
while holding an erotic toy. She is also accused of planting other
images of child pornography, officials said.
She is charged with two counts of permitting a child to
engage in production of obscene material, one count of possession of
obscene material, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder,
officials said. She also faces burglary and theft charges, some
unrelated to the case involving her ex-husband, Chad Baker.
"This is definitely not the way to resolve a custody
dispute," District Attorney Randall Houston said. "She didn't want to
share custody, for whatever reason. Now she's looking at some serious
stuff here. I'm happy nobody's dead."
She faces a maximum of more than three life sentences if
convicted, officials said, and more charges may be filed within the next
few days.
Reached at home Tuesday night, Baker declined to discuss
the situation in detail.
"I'm not going to say anything to anybody until the
investigators have everything they need. It's just been a lot ... It's
just been so much," he said.
Lorenzo was arrested on the conspiracy to commit murder
charge Sunday after she returned to Prattville from Louisiana.
Law enforcement officials said they had staged the
disappearance of her ex-husband but would not elaborate as to how they
did so. They declined to release specific details leading to her arrest
and the six-month-long investigation.
She is accused of trying to hire an undercover Federal
Bureau of Investigations agent to kill her ex-husband, Houston said.
"You just can't trust these hired killers. You never know
when they're FBI agents," Houston said.
planting nude images of her child in her ex-husband's home, just one day
after police accused her of conspiring to kill the man over a custody
dispute, law enforcement officials said.
Shannon Marie Lorenzo, 32, is accused of breaking into her
ex-husband's home and taking a picture of her 2-year-old child naked
while holding an erotic toy. She is also accused of planting other
images of child pornography, officials said.
She is charged with two counts of permitting a child to
engage in production of obscene material, one count of possession of
obscene material, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder,
officials said. She also faces burglary and theft charges, some
unrelated to the case involving her ex-husband, Chad Baker.
"This is definitely not the way to resolve a custody
dispute," District Attorney Randall Houston said. "She didn't want to
share custody, for whatever reason. Now she's looking at some serious
stuff here. I'm happy nobody's dead."
She faces a maximum of more than three life sentences if
convicted, officials said, and more charges may be filed within the next
few days.
Reached at home Tuesday night, Baker declined to discuss
the situation in detail.
"I'm not going to say anything to anybody until the
investigators have everything they need. It's just been a lot ... It's
just been so much," he said.
Lorenzo was arrested on the conspiracy to commit murder
charge Sunday after she returned to Prattville from Louisiana.
Law enforcement officials said they had staged the
disappearance of her ex-husband but would not elaborate as to how they
did so. They declined to release specific details leading to her arrest
and the six-month-long investigation.
She is accused of trying to hire an undercover Federal
Bureau of Investigations agent to kill her ex-husband, Houston said.
"You just can't trust these hired killers. You never know
when they're FBI agents," Houston said.
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