Detroit special education student handcuffed to school door for four hours

From Click on Detroit in Michigan, (June 6, 2009) (see also WJBK-FoxNews and AP/Chicago Tribune):

DETROIT -- The Detroit Public School District has launched an investigation into the treatment of a special education student.

The student was reportedly handcuffed to the principal's door following a fight at Sampson-Webber Elementary School on June 1.

According to school board member Marie Thorton, the school staff said the principal ordered a Detroit Public Schools police officer to handcuff the boy to a door in her office.

Thornton said the boy, a fourth-grader, remained handcuffed from 11:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. when he was allowed to go home.

The full story is here.

(h/t Patricia E Bauer)

Family sues NYC, alleging daughter is being abused by other students on school bus

From WABC-TV in New York (June 1, 2009):

NEW YORK -- The family of a young disabled girl is suing the city, claiming she is being abused by a fellow student on her school bus and even inside the school. Michael Tucker says his daughter, Tytia, was born with brain damage and cerebral palsy.

After several years as a special education student at P.S. 396, we're told Tytia never had a problem until last December.

On a bus outside the school, she was allegedly bitten on the face by another special education student. Tucker says there were four other incidents of biting or scratching.

The latest incident is said to have happened on May 28, apparently leading to a mark on Tytia's face.

The Department of Education told Eyewitness News that according to the Superintendent responsible for the school, all of the complaints involving Tytia were investigated and were unfounded.

But Tucker showed us a report from the Office of School Health, indicating that Tytia suffered a face bite back in December. Also, the school bus driver filed an incident report.

Three cases of financial abuse

From KCTV in Overland Park, Kansas (May 23) - Jamila Jackson appeared in court to face charges of stealing from a disabled woman who lives at the Manor Care Health Services in Overland Park. According to court records, Ms Jackson worked at the nursing home as an aide when she allegedly took the woman's credit cards to pay off some of her own bills, including telephone, utility and rent bills. According to prosecutors, Ms Jackson never took the credit cards themselves from the the woman. They said she wrote down the numbers on the credit cards so the victim wouldn't notice anything missing. Jackson was charged with identity fraud and mistreatment of a dependent adult.

From WAFB in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (May 21) - 47-year-old Rodney Thomas and 47-year-old Alyssa Thomas have been arrested for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from a man in their care. Both have been charged with felony theft and exploitation of the infirmed. They are accused of stealing more than $80,000 from a 56-year-old client they were taking care of in February. The Thomases own a business called Thomas Place Recovery, in which they care for the infirmed and mentally challenged.

From the Chicago Daily Herald (May 21) - 41-year-old Peter T. Jachim was arrested and charged with swindling about $5,000 from two women with develomental disabilities with whom he shared an apartment. Jacim faces charges of financial exploitation of an elderly person and financial exploitation of a disabled person, stemming from claims he began taking money from the women about six months ago. According to police, Jachim began living with one of the victims, a 46-year-old disabled Cary woman, in April 2008. Jachim, police said, would sometimes accompany the woman to her workplace, a restaurant in Island Lake where he met the second victim, a 66-year-old woman who for the previous 31 years had been a resident of an assisted living facility. Jachim, police said, arranged to have her moved out of the facility and into the one-bedroom apartment he shared with the 46-year-old woman. The eldest woman slept on a love seat in the apartment's kitchen, police said. Police declined to comment on how they believe Jachim took the womens' money, but said investigators believe there may be other victims. If convicted of both charges, he would face a maximum three to seven years in prison.

UK gang members sentenced in torture and terror case

York, The United Kingdom (May 26, 2009) - Four gang members in York, UK, have been jailed for tying up and then tormenting a 19-year-old disabled woman over a nine-hour period that they filmed on a mobile phone. As reported by the Press in York:

David Bradshaw, prosecuting, said the four made Kelly Saye, 19, lick a pair of trainers and drink washing-up liquid. They gagged her with toilet tissue and tape, tied her to a chair, used a mask and a battery with wires to terrify her and hit her. They even poured water over her so that her hearing aids would not work.

Her ordeal only ended when they took her out blindfolded, walked her about for a while, spun her round seven times and released her in Scarcroft Park, saying: “We will leave her to be savaged by a dog”. It was 5.30am.

The next day, two of the gang bragged about their deeds and showed off the photographs which at least one of them had taken on a mobile phone camera.

According to the article, Terry Spencer, 20, who was serving a community order at the time, was jailed for three years; Raymond Wilson, 28, who was on parole from a six-year sentence for ramming police cars with a forklift truck, was jailed for two years and ten months, and Victoria Brill, 21, was jailed for two years and six months. A 17-year-old girl who could not be named for legal reasons, was given a two-year detention and training order on top of the five months she spent in custody on remand. All four admitted false imprisonment and causing actual bodily harm.

As reported in the Yorkshire Post, the 17-year-old girl used to bully Ms Kelly at school. On the day she was attacked, she had been hanging around with the gang and went with them to Wilson's flat. They were laughing and joking together for about ten minutes before beginning their attack.

Reckless abuse charges

Berea, Kentucky, USA - According to the Richmond Register, 27-year-old Ryan Whitaker was arrested and charged on April 15 with encouraging two intellectually disabled men to make sexual contact during a ride to an adult day care last week. According to police, Whitaker was the driver of the van that took the the men to the center. He is being held in jail on $10,000 cash bond and is scheduled to appear in court on May 8.

Read more here.

Justin Hamilton torture case: an update

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA - Further to my posts in October and December 2008 about the kidnapping, assault and torture by four men and one woman of 24-year-old Justin Hamilton, who has developmental disabilities, the Star Tribune has reported that 20-year-old John Maniglia pleaded guilty on Tuesday to his role in the attack:

As jury selection in his trial was about to begin, John M. Maniglia pleaded guilty to one count each of kidnapping, third-degree assault and theft. He faces at least eight years in prison, twice the recommended sentence.

As reported earlier by FRIDA, Mr Hamilton was kidnapped on two successive days and s kicked and beaten more than 100 times, tied to a tree and burned repeatedly with a lighter. In November, Maniglia's 16-year-old girlfriend, Natasha Dahn, who provoked the beating by lying to Maniglia and others, claiming that Hamilton had hit her, pleaded guilty to four felonies in exchange for extended juvenile jurisdiction. Three other men, Johnathon Diepold, age 22, Glen Ries, 34, and Timothy Ketterling, 22, are scheduled for jury trial on April 27, May 11, and June 22 respectively for various charges in connection with the attack, including kidnapping, theft, third degree assault and false imprisonment. Maniglia will be formally sentenced on June 15.

For earlier reports, see here and here and also here and here.

Torching incident

Via KSPR News, Gravois Mills, Illinois (March 23)

A 23-year-old Gravois Mills man has been charged with arson and adult abuse in connection with the terrorization of a disabled man with a propane torch. According to the report:

Morgan County sheriff's officials say [Christian] Lepper and a juvenile walked into the disabled man's home on March 16 and "began burning things in the home including walls, eilings, and furniture."

From a police news release: "They also allegedly pointed the torch at the man's head, singing his hair and causing a minor burn to his ear. When he resisted them one of the men reportedly hit the man in the face with the bottle to the torch."

Sheriff's investigators say they don't know a motive for the crime. But according to this report they did find several thousand dollars worth of stolen items while investigating Lepper.

The nature of the man's disability, nor his condition following the attack, are not known.

Torture case in Hamilton: another update

The couple accused of kidnapping and torturing a 22-year-old man with intellectual disabilities for nearly three weeks were charged on Friday (February 22) with beating and robbing and another intellectually disabled man two months ago. According to the Globe and Mail:

Superintendent Bill Stewart said officers were able to quickly link the two crimes because of their similarity, and are now looking into the possibility that there was a wider pattern of preying on the vulnerable.

"There were similarities in the type of victim, being disabled, and similarities in some of the circumstances surrounding the incident," Supt. Stewart said.

"We're already looking to see if other cases can be linked to these individuals."

Stanley Brown, 30, and his girlfriend, Dakota Thompson, 20, were given additional charges of robbery with a weapon, administering a noxious substance and assault causing bodily harm, according to the report. As conveyed in earlier FRIDA posts, the couple, along with 22-year-old Nathan Jug and a 17-year-old male who can't be identified, allegedly held the 22-year-old man captive and tortured him for more than three weeks in a room in a Hamilton triplex. Money was also taken from his bank account. The man suffered a fractured skull, burns across large parts of his body, and was close to death when he was found by police, who were responding to a 911 call made by his alleged captors.

There is some good news - although he's still got a long recovery ahead of him, the man was released from hospital last Thursday. As reported by Canada.com:

"I'm sure he's been traumatized by this," Hamilton police Supt. Bill Stewart said. "He's got a lot of visible injuries and he's still got a long recovery to go. As we mentioned before, he's got some mental disabilities and that's obviously aggravated and compounded what he's been through."

Torture case in Hamilton : an update

The two men and a woman charged with torturing a 22-year-old man, described as "mentally disabled" and "vulnerable, for three weeks appeared briefly in court yesterday (February 19), the Toronto Star reports. Dakota Thompson, 20, Stanley Brown, 30, Nathaniel Jug, 22, were charged with forcible confinement, aggravated assault, aggravated sexual assault, threatening death and robbery. A 17-year-old boy has also been arrested in connection with the man's abuse. Dakota Thompson, 20, Stanley Brown, 30, Nathaniel Jug, 22, were charged with forcible confinement, aggravated assault, aggravated sexual assault, threatening death and robbery. According to the Toronto Star:

The attacks were primarily sadistic, Beech said. “It would be fair to say it was a power trip.”

Police allege the “very trusting” man was lured to the Corktown apartment and held captive for weeks. He was burned, beaten with fists and martial arts-style weapons and sexually assaulted.

Officers found him lying prone in a back room with a fractured skull, burns and bruises all over his body and blood poisoning.

Police have refused to reveal what caused extreme “toxification” of his blood.

There are very few details reported about the victim, who is said to have lived alone on “disability assistance” and had not been reported missing. Although he was reported to be near death when discovered by police, he is now reported to be recovering quickly in hospital and may be released in the next few days.

For additional details, see this story in the Globe and Mail.

Torture case

Hamilton, ON, Canada (February 18) - Three adults and a juvenile have been charged in Hamilton, Ontario with the torture of man described has having mental disabilities whom police believe was held captive and abused for almost a month after being lured to an apartment. The man's skull had been fractured and he had a variety of other life-threatening injuries. In the Toronto Star, Police Superintendent Bill Stewart is quoted as saying:

"In 32 years of policing, these are the most disturbing and disgusting acts I have ever seen," Hamilton police Supt. Bill Stewart said yesterday.

"The motive can be best described as sadistic in nature."

[...]

"The victim's skull was fractured from repeated beatings with several hard objects and he was deliberately burned and beaten over much of his body," Stewart said.

Along with severe injuries, "his blood was so toxified that it could have resulted in his death in a very short period of time." The toxin was not alcohol, drugs or chemical in nature, Stewart said, without elaborating.

Stanley Brown, 30, Nathaniel Jug, 22, and Dakota Thompson, 20, were charged with one count each of aggravated assault and forcible confinement. According to Canada.com, a 17-year-old boy has also been arrested. It is expected the four will also face further charges of aggravated assault, robbery and threatening death.

The man remains in hospital at this time.

Florida special education teacher acquitted of abuse charges

Sarasota, Florida - According to MSNBC, a jury has acquitted special education teacher Diana O'Neill of child abuse charges after hearing testimony from classroom aides and other school employees that she had hit, kicked and ridiculed four students with severe developmental disabilities.

The verdict followed a weeklong trial during which prosecutors attempted to prove that O'Neill's actions could have caused physical injury or mental harm to her students.

That standard was made more difficult to prove than in some other cases because all of the students involved are so severely disabled that they cannot speak.

They also have so many physical problems that there is no way to know whether she would have seriously injured them when aides say they saw her hit them on the head with objects, kick and push them.

Although prosecutors argued some of the children received bumps on the head, ruises and scratches in O'Neill's classroom, the defense said that those do not qualify as injuries.

Now the criminal charges against Ms O'Neill have been resolved, the local school district must now consider whether to give her her job back and the state may revoke her license. Additionally, the parents of the children say they intend to file a law suit against the school district.

The full details are here.

Hate crime charges for man accused of money scam

From WTMJ Newsradio:

Burlington, Wisconsin - A man from Burlington, accused of scamming money from a mentally disabled woman, has been charged with committing hate crimes.

Police say James Gustafson called a mentally disabled woman and pretended to be her dead father.

The woman told police that someone claiming to be a psychic called her and said that her late father wanted to talk to her.

After believing she had talked with her father, the psychic told her if she wanted to talk to him again, she needed to give Gustafson money.

He has been charged with two counts of misdemeanor theft by false representation, both of which have the hate crime enhancer attached.

The Racine Journal Times says the man is accused of targeting her because of her disability.

See also Man accused of scamming mentally disabled woman

Woman living in backyard shed

Redwood City, California - When San Mateo County Sheriff's deputies responded to a family disturbance last week, they found a 58-year-old woman, “Amelia,” who has developmental disabilities, living in a shed in the back yard, because, she told police, there was no room for her inside the home which housed her brother, her sister, and seven pitbull terriers. As reported by KARE 11 TV:

San Mateo County authorities say there were no signs of abuse or starvation, or that the woman was being held against her will.

What troubles them the most is how the 58-year-old woman named "Amelia" lived compared to her brother and sister who lived in the home in front of her shed.

They have running water. They don’t sit on a tiny little, almost child’s commode to do their personal needs. They have electricity and real heat, not a space heater on a frayed wire,” said Steve Wagstaffe of the San Mateo District Attorney’s Office.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested Amelia’s sister and brother for grand theft on charges they used her $700 per month Social Security check on themselves instead for her.

Second teenager is sentenced in Ohio beating

Hamilton, Ohio - The Oxford Press reports that a Hamilton teenager has been sentenced to 39 years in prison for his part in the beating of 19-year-old Ashley Clark, who is developmentally disabled, in February.

Joseph Nagle, 17, of Progress Lane, pleaded guilty in July to aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, complicity to aggravated robbery, felonious assault, two counts of kidnapping and vandalism for assaulting Ashley Clark, 19, all day Feb. 22. Nagle faced a total of 59 years in prison.

Last month, Nagle's girlfriend and codefendant, Cheyenne Blanton, 17, was sentenced by Butler County Common Pleas Judge Andrew Nastoff to 44 years in prison for the same charges.

As reported in an earlier FRIDA post, Nagle and Blanton were accused of binding, gagging and beating Ashley Clark, sometimes with a baseball bat, for at least six hours at her home. The abuse included shaving her head, dousing her in a cold shower, and forcing her to walk barefoot in the snow. Her pleas to her assailants not to strike her in the head because she had had brain surgery went unheeded, she told the police. The couple, who have a baby together, also plotted to steal the car belonging to Ashley Clark's mother, Sheila Clark.

Another case of abuse

Update: A third teenager has been charged in relation to the beating, ABC reports. The 13-year-old girl was charged as a juvenile on Wednesday with aggravated battery of a disabled person after turning herself in.

East St. Louis, Illinois - Two male teenagers have been charged with aggravated battery in connection with the violent beatings of a 34-year-old woman with developmental and physical disabilities, the Belleville News-Democrat reports. The beatings are alleged to have taken place over a period of three years, and were reportedly carried out under the direction of the teenager's aunt (also the woman's sister) who is now deceased, and who lived in the same household. According to the report:

The abuse was reported by the staff of a St. Louis Hospital on Sunday. The woman had suffered broken bones, was covered with sores and multiple bruises, and her right leg had to be amputated because it had turned gangrenous. She weighed less than 100 pounds.

The beatings are reported to have taken place on a regular basis with "poles from a swing set, a broom, switches and an extension cord." According to the teenagers, their aunt, who had a heart condition, ordered the beatings because she couldn't carry out the beatings on her own. According to one of the detectives assigned to the case:

She didn't do a good job washing the dishes or cleaning up the kitchen. Additionally [she] believed the woman was poisoning her foof and drink, and mixing her medicines.

Police are also looking for the teenagers 13-year-old sister so as to question her in connection with the case. They are also expecting to seek charges against other adults who lived at the house and who knew the beatings were taking place but did nothing to stop them.

Although the woman's health reamins poor, she is reported to be getting better every day, it is reported.

Brandon Williams update

Tuscon, Arizona - Diane Marsh, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted last month of negligent homicide and child abuse in the killing of her 5-year-old son Brandon Williams in March 2007, the Arizona Daily Star reports. Although Ms Marsh could have received probation, Pima County Superior Judge Hector Campoy told her that it clearly wasn't appropriate in this case, indicating that Ms Marsh had totally abdicated her parental responsibilities during the last months of Brandon's life. The fact that Brandon had autism made her abdication that much worse, he said.

For me to think probation is appropriate would be to totally overlook the loss of your son's life and to pretend you didn't have an active role in what I describe as the torture of your child.

full story here ....

see also:
Mom gets prison term in son's death
Tuscon mom found guilty in son's death gets 10 years

Assault verdict

Hamilton County, Ohio: Cheyenne Blanton, 17, was sentenced to 44 years in prison last Friday for terrorizing 19-year-old Ashley Clark for six to eight hours in her Hanover Township home earlier this year. As reported in The Oxford Press, Ms Clark suffered serious injuries requiring hospital treatment after Blanton and her partner, Joseph Nagle, 17, bound and gagged her, shaved her head, kicked her and beat her so severely with a baseball bat and their fists that she vomitted. She was also forced to stand outside in the cold without her shoes. The attack apparently happened after a plan to steal Ms Clark's mother's car failed. Cheyenne Blanton pleaded in July to aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, complicity to aggravated robbery, felonious assault, two counts of kidnapping and vandalism. Joseph Nagle, who pleaded guilty to the same charges on August 29, will be sentenced on October 14. He faces 59 years in prison.

See earlier report here.

Aide charged with assault

Myrtle Beach, SC: Myrtle Beach Online reports that Rudell Moultrie, 52, has been charged with assaulting a 15-year-old student with disabilities on three separate occasions. The student, who is paralyzed, told police that she was hit in her face, thigh and knee by Moultrie, beginning on the first day of the school year. Moultrie also swore at her, it is alleged. Moultrie, who is employed as a high school student aide, has been placed on administrative leave with pay pending the results of an investigation. She was released from jail after posting ten percent of her $5,000 bond.

Bus driver charged with child abuse

CBS4 reports:

HOLLYWOOD (CBS4) ― A Broward County school bus driver was arrested earlier this year on child abuse charges after being videotaped on Sept. 26th, striking two severely disabled children with a metal pipe, records showed, and in court on Thursday, he entered into a plea agreement.

Michael Clough told the court, "I was wrong, and I accept responsibility for my actions".

Joel Malkin, a father of one of the victims, told CBS4 Reporter Joan Murray outside the courtroom, "I feel the punishment is fitting the crime".

Clough, 65, agreed to surrender on Nov 3rd, at which time he will spend one year in jail, then one year of house arrest followed by five years probation. In addition, he offered a public apology to families whose children he hit. The incident, which had been under investigation since September, is one of at least three that schools employees failed to report to the state's child abuse hot line in a timely manner, causing a rift between school officials and local child welfare administrators.

In the aftermath of the these incidents, Broward Superintendent Jim Notter sent a memo to all principals and other administrators reminding them that they are required under state law to report all suspicions of child abuse. All drivers went to a child abuse training seminar.

The court ruled that if Clough should fail to surrender, a warrant will be issued and he could spend ten years in jail.

Torment Not Treatment: Serbia's Segregation and Abuse of Children and Adults with Disabilities

That's the title of a program that will be airing today, August 29, 2008, on NBC Dateline. The program was made in cooperation with Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI). Check your local listings for times.

Via ICAD.