MOM, BOYFRIEND INDICTED IN BOY’S DEATH

 

http://news.aol.com/article/mom-boyfriend-indicted-in-boys-death/630563?icid=main|hp-desktop|dl1|link5|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fmom-boyfriend-indicted-in-boys-death%2F630563

Robert Manwill

By TODD DVORAK

BOISE, Idaho (Aug. 19) – An 8-year-old Boise boy whose body was pulled from an irrigation canal earlier this month was tortured, beaten repeatedly and ultimately killed by his mother’s live-in boyfriend, according to a grand jury indictment.

An Ada County grand jury indictment accuses the boy’s mother, Melissa Jenkins, 30, of aiding and abetting her boyfriend, Daniel Ehrlick, in the death of her son, Robert Manwill, and in the weeks preceding his death hiding the boy’s injuries from government officials who could have intervened.

Jenkins and Ehrlick, 36, were each charged with first-degree murder Wednesday in the death of the boy, whose disappearance launched a massive law enforcement and community effort to find him last month. One week after his disappearance, an estimated 2,500 people turned out to scour the south Boise neighborhood where Jenkins lived and surrounding areas.

His body was found Aug. 3 in an irrigation canal near the small town of Kuna, several miles southwest of Boise.

Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Roger Bourne said his office is still considering whether to seek the death penalty.

State statute allows prosecutors 60 days to make a decision on the death penalty.

“We’ve been involved intensely on the presentation of this case but that decision has not been made yet,” Bourne said Wednesday.

The indictment made public Wednesday charges Ehrlick of a second felony for failing to report a death. It accuses him of beating the boy, causing severe head trauma and abdominal injuries that led to the boy’s death on July 24. Neither the indictment nor prosecutors have divulged the exact cause of death.

Ehrlick served time in an Idaho prison after being convicted of burglary and grand theft in the 1990s and was arrested for several probation violations, according to Idaho court records. He also has been convicted of battery and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The mother, who only had visitation rights for her son, is charged in the indictment with a second felony, an accessory to failing to report a death. The indictment also accuses her of knowing her son was being beaten and suffering emotional trauma, yet refusing to get him medical attention and deliberately concealing the child’s injuries from those who could have stepped in to help.

Jenkins is on probation for fracturing the skull of Robert’s infant half brother, who was removed from her custody by the state in late 2008.

Robert’s father, Charles Manwill of New Plymouth, Idaho, has had custody of the boy since 2008.

This latest twist in the case has rattled a community that initially rallied around the family and turned out for daily searches and vigils. Early on, Jenkins and Ehrlick appeared together at press conferences and public searches, expressing appreciation for flood of support and help in finding the boy.

“So many people tried really hard in the search, and now I suspect there is a strong sense of betrayal,” said Ada County Prosecutor Greg Bower. “In terms of volunteerism and community effort, we hadn’t ever seen anything quite like this.”

Jenkins and Ehrlick are scheduled to appear in court again Sept. 1. Jenkins is being held on a $2 million bond, while Ehrlick is being held without bond.

“THE SYSTEM FAILED EMMA”

Emma Thompson

 

Girl’s slaying followed chances to prevent tragedy

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6576234.html

By TERRI LANGFORD Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle

Aug. 18, 2009, 9:52AM

Before Lucas Coe was accused of inflicting the injuries that may have killed 4-year-old Emma Thompson, there were at least five chances to keep him behind bars in two different counties.

The last opportunity came just three months before Emma turned up in a Houston area emergency room, sexually abused and fatally beaten. Both Coe, 27, and his girlfriend, Emma’s mother, Abigail Young, 33, have been charged with injury to a child in Emma’s June 27 death. No trial date has been set.

But a closer look at Coe’s criminal history reveals some troubling facts — any of which might have altered the turn of events that led up to the Spring girl’s homicide.

While Coe was serving six years probation for a 2002 Harris County aggravated assault, records show, he was convicted for DWI, pled guilty to a Montgomery County assault, failed to meet with a probation officer, got behind in his restitution to the Harris County victim and was indicted on a child abuse charge in Montgomery County.

Four motions to revoke his probation in the Harris County case were made: two in 2005 and two in 2008.

Two of those were overruled by state District Judge Marc Carter. Two others were dismissed by the judge at the request of prosecutors in the case.

At least twice in that period, Coe was jailed for violating the terms of his probation.

But his probation was never revoked, which could have forced him to serve the remainder of his sentence in prison.

And when he missed a Montgomery County court date on a 2007 charge of injury to a different child, his bond was not revoked in that case — it was reinstated. Turns out he missed court because he was in the Harris County Jail serving time for violating terms of his Harris County probation.

Yet this overlapping criminal history, which had Coe ping-ponging from one county to the next, was not enough to keep him from being released from his probation in March when Carter signed the form announcing Coe had “satisfactorily fulfilled the conditions of supervision imposed by the court.”

Attempts to reach Carter, Montgomery County prosecutors and Coe’s attorney for comment were unsuccessful. A Harris County prosecutor in Coe’s case referred questions to spokeswoman Donna Hawkins, who would only say that “it’s not unusual through the course of a six-year probation that issues might arise with compliance.”

Emma first came to the attention of Texas Child Protective Services on June 8 after her pediatrician reported the little girl had blisters in her mouth and on her vagina that appeared to be genital herpes. After tests proved the diagnosis correct, Emma was given a sexual abuse exam at Texas Children’s Hospital.

No abuse was confirmed, and because genital herpes in rare cases can be spread in a nonsexual manner, the little girl was not removed from her home.

“The system failed Emma, bottom line.” said Andy Kahan, Houston’s Victim Assistance coordinator. “None of this should have ever happened. He should have been locked up in a prison.”

Coe’s criminal history through two courthouses, two jails and a probation department raised other questions no one seemed to be able to answer.

The Chronicle was unable to verify whether Coe completed all 800 hours of his community service, or who made most of his $40,000 restitution to the victim in the 2002 case, considering that as of last December, he was behind in completing both tasks.

The Harris County Community Supervision and Corrections Department will not give information out about a probationer’s case without approval from a judge. The department forwarded the Chronicle’s request for information to Judge Carter last week.

By Monday, there was no approval from Judge Carter to release that information. Several Chronicle attempts since Friday to reach Carter regarding the four motions to revoke the probation went unanswered.

Attempts to reach prosecutors in the 2007 Montgomery County child abuse case now pending against Coe, including why the case was reset at least 15 times, and how Coe was able to get bond when he was on probation for a felony in Harris County, also were unsuccessful.

Messages left Monday for Montgomery county prosecutors about Coe’s case, along with Coe’s attorney Chris Warren, were not returned.

terri.langford@chron.com

 

LOST CHANCES

 

Lucas Coe was sentenced in 2003 to six years probation for aggravated assault in Harris County. Despite violating probation repeatedly, it was never revoked.

June 8, 2005: Motion to revoke is filed after Coe commits a DWI. Judge overrules it.

Sept. 29, 2005: Motion to revoke is filed after he fails to report to probation officer. Judge overrules it.

Feb. 20, 2008: Motion to revoke is filed, based on his child abuse indictment in Montgomery County. Motion dismissed.

Dec. 12, 2008: Motion to revoke is filed based on Coe’s failure to perform community service, indictment in abuse case, failure to pay restitution. Motion is dismissed.

Feb. 9, 2009: Coe fails to show up in court in Montgomery County child abuse case because he is jailed in Harris County. Still, his bond is not revoked. In fact, the bond is reinstated.

March 25, 2009: Lucas Coe’s six- year probation ends.

June 27, 2009: Emma Thompson is killed.

SUSPECT IN 6-YEAR-OLD’S BEATING DEATH ARRESTED IN LAS VEGAS

 

Marcas Fisher had eluded authorities for nearly a month after Dae’Von Bailey was found dead in a South L.A. home July 23. Authorities found Fisher by following a trail of his drug use.

Dae'von Bailey

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-abuse-arrest20-2009aug20,0,530111.story

For almost a month, Marcas Fisher eluded a police dragnet.

Detectives fielded reports that Fisher — suspected in the beating death of a 6-year-old boy in South Los Angeles — was seen walking around and even riding a bike in the neighborhood.

He was always one step ahead, even after the Los Angeles Police Department sealed off an entire neighborhood. Despite the notoriety of the case, investigators believe Fisher was sheltered by friends and relatives.

But early Wednesday morning, police had caught up with Fisher, in part by following a trail of his drug use.

According to law enforcement sources, investigators managed through street contacts to determine that Fisher was buying drugs in North Las Vegas and staying in an apartment there with his girlfriend.

About 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, investigators watched as Fisher walked out of an apartment to allegedly buy drugs from someone in a car. He was wearing a disguise: A blue do-rag bandanna with fake dreadlocks that looked like the Manny Ramirez wigs sold at Dodger Stadium, according to a law enforcement source who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing.

Two hours later, he was arrested while still wearing the wig and smoking a marijuana cigarette, the source said.

“Mr. Fisher has a long history with narcotics, and that’s partly what led to his capture,” said LAPD Deputy Chief Charlie Beck at a news conference in Los Angeles.

Beck said suspects like Fisher present challenges because they often do not leave a trail of financial records. They do not have credit or debit cards, often don’t have cars or driver’s licenses or use the Internet or cellphones.

“People on the fringes like Marcas here don’t have that. So you have to work on things that are markers for them,” Beck said. “His marker was drug use.”

Though he declined to go into detail, Beck said “modern technology” was also used to locate Fisher, as was cooperation among 25 police agencies, including the U.S. Marshals Service. Detectives are investigating whether to seek charges against anyone for harboring him.

Fisher is accused of beating and killing Dae’von Bailey on July 23. The case has outraged the community and raised questions about how social workers and medical providers dealt with his case. Social workers received several reports that Dae’von was being abused but never took him out of Fisher’s home.

Dae’von, a kindergartner, told adults at his school in Lakewood that Fisher had physically abused him, punching him in the nose and the stomach, first in April and again in June. In both cases, the boy was taken to a private doctor, and social workers concluded that Dae’von’s allegations either were not true or could not be substantiated, according to documents obtained by The Times.

The boy’s family has been the subject of about a dozen abuse or neglect allegations since 1999.

According to newly released records from the Department of Children and Family Services, Dae’von “was found dead in his locked home after [Fisher] called a friend to say he was beating the child.” The records were released after The Times requested them.

When Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics arrived, rigor mortis had set in. Authorities believe that Dae’von had been dead for at least two hours.

The report said he had multiple bruises in different stages of healing on his face, arm and head. He had multiple cuts to his chest and back and multiple small cuts to both feet and the top of both feet below the ankle.The boy’s 5-year-old sister was in the home and apparently witnessed his death and was with Dae’von’s body without any adults present for more than an hour, relatives said.

The brutality of the boy’s death was such that one of his uncles said that even members of the gang that Fisher had been affiliated with vowed to Dae’von’s grandparents that they would not help Fisher escape if he came to them.

“They said they turned their back on him. It embarrassed them, him killing a little kid he basically raised,” said Katari Davis, 29, the brother of Dae’von’s mother. “They said they were sorry for this, and if we ever see him, there’s going to be a bad outcome for him.”

The boy’s mother, Tylette Davis, 28, expressed gratitude to law enforcement for apprehending the man accused of killing her son.

“I’ve just been thanking God all day,” she said at a news conference in front of the house where Dae’von died. “I can sleep better at night now.”

At the time of the boy’s killing, none of Davis’ six children were living with her. She said that she was dealing with “some issues” and had family members and Fisher, her ex-boyfriend, look after her children. Fisher, whose rap sheet includes property and drug crimes as well as a juvenile conviction for rape, was not Dae’von’s biological father.

Fisher was arrested two days after what would have been the boy’s 7th birthday. “There’s so much relief” as a result of the arrest, Katari Davis said.

“His birthday was a sad day for us, because he wasn’t here, and his killer had still not been brought in.”

hector.becerra@latimes.com

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com

Times staff writers Garrett Therolf and Nicole Santa Cruz contributed to this report.

CONWAY POLICE INVESTIGATING CHILD DEATH

 

http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0809/651109.html

posted 08/19/09 2:30 pm

Conway – Police are assisting state agencies in investigating the death of a young Conway boy.

In a Conway Police Department incident report released Tuesday, 6-year-old Javari Washington is listed as the victim of first-degree battery occurring at the child’s Ledbetter Drive residence between Thursday evening and very early Friday morning.

The report states that the boy was taken to Arkansas Children’s Hospital and the Crimes Against Children division of the Arkansas State Police were notified of the incident.

CPD public information officer Sharen Carter confirmed this afternoon that Washington died on Monday, but couldn’t comment on the circumstances of the child’s death.

“All I can say right now is that it’s a pending investigation and we are awaiting autopsy results,” Carter said.

The Arkansas Department of Human Services’ Child Fatality Notification service lists a “near fatality” notification for a child with the same date of birth in which it is alleged that the child was shaken, suffering hematomas (collection of blood inside the body caused by ruptured blood vessels) and cerebral edema (accumulation of fluid in the brain causing swelling).

The notification also states that the child was involved in two previous DHS cases, one for inadequate supervision that was closed in November 2008 and another for educational neglect that was closed in June.

This online notification lists the incident as occurring in Conway County. DHS spokesperson Joyce Williams said Tuesday that this was an error and that the incident did occur in Faulkner County. Williams said this would be corrected on the DHS Web site.

The DHS Division of Children and Family Services is also assisting in the investigation.

(By Joe Lamb, Log Cabin Staff Writer.)

L.A. MOM WHO BEHEADED SON SHOWED RED FLAGS

Boy’s death shows weaknesses of L.A. County’s child welfare system

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-child-death18-2009aug18,0,7683835.story

 

Records show that Yolanda Tijerina exhibited signs of mental illness months before she decapitated her son Lars Sanchez, 4. But the risk was not deemed sufficient to remove him from her care.

 

By Garrett Therolf

August 18, 2009

Nine months before the mother of a 4-year-old decapitated him with a Ginsu knife, the principal of a Highland Park preschool phoned Los Angeles County’s child abuse hotline to report that the woman was screaming and shouting outside the building.

Yolanda Tijerina’s tirade, which seemed directed at no one in particular, drew a crowd of neighbors and staffers at Meridian Children’s Center.

“I think you killed my son!” shouted Tijerina, whose 4-year-old boy, Lars Sanchez, attended the school. “I think you killed my son. I have panic attacks.”

Principal Elizabeth Blackwell’s call led to an investigation by mental health and child welfare officials, according to county documents recently obtained by The Times. The boy’s grandmother told officials that the mother had “episodes,” and his adult sister told them she believed the boy was in danger.

The documents, released by the county Department of Children and Family Services under a 2008 disclosure law, show in chilling detail how even dramatic evidence of a mother’s illness was not considered sufficient grounds for removing a child from her care.

The department closed the case in a matter of days, saying that allegations of emotional abuse against Lars could not be substantiated. The home was considered “stabilized.”

On July 18, shortly after daybreak, Lars’ grandmother found him dead in the bedroom he shared with his mother. Tijerina was on the floor next to the bed, her left wrist slashed to the bone. A knife lay next to her.

Supervisor Gloria Molina, publicly condemned the county’s handling of the case as “a big mistake.” As is routine, the social workers involved were assigned to desk duty pending a review.

The brutal death of Lars Sanchez underscored a significant weakness of the child welfare system: gauging the risks of a caregiver’s mental illness.

Mental illness in itself does not disqualify one from raising a child.

Child welfare officials must consider whether the person is under effective treatment, whether the child’s care is overseen by other stable adults, and whether the illness results in abuse or neglect of the child. These are determinations that can be a challenge even for psychiatric experts.

“Social workers are not necessarily trained to assess a parent’s mental health,” said Charles Sophy, medical director with the Department of Children and Family Services.

Nor are they necessarily privy to key information about the parent or other caregiver. For instance, they can’t access mental health treatment records without the patient’s permission. Without that, the decision may be largely based on a one-on-one interview.

“Mental illness is easy to hide sometimes,” Sophy said. “You can put on a smiling face when I knock on your door, and I will never know that you tried to kill yourself last week.”

Nevertheless, social workers confront and decide the issue frequently.

Almost a fifth of the 4,468 children removed from their homes by the family services agency last year were removed primarily because of a parent’s mental illness.

Lars’ death has already prompted some changes.

The department has sped up its plans for an internal hotline allowing social workers to consult with Sophy or his medical staff when mental illness is at issue, Sophy said.

But social workers in Lars’ case were not acting entirely on their own, interviews suggest. According to two sources with knowledge of the case, the social workers called in evaluators from the county Department of Mental Health to do an assessment of the mother, and the findings persuaded them that she was not a threat.

That exam failed to diagnose the gravity of Tijerina’s illness and did not reveal the fact that a private hospital had once placed her under an involuntary psychiatric hold, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because mental health records are confidential.

Such a hold allows a qualified peace officer or clinician to confine a person if the mental disorder makes her a danger to herself or others, or if it interferes with the person’s ability to meet her own basic needs.

“One of the things that concerns me,” Molina said, “is that no one checks to see if someone has children when they place a person” under a such a hold.

“They need to be checking that and alerting” the children’s services agency.

In the end, the social workers found that Tijerina often spoke nonsensically. They found that her “emotional stability, developmental status or cognitive deficiency impairs her current ability to supervise, protect or care for the child.”

But they said this risk could be addressed through three months of informal monitoring by a neighborhood resource center and observation by family members and neighbors, according to county documents.

(Neighbors said the boy’s grandmother was seen frequently around the house, but it was unclear whether she lived there.)

Also counting in favor of the mother was the fact that she had been cooperative during the child-abuse investigation.

Department of Children and Family Services Director Trish Ploehn said confidentiality laws prohibited her from speaking about the case.

Dr. Roderick Shaner, medical director of the Mental Health department, said he also was constrained by confidentiality restrictions.

But he noted that records of an involuntary psychiatric hold at a private hospital would not necessarily come to light without the patient’s explicit consent to search for the record.

Shaner said such mental health evaluations were “not geared to make determinations or predictions of what might happen.”

Children and Family Services social workers “should be aware of the limited sources of information we have,” Shaner said.

garrett.therolf@latimes.com

Times staff writer Molly Hennessy-Fiske contributed to this report.

 

L.A. Mom who Beheaded Son Showed Red Flags

 

Woman who Decapitated 4-year-old with Kitchen Knife Showed Signs of Mental Illness 9 Months Before Attack

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/18/national/main5249916.shtml

A Los Angeles woman who decapitated her 4-year-old with a kitchen knife showed signs of mental illness nine months before the attack, yet Los Angeles County child welfare officials decided she wasn’t a serious threat to the boy.

Lars Sanchez was found dead on July 18 in a bedroom he shared with his mother. She was on the floor, her left wrist slashed to the bone.

Nine months earlier, Yolanda Tijerina was investigated after she began screaming and shouting, “I think you killed my son!” – apparently to no one in particular – outside the boy’s Highland Park preschool, the Los Angeles Times said.

The principal at Meridian Children’s Center reported her to the county’s child abuse hotline.

Social workers, who investigated for several days, learned that Tijerina often spoke nonsensically, and the boy’s adult sister told officials that she believed her brother was in danger.

The investigation concluded that the mother’s “emotional stability, developmental status or cognitive deficiency impairs her current ability to supervise, protect or care for the child.”

However, officials concluded that the boy could remain at the home if there were three months of informal monitoring by family members, neighbors and a neighborhood resource center, the Times said, citing documents released by the county Department of Children and Family Services.

Emotional abuse allegations involving the boy could not be substantiated, the department concluded.

The employees involved in the case have been assigned to desk duty pending a review.

Last month, county supervisors voted to review the deaths of about a dozen children who had been the subject of abuse complaints to the county. The vote followed the July beating death of 6-year-old Dae’von Bailey in South Los Angeles. His stepfather is suspected of killing him.

The boy reportedly had been the subject of about a dozen calls to child welfare authorities about possible abuse.

Last year, social workers removed 4,468 children from Los Angeles County homes, and parental mental illness was the main reason in nearly a fifth of those cases.

However, mental illness alone doesn’t disqualify a parent from caring for a child. Social workers must also determine if the child is being abused or neglected, the parent is getting treatment, and whether there are other adults at home to care for the child.

The decision can be difficult.

“Social workers are not necessarily trained to assess a parent’s mental health,” said Charles Sophy, medical director with the Department of Children and Family Services.

“Mental illness is easy to hide sometimes,” Sophy said. “You can put on a smiling face when I knock on your door, and I will never know that you tried to kill yourself last week.”

WILDOMAR SCALDING SUSPECT WAS CONVICTED OF ABUSING OLDER DAUGHTER

 

http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_S_webscald18.11bc37f.html

08:52 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 18, 2009

A 24-year-old woman arrested last weekend on suspicion of holding her 2-year-old daughter’s legs in scalding water to discipline her, then failing to seek medical care until the burns became infected, was convicted last year of battering an older daughter and is a key witness in a murder case against the older girl’s father, authorities said Tuesday.

Diana Vicky Estrada, of Wildomar, was arrested Sunday after taking her daughter to A+ Urgent Care in Lake Elsinore for treatment of severe burns to her legs, a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department news release said. The toddler was transported to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton for further treatment and the case was reported to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

Sgt. Patrick Chavez said that Estrada initially claimed the child had fallen into a bathtub filled with hot water that she was using to clean curtains on Aug. 12. In fact, it appears the child was in potty-training and Estrada placed her lower legs in the water to punish her after she had an accident, Chavez said.

Estrada was booked into the Southwest Detention center on suspicion of child abuse with great bodily injury and violation of her probation. Her bail was set at $50,000.

The toddler was expected to undergo surgery Tuesday in an attempt to save her feet, Chavez said.

The older child, 4-year-old Liliana Estrada, was removed from the home by Child Protective Services.

Liliana’s biological father, Fabian Cayetano Urrea, now 23, is being tried on a murder charge in the 2005 killing of Estrada’s husband, Jorge Estrada, 24. Jorge Estrada was an Army National Guardsman serving in Iraq and had come home on leave to Murrieta for Liliana’s birth. Authorities said Urrea and Jorge Estrada had been fighting over who would raise Liliana. The men were in the parking lot outside the Estradas’ apartment when Jorge Estrada was shot, authorities said. Diana Estrada was standing nearby holding Liliana.

After the shooting, Urrea fled to Mexico but was arrested in January 2007 and returned to the United States. He has pleaded not guilty.

In September 2008, Diana Estrada and her boyfriend — Eisiderio Ayala, 25, the father of her youngest daughter — pleaded guilty to child abuse after Liliana was found in 2007 to have suffered unexplained broken arms, court records show. By the time Estrada was convicted, the child had been returned to her custody. Estrada and Ayala were sentenced to 180 days in jail to be served on weekends and four years’ probation.

Court records show that Estrada completed several classes for child batterers and progress reports estimated that she was “low risk” for reoffending.

In a May 2007 request for a restraining order against her mother, Maria De Pilar Herrera, Estrada wrote that authorities took Liliana away from her in January 2007 after her mother took the child to the hospital for a drug test. Estrada claimed her mother was retaliating against her for moving Liliana out of her home. Estrada also filed a request for a restraining order against her step-father. Both requests were dismissed.

The recent abuse of the toddler apparently occurred at the same address on Palomar Street in Wildomar that court records list as Ayala’s residence. Chavez said investigators do not know what role, if any, Ayala might have played in the abuse of his daughter.

In a request for a restraining order against Ayala that Estrada filed in July 2008, she wrote that the court required her to obtain the order if she wanted to regain custody of her two daughters.

“I feel that I can protect my little girls and I don’t need a paper saying that I am protected,” she wrote. “I know how to parent my children.”

Reach Sarah Burge at 951-375-3736 or sburge@PE.com

DEATH OF 11-MONTH-OLD WAS CAUSED BY CHILD ABUSE

 

http://www.wbbm780.com/Death-of-11-month-old-was-caused-by-child-abuse/5031581

 

CHICAGO (STNG) — An 11-month-old girl in the Altgeld Gardens area died from multiple injuries resulting from child abuse and her death was a homicide, a Tuesday autopsy determined.

DaJae Guy of E. 132nd St. was pronounced dead at Children’s Memorial Hospital at 3:30 p.m. Monday, according to a Cook County Medical Examiner’s office spokesman.

DaJae possibly suffered broken ribs and head trauma, according to the spokesman. An autopsy Tuesday showed she died from multiple injuries and blunt-force trauma resulting from child abuse, according to a report from the medical examiner’s office.

Sometime Saturday afternoon or evening, the baby was taken from the home of her mother’s boyfriend at 325 E. 132nd St. to Children’s Memorial, according to police News Affairs Officer Ronald Gaines.

Children’s Memorial alerted Chicago Police, who initiated an investigation at the boyfriend’s residence to see whether abuse was involved.

Gaines said Tuesday that several people were being questioned as part of the investigation, but as of about 2 p.m. no charges had been filed.

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services spokesman Kendall Marlowe said the agency is investigating abuse allegations against the boyfriend of the baby’s mother.

The suspected abuser had been investigated for abuse in 2007 involving a different family, Marlowe said. The abuse allegations in 2007 were proven true, he said.

Calumet Area detectives are investigating.

 

FOSTER MOTHER’S ATTORNEY SPEAKS ABOUT BRANDED BOY

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMpjAdD1MTM

MECKLENBURG DSS AUDIT/SPENDING HABITS/MISAPPROPRIATION OF FUNDS

Auditors on way amid DSS probe

  

Jones tells review panel he’ll make hiring a priority to address staffing shortage.

  

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/topstories/story/895715.html

By Fred Clasen-Kelly

frkelly@charlotteobserver.com

Posted: Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009

 

As officials continued to investigate misspending at the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services, County Manager Harry Jones said Tuesday he would hire more internal auditors.

The comments came in response to questions from the county board’s Audit Review Committee, which said Mecklenburg has too few auditors to protect the $1 billion-plus it spends annually.

The lack of staffing has been cited as a major reason officials failed to spot DSS accounting lapses sooner.

County leaders say they cannot fully account for tens of thousands of dollars meant to help needy children. The problems include a $10,000 check made out to a county employee.

Mecklenburg employs five auditors, enough to review spending in each county agency once every six years, officials say. Administrators say the agencies should be reviewed at least every three years.

DSS, the county’s second largest agency with about 1,200 employees and a roughly $180 million budget, has not undergone a full audit since 1996.

Hiring more auditors “is a top priority,” Jones said. “I will exhaust every avenue.”

He spoke during an Audit Review Committee meeting where officials explained how they would respond to problems in DSS.

Committee members said they were alarmed to learn about short staffing and voted to recommend the full Board of Commissioners take up the matter. They said they supported a suggestion to hire at least three new auditors.

Commissioner Bill James said the county likely will need to add still more, since it has about 5,000 workers.

“I have worked with companies with 5,000 employees and the audit department was whale of a lot bigger than five or eight,” James said.

Jones said the county’s internal audit office once deployed more workers, but lost positions through attrition that weren’t filled because of cuts.

Details about missing or altered receipts from DSS surfaced this year when an audit showed the county could not show how it spent $162,000 in donations meant to buy holiday gifts for needy children. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police are investigating.

On Tuesday, county officials said they would continue to investigate whether county employees misused money meant to buy emergency supplies for families. Auditors are reviewing 2008 invoices from Target stores to determine why there was a surge in purchases.

Officials said they would submit a report by Friday.

Committee members questioned how administrators dealt with a DSS administrator who was responsible for making sure workers followed spending rules. The administrator approved purchases by foster parents or employees that cost more money than the county had authorized, officials said.

While two other employees linked to the purchases have left their positions, the administrator continues to work in the DSS finance department, officials said. They did not name the administrator.

The Audit Review Committee itself has come under scrutiny since it concluded this year that top county managers took proper steps to address the problems in DSS.

Two of its members are county administrators: Jones and a top assistants, General Manager John McGillicuddy.

On Tuesday, the committee voted to recommend the full Board of Commissioners remove county staff from the committee.

Some commissioners have complained that the existing arrangement hinders public confidence in the DSS probe and gives the appearance of a conflict of interest. NO…It is a conflict of interest.

Counties such as Guilford, Wake, Durham and Forsyth have audit review committees and none allows staff to sit on the panel. Jones and McGillicuddy voted for the recommendation to remove themselves.

McGillicuddy said he doesn’t see a problem with administrators serving most times, but said the DSS investigation has put him and Jones in an “awkward” position.

Fred Clasen-Kelly: 704 358-5027

  

DSS makes changes after audit

  

http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/stories/wcnc-081809-mw-dss-audit.f3332c03.html

08:54 AM EDT on Wednesday, August 19, 2009

By STUART WATSON / NewsChannel 36

E-mail Stuart: SWatson@WCNC.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mecklenburg County administrators have taken steps to plug the holes disclosed in an audit of the Department of Social Services.

The audit found:

• Vouchers for items like clothing for foster kids without receipts to back them up,

• Cash payments without adequate paperwork,

• And credit card expenses with loose controls.

Now, DSS has cancelled vouchers and credit cards and tightened and centralized controls over cash.

DSS Director Mary E. Wilson says there is “no evidence whatsoever” of fraud but that DSS is “still working with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department” in a criminal investigation.

A review of all credit card receipts from Sam’s Club and Harris Teeter revealed no fraudulent use of credit cards.

Mecklenburg County Commissioner Dan Murray, the chairman of the County’s Audit Review Committee, said, “It seems the problems were not as broad or concerning as they might have been.”

The Audit Review Committee voted to recommend that the County Commission hire three more internal auditors to speed up the review of county agencies. The DSS audit showed cash handling had not been reviewed in 13 years, which came as a shock to commissioners.

County Commissioner Bill James had pressed county managers to reveal whether anyone had been fired or disciplined over the sloppy accounting of millions of dollars in public money.

DSS officials told the audit committee that one employee had resigned but no one had been disciplined.

The Audit Review Committee also voted unanimously to recommend to the County Commission that the county manager and a general manager be removed from the committee to avoid being accused of overseeing themselves. County Manager Harry Jones and General Manager John McGillicuddy voted in favor of the measure, removing themselves from the committee, but only after McGillicuddy suggested that the two remain as non-voting, ex-officio members.

Related Stories:

• DSS accounting practices criticized

• Spending probe spreads at DSS

• DSS pays benefits despite cutbacks

• I-Team report leads to change in Mecklenburg hiring policy

• DSS spends $20,000 on holiday party, training

• DSS director spends $20,000 renovating office

 

DSS director spends $20,000 renovating office

 

November 19th, 2008 -

The Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services is supposed to help some of the poorest of the poor. So why is the new director spending tens of thousands of dollars renovating her office?

Look at this office…my livingroom doesn’t even look like this…do you know how many people she could have helped with all of the money she spent redoing her office…This is a prime example of why they have no money and are alway requesting more funds…this just proves…they have the money, but they don’t use it to help children or the community!

New Directors Office

http://www.wcnc.com/video/?nvid=305319&shu=1

 

DSS spends $20,000 on holiday party

 

December 18th, 2008 -

While most workplaces are scaling back their holiday parties, one local government agency doubled their budget.

http://www.wcnc.com/video/?nvid=314488&shu=1

 

Last month I posted a story on this blog about one year old baby girl Noblely Lawson who was hit by a car in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The full story that was originally posted at: http://angiemedia.com/?p=4130  states:

“Although the family survived the car accident, they may never recover from what the DSS has threatened to do to them. They have told the family they will take the baby away from her parents, thereby destroying the family.

The little girl’s parents are not rich and are not politically connected, but they did manage to put a roof over her head, feed her, and even throw a small 1st birthday party for her. There are no allegations of drug abuse or child abuse.

So why would DSS make such a threat?”

The answer is provided in the article as follows:

“DSS Preys On Poor And Injured Families

DSS has threatened to take the baby away from her parents because they live in a weekly rental motel because of limited financial means. Father Shane Lawson is employed at a Wendy’s restaurant. It is not a high paying job, but at least he’s trying to meet his family’s needs.

DSS claims the amount of medical equipment that will be needed to care for Noblely after the car accident won’t fit in the motel room. Therefore DSS views the home as “unfit” and believes it is “justified” in threatening to take the child away from her family.

Yes, you read that right:

The car crash didn’t kill their family, so DSS will.”

DSS could have used the $40,000 dollars that they spent on themselves on this family so Nobely and her family could have a place to live that would accommodate the equipment she now needs to survive.  Instead of using funds to help families like the Noberly’s Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services blows thousands of dollars on themselves and then uses lack of funds to tear families apart or as an excuse not to help because of “lack of funds”.

They also use the excuse of lack of funds when they fail to protect a child from child abuse, we are short staffed, we don’t have enough funds…how many times have we heard this excuse as to why children died, why the child was not monitored closely enough…I, for one, am tired of their shitty excuses.  They are spending money left and right, misappropriating funds, stealing from the very people who need it the most…and where do you think this money comes from in the first place???  The taxpayer wallet…this is our money that they are blowing!  These are our children, neighbors, friends, and follow Americans that they are failing…if you step back and look…you will find one person, one child, one family member, or one friend that DSS has failed that you personally know….enough is enough…the time has come to speak out against this corruption.

Protecting Children 24/7–DSS UNVIELS NEW PLANS TO DEAL WITH ABUSE AND NEGLECT (AND VIOLATE CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED RIGHTS)

Editorial: Protecting children 24-7

 

http://www.salisburypost.com/Opinion/082009-edit-foster

Taking children away from their parents and placing them in foster care is difficult enough. What happens when something goes wrong at the foster care home? Very wrong?

The Rowan County Department of Social Services unveiled a response plan this week for a problem that’s not discussed much: abuse that occurs while a foster child is left with someone else. The incident that precipitated the plan involved the sexual abuse of a young girl in her foster home by a man left to care for her while the foster parents were out.

The public doesn’t know much about this case; fortunately, the system shields children’s identities. But this little girl’s plight revealed dangerous gaps in a foster system that is supposed to care for children 24/7.

Up until now, the Department of Social Services has not had clear policy on what to do if a child is abused by, say, a friend of the foster family. It doesn’t happen often; besides, the appropriate response would seem obvious. But obvious isn’t good enough, so policy now spells it all out. If abuse is suspected while a child is with a respite caregiver — babysitters, overnight care providers, friends or relatives of the foster parents — the DSS employee who receives the report must notify his or her supervisor, and soon ( HOW SOON?  The North Carolina General Statutes state this type of investigation is supposed to be immediate!) a committee made up of the agency’s top authorities must investigate and decide what to do. If the child is removed from the home, no other foster children will be placed in the home. If the allegations prove true, the foster home may (may?) lose its license.

Foster parents who do their jobs well deserve a special place in heaven. They take in children who have been abused, neglected or abandoned. These fragile children, wrenched from the only home they know, find stability, safety and care in a foster home while authorities work out a plan for them.

That’s the best-case scenario. And admittedly, even the best foster parents may sometimes need someone to fill in while they go out, run errands or even take a trip. They can get the agency’s help in finding other foster parents to fill in, but some foster parents choose to make their own arrangements. From here on out, they’ll have to be more careful about who cares for foster children while they are away — again, something that would seem obvious but apparently is not.

Foster parents have to be at least 21 years old, have a stable home and income, be willing to be fingerprinted and have a criminal records check and maintain a drug-free environment. There’s also required training, and a license to get from the state.

This incident should not reflect on all foster parents, and it shouldn’t scare anyone away from becoming a foster parent. If anything, it illustrates the need for more qualified, caring people to step forward and help care for children in need.

 

DSS unveils new plans to deal with abuse and neglect

 

http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/081909-law-enforcement-protocol-committee-response-plan

By Shavonne Potts

spotts@salisburypost.com

The Rowan County Department of Social Services presented its new plan for responding to allegations of abuse and neglect of foster children Tuesday at the quarterly Law Enforcement Protocol Committee meeting.

The release of the plan comes four months after a child was allegedly molested while in foster care. The grandmother told the Post in June her grandchild was in foster care when she was molested by Larry Maynard Clark, 62. He later committed suicide.

Rowan County District Court Judge Charlie Brown presided over a May 21 hearing on custody of the girl. The hearing was closed to the public and Brown said he could not discuss details of the hearing or any corrective action included in his ruling.

The new DSS plan outlines that the Children’s Services Program administrator or director will be responsible for placement decisions of children already in foster care. The decision will be made when foster parents, group home staff or other caregivers face allegations of criminal behavior, abuse or neglect, or mishandling of financial resources.

Evidence of financial mismanagement may include failure to pay household expenses leading to eviction or disconnection of utilities or filing for bankruptcy.

In this case, a caregiver is anyone who has been selected by the foster parents to provide care for the child, which includes babysitters, overnight care providers, friends and relatives of foster parents who’ve been left in charge in the absence of the foster parents.

Any DSS employee who becomes aware of such allegations must contact his or her supervisor. The program director or administrator will then convene a meeting of the Administrative Placement Committee that includes the director, Children’s Services Program administrator and Children’s Services attorney.

Tom Brewer, program administrator for the Children’s Services division, said the biggest question is what happens to the child during the investigation.

If the committee decides to remove the child, no other child may be placed in that home while the allegations are being investigated.

Brewer also said if the allegations are substantiated, future placement in that home or facility cannot be made without prior approval of the program administrator or director. The team will also decide whether to recommend the state terminate the foster home license.

“There is not a state guideline that says we have to screen people who provide interim care,” Brewer noted. The response plan is something DSS has put in place in the event such an incident occurs.

“We want to go a step further than the state,” he said.

The department also revised its policy on drug-exposed children to require an investigation if medical providers report a mother or newborn tests positive for illegal substances. Those substances now include opioids such as methadone and oxycodone.

Another revision to the policy requires drug testing for all adults, including family members and friends who are living in or visiting the home, before the mother and baby leave the hospital. The previous plan only listed conditions for the mother.

A mother who tests positive for drugs or whose newborn tests positive for drugs will be referred for substance abuse assessment to determine whether she needs treatment. All adults in the home will also be referred for substance abuse assessments if they test positive.

And if adults in the home test positive for drugs and refuse to comply with the policy, DSS can take further action to re-evaluate the safety plan or ask the court to remove the child. The Law Enforcement Protocol Committee’s next meeting will be Nov. 17 in the Stanback Room of the Rowan Public Library.

Comment I left on this story:

Have these people never heard of the Constitution and the right to be free from illegal search and seizure…you are not supposed to be tested for anything unless there is probable cause to do so…To test the mother and the child without probable cause is bad enough, but now to spread this illegal search out to family members, friends, grandparents…”visitors to the home” is ridiculous and completely uncalled for. This from the same department when you call in a report of abuse ignores those reports until the children are dead…(Speaking of CPS as a whole)

They are only doing this because babys are more marketable, and they make more money for them…who will be watching DSS and ensuring that these drug tests really are positive? Who will be managing their checks and balances, since they get bonuses for children who are adopted out of state care…Supporting this is supporting legalized kidnapping!!!!

This is a complete violation of Constitutional protected rights and I don’t know how the people of this state just stand quietly by and put up with it.

If you want to protect children…really protect them, not steal them based on false allegations and lies…then changes the laws that govern DSS, make them criminally liable for their behavior and stop giving them more power to abuse!!!!

Trust me, it will be different, when they come after you for no reason what-so-ever!!!