Child Abuse - Not Just A Guy Thing

[Brent]

Can't wait to hear the standard refrain: They're not really child abusers, they're just "emotionally disturbed" and need "help". Either that or "their husband/boyfreind made them do it".

[img src=http://images.ibsys.com/2004/0116/2771692.jpg]
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. -- A mother is facing charges of chaining her children to the bed as punishment after her 6-year- old daughter told a teacher about the alleged abuse. Layla J. Wendt of Pinellas Park was arrested Wednesday on three counts of aggravated child abuse. She is free on $5,000 bail. Pinellas Park Police officers said they found two of the girl's brothers, ages 7 and 9, had also been chained to their beds as punishment. The chains and plastic ties that were used to bind the children were still attached to the beds, according to police reports. The daughter was chained for a couple of hours; the boys for four to five hours, said Pinellas Park police spokesman Sgt. Gene LaPouttre Thursday. One of the children had bruising on the wrists. The other two were in good health.


[img src=http://images.ibsys.com/2004/0120/2779080.jpg]
YORK COUNTY, Pa. -- A York County woman is facing multiple charges for allegedly taping herself sexually abusing children she was baby-sitting, according to a report. Tracene Jo Usko, (pictured, left) of Newberry Township, is currently in the York County Prison in connection with the alleged abuse. Usko is accused of abusing a 1-year-old boy and 2-year- old boy in her care between Dec. 31 and this weekend, WGAL-TV reported. Police said Usko's daughter found recorded footage of the abuse and told her boyfriend, who then contacted police. Police are still investigating to see if there were any more victims and if any of the footage was distributed on the Internet.

[StPaulieGirl]

Okay, the first example is more like VERY poor parenting skills.  We've had a discussion here about corporal punishment recently, and the camp is divided on the issue.  Judging by the story that these kids were otherwise healthy, attended school. and except for a bruise on one child's arm, unharmed. Of course it comes under the heading of child abuse.  Unfortunately, she was probably trying to find a way to punish them without whipping their disobedient little rear ends.

Here's a couple other examples for comparison:

Last year, police found a young girl tied to the bedpost(I don't have the article, but this happened in CA-I remember the main points), she was malnourished, mentally backward, and covered in her own waste.  Apparently, she had been locked in the room her whole life (IIRC).  THAT is child abuse.  Those people deserve to spend the rest of their lives behind bars doing hard labor.

There have been so many stories of children found locked in closets, eating bugs and their own waste, it's unreal.  What's wrong with these people?  I cannot believe a parent would do that to their...or anyone else's child.  Have you seen stories about foster children dying in foster homes?  The same government that accuses you of child abuse for rightfully disciplining your children, will let them die in an approved foster home enviroment.  Starved, neglected, or brutally beaten.

Also in the Los Angeles area, an immigrant couple kept their teenage daughter chained to the bed to keep her from seeing a man in his 30's, who was married.  Well, what's worse...unintended pregnancy, STD's that don't go away, a pissed off wife blowing up your car...or doing the only thing you can think of to keep your horny teenage daughter from ruining her life?  I don't really think of it as child abuse under the circumstances, although it looks bad.  Hey at least they didn't stone her to death!!!!

Your second example makes me sick to my stomach.  The term child abuse doesn't go far enough to describe what this pervert did to those babies.  Until Mary Kay Le Tourneau, it never occured to me that females were capable of being sexual predators.  Call me stupid, or naive, but my mind simply doesn't "go there".  Remember that site you or someone else posted?  It was like the female version of NAMBLA.  That was disgusting, and after going through the site, I was tempted to reformat my hard drive.  YUCK!

The first and second examples don't have anything in common, imo...

[StPaulieGirl]

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/7832835.htm

Toddler starves to death
Coroner says 17-month-old Canton boy found dead in crib is worst case he's seen
By Ed Meyer
Beacon Journal staff writer

 
 
 
Juanita Johnson-Millender is charged with involuntary manslaughter and child endangering.

 
Calling it the worst such case he had ever seen, a pathologist for the Stark County Coroner's Office said Thursday a 17-month-old Canton boy discovered dead in his crib Wednesday night died of starvation.

Findings of the autopsy showed that the child, identified by police as Joshua Rumph, weighed only 10 pounds, 4 ounces, Chief Deputy Coroner P.S.S. Murthy said.

He said Joshua, who lived with his mother in an apartment in the 800 block of Alan Page Drive Southeast, was ``extremely emaciated, extremely thin and has virtually no body fat. All the bony prominences are visible.''

Murthy, who performed the autopsy, said the preliminary cause of death was ruled as ``a severe case of malnourishment.''

Joshua's mother, identified by Canton police as 19-year-old Juanita Johnson-Millender, was arrested on felony charges of involuntary manslaughter and child endangering.

She was being held in the Stark County Jail Thursday in lieu of a $500,000 cash bond, Canton Police Sgt. Jack Angelo said.

When the child was found in his crib Wednesday by Canton Fire Department paramedics, Murthy said Joshua was wearing a little housecoat and some clothes underneath it.

``The clothing was soaked with urine, and the child had extremely severe diaper rash. It's what appears to be an extreme case of neglect,'' Murthy said.

Stark County Family Court Administrator Richard DeHeer said Joshua's 2-year-old brother, identified by police as Jeremiah Rumph, was taken from the mother and placed into the temporary custody of the Job and Family Services Department after a hearing Thursday before Judge John Hoffman.

Citing court records, DeHeer said Jeremiah was ``found to have a scratch on his face, a black eye and a bump on his forehead.''

In addition to placing Jeremiah in a foster home, Hoffman also issued an order prohibiting the mother and grandmother -- identified as Madeline Rumph, 42 -- from any contact with Jeremiah, DeHeer said.

He said records showed the court had one previous report about the mother, but there was no arrest and no details because the case was dismissed.

Joshua was born Aug. 24, 2002, according to police records.

In his long career in pathology, the past 10 ½ years as chief deputy to Stark County Coroner James R. Pritchard and five years before that with the Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office, Murthy said flatly: ``I have not come across such a severe case of malnourishment.''

Murthy said he checked with a well-known area pediatrician about the normal weight for a 17-month-old boy and was told that it should be 26 to 28 pounds.

Angelo said the boy's father, identified as Jamarr Rumph, was living in Florida. He said detectives have not been able to locate him.

Detectives who responded to the call at the Alan Page Drive apartment, DeHeer said, were ``unable to locate any baby food or cereal, appropriate for this child's age, in the home.''

DeHeer said court records showed the following circumstances before police arrived at the apartment:

Johnson-Millender, the mother, called a friend at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. She and her friend watched television while Jeremiah played with one of his friends.

The mother's friend called a relative, who arrived at the apartment at 4:30 p.m., and the relative called 911 at 4:50.

DeHeer said there was no immediate identification on Johnson-Millender's friend.

He said the next hearing in Jeremiah's custody case was scheduled for 1 p.m. Feb. 25.

Assistant Stark County Prosecutor Dennis E. Barr said he could not comment on the case.

He said the maximum prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony, is 10 years. The maximum penalty for felony child endangering, he said, is five years in prison.
____________________________________________________________
Free Republic link, with a beautiful picture of an angel :-(
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1068455/posts

Interesting commentaries included....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ed Meyer can be reached at 330-996-3784 or [email protected]

[Davy]

The Pinellas county 'mommy dearest' is well known to the police.  Child neglect charges last February and other child abuse charges last May plus numerous domestic dispute responses to her house.  

DCF is in charge and they operate in the dark behind locked doors so....no doubt the cycle of neglect/abuse/dysfunction will continue.

Perhaps there is hope.  For the first time anywhere a privately held firm (listed on NYSE) is taking over DCF services in Pinellas and they are anticipating a 40% return on the investment.  Ding ! Ding !

A couple of years ago DCF services were outsourced to a Mass. firm known as "Family Continuity" ..they offered me 1 hour supervised visitation with my grandchildren because, as they put it,  a year earlier I pulled my auto off a 2 lane highway and 'raised my voice" at my granddaughter for pestering the grandson.  (My Dad must be rolling in his grave).   Their stance (against the mother and everybody else) was the only placement for the kids was foster care or the grandmother.  Her documented psycho inquities date over 20 years......

My last conversation with them ended with me saying "YOU need to be supervised not me...you are not only blind you are ignorant too".

I'm still mad at myself for being so nice and polite.  

[MYSONSDAD]

Yesterday, on another website, they had an article of a mother kicking her 3 year old to death. WTF

They never mention the fathers. Wouldn't surprise me if those moms alienated the father long ago from the kids.

[Davy]

"They never mention the fathers. Wouldn't surprise me if those moms     alienated the father long ago from the kids."

EXACTLY MYSONSDAD or "alienated the kids from the father".

Either way, the results are the same ... total social dysfunction that redistributes income and provides jobs ... court fees, attorneys, social services, CS, and on and on and on with government controlling the masses with the blood of children....whoops I better stop !!!

[Rakkasan]

Would someone explain to me what part of starving a child is involuntary?  Not feeding the child was an intentional act on the part of the mother. The charges should be murder or at the very least manslaughter, but involuntary manslaughter give me a break. Once again they go easy on her because she is a woman. Let me guess they decided to arrest her with the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter because......why, they felt sorry for her because she just lost her baby? The Menendaz brothers should have tried claiming they were orphans because their parents had been killed.

Tie her tubes and tattoo her forehead as a baby killer so guys will always know to stay away from the psycho B$#%&h.

[StPaulieGirl]

It isn't involuntary manslaughter.  It's premeditated murder, and first degree child abuse.  The other child wasn't starving, so she knew how to feed that one.  There was no food in the house that would be appropriate for a 17 month old child.  Therefore, imo, she knew what she was doing.  The crackhead defense shouldn't work, either.

Tie her tubes and tattoo her forehead as a baby killer so guys will always know to stay away from the psycho B$#%&h.

Ohhh nooo, can't do that.  It would violate her civil rights!  /sarcasm

[janM]

This city is about half an hour from us.

I heard on our news that the baby had been seen by a doctor late last year, and was about normal weight. Apparently the starvation happened after that. Only a few months. They interviewed a young girl who had been in the apartment and said the baby's room smelled like body waste. Someone suggested that she call cps. I bet she wishes she had.

Here is the link: http://www.wkyc.com/akron/akron_fullstory.asp?id=15325

That mother is sick. I don't think there's anything involuntary about it either.

[Indigo Mom]

-----Would someone explain to me what part of starving a child is involuntary? Not feeding the child was an intentional act on the part of the mother. The charges should be murder or at the very least manslaughter, but involuntary manslaughter give me a break-----

Involuntary manslaughter means that it must be proven that "her" acts caused that child to die.   It means her "actions" were "dangerous" to another human being, and she had no regard for this human life.  Involuntary manslaughter means that what she did or "didn't" do was a threat to this childs life and that she knew that by withholding food could cause his death.  

Now, before you think I'm defending her..check this out.  

VOLUNTARY manslaughter means that someone killed another person "in the heat of passion".  We know this child died very slowly, so they can't go after "voluntary" manslaughter.

Should they go for murder 1?  No...cause to do that, they'd have to prove it was "premeditated".

With a jury of 12 possibly "sypmathetic" souls...the best way to go is involuntary manslaughter.  I believe that's the best way to get a conviction.