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Archives > Volume 7 Issue 22 - March 27, 2009 Teen pleads not guilty in NYC radio murder...A self-described Satan worshipper pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and weapons charges in the vicious stabbing death of a New York City radio newsman. Fox News story here 
John Katehis, 16, was ordered held without bail after his arraignment Wednesday night in Brooklyn. Katehis told police that he was answering an online ad offering $60 for rough sex. The victim, George Weber, was stabbed at least 50 times. Investigators told the New York Post that the knife sliced through Weber's neck, back and torso so many times that it was difficult to get an accurate count by the time the body was discovered two days ago. On Katehis' MySpace page, he describes himself as an "extremist" and "sadomasochist" and has photos of himself posing with knives. Katehis' lawyer, Herbert Moses, said his client was being used by an older man. He says details about their relationship will emerge later. Sources told the Post that Weber often hooked up with men he met on Craigslist. For more on Craigslist see New York Post story here and vol7_iss16. Weber worked for 12 years as an on-air reporter at WABC radio in New York. He also had worked at stations in California, Colorado and Pennsylvania. Washington State reaches $5 million settlement over starved boy... The state and three other parties have agreed to pay $6 million to settle a lawsuit brought on behalf of a boy who was intentionally starved by his father and the man's girlfriend. Seattle Times news story here The settlement, reached during mediation, stemmed from the case of Shayne Abegg, who weighed only 22 pounds at age 4 when authorities rescued him on March 7, 2007, from his Everett home. A year earlier, when Shayne came to live with his father, he had weighed 38 pounds. Under the settlement, which requires approval by a judge, the state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) agreed to pay $5 million, with the remainder to be split between state-contracted therapist Brad Simkins and two social-service agencies that hired him. The lawsuit, filed in Snohomish County Superior Court, alleged DSHS, Simkins and the others failed to protect Shayne, who couldn't sit or walk when he was found. In addition, the boy's temperature had reached the dangerously low level of 87 degrees and his muscles were wasting. The settlement comes at a time when state legislators are considering privatizing some social services to fix what critics call a broken child-welfare system. The Children's Administration, which is part of DSHS, has been plagued by problems for years, including dozens of child fatalities. Shayne's father, Danny Abegg, and his girlfriend, Marilea Mitchell, were each sentenced to eight years in prison last year after being found guilty of criminal mistreatment in a bench trial. His mother lost her parental rights years ago. Before Shayne's rescue, DSHS had received numerous complaints during the previous nine months that Shayne and his older brother were being abused by Abegg and Mitchell, according to state records. According to the lawsuit, DSHS dismissed some of the complaints as "unfounded." But the agency nonetheless enlisted Simkins to help the family - particularly with "food issues." Simkins reported troubling patterns, the lawsuit said. The boys had a "fear of starvation," he wrote in one report. They "have to scavenge for every meal that they can get," he wrote in another. Yet, Abegg and Mitchell seemed "less than enthusiastic" about working on that problem. Instead, the couple continued to withhold food as a form of discipline, and complained to Simkins that the boys would "steal" food from the kitchen. The boy's attorney, David Moody, said Tuesday that the "evidence was crystal-clear that DSHS failed to act." The settlement will provide adequate compensation for Shayne, now 6, to receive care he will need the rest of his life, Moody said. Shayne suffered significant permanent cognitive delays as a result of being neglected and starved, Moody said. Steve Williams, a DSHS spokesman, said Shayne is now living in foster care and is in good health. "Any child who endured what Shayne did may well face challenges throughout the rest of his life," Williams said. "We're pleased that the state can provide some financial assistance to help him." After Shayne was rescued, DSHS hired an outside expert to retrain workers on how to recognize malnutrition and two social workers involved in the case resigned. In other news... 
Florida police said a woman accused of abducting an infant by posing as an immigration officer is refusing to say anything about the case. CNN News story here She turned the baby over to authorities Tuesday. The infant was turned over to sheriff's deputies some 10 hours after a statewide Amber Alert was issued. Authorities said the child appeared to be in good health. Amalia Tabata Pereirathe, 43, wife of a minor-league baseball player in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, faces charges of interference with child custody, kidnapping, false imprisonment and child abuse, authorities said. According to police, a woman claiming to be an immigration official spoke to migrant worker Rosa Sirilo-Francisco at the Hillsborough County Health Department and told her she had to turn over her 2-month-old daughter Sandra Cruz-Francisco or face deportation. The baby's parents are from Mexico and had taken the child to the clinic for a routine check-up, according to Wilson. After giving up the child, the mother was told by a relative in Georgia that federal immigration officials would not follow such a procedure, so the parents reported their daughter missing. Ten hours later, Pereira surrendered the child to Manatee County sheriff's deputies, according to authorities. Pereira's husband, Jose Tabata, issued a statement saying he was "shocked to be told today that my wife has been arrested for kidnapping. I am hurt, frustrated, and confused by her actions."
Two days after her second-place finish in the 200-meter backstroke final in Beijing, Olympian Margaret Hoelzer and her two closest friends stand at a crossroads. While visiting the Great Wall of China, they can't decide which path to follow. The Olympian and her friends veer to the left. Along the way, Hoelzer tells them she's ready to share her story. All her life, this has been the plan. Achieve Olympic glory, give herself a platform, then tell what happened in the hope of raising awareness about child sexual abuse. ESPN helps her fulfill that plan with her story at ESPN story here. Going public is only the beginning of Hoelzer's plan. She majored in criminology and sociology at Auburn and wrote college papers on child abuse. She plans to someday work in the field and also would like to start a foundation that would financially support the National Children's Advocacy Center. One of her goals is to increase awareness of the signs parents should look for if they think their child has been abused.
A former reserve sheriff's deputy who raped his 10-year-old daughter and posted videos of the abuse online was sentenced Wednesday to 50 years in prison. AP story here Kenneth John Freeman, 46, told the court he had tried to get a 30-year sentence in a medium-security institution because he was not a violent person and it would spare taxpayers some money. But U.S. District Court Judge Lonny Suko said taxpayers would foot the bill because the lengthy term was justified. Freeman, a former reserve sheriff's deputy in Benton County, pleaded guilty in December to federal charges of production of child pornography and interstate transportation of a minor for the purpose of unlawful sexual activity. The abuse began in 2000, when the girl was 10. The girl, now 19, disclosed the abuse to her mother in 2005. A year later, Freeman fled the country to live in China. The case was featured twice on the TV show "America's Most Wanted," and Freeman was arrested in May 2007 in Hong Kong. See more at vol5_iss32.
Attorneys for Casey Anthony, accused in the death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, will not be forced to say publicly who is funding her defense, a Florida judge decided Wednesday. CNN story here Asked in a hearing who, if not his office, is paying the tab for experts, defense attorney Jose Baez asked Orange County Circuit Judge Stan Strickland if he could answer behind closed doors. The question, Baez explained, "puts us in a level of confidentiality" in which he preferred to answer privately. After a brief, closed-door meeting with prosecutors, defense attorneys and Anthony in an adjacent room, Strickland emerged, saying: "As far as I'm concerned, the matter is resolved ... I think we've covered the bases." The judge added that he had determined that no conflict of interest existed, but did ask defense attorneys to provide him with copies of their retainer agreements.
Three Pennsylvania teenagers are suing a prosecutor who wants to charge them with child pornography over racy cell-phone pictures of themselves. FindLaw news story here The American Civil Liberties Union sued to block Wyoming County District Attorney George Skumanick Jr. from filing charges. Two of the girls are 13-year-olds who were shown in their bras and say they were having innocent fun when a friend took their photo. Another picture shows a 16-year-old girl with a towel around her waist. The pictures somehow got distributed to classmates' cell phones, and the teens say they didn't consent to that. They also say the photos are protected speech, not pornography.
Only a handful of states have responded to teen dating violence with laws enabling the youthful victims to obtain protection orders on equal terms with adults, an advocacy group says in a new national survey. AP story here 
The report on state laws by Break the Cycle, a teen-violence prevention organization that has worked with the Justice Department, gave A grades to only five states. Twelve states got D's and 11 failed. Grades were based on various comparisons between the legal treatment of adult victims of domestic violence and teen victims of dating violence. Failure was automatic for states where protective orders are unavailable for minors, or where dating relationships are not explicitly recognized as valid for obtaining such orders. "It is essential that dating violence and the needs of minor victims be specifically addressed within state domestic violence statutes," said Marjorie Gilberg, executive director of Break the Cycle. "Lawmakers have a responsibility ... to propose legislation that will ensure the protection of all victims of domestic violence - regardless of their age." National surveys have estimated that one in three youths experiences dating abuse at some point during their teens - incidents ranging from a slap on the cheek to homicide. Despite the high rate of abuse, Break the Cycle and other advocacy groups say too many states do not treat dating violence with appropriate seriousness. State grades are available online at AP News story here. For more on teen dating violence visit http://www.breakthecycle.org/.
Pennsylvania's highest court overturned hundreds of juvenile convictions issued by a corrupt judge who took millions of dollars in kickbacks from youth detention centers. AP News story here The state Supreme Court ruled that former Luzerne County President Judge Mark Ciavarella violated the constitutional rights of youth offenders who appeared in his courtroom without lawyers between 2003 and 2008. "Today's order is not intended to be a quick fix," Chief Justice Ronald Castille said in a statement. "It's going to take some time, but the Supreme Court is committed to righting whatever wrong was perpetrated on Luzerne's juveniles and their families." In one of the most egregious cases of judicial corruption ever seen, federal prosecutors charged Ciavarella and another Luzerne County judge, Michael Conahan, with taking $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in privately owned lockups. The judges pleaded guilty to fraud last month and face sentences of more than seven years in prison. The Supreme Court approved the recommendations of Berks County Senior Judge Arthur Grim, whom the justices appointed in February to review cases handled by Ciavarella. He decided that expungement was the most appropriate remedy for low-level offenders who appeared in Ciavarella's courtroom without lawyers - a group he has said numbered "easily into the hundreds." Grim next will review cases involving more serious juvenile offenses. See more at vol7_iss11. *for access to member only sites like the New York Times, use the ID "JohnDoeID" and the password "whatever". On sites asking for an email address, feel free to use "info@childprotectionprogram.org" |
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